City Council - Regular Meeting

In order, the City of St. Cloud regular meeting for Thursday, August 20, 2026. Can we all please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and the invocation? First, the invocation by Pastor Eros Santabria from Soul City Church.

Let us bow our heads and pray. Heavenly Father, we welcome you here today with humble hearts and grateful spirits. We thank you for the city of St. Cloud, Florida, for its residents, for its families, its businesses, and for every person who calls this community home. Father, we lift up Mayor Chris Brown, council members, Jennifer Paul, Colby Urban, Ken Gilbert, and Sean Fletcher. Father, we also present to you, Lord, the city manager, Veronica Miller. Father, we pray that your blessing be upon our police chief, Douglas Gerke, fire chief, Jason Miller, and all the dedicated staff, employees, first responders, and public servants who serve the city of St. Cloud. Father, I just pray that tonight you will search our hearts, examine our motives, our words, our decisions. I ask, Father, that you will remove pride, selfishness, division, or anything that would prevent us from serving this community faithfully. I ask that you will give our leaders wisdom to make sound decisions, courage to do what is right, and humility to listen carefully to one another and to the people they serve. Father, I pray that you will help us remember that every person in this community has value and deserves to be treated with dignity, compassion, fairness, and respect. May every decision be made in this chamber be guided by integrity and honor, and may those entrusted with public service always seek what is best for the whole community, not merely for ourselves or for those whom we agree. Father, I pray that you would give our mayor and council members and the staff, everyone, Lord, that serves this beautiful city, this sermon and every matter before them. I pray that you will strengthen our police officers and provide protection for them, the firefighters, first responders, and all those who protect and serve Give them the courage, the wisdom, protection, and compassion that they serve the citizens. Father, I pray that you would help us to lead and serve with clean hands and pure hearts. Let our words be truthful, our actions honorable, and our decisions made with justice and mercy. May the city of St. Cloud continue to be a place where people can live, work, raise their families, worship freely, and pursue a better future together. Father, we ask that you guide this meeting, give wisdom to everyone participating, and help us to remember that true leadership is a responsibility to serve others. May everything done here tonight be conducted with integrity, honor, wisdom, and respect for all people. It is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Thank you. And 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. City manager, you have any agenda updates?

Yes, I do, thank you. I'd like to pull off of the agenda public hearings number two and three. We will bring them back in the future. And I'd like to request a continuance for public hearing number four, which is resolution number 2026-097R to the September 10th, 2026 meeting. And I would need a motion for that. need to read it say that what's the first ones public hearing two and three you said two and three i'm going to remove off the agenda all right public hearings and continue public hearing number four resolution number 2026-097r to the september 10th 2026 city council meeting

What's the date of that meeting? September 26th?

September 10th.

Oh, 10th, sorry. 2026. 2026, okay. Mayor, may I make a motion to approve? Yeah, of course you can. We have a motion from Deputy Mayor Gilbert.

Does it have to be read first? Thank you, Attorney.

Clerk, please read public hearing number two.

Number four Oh just the number four because the remove we don't need to okay public hearing number four public hearing for resolution number 20 26-0 97 are a resolution of the City Council of City of st. Cloud Florida granting a conditional use for a clear warrant use on in the highway business HB zoning district on a plus-minus one point six nine acres known as divide guidance project CNU 26-0 0 0 0 2 located at 213th Street suite a allowing an applicant to provide palm and card reading services and describing the body of this resolution I

All right. And do we have to? We're just moving. We don't need public comment on that. No, it's just a continuous. Can I get a motion to continue to September? Motion, please, Mayor. Motion approved from Deputy Mayor Gilbert. Second from Council Member Irvin. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Fletcher.

Aye.

Council Member Paul. Aye. Council Member Irvin.

Aye.

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

Thank you.

That's all. Thank you. All right.

Thank you. Dan, would you like to speak about the St. Cloud Citizens Foundation, please?

Sure. Mayor Robertson and I have been having discussions about the St. Cloud Citizens Foundation, and I'm not sure all the council members are aware, but the St. Cloud Citizens Foundation was founded in 2008, actually created by the city of St. Cloud. It is set up as a not-for-profit corporation designed to help the citizens and community. The mayor sits as one of the appointed members to that, or trustees to that not-for-profit foundation. When we set it up in 2008, it was set up with the City of St. Cloud being basically what's referred to as the initial member and the only member of the organization. What that means is that the City of St. Cloud through the City Council has the ability to elect all the trustees that serve on the board, on the foundation board. The foundation operated for several years and there have been some There have been some different changes done to the bylaws and the appointments to the Board of Trustees. After looking at it and doing a little bit of research, the Mayor asked if we would look into it because there was a certain amount of confusion about where they were with the bylaws and how the foundation had had evolved since 2008. So when we've had a couple of people that have gone off the board now, the trust, there's only really, as I recall, the last time trustees were appointed are the last trustees. There's three left if you include the mayor's seat, which isn't, the mayor's seat isn't an appointee, it's a permanent member of the board. So there's really two appointees that have been in place and their terms have expired. They just, there hasn't been any reappointment. So where we sit now so that this foundation can continue to move, the mayor and I talked about it and we suggested that now would be a good time for the city council to adopt or to appoint another three members basically or two members at this point, so that there are set trustees and then we can work on getting the three trustees can work on correcting the by-lives, cleaning them up and this foundation can move forward. Again, this is ultimately the final decision of the city council. They control the members that get appointed as trustees.

Yeah, and as y'all know, Donna Cooley, she has sat on this since its existence. And y'all know she's retiring tomorrow. So I've spoken with Coop and Tawny Bailey, Bailey is her last name, is replacing Donna in her current position in the finance department. So I felt it was appropriate that she would be the appropriate replacement for the finance, the treasurer position on that. For the other seat, I thought we need somebody that's really entrenched in the community, that really loves giving back and loves being involved, and somebody that I know we're all familiar with is Billy Rocker, and I would like to make a motion to add Billy as the third person, and then that board can then either add others kind of figure out in the future and work with Dan on the bylaws to make sure those are good to go. The reason we're doing it now is cause Donna's retiring as well. So, and the other two, the other terms, to be, to be honest, the other members, their terms expired a few years ago. Uh, as y'all know, when I became mayor, this thing has kind of sat, it sat for like five years and nobody really did anything with it. But this council has with the St. Cloud's veterans committee. That's where the fundraising dollars go through that. The five one C three. The police department with their shop at the cop, because Walmart will no longer give directly to the police department, we use the Citizens Foundation to apply for the grants, because it's a 501c3. The Wawa, if y'all, we were out there at the Wawa, and they did the battle, the sub-making battle, I think it was, and then I think Wawa donates it.

Did you win that?

You did not win that. Okay. I believe Wawa donated money for that. Nice try. And something that's great about it, there's a foundation that gives, I don't know how, $1,600, $2,000 every year, and it collects interest. So it's really, we've put it to great use there. You know, the hospital, Brian Wetzel over at Orlando Health St. Cloud, they donated $5,000 to it to go towards the Veterans Council. So... That's it. We're just wanting to get it going and keep it moving. So I just felt that Billy would be one that could fill that spot. So I want to go ahead and make a motion to add Billy to that board.

And Tony.

Oh, and Tony. Yeah, we need to add both of them. And Tony Bailey. I'll second that. All right, we have a motion and a second from Council Member Urban. 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.

All right, next up we have presentation for Employee of the Month of August by Chief Gerke.

Good evening, Mayor, council members, city manager, and members of our community. It is my privilege to recognize someone whose work often goes unseen, yet has an extraordinary impact on both our organization and the people we serve. Tonight, I am honored to recognize Ms. Nicole Sagara, Come up here first. So obviously, as you can see, Nicole serves as our victim advocate, a role that demands compassion, patience and unwavering dedication. Every day she walks alongside crime victims during some of the most difficult moments of their lives. She provides guidance, support and hope, helping them navigate the criminal justice system and ensuring they have access to the resources they need. Recently, Nicole demonstrated a commitment in a particularly meaningful way by assisting special victims in a high profile case that drew significant media attention. Alongside her canine partner, George, and his huge head. Had to say it. She accompanied the victims to numerous meetings, provided emotional support, and helped them navigate the complexities of the law enforcement investigation and the court process. Mind you, these victims were all underage, and they were very young. During an incredibly difficult chapter in their lives, Nicole was steady, compassionate, ensuring they never faced the process alone. As remarkable as that work is, Nicole continuously seeks ways to improve our department beyond her assigned responsibilities. She recently spearheaded the modernization of our Persons with Disabilities Registry and Project Lifesaver programs by creating secure electronic systems. What was once a paper-based process is now a streamlined, accessible system that makes critical information readily available when officers need it most. These improvements enhance our ability to respond during emergencies, reduce administrative workload, improve data accuracy, and ensure these important programs remain sustainable for years to come. Most importantly, they help us better serve some of our community's most vulnerable residents. Nicole exemplifies the very best of public service. Whether she is comforting victims in the darkest moments advocating on their behalf, improving how our department serves the community, or finding innovative solutions to complex challenges, she leads with compassion, professionalism, and a genuine heart for others. Nicole, thank you for the difference you make every single day. Your dedication, empathy, and innovation have touched countless lives and strengthened our department in immeasurable ways. Congratulations on being selected as the City of St. Cloud Employee of the Month. This recognition is well deserved.

I just want to say thank you for the opportunity, and thank you for recognizing me. I appreciate it. I wish I could take all their credit, but really, it was a team effort. So community members that have helped us, the help in assisting the families, Stephanie, Lynn, everyone's helped. So I really do appreciate the recognition, but it was all a team. So I appreciate everybody. Thank you so much.

I already got it. I already got it. So it's too late. I already chewed on it.

Do you want us to back up a little bit?

I need a white line for his noggin. I can't.

All right, first up, we have the consent agenda. Next portion of tonight's meeting is consent agenda contains items that have been determined to be routine and uncontroversial. If anyone in the audience wishes to address the particular item on the consent agenda, now's 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. I'm going to go ahead and just for conversation, I want to go ahead and pull 11 and 12 off and just make some comments. As you all know, What's going on with the state of Florida? Every city in Florida is trying to do everything we can to protect our public safety and all of the services that we provide to the residents. And public safety has always been number one. I know for this city council, this chief city manager, we wholeheartedly support our police department. And I know we had a... some promotions here today which is always amazing to witness that the negotiations i know those were the easiest negotiations with the police union i you know i thought with with everything going on i thought this was going to be hard it's the first time i'd been a part of anything like that but i'll tell you the police officers the union the staff everybody came together for the betterment of the community and i just want to i want to thank all of them for being so professional and really making it happen so i just want to put that on the record And with that, can I get a motion or any other comments? Would anyone in the audience like to, uh, comment on the consent agenda? No. Can I get a motion motion to approve motion approved council member Fletcher second second council member Paul, will the clerk please call the roll council member urban deputy mayor Gilbert council member Fletcher council member Paul, mayor Robertson motion carries five zero. All right, next up we have Citizens Forum. 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 is practical thereafter. The person addresses the council. And we have a few of them. First up we have Mr. John Dorsey.

evening mr mayor and council members john dorsey address toll 31 17th street all right i believe we've got some slides you wanted to show us is that correct but um stacy told me you had something to show oh we got him over there but i did want to start off with um nobody from the road department city got in touch with me since last meeting about the pipe with the trash coming out of it. And I was expecting someone to get back with me. And I also had a guy who's, you know, professional and I'm doing storm works, piping systems like this. And he sent emails to the deputy director, Kevin, and he never got any response from Mr. Fellbanger. Anyhow, I just want to start off with here is that I am reporting a chronic illicit discharge under the city's NPDES stormwater mandate at the Ohio Avenue ditch. From there, last time I was here, we had had a hot potato issue about who's responsible for that pipe. It was going back between FDOT and the city. If you can put up page one, please. This I got from FDOT. FDOT only owns one pipe and that's the one coming out from the high school. And the other four pipes are owned by St. Cloud. And as you can see, that Pennsylvania pipe is on there that I have high lit in yellow. So that's from the FDOT. And also on page, because we did have an issue with that about who had ownership of it last time. And so the city of St. Cloud owns that pipe, not the FDOT. The FDOT controls the canal, but the pipe that that was, those are new pipes that were put in when they put in the sidewalk, especially that 36 inch one there that's still has trash coming out of it. And that's, and also if you go to page two, Thank you. Um, the Florida department of environmental protection sent me this also, you know, to, to prove that the public works department owns this pipe and needs to take care of it and is responsible for it. Um, the city manager actually signed for the permit on it. back in December 2025 for the MS4 systems. Actually, MS4 is just municipal separate storm sewer systems as it stands for. That includes all four of them pipes on the previous page. One thing I want to get straight with the Public Works Department is they do own the pipe. So it has nothing to do with FDOT. I just wanted to make that clear to the Public Works Department tonight and have that on record. There's all the proof right there. Emails and... That's right, you get to keep all that stuff for the record. And then we talked about cost. to put a trash sock over this pipe and who i'd like to know who who made the um the city manager read out the price of it which was extremely inflated and expensive who who wrote up that quote i'd like to know um i don't know who was that the public works department was that mr fell banger or because it was very expensive. It was like between 150 and $200,000. It was crazy expensive. Does anyone remember who wrote that quote?

Nobody, I believe it would come from staff, right?

So I was getting an update on a pipe that has caused a road to collapse to a sewer pipe. So I missed the beginning of the question, but I know that we presented a cost estimate done by our public works director, if that's the same thing that we're referencing. But I also want to point out that I don't think anybody was questioning if we owned the Pennsylvania Avenue pipe. It was the discussion about the DOT ditch. Our pipe does connect to that. I just want to clarify.

Okay, so good, we're clear on that. Okay, so.

And all of that goes into the, what do they call it, the Ohio ditch?

Yes, yeah. All right.

Why is it called the Ohio ditch? Is it on Ohio Avenue? I don't know, maybe Mr. Faulklinger knows.

I never understood it either.

I got a call from a friend of mine I went to high school with. He said, hey, so I heard you're going to be touring it with the DOT. They said the mayor is going to tour it, so they were supposed to go mow the ditch. that area so I can walk into the ditch. I'm like, I'm from here. I'll walk into a ditch with high grass.

Um, I, I, you can see the, it, it starts at Ohio and I, I believe that's the reason why I, I don't, I'm sorry, Kevin public employee works director. Um, I, I don't know exactly why, but I think that's where it starts out there. The, the, the, the, the, the pipes start out there at Ohio, but it's always been known as the high lower dish to me.

I said, okay, but anyhow, I wanted to, it was, it was a very high cost in the last meeting. It was like, It all came out to just under $200,000. And so I've done my own research. I've talked to other companies that do this type of work and all. And page three, please. Thank you. And this is just for the head wall here, between $10,000 and $15,000. That's just for the head wall. Director said some other things, some armoring and stuff like that. you know, armoring is, you know, putting rock in underneath also and head walls for holding the hill together and to make contact to put a net on if needed. Well, it's needed, excuse me. And so that is just for the head wall alone. And if you could go to page four, please. This is from Gary Hopkins. He's with Stormwater Systems. And this is just for the net that'll go on it after the headwall's installed. And it's $8660. We'll just round it off to $9000. And so even if you took the headwall at its highest price, $15,000, and then rounded this up to, say, $10,000. We're talking $25,000. And then some extra for some armoring permits. And it would be like, I talked to both these gentlemen, and it would be $30,000 tops to do this job, not $200,000. That was quoted last month. That was a really inflated cost and they thought so too because I sent them the video of the meeting here and everything and they listened to what was read off to do the install on that particular pipe. And also the other thing too, when you empty out a trash net like that on a pipe, doesn't need to be emptied out 12 to 15 times a year which was quoted at the last meeting and that's ridiculous because it only needs to be emptied out during the rainy season six months out of the year you know maybe if we have some rain in the off six months it can be emptied out again again but um the 12 to 15 times a year was ridiculous and in and the cost to do it was also and And last is, could you show that flyer, please? This is a little St. Cloud flyer. And this is kind of funny because it ended up at my house the next day. But this flyer here, step six, and this is what Public Works Department puts out, protect natural floodplain functions. Did you know that it is illegal to dump any trash, grass clippings, leaves, et cetera, in any ditch or storm sewer in the city? Dumping materials in our drains pollutes our waters and clogs our storm water system. When storm drains and ditches are blocked or full of debris, flood waters cannot drain properly, which leads to flooding in our neighborhoods." Right now, the only thing that's polluting that area is that big pipe there. Like I said, that pipe puts out 70% of the trash. The other three on that list I showed first probably puts out the other 30%. And I talked to the FDOT, their pipe, the big one at the end, down the Ohio Avenue end by the high school, they're going to put a trash net over their pipe. They said, wait, I think that fiscal year comes around in July. And they said, when that comes around, we're gonna get some money, Mr. Dorsey, and we're gonna put it in, just like we did the rip-rap on your property. And so, I don't see a big deal in installing this. Now, the city did come out, I noticed, this past week. The city has two vacuum trucks. They were going around town cleaning out drains and piping systems. and everything, they had a five-man crew. And I was just thinking a five-man crew on a vac truck probably runs about four grand a day. And you use that vacuum truck 10 times, that's $40,000 right there. So they were cleaning up everything before they had the meeting on Friday, which I was not at. I couldn't make that meeting, but they did have a meeting, Mr. Fellbanger and FDOT. I don't know what became of that yet, but I know the Public Works Department did get that area cleaned up for the meeting. It does look a little better. I'll give them that, but it's only a temporary fix is my point. And so I'd really like to see these pipes covered up and stop the trash from coming out into our water.

Okay.

Thank you, sir.

All right.

Kevin, can you come to the podium, please? Thank you, John. Yep. You met with DOT. Yes, sir, I did. All right. What were their recommendations out there? I wasn't at the meeting, but I will be having a Zoom meeting with them talking about their recommendations.

Yes, sir. Like I said, they are currently, they have a contract where they have their contractor come out to up to 20 times a year to be able to pick up trash along the area through there. They do not have any funding in there for trash socks or anything like that on their five-year plan. They do not have money in there to be able to pipe that ditch in in their five-year plan. And so I said, so they're trying to do the best they can to be able to do it. They said they mow that area. I believe they said it's either 15 or 20 times a year they have it for mowing is what they have scheduled. So they try to get out there and be able to do that. um they said their contractor was out there and he says that he said that about every month they get about a 50 gallon bag full of of of stuff out of out of the ditch along along that corridor um so they said that it's

Okay. So, but Mr. Dorsey, you said that DOT does intend next year to bag one of them.

Yep. And that's the only one they own. That's the only one they own. And they said they're going to cover it up. They did. They have no intention of doing it in the next five years.

I wanted to be there. I'll get on a zoom call with them and I'm going to get it straight for them.

And I talked to Misty Mahan and FDOT.

Okay.

And, and another thing too, we met with, yes, sir.

And she told you something different.

yep okay and and then another thing also is at the last meeting um the director had mentioned that all our drains are all two inch by two inch and no cups or anything can get through them and stuff like that right on 17th street right in that area there's two giant storm drains that are five feet wide and six inches high right in that area alone. Then if you go up on 192, there's giant drains that aren't protected or anything at all, anything going there, paper cups, beer bottles, you name it. And so that's incorrect about having all the drains in town are just two inch by two inch squares and bottles and cans cannot get into them because yes, they can really easily. All the 192 is all them large drains. They have wide openings and they're six inches high.

All right. I'll get more information on that. I'll talk to D. O. T. As well. And I'd love for Kevin you to be there and I'd like, let's see if they tell us the same thing they told you the first time.

And I would like for the director here to, you know, talk to Gary Hopkins who implements these systems.

If you can provide his information. I have his information. He's emailed. Oh, you do? Okay. All right.

But he told me today, I checked with him today at the last minute, and he says he has no response from Mr. Fellbanger.

Okay. All right. We're going to have a Zoom meeting soon with Misty. Misty? Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you, John.

All right. Thanks. Appreciate it.

Thank you, Kevin. Yes, sir. Next up, Nicholas Steinkamp.

Hello. Three minutes, right?

Yes, sir.

Okay. All right. So there's a lot of people in this community that's frustrated, so I'm here to speak for them and I've sat and listened and watched for years about what's going on around here, and I'm beyond exasperated. Even politicians at the federal level are more receptive and inclined to explain their actions to us than you do here at the local level. We ask you what you're doing and why, complain, and we are met with silence, dismissal, and contempt, while using our tax dollars to call us NIMBYs and ban outdoor smoking. Your treatment of local positive community efforts like Theater in the Cloud, Hopkins Heroes, and various businesses all over the place downtown is disgusting. I've met with three of you before. Let's start with Colby. Honestly, Colby, I really like you, but you are a coward. You've let this guy walk in here and walk all over you and destroy so much, you should be embarrassed. Sean, probably the most reasonable guy up there, but you gave up, man. You're not running again, and you just gave up and did the same thing. Just let him do whatever he wants. We voted for you to fight for us, and you gave up. Ken, I don't know anything about you except for that you spent $100,000 for a job that pays $30,000 a year, which I find really suspicious. I'm watching you. Let's make one thing clear. I'm the troll that forces massive NGOs and elected officials to bend their knee. And I do it on a regular basis, and it's fun for me. I did it yesterday. It took me about 30 minutes. Now pay attention, Chris. Beginning March, 2028, my singular purpose in life is to make sure that you are not reelected. I'm the second smartest guy in the room, so listen to me carefully. The difference between you and I is I have nothing to lose and nothing to gain, and you do. Go ahead and try to sue me, I know you will. I dare you, go ahead, pay me to unseat you. I'm not supporting anyone or running myself, but my mere goal is to make sure you are gone. I have nothing but time and resources at my disposal. You are a predator, a liar, and a blight on this town. I trust that I will throw myself into this declaration. Well-informed citizens are your nightmare, and I am the Freddy Krueger that hasn't even yet started. The rest of you are on notice. You might be next. Wake up and be ready because St. Cloud is not full of sheep. They're very upset with you. And I will amass wolves and bring this fight to your doorstep so fast your head will spin. You will not be reelected. Thanks for nothing. Also, end property taxes.

hey nicholas thank you um yeah i really don't know what you're talking about but thank you i appreciate it no sir we only speak from the podium i do appreciate your time up here i don't know what march 28th references but um i don't know i didn't have time to put my calendar but thank you very much Well, that didn't wake everybody up. I need some more coffee. Maybe. I don't know. Shawnee likes you the most. I don't know anything about Ken either. All right. In all seriousness, Everybody up here cares about the citizens of this community. Nobody thinks anybody's a sheep. I, I think everybody tries very hard. If y'all saw the workshops over the past couple months, everybody has worked very hard staff council. Um, I don't know. I, I, somebody's angry at me today, but I, I don't know why.

I, I wish he would explain it a little better, but, um, we do have a, a meeting next month and maybe he'll come up and, uh, give us some more information.

All right. Next up we have Ms. Paula Stark. What does NIMBY mean?

You could have shuffled the cards.

Is that not in my backyard?

Yes, sir.

Paula Stark, Executive Director of St. Cloud Main Street, 903 Pennsylvania.

Can you top that?

I probably can't, but I can't tap dance either, so there you go. So you all received a packet from St. Cloud Main Street, and I'm here to go over a request from Main Street, given the recent decisions that you all have had to make in reference to events and funding and so forth. So I know the packets that you have include the events that Main Street has been putting on and the things that we're planning this year, and we're asking you to waive the fees on those all at one time. I know the plan was sort of to do them one at a time, but frankly, for planning and budgeting purposes, that's a little difficult. So we were asking for you all to review the paperwork that you received and let us go over that with you and then be able to move on with those particular events. So if you have questions from the packets or if you want me to go through them one at a time, I will tell you My eyesight is problematic right now, and my glasses fell out of my purse, so if you're asking me to read this for you, forget it. It's not going to happen tonight. I don't know. You may not have any questions that are going to be too difficult for me to come up with a number. So you have the events are...

Well, we may not have the large stage. Well, it says the day of the event's 2007, so.

Right. So those things will be determined, so.

That's 27.

Those are things you all are fleshing out.

You're talking about next year?

Yes, we're talking about Roots and Rhythm, which you all are familiar with these events. Roots and Rhythm, Taste of Main Street, the Historic Preservation Awards celebration. Those are the ones we're asking for waivers on. And we did include in our packet that, Halloween, Trick or Treat, and Witches and Maniacs. However, I will tell you we put that in for discussion purposes if you wanted to have discussion. But our board at our retreat this past Saturday did vote to not have that particular event only because we did lose money on that and the information that was provided us at the time that we filled out your new forms was that we would be paying for police this time, and I think that was $1,200, so that would have been an additional amount on the monies that we had already lost last year when we picked that up at the last minute so that that could happen. and not everybody be mad at the city because everybody thinks the city puts it on anyway. So that's in there just for discussion items. But the three main ones is Roots and Rhythm, Taste of Main Street, and for the Historic Preservation and Awards, it's just a portion of the awards that are given for the plaques that go out. That's the only thing. There's no other waivers in that particular event. So basically kind of two and a smidgen.

Council Member Irwin. Thank you. So I've had multiple conversations with Ms. Stark and several members of her Main Street Board, and I've made my position pretty clear as we went through this budget process and as we are staring at a legislation or a ballot amendment in November that's potentially going to eliminate property taxes for Homestead. residents um i don't i didn't think that the city should be funding outside organizations at all because we we have our own budget to look after with with these dire circumstances however with that said um since we're we're kind of phasing that in into this year and and we're we're still funding the the chamber out of a fifth of what we were funding I would like to propose and ask the council if we can fund Main Street with a fifth of what we were funding them as well. I think it's only fair that we continue to do that and also work with them on these events.

All right. Well, this is the request here for this right now.

Yes. These are the events, yes.

Well, with something like that, we've got to dig right back into the budget again. We've got to open that hole back up. So I think that's going to be...

Yeah. And I've spoken to our city manager. Um, I think that there's. Uh, availability in the budget to do that, if that's what the council wants to do, but I don't know what the process is on.

How do we do that for other nonprofits and allow them that same opportunity? Because I think that we've opened the budget up and now we, and we've closed it to, to move forward, to, to preparing it. So we're going to open it up again, the conversations. Because we just balanced it out for the first time in 31 years, so we got to move to get that money from somewhere else.

Mayor, if I may? Yes. Discussing this with our finance director, the plan that we came up with, if the council approves this, we have money in this current year budget, so we could pay her in September for the following year. Okay.

all right that would work for me as long as it keeps us in the from not using prior fund balance correct we're still good with that correct okay councilmember paul and i was gonna for the record also met with rep stark and was gonna bring up the same thing as well during my comment time but since we're talking about it i just wanted to put it out there on record of reconsideration so okay but right now you're looking for an answer on this too correct okay we're good with that you got three

Okay, thank you. Do you still need to talk?

Okay. I'm good with these numbers. That's not, those aren't, you're bringing the events downtown. In fact, I think our agreement, our prior agreements, we've required that, I think, right? We've asked for four events. Yes. Which is the purpose of it, so.

Actually asked for more than that.

We did.

And we did more, but we just didn't need your resources.

Well, the intent was previously a minimum of four events.

And you'll see more of that because we're doing our presentation for you all for our whole year and from inception on the 17th. Is that still city manager where we're doing that on September 17th? You'll get the whole presentation for that.

It was a condition of the current agreement that Main Street must come give a presentation, so we were still requiring that.

Okay.

I like to hear Paula.

Is this coming out of this budget or next year's budget?

These costs were included in next year's budget. And when we went over that with the city council, you've agreed for me to keep that in the budget, but you wanted to approve these individually, which is why you wanted the additional detail that Ms. Stark has provided this evening.

Okay.

The only information that's not here that I was asked for was the council asked for a list of Ms. Stark's, actually not Ms. Stark, Main Street sponsors. I do not have a list of their sponsors for these events.

I think we're good with that. I don't think I need a sponsor, do you know? All right, do we have to vote on this or would we just give a nod?

A nod is fine. Consensus, yeah.

I'm good.

Okay, that was consensus.

Thank you.

Thank you. We'll see you on the 17th.

What's on the 17th? She's coming back, giving a report on?

The annual report.

Last year's stuff, okay. All right. Would anyone else in the audience like to address the council this evening? Yes, sir.

My name is Alex 25, 17 Bulrush drive mayor and councilman. Um, and woman, I just wanted to address, uh, I I've spoken to a few people when school started about transportation, right. school transportation. I've met with Osceola school transportation. I've met with quite a few people. I met with Scott, uh, chief of operation of school transportation. Uh, when it comes to transportation, a lot of people know I'm a father of three kids, one in elementary, one in middle, one in high school, right? When it comes to transportation is because I am at 1.9, one miles away from the school. School doesn't transport my kids, right? My kids are my priority. So I have found a way to figure it out, but a lot more people have reached out to me and I've met with a few committees about this, right? When it comes to where Vermont turns into canoe Creek, there's a Creek that passes through there. There are no lights in that whole section. I've walked with my daughter to school and I've taken her on bus rides, school transportation. ordered Osceola after the videos and pictures that I showed them, ordered Osceola to mow the grass more often because there are other kids that take that same pathway. Last time we spoke, Canoe Creek isn't gonna get viewed till 2045. I spoke to their safety team, they did an evaluation. That evaluation came back and said hazardous conditions does not dictate whether somebody gets a ride to school. Their whole evaluation showed that there was slanted roads into the creek. And they said as long as there's a four foot pathway, it's none other business. Those are county roads, but then the alternate path goes through city roads, which also don't have sidewalks, don't have lights. They said you can get together, there's other programs, there's safety programs that come and evaluate that situation. I think everybody within a two mile radius of schools there should be an evaluation of either sidewalks or transportation for those kids, because if that's what dictates them getting transportation from the county, us as the city should be taking a look at that and not in 2045, you know, as part of the Metro plan can, I know you sit there, there's something, all I'm asking is for it to be evaluated, right? Let's take a look at it. Let's see if we can either, put a sidewalk beforehand, right before all the other construction, but our kids need to be taken care of, right? Not just mine, but all those other communities that go along that road, especially with the trucks from the new construction that's going on there. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Alex. Have you addressed that with the County? That's a County road. So County project, they can't, it's not our money. No, no. And I get that.

So, so, uh, all of my meetings that I've had, I spoke to some people at the state level as well, but it's like Osceola County.

No, no projects.

Yes. You're right. I haven't spoken to the county yet because I wanted to deal with transportation, right? Because for the past five years, my kids have had transportation from Osceola County transportation. So I wanted to see what was the difference this year from every previous year that we had, right? Because they dictated in the previous years that it was unsafe for the kids to walk down canoe Creek. So this year that changed due to budgets and all of that school district transportation, school district transportation, correct. Osceola county transportation. So this was the first year after five years, I purchased my house six years ago from there. So for the first year we get no transportation. So my meetings were with them. I haven't gone to the county yet. Right. It's I can't, they would really be the only, I can't just pick up a phone and, and, and, and say, but the alternate routes that they discovered. We're all city streets. Those city streets don't have sidewalks and don't have a light, especially at six 20 in the morning when my high schooler goes there.

All right. So you can stay up here, Alex. We can still talk city manager.

Thank you, mayor. So we often have partnered with the school district on a grant that's called Safe Routes to Schools. So after this meeting, or actually, if you don't mind walking outside and giving your address and what the potential alternate city routes are to Mr. Felblinger, we can look at what our options are to apply for some Safe Routes to School grants. It's something that we've done frequently, but the mayor is correct. Canoe Creek Road, I don't have control over. However, I'm always happy to go advocate, especially for kids. So I'm happy to advocate if I can get some additional information about where specifically you're talking about that's unsafe.

When Stevens North, that development, there's going to be sidewalks on that side of the road. There should be.

Yeah, I think they've already marked it off. So that'll be definitely before 20- But that's across the street, not towards the high school. That's on that side of the-

So you're saying the ditch north of, what's the road you're on?

I live on 2517.

Just south of the ditch? The ditch that crosses underneath? Correct.

I live right in front of Stephen Plantation's north and where the complex is going.

Okay.

So once you walk down that road is what they determined the route was. Before that creek, that whole area, it's in a slant into, but because there's a four-foot path, That's all the state requires, even if it slants in.

Although it would take time, it sounds like this may be addressed through our upcoming project, the Massachusetts Avenue extension, which will go south from 17th Street into Nova Lakes subdivision. Because it sounds like you're not crossing Canoe Creek. You're just going up the east side, right?

He's a ways from that. We were talking about Stevens North. Yeah. Massachusetts is a book.

It's a hundred yards, but rather than going up canoe Creek road, I'm saying that may be an alternate north south, um, that you'd be able to go from, from Neptune this way, from the new Wawa and the corner coming down all those communities that are there into my community. And then they have to cross the bridge, the little Creek. and then turn right on 17th street. Well, so that whole path, right?

Your subdivision is just north of Bramblewood. No. What's that?

Uh, I think that's Bramblewood. I don't know which one.

There's the one that it connects over to Missouri. And then if they go to the old, the hoop property through that subdivision, you're just south of the high school.

Correct.

And their sidewalks there. Is that the route?

So, The sidewalk begins in my community, but ends in my community. And then there's two communities that you could turn right, which are the alternate routes, but you go through private property on those. And there's no light poles as well in that community.

I can have staff work on this. And I heard your street number, not the street name, which I'm not going to ask. Okay, you don't mind saying it on the record?

All right. Pretty much to keep the kids from having to walk up to 17th and making the 17th walk. That's the cut through some of this other.

Okay.

All right. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it. All right, anyone else in the audience like to address the council? All right, with that, we will jump into our public hearings. Public hearing number one, will the clerk please read public hearing number one.

Final public hearing for ordinance number 2026-27, an ordinance of the City Council of the City of St. Cloud, Florida, amending Chapter 3 performance and citing standards, Article 14, U.S. regulations, Section 3.14.5, alcoholic beverage establishments, providing for conflicts of ability, administrative corrections, codification, publication, effective date.

Good evening, Council, Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Council Members. Jeffery Ball, Community Development Director, here to present to you the updates to the alcohol beverage ordinance. So this is CDA 26-0004. This is Resolution 2026-27 on April 16, 2026. City Council directed staff to prepare an ordinance amending section 3.14.5 alcoholic beverage establishments. The proposed amendment supports operational flexibility for local businesses, promotes economic activity and investment within the city and entertainment district to enhance the overall experience for residents and visitors. The proposed changes include, uh, revisions to section 3.1, 4.5 E removes restrictions on restaurants having entertainment facility activities. It removed pool tables, video games, a stage, live entertainment, illumination, or non illuminated science advertising, alcohol beverages permit permits dancing, or which has live music or plays music at a level above 70 decibels measured six inches from the source. shall not be considered a full-service restaurant. Other changes include the dining area shall contain tables and chairs or booths of standard table height. Counters and tables of cocktail height shall not be permitted. All tables shall meet or exceed the minimal acceptable standard of 256 square inches of table space per patron. So just so reference, this is language that is being taken out of the current ordinance. Other changes include 3.14.5L adds the following language. Establishments in the entertainment district, the provisions of 3.14.5A through 3.14.5C and 3.14.5E above shall not apply to entertainment. Establishments located within the entertainment district is established pursuant to section 3.13.3 as provided. So the proposed changes include establishment is in full compliance with the conditions and requirements of the applicable license to sell alcoholic beverages issued by the state of Florida for the establishment. Number two, the establishment does not charge a cover charge at any time. The establishment does not contain illuminated or non illuminated signs. Advertising alcoholic beverage is visible outside of the establishment. And number four, if the staff, if the establishment is a license as a full service restaurant by the state of Florida, the establishment shall close for operation at 11 59 PM. Staff recommendation is approval of ordinance 2026 dash 27 planning commission recommendation on July 21st, 2026 was approval in city and the requested action is approval of ordinance 2026 dash 27. I'm available to answer any questions that you might have.

Thank you. All right. Thank you, Jeff. And we have a few members from the public that would like to speak. We have Jim Shrek.

Hello, Mayor and Council. Jim Shrek, Fire Saloon. I'm here tonight to ask you guys to vote no on this ordinance, specifically the provision requiring us to close at 1159. What's interesting about my opposition is that I close at 11. So this isn't about protecting my two hours of business. I believe it's bad policy for downtown St. Cloud and bad policy for businesses that have invested here. I've invested heavily in downtown St. Cloud, and I want to see downtown grow as a destination for people to come eat, drink, listen to music, et cetera. The ordinance says that establishments must comply with the alcohol laws. I agree with that. But then the ordinance goes and says that we're supposed to close at 1159. My question is why? What specific problems are we trying to solve? If there are establishments creating excessive noise, enforce the noise ordinance. If establishments are creating a public nuisance or public safety problems, address that. If there are alcohol violations, address that. But if businesses like me are following the law and the conditions of the state licenses, why are you taking operating hours away from every business, full service restaurant in the entertainment district? And why specifically 1159 p.m.? Was there a study showing problems substantially increase after midnight? Have you guys looked at the police calls? Has the economic impact of downtown businesses been calculated? If that exists, I'd like to look at it and just show me why. There's another issue that I think is really important right now. municipalities across Florida are concerned about the new homestead exemption tax taking tax money away from you guys so why are you taking tax money away from you know tax money that we pay and that we would make in those two hours people come down spend money restaurants employ people we buy goods and services A thriving downtown creates economic activity. We should be discussing ways about how to bring people down here, not closing it early. Again, I close at 11, but I've invested in my business under these rules. If things change, and I think it's economically feasible for me to serve food until 2 p.m., I wanna be able to do that. So the other thing is there's a whole ecosystem downtown. We want people to come here, eat at fire, go to another establishment. If you start closing these things down, I think people are going to stop coming, or less people will come. That's it. that's about all I have to say about it.

All right, Jim, we sat and we met, uh, but you said you closed, you closed at 11 o'clock. Yes. But you wanted, so you had special events that you asked if we could make the exceptions for that. And I, I thought that was a good idea. Okay.

So if I do a special event, that's going to require me to, I'm going to get a permit and everything else. Well, no, no, but it wouldn't, I want, I want the option. Like if two years down the road, I feel like I can make some money staying open until 2, just like my alcohol license says I can. I want to be able to do that.

Okay.

Here's the situation.

And I know we've got a few others that are going to come up here. But gosh, we've been on this for the past year, right? It's been a while. Ever since I took office, we're dealing with issues that are five-plus years old. Not just this. Hell, we're dealing with issues that's 10, 20, 30 years old at this point. We'll address this one. It was crazy to me that it seemed like the rules created a footloose town here, but everybody was just breaking the laws anyway, right? There was dancing, there was pool tables, everybody's just, and that's fine. I think those were ridiculous anyway, so those have to go. So you have to acknowledge there's a lot of concessions in this. So you want us to say you can't have karaoke, you don't want to have dancing in your establishment, you don't want live music, because that's in this too so if we vote no you are going to there's code enforcement actions that could be taken for a lot of that which i don't agree with i want you to take the 1159 out well that's whether that's different than voting no on this yeah all right vote no or at the very minimum take that out okay but you still want you want the other stuff

Yeah, I want to be able to bring business by having karaoke, having a live entertainer, a violin player, piano player.

I thought that was, it was almost laughable that was even in our code. I like shooting pool. I like all that other stuff. I don't believe that, I mean, you have a kitchen in your restaurant.

Yes.

Okay. And I don't think it was meant to target any one individual, but you do realize there was something you left off that list, which is really the black and white issue is here. What differentiates a liquor license from one of these 51% food sales, right? Yes. We all know that. Let's call the elephant out into the room, walk his butt right in here. Let's say what it really is. We're not going to muddy the waters with everything else. Cause we know that's what it is. We're not going to blame our police or anything else. We, you were in that meeting when Tisha read a whole laundry list of violations, she gave us a whole list.

Oh yeah.

And I wasn't even happy with that because I got, what do you want us to do about it? I said, I want you to do your job and nothing against her, but I mean, it's just, just because stuff's been allowed to happen for forever on a multitude of things in our city. we're the ones that are being tasked with cleaning up and it's, it's vilifying us when we're just trying to say, okay, here's the code. What makes sense? What doesn't make sense? Calling heads and tails on this stuff. So I appreciate you giving those comments, but I'm, so what makes sense about the 11 59?

I can't find a logical reason for that.

Okay. All right. But you agree with everything else in it?

Yes. Okay.

All right.

And on another note, after listening to Paula, y'all need to figure out Halloween. We're going to have so many people down here. They're probably going to come anyways.

What do you mean figure out Halloween?

With the funding for whatever the police or whatever you guys were talking about. I'm even willing to chip in to pay for some of that stuff.

Where's our finance guy? Yeah. Write the check directly to Cooper over there.

Fire saloon.

What were the fees for Halloween?

You're gonna fund y'all's Halloween, so we don't have to? I know there's some discrepancies about doing the Halloween thing, but that brings so many families down here into downtown St. Cloud, it's just crazy.

Okay, I didn't know there were discrepancies. We just wanted more information on that. Oh, okay, all right.

Can I clarify? Can I clarify, Mayor? When she came up, Rep Stark mentioned that it would require additional discussion. Her board had voted against doing the event because we hadn't agreed yet to do the fees. So the board just gave consensus to waive the fees. But I believe Rep Stark is going to have to go back to the Main Street board and get authorization from the Main Street Board to do the event and you but that's a separate conversation but I just want to put my input and I believe St.

Cloud Main Street would love to take a check from you Jim I'll give it to them they do so much for this place so okay thank you Jim all right all right next up we do have Trevor Estill Richard Estill same person right

Good evening, Council. One of the first things I want to say is I am in absolute agreement with Jim over the midnight closure. I think we are taking a sledgehammer to something that needs a scalpel. I think the stakeholders need to be involved in the conversation in a roundtable and let's figure out what's going to work. My objection now and has always been when you have a code You cannot tell one business it's okay and tell another business it's not. And that's what started this whole problem. I was told that if I went to a restaurant license, I would have to get rid of my live music because that's what the code said. When I asked to bring my food truck in to function as our kitchen, I am told by staff, sorry, nothing we can do. Code doesn't allow it. Now my patio is completely enclosed by a brick wall, has no access to an outside roadway. But because it doesn't meet the code, I can't do it. That affects my business. Do I believe that the previous code was overwritten? Absolutely. Do I believe there's some modifications that we need to do? Absolutely. Do I agree with the 12 o'clock closure dictating what time a business has to close, I don't agree with that. I think that is a, like I said, it's a sledgehammer approach to something that requires a surgical precision and input from the stakeholders directly with the people who are writing the code. The workshops are great, but I don't think the direct communication portion of it The people that are writing it are reading the minutes or they're, they're hearing from the city manager or the council members, what the directions are. But they also, the people on those, in those staff positions do not have the experience in this industry collectively that we all do. And that experience is, we don't feel is being listened to at any level. So, and again, I'm not trying to sound adversarial. I simply want you to understand where I and others are coming from. And I think I can speak for not just myself, but I've had these conversations with other quota license holders, other business owners, and on that particular portion of the changes, we are absolutely in agreement that that should not be part of it. Thank you.

All right, I'm gonna ask a question, Trevor. Okay. We can replay last year's meeting, and you said the total opposite. I love you to death, brother. I don't believe so. But you said the total opposite. In fact, you said it wasn't enough. You didn't think that we should even allow them to stay open and take out the restaurant portion or the kitchen portion. So that's really what's on the table here. And I know Mr. Parsons is here, and he'll come up and speak about his own restaurant there and nothing against it. But we had a laundry list of items from our staff.

Mm-hmm.

when I became mayor, you were the first one to call me and say, I need to sit down. And it was all about this. I mean, you are the, the, the genesis of this. I understand that. I mean, you're, you're also catching five prior years of frustration. You had your three minutes. I'm going to talk. Okay. Yeah. But you said you had, you were done. Okay. Let me just finish up. I'll give you 11 seconds here in a second, but you have to hear me out. Okay. You have said you have not been listened to for how many years now? And I'll let you, we don't have to hit the clock start on that. You can answer that. How many years? Over seven years now. Seven years. Okay. Seven years. Seven years. You walked into my office. We sat down. I gave you all the time in the world. So to say, nobody's listening to you. Good. Great. How many emails, how many texts, how many phone calls, how much have, and I'm sure you've talked to others as well. And I was listening. I'm there. Okay. I understand. We have, we have an issue where there's enforcement over here, but there's not enforcement over there. That's what you were telling me, right? I've got you. But, We can't sit here and start this conversation, and when staff starts bringing solutions forward, and you did not object to it. We've brought this forward already. This conversation was already brought up. I mean, gosh, this has been many months. Did you object to the planning commission meetings or any other?

The last that I was aware of was the workshop. Okay. That was the last information I received.

And I spoke to you on the phone and you didn't object to this. I did talk to you about this on the phone probably about a month ago. And so that's where I don't understand is why did you wholeheartedly want us to intervene on this, which is you were the driving force of this. And now that we've found a solution, I thought it's amicable. And now you're saying, stop, we don't want any of it. So you.

Not what I'm saying, sir.

I am Trevor. I I'm it's not what I'm saying. So what do you, what do you want this council to do? If not this, what does Trevor Estill want? I'm just for cure. I'm curious.

As I said, we're taking a sledgehammer who's we, the, the council, the, the city staff that rewrote this ordinance, we're taking a sledgehammer to an ordinance that can grossly affect, I'm perfectly in alignment with Jim. Creating the midnight closure, it's going to end up hurting the entertainment district. You're right, we did have this conversation, and your response to me at that point was, well, do you want to close at midnight too? Never. Absolutely.

I don't know where that even comes from.

100%. That was your response to me in that conversation.

Trevor, I'm baffled by these comments because why would that even come out of my mouth? You have a liquor license. We can't dictate that.

You could. You can make an ordinance in the entertainment district.

I'm going to take the floor again. I'm going to take the floor again because let's set this straight exactly what this is. We've got somebody with a liquor license. I believe we've got two downtown, right? Thank you. Out of the four in town. All right, we got two. You have been crying. We have to differentiate between liquor license and the 51%. Sure. Right? They don't have a kitchen. They don't have a kitchen. Our code says you have to have a kitchen. You got to have pool tables. You want us to pay attention to all that. I really don't care about the pool tables and all that stuff. I like the entertainment side. Um, but you do have me on the kitchen aspect because that is what differentiate between how much do you have in value in your liquor license?

You've set it up right now. It's about 400,000 at the time I wanted to go down $200,000 in the past eight months. Right. A hundred percent.

You've been telling me it was 600,000.

Oh, it was no, no, no, no. At the time I wanted to go to a restaurant license that I was told that I had to follow code. My liquor license was valued at $650,000. It is now valued at $380,000. Okay, now we're at $380,000. Well, you want to work around numbers, $400,000, $380,000. It depends on where you look and who's got it for sale.

Okay, so that is the whole point of this. What differentiates between what you have and what a 51%? What is that, the 4COP, what do they call that?

SFS. Okay, SFS.

Right?

So what is your suggestion? As I said, I think the stakeholders need to be involved in the conversation, working out whatever needs to be done. There does need to be a differentiation in my opinion.

Okay, the last time I heard you and another stakeholder, you guys were cursing each other down New York Avenue.

I didn't say a word in that exchange.

It was back and forth. Don't put me in that basket. I'm just saying that that's the last interaction I've seen. And I think you guys are great business owners. You do your things. We've always wanted you all to get along and work this out. And now you guys are telling me you want to come together and work it out somehow. And I... You never called me and said you were in opposition to this. In fact, it was the opposite. Somehow we have to differentiate, and I'm gonna turn to the council on this one right now, because we are voting on this tonight. Council Member Urban.

So I think, I've had many conversations with Mr. Still as well, and from what I understand, what you've explained to me is that the code has not been enforced It's been business by business. So I think that's where your main issue is. I do, too, have an issue with the midnight closing. I am not in favor at all of approving this with the midnight closing and telling a private business what to do. I don't think that's the government's job. I do think this cleans up a lot of the issues, like the mayor said, with the pool tables and the karaoke and everything. I don't want to be a footloose town where we're not allowed to dance or anything like that. But I think maybe to simplify things, if we approve this without the midnight closing, maybe we can convene the bars and the restaurants in our downtown together and come up with a solution and bring it to us. And I'm happy to listen and to hear that. But I would agree. I do not want to see the midnight closing for, for restaurants and our entertainment district.

All right. Well, do you think you guys in the next month can do that?

We can put something together, have a sit down. I would, I would like to have some staff, either the city manager or relevant staff, city manager.

Happy to participate.

Amazing. I make a motion to move this to the next September 10th council meeting.

Second.

We have a motion. Second by Council Member Paul. 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.

Thank you all. Jim, sorry, Ray, would you like to still come up here? You can come on up here. I know you do. We're moving it to the next meeting anyway. So, uh, I apologize.

I meant to hear you on that one while he's walking up. Um, if anybody wants to be in that meeting, I'm going to ask you to please email me so I can, um, set it up and let you know that we're going to have that meeting. Thank you for letting me come on city manager at stcloudfl.com. Yeah.

All right. Right. Can I name an address for the record, sir?

111 East Monument Avenue, Kissimmee, 34741. So I'm here on behalf of Breeze. Y'all know y'all sold us the building. We appreciate that. Yeah. We really have enjoyed being downtown and having the building and building the business. If you know anything about me or my company, we are tremendous advocates of downtown areas, Kissimmee, St. Cloud, We want to do anything we can do to help the downtown areas prosper. Having said that, we've invested a lot of money in Breeze based upon our mutual agreement and invitation and the contract that said we were going to be a bar and a restaurant, purchase property, built it out, enjoy it, everything's great. The rules are changing a bit, and I don't quite understand the logic behind it. The biggest thing is, I don't see the advantage of closing a full service restaurant at 12 and causing everyone to go to a place that doesn't sell food to drink. What's the downsides with a bar restaurant being open after 12 and selling food to people that work in the service industry, they come with their friends, they want to socialize, to get something to eat and drink, what's the advantage of requiring them to close and allow bars to stay open. Now, the four COP and the restaurant license, the biggest difference is the 51% food sales. The state regulates it, and they require that if you don't have a four COP, if you have a restaurant license, you have to have a certain square footage of a restaurant, seat a certain number of people, and have 51% food sales. Trevor doesn't have to do that. At Breeze, we have to do that. But that's how they distinguish and have for decades the difference between a bar and a restaurant. A restaurant has to have 51% food sales. We have that at Breeze, but I see no advantage to making us close and forcing everyone to go to a bar. It's like, what's the advantage? Well, you can't eat. So from what I read of the ordinance, And while I'm hearing everybody else, everyone's in favor of, I think, everything that y'all have proposed except item four, which is closing at 12. The state takes care of the rest, which is what's the advantage of having the four COP? You don't have to have 51% food sales. That's the big difference. You don't have to have kitchen. You don't have to have the whole, all the, controversy and issues with having food cells in kitchens, and it's complicated. But you have to get the expensive license. If you don't want to do that, you've got to pay for the expensive kitchen. So I just don't see the advantage of limiting restaurants. Everything else, I appreciate y'all cleaning it up, the pool tables, the lighting, entertainment. It's great for the downtown business district. We enjoy being there. tend to stay here. We'd like to stay successful. A huge part, I would say at least a third to a half of our revenue happens after 10.30, 11 o'clock. And if those people had to leave at 12, I don't think they would come at 10.30 or 11, knowing they would have to leave at 12. So I see the detriment economically to the business district. I don't see the advantage of limiting food sales, restaurants at 12 o'clock.

Now, and to be fair, look, so you stay open until 2 and you don't have a kitchen, so you use... No, we do have a kitchen. You have a kitchen.

We have a kitchen that... Oh, can you come to the podium if you're going to speak, please?

You have to on the record.

I can answer that. Okay. But we are licensed with hotel and restaurant. They come and they have inspected. We have a kitchen shared with fire. And it's a legal licensed kitchen that they hotel and restaurant comes and inspects. You can have shared kitchens and we do. And if you've been there to breeze you, you've ordered food there probably. It's pretty good. We have, we sell a lot of food. So yeah, we do. Okay. So you have act, they, they serve food till 2 PM or 2 AM pass through window and hotel and restaurant knows about it and they have certified it and they said it's okay. And they, and alcohol, tobacco has been there.

Is that your staff in the kitchen cooking? Cause if Jim close at 11, it doesn't have to be ours. No, I'm just, I'm asking, trying to understand. Okay.

Jim staff still works till 2 AM. Our servers order it goes to his kitchen. He puts it up in the window. It's great for him. And I mean, I think it's really. Okay. Really helped his business. It helps ours, helps the community.

So basically Jim was fighting to stay open because his employees are still working during that time, right? So is that right? Your employees are working during those hours until 2 a.m.?

Yeah. I mean, it's a licensed kitchen.

All right. Ray, I'll be honest with you. None of this was on my radar until, and I love Trevor, I love Jim.

I don't think Trevor has a problem with this.

None of this was on my radar until Trevor brought it to me. That's I believe where all this stem from. I'm not blaming Trevor. I think there's been them. People have changed opinions on things and I'm glad everybody's getting along. Um, but what I've been told was that you didn't have a kitchen. You don't, you're not operating in accordance with the code.

That's where, what all this, I mean, our staff brought a whole laundry list of stuff and everybody just, so, you know, I met with Trevor after the workshop we had over at the community center.

Yeah.

And we had a great meeting. And we even discussed things like how do we get the CRA involved in doing special events and really grow our business district where it becomes a destination point. We don't want to work as individuals. We want to work as a destination point for that district. We had some great ideas. We'd love to participate with the city and have social events and gatherings and you know, do the dream that what brought us here. And I think it's your shared dream with the business district and the historic history for St. Cloud.

It's my dream. Well, thank you. Right. And you know, we're going to move this to the next meeting. So we're going to get a lot more information over this next month. Tisha, can you please come up to the podium? Ray, this is about your, I mean, we're still talking about this topic. Tisha, you presented a whole list of items where these number of facilities or these establishments were not in accordance with the code.

Correct.

Was Breeze on that list?

Yes.

What were the violations? Do you recall?

Some of it was the decibel of music. I believe the live entertainment or the music being played. as well as the seating, the high top versus the standard seating.

There's never been any conversation about a kitchen from staff?

Yes, there has.

Okay, that's what I want to know.

I want everybody to put that on the record now. I was going to say this when you were talking about the breeze. The current situation in Breeze, as we understand it, on where they get their food from and the arrangement that he had just explained to you with regard to fire, violates the city code. The way the code is written right now. Right. Do you see where we're coming from?

Because when staff tells us this.

The proposed ordinance was drafted to deal with changing that situation for the downtown entertainment area. When we talked to staff about it, staff recognized that. Many of the buildings in the downtown area are confined with their space. There are older buildings. Putting a standalone kitchen in an establishment could be not just expensive but practically impossible in the downtown area in the entertainment district and that it was consistent with the entertainment district to remove that requirement from the city code. Again, the city code as it sits here today, now it hasn't changed yet, as it sits here today, requires Breeze to have a standalone on-site kitchen and not get their food through a pass-through. That's how we interpret it. You mentioned it earlier, Mayor. Part of what this ordinance was done was to sort of clean up some of these things and correct some of them, and that's one of the issues. Tisha just mentioned some of the others.

Yes, that is correct.

Ray, I'll let you come up and speak on this since we're still talking about it. That's fine. Thank you, Tisha. And so everybody understands that we're being told that the code is this and our staff and our attorney is saying there's violations. I have a business owner downtown coming to me and saying there's violation after violation. They're being ignored for seven years. Our job is to call balls and strikes and make sure every citizen is treated the same. So if the code is the code, that's what it is.

And we're here to help everybody through that and amend it. Right. I hear you. And I read the code and we submitted a plan to hotel and restaurant, which comes in and specs and on that plan on the floor plan, it shows fire with their seating area and a kitchen. On our plan, it shows breeze with a seating area and a kitchen. In highlighting the floor plan, it's a shared kitchen. It's a standalone kitchen that serves two sides. There's nothing in the code that says it can't serve two sides. It says you have to have a restaurant with a kitchen. We built the kitchen. We licensed the kitchen. If you look at the hotel and restaurant, alcohol, tobacco, your own occupational license shows the kitchen as part of Breeze. We have a kitchen. Why are they saying we don't have a kitchen?

I think over this next month, we'll clarify a lot of this. There's a lot of confusion with this now. And I do... There's nothing that I, I obviously want the business owners to get along. I know you're in Kissimmee and you've got staff here that, but between Jim or Trevor or everybody else, I want them all to get along and be on the same page and coexist and work together, as you said, through the CRA and that. But there's also staff and our attorney saying, here's what the code is. And I think that was the trade off. So we're not just pulling this out of thin air, right? Like I said, none of this was on my radar until somebody brought it forward to me last year. But I thought, hey, this is a good trade-off where he doesn't have to put an on-site kitchen. Saves you a lot of money, right? You're allowed to still have your high tops. You're allowed to have your pool table, your karaoke, your song and dance, footloose, everything else. And what I struggled with, what differentiates between a liquor license, which there's four in the city, I believe, and this. No, no, I'm just saying what I showed. No, no, no, no, no. I think you're misunderstanding what I'm saying. What is the financial difference? What is the value? Why would anybody in the city of St. Cloud ever spend, Trevor said $300,000 to $400,000, why would anybody do that? I can open up, when we do this, I can literally open up, what's the square footage we can do with these things then? 900 square feet? I can order in Domino's Pizza, sell the slice for $4.50, everybody that buys a liquor drink, $4, hold on Ray, I'm gonna tell you why it's crazy. I can open up just a building, and sell liquor all night long, and everybody that buys a liquor drink has to buy a slice of pizza for $4.50 at the same time, and the drink can go for four bucks. $8.50, you get a slice of pizza and that, I'll just order a Domino's pizza all night and not have a kitchen. That's where it goes off the rails, because that's what this would allow it to do. You understand? I'm not a dumb guy, I can come up with creative stuff.

I don't know about ordering the dominoes.

Why wouldn't you do that? You don't even need to get Jim's food. You can just order in your own food from Uber it in. That's my point. You don't even have to have a kitchen with this, but we have a kitchen.

Why would you do that? I mean, Trevor. But you don't. Why does Trevor do that?

Hold on, hold on. According to the City of St. Cloud Code and the City Attorney and the staff, they're telling us we're citizens up here, right? You know, I'm not going to say unfortunately. Fortunately, we get information from them and we have to make our determination based on that. So when business owners are saying this is not in accordance with the code, staff is saying it's not in accordance with the code, our own city attorney is saying it, our city manager, everybody is saying this is not in accordance. Who am I? I'm one of five people sitting up here to say am I going to be the only one saying it's not or that it is in accordance with the code? So this was to help find a solution you can have, right? Dan, that's the whole point of this. That's absolutely the part not to vilify, but to allow you to continue to operate, because to be honest with you, even moving this out. And I know I also want to include that we don't take any code enforcement action over the next 30 days, because to be honest with you, Ray, according to the code. that we move this 30 days. Within the next 30 days, you're going to be hit with violations because you're not in accordance with the code. But I'm saying we don't want to do that, obviously. This was the solution so that you can comply with the code when they're saying you're not.

Except for item four. What is item four? I'm sorry.

That's the 1159 closure.

It's the 12 o'clock thing?

No, no, no, no, no. The code is about the kitchen on site. That's the code, the violation. The other things, those are the easy ones. That's the low-hanging fruit. We all know that. The elephant in the room is the kitchen in your establishment. That's what the other individual who owns another business came to me over and over again and said, here's the problem. They don't have to have a kitchen.

The state hotel and restaurant, which is pretty restrictive. They come and they do inspections. They have the... for us to have that license they come and they inspect and they determine what meets the parameters of a full service restaurant with a kitchen you have to have kitchen full service meals to get that license alcohol and tobacco same thing if you want that license you have to do that and i don't disagree with that we have a kitchen why your staff unless there was pressure from

I think at the time, I think that was done back in the, I don't know how long, how old the, that code is. Dan, do we know how long that code's been in effect?

It's been in place for a while.

Okay. It makes sense.

You have to have a kitchen. Well, I don't know if that the code's been revised a couple of times, whether that, how long that particular language related, the kitchen has been in the code. I'm not familiar.

I'm not sure I could research it, but we've been blessed with having to clean up the messes of a very long time. And so we're trying to do our very best. I know staff is as well. So when they present a solution. Hell, I thought this was the best solution where everybody gets to still dance and karaoke and sit at high tops and play pool. And you still get to stay open and you don't have to build a kitchen. That's why 1159, and then I thought it makes Trevor happy. I mean, of all the code that staff has ever presented to me, I thought this one was an A plus of all of them, 100%. You may not feel so because obviously the closing 1159, but you still get to be in business. You get to stay open without having to get a liquor license.

Maybe if we can afford to close at 12. It's going to be really close. I don't know that we can succeed. I don't know if that's your goal. It's 1159, Ray. 1159. I know.

Over the next 30 days, we're going to look at more information, and hopefully we can really flush out all the details on this some more. Is that good?

I'm with you guys 100%. All right. I want it to be great.

Yes, sir, Ray. Thank you. Council, any comments? Anybody want to say anything else on this? Are we good? Okay. Well, this is a fun night.

Mayor, I think Jim has a... Yeah, Jim, come on up.

And again, Mayor, from... You've already continued this item, so we're going to have to. Yeah. Yeah. So Jim, let's get really quick. Yeah, it's really quick.

You got to keep it five seconds. I just want to answer your question about the financial benefits of the two licenses. OK, what Trevor has, he didn't have to put two hundred thousand dollars into a kitchen. He doesn't have fifteen thousand dollars a week in payroll to pay people to cook. maintenance on the equipment and everything else. So there are advantages to both. I just wanted, so the pizza and beer thing, that's not, yeah, that doesn't work. What doesn't work? What you were saying about I can open a place. Of course it does. Just pizza and beer.

I may start the first one.

Yes, it would work.

Thank you. Thank you, Jim. I'm just telling you. 100% it would work.

All right. I don't have time to open another business.

You got time, right? You don't have a job, right, Ken?

I love my job.

All right, anyone? Okay, we're moving on from that.

Yeah, we've already continued that, so move to the next item.

Next up, we have council action number two. City Clerk, will you please read Council Action number... Nope. Number one. Sorry, I got moved over to another page. Give me a moment here. What is in the Kool-Aid today here in the city?

It's Council Action number one.

Is that what... Okay, that was number... Are we all ready on that?

Yeah, we pulled two items off, and we already continued the third.

That's okay. Yes, will you please read council action number one?

Resolution number 2026-087R, a resolution of the City Council, City of St. Cloud, Florida, determining the lowest responsible bidder whose bid is reasonable, otherwise in the best interest of City of St. Cloud, and the award thereof in regards of invitation to bid ITB number 2026-026 to Mulligan Constructors, Inc., whose subject matter is Hopkins Park Community Center, establishing the contingency authorizing the city manager to approve the change order without increasing the approved project budget and providing effective date.

Good evening, Jamie DeMello, Procurement Services Deputy Director. Tonight before you is resolution number 2026087R for the Hopkins Park Community Center of Construction. This is the award of ITB number 2026026 Hopkins Park Community Center to Mulligan Constructors Incorporated for the construction of the Hopkins Park Community Center. So this resolution would authorize the city manager to execute the contract. Construction of this community center is a two-story, approximately 17,110 square feet. An invitation to bid was issued and opened on June 18th. We did have nine submittals received. It was reviewed by the engineer and the architect of record. Staff recommends award to Mulligan Constructors Incorporated, the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, and the amount of $10,320,777. This item was continued from last month's meeting. Staff recommends approval of resolution number 2026087R and is requesting that council would approve this resolution as well.

All right, thank you, Jamie. Anyone from the audience like to speak on this item? All right, and council. Oh, sorry, Raelynn. I'm going to be nice. As long as you're going to smile. Okay. Well, after we approve it or deny it, then you can't talk about it. You sure you don't want to talk about it? At this point, she needs to talk about it. That's right. I've been forced up to the podium before. Great to see you in council.

Thank you. I'm never up to midnight, so that whole thing doesn't respond to me, regard me. I'm Raylene Ketchum, 1105 Pennsylvania Avenue. So on this, the reason why I came tonight was I had just heard that it may be possible the council may be considering holding off on this. or possibly using the funds for something else so I am here to encourage you not to do that because this Hopkins Park has collaborated with the Boys and Girls Club of Central Florida and the Boys and Girls Club has amazing results with the kids so I want us to look at the big picture for our community we're raising children, young adults, uh, giving them a pathway, helping them with their homework, helping them with career paths, helping their parents be able to go to work and know that their children have a safe place to go. It's not free childcare. It's much, much more than that. So sports academics. So it is really important. Um, I think that, that, that does go through so it can help those kids. There you go.

Yes, ma'am. Council Member Fletcher first.

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to say that this project has been in the works for a very long time, and it's obviously something that I'm very passionate about. I know everybody up here on the council is, and previous councils and staff has put a lot of work into this. I had the opportunity to meet with the finance director and the folks at the deputy mayor's request. I know that there is a lot of concerns about the budget, about operational expenses, especially with the property tax reform. With that, in our park impact fees, we have about $10 million in park impact fees. Speaking with the finance director, we have enough money for the repayment of the bonds for approximately six years, even if they're There is no other revenue with the county, um, giving us also 2.3, two to $3 million a year. Um, we've received the memo and the updates, um, from staff at an estimated operational costs of about $405,000. That's 0.43% of our FY2026 and 2027 budget. The operational costs won't even go into effect for about 18 to 24 months. I think the project as is, I know we've received some updates on possible options. Um, I think, I think the, the, the project, um, would be most beneficial moving forward. Um, as is, you know, the community has spent a lot of time, um, on this project. Um, and I think it coming to a reality would be a huge success, both, um, for the community, the kids out there and everybody who has been involved. So thank you.

All right. And council member Paul.

I think Council Member Fletcher took everything that I had to say, but I did want to say I did take Deputy Mayor Gilbert's advice to sit down with our finance director and the bonds people regarding this discussion, and I think right now i am in agreement to move forward i think the master plan was budgeted in 2022 so here we are in 2026 and i think it's just time to move forward and get this dream into a reality for the community here in saint cloud so that's all i have to say all right councilmember urban uh

Same thing. I took the deputy mayor's advice, and I met with the bond people and our finance director, and it brought a lot of clarity to this project and how government bonds are used a lot of times. Government finances, even five years in, it's still hard to get your head around. But I agree. I would be honored to help move this project forward.

Council, Deputy Mayor Gilbert.

Well, thank you, Council, for having those meetings, and that's what we're supposed to do because we can't communicate. So if there's no objections, I'd ask the mayor to motion to approve this at this time.

All right. So you're going to make the motion to approve, Deputy Mayor. Before that, anyone else in the audience like to speak on this item? All right. With that, we have a motion on the table from Deputy Mayor Gilbert. Second. Second from Council Member Fletcher. 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. All right.

Thank you. Will the clerk please read Council Action Number 2?

Resolution number 2026-104R, a resolution of the City Council of City of St. Cloud, Florida, approving a new lease agreement of the Cravity Bills of St. Cloud LLC for the Marina Building premises at 1104 Lakeshore Boulevard, St. Cloud, Florida, providing for a new lease in the initial term of 10 years for an initial rent of $10,000 per month effective September 1st, 2026, authorizing the Mayor and City Manager to execute the new agreement and providing an effective date.

Good evening, council members Jabari Walker, assistant city manager. Uh, today I'm here to speak on the crabby bill. Please. That's resolution 2026 1 0 4 R. So per, uh, council direction, the city has been working with leadership of crabby bills to develop a long-term lease agreement. Uh, once, uh, our, um, economic development consultants were onboarded, we tasked them to assist us with those negotiations. This agreement includes a rent of $10,000 per month for the initial year, plus a 3% annual increase. Additionally, it includes a percent rent of 5% in excess of the breaking point. You should have received, and it should be before you, a technical amendment to this to ensure that that language is added if and in the event a motion to move this forward occurs. Additionally, the second floor was excluded from this agreement, but there was language in there for a 180-day option to enter into a separate lease if Krabbe Bills chose to do that. And just for additional information purposes, if they do not pick up that lease, currently the city is making revenue off of events hosted on the second floor. Through this fiscal year, the city has received $75,000. Last fiscal year, a little bit over $94,000. As it relates to signage, any upgrades would require pre-approval from the city. And then as a part of this, there's a term to allow up to $75,000 credit towards the base rent for improvements. And here is photos of the improvements that are being complicated as a part of this. So there's one item that Krabby Bills is requesting a modification in the lease. That is to Section 1C, the renewal part. Currently, which before you, is a continuation of the 3% annual increases in the rent. They're asking for beyond the initial term, a pre-negotiated 3% of the rent. The Economic Development Advisory Committee's recommendation was to decline approval of this and rather submit a request for proposal for a restaurant at the Marina Building. Staff recommendation was approval, and we are asking for your approval. And I believe someone from Crabby Bills is here.

Jabari, what was EDAC's comments? Like, why would they want us to go for submitting a request?

So they took it upon themselves to put forth that recommendation. They did not see the lease agreement. There was no discussions given. The only thing staff provided them was what a potential proposal timeline could look like. But they still moved forward with putting forth that recommendation to you all.

All right. Was that all the members on that committee? Was it a full slate?

All the members, so I believe Member Representative Stark had dropped off the call. She was there virtually at the point in which they approved that, but all other members present voted yes.

Thank you. All right, with the applicant. It's not, you're not really the applicant. Uh, crabby bills. Would you like to speak on this item?

And, and Goman York has a representative here. Also those guys.

Sure. Hey, good to see you. Thanks for coming to council.

Good evening. Hi Carly. Hi. Did you have any questions for me? No. The lease is structured. I feel like in the way that we worked with the city and the representatives, we felt that it was good for both sides. I was asked to speak on the $75,000 credit that is in there. based on us discussing at the previous presentation wanting to do some building improvements to improve the way the marina building looks. In further discussions with Veronica and Dan, Veronica shared that they really didn't have dollars to improve the marina building. in any of the ways that we had suggested at the previous, but they were interested in it. Dan suggested the tenant credits in lieu of rent as they would accumulate slowly to be able to improve the exterior of the building to match our improvements for the inside. We also consulted with the firm, and they worked with Goman Pierce on our side from SRS, and they felt that it was a good deal. It was on par with local rates for the building.

Okay. I do have some concerns. It's not really Krabby's. It's... Unfortunately, we have to act like it's our building, right? Right. We're doing what's in the best interest and the best business deal possible. And I just, I have a hard time understanding the $75,000 credit, but that's just, you know, maybe we can talk that out here tonight. Okay. Deputy Mayor Gilbert.

Well, thank you, Mayor. Our consultants, Gorman, has been great. I'm not in the restaurant business, so thank you for your evaluation, sir. Ken, if I may. $75,000, I do have... I do have commercial buildings that are rented. And when we signed a longer lease, we used those $75,000 or whatever for structural things, for windows, doors, patios, flooring, ceilings, things that are structural for that commercial building. I know these $75,000 were for tables and chairs, booths, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. what my understanding is that you can shake your head all you want, but let me finish. Okay. Okay. Certainly. Please. I, that's what I'm informed and that's what I'm talking to council cause I don't get to talk to him. Okay. So no, no disrespect, but let me finish and go ahead. Uh, You got 3% CPI which would be a 30% raise in rent over a 10-year period. I agree with always first right of refusal or letting them come into a continuing lease agreement because one thing as a commercial building, it costs you hundreds of thousands of dollars to change tenants because there's certain things you have to give away, there's certain things you have to make concessions of, a lot of times they'll ask for first and last and be free for them to move in and to move expenses. So I agree with the advice of Gorman and Ken that we should continue this from the studies that they did. But I would like to see the $75,000 in structural light ceilings, flooring, and things such as that, not decorative items for that. But I think it's a good agreement. I think they've been a great tenant. They call it Krabby Bills. I think they're going to change it to Krabby's. I think they're really stepping up to the menu. I really think they're going to do a good job. when you said mayor about the $75,000, I just want it to be structural because after 10 years it needs to improve the building, not the ambience. I yield back to you and I apologize for interrupting, but I had to make my point to the council cause I never get a chance to talk to them. Uh, besides on the status. So thank you very much mayor. Thank you very much for, for allowing me to speak. And I yield back to you.

Carly, would you like to clarify?

Yes. We would be responsible for the interior refresh. That was something that we had talked about, the painting, the art, the chairs, all of that. We had at the previous meeting in October, when I had spoke individually to different council members, they had asked for our ideas for structural or building improvements. And we had included quite a few of those in the presentation. The ones that were included, they were multiple and they were over, obviously, together, $75,000. We felt that structural improvements would be needed to enhance the appeal of the building, not like our aesthetics inside. And the one that we were looking forward to, I think it's written that the city has approval on them because they are improvements to their building, so you would have the deciding say on what was done. There were some AI graphics given in October at the workshop of replacing the storefront doors with a wood look It kind of gives a low coastal feel, um, where I'm stuck right now is a little bit with the building department. I've, uh, consulted their seven foot doors and like Romack Thomas, Osceola door and window. I can get the doors in six feet, eight inches or up to eight feet, but I just need to know if it, for the quote to go forward, do we have to open it up? Do we have to block it down? But those are the types of improvements that we were wanting to make with that credit, that it would be certainly a credit to the building. I'm sorry. There was confusion. Yeah.

Yeah.

So, um, here's where I've met on this. Um, I, I think, you know, we, we, we talk about making decisions on this council that are going to basically outlast us that are sitting here. This is a 10 year lease. I would agree with the edX recommendation to put this out for an RFP and maybe Krabby's comes out on top, but what does it hurt to put it out? It competition breeds success. We can keep Krabby's there while the RFP process goes through. Um, I just think we, we need to put it out and, and, and that just, just see what else is out there to, that this is not, I mean, this is the, the residence building. This is a citizens building that's paid for by the taxpayers. It's a beautiful area. Krabby's is a beautiful restaurant. I just think we need to put it out, advertise it as an RFP, and see who comes out on top, create the competition, and bring other competition into our city. That's where I'm at.

Yes, sir. I swear I just had deja vu. Weren't you at the same workshop with the other, the downtown stuff?

I didn't know that tonight was going to line up this way, but I had a little bit of deja vu almost a year later.

Uh, city attorney.

Yeah. Thank you. So, um, I think as I think Mary, you just made the comment that there may be, we were learning more information again on this. Uh, We drafted the lease agreement. The lease agreement talked about tenant improvements. We did during the discussions early on say that those kind of tenant improvements that Deputy Mayor Gilbert was referring to, it is customary for a landlord to afford rent credits back if they are improvements that improve the structure of the building and do that, that basically the landlord gets to keep when the tenant leaves the premises. When we drafted the agreement, we drafted it with this idea of 75,000. It was always intended that there be one of the things that Mrs. Miller and I talked about is that's great, but we need to know what they are and they need to be specified as to what they are. The list that has showed up that you've seen, which is exhibit B to the agreement, is frankly the wrong list from what we're hearing right now. Yes. Right. That list is, as was pointed out, those are more decorative, internal, those things. That's not the list of the tenant improvements that we, Mrs. Miller and I, envisioned would be eligible for the tenant improvement credit. What that list is, I'm still not sure what it is, because I don't, we've heard some mention of some stuff, but, so I think that's where a lot of this, part of this confusion is right now. So if you are gonna give that credit, we still would want to see a list of what those items are so that they meet an acceptable and reasonable criteria for the city council to approve. That exhibit would need to be updated. Yes, exactly.

Thank you, sir. Thank you for clarifying that. Council Member Fletcher.

I just wanted to say thank you for being a community partner. You have been here a long time. You've served a lot of residents and visitors throughout your time here. here in our city. That is a wonderful building and a wonderful space. I know that you guys work very hard. Unfortunately, I am in agreement with EDAC that I believe we should put it out to bid so that other businesses, local businesses, have the opportunity to possibly have that space and keep up with their design. Perhaps you would come out on top, kind of what Council Member Urban had said. I had said that from the beginning of this process, and that's where I stand tonight. But I appreciate all of the time and effort that you put in, and like I said, the community support and all of that. So thank you.

Thank you.

So you're referencing more exterior improvements now than like windows that's with the 75,000 credit.

The city attorney is correct. That was the discussion all along. It wasn't a change. It was always the dialogue. I think it's just presented in a little bit of a different way than intended.

Okay. Thank you. Uh, council member Paul.

Um, Are you able to provide like the list of, um, the upgrades that you guys would plan on doing?

So we would like to focus on the front doors originally in the first AI drawing. They, um, what I'm being told by contractors is you're looking for a vinyl wood grain storefront door. Real wood wouldn't survive on the lakefront with the sun. Um, And that's where I'm stuck right now. Just finalizing the costs of those, but that's what we would like to do is replace the front doors. Um, I've gotten some quotes for some wood paneling in the ceilings above each. It gives it more of like a, a low country coastal feel, um, just repainting the outside of the building in the same color scheme. And then obviously keeping the roof the same green. Um, but it just, it improves the whole visual look of the entire building. There's a lot of confusion, I think of what that building is. And some people think it's the place where you go in and you rent boats. And some people think that they can rent a boat slip. There are some people, um, think it's a mansion on the lakefront. And I think just. giving it a nicer upscale look with the doors and this upstairs and downstairs would be nice if we could replace them both um looks like a government building a little bit yeah it does um it kind of just matches the pavilions down the lakefront and uh we think it would just elevate it to match the improvements we'd like to make inside too because it doesn't make a lot of sense to just improve the inside and and not have some some curb appeal to go with it okay

Thank you. Carly, I'd like to ask Ken to come on up here.

Sure, absolutely.

No way he didn't waste his time driving here without Tim. We pay them pretty good money to give us advice on this stuff.

Thank you, council members.

Is it good money? I don't know. It's not bad.

It'll get better. But anyways, my name is Ken Pierce, so I'm the managing director for Florida for Goldman and York. I'm also a licensed real estate broker, and I'm the project manager for the company for the contract here with the city of St. Cloud. So if you don't mind, let me just say this. One of the most important things about a lease is it's all about the relationship, right? So right now you guys have been in a relationship with Krabby Bills for over 10 years. For the most part, it's been a great relationship, right? So the company's been successful, they make money, you have your property rented out at a good fair market rate. But what we've done with the lease renewal is we substantially increased your, uh, the, the revenue that you guys are gonna be getting. Not only that, did we increase it up from $6,200 a month to 10,000, but we also added a percentage rent, which is huge. And this is a really good, um, fair market lease that's on the table. Uh, your tenant is a good operator. They know what they're doing. They can make money and more than likely they're gonna be able to fulfill the 10 year lease. If you put it out for RFP, you're going to start the entire process all over again, which means your property may sit empty. It may get a lower quality tenant who may not have the financial resources or their operating experience to fulfill a new 10 year lease. So I would also have the council consider that as you guys make a decision on whether you want to move forward this evening with this lease or not. So subject to your questions.

I assume they have an onsite kitchen, right?

I believe so, yes.

Domino's. And Mayor, I don't know if it would be valuable, but maybe Ken could explain how the percentage rent works because it doesn't, the version in front of you talks about some terms.

Yeah, so a percentage rent is defined by, you look at the gross sales of the And so gross sales has a definition that you guys see with the addendum. And then what we do is there's a break-even point, right? So the break-even point shall be calculated by dividing the annual base rent, which is $120,000, for the most recent lease year by the percentage rent set forth above, which is 5%. So the gross sales means the total amount of sales above, in, and upon the premises, including sale of food, beverages, merchandise, and services. And then the way it works, so they define a break-even point. And then that break-even point, everything above that, you get an additional 5% rent.

So the break-even point is established as a formula calculated based on the annual rent, the base rent, basically, right, and a percentage of that. And so to be clear, essentially that's so they do well or they do better, the city shares...

Correct. So what's nice about when you do a TI, a tenant improvement, you're basically aligning your guys' interest, right? So if you say, hey, we're going to give you $75,000, you guys aren't writing them a check right now. You're giving them a credit. So that's going to go against their rent payments, right? So now the question is, how strict do you want to be with them using that $75,000 TI money? And so, yes, ideally, you want to have it put to as much as the structure and the land and the facilities as possible. But it's also sometimes not a bad idea to let the tenant have that discretion, because the things that they want to do is going to add value and make the place more attractive to bring more customers in, which will increase the sales, which you guys will then also participate in and make more money. So I wouldn't necessarily sell short the idea of not spending money on interior improvement because if they go out of business, you guys get to keep all that stuff anyways in the lease. That all belongs to you.

I think one of the things, like if we got to replace windows, I'd rather them put money towards stuff like that, you know, because then they're going to come back to us. I think, Dan, real quick, I think when they first built it, I think there was some issues with the windows.

Yes.

I remember the water was coming right through that wall. That's right.

Well, and the way I understand it with the resolution, it allows the city manager and the city attorney to finalize the deal and close it and sign the contract.

All right. Council Member Fletcher.

Thank you, and I appreciate the relationship that you have with the city. I have two questions. One, unless, I mean, I don't remember if it was provided. I don't have it in front of me right now. So how did we come up with the 10,000 plus the 5%? Were we looking at comparable properties in the area?

It's kind of an industry standard for retail establishments. So normally you have a fixed base rent. That's going to usually go up with the rate of inflation. So this one right now is 3%. as a council member Gilbert said, yes, basically a 30% increase in rent over the next 10 years. I understand that, but then the base rent, so then you have the percentage rent. So that's kind of what that does is a industry standard for lining the interest of the landlord and the tenant together. So the better the tenant does, the better the landlord does.

So what would be the comparable properties that we looked at to come up with the 10,000 plus for the base? So for the base, so what were they and where?

Um, so that was looking more at, uh, per square foot. But, and the other thing that is, we looked at their total revenue. So for their revenue that they were generating for their size restaurant and their business, that was more a rent that they could afford. Cause the other problem you get into is if you overcharge your tenant, you're gonna end up putting them out of business. Right?

Absolutely. Cause I mean, if, if I was to rent a property, like say, okay, so we need to find a property that, you know, as this square feet has this kitchen and his waterfront. in a downtown, close to a downtown. I would compare other areas and property to this and then come up with the base and then, like you said, align the interest with the 5%. Now, the 5% is attached to gross sales. If it's 10,000 plus 5%, what are we looking at?

It really depends on how the business is.

Because I don't know what the gross sales are that they're doing. I don't have their financials in front of me to make that decision.

Right. I can tell you right now, what you're getting now versus what you have is substantially more.

Okay. And I just don't have that to be able to make the decision. Then my second question is... Obviously, they've been a good partner, but if we did put it out for a request for bid, with it being such a wonderful property down there and beautiful, it would be true that we could potentially have somebody submit a proposal and do substantial improvements at their cost to operate there. That would be a correct statement?

That would be a big risk for somebody else to come in and do that. And so normally the way that's structured in a new lease is they're going to come into you and say, hey, we got a great vision of what we think this can be, and we can generate tons of money, but we want you as a partner, since we're doing a percentage rent, and we're going to do an upscale, steakhouse, but we want you to put in $500 to $1 million up front. For sure.

But that's not it. We don't even want a credit. We want that. But we wouldn't know that unless we actually put it out there, right?

Right, but that's the only way that would make sense for them financially to do it. So then the question is, you know, this is a, you know, I look at this as a destination restaurant. This is not in a restaurant row. It's not in a destination location. This is a place you go, hey, I want to go to Crabby Bill's on the lake. I like the ambiance. I like the setting. I like the price. I like the food and the service. I'm going to go there. versus going to your downtown district where you're going, I'm going to have a variety of different bars and restaurants and experiences I can have in one place. What's nice about Krabby Bills is they're a regional restaurant. They're well established. They're good operators. They're successful. Most restaurants right now are not successful. They're struggling. You could go put this out for an RFP. You're going to have a time gap between the time you put it out for an RFP. I assume you would extend the lease because you don't want to lose money. But at the same time, you're also souring the relationship you have with your tenant who goes, well, we thought we've done everything right. We negotiated it fair, but you're still not going to give us the opportunity to be a partner for the next 10 years. So they may just pull out. They may not submit an RFP. They may get mad and say, we're done. So that's the risk you're taking if you do that.

I'm just asking the questions. So if there was an expansion of that, Would park impact fees cover that building? No, because it would be a replacement of items. It would be a replacement. I appreciate the partnership. Thank you.

I'm just trying to shoot straight with you guys. There's risk and rewards for each course of action. The risk is you could lose a great tenant who's stable, who you're going to get a lot more money from to maybe get a new tenant that may pay you more but may also not be as financially strong, may not be as well-known, and may be out of business in a year or two. You start the process over again. So, but again, that's your guys's, uh, choice, but our task was to renegotiate a lease. And we thought from our point of view, we re uh, we pretty much working with crabby bills and their team, their broker negotiated what we think to be a win-win relationship for you guys. If you wanna move forward with it, uh, between the city and the operators.

All right. Uh, deputy mayor. Yep. Thank you for your insight. Uh, when I looked at this project, Six or eight months ago, I was in agreeance, put it out for bid, do the RFP, do that. I listened to your instructions because you're the professionals of it. I do rent commercial buildings. One, you have a tenant that will take some time to move in. Two, you're exactly right. They're not coming in and say, we're going to put in 500 grand for a kitchen. You got to put in the 500 grand. I've been there or those improvements. I'm not trying to convince council whatsoever or any way because I was on the other end of the stick before I did my research that we should put it out for bid. Now you have a steady client, you got 3% CPI, you got 5% after a certain number of that. That means the business is doing well enough that you're going to reap and reward benefits from their additional sales and their additional going. You have a long-term customer. In my commercial real estate industry that I own businesses, I love long-term tenants because they're good tenants. I'm going into the unknown and the abyss if I get some idea with a restaurant. And from what I know, and I don't, that's why I rely on you, one out of every three restaurants fail. So you're taking that chance that, hey, Joe Smith's going to pay you $20,000 a month. Well, Joe Smith's broke at the end of 12 months. I'm not saying that I'm not saying this thing. I just, I'm always felt warm and fuzzy about working with somebody that's been in my buildings for 10 years or 15 years. Cause again, it's a partnership and that's it. I'm not trying to convince council whatsoever. I think many restaurants would succeed there. I think that's a great location. I just don't know if we want to go through that process of finding somebody, putting out that up for money. Correct me if I'm wrong, Ken. You're going to have to make concessions. That first year's rent, even if you get 20 grand, you're not going to get 20 grand. You're going to get nada. That's the only thing I have to say. I'm not trying to convince anybody. I'm not in the restaurant business. It's a tough business to be in. Established businesses are much better than going to new businesses that open up. Again, with the pleasure of counsel, please don't listen to my investigation, but through my investigation and through my due diligence, a bird in the hand is better than a tuna bush.

Well, on the other, on the other side of it, you know, now you put it on an RFP, you're going to get multiple offers. Now you got to go in and act like the landlord. Now you got to do diligence on each of these operators. Who are they? What's their background? What track record do they have? What's their financing? Who's what's their capital stack look like? How six, what's the chances of them being successful in this location? Um, and then who's most qualified. And even then you can still try to pick the best one and they could still fail five years from now.

or three months.

Right.

Again, I'm not... But again, that's... I'm sorry. I just want to be...

I just want to... This is what happens in this industry and in this space.

It's the toughest industry I've ever... That's why I say so far away from it. It's so tough of an industry. You look at the failure rate with the first three years, it's incredible.

I have people call me, hey, I want to set up a restaurant. I'm like, don't do it.

So you don't want to sell Domino's pizza with me?

Well, I'll do that.

If a beer's $4.50, I'll sell them a slice for $4 or $4.50, whatever you want to do, Mayor.

Council Member Urban.

Yeah, again, there's always a risk. I mean, we took the risk with, frankly, with your firm. We said, hey, we want to go in a different direction, and so we put out an RFP for an economic development firm, and I'm glad we did. I think that was the right decision. I would rather the city take the risk and get this right than to just continue just because we've always done it. And Krabbe's, like Sean said, has been a great partner. But I think we owe it to the residents to get this right and put this out for competition. You mentioned that this is a destination restaurant. And I have a couple of destination restaurants in mind that, will drive an hour or an hour and a half out of town to go to just because it's so the food is amazing the atmosphere is great it's on the water do you have any data on how many uh people this is attracting from outside of our city into this restaurant do you know of any data about that we did not do that we can go back and pull placer data which is cell phone data and that data will show you

you know, who's going there and how often they go there. I don't know if Carly, if you guys have any of that data.

Carly, you need to come up to the podium. There's a second podium. Oh, yeah, we'll get two. The mic works the same, smaller podium.

Prior to October's workshop we had, and we, um, maybe don't have all of the tools, but we were doing Google and. Um, traffic and we were recording about 5,000 direction pools to us map requests. So we did take that as traveling in. We use an outside marketing firm called on ideas that specializes in restaurants. We use them statewide for restaurants and we work with travel bureaus within the counties. And, um, and stops for information and advertising as well across the state for our locations.

Okay. Thank you. Uh, council member Paul.

Um, I would ask if we can continue this until we get more information. And also I would like to, um, have the opportunity to go on site, to look at the, um, I still have questions about the improvements and actually go on site to see what improvements, you know, nothing beats then going on there and actually looking at it for yourself. So, um, ask if we can continue this.

Okay. That's good. City attorney. And I believe, uh, the lease expires very shortly.

10 days.

10 days. All right. Well, let's, can we go ahead and just grant an automatic 30 days?

We can do that. That's why I was going to ask. So we can, we, that would be what you need to do just so we, we have a lease in place. Could we, our next meeting is September 10th.

Okay. Well that would, so 20 days is a little tight to even have noticed that our lease would be ending if it could be at least 60 days, I would.

I'm good with that. I mean, because that really doesn't, yeah.

Well, I do think vetting out the true tenant improvements for which would be credit eligible is going to take a little bit of time.

I'll catch Deputy Mayor up. So city attorney said that their lease expires in 10 days. So credit bills, Carly's asked about a 60-day extension. Council member Paul asked if she would like to go out, out on site, kind of look at the, what improvements would be done. Council member urban kind of agreed with that as well. So just catching up. I figured it.

Well, thank you, man. I would just like to ask that to be a four to six month extension because then we can really do due diligence, uh, 90, 180 days. I blinked my eye and half a year's gone. Uh, you know, so something that's, um, feasible for both the crabbies and both us.

And that's the extension of the lease. We'll still talk about this at the September meeting. We're pushing this item to the September meeting.

But at least give them the common courtesy of extending three months at 180. Something where they're confident that we're serious and we're confident that That timeframe is just too tight for me.

And they have employees.

That was my biggest thing I put in bold. We don't want to freak people out.

So it's been happening for months now. Each time we publish minutes of the council meetings and we come up and nothing's been decided, people get worried. So we definitely want to take care of our staff and provide them reassurance. Some of our staff have worked there for 20 years. Right.

In that service industry, it's an industry that you have to paycheck to paycheck people. No disrespect, but a lot of them, you don't want to. They've got a plan, too. Certainly. And we care about them.

Jeff Cooper. You want to come up here real quick? He's the numbers guy.

Jeff Cooper, Finance Director. I just need clarification on rent extension. What will their rent be? So their current agreement is the annual increase is based upon the April CPI. We've already notified them of what it will be September 1st. Technically, that's when their lease expires and it is an increase. So are they paying... What they paid August 1st, are they paying what we've notified them? I don't have the exact amount. It's 7,000 or something.

Deputy Mayor, why don't we just continue with the agreement we have? If that's an annual increase, let's do business as is and do it that way. And the increase will be just formidable to what their annual increase is. And then we go from there. We're asking them to hang in. and we should honor our agreement with them for the rent increase. Uh, I yield back to you mayor. I'm sorry.

So you're saying it will increase September.

Well, so Mike, all you're doing right now is considering extending the term that expires at the end of this month for a period of time. So if, if that's the only thing you're going to do, basically all the terms and conditions in the lease will stay the same. The CPI that is supposed to kick in will kick in and um, The term will just be extended. All we need really is how long do you want to extend it?

I think six months is appropriate.

A pleasure to counsel. It's fair to both parties.

No matter what the decision is next month, that gives plenty of time for one decision or the other.

Six months would be the extension, but I assure you Mrs. Miller's not going to let me do this again, which is bring it back right before 10 days before the expiration. Yeah.

Well, I think we're going to be talking about this in a month anyway. I think we're all, I would love to go out there myself. I think council member Paul as well. Council member Fletcher.

Um, I was just prepared to make a motion to continue it to the September meeting.

Okay. I'm going to go ahead and take public comment really quick because I didn't do that yet. Anyone in the audience like to speak on this item? Nope. With that council member Irvin, do you have anything else to say? Oh no, sorry.

So mayor, before you take a motion that can actually continuous, we also would need a motion to extend the lease for six months.

Okay. Uh, all in one. Uh, I'm okay with that. We can do it all one.

Mr. Fletcher's good at this. He's been doing it for a number of years.

Throw it all and mix it up and spin it up.

Motion to continue to the September meeting and allowing a six month lease extension as currently written second.

All right. We have a motion from council member. Fletcher has stated second council member, Paul, all those in favor. I'm sorry. No, we can't do that with a 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 five.

Thank you all. Thank Carly. Ken. All right. Thank you. Let's go ahead and take a 10 minutes. We will go ahead and call this meeting back door. Uh, chief, did you have something you wanted to say? Do you want to address that? I was hoping you would intervene at some point.

Don't you have some tools on you?

All right. We had some loose screws, you know, you have a screwdriver or something. I don't know. So, um, that was council.

Action number two, I believe Will the clerk please read council action number three resolution number 20 26-1 20 are a resolution of the City Council the City of st Cloud Florida relating to Kings crest establishing a special assessment for essential maintenance of street lighting street lighting expenses and adopting and approving a final assessment role for the special assessment of the area established by resolution number 20 26-0 94 are providing for serability and providing an effective date

Good evening again, uh, city council Jabari Walker, assistant city manager before you is resolution number 20, 26, one 20 are the Kings crest final assessment, um, per council direction. And upon reaching a 50%, uh, residents threshold, the city has been working to create a special assessment for the 116 properties of Kings crest subdivision. Uh, the assessment is for ongoing streetlights, irrigation and landscaping services. The total assessed cost is $32,712.41 to the properties, and it includes administrative costs as well. During the 20, excuse me, during the July 2026 council meeting, the preliminary assessment was approved. This is the final hearing, and staff recommendation is to approve resolution 2026-120R.

All right, thank you, Jabari. Would anyone in the audience like to speak on this item? I know we've got some citizens from that area here. Jabari, really quick, if you don't mind. So that 32,000, that gets divided up between, or is that how?

Yeah, so it is split up between the 116 properties evenly. The breakdown is 282 per parcel.

Okay. And they were given an option of an HOA, but they don't want the HOA idea, right? That's correct. Okay. That's how I recall the last. Okay.

Originally, the council did not want to do this, and we went, we met with them, and overwhelmingly they asked if we could have the city council reconsider and do a special assessment, and city council agreed to do that, and we're full circle now.

Okay, and this is essentially what the county... Like the makeup of the deal with the county and the residents over there? Yes, sir.

There's a different process at the county, but the end result was the same.

That ends up on their tax bill?

Yes.

All right. Anyone from the audience? No one else? Council?

Yes, Mayor, if I may.

Yes, sir. Deputy Mayor.

The MDU with Osceola County was the assessment of these fees, and I met with some people during our break with the chief of police, and I told them we were just shifting those funds over to the city council funds to do that, and they just wanted an explanation. They were here, and they left. I met them outside with the chief of police. They just wanted an explanation, but this is just an MDU changing over to us to do that, and I'm not looking forward to, but this is something we're going to be addressing as we continue to annex and continue these systems. I agree with us passing this because These are costs for that specific community. I can't give you exact dollars, but it's 282, but the MDU with the county was similar. I'm not saying it's less or more, but I know that they're used to this payment. I yield back to you, council, but I do know that this is an assessment that they paid with the county. It's transferred over to the city. Thank you for letting me speak, and I yield back to you, mayor. All right.

Yeah, and folks, we're sorry, obviously, with the little kink in the system there, but I'm glad we were able to work it out and get to this point and find a way through it. Obviously, the annexation of properties is somewhat of an inconvenience for some of the issues here, so I'm glad we're making it through. All right, and if no other comments, can I entertain a motion on this one? Motion to approve. I'm sorry. No? Oh, Council Member, did you have a question?

Motion to approve. Second. You get a car.

You get a car. We have a motion from Council Member Fletcher and a second from 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 5-0.

And we're also at the next one. It's the very similar, though, right? And will the clerk please read Council Action Number 4.

RESOLUTION NUMBER 2026-121R, A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF CITY OF ST. CLOUD, FLORIDA RELATING TO CAIN'S BREAK ESTABLISHING A SPECIAL ASSESSMENT FOR ESSENTIAL MAINTENANCE OF STREET LIGHTING EXPENSES AND ADOPTING AND APPROVING A FINAL ASSESSMENT RULE FOR SPECIAL ASSESSMENT AREA ESTABLISHED BY RESOLUTION NUMBER 2026-094R, PROVIDING PRESERVABILITY AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.

Once again, good evening. Jabari Walker, Assistant City Manager. This resolution number 2026121R is for the Canebrake final assessment per council direction upon receiving 50% of residents approval threshold. The city has been working to create a special assessment for the 69 properties of Canebrake subdivision. This is for ongoing streetlights and landscaping services. The total assessment cost is $14,476.76 to the properties, and it includes administrative support costs. During the July 2026 council meeting, a preliminary assessment was approved. This is the final hearing.

69 property, same thing. It'll be divided up between the 69?

Yes, Mayor. It was 208, 209? 209. 209. 209, 81.

You just remember that number off the top of your head like Rain Man, huh?

I've been dealing with it a lot, Mayor.

Deputy Mayor.

If I may ask a question. Yes, sir. This is another thing we talked about doing, but I would ask the City Council to put an expedition on cleaning the frontals of their properties because they've been in a quandary in some of the... lawns and maintenance has not been taken care of because we're, they're waiting for us to take this, take this over. So I would just ask the council, I don't know how to ask, but if we can put a priority on this, clean this thing up, show them what we do as a city, be proud of our city and, um, get this work done, uh, as soon as possible to start our, our, our partnership with the, with these residents. I yield back to you mayor and I just like to do that.

All right. City manager.

I just wanted to clarify, I believe that was for the prior subdivision, but- We'll jump on it. But we'll jump on it. The only thing is, any costs that were not already included would be added to the following years, since I think this is additional months for the landscaping is what we're talking about.

Anytime you adopt a baby, you give them a new blanket and food. and we're doing that, we need to take care of our residents. We really do.

No, I'm with you.

I just love your analogies. Well, no, yeah. You just have to. You got to feed them? No, they're good people. These are great people. They love City St. Cloud. We love them. We just have to show that we love them, I would say.

They love the city.

Uh-oh.

Can we get the Flintstone reference again from like last meeting, Ken?

All right.

Anyone from the audience like to speak on this item? Yes, sir. Take your time, sir.

Mayor, city council, I know last time I was here on this, we discussed it. The only thing really I have is the price that we have here, if I'm not mistaken, is going to be for a two-year period.

correct is going to be paying for last year's which was not on the tax roll and this year's tax roll so yes that's partially correct so the the street lighting cost as i recall the electricity the city has already paid for a portion of that because the council directed the city manager don't turn the street lights off right or don't let the street lights be turned off so yes so portion of this these dollars will recapture that cost and that money will and once collected it will be returned to the whatever fund it was paid out of for the city but annually moving forward It'll be an actual cost based on whatever work is done out there under what the city's taking on and whatever the actual electricity costs are.

Mayor, may I ask you a question? Go ahead. Yes, sir. This isn't a net gain, this is a cost.

actual costs incurred by the city, actual administrative costs that the city has to incur to do it. So the city's not dollar for dollar reimbursing the city for its out-of-pocket expense.

Correct. And would also like to thank the council for moving on the mowing because the mowing is quite bad. even though we've been enduring the construction since 2022. Oh, yeah. That road's been a... And that road has been very bad, and we've been putting through quite a bit, and we really appreciate the gesture. Because there is one section of that 20-foot landscape that's next to Neptune Road. It actually goes on an angle. The reason it was done that way was because five homeowners, once they filled in the gully that was there, five homeowners had water in the backyards of 18 inches. And I'm one of those homeowners. And I had fence all the way around it. Water didn't seep back out. Water stayed in there for weeks. The county ended up putting drains behind all of our homes, and that was the reason it went down. Then they had to have a little two-foot area for the drains, and that's draining straight to the pond. So that corrected the problem. Um, now we had the problem of the, uh, the grass would not grow. It actually smelt. So the county agreed. I know it's not, this is just basically informational. Uh, the county agreed that they would come in, they would dig out the dirt that the road put on to the properties and put fresh dirt down and then re sawed the areas that were damaged. We have no problems now. Okay. And just wanted to let the city know what the county had because now the city is annexed that in because we've got the drains down there.

So does that mean we get the road too if we annex that subdivision?

Neptune Road? No. It's a county road. I was actually going to ask before you leave if you can show Mr. Walker on a map specifically the mowing areas just to make sure we're all on the same page of what you're asking for.

Can you state your name into the record? Yeah, I'm sorry. It's Richard Collins at 2080 Emperor Drive. Thank you.

Thank you all for coming to council. Appreciate that. Okay, anyone else from the audience that can speak on this item?

David Lather from 2180 Emperor Drive. Just a couple of questions. This assessment of the $209, will that be put on our property tax bill?

Yes.

Because we just had the property tax bills and there was no mention of it.

Well, you got, you got your trim notice, which you'll you, it's not actually your bill at this point.

So that will be, I mean, so we won't be seeing bills from tall Walter and other people like that.

You're you're, you're, you still have bills from Toho water. This is, this is separate from that.

I think what he's asking is the trim notice. It doesn't include this. It will. His actual tax bill will include it. Yes. That's what I think you're saying.

And what about the garbage? Will total water still?

Yeah, so it's nothing to do with either of those things.

That will still come to total water. Yes, sir. Okay. That's it. Thank you.

Yes, sir. Thank you for coming tonight.

Thank you.

All right. Anyone else in the audience like to speak on this item? All right. Council comments?

Motion to approve.

Motion to approve. Council Member Urban, second. Council Member Fletcher. 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. Will the clerk please read item number five?

Resolution number 2026-128R, a resolution of the City Council of City of St. Cloud repealing all prior resolutions adopting rules of conduct of the City of St. Cloud City Council and adopting restated rules of conduct applicable to the City Council, Council appointed commission boards and boards and committees, city staff and general public, moving of the form of the agenda for council meetings providing confidentiality.

Good evening again, Council Jabari Walker, Assistant City Manager. This item before you is Resolution 2026-128R, Council Travel and Vehicle Policy. There we go. So per council, the city has been working to update the city council travel and vehicle policy. In this proposal, the travel policy would be as follows. $3,000 per physical year on a council related travel for the deputy mayor and council members. $4,000 per fiscal year on council related travel for the mayor. Unused funds do not carry over and cannot be transferred or reassigned to another member. Travel related to boards and or committee assignments as an appointed member of a local government association or travel related to lobbying efforts at the State Capitol or Capitol Hill in Washington come out of a separate special assignments and training fund. The special assignments training fund would be $1,800 per fiscal year per member. Then as it relates to the vehicle policy, Each member shall be allowed to receive a $500 per month vehicle allowance in lieu of using a city-owned vehicle for the performance of their duties of office. Alternatively, each member would be authorized to use a city-owned vehicle from a pool of available vehicles in lieu of receiving the City Council vehicle allowance for the performance of their duties of office. As it relates to the vehicle policy continuing, on or before October 1st of each year, each member shall notify the city manager of the option they have chosen. Newly elected or appointed members shall notify the city manager as soon as possible of their election. Members may at any time elect to change options provided that the notice is given to the city manager at least 30 days prior to the first day of the month the change would take effect. And staff is requesting approval.

All right. I had, uh, we'll go ahead to council member, uh, deputy Mary Gilbert.

You sure? Yeah.

I just had a question. You can go back a few slides. Um, talk about the other, the special assignment relating to the boards and all that. And obviously I, I'm on a number of, um, committees myself where like the Osceola chamber, like their retreat or, um, obviously there's Tallahassee. Well, you add the two of those up and that may hit above that number. I, I don't, No, I opted not to go to the chamber retreat last year because it was in Washington, D.C., and it was based on the finances of that. I just didn't feel that that was much needed. But in lieu, I think I went to the planning. I think there's a planning conference that I went to last year instead. But there was FRA, and there's FRA this year. I think it's important, obviously, that each year – that each council member goes to one or the other, like an FRA or a planning, because it's good to still learn more, especially those are the type of conferences that typically staff would go to, and I think it's good for council to get up to speed on that. But I would still like to go to, which I've got, I'm going to the FRA and the retreat this year, but it's only a few hours away. Um, but also want to go to Tallahassee. So can I point out, I think it's important that the mayor, uh, you know, represent the city in Tallahassee.

Yeah. So I just want to point a point of clarification. Um, the FRA is associated with you at being a member of being the chair of CRA. So that comes out of a separate that's totally separate. So when you, so for instance, you're attending the FRA next two months from now, uh, that money. is tied to CRA. With that hat.

Yeah, with that hat.

You're not there as a council member, you're there as a CRA board member.

But I am the Tri-County representative, and also I'm on Florida League of Mayors. Correct. So last week, I was down with Florida League of Mayors, and then it was the Florida League of Cities Conference. So that's where, obviously, I've taken on a larger load with those. So I don't know where that hits on the number. But I can always bring each one of them back to council, I guess.

The purpose of this is these are items that will not have to be reviewed by the city council at these levels. So if there's additional travel, additional issues at the city council, the council member always has the option of bringing them back in front of the city council and saying, I'm going to be attending.

And if the other board says more than $1,800, you still have the ability to use your $4,000. Right. So we were looking at that full dollar amount.

Let me go back one. So for the mayor position, it's 4,000 plus the 1,800.