City Council - Regular Meeting

I don't even know if I need to do the I'll do a little time. I'll do a little one. Okay. Call this meeting to order matter for you to roll call please.

This is Frank here Mister Howard here Mister Smith here Mister Reed here vice mayor bolt here.

Here just want to say thank you that was the quietest that this room has gotten without me doing a darn thing so I'm I'm so impressed. We're going to do the invocation, and today's pledge will be led by Captain Sosnich.

Father, we gather today with a shared commitment to serve our community. May we approach the business before us with wisdom, integrity, and respect for one another. Guide us to listen thoughtfully, deliberate fairly, and make decisions that promote the well-being of all who live, work, and visit our city. Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Well, it's definitely my favorite kind of morning. We've got a lot of ceremonial things to do. We're going to do some recognitions of life-saving awards and some swearing-ins and then some folks who have some tenure here and maybe even a proclamation. We'll see. All right, so let's start with Firefighter Paramedic Seth Todd, if you'll come up along with Chief Giddens and any staff you want to bring up and family.

Good morning, Mayor Council. Thank you citizens. This is not a an unfamiliar place that we've been in the past, but just as a reminder, the swearing in is a transition from being selected as a firefighter to accepting the responsibility of serving our community. By taking the oath before city council, the firefighter publicly accepts the trust placed in them by the citizens and commits to carrying out the duties and responsibilities of the position with honor, integrity, and professionalism. Having said that, if you would.

Raise your right hand. The other right.

And then I'll have him do it.

I, Seth Todd, do solemnly swear that I will support, protect, and defend the Constitution and government of the United States and of the state of Florida that I am duly qualified to hold my position under the Constitution of the state and that I will well and faithfully Perform the duties of firefighter paramedic.

Perform the duties of firefighter paramedic.

Of which I am now about to enter.

Of which now I'm about to enter. So help me God. So help me God.

She said congratulations.

Alright, next up we have Austin Dulac and Ian Jensen if you guys want to come up with family. I'm not the star of the show, you guys are.

Very good. So part of our second ceremony here is we have a firefighter EMT swearing in.

All right. I'm going to give you that mic back. Who wants to hold the Bible? I'm going to put somebody right in the middle. You guys can't hold the Bible. It's got to be... All right, you hold it. Right hand up, left hand up. I'm going to slide in here. No.

Hi, state your name.

Hi, Ian Jensen.

Do solemnly swear... Do solemnly swear... That I will support, protect, and defend... That I will support, protect, and defend...

the Constitution and government of the United States, and of the state of Florida, that I am duly qualified to hold my position under the Constitution of the state, and that I will well and faithfully perform the duties of firefighter EMT, of which now I am about to enter.

So help me God.

I, Austin Dulac, do solemnly swear that I will support, protect, and defend the Constitution and government of the United States and of the state of Florida that I am duly qualified to hold my position under the Constitution of the state, and that I will well and faithfully perform the duties of firefighter EMT, on which I am now about to enter. So help me God. Thank you.

Amen.

All right. Next up, let's get Chief Leisenring and your staff

Officer Dinka, don't be hiding over there. You're my show and tell.

I thought he brought that for me.

Well, thanks for having us up here to honor these officers today. I just want to do a quick show and tell, talk about some of the equipment they carry that they use in these life-saving incidences. and then talk about kind of how we progressed over time when i started in law enforcement this is what i carried pretty much and we've run in with a hope and a prayer and did the best we could since then times have progressed and here's some of the equipment that we carry i'll highlight a few of them so we have our aed automated external defibrillator We also carry an advanced first aid kit that would have all the things you'd expect, gauzes and wraps and all that good stuff. Bag valve mask we carry. Life vac. You don't have to pull all that out. That's okay. A life vac for anti-choking. We carry naloxone for opioid overdose. Look at that. He's getting ready. And we call it an individual first aid kit. which contains tourniquets, hemostatic gauze, vented chest seals, combat dressing, all the things that you might need that they can use to help citizens. And they're also trained to help and save themselves in case they don't have assistance with them and they're injured. And of course, if you work on our Marine Patrol, you might also carry medical oxygen as well. So they're very well equipped with everything they need to perform their duties. But at the end of the day, all the training and equipment doesn't matter unless you have men and women that are willing to put it to use, that are capable of staying calm under pressure, and doing what needs to be done in the moment to save a life, and that's what we have here. So we're going to start out with officers Josh Rowell and Stephen Short. Come on, step forward. This was from an incident on January 30th, 2026. On January 30th, Officer Stephen Short and Josh Rowell responded to a report of an unresponsive female passenger in a vehicle on the shoulder of I-75. Officer Short was the first to locate the vehicle, immediately assess the patient, recognizing that she was unresponsive and in need of life-saving intervention. As additional officers arrived, Officer Rowell immediately began performing CPR, while Officer Short assisted with preparing and deploying the AED. Working together, officers Short and Rowell continued resuscitation efforts, with the AED analyzing the patient and delivering multiple shocks as needed. Their efforts continued until Venice Fire Rescue arrived and assumed the patient care. As a direct result of their quick response, decisive actions, and teamwork, the patient was successfully resuscitated and transported to hospital for further treatment. Officers Short and Rowell demonstrated exceptional composure and professionalism during a critical life-threatening emergency. Their actions exemplify their commitment to protecting and preserving life and reflect great credit upon themselves and the Venice Police Department. And notably, this marks Officer Rowell's second life-saving award from VPD and Officer Short's fourth life-saving award from VPD. This is a remarkable distinction that speaks to their continued willingness and ability to act when lives are on the line. So it's my privilege now to recognize Officer Raul and Officer Short.

Congratulations.

Next we have Officer Lorenz who wants to step forward. On April 14th, 2026, Venice police officers responded to a report of a shooting involving a male who had sustained a gunshot wound to the upper leg. Upon arrival, Officer Justin Lorenz and responding Sarasota County Sheriff's Office personnel quickly secured the scene and assessed the injured individual. They identified a severe life-threatening bleed that required immediate intervention. Recognizing the urgency of the situation, Officer Lorenz acted swiftly, applying a tourniquet and direct pressure to control the bleeding. His quick assessment and decisive actions provided critical life-saving care until additional medical treatment could be provided. Officer Lorenz demonstrated exceptional composure, sound judgment and professionalism in the face of a violent and rapidly evolving situation. His actions exemplify the commitment of the Venice Police Department to protecting and preserving life and reflect great credit upon himself and the department. It's now my privilege to congratulate Officer Lorenz.

Good job.

Next, we'll recognize Officer Murray. Officer Isaac Murray, on May 3rd, 2026. He was the first police officer to arrive at the scene of a medical emergency involving an unconscious female. Upon his arrival, a citizen was performing CPR and had already utilized an AED, which had delivered one shock. Officer Murray took over CPR and continued providing life-saving care until Venice Fire Rescue arrived. He then continued assisting with resuscitation efforts alongside fire rescue personnel. Their combined efforts, um, excuse me, Officer Murray and Venice Fire Rescue, the patient was successfully resuscitated and transported to Sarasota Memorial Venice Hospital. In the days following the incident, the patient's husband expressed his sincere gratitude, crediting the actions of the citizen and first responders with saving his wife's life. Officers Murray's immediate response, willingness to take over life-saving measures, and continued assistance throughout the emergency exemplify the professionalism and commitment to preserving life expected of the Venice Police Department. So my privilege to congratulate Isaac Murray. Good job.

Thank you.

And next we have Corporal Ryan Keough and Officer Courtney Brady. Please step forward. On May 17th, 2026, Officer Courtney Brady and Corporal Ryan Keough responded to the report of an active cardiac arrest. Upon arrival, Officer Brady located the patient lying unresponsive on the ground and immediately began chest compressions. While providing life-saving care, she remained calm and compassionate, offering reassurance to the patient's daughter who was present at the scene. Corporal Keough immediately deployed the automated external defibrillator while ensuring there was little to no interruption in chest compressions. Following analysis by the AED, a shock was administered and CPR was immediately resumed in accordance with life-saving protocols. For approximately six minutes, Officer Brady and Corporal Keough worked together to provide continuous and effective CPR until Vinus Fire Rescue arrived and assumed medical care. A pulse was quickly detected and patient was transported to Sarasota Memorial Hospital, where she underwent successful emergency cardiac surgery. Officer Brady and Corporal Keough demonstrated exceptional coordination, composure, compassion, and adherence to their training during a critical medical emergency. Their swift and decisive actions helped to provide the patient with the opportunity to receive the advanced medical care they need And in reading all these, it's easy to read off paper, but when you see their actions, I got a chance, you know, to review body camera. It's amazing how well they stay composed and how chaotic these scenes are and how they bring order to chaos. So again, it's my honor to congratulate Corporal Keough and Officer Courtney Brady. Congratulations, everybody.

All right, let's follow that up with a proclamation, why don't we?

So we'll bring the city manager down and we'll recognize IT professionals day. I'm gonna change the order up a little bit, okay? So we're gonna start with the proclamation. We'll bring down Roger Navarro, Eric Tanner, any staff from IT? I'll let you hold that one. Come on over. Let's shift this way. There we go. I'll let you hold that. And then I'll do the end cap on this side. Nice and close. Nice and close. okay whereas the advancements of technology continue to shape and improve our daily lives enhancing communication healthcare education safety and economic benefits for all and whereas information technology i.t professionals serve as the essential backbone of these advancements working tirelessly and often behind the scenes to develop maintain and support the critical infrastructure of our digital world and whereas i.t professionals apply their expertise creativity and innovation to solve complex problems safeguard our data, and make our lives more efficient, secure, and connected. And whereas these professionals play a vital role in the health, growth, and resilience of our local businesses, industries, and public services, from managing daily operations to ensuring strong cybersecurity protections. And whereas the 15th day of September, 2026, has been designated as IT Professionals Day, a day to celebrate and show gratitude to these dedicated individuals who are often the unsung heroes of our modern world. Now, therefore, I, Nick Meshota, Mayor of the City of Venice, on behalf of the Venice City Council, do hereby proclaim September 15th, 2026 as IT Professionals Day in the City of Venice and urge all citizens of this city to join me in recognizing the important role IT professionals play in our community and our lives, to acknowledge their significant contributions, and to express our gratitude for their tireless work and dedication.

Fire and police are tough acts to follow. But I want to thank them and all of you for coming out today for us, IT. Bad joke. We love what we do, and we do it in the background. And we say, if you don't need us and you don't hear about us, then things are going really, really well. i want to thank this this entire team some some are in it directly some are it professionals that work in pd and the building and permitting department but we come together as a team to support the city so that the employees so that they can support the citizens thank you roger and i'll just add on to that and say thank you all for what you do you know we are we're one team as a city every department is interconnected

Our public safety personnel who are here today rely every day on you all to make sure that their equipment and their technology is working properly so they can get out there and save our residents. But it's true about every department. IT has become integral in everything that we do, right? It used to be when we were growing up, Mayor, it was like IT was blowing the dust out of your Nintendo cartridge. That was about it. We live in a different world today. IT is part of everything we do and we're more dependent on it than ever, which is a good thing from an efficiency and functionality standpoint, but it's a little scary too how dependent we are every day on technology. And you all are at the center of that. So I say thank you for what you're doing. I know a lot of it occurs behind the scenes and we never see or hear about it, but we know what you're doing and we appreciate it and we feel the impact of that every single day. So thank you on behalf of the city and I hope it's a good IT professionals day. Thank you.

All right, so now we'll just have Eric stand forward. Everybody can stay up here. All right. This is for you. This is for you.

Just want to call out Eric in particular. He's been with us for five years, so today's his five-year anniversary celebration. And I'll say something quickly about Eric and the three things I value most about him are his faith, his hope, and his charity. His faith in this team and the city and our leadership and in his team to deliver amazing things. His hope, he's always positive, positive about family, positive about team and all the complex projects and even the outages that we have, he brings them to bear and solutions to bear very quickly. And charity. He's charitable with his time. I can see it with his family, with coworkers, with people from other teams. He'll put himself at risk for others, and there's no better example of charity. So thank you. I'm honored to work with you, Eric.

Thank you, sir.

I'm not coming out.

And I'll just say congratulations, Eric, on five years. We've got to work together quite a bit over these five years. A lot of people might not know this, but Eric actually ran the department for a period of time early on when we were in between IT directors. And we got to work very closely on some challenges. And I got to know you, Eric, right away. And your commitment to this organization and your team are unmatched. So thank you for that. Eric comes with a diverse background of experience. He comes from Michigan where he worked in IT at the school district. He served in management roles with Walmart here locally. I understand you even owned and operated a pizza shop. I did. Man, so all right, so you got IT covered, customer service, and pizza. That's local government right there. You're good. Eric has four kids, and it sounds like that's your most important job, as it should be. So Eric says he loves spending time with his family, jet skiing. It's exciting. And I enjoyed reading that you value and appreciate the warmth of Florida. So... If that doesn't tell you everything you need to know about Michigan, it should. Congratulations, Eric. We're so happy to have you on this team and to celebrate this milestone with you. Look forward to many more successful years ahead. Congratulations.

and thank you it's been a challenging five years a lot of learning and i was glad roger came to the city to help with things after about six months of me being here so i appreciate it and thanks james for helping me through our six months appreciate it greatly and value being here thank you thank you eric congrats

Mike, you did an amazing job. You held that proclamation strong the entire time.

It gets you up here every time, yeah.

All right, with that, we'll take 10, and we'll come back at 35 after. okay we are back and we are at the audience participation portion which will be limited to one hour madam clerk do we have anybody signed up to speak we have two speakers two speakers all right then with that speakers are not to address council members individually any person making personal impertinent or slanderous remarks or who becomes disorderly may be barred from the meeting this is an opportunity to provide the city council with your comments city council will not respond to any questions or comments during this time per the city code A member of city staff will follow up with you if it's appropriate, and any documents shown during audience participation or part of the meeting must be given to the city clerk for the official record. Madam Clerk, our first speaker.

Our first speaker is Steve Oglethorpe. He has five minutes.

All right. Mr. Oglethorpe, good morning and welcome.

Mr. Mayor, thank you very much. Good morning Mister mayor council members and Venice City staff and thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak this morning. My name is Steve Oglethorpe and I'm a resident of Venice. I'm here today as a representative of the board of directors of Golden Beach associates incorporated Golden Beach associates is a corporation located in Venice Florida. The board of directors wishes to state publicly. that Golden Beach Associates believes the city of Venice has not operated in good faith regarding the Venice municipal airport master plan. The city has misled the public about plans for control tower support buildings and airport development. Pushing these plans forward serves only special interests. It does not serve the residents of Venice. Unfortunately, Venice residents would live with the consequences of a deceptive planning process. The airport master planning process has lost all public trust. Therefore golden beach associates demands that the council immediately terminate the current master plan and begin a fresh transparent and truly open process serving all of Venice. Thank you again for hearing me thank you for your comments.

Madam clerk next speaker.

The next speaker is John Farrell.

Former Councilwoman Farrell good morning and welcome.

Good morning. I'm going to talk on two topics this morning. The first is an agenda item regarding citizen use of the jetty. Now that topic is scheduled for September 22nd. Hurricane Milton is almost two years in the rear view mirror. And while a long term fix, will involve the Army Corps of Engineers, huge sums of time and money, and a big rigmarole, I'm siding with the resident who simply wants to watch a sunset. The request has been made to do a simple ad hoc fix involving a bike rack, a sidewalk, and a few benches. A quick internet search found a website called concretecalculator.com. It says that a commercial building sidewalk, six foot wide by 100 foot long, five inches thick with a smooth trowel finish. Number 3 rebar 18 inch grid and a 6 inch compacted stone base costs out at $5,400 to $7,800 even doubling the distance to 2 or 300 feet the sidewalk would come in at under 25,000. This is small change compared to our city budget. one that has reserves more than double the amount of reserves a conservative accountant would require, meaning we're sitting on our money. Small projects like access to the jetty to see a sunset greatly increase quality of life. It seems especially inappropriate to disregard common sense during Venice's 100th anniversary year. The project is simple enough to even ask community organizations such as Rotary or Sertoma to assist. It could even be an Eagle Scout project. And the sidewalk could be made of something else than concrete, perhaps something recycled. Let's put our thinking caps on and think outside the box. My father hated committees, and he evidently knew of the following quote. A committee is a group of people who individually can do nothing, but who, as a group, can meet and decide that nothing can be done. His name is Fred Allen. I haven't researched him. The second concern involves the two appointments to the Housing Authority. There are four contenders, two of whom are already associated with the city. That would be procurement manager Peter Boers and the wife of Jim Bolt, Donna Bolt, mayor-elect of Venice. Two other citizens have stepped up and want to participate. Both are well qualified. One is a social worker, and the other an Air Force veteran with wide job experience. It's painful to see what appears to be cronyism, possibly nepotism. Even the appearance of impropriety is troubling, with public trust in government at an all-time low. Qualified newcomers should not be shut out by spouses or city employees. An additional concern is what will happen to the fire station by the water treatment plant. Will it be used for affordable housing? Will the historic black church get to have some say in the matter boxed in as they are by the city and whose membership was basically forced out of their homes so many years ago? And additionally, why is the list of city owned potential affordable housing properties a big list? Somehow none are suitable. Why is that? I contend that this city has a hard heart. It's charming, it's sweet, lots of flowers. but it's lip service to affordable housing, and that is despicable. City Council must not simply talk of being a good citizen. It must begin to do so.

Thank you. Thank you for your comments. All right, Madam Speaker, any other speakers?

No other speakers.

Okay. Then with that, we will move on to the consent section. All matters listed under the consent section are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion unless an item is removed by a council member. There'll be no separate discussion of these items. If discussion is desired by a council member, the item or items will be considered and voted upon at the end of the consent section. Is there anything that anyone would like to remove from consent? I didn't think so. So with that, I'll entertain a motion. Mr. Mayor. Mr. Engelke.

I move to approve the items on the consent section.

Seconded by Vice Mayor Bolt. All in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Passes unanimously. All right. We are on to public hearings. Ordinance is final reading. This is ordinance number 2026-24. And we will open the public hearing. Madam Clerk, when you're ready, if you can read the ordinance by title only, please.

An ordinance amending City of Venice ordinance number 2025-32, as previously amended, which adopted the official budget of the City of Venice, Florida, for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2025, and ending September 30, 2026, by increasing the total revenue by $6,476,400 and total expenditures by $6,476,400 and providing an effective date.

And we have any written communication since last hearing we do not all right and we have an update from staff.

I just want to point out mayor we went through this pretty quick last time, but this is the budget amendment that includes the $200,000 that Council approved for the airport environmental study. And I just wanted to kind of give you a brief update. We have finalized the scope of work with CMT, the consultants who came here to speak. It is a comprehensive study that will do a full audit of all of our existing permits and compliance documents to be sure the entire airport is in complete compliance with all regulatory agencies. Then it also includes, as you directed, actual sampling in the field for all three components. So that'll include stormwater sampling, soil sampling and an air quality analysis so going to be a very comprehensive project and assuming it gets your approval today we will be moving forward thank you all right madam clerk do we have any public comment we do not all right then with that the public hearing is now closed and i'll entertain a motion mr mayor mr vice mayor i move that ordinance 2026-24 be approved and adopted

Seconded by Mr. Smith. And any council discussion? All right, not seeing any. Then with that, we will go ahead and prepare ourselves for an electronic vote. Madam Clerk, if you could do that for us. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote. And Madam Clerk, you can tally and display the vote. Passes unanimously. Okay. On to new business ordinances. We are at ordinance number 2026-27. Madam Clerk, when you're ready, you can go ahead and read this ordinance by title only, please.

An ordinance of the City of Venice, Florida, amending the Code of Ordinances, Chapter 2, Administration, Article 4, Finance, Division 2 purchases by adding Section 2-227, unsolicited proposals for public-private partnerships, providing for repeal of all ordinances in conflict herewith, providing for severability, and providing an effective date.

And do you have anybody signed up to speak?

No.

Okay. Does council need a staff update on this item? I would request one. Okay.

Thank you, Mayor. I will start and then I will pass it over to our city attorney who assembled this ordinance for us. Here at the city, we have not in the past had a public-private partnership ordinance within our code. There are state statutes that define that process, and it was our effort here to make sure we had a local process that worked in conjunction with the state rules. So what's before you today for first reading lays out that process for unsolicited public-private partnerships. It includes application fees, the process for review, the timelines, and then of course notifying counsel throughout the process and what that final approval process would look like. You know, this is in full compliance with Florida law and with Lots of economic uncertainty in the future. We foresee public private partnerships taking a larger role as we do move forward. So that is the purpose of this today. Anything to add, Kelly?

Just briefly so Sarasota County does have in their code provisions for public private partnerships and was able to speak with the county attorney's office about their experience utilizing their code which then enabled me to go look around at some other examples around the state and put this together and I think it would meet the city's needs should we receive an unsolicited public private partnership proposal happy to answer any questions about the substance of it.

Mister Smith.

Thank you, Mayor. The word unsolicited interests me. Is what we propose in the seaboard area, for example, is that solicited and not unsolicited? And we have done public-private partnerships, even though you said we don't have anything in our code for it. Like Laurel Road is a public-private partnership if I understood right.

it is not technically a public private partnership as that is described in florida statutes so that is like a joint project agreement it's two entities working together but it actually did not and does not fall under the statutory process for public private partnerships so this would be then the statutory process it's attractive to some people and then other projects it really depends on the type of project a road tends to be something that would fall like the laurel road project it would not go under the public private partnership but you know you have examples like convention centers or uses like that where it generates an income and then that's an opportunity more likely for someone to to request a formal unsolicited or solicited public private partnership so we have not done one ever in the city

If I could ask just two more questions. It's really the same question. We've asked people to propose something on the seaboard. So is that solicited or unsolicited if somebody comes in with one?

So we have not really formally asked, meaning done a full RFP to put out detailed project specifics on what we're looking for on Seaboard. I think Seaboard is a good example where we really just have a framework, a conceptual master plan of what we'd like to see out there. But we're gonna need the expertise of the private sector to understand what's really gonna work there and how that's gonna function and how the business model is gonna look. So I think CBOR potentially could be a good candidate for an unsolicited proposal, or it will be a project we put out for a formal RFP at some point in the future. But beyond that, these unsolicited proposals could come in really for anything, and a lot of times the private sector is going to understand where a partnership would make more sense than sometimes we would understand up here. So it could be for infrastructure, it could be for operating, It could be for, you know, vendor services. But it has to, you know, ultimately the most important thing is it has to provide a public benefit. And that's within the code. It has to be something that truly benefits the public from that partnership. And then, of course, we have the opportunity to deny it. So if someone comes in with an idea that's just not a good fit for our community, we have the opportunity to turn it down, as do you.

Okay, and then one more question if I can. There was a proposal years ago, and I don't know where it fit, down there on the airport property where we're currently there is a hotel plan but that I understood we invited proposals for the use of that land and had some. Do those fit this category of unsolicited solicited. Public private partnerships and is it likely that we will have this on

Airport land with all of the discussions going forward about the golf course and about you know the fairgrounds and all of that That wasn't even under this public-private partnership formalities that are in the statute that was because the city can do an RFQ or an RFP where we're just throwing it out there and say come forward give us some ideas so this is well what we're proposing to you all is really for unsolicited and those could come at any time from anywhere we may not even know it's happening so that's why it is beneficial to have our although we could rely on statute it's beneficial to have our own processes so we know one what we're charging you because this should be a no cost to the city item when someone proposes something that we haven't requested then all the review costs everything is on the proposer so that's a benefit to us so that's why we wanted to make sure we had a structure we have fees in place so if we get something what whether it's out of the blue or we sense that it's coming we have an ability to to make sure we're we're covering ourselves and we have a process to utilize to review it well thank you for that explanation mr engelke

sounds like a decent proposal or decent concept and this is really put together to design to protect the city as opposed to having to be reactionary to something in the future is that correct

yes absolutely and i will say until we actually get one and go through the process i fully anticipate there might be a little tweaks that we want to do but we haven't had one to go through any process so we'll have something in place that to me makes sense and meets with the statute and then gives us a really clear direction when we do have one of how we're to look at it mr wheat

I think it was for the city turning city manager are there any projects in the wings. You're aware of their awaiting the progress on this that are on hold until this is formalized and then we should see coming forth in the short term.

The only project we've had discussions on is there is some interest in Seaboard. So I'll say that there are interested folks in that project because it's exciting and it's a great opportunity for our community. Besides that, that is the only discussions we've had at this point. I'm gonna talk when we get to our our list of affordable housing properties a little bit about our our discussions on fire station to that doesn't fit into this category, but that's really the only other kind of partnership project we're working on right now.

All right anyone else. And with that I'll go ahead and entertain a motion. Mister in cooking.

I move to approve ordinance number 2, 0, 2, 6, dash, 2, 7, 1st reading is scheduled for final reading.

Seconded by Vice Mayor Bolt. Any council discussion? All right, seeing none, Madam Clerk, you can go ahead and make us ready for an electronic vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote. Madam Clerk, you can tally and display. Passes unanimously. Okay, we are on to resolutions. We're at 2026-16. And Madam Clerk, when you're ready, you can go ahead and read this resolution by title only, please.

A resolution of the City of Council of the City of Venice, Florida, re-adopting an inventory list of all real property within the City of Venice to which the city holds fee simple title that is appropriate for use as affordable housing pursuant to Section 166.0451 Florida Statute, superseding Resolution 2023-39 in its entirety and providing an effective date.

All right, Madam Clerk, do you have anybody signed up to speak? No. All right. With that, before we have a motion here, I just want to have a quick introduction by staff, if you could.

thank you mayor this is required by florida statute every three years that we update our inventory and identify any properties that would be suitable for affordable housing projects as you know we're not in the business of stockpiling property here at the city we have numerous properties that are listed here but they all have designated uses with one exception which i will identify which is the property off of knights trail and it's a three acre property off of laurel oaks that is the only property that we own in northeast venice so that would be the future use of that would be for whatever those future growth needs may be whether it's an annex annex for police fire utilities that's the only property that's really vacant at this point without a specific use. But it's going to be needed with all the growth that's happening in that area. And then the last thing I want to note is our Fire Station 52, which is still currently in use as a fire station, will be vacated this spring when we relocate them to the new Fire Station 52. we are we have started conversations based on your direction to work with the venice housing authority we've had a couple of meetings with them and a affordable housing developer and they are working actively on trying to make that a viable project so we have a lot of work to do to make sure that the property is suitable the size how the you know all of the zoning regulations will work out But our staff plan and zoning department are working through that with them and hopefully we'll end up in a place where we have a viable project forward to you so I welcome any other questions you have on the inventory list.

Mister Smith.

Just briefly matter if I can. We saying that the fire station property would be affordable housing versus section 8 subsidized housing is they 2 different things.

They are 2 different things I think it gets a little muddy defining affordable housing, of course, it would be part of the Venice housing authority that the project partnership we're pursuing right now so certainly that on a higher level would qualify as affordable housing, but it is through the same government program that the housing authority operates.

And then my my last question you mentioned 3 acres and But you said we don't have a current plan for it. Doesn't that meet the definition of what this law is asking for us to identify as potentially suitable, affordable housing? And one other parcel that I'd like to know what our planned use is, is the small parcel in the seaboard to the south of our large Nolan Street area.

Let's start with the small parcel. Are you talking about the parcel that solid waste used for storage? Yes. Okay. Yeah, they're still continuing to use that parcel. But that is something that would be part of the seaboard plan in the future. And we don't have a specific plan for it, but it would be tied in, integrated to the seaboard conceptual plan. The property off of Laurel Oaks is identified for city use in the future. I wanted to just point out that specific use has not yet been identified, but it is our only ownership in this part of the city, which is growing very aggressively. So there's a multitude of uses that I would define as potential for that, including police, fire, utilities, public works. As quickly as we have expanded into this part of the city, it's important that we maintain some flexibility to provide services into the future in that area of the city.

Okay, thank you. Okay.

So with that, I think I'm at a point of entertaining a motion, correct? I haven't done that yet.

Correct.

Okay. Do I have a motion?

Mr. Mayor. Mr. Vice Mayor. I move that resolution number 2026-16 be approved and adopted.

I'll second.

Not all at once. All right, any council discussion? All right, seeing no further discussion, then Madam Clerk, you can make us ready for an electronic vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote. And Madam Clerk, you can tally and display the vote. Passes unanimously. All right, we are on to Resolution number 2026-17. Madam Clerk, when you're ready, you can read this by title only.

A resolution of the City Council of the City of Venice, Florida, amending the City of Venice Personnel Procedures and Rules 2020 Edition by amending Section 2.1, access to group health insurance and providing an effective date.

All right, and do you have anybody signed up to speak? We do not. Okay, I'll entertain a motion.

Mister mayor Mister vice mayor. I move the resolution 2026 dash one seven be approved and adopted.

What does it say we're a little sluggish this morning seconded by Mister weed any council discussion.

All right, Mister Howard first. Thanks mayor. This is to the city manager so that this is a raising of I don't have put in the proper terminology that raising the wage band for insurance is that what this the core of this is.

That's correct there are different way bands that require different contributions for your health insurance and so this raises the wage band the same amount as the non bargaining pay increase which will be 3 and a half percent on October 1st so that way your pay increase of 3 and a half percent will move you into the next wage band and end up having to remove that pay increase with the additional insurance contributions that make sense, thank you any other discussion.

All right, Madam Clerk, if you'll make us ready for an electronic vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote. And Madam Clerk, you can tally and display the vote. Passes unanimously. And with that, we will come back at 10.15. Okay, we are back. And we are on to Council Action and Discussion 26-0724. This is to consider the Citizen Advisory Board's recommendation for City Council to approve a Mayor's Garden at the LaValle Municipal Campus. I'll just do a brief introduction since I'm the one that brought this to the Citizens Advisory Board. Looking to do right out in front of the Clerk's Office of the building where the Mayor's Office is to improve that area into a more appealing garden with maybe a bench and a little flower fountain at mostly my expense. So with that, Madam Clerk, do you have anybody signed up to speak on this topic?

No.

All right, and then Mr. City Manager, is there anything you want to add to that before we move into the motion?

Thank you, Mayor. I will just add kind of what the staff's role would be if this project is approved. We would certainly help support enhancing the landscaping in this area. It is a pretty poor condition, mainly because of the shade that's there and the wrong species of plants were put there to begin with. So a lot of them have died. So our public works team would take the role of removing the dead stuff that's there, making sure the irrigation is functional so that it's ready to be planted with the new plants and enhancements. And then certainly we would take care of working with VABBY for the maintenance as well, moving into the future.

All right. With that, I move to approve the Mayor's Garden at the LaValley Municipal Campus. Seconded by Vice Mayor Bolt. And then council discussions. So I just want to add a few highlights to this. As City Manager Clinch said, staff time will be utilized, I don't think, in any more use than they would currently be used to maintain an area. We did talk to VABBY, and VABBY is very on board with helping us continue the maintenance of this area in the future and we are looking at an idea to try to tie this in with make a difference day as well so that some volunteers can can work with us to improve that area during that time so just just a few highlights there and then the only other thing I wanted to just highlight is this will be again the plants and all the new stuff coming in will be at my expense so there's no extra expense to the city on that anybody else okay Then with that, we will move to an electronic vote. Madam Clerk, if you can make us ready for that vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote. And Madam Clerk, you can tally and display. Passes unanimously. thank you for that all right we are on to city logo um so i'll just briefly introduce it i do have a little bit of information to share during the discussion part but um as many of you know we've been dealing with this topic for for a number of years this was something that came to my attention shortly after i came into office And we recently discussed this at this year's strategic plan about making this a priority to finally get us to a logo that everybody's happy with and that there's not seven in existence. So that is why I put this on the agenda and I have plenty more to share. So with that, Madam Clerk, do you have anybody signed up to speak?

No, I do not.

Okay, so with that, I'll move. to authorize the mayor to work with staff and expend no more than $5,000 to design a new logo and present it to council along with a transition plan and implementation plan. Seconded by Vice Mayor Bolt and then council discussion. So let me start by saying a few things. So I've talked to some different, one of the issues we had was graphic design as it related to ADA compliance on our website. So that was part of the issue with the old clock tower logo is that we weren't ADA compliant, so we needed to come up with a plan and a process for that. There was definitely some challenges as it related to the old Segal and Son logo and some public input that we received that wasn't very keen on us maintaining that logo, that there was a lack of historic value to it. Over time, we've kind of evolved into, I think we've got an airport logo, a museum logo, the bird and sun logo, the clock tower logo. We're at quite a few of these. So what the council did is with the centennial, we did a contest with the help of staff and we received the current centennial logo that we're using. Council then implemented that logo for 18 months. and we're going to be coming up on July of next year where that logo will be transitioned out. So I think it's important that we start talking about this now so that we have a plan and be ready to go for July of next year to put whichever logo is going to be put in place, but to get it in place. One of the things that I've received a lot of feedback on is that given that the new Centennial logo uses the old historic Venice Company sign, There's actually been a lot of feedback that the citizenry really likes that logo. So I met with the original artist that came up with that design, Mr. Bailey, and a graphic designer to talk to them about all the challenges that we've faced over the past five years and how we can finally get to a closure on this. So obviously one logo is ideal. There's still the concept of keeping the clock tower as the city seal. But from now on, the logo that everyone would use would be the one logo we discuss. With that, I think that there's only two unique logos that would exist outside of that, and that's for public safety. Police and fire would traditionally, in any organization or agency you go to, they would have a unique identifier so they're recognized officially. But other than that, the entire city would go to this one logo. And the designer was able to show me kind of what that looks like, and it's the Centennial logo removing the word Centennial, removing the numbers for the years in the 100, and it just says established 1926. So we could bring that forward to the council, but then there's a variety of different designs that would need to be created. So an ADA compliant design that goes on your website, things that go in emails and all that kind of stuff. So that's where the $5,000 comes in as I asked for a rough quote on what it would cost to do a rebrand, an implementation, a transition, all of those things. And it seems like the market right now, a good rate would be about $5,000. So I wanted to throw that in there so that we could have that discussion and get the ball rolling on this process. Other than that, I think that was most everything that I wanted to cover on the topic. I'll go ahead and go to other council members for discussion and if there's any questions for me. So Mr. Smith.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm in favor of this. I really want us to have one logo. I think it is a mistake to have a whole bunch of different logos. I'm personally not a big fan of that sign, but I don't expect that my personal preference is what prevails. I am a big fan of the clock tower because it evokes in me Nolan. the tile and the look of the city that we love. So I hope as we look for one logo, we'll think in terms like that about it. I did like the idea that we could still have the tower maybe on the seal. That was a great idea. And I don't understand when you talk about ADA compliant logo. What is ADA compliant about a logo? Please help me.

Yeah, I'm glad you brought it up because I had no idea either. So it sounds like over time there's actually been lawsuits that have been launched because they found municipalities that were not ADA compliant. So as a way to get a settlement, they would sue the city and say you don't have an ADA compliant logo. So it has to do with, from my understanding, the color ingredient. of the logo. I know that there's a lot of things I'm learning as it relates to the different types of readers that are ADA compliant and how it reads a logo. So I'm not an expert by any means, but we could definitely have the consultant of choice or whomever come in and kind of give a presentation, but there is an entire rationale and legal aspect to it that I was unaware of. So that was one of my questions when I asked about this price. Can you include something that includes all of this stuff that we, you and me, commonly wouldn't think about? ADA compliance, implementation, all of those things.

Okay. I thought for a minute that it's because you can't walk up into the clock tower that it was not ADA compliant, but I...

And that was first identified to me by IT and our clerk. They had said that this isn't an ADA compliant logo, and I said, what does that even mean? So I had to do a little bit more research, and I did talk to this graphic designer, because apparently there's more than just a regular graphic designer, there's an ADA compliance graphic designer. So two different fields, which surprised me, but. Okay, thank you. All right, Mr. Engelke.

Mr. Smith, Ashley asked a lot of the questions I had, and the ADA compliance was the big thing. And maybe when the consultant comes back, he can say why this one or this one or this one is not ADA compliant. I like the idea of one logo, and just curious what would make something non-ADA compliant. So as long as we keep in mind all logos, existing, current, future, in our consideration, I'm okay with that, thank you.

Yeah, and it was color gradient, and I believe the proper word is micro detail, or there's some kind of micro graphic that has to do with the ADA compliance, but those were all terms that I had learned that were new to me, but assuredly, this individual will come in with an ADA compliance aspect to the price, so. Mr. Smith.

would do it is we would phase it in so that we don't repaint every police

Yeah, no, that's a perfect point. I've already spoken to the city manager about a five to seven year implementation plan. As vehicles are newly coming in with a logo being put on, it'll just switch to the newest logo that's chosen, and the old one will be phased out. You're also looking at the water towers are gonna be coming up on their due maintenance and replacement, and as that happens, that's when that'll be done versus repainting the current logo. Mr. City Manager, did I speak out of turn on any of that?

No mayor and from the staff perspective I can tell you having multiple logos around the community is very confusing both for our staff members who are doing the branding and also for our community members who are looking at all these different different types of brands so love the idea of kind of uniting under one logo and certainly happy to looking forward to working with you on that.

And the other piece to it was also making sure that we copyright and trademark because those are those are two other things that I think some of our logos in the past did not have that so wanted to make sure we did that properly so other people couldn't be misappropriating our logo. Right any other discussion. All right then let's move on to the electronic vote. Adam Clark if you can make us ready for that council members when your lights are flashing indicate your vote. And you can tell in display passes unanimously thank you for that I will get to work with the city manager as soon as we leave so. All right. Temporary sign code this is to 6 dash 0, 7, 2, 6, I put this on the agenda and talked about this last meeting. There were some concerns brought up to me mostly as it related to political signs. So I did have a chance to meet with staff and what we discussed was just simply copying the county's code. and using that as our same data. So that way, as you're putting signs up in the county or in the city, you don't have five different codes you've gotta look at. So with that, I'm gonna go ahead and ask the clerk if anybody signed up to speak on this topic?

No.

Okay. So then with that, I'm gonna move to approve the changes suggested by staff with the new code. Seconded by vice mayor bolt any council discussion. Mister Smith.

Thank you mayor, I'm all for simplifying I wish was just one sign on a commercial property certain size 4 by 5 whatever and one size maximum on a whatever book if it is simpler if it's the same as the county and in the city, so I'm all for that I would suggest And maybe it's already what you plan that we make this change it doesn't take place during this election season people have already ordered signs bought signs are putting up signs and I think it ought to take place. After November 3.

I would just ask I guess the the city manager attorney at this point you know if we move forward with this code it will need to come back to readings so I would imagine we're pretty much looking after November 3rd.

Well, and you can also set an effective date in the ordinance as some later date, not necessarily the date of final reading.

Okay, so we could say November 4th?

You could.

All right, so with that, I would just amend the motion to include an effective date after November 3rd.

Okay, any other discussion?

Okay, then with that, we will go ahead and do an electronic vote. Madam Clerk, you can make us ready for that vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote. And tally and display. Okay. Passes unanimously. All right. So now we're on to appointments 26-0727. This is to appoint member to the fire pension board of trustees to serve a term from October 1, 2026 to September 30th, 2023. Madam clerk, do you have anybody signed up to speak on this?

No.

Okay, then with that, I'm gonna go ahead and move to appoint Mary Beth Holland to the Fire Pension Board of Trustees to serve a term from October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2030. Second. Seconded by Vice Mayor Bolt. Any council discussion? All right, seeing none, Madam Clerk, if you'll make us ready for an electronic vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote. And Madam Clerk, you can tally and display the vote. Passes unanimously. All right. Now we are on to 26-0728. Appoint two members to the Venice Housing Authority to serve a term from October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2030. And each of these motions will be done individually. Madam Clerk, do you have anybody signed up to speak?

No.

All right. Then with that, I'll entertain the first motion.

Mayor, I would move that we appoint Katie, I apologize for the pronunciation, D'Aurora to the Venice Housing Authority to serve a term from October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2030.

I'll second. Any council discussion?

Mayor, if I may.

Go ahead, sir.

When we got these four applications. I was really excited because recently we've had a lot of trouble getting people to apply, and I think at one point we even advertised six different cycles to try to get applicants, and here we got new applications that we hadn't seen before from two city residents, one who I just nominated, an 18-year resident who wants to become more involved, I think, Ms. Farrell mentioned that she's an Air Force veteran, has degrees and experience in management and financial accounting and in problem solving, and wants to be involved. And that's exactly what we were hoping our ads would produce. So I hope that we will vote to appoint her. Thank you.

All right, any other discussion? All right, Madam Clerk, if you can make us ready for an electronic vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote. And Madam Clerk, you can tally and display. And it passes six to one. All right, we'll move on to the second motion.

All right, six to one.

All right, I'll entertain the second motion. Mr. Vice Mayor.

It pains me to have to do this again, but I move to appoint down a vote to the Venice Housing Authority to serve a term from October 1st, 2026 to September 30th, 2030.

Seconded by Mr. Weed and council discussion. Mr. Smith.

Mr. Mayor, please don't take any offense when I say this. And I appreciate your wife's service. But I think we're part of the problem for why people don't apply is that they believe we appoint, well, they've seen us appoint two spouses of the council recently. people who are not residents of the city over, you know, residents, and it looks like a closed society, and your wife's doing a lot of great work for the city, for the theater, for the historic society, for the Yacht Club, and I just feel like we should, if we have another applicant, we ought to give them a chance too to participate in what we do. There's no rule that we can't appoint our spouses, and there's no rule we can't appoint our employees, and there's no rule that we cannot appoint people who live outside the city, but it just seems better if we involve more citizens who are residents, not employees, and certainly not our partners, and so I'd like to see us appoint someone else, and I know you love your wife and you want to put her name forward if she wants to serve, but I think we need to pick somebody else, so thank you.

Madam Clerk, you can reorder me, and I will go after Ms. Frank.

Yeah, as the current liaison to the Venice Housing Authority, I just wanted to offer my insight. Having observed the Venice Housing Authority meetings over the last few years, I would like to say that Ms. Bolt, while she's a recent addition to the board, she has been exceptional at reviewing our finances and asking pretty strategic questions about where the money is allocated and making sure they're in interest-bearing accounts so i've appreciated the opportunity turning the opportunity to serve with her in that regard also i'd like to comment that um that mr boers peter bears has done a phenomenal job um on the venice housing authority specifically In his role, he has to drive to the office and sign checks and be in communication with the executive director almost weekly, and it's truly a thankless job. And so I think having someone with his experience And his ability and flexibility to be helpful to our executive director to make sure that balls aren't dropped over at the Venice Housing Authority office. I would just like to comment that he has been very helpful from my standpoint. Thank you.

I'll just say a few things because I don't want to discourage any of the comments. I appreciate us acknowledging that it is Vice Mayor Bolt's spouse, but at the same time, I think it's important to understand a few things from my perspective. These positions have not been easy to fill. There's been a lot of spouses that have stepped up in times of great desperation because we sit in these meetings and we do six meetings where we can't get one volunteer to sign up. So I don't want to discourage the hard work that some of these folks have put in and the sacrifice that they've made. Yes, it happens to be the vice mayor's spouse, but at the same time, I own a restaurant in this town and I also lease from the city. So the same comments have been made and can be made towards me, and I think we need to be transparent, but at the same time, we need to overcome this perception of There's something unethical going on. I think that we maintain a very high standard of ethics here. And I don't think the authority that that board, and especially one individual on that board has, is going to allow for any unethical activity. I appreciate the comments that are made. Everyone's entitled to their comments. However, I do appreciate Ms. Bolt's service and I really appreciate people for putting their name in the hat. This is fortunately the first time I think we've seen in a long time where we've had actually four applicants for two positions. So I'm glad we're in that situation, but one of the reasons we do this the way we do this now is, you know, we don't want to discourage people from putting their name in the hat. We don't want to tear them apart from the dais and discourage their future volunteerism. So I will echo Ms. Frank's comments that, you know, I appreciate both Ms. Bolt and Peter Boers for their service and I do appreciate as well the new applicants that we've seen. So I just want that to be on the record officially that it's not easy to fill these spots and I appreciate everyone for volunteering. Any other comments? All right, then with that, we will go ahead and move for an electronic vote. Madam Clerk, if you can make us ready for that vote. Council members, when your lights are flashing, you can indicate your vote. Madam Clerk, you can tally and display the vote. And it passes six to one. All right. Is that it? That's like the end of my agenda. That's impressive. Well, let's go ahead and take four minutes and we'll come back at 1045. Okay, we are back and we will roll into charter officer reports starting with Madam Attorney.

I don't have anything today.

Madam Clerk.

I have nothing.

Mr. City Manager. At the risk of mentioning a couple events here, I'm going to say we have scheduled our student government day for October 14th. And pretty interesting this year, typically we reach out to the school or they reach out to us. This year the students came to us begging to get this on the calendar, which was a pretty good sign of how much they appreciate and enjoy this day. And then October 15th, we have finalized the airport council workshop. So we did get confirmation from Chris Wilson. He will be here that morning starting at 9 a.m. Looking forward to it. Thank you.

Mr. Smith. Fantastic. Mr. Weed.

No report, Mr. Mayor.

Mrs. Frank?

Nothing today.

Mr. Howard? Nothing to report, Mayor. Mr. Engelke?

Making it quick, no report.

Mr. Vice Mayor?

Nothing, thank you.

All right, I'll take everyone's time now and roll it into mine. So a remembrance ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9-11 will be held at Patriots Park at 9 a.m. this Friday, September 11th. There will be speakers and music. The ceremony will be led by Venice Police Chief Andy Leisenring and Fire Chief Frank Giddens. I'll be reading a proclamation recognizing the day and definitely doing a moment of silence for those who lost their lives that day. There will be limited seating available. Please bring chairs. That is encouraged. And cold water will be handed out while supplies last. The Venice Main Street Beach Party with live music and food trucks is set from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, September 26th. at Venice Beach. And for more information, go to visitvenicefl.org. A reminder that applications for the 2026 Holiday Parade, set for Saturday, November 28th downtown, are open and filling up fast. Volunteers are also needed for a variety of tasks. The parade, the city's 50th, is themed Golden Traditions. Visit venicegov.com under Things to Do, Venice Holiday Parade to get involved. And then the Reggae Nights on the Island Music Festival will be held 3 to 10 p.m. Saturday, October 3rd at Maxine Barrett Park on Harbor Drive. Admission is free. Bring chairs. And for more information on this one and the performer lineup, you can go to visitreggainights.live. So it's reggainights.live is the correct website for that. And I have nothing else for today, so we'll move to audience participation. Madam Clerk, anybody signed up?

We do not.

We are adjourned. See you guys.