Council - Regular Meeting

Ready when you are. Good evening. It is Tuesday, April 21st, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. Wilson City Chambers. We have a call to order city council meeting. So, we'll have roll call by Miss Latricia Wright. Mayor Goodman, I am here. Council President Hines here. Vice President Cox here. Council member Jones here. Council member Martin here. Council member Rikio here. In city manager Mike Rose here.

Attorney Kirsten Belaloo here. City Clerk Latricia Wright, I am here. And all other staff. Thank you.

Kind of weak back there. [laughter] We'll have the opening prayer and pledge of allegiance to the flag by Mayor Charles Goodman. Please join me if you choose. Lord, we come here tonight a group of people who are citizens in a community. Lord, you know the troubles that we are in. And we thank you that our little community has not yet been struck by all the fires that are going around us. You know that our entire state is just about covered with smoke. And Lord, I ask you to be with all the firefighters that are out there trying to save homes, trying to save items and people, trying to keep this monster under control. I just ask that you be with them and with their families as they watch their loved one go off and pray that he will come back or she will come back. And Lord, I ask you to be with our police department. People just don't understand sometimes how the smallest traffic stop can turn into a life and death situation. So I ask you to place a special hedge of protection around them, Lord, to give them the training and the abilities to discern where their danger lies. And I ask you to be with this council, Lord. This council who has to make hard decisions for our entire community, who has to put aside their personal preferences and hope to do the thing

that is best for our community. [music] And Lord, I ask all these in your most precious name. Amen. Amen.

And thank you for the music. 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. Thank you very much. Are there any any additions, deletions, changes, and approval of the agenda? Madame President, uh can we delete item 5 B? And I believe we're going to add something to the consent agenda. Are we adding chip?

Okay. All right. So, just item 5B, delete, please. Madame President, may I ask, did you say C or D? B. B as in board. Bravo. B Bravo. Okay. Thank you.

Mr. Mr. President, I move the agenda be accepted with that deletion. I second. Have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, I move to vote. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, nay. Motion passes five to zero.

Now, this is time for public participation. This is the first of two times that you will have to speak on anything that is not on the agenda. You have five minutes to speak. Is there anyone who would like to speak? Please state your name and where you're from. Seeing none, we have one.

I'm Joel Penny. I live at 43 Northwest 4th Street. Uh, so I had a meeting with the public works, not public works, but the park manager at the time that he put 15,000 to the side to fence in the pit. Uh my questions are there was supposed to be a chain link fence for the safety of the kids. Y'all did not do that. Uh y'all put the cheapest fence there. Uh and where do the rest of the money go? And why does the city put chainly fence around all their properties like the sewage plant and protect their own belongings, but they don't fence off stuff for the kids to get in a pit and fall and kill yourself or anything like that? Why is that? And did y'all pull a permit for that? He's not here. So, I don't know the answer to that question.

Can I have an answer, please? We don't have an answer for you at this time. Well, can I get an answer within 30 30 days, please? Sure. Thank you.

Absolutely. Is there anyone else? Okay. So, at this time, it appears that the consent agenda will be on May 5th's agenda. Okay. We'll move forward. Updates. Updates from staff, board, and council. Um, interim city manager Michael, do you have anything for us, sir? All right. So, as of Monday, Davy Tree Service started uh cutting trees around the city uh which was a great home uh before before Mike, but they are getting that processed and getting it done. Uh in the public works department, um they redid, as Mr. Joby just mentioned, a fence uh behind the tennis courts. Uh I do believe that project is finished. Um, once again, I didn't know anything about the deal with the fencing. Uh,

okay. All right. So, but they do have it fenced off. Uh, it does look nice. It may not be the fence that was ever agreed on before, but it is fenced off, so it's safe for the children, which is most important. I don't care what kind of fence it is. Long as it's safe, it's safe for the children, that's what matters. Thank you. So that's been done. Uh and planning and zoning. Uh over the last three months, a total of 76 building permits have been issued. Uh just update on some some of the commercial establishments that are being built here in Willist. Uh these are all estimate dates. Wawa is estimating to be open around July 16th. Uh Audi's is planning to be open the first week of June. and Eleano is also planning to be open the first week of June. Those are all estimates. We all know things happen and things could slow down that process. And electrical department, uh, Mike Miller stated that Wawwa Power has been installed and they're waiting for the inspection to make that service hot. Uh, Eleanos is also waiting on an inspection. Everything else is done there. Uh, let's see. in um utilities interm utilities director Alex Rodriguez. Uh we're working on the water ordinance regarding the 2-in water meters and he's also working on updating our D burn permit at the airport. Uh we went out there today and that is desperately needed and I think Mr. Wald is also working with him on that to get that uh get that accomplished. Uh Mr. Mills, uh IT director Aaron Mills, um I tell you and I have to say this, uh

it's easy to un underestimate the amount of work that is done in the IT department. I know sometime we sit I'm guilty of it myself. I sit and think it's just a hit of a button. go in the computer and reprogram it and everything works. But uh as he sent me his uh weekly report, which is something that I've just recently implemented, is that every [clears throat] department head sends me a weekly report of what they have going on. Uh I think errands was the biggest uh out of out of all of them. I don't want to go through all of them. It's a lot. Uh, but I do want to thank Aaron for what he does do and what he gets done with uh him and his small staff. Um, but I have a different take on it now. [sighs and gasps] Now that I can actually see it in writing, which was a conversation me and Aaron had. I said a lot of people underestimate what you do because they don't see it. But when you see it in writing, it's it's a lot of work. So, uh, with that being said, I think that's all I had for the council. I thought Mr. Hector would be here, but I don't see him. Uh, Stephen and I had a meeting with, uh, PSI, the um, and Aaron.

Yeah, these two. Oh, they're there. Okay, cool. They're here. Uh, and I think we came up with a tenative date. Correct me if I'm wrong, gentlemen. May 1st. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. So, we're we we've set a date of having the system uh completely done. Hopefully, something else don't block us by May 1st. Right. Okay. Cool. So, uh we've been working. We've been trying to get it done. Yes, sir. When you gave your dates, the second one, what store was that? Uh, it was the first sheet that you Aldi's.

Oh, I thought you said Ali's there for Oh, no. Aldi's. I'm sorry. I was gonna ask that question. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yes. So, what he meant? Oh, I assume that was what he meant, but it's good to clarify.

Other than that, um, I think that's all I have for the council right now. Uh, we've had a couple meetings with the staff. Uh, seem to be going pretty good. Uh, we're working together, as I said before, as a team. We're working together as a team and we're getting some things accomplished. Um Aaron again uh I created a weekly is it weekly or every two weeks? Every two weeks schedule uh for all departments which will be on the computer and at any time that you want to know who's working in what department, you can pull up that that schedule on your computer and see who's all here that day. So, uh it's a way to keep track of what's going on and who's here as well as accountability. Uh we're also we're also implementing a uh daily activity sheet uh which will highlight things that have happened within the city. Uh would also be available on the computer. So you the council if you're out and somebody asks a question about a water leak or something you can go online pull it up and see yes they've identified it they've completed a work order they put in the locates and they'll be moving forward and in the process I think it will help with everybody knowing what's going on within the city and not having to make all these different phone calls of different people trying to figure out what's happening. So, we're just trying to streamline some things and improve the communication and computer and improve the the workflow status so it's not just all over the place. You know, we're going to uh we're going to start uh working on Alex and I and the team are going to be working on projects that are happening within the city. We have a lot of projects going on uh and they're taking an awful long time to get them done. And I think the reason that is is because we'll start a project, then

we'll jump to another project, and then by the time we get back to the one we started, it's been two weeks. So once we get some of the projects down, we're going to start focusing on we can go do this project in three days, let's get it done before we go jump on another one. And then this project is set back two weeks. So I think that'll help speed up the process on getting some of these jobs done quickly. Uh, so that's just some of the things we're working on. That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Wright.

First, I would like to thank Council Member Martin for stepping in today and doing a little speech on our war dog at the dedication. Thank you very much. And the only update I have is May 7th at noon, National Day of Prayer. So if anybody's available, all are welcome to attend, please. And just to back up, Mr. Rose, we all have been working very diligently together as a team to make this city workable again. So, thank you. Thank you to staff and everybody that has been patient with us and thank you council.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Protect [laughter] [laughter] Chief Steel.

Yes, ma'am. Just a couple of quick updates. Uh I want to let everybody know that um Levy County is now working two major fires. There's going to be evacuation notices uh going on. The uh second first one sprung up down off uh Black Prong today, jumped 326, jumped the old Lebanon Road uh last check was a little bit over 700 acres and they seen the fire pretty much as it began. So that tells you how dry and how the wind was affecting it today. Um our people have been released from that fire. They're currently working the second fire which is behind the uh Dollar General in Bronson between the Dollar General and the racetrack.

Um they have aerial units in route to that now. There are evacuation notices going on over there. Um the uh the shelter they are the they've opened the uh I believe it's the Chief Baptist Church is now the evacuation shelter for the folks and uh if anybody goes over there with any pets they they will be transported to the Levy County Animal Shelter from there I'm assuming by Levy County. But uh right now I I'll be perfectly honest with you. We are scraping the bottom of the barrel for firefighters. Um we are out. Um, I'm all y'all got on the Levy side on the le side of Levy County right now. So, if you see me get up and leave, you know where I'm headed. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Mr. Benton Ste.

Yes, ma'am. Uh just to to add on to that, um Florida Forestry came in and um we refilled one of their helicopters and we got two people staying at the airport uh you know, supported refilling operations at least until dark until the helicopters, you know, bed down for the night. And um outside of that, we had one of the you the tragic event that we had, we had one of the more successful events that we've had um with the NATA clinic. um sold over 9,000 gallons of ABG gas, 14,000 gallons total for a fiveday span. Um and I know that may not sound like much to, you know, just to to hear it off the cuff, but that's a month's worth of ABG gas in five days. Um and you know, my my supervisor Audrey, she she ran the team and did that all of that with about three hours of overtime. Um so it was a a huge win. No incidents on our end, no accidents on our end. U and everything ran really well.

Thank you, sir. Ben, can you talk a little bit about uh the corn we were establishing for the employees? Can you give a little brief on that?

Yeah, absolutely. Um in in one of the managers meetings we did we um had earlier this week, we talked about having a um employee of the month or restarting an employee of the month program and and incentivizing that with a challenge coin. Um, and right now I've been working on a a 2-in um, you know, two-inch gold matted challenge coin or glossed challenge coin that'll have the city of Willis's emblem on the front. Um, and on the back side it'll have the silhouette of the state of Florida. Um, and inside the silhouette will be the the Florida flag with the seal in the middle of it. Um then there will be a you know a little dot um the little red dot in the gap that will have the Williston motto uh you know strive for excellence um surrounding that red dot. So it it the proof looks really nice. Um and we're working with a local company to to make that happen. Um and I believe we're going to try to try to have a quarterly gathering to recognize those individuals and distribute those challenge coins to the awardies. Thank you, Mr. Mills. Miss Troy, uh, the only thing that, um, I did not send the chief because I just completed it today was with the geo codes entering into Edmonds. Um Lori and I have been working on that so we can get proper mainly PD is the one that's done so we can look at uh over time to make sure that everything is in line and they can actually see what they're using. Uh I was on the phone with Edmonds today. It should quote unquote in theory work the way I have inputed it. Um we will find out next payroll uh when we go to input these time sheets. We don't have to manually input every GL code either now. So, it should be stored in the system.

And then the next thing I'm going to do is look at uh city hall GL codes for make sure they're all properly set up and um with PD animal control has to write their own GL code. And we are also going to kick off uh Friday um at one of the manager meetings. We are going to do at city hall for city hall employees uh a lunchon to kind of celebrate the employees because they are our most valuable resource here in the city. Um and we're going to do a cookout here during lunchtime for them. And management is going to have a sign up sheet for sides. Uh, and then myself and Chief are chipping in for dogs and burgers.

Thank you, ma'am. Great. Mr. Alex, utility director. All right. All right. U Miss Alex, you have anything? Okay. MS. I do. I do. I do.

Thank you, Mike. Um again at the Swan River League of Cities meeting which is part of the Florida League of Cities um they presented the home rule hero awards and some of the people were not there so we brought their certificates and pens for them here. Uh the first one if is Lam Chief Lamar Steagle if you will come. Lamar testified before Senate committee on our behalf. [applause] You'll stay right here for a picture. Here's your pin. It says you are a home. Also, let's see. I know I have Patricia Wright who also went to Tallahassee. [applause and cheering]

Congratulations. This one I believe belongs to Darthus. Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. Council President [applause] and the others that were here that were actually there and presented your awards. If you'll come up here, too. If you brought your award with you, we want to take a picture. Did you bring yours? I didn't get an award. You didn't get one. Mike thought you did. I was just an honorary just Okay,

Jonathan

and Jonathan Bishop also received one um but he is not here tonight. he to receive his at the meeting. I just wanted y'all to know that these people are advocating on your behalf. Okay. Home rule hero. The city, the city, the Florida League of Cities believes in home rule. That means the county doesn't tell us what to do and the state should not tell us what to do. Unfortunately, they do a lot. They try to pass bills that prevent us or pre or exemp pre-exempt us from doing what we believe is best for our own citizens. And when we go and act on behalf of the Florida League or Swany River League, which is the league that we're in, we go and advocate for whatever is best for us, for our citizens. Um, and the Florida League knows what bills are are good and which ones are bad, and they give us a briefing before we go and start talking to them. Some people here have been more than once during this past year. Um, so that's what we're here for. [applause] And I and I just want to let everybody know that this is some of us or some of our council members and myself third year winning this home room award. [applause] Got it. Thank you. [laughter] That's all I have.

Thank you, Miss Jones, for that. Miss Martin, do you have anything for us? Ma'am, I would like to ask Aaron Mills for an update on u the customers that you have connected. I saw um on Facebook and also heard a rumor that you've actually connected people to the internet already to uh Wilson Fiber should specify and I was hoping you could give us an update on that. Basically, we just expanded the beta test we were doing just to test a little more of the network capacity and make sure things are working like they should. So, we've got two more places on So, we got three total right now running. Okay.

And and is your date for hookup the same May 1st? I think we're going to make that. Yes. But that's again depending on how things go. And we have all the equipment now. I know you were waiting on the server and then we one one piece got ordered and uh it turns out it's not going to be here till sometime in June, August,

September, something like that. So we're going to process right without it for now. Um the software side of things, we're we're really close there. Um the server's up and running. The licenses applied. The u fibersmith software is is now able to access that server and they're starting to work their end of making things talk. So and so people can't yet sign up on Fibersmith, correct? The portal is not available yet. No, not yet. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Attorney Kirsten Beloo. Do you have anything for us? I did want to let you know that I have uh I spoke the other day with uh Chief Forney um and we are hoping to move forward unless anyone jumps up on this table and tells me please don't do that um with a special magistrate for your code enforcement. Um we've explored a couple of different options um with the civil uh court, county court. Um, but we think that the special magistrate is the option that's going to be least expensive and get us moving fastest. Um, so unless someone tells me no, don't do that, we're going to move forward on that. Okay.

Mayor Goodman, anything from you, sir?

Thank you, Madam President. I just had a couple of things. Uh, have we all heard of cross trainining? I know that the city manager has and one of the things that as we're moving forward with fiber that I'm concerned about because I haven't seen any evidence of it. So, I just want to bring it to the council and the city manager's attention. We can't have all our eggs in one basket. If Aaron, as much as he has learned, as much as we have given him the time to learn, should get sick. We can't have our fiber stop. So, I would encourage everybody, especially the city manager, to look at some way of creating a system where it's not dependent on one person to continue on. And that's all I had. Thank you.

Thank you. And I I would definitely agree and we've kind of mentioned that with other positions within the city as well. Yes, Chief. Uh, mayor, uh, as I've stated before numerous occasions that it's it's a team concept and, uh, Aaron is moving in that direction of training new people to do different things within his department. Uh, which is going to take time because there's a lot to learn, but uh, we are moving in that direction. Uh, as I stated before, we're one team in one fight and uh, we're going to support each other and we're going to learn what each other do. I've been here for a short time and they've all jumped in to teach me things that I know nothing about and we're sharing that knowledge across the board. U, Alex is doing the same thing. He's in a he's in a spot where he's having to learn, but while he's learning, he's training others. Uh we've made some adjustments in some of the organizational uh structure. We've moved one person to another area to oversee that area as one person's out on vacation so they can learn that area so when that person is out we have somebody covered. So we are moving in that direction and that's a that's a great idea, a great suggestion and we're all we're we're on it. Thank you sir.

All right. Thank you. On to new business. Um discussion HCA hospital in Gainesville. Lauren did [laughter] you almost did it. [gasps]

Let [laughter] all right, council president, if if you don't mind before Lauren comes up. Uh Lauren and I have been friends for a long long time. We worked together at the sheriff's office. She was actually a PIO at the sheriff office while I was there. So, we worked closely together. And then we lost contact for a little while because she moved on to bigger and better things, I assume. And uh just the other day, Lauren reached out to me and said, "Hey, I am the marketing director for HCA Hospital, and we just built a hospital 19 miles away from Willist." I said, "Hey, that's great news. Why don't you come to the city council and tell all the citizens about it?" So, she agreed to come here and do it, which I knew she would, but there's a caveat, which there always is with Lauren. [laughter] And the caveat is I've got to go to be in her press day with the media about the hospital, but I'm super excited about it. And um I'm going to get a full tour of the new hospital. And if somebody want to go with me, that's you're more than welcome to go to tour the hospital. And uh Lauren and I have been friends for what, 20 years, maybe?

Maybe. Yeah. So, I'm glad to have her back and closer to this area where we're at so we can continue to establish that working relationship. When is your meeting in your wheelhouse? That was right. [laughter] When When will your meeting be? It's Friday, right? It's Friday. Yep. 11 to 12. 11 to 12 Friday. Yep. Okay. All right. That would be this floor to you. That would be this Friday. Yes. Thanks. [laughter]

Yeah, you guys are gonna have to work on that. Yes, ma'am.

Madam President, thank you so much for having me and thank you all for having me today. Uh it's an honor to be here. It is uh been an honor to work with Mike Rolls in the past. He has such a legacy in in public service. You guys are in fantastic hands with him here. I knew that when he was the became the chief and when I saw it on TV20 that was he was acting sitting manager. I knew it that you guys were in great hands. So, um wanted to talk to you guys about some of the um some of the things that are happening in Gainesville that could be very beneficial for your citizens. So, we have a brand new hospital. It's a $231 uh hospital that's million dollar hospital that's opening up there on Archer Road. It is 19 miles from downtown Willist. So, uh it is it's it's kind of a straight shot to this new hospital. This is a new access point for care for your community. We are having a grand opening event opening it up to the community. You guys can come and see it. You can come tour it. It's a very family friendly event this Saturday. And so we would love to invite your community to come and see this new access point for care that has emergency services, orthopedic services, general surgery. Um it will have spine surgery capabilities as well. One of the uh the crown jewels of the facility is that it will have inpatient rehabilitation services, which is something that's desperately needed in our community. There's only one in Gainesville um at this point. And so that it's it's it's very incumbent upon our citizens. you know, they're having to go to Jacksonville for their rehabilitation care. And so, that's not that's not great for our community. So, that was one of our missions was to bring that service to our community right here, uh, 19 miles from you guys. So, um, we're really excited about this brand new hospital. It is gorgeous. We'd love for you to guys to come see it. I have some flyers for the grand opening event. If you guys would like to come and see it, we would personally like to invite everybody to come and see it. Um,

on Saturday from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. and it's at the brand new hospital. We're actually shuttling people, we're encouraging people to to park at Celebration Point there, right across the street. We've u rented out one of their parking garages and so we're encouraging everyone to park over there and then we'll have shuttles taking people from Celebration Point to the hospital which is right across the street. So, um, really excited. Uh, we have we'll have food, entertainment, and fun for all ages. We were going to have fireworks, but with everything going on, not the right idea. [laughter] We said, "Nope, not doing that." So, um, it's going to be a wonderful familyfriendly event. We would love to see you all there. Another thing I'd like to, you know, I've seen on the news, you know, with healthcare and this access in this community, that's been a trouble point for this community. Another thing I'd like to bring to your attention is that we recently purchased a helicopter that is dedicated to Dixie Levy and Gilchrist counties. So, we all know that when a trauma happens, minutes matter. And so, that has been one of HCA's um efforts to continue to bring care to our smaller communities, our rural communities. That's a very big passion for our team. We're always looking for for different opportun opportunities to do that and so we saw the opportunity to bring the helicopter here. I think it's actually based here in Levy County. Um so it is it is right there. It is already a very busy helicopter. Um so it is it's it's definitely needed. So we're we're really glad to bring that resource to you guys. Does anyone have any questions?

Yes. Any questions? Mr. Mayor, I will ask the first question. Great. Is [clears throat] this hospital I think you answered it but I'm going to get it clarified. Sure. Is it a trauma rated hospital? This hospital is not a trauma center. So the only trauma center in Gainesville is Shans. Yeah. And so that's why I ask. So this hospital will be we can do emergency services, right? We can do adults and pediatrics. Any trauma will go to Shand as it always normally has. So, um, that's that's the effort with this hospital in particular, but it's a it's an emergency room that's right down the road from you, which is

a trauma rated hospital. It is not trauma. Yes. But it does everything else. So, you have you have um an agreement with Shane so that when your helicopter goes out that that will be the place that that takes the patients. Absolutely. We all work together in this healthcare ecosystem. So we have agreements and we have um an entire system around that that's built in uh we all communicate to see who can take what patients you know if we don't have the capability you know we can send it to one of our other healthcare partners. So it's it's a uh it's a welloiled machine. Okay.

So the part that actually that's opening that you're doing the grand opening for is the hospital side because the ER has been open for a little while. Correct. It has. The ER has been open since February 2024. So, it's been open two years and it's a great emergency room if you ever do need that higher level of care. Um, it is a wonderful place to go. Uh, we have board certified physicians there 247. So, and a fantastic medical team, so they can get you in and out and it's uh it's great care. Great. Anyone else? Thank you. Thank you for coming. Thank you guys for having me. I really appreciate it. Yes, ma'am.

Thank you. All right. Discussion with possible action update on Wilson Fiber. Hector is not here but name please sir. All right. So we'll have performance services come. Good evening, council, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Manager. Uh Charles Wears with Performance Services here to give you a brief update on the progress of the Williston City Fiber. In front of you, I have a couple of uh tracking documents that we're using to uh bring this thing across the finish line. One is the drop completion log that'll show the quantity and addresses of the drops completed and the items needed to complete those along with a small table showing the remaining drops. And uh most importantly the F dot permit tracking log. So last uh I spoke with you was two weeks ago. We had eight permits remaining to be issued. We are now down to four. We had two permits issued that week. Two more permits approved today. Um you'll see the dates that we've resubmitted permits as recently um as the 20th. So yesterday we had some resubmissions as uh uh Mr. Rolls pointed out th those are the only items holding us up from completion at this point. We need that FDOT approval to complete those underground directional bores and underground installations. So uh we are at the mercy of FDOT. We are tracking towards the first uh as as Mr. Rolls pointed out, but as soon as we have those we have about four days of work activity remaining. So we're hoping for an approval this week to wrap it up next week. if not, it will be early the following as soon as we receive those approvals. Um, we're over 99% complete with only 10 remaining drops to be

completed. Um, there were some access issues with some of those locations, but uh, working with Aaron, we've uh, identified four four of those locations that will not need drops andor service. So, we've removed those from the list. That took place today after I printed these documents. So, technically, we're down to six remaining locations as of today. Um, and then obviously working handinhand with Aaron's team for his commissioning, programming of the software, commissioning of the headend to make sure that everything's working. Following all these uh or these few completion items and remaining permits, we will be here. We're not going anywhere. We're going to be doing uh quality control punch list items and then here throughout the warranty period to make sure that this system works well for the city. Any questions?

Thank you, M. Meredith. Um few weeks ago I think he discussed or somebody maybe Hector mentioned that there were um some quality control issues that were in bulletin crossings with the installation. Maybe Erin can help sort of clarify that they had identified some issues and were listing crossings with like the depth of the cable buried fiber cable buried. I was just wondering are those all resolved? Were they in fact they may not have in fact been issues that needed to be resolved but are we They've all been documented and assigned. So, some of that is uh prohibited because of the rock bed that's below the surface. They can't get in there to do that. Erin's team is working to secure the poles. We're putting additional wire cover on some of those poles. Uh there has been a little bit of vandalism at the crossings as well as far as people just taking cutters or scissors to cables or kicking over posts, but we're going back and we're fixing all that. We're, you know, we're here to uh partner with the city to make sure this works and uh working close with Aaron's team to make sure that we get all that corrected. But um as I believe I mentioned at the last meeting, we are visiting each individual drop, my team. Uh Jeremy is your field superintendent for the project. He's here 5 days a week watching the work activities. He's going to every one of these 865 drops to make sure it was installed correctly. And then we're using uh you know, management software to document any deficiencies via photos, videos, whatever. So, um, there there will be a process of closing out a punch list after we get completed and then that warranty process for anything that we find after the fact.

Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Yes. And what's what's the warranty period? One year. One year. Mr. Mayor, [clears throat] I asked my first question before I received this. I [clears throat] noticed here Squirrel damage required cut and re-placing. Does this mean the squirrels are up on the line and they ate through it and you had to go back and fix it? Yes, sir. Then so that's going to be a reoccurring constant problem as long as we had squirrels, right?

U I I mean uh in in the industry they kind of equate it to uh act of god natural disaster stuff. So is a tree falling on a line, right? I mean squirrels don't actively eat this fiber. There is a rodent deterrent actually in the cable, jacketing of the cable, okay, that they're not supposed to eat it, but maybe this guy was just a little aggressive. It was only in one spot and a lot of this fiber has been installed for almost 6 months at this point. So, I mean, the it was I think we believe it was an isolated issue, but we're also here to help you resolve. Can you tell me what the content of the fiber covering is? Uh, I cannot. Um, it's not soy, is it?

No, I don't. It's a petroleum product. I feel that it has a petroleum base to it, but uh no, I can get you, if you are interested, I can get you the actual specifications of the cable. I just want to know if it's like our gas lines where they build them out of soy and then wonder why squirrels eat them. No, they build them out of a rodent deter petroleum uh highdensity jacket is what it's referred to as. So, I mean it should be should be pretty robust. It's hard to get cut with even a razor. Thank you. Anyone else?

Well, my only wish is uh we stick to our goal that we talked about and uh the project's been going for quite some time now and it's we're at that point where we need to cross that finish line. I think everybody's ready to see that cut that ribbon so we can get the system up and going. So, you know, I'm I'm going to keep reaching out to you to make sure we're on track to to meet that that finish line. Uh, absolutely, sir. And I wanted to make sure you said it in front of the council so when we don't meet it, I can say he said it. We call that throwing you under the bus.

That's all right. I'm used to that. And I mean, we are at the mercy of FOT, right? We're we're very close. And that's uh, you know, again, a phenomenal full-time superintendent watching the work activities. We've been meeting weekly with FDOT. I have a standing weekly meeting with Mr. Rolls and the city team. I'm here to update you. Standing weekly meetings with all subcontractor teams. I mean, we're really we have our finger on the pulse to do absolutely everything possible to expedite the completion, but we are at the mercy of the Florida Department of Transportation for these last four approvals. Thank you. We appreciate that updates. Thank you very much.

All right. Discussion with possible action. Block 12 parking lot Walt Nichols with right pierce salary and other city issues. Timothy Eckert. Yes. Uh Timmaker 225. I was going to start with Walt and then I said I'm going to start with a paper I handed y'all. So just bear with me for a few minutes. All right. Good evening. And I'd like to take a moment to raise an important question related to the governance, ethics and public trust. We have come come a long way but still have matters that need attention in any municipality. AI city appointed attorneys play critical role that individual is responsible for providing independent unbiased legal guidance to the city council members staff and ensuring that that decisions made by leadership are in the best interest of the city as a whole. With that in mind, I'd like to ask, what safeguards are in place when a city appointed attorney has close personal relationship such as a romantic live-in relationship with a city employee who holds a position of authority. I want to be very clear. This is not about making accusations. It's about ensuring that our system are strong, transparent, and aligned with ethical standards. Situations like this can like this can uh raise concerns not necessarily because it's wrongdoing but because of potential for conflict of appearance of impropriity. When the roles when the when the roles are overlap in this way even indirectly it can create questions such as whether legal advice remains fully independent whether decisions could be influenced or

appear influenced whether all employee all employees and departments are treated equally under the law and importantly uh uh perception of bias can impact the public confidence under the Florida code of ethics for public officers and employees. Public officials are expected not only to avoid actual conflicts of interest, but also situations that could reasonably give the appearance of one. That's because a public trust is is one of the most important responsibilities we hold. Best practices in this types of situations typically include full disclosure of the relationship, recusal from any matters involving the individual, independent oversight when necessary, clear documentation to en ensure transparency. These are not punitive measures. These are protective ones. The protective indiv individuals involved the integrity of the city and the trust of the residents we serve. So my request is tonight is to simp is simple. Can we receive clarification of what policies, procedures or safeguards are currently in place within our city to address to address situations like this. And if these policies are not clearly defined, I would respectfully encourage the city the council to consider establishing or strengthening them because ultimately this is not about any one situation, but it's about ensuring that our city continues to operate in fairness, accountability, and transparency for everyone. Thank you, Tim. Yes, for that. That being said, um uh is there anybody else more qualified in Alex for that position? Because I

believe Mike Miller's got tenure. He's been here for a long time. He's got the respect of all the employees. Um and what about putting Jonathan Bishop back where he was and give him his money back? um just because he was put in assisted position u behind Rob. Rob's not here right now. I don't know if he's coming back. Wilson needs Rob and he I believe they need they need Mike Miller and uh Jonathan Bishop between the three of them. It would make Willist and the employees better off and Alice needs to go back into the field and grow up per se. Five years is not enough to be a run the city. You're just not. It's just not. So anyways, all right. Now to walk. All right. So I asked some questions a while back about parking lot. So this was questions led to more questions. Answer one was a McMillan survey in Kentucky to survey. But I didn't get an answer. I didn't have to I didn't ask I didn't get an answer on how much it cost to have a survey. So I did get he did the work. Number two was writing Pierce developed the plans. Says however this new survey was requested because of the property owners under the impression of the ements have been properly recorded with the Levy County Clerk of Court. Uh the third answer was JB Pro consulted in the contract from the CRA to serve as director with the CRA. JB Pro is currently working on update the comp plan as a dayto-day but um I never got a clarification on what JB Pro is doing and my other question led to is Donald Barber behind the scenes as I say the ghost of Donald help running the city when I thought we got rid of that

problem. So then got to number four about the original bid. So the original bid was $725,75543. So uh then the first change order pretty good whopper goes to 833,000 and it says here parking lot redesign after peso acquisitions. I just don't understand how can it be a redesign of $17,71 as the first uh change order, but it is what it is. Two, there was a berry fuel tank. It goes to $838,000. Um I would have thought that would have been more, but it is what it is. And then on uh after change order number three, so they moved the manhole cover that's in front of the police department over here, that was $34,000. So they moved over to the parking lot and then it minused it to 837,000. Am I wrong? Does this the math add? It's supposed to be 800. It's supposed to be 34,000 added on to 838,000, not minus a,000. Am I wrong? I mean, simple math tells me I'm right. So, uh, and then number five, after change order number five, tracing unmapped sanitary, it went to 895,000. And then uh oh number four I forgot the addition uh was additional fence construial fence construction requested by the business owners $37,000. Mr. Cox, you could have had a heck heck

of a daggum um 4th of July. You know that? Yeah. That's a whole lot of money for some temporary fence. And the next question is, is that Williston's temporary fence or is that Will's construction that is not over there doing their job as we speak? I mean, they did put a roller over there today for I mean, come on. Insult to injury. So, uh, I found that that was quite a bit whenever in the real world is not near that. I mean, somebody made some money on the fences. And uh so then change order number six, it was uh provided the water line materials for the city that they could not provide. It only went up 800 bucks. So that's 895,000. So the original bid was 725. So then the change order number seven was additional sidewalk along Northeast First Street. Um, so it added on, so 94, and 700 bucks. So it added on uh 9,000 bucks. I like know how many linear feet it was and how much how how much the square foot it was added on. This should have been done ahead of time. You know what I'm saying? Some This was like pissport planning at its best. Then on uh number eight, after change order number eight, it goes from 94,000 to 974,540.65. And it says here printed electrical hookups to each business that the city had intended to contract.

In what in the grand scheme of things, when you come into a contract, all this is worked out ahead of time. This ain't done as you go. This ain't pay as you go. This is done ahead of time. I mean, never heard of this in my life. Ever. Ever. And then uh that's pretty good little lick. That's $70,000 added on to this. So then uh so the right so uh writen pier serves at the project manager block 12. As such they are responsible for managing any additional cost which is Walt and I take Laura Jones because this is her baby with uh JB Pro. Uh question number five. The CRA's mission was to reduce it says reduce uh CRA's mission reduce blight increase public safety. The CRA through resident complaints determined that the problem with the manhole created imminent danger and Wils was already mobilized of box 12. So the quickest and least expensive solution was to address via to the change order. Okay. You remember when I asked a few months ago what it cost for the manhole cover and Walt came up and said 34,000 but he also said he had another bid for 12. What happened to the 12,000? Are we not trying to save the citizens some money or just keep letting him run us into the dirt? Y'all just paid him y'all just give him another go-ahad check three times $25,000 to keep doing this and y'all are not holding his feet to the fire properly. This man should be fired. This man should be relieved of his duties immediately because so far all he's done from what we coming in meetings, ordinance for fertilizer, trees that you're not allowed to cut down, going after just miscellaneous stuff instead of infrastructure for our water. Like it it just should be imminent that we need

$50 million grant to bring up a a water. And uh and it is not and the y'all who gives him permission to go after these grants and they're not like I mean I don't I don't see the common sense in it like he says after the construction dollars. I mean and several times I asked in here who was the project manager. Not one time did he man up and say I am this man is acting like a coward. Didn't speak up. I'm not calling names. I'm just saying he was acting like a coward. But uh but when it's all said and done at the end of the night whenever I was uh after Sue, Donald, and Jonathan, they all took it. This man sat right over there and didn't say one word. And y'all got him in a position of power to spend our money recklessly. Something needs to be done about this immediately, just like you did Sue. Termination. Uh and then uh number six was no to the CRA board is voluntarily it's unpaid position. However, there are companies that work for both the CRA and the city of Wilson. So I'm taking SJB Pro and uh that's a whole another issue that I'm about to go after and uh because I don't see how Laura Jones can sit there and write the budget and still go work for JB Pro. We got some conflict of interest and she sits in on it. The lawyer. There's a whole lot going on here. Then number seven, Wrightton Pearson's the engineering project manager for the CRA. Wils site prep is a general contractor. Laura Jones is a CRA director and her role is administrative in nature. She creates agendas for the board meetings. She creates the budgets and ensures that all financial reporting is completed in a timely fashion. In addition, she

manages the CRA social media presence. Nikki Ba is a CRA secretary and her role is administrative in nature. She creates meetings, minutes, and board minutes. Both Laura and Nikki manage smaller initiatives like the war dog. Well, Nikki got on Facebook here a couple days ago and uh four or five days ago and thought she want to make a comment about when I reposted the video from uh Donald Barber uh interviewing Laura Jones on October 16th. That's how long ago it was. I asked how many I asked if the CRA was uh funded by taxpayer money. I was told no. She even states in her video that it's funded by Adalorium tax, property tax, and uh the state tax, which I looked in the uh I don't have it with me, but it's in the uh 2024 audit. It's from a special general fund in 2024. They got 4770,000 from Adalorum and they got 1.3 million if I'm correct from a special general fund. Where's all the money? This is supposed to be volunteers, but yet they're setting up their yourself a good payroll with a good check at our expense. And then number eight, the budget on block 12, it says at $1 million. The budget was 77 $725,000 and some change. And it took out a loan for $1 million to Coast Bank. When y'all voted this, whenever I when y'all voted all this in, y'all didn't say one word about a million dollar loan taken out on this. So now this budget has a way is going and then I found out uh Wils to come back to do nothing, $23,000 and he's left it a mess. Why isn't he fined every day? Or wasn't that not uh worked

into the contract um when you're not there? Now y'all done worked out the property deal, right? What's his excuse for not being here? I mean, I understand being busy, but he ain't that busy, trust me. And then he tried to have me trespassed off off the off the sidewalk over here the other day. That's why y'all running the fence along there and then blocked it off. So, you can't even get to Ry's place over there now. Spent more time doing that than going over putting a shovel in the ground or bringing a bulldozer and get it ready to go. So,

please don't speak out of turn. Thank you. I mean, I'm sorry I'm taking so long, but you know, sometimes you got to do this. I need to find out how many grants Walt's got for the city. How many h and how many JB Pros involved in either with engineering project management or oversight or any other involvement. The I need to know how much Walt gets paid. Is it by the month, by the hour, or by the grants? Does the city tell Walt what to do, what what to look for in grants, or does he just do it on his own accord? And what see? And there this goes to another subject here that's really I believe needs to be I believe things going to be different now that Mike's in here. It's just not going to be a free-for-all. This is nothing against you, boss. Trust me. This has just been building. What's the city's employee policy on interacting with citizens online about city business? That was Nikki Ba and I screenshotted that to keep it. What is the city's policy for employees being on Facebook while on the clock? And she was. She vacated when I asked her. She was Facebooking on taxpayer money. And I want to know who approved the $34,000 manhole cover and and uh and and uh when and where. And then why have you let Wilts get away with not removing the construction debris? Excuse me. I'm about done. And uh why have you let him get away with showing up show not showing up and finished the parking lot 12? It's been over there for now how long have as we've worked all this uh stuff out the property. He should have been there. Don't you agree? And u and why hasn't he been fine daily?

If he was fine daily, trust me, he'd be here. He'd be working till late. And uh and and when is the completion date? Can we get that from you? Walt, please continue direct your comments to me. Thank you. Well, if he's in the parking lot, I'd be saying darkness. Okay. But if you're going to talk about somebody that's here, you're going to address me. Well, he's in charge of it.

And the last one, did anyone know if the roofing permit was permit was per there? There's a roofing permit over here on April 13th over here at West Massage when they was doing doing the roof over here. Uh seem like they trying to get shady during the Easter weekend. Just trying to Everybody's got full per minute. Thank you. Yeah, don't leave. I have a question, Mr. Sure. Go ahead. Um, so I I appreciate your investment in this community and your time, but my question for you is, yeah,

you have been told on multiple occasions at these meetings that the city is not the CRA, that those are two entirely separate entities with separate budgets. So my question for you is why do you continue to come and ask the city council about the decisions that the CRA, which is a separately funded and separately governed organization, about their decisions when we can't answer that for you. Do they put their budget in in with a with a yearly budget? No. Well, then how would they get it? They they do have a separate page in the yearly budget. Yes. But you know, Miss Meredith, in defense of what I've asked before, I asked if it came off a property tax. You told me no. You've told me no, Miss Jones.

I would not tell you no because I know better than that. Well, anyways, I asked Put words in my mouth. I asked if it came from property tax and I've been told up there multiple times it didn't. So, that was a lie. It does come from tax increment financing which comes from tax and then part of it comes from the state. So, I just want to know none of it comes from the state. Well, then Laura lie then where's the special general fund for the 1.3 million? If if I can go ahead. You have totally misrepresented many facts here tonight. How's that? I don't know. You wouldn't stop long enough for me to make an address to what you were saying. You said usually as a rule y'all don't want to answer. No, you're on the agenda now. You're not in public comment.

Is this what it takes to get an answer? I'll be on the agenda every time. No, it means we can talk back to you. Yes, ma'am. And answer your questions. Yes, ma'am. I will say number one, Meredith is exactly right. They have a totally separate budget from ours. They make decisions. Yes, we did approve the million-doll loan. It did come here. If you had been attending the meetings, you would have heard that it was probably two to three years ago. I guess before you started coming, it was

they cannot do a loan in our name with of [clears throat] that amount without us. Yes, we approved it because we wanted a parking lot. Yes, we approved the $34,000. They came up with it first. Did you not want the manhole fixed? Everybody in town wanted the manhole fixed. Well, why wasn't the $12,000 accepted over 34, though? I don't know anything about a $12,000 bid. I remember. He said it in the meeting. I don't know anything about a $12,000 bid. I know that Wilts said they would add it onto their contract and they would do it right away and they did. And they are currently not there because we asked them to leave. They're going to come back.

They will come back. But they moved all their equipment. They went to another job. They've got to finish that job before they can come back here. I mean, you're a contractor and you know that you've got to finish one before you can come back to the one who said they left it a mess though, Miss Jones. You've totally miss misrepresented a lot of things. Totally. No, I haven't. Yes, sir. You have. And if you want to go down the list and give it to me because you didn't give us what you just read. I I got this off of of when I asked for public records requests. I know you were reading things that people gave you because I can I'm just going by what I was told. I can identify them. So then so who mis who? Except you misrepresented a lot. How can I do it when this is what I was gave? Well, if you want to give it to me, I'd be glad to answer.

So So who's wrong? I'm going by what I'm gave and also Walt does not work for us. He is a contractor. His company is a contractor with us. JB Pro is totally separate from Wright Pierce. They are not one and the same. you you have that confused as well. JB Pro doesn't have anything to do with the parking lot either. So, that's a misrepresentation as well. Um, and yes, Walt goes after grants on our behalf, but we ask him to do that. Yeah. And he's paid out of those grants, and I don't know what we'd do if he wasn't doing that. Well, go ahead.

You may. well was here I can't remember how many meetings ago and was completely transparent and it was not very many many meetings ago and gave us a complete list of every single project they've worked on every single amount that was paid to Walt uh to uh Wright Pierce sorry for those projects so there is complete transparency he good for you de he has gathered so much money from us for us sorry through grants to help keep this city operating. Yeah.

So that the in the Williston tax dollars they I mean grants are all tax dollars so we all pay someplace for our grants but we get these grants in order to help us meet state statutes. So for example last meeting when he was here and he was talking about the ordinances that was an effort to meet state regulations that are coming down that we have to abide by. So, he's seeking out grants to help us find money to help cover those expenses that if he didn't get those grants, we would have to cough that up individually. And it's a number none of us want to see. Those grants are the only way that we can meet these state statutes. We're just talking about home rule where the state comes and says, "Hey, you've got to reduce the amount of nitrogen that's going into the water to protect our aquifers here in Florida. So, guess what, city of Willist, you have to reduce that by x amount by this date." Walt and and other contractors like him across the state go and find those grants and apply for them to help us pay to make sure that we do what the state does so it doesn't come out of the taxpayer dollars. Now, we may not all agree on whether we want to be doing that, but we are required to by the state. So whether we want to or not, we have to do it. If the state says we have to do it, we have to do it. And we need people like Walt to go out who have the background, the education, the background, the staffing, the time, the connections, the ability to write the grants, the ability to facilitate the grants to make sure that those projects actually do get done, they get done on time, and they get done without your tax bill tripling, quadrupling, or even worse. So, I know you may not agree with every single project that, you know, the city takes on. We probably all don't agree on every single project, but some of them we have no choice on. We have to do them. And and he is our insurance blanket. He he not only does the grant seeking, but he also reviews all of the engineering for Swift mud and all of

these projects where these developers come in. And we didn't have that before. And it cost us a lot. A lot. And so he prevents us from getting sued. He prevents us from having engineering fails where you mean the bargaining lot. Sorry, the parking lot because they didn't when he took over the prints from the other the other engineering company.

Well, yeah. So, that there there were mistakes made there and again I I can't speak to what mistakes were made, but that project had been going on if I remember correctly 12 20 years 20 years. So, it had passed through a lot of hands and you know, mistakes happen. Like Deborah said, you're in contracting. You understand that if you know, all of a sudden the the building changes and, you know, they've added six new rooms onto a building, sometimes they're mistakes and people have to go back and we have to correct them and their work orders and things like that. Taxpayers are paying for this, Miss Meredith. I I understand that. I appreciate that. None of us want to. Probably if Walt

if Wright Pierce had been on the project from the get-go, there might not have been mistakes because the mistakes came from the original engineering plans which was not right Pierce. They inherited the mistakes. Exactly. So I don't you know I don't want to get into too much of a back and forth but I do I do my question still stands of we have said again and again and again the CRA makes they have a separate budget. They have separate meetings where they make separate decisions in the council. And yet you come to us and ask us for these answers. It's the CRA meetings that you need to go to for those answers.

Well, it just seems like to me that you got to come up here and you got to ask a million questions and you got to come to all these meetings whenever. There should just be voluntary transparency. I mean, there there's where the trust is. I mean, you can shake your head, Miss Jones, whatever. But I I'm just I mean, I was given the information apparently wrong. So if this if this information was given me wrong then then then who's at fault? I know what Mr.

Every one of the people that have done this they're we've done everything you named on that list. We've done that right here in this council meeting in this council. All the grants were approved in this council meeting. The manhole was brought to us by the CRA but yes we asked them to please do it and they did. Yeah. things were added on your list because they needed to be added on the list. Well, yes, Mr. Pesto gave us we got additional property when we got that lot of building that fell down. It required re-engineering. Well, there's no well to it. That's it. Well, I'm just asking, well, how come it wasn't $12,000 over there have somebody 12,000 to the 34? I have the answer to that. There was

Walt will answer that. Okay. Thank you. Sorry. Whenever you guys are done. I mean, at the end it's our money, you know. There's omissions and errors whenever somebody he assumed the prince for the engineering his company is liable for a certain amount of damage here that they should pay for this and not not the city of Willist the residents should not be paying the brunt of this and there's then and that and and that has to be addressed maybe not this time but you know I mean him as a project manager um he's run this job really poorly I think he's done a wonderful job he's done a terrible done a wonderful job. Okay, let's stop. Let's just stop.

Is there anything else, Mr. Edgar? No, I'll save you till the end. Okay, I'm going let Mr. Pierce Walt Nichols with Right Pier Pierce answer your question that you have. Thank you, Madam President. Walt Nickel with Right Pierce. Um, I really don't know where to begin. There were so many false statements that were provided to you here this evening. Absolutely. They are. And for for me to be accused of being a coward. I have been here for most of your meetings. Gave you a turn.

And I come back to answer every one of your questions. The questions that Mr. Eard has has raised has failed to ever look me in the eye until this evening for the first time. Excuse me, m Mr. Eert. We're not going to have that. That's your first warning. That's your second warning. Yes. Can you escort Mr. Eard out, please? You've had You've had three attempts. You're just going to be escorted out.

Madam President, let's take a fivem minute break. We're going to take a five minute break at 7:16 and if you will take care of that sir. Thank you.

All right, let's get moving. Let's get started. All right, Mr. Nichols, we're reconvening at 7:23 p.m. Mr. Nichols. Thank you, Madam President. say I will try to hit some of the points that were brought up and clarify those things,

but we'll start with the block 12 project. Yes, it was started in before 2017 by another engineering firm. Um, it was put out for bid. Bids were never received so forth. The project sat for a number of years. Uh the city hired Wright Pierce to rebid the project that was done and serve as construction administrator of it to oversee the project. Taking the bid, the design that was done by another engineering firm. We put the project out for bid. We open the bids. Wilps construction was the only bid that we received. It was we looked at the bid. It was within budget and fair. And so they were awarded a contract. Within weeks, I would say the Pesos property came available under the control of the city and that opened up a whole different layout in the back of that parking lot. The original design and the previous engineer did what they could do with the property you had at the time and you had 44 parking spaces back there. The traffic flow was not good. It was all broken up, but that that was the best you could do with the property you had. Once you got the paceless property, it opened up the whole back of that property. So, we did a a quick redesign of the layout of that and we went from 44 parking spaces to 77. And that then we negotiated a change order, put the project on hold with Wilks, couldn't start. They gave us a new price and that was the change order for about $134,000. You got 30 more than 30 parking spaces for that. It was reasonable price, very well done, and that was the the big change order on the project, but it went from 44 to 77 parking space. And then yes, there were there was a buried fuel tank, there was contaminated soil, there was tires buried that were underneath there. Those were change orders. Each of

those change orders, he's reading one number or one sentence of what the change order is. Those change orders have multiple parts. The change orders are itemized. Um, each one is probably three or four pages long between the the summary page and then the itemized. And so there are additions, there are deletions, there are credits that have come back on each of those change orders as we went through them. And so to say the additional fence, there were other things in that change order. The positional fence is a couple thousand dollar, not $34,000. That is a total misrepresentation of that change order. And all the details are in those change orders from wills. They're reviewed by us. They go back to the CRA for their approval. I've explained each of those change orders in detail each time they've come and they've all been legitimate. Um, they were unforeseen circumstances. You know, the big one again, the parking lot redesign, which was a big benefit. Um, going back to the manhole in front of the police station, there was no second bid. We came up with three alternatives of how we could fix that. And, you know, Bryce Pierce developed that. There was the cheapest fix we could come up with was the $12,000 option one, we called it. That had severe pitfalls. If the the manhole itself underneath, which was over 50, 60 years old, was deteriorated in places we couldn't see. that price was we had the $34,000 fix which was a little bit innovative in its way, but it it it avoided the conflict that that manhole was for. And then there was the full fix of removing the thing completely and it would have taken up the entire intersection would have pump sanitary flows around it during construction and that was 75 $80,000. We recommended the second fix and it was the right fix

because when they opened up that manhole, it was severely deteriorated at top. You would have been in the 34 or $74,000 change order had we just assumed the 12,000. That was the bare minimum. We never recommended that. We always recommended the the second option which was used and it was the correct option. It saved the city. It did save you money. we would have went with the other one, it would have been much worse. And so again, that was totally misrepresented. Um the I'll go back to the uh power hookup. That was always the intent. Black uh black block 12 project work was going to be done underground utility work up to within 5 foot of the building. Standard engineering practice or site development work goes up to within 5 foot of the building. Beyond that is more building services. The city electric department always intended to take that electric service from that 5 foot zone and reconnect each individual business. They were going to do that themselves under a separate contract. The city itself isn't licensed to go into each individual panel. So they were going to hire somebody. During our discussions, we reached out to Wilts to see if they could do that and they provided a change order to do that. Um, had we not done used Wils to do that, it would have been a separate bid. Advertise it, put design plan, specifications, and additional drawings out, put it out for bid. That's at least a 30 to 45 day process. Don't know if you would have gotten any bids or not. Could it could have held up the project for months. We got a change order for Wilts. They're doing that. That work is starting on Monday and that's being done. That was always a separate cost that was going to be done. It's being absorbed by the CRA. We did that. There were some other change orders he mentioned. There were

some materials that the city was always intended to provide for water and they couldn't get them in time. Quilts was able to get it. That was a each and every one of these are detail and not just one item. You can't look to one item for the title of it. You have to be and all that information 100% transparent. So that's on block 12 kind of in a in a summary of the things that were said. Um there were false false statements in each and every one of those. and um we're transparent with you as transparent as we can be.

Thank you for the clarification and transparency. Thank you. And I will address schedule. So we did have uh the the CRA approved the last change order for the restart of the project at their last meeting week a week and a half ago.

So that was approved. Um they're providing a schedule. They provide us a a restart schedule. They said they would start this week. Wils has been out there. I just had a meeting before this without with them and their electrical people on site. They're going to have crews out there Thursday. Uh the electrical work is starting on Monday and they gave us a schedule. The substantial completion date is July 1st. So, we have that date and there are no fines because we put them on hold. We told them to stop. Um the site has been trespassed several times. There's been vandalism to it. No trespassing signs were cut off. The sidewalk close signs taken off again here. Um, Mr. Eert has been trespassing on the construction site and the contractor is going to ask if he's not seen out there again. That's something to be done. It's a federal offense. It's a construction site. He is not to be there. He's been there several times. He got fairly fairly um vocal, I will say, with the contractor. He has sent an email to the city about it. Um, and uh, it's unfortunate that that's happening, but there's been trespassing and there's been van. So, that does have to stop. If there's anything else, there was a whole host of things raised. I could address them if I could get transcripts or a video of this. I could I could hit each one point.

Thank you. any comments? I remember when I came out one time um I think it was with Jonathan to the website of the website to the block 12 and you I think were there and that's when they found the two barrels that were buried and you were like that's two to three week set back because of that and like you said there's no telling what else. Well, it's all done now, but you know, whenever you find that stuff, he's just set you back. It's not anything you can do.

What one of the change orders, and I don't remember the number, they had additional investigation to figure out the sanitary sewer because there were no plans on the routing, and we have to reconnect each building's sewer lateral in a 78 foot stretch of sewer. As they're digging up, we found 14 connections in that 78 ft. We had to contract to investigate which one was alive, which one was abandoned. That took excavating, kept going into everybody's buildings, pouring water through, tracing them, putting cameras in the system. Days, days, and weeks to figure out what that was. And that's just one thing. There there's so much going on underneath their foundations that we had no idea that they had to do. And so there was a lot of unknown and they've been addressed and the budget was per CRA and with a million dollars. We are under a million dollars even with all these changes. We have incurred a lot more costs, right, Pierce dealing with this over the past couple months. A lot we're over our budget. I have not come to the city for that at all. I know you're in in dire straits, but we've had expenses because of this, too. Um, and we're dealing with that. We appreciate working with you. Always here to answer any questions that you have.

Thank you. We appreciate you.

All right. So, before we move any further, I Oh, wait. He can't. It's not public. Um, hold that thought, but hold it till the end and remember it. Okay. [laughter]

write it down. Um so the initial thing that Mr. um Eert raised questions were um was about conflict of interest um related to our city attorney and just for clarification and um transparency. Um, Miss Belveloo answered this question last meeting when it was raised and it seems that we keep having questions being raised at almost every meeting that is about the pretty much like the same thing. So, I'm going to answer this and chief chief

he's still the chief

chief city manager. [laughter] Um, if you have any input afterwards, by all means, speak up. Um, but when it comes to our city attorney and her personal life, if there's any conflict and she has done this on herself, she removes herself from a situation, she will ask one of her um fellow attorneys to step in. Um, I know this from personal experience with her and it's great that we have a firm that we are able to pull from different attorneys when there may be conflict of interest regardless of the personal situation. There still could be a conflict of interest where we would have to go with another attorney versus the our the attorney that we have. Um, we also have a city manager who also if he sees or feels like there's a conflict of interest, he will ask another attorney to step in and deal with whatever situation that we have. Prior to Miss Bod's leaving, I am pretty aware that she did the exact same things. And I know for a fact with recent events, this is the same thing that Mr. roles is doing at this time. If there is conflict of interest, they work closely together, the entire firm and the lawyers within the firm. So, the fact that we have a firm that has other attorneys that we can pull from at any point when there is a conflict of interest is a plus for the city and that is what happens. Mr. Rose, do you have any

Well said. And uh it's not just our attorney that will remove herself. Alex will as well. Uh and you are absolutely 100% correct. We have had cases here recently where um I didn't even have to ask. She did it on her own because she felt there may be some type of conflict. So when we talk about integrity and and and trust and and being transparent between the two of them, there's not a conflict because if I see a conflict, I step in and say maybe you shouldn't be involved in this or maybe he shouldn't be involved in this. So there is there is protocols and there is things in place uh on my behalf as well as their behalf that make sure we don't get the city into that conflict where we have an issue of what Mr. Eker spoke about. So I'm very well and capable of making sure that that doesn't happen. Uh and they are as well. I'm proud to work with them. I've never seen a problem and I don't think we will have one in the future.

Thank you. All right, [clears throat] Mr. C. Yes. A few months back, um, Kirsten did come to us and did tell us she talked to her partners and they they were comfortable with it. I have talked to Kirstston and two or three times when I've had employees who have said they expressed some concern and I talked to Kirstston about it. Yes. Her exact words, I will kick his butt to the curb because she's not going to jeopardize her license. Sorry, Alex.

I'll take that to heart. [laughter] Just a quick question. All right. Yes. We also have and and Kim, maybe you can clarify this. We have a labor attorney that comes in also to advise in issues dealing with personnel labor. Correct. Uh yes, we can reach out to FMIT. Thank you.

Thank you. So, we're covered all the way around. All right. We will move forward. All right. Resolution 2026-29, a resolution of the city council of the city of Willist, Florida, approving the state of Florida Department of Transportation public transportation grant agreement for financial project number 446167-194-01 regarding the Willis Airport construction runway 5-23 lighting and signage authorizing appropriate parties to sign any document required to execute such agreement on behalf of the city of Willist and providing an effective date airport manager Benton Steel.

Yes, ma'am. U so I know it seems like you guys have signed several things in conjunction with this project lately. Uh but this is the actual construction cont or contract for it or PTGA rather uh with FDOT. There is some cost for the airport associated with this project. Uh Paso did a really good job of minimalizing that. um it is within our scope to pay for this project and it it's a very very good project at a very good cost that we will not find anywhere else. Um so to give you guys a a full idea of of what we're doing, we're replacing all of runway 523 lights which are it's a primary runway 7,000 foot runway. Um transitioning those from H hallogen bulbs to LED bulbs. Uh you I was talking to to Chief Rolls earlier today and one of our mechanics out there at the field has learned that he can rebuild these LED bulbs um that we're switching to for about $10 a pop. Uh presently we're paying $30 a bulb to replace for the H hallogen bulbs. Um now that if if you have to replace the entire LED fixture, that becomes a little bit more costly, but we're very confident that we can rebuild these a lot cheaper. Um and the energy savings will be a lot better, too. Um, in addition to just the lighting, there are several signs that are going to be replaced along the primary runway. Um, you know, exit signs. So, it's it's a really good project. We're really excited about it.

Thank you. Can I get a motion? I move approval of resolution 2026-29. A second. Have a motion and a second. Any discussion from the public? Any discussion from the council? Seeing none, I move to vote. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes 5 to zero. Thank you very much.

You're welcome. Resolution 2026-17, a resolution of city council of city of Williston, Florida, approving the state of Florida Department of Environmental Protection grant agreement for vulnerability assessment funding authorizing appropriate parties to sign any document required to execute such agreement on behalf of the city of Willist and providing an effective date. Walt Nichols with Wright Pierce. Thank you, Madam President. Um, yes, this is the vulnerability assessment uh grant that D is offering to communities. Uh, this has been in the making for I think a year, more than a year. Um, so we we did this application. This is uh a program that they require states to go through this vulnerability assessment um for storm water flooding issues um storm water related or environmental related. Um, you go through this study through their prescribed procedures which has some investigations, some uh uh what if analysis of of floods, looking at um evacuation routes, facilities that are threatened by by floods and storm water and storms um and then coming up with uh areas that are vulnerable um and also coordinating this with your with your LMS programs here in the county. Um so you need to do this. Once you do this and accept it, it opens up that other grant window. Very similar when I talked two weeks ago about the safe streets for all. You do that study, once that's approved, it opens up the grant money for the repairs. This is that on the stormwater side of things. So, um, we applied for this on the city's behalf. Um, and this grant, this is the the grant paperwork from D to Willist. So if you execute this and approve it, the grant money would be it's $129,500 uh to conduct the study. So fully paid

for by FT on your behalf. Um but this is a requirement if you're going to want to come up with remedies and solutions and implementation projects. So you have to do this step and pretty much all the communities in Florida are going are doing this money's been available. Um this is I do want to say in the grant agreement if you there's a schedule of dates and it says beginning 2025 and then the first deadlines start in 2027 20228. Those are the original dates when these are applied. We are not allowed to change those. Initially they said we could change this. We couldn't change the start date. They had to say 2025 but we could change the end date. We bumped everything out one more year because their grant program was delayed a year. They came back and said, "No, we can't do that. What we need to do is start the process as that first deadline comes in, asks for the one-year extension." So, there's dates in there that maybe don't seem sense, but they said that cities had to adopt them that way. That's the way the legislation approved them, but then they're um this is you need to execute this agreement and there's no There's no cost share at all to the city on this at all, but the benefit is you're open for some construction and dollars for remedy to help with storm water related issues, safety issues, evacuation routes, um improvements to critical facilities. It's a fairly broad thing, but those are going to be identified in the vulnerability assessment.

Can I get a motion? I move approval of resolution 2026-17. Second. Have a motion and two seconds. Any um discussion from the public? Any discussion from the council? Oh, yes, sir. If you'll come to the podium, Dan Kaufman, 32 Northwest 4 Street.

Um I don't have a problem with so much the EPA and this contract as much I'd like just a couple of answers. One of them is that flood planes is flood planes and basically that has an effect upon flood areas. And if we're going to be doing this, I think it would be appropriate for us to at least know what we're going to be as far as our homes being in flood plane areas which have a major effect on our personal homeowners. Thank you. Okay. There is a second grant that is out there and I've talked about this several times. The council of uh the Jones Edmonds did a watershed management plan back in it was completed in about 2017 I believe in 2018. There were a series of reports that they did that were paid for by SwiftMUD on behalf of Williston and within that they identified flooding potential updated updates from what you see in the FEMA flood maps. If you were to go to look at those today, you look at FEMA flood maps, you have very few flood areas designated within Well, you go to the Jones Edund stormwater report, it's it's drastically increased. And we have come to you before we have applied. Um, and let me go back 2017, Jones Edmonds presented that that study to you. Uh, it wasn't act upon. I mean, the the next step with that is been to adopt it and get FEMA to recognize those as flood planes. That would have been the step. Um, for various reasons, the city decided not to do that. Um, in conversations with Swift Mud over the past couple years, they've been encouraging that that be adopted. Um, they have grants available for that. So last year with council's approval we applied for a grant to have pay to get that adopted through FEMA. Um so that money we have now made staff recommendations have gone through that

and they've recommended that grant be approved. It still has to go through other legislative boards but the staff recommendations is that we be approved and we got notice of that. City got notice of that. um it wouldn't be awarded that their time frame was always October of 2026. So, you really won't know until probably August, September, you're going to get some notification, but you won't get the actual grant until October. Um I did come back probably four months ago. They asked if there would be a participation by the city if there could do an incind and I think that added up to about $60,000 and that came before the board and that is something that you would need to budget in your next budget. It could go over two years but that would be a condition when they give the grant that there would be an inind service of about $60,000 that they want the city but it can go over a two-year period. Um, but that's if they you're officially awarded, but right now you're you've made you've gotten the staff recommendations. And so I would suspect everything we've seen that you're going to get some paperwork here this summer for that. But that would then that would update the maps because time has gone by. It's been 10 years since I've done the study. It would update for new developments, new impervious areas that are built and then be submitted to FEMA to get officially adopted by the city. But that is in the works under a separate frame. Yes. ads.

Yes. Yes. Yeah. That'll all come before us being developed before. But that is if you if the grant is working.

Anything from council? I guess I need to quit turning it off. Nothing from council. regarding what just [clears throat] an observation if I may. Yeah, just comment. I'll wait. Just a comment. Go ahead.

Thank you. Uh just an observation due to the question that came from the audience as I if I understand this correctly when these are given to FEMA and they adopt this new study then people's insurance very possibly might change because they will be put into a flood plane that they are not currently in and I'm just asking if I understand this correctly. Yes, mayor does understand that correct

and that might very well be the reason that it did not move forward in 2017 after Jones Edmunds did it because it would change the flood planes of number of our residents. And I just want everybody to consider that as you move forward. you're not committing anything, but there must be a reason why it didn't move forward in 2017. And as I remember, unfortunately, I was here, uh, it was because the flood plane from FEMA would change drastically. But is it not the understanding that we're we're submitting it through that route to go to FEMA area so that they can put it on their map and it shows there and not necessarily us adopting it.

When it goes to FEMA, it goes to insurance companies who change your insurance. Right. But if they make that decision, that's not us making the decision. No, ma'am. We are at we are sub on on the city's behalf submitting the documentations to update the maps. So you yes you're a party to that change. You're requesting the change showing updated information because right now the current maps are not current and I believe it allows the resident to then buy flood insurance. Yes, which is the good part about it. I was just answering the question from the citizen. Right. Right. Understood.

Yeah. Okay. So, let me ask you this question. So, anytime we do a grant application, regardless of who does it, it doesn't we don't if the person is no longer here, do we not have to do anything different? It stands as requested related to the grant. Yeah, it does. Okay. Yeah, it's it's the city of though I will say When we were doing the pavement requests for John Henry Park, we changed um presidents couple times during the duration of that and I had to re-execute those contracts

three times every time we asked for payment because there was a different president which to me makes no sense because every city has a rotating president and we had to adjust those contracts each and every time. time I think I came here we had to change the signature that it went from Michael to you when we had to do all that but the grant itself but usually we have to do okay who's updating okay I have nothing else anybody else all right so I move to vote [snorts] we already voted so all those in favor say I

I all those opposed say nay motion passes 5 to zero All right. So, this will be the second opportunity for public participation. You'll have five minutes to speak on anything that's anything. Um, just state your name and where you're from. Do we have anyone in the public?

Hey, my name is Joel. I live 43 Northwest 4 Street. Uh, is there a way that the city manager can come up with a idea or a something for the even with the past people that have worked here or the people that actually work here. It's not because there's a lot of talk like the employees talk to other people and they get the wrong information that fills the fire and then it comes up here and just looks unpresentable. But there is

more specific because I'm not understanding about. No, I'm trying to. So, what I'm saying that you have employees that work here that run their mouth to the citizens. There should be something when they get hired, they should not be able to run their mouth about what goes on in work area or anything like that and get to the people like us or Timothy or anybody.

Well, whatever the word is. I'm sorry. I went to Williston. Can't don't shoot me. Anyways, but is there something like you you can force that or something? So I I would say this um we have had multiple meetings uh I've met with the employees and the staff as well as the department heads and we have discussed these things that you're talking about. Yeah. Uh so like

because I understand that you know it not only looks bad for the citizens but it looks bad for the employee and the city as well. So my job as a city manager currently is to restructure and change all of that and start holding people accountable, right?

Uh so that's what we're in the process of doing right now. Uh is having these conversations and explaining to the employees, hey, I understand you're not going to agree with everything. You're not going to like everything, but it's not for you to go out and lack of better words, badmouth the city or the procedures or the policies. But the what I'm trying to get to, there's other methods of the employees do stuff that makes the fire get bigger. Like for example, I remember one of the employees was on leave or got fired and they had said something to Timothy Edgard and then the story got all twisted and then it got back and he posted something on Facebook and then uh why it was posted on Facebook uh and it was during company time. Kim had wrote something on there and it was back and forth and I did see it. Stuff like that needs to be enforced. I'm just I'm using that as a reference. Not nothing to you.

Well, I I like I like I said, I'm talking about the lady that Timothy would had brought up. I don't know who it was, but Okay. Yeah. As I said earlier, Joby, we are we are monitoring and watching that type stuff, okay, to make sure that it that it's not happening. We'll never be able to stop it completely, but if we are aware of it, we're going [snorts] to address it. And I've made that clear. Uh so, uh let's give the process a chance to work, okay? And then let's see if it slows down. And if it doesn't, come back and see me,

Miss Kim. Um, also it is a city policy. It's in the code of conduct uh of the HR manual. And also just FYI, [clears throat] just because someone is at work when they are on Facebook does not necessarily mean that they're on company any time. They may be on a break. They may be at lunch. So just keep that in mind as well before we start accusing people of doing things inappropriately. Um, anyone else? All right, seeing none, we will move forward. Do I have any announcements from staff? Chief Ro um, city chief city manager rolls.

I know, right? Cuz I keep calling it chief. Uh, the only announcement I have is that uh I don't think they spoke about it earlier. Friday, we're going to have a little cookout for the staff uh for lunchtime. Uh so everyone knows it is sponsored by me the first part of it and the department heads are going to uh contribute by bringing aside. So I don't want anybody think that we're just spending taxpayers money to feed employees. I am personally paying for the meat myself and and Kim and the department heads are going to contribute sides to it. So I just want to make that clear. Huh? So, we don't want to hear it next week.

Exactly. Exactly. Miss Right. I haven't put it out yet, but Friday, May the 1st, 6:00 p.m. at Heritage Park, we we will be honoring the girls basketball team. Nice. What's May 1st? Yes, that Friday. Mr. Steag, was it always May 1st? I think Friday's May the 1st. Make sure I don't have my calendar. It is. Okay. Yes, May 1st. Also, uh,

but I had it on Saturday. So, it's moved from Saturday to Friday. May 2nd is Kunan Mitchell day at Kunese Williams Park. So, ours is on Friday right after the school have theirs. They're going to travel from the school do a parade over to Heritage Park.

Who is him? No, I spoke with Dorine. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to tell you, but Dorine does know. I don't know who she's talking to. Oh, sorry. I couldn't see anybody. I know. I'm like, I don't know who she's talking. Who she talking about? [laughter] Miss Troy, you have anything for you? Leave. Leave. Walk away. But do you have anything? Okay. Aaron, do you have anything, sir? No, ma'am. Mr. Alex, do you have anything, sir?

Our gas project, we're about three weeks from being away being finished at the airport and then we had our DP inspections today, our sites. Everything's been going good. So, okay. Thank you, Miss Wait, I'm I'mma do your last. Sorry, Miss Meredith. Uh, Miss Jones, I don't have a thing. All right. Have to miss. You said last.

Okay. Mayor, I meant for counsel, but go ahead. Mrs. Wright, what time was the girls basketball team? How did you know? I needed to know that. 6 o'clock. 6:00. Yes. P.M. Thank you. And if you would like to attend the celebration at the high school, middle high school, that starts at 4:00. Thank Thank you. That's all I had. Thank you. Thank you, sir. All right, Miss Alexa.

Okay. So today is my last council meeting as my term is up. So I just have some words to say for everyone. Yes, it is.

Good evening everyone. As I stand here on my final day serving on the Wilson City Council, I'm filled with gratitude. It has been an honor to serve this community, one I care deeply about. I joined the council because of the country Lane Estates's development. Like many residents, I had concerns and wanted to better understand how decisions were being made. That experience led me here. And along the way, I gained a much deeper understanding of how municipal government really works. I wasn't always the one who spoke the most, but I listened. I listened carefully to residents, to staff, and to my fellow council members. And through that, I learned. I learned that municipal government takes time. often far longer than it should. I learned that meaningful change can be incredibly difficult to achieve. And I learned that when people are determined to resist change, they will often go to great lengths to stop it, even when that resistance may not serve the long-term best interests of the city. I also believe in being honest. There are times when our processes, our standards, and our sense of urgency have not reflected what this community deserves. We should hold ourselves to a higher level of professionalism, accountability, and efficiency. The people of Wilson expect and deserve a city government that operates with focus, discipline, and a clear commitment to excellence. That being said, this has only strengthened my belief in the importance of public involvement. This city is full of people who care deeply, who are paying attention, and who want better for their community. I'm grateful for the opportunity to have served, for the lessons I've learned, and for the many people I've had the chance to work with along the way. While my time on the council is ending, my commitment to this community is not, I will continue to

stay engaged and advocate for the kind of city government that Wilson deserves. Thank you for the opportunity to serve. And with that, I make a motion we adjourn. [applause] Madame President, just one question for Council Riiel. Are you able to attend the May 5th meeting? [laughter]

No, no, no, no, no. That that was that was a really good speech and we appreciate [laughter] that. Okay. What about May 12th? I just need you you to attend. Yeah, you need to be here one of those days, please. Okay. Thank you. All right. We have a motion. All right. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion from the public? Any discuss discussion from council? Seeing none, we adjourn at 8:04 p.m. Thank you. See you May 5th.