Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. Good evening. Evening. So, we've got our agenda review meeting this evening. Um, apologize. I live with a four-year-old, so he's gotten us all sick once again. Um, but we'll go through this uh and take a look at what's going on. So, we've got the uh we'll have roll call, invocation, pledge of allegiance. We got two two presentations uh to make and then we do have something this evening for agenda review only, which is the strategic plan presentation on infrastructure. Do you want to do that now or towards the end? Mr. Mayor, if it would be okay with you, I'd like to do that at the end.

Okay, we'll circle back. All right. Uh we'll move on down to 9A uh ordinance 026-05 uh for second reading.

So there's been no changes on this item. Again, this is uh reszoning from a PUD to commercial highway C3 and conservation zoning. This is out on US Highway 27. It's the CG27 property and it's the southernmost portion of that as you can see highlighted uh on your screens there. Tim Campbell is is representing the developer on this is the petitioner and they are my understanding it is uh going to be commercial so that it can accommodate the relocation of an automotive dealership from further south on 27 up onto this property. It it reduces impacts on water sewer and other utilities and certainly takes away the impact that residential would have had on schools as well. But there's been no changes since the first reading.

Okay. Commissioners, any questions or comments on that item?

All right, move on to 9B. 9B is also a second reading there. The only changes that have occurred with this was some um clarifications on the boundaries as I understand it uh to make sure that everything was was exact. Um this is the Villimar CDD. You may remember couple meetings ago they um wanted to reszone that section that is hashed out there for commercial use. This is along the Thompson Nursery Road realignment. The Villimar is a is a community development district. So they use funds that are coming in off the residential properties to uh basically cover the costs associated with infrastructure improvements. And because this is no longer part of the residential component, it contracts the boundaries of that CDD. So,

any questions on that item? 9C. 9C is a budget or uh amending ordinance and this is to accommodate the expenditure of funds to repaint and recarpet the former finance offices uh in the city hall annex. You may recall finance moved out of that space several weeks back into the second floor of Norm Hall floor citrus building and our engineering division will be relocating over there into that space and will be housed again right next to uh the building division which we just recently approved a GMP for that construction as well.

Okay, any questions? Uh 10A 10A is a reappoint of Mr. James Hogan to the Winter Haven Police Officers Pension Board. His term expired at the end of January and is interested in being reappointed to that board. Okay. Uh 10B

10B is a little more involved. Uh want to talk about this one just a bit. And I think I know Britney is here. Uh is Todd here? Oh, Todd is here. So Todd Gooding is helping oversee this project. He and Britney Hart from public works. So this pertains to the logistics parkway project. As you remember, we did that project in two phases. The northernmost phase, and I'm going to refer to as a north and a south because when we call it phase two and phase one, it gets a little confusing. Northernmost section uh was completed um in 2025. And uh the southern phase is presently under construction. Uh the southern phase goes from plant from the wastewater treatment plant all the way south down to the the northernmost terminus of logistics parkway. This item is for the um the CI services construction engineering and inspection. We had originally done a CI uh contract with RK and K for the entire project but then broke that up because the project was broken up. the the original expenditure or the original issuance amount was about $1.475 million for those services. We expended a little over a million dollars on the northernmost phase. So, we have a balance of just shy of $400,000 for the CI services on the southern phase. Uh we've worked with RK and K and had them provide us the scope of work to finish out the southernmost phase. That's going to be a total cost of 1.319 million. [snorts] And so this is a uh issuance of a new purchase order for that will include the balance from the original work plus an additional 920,12 for all the CI work. And that CI work actually goes beyond just traditional CI. It also includes some construction

management for us in the process. This is a a fairly typical uh type of work that we do when we're doing large infrastructure that you need someone out there to help oversee that work, particularly on roadway and and utility projects. Um we're going to talk a little bit more about the logistics parkway project in our infrastructure update and let you see some imagery of what's really happening out there at present time. It's quite impressive. [clears throat] Any questions or discussion? [snorts] All right, 10 C.

10C is a pretty straightforward vehicle replacement, but one that we hadn't originally anticipated doing this year. This pertains to the replacement of a Ford Explorer in our public works department that was involved in an accident and it was subsequently removed and declared a a total loss. um we need to replace that vehicle and so we are requesting to use the capital replacement funds that are assigned to that vehicle along with the insurance CL funds that we got in that will cover that cost entirely. So this is pretty small purchase at the end of the day. Um I think the total vehicle cost on this one if I'm not mistaken is around $37,000. It is able to be fully funded between capital replacement or vehicle replacement funds and then funds within the uh operating budget of commercial collections from the the uh insurance payout on that. I will tell you uh we're we're recommending this one tonight. We'll probably be bringing back, I think Britney at the next meeting, a couple more of these that are replacements of vehicles within the police department where those were vehicles that were involved in accidents and totaled out and we need to replace them as well. Uh, but we'll bring that as a separate item at your second meeting in February.

No cyber trucks, right? I don't think we're going to get any cyber trucks. They're a little too fancy for us and and we don't really want to diminish the magnitude of the Ford Escapes that we recently bought. So, [snorts] just check them. Just want to be sure.

All right. Uh, 10D. 10D is an item that comes before the commission typically on an annual basis. This pertains to implementing the uniform method of collecting nonadvalorm special assessments um through agreements with the Pulk County Property Appraiser and the Pulk County Tax Collector. This is a process and a function within our code compliance uh efforts. And typically it involves when we're going out and having to mow a property to get it into compliance, we we incur a cost with that and we assign that back to the property. Um so this is the agreement with the Pulk County Property Appraiser. It's a one-year agreement. It is it does meet all the requirements of Florida statutes 197.3632. We provide information and data regarding the special assessments by specific dates as outlined in that agreement. And then the property appraiser gets compensated at 1% of the amount levied uh on the trim notice. These have been, you know, in the hundreds of dollars in the past. You may note within this fact sheet, our anticipated cost for this one is only $50 because we have not had that many of these this current year that would would be applied. But we still need to get approval on the uh authorization of the agreement.

Okay. [clears throat]

Uh 10E 10E pertains to the Winter Haven Police Department. So just this past December, the department was advised that their fire alarm control panel had reached end of life and needed to be replaced. To the best of my knowledge, that is the original um uh device in that building. We constructed that that uh facility 2004 2005. So, we've gotten a full 20 years out of that. Unfortunately, with advances in fire alarm technology, the entire fire alarm system needs to be replaced. We can't just go in and replace that panel. It does not function in the same way or it cannot be replaced to meet what was originally there. We reached out to Seammens to get a proposal for an emergency replacement on that. It was over $100,000. The department obtained a second quote from HeatWave Fire and Safety for just under $58,000 to replace the entire system. And that proposal also includes an annual monitoring fee that is less than what we're paying for monitoring right now.

[snorts] Um, so this is a request to uh acquire or replace the system using the heatwave proposal at $57,872. Um, it we need to do this to make sure that we've got a safe space not only for our employees that are in there, but also for the public that comes in. And we will do a formal budget amendment to further recognize this additional expense. I'll tell you that we um I I went ahead and approved this through our emergency uh purchasing procurement efforts and so the recommendation is to ratify that purchase and authorize us to move forward with anything additional that may be there. Okay.

Uh 10F 10F is uh standard travel and training. This is for Commissioner Birdong to attend the Central Florida Regional Planning Council board meeting that will be held I believe next week, February 10th and 11th and that is in Seabring, Florida. 10G.

This one is is a little bit exciting for us in that um as you know we have the Russ Collegiate Baseball Invitational that's been coming to Winter Haven since 2009. Um that is a tournament that takes place at Chain Lakes Park uh for about 10 weeks plus. Um and so as part of that their use here, we do a specific use agree agreement with them. This agreement has a term of one year with two additional one-year extension options to be negotiated. Uh they'll have exclusive use of Chain Lakes Park from February 9th through April 13th of this year. Russmat is responsible for all their scheduling and event management. However, they're not allowed to perform any field maintenance or facility maintenance or concessions. We take care of all that. Uh they are responsible for the rental fees and any applicable taxes and that those fees are based upon the fee structure that was adopted by the city commission just recently for events hosted by Visit Central Florida Sports. the the projected revenue from the 2026 event is estimated at $105,417. That's a significant rental in our books. Um I also found it interesting from what director Adams had shared in the fact sheet the economic impact to Winter Haven is on average $10 million annually from that event coming here. that is all of the the stays and consumption of in our restaurants and retailers and and the like. You have a number of different teams that will cycle through here during that 10-week period. We did run this past bond council because that facility was funded in part through uh bonds that were issued and just to make sure that it didn't run a foul of anything there and were assured of that. Uh so we're recommending approval of that use agreement.

Just a I've got a general question on the events out there and and the fieldhouse. I know we've got our calendar event of community events now. Do do we publicize our like volleyball tournaments and this tournament and so that local restaurants, small businesses can be aware of when an influx of people could be coming in. Is that public anywhere or I'll defer? I don't know if that is or not. Yeah, I wasn't sure which direction they

Yeah. [laughter] Good evening. Um everything at the fieldhouse, right? And so we have our public events that are events we host and then also on our website we post um space reservations more so so the public knows when certain public facilities may not be available just for whatever. So, there's an event in MLK this or in MLK Park this weekend, that one is publicized. Um, but like when there's an event happening inside the fieldhouse, for example, there's a fieldhouse calendar that shows that so that our patrons know it won't just be open for free play. Um, we don't typically publish the rental events unless they're something that is open to the broad public. Um, but in that case, the event organizer has to post that on our events and pages and then we push it out. Same thing for all the events in our parks. That's just because it's it's manpower. It's too much for us to kind of promote each one. And that also leads to confusion around who's the actual host. So, we give them information in their rental agreements that tells them how to do that. And when they submit it, we'll approve it if they want to post it publicly.

It's a good point you make though, Mr. mayor that you know I I frequent our restaurants that are right there, the the the three that are sitting on a gold mine. Um [snorts] and I can tell you that I pay attention personally to what's happening at the fieldhouse to know if I want to swing by Starbucks or Chick-fil-A or Panera on a Saturday morning because I know everybody going to the fieldhouse has got the same idea. Um and have seen them just absolutely swamp. So, I we can certainly explore, is there a better way to communicate that out of what's going on to to uh the community? I think between Miss Adams and and Miss Hill, we can we can come up with some strategies to make sure they're aware of that so it doesn't negatively impact their ability to deliver quality service.

Yeah. And just thinking from the small business perspective, you know, that they need to know when to staff up as well. So, the community needs to know what's going on, but certainly, you know, [clears throat] they might have 15 employees working and it should have 20 or 25 people working. Um, but that'd be great.

If I could add a note in that as well, we're working with our partners at uh Visit Central Florida and they have partnered with a group that is managing um a facility reservation and information platform. Uh it is it's burgeoning now. It's coming to fruition. It's in a a beta phase now, but it allows the local restaurants and and restaurant tours and and entrepreneurs to be able to tag into that platform to be able to uh advertise room nights, advertise specials at the restaurants to all of the the fieldhouse, the Channel Lakes Baseball, all of those amenities countywide. And so we can connect those tournament goers with opportunities for for um economic impact in in the community. And so I can come back to you with an update on how that's working. We're also working with them to see how that we can uh incorporate our calendars with not only those events that have registered through Visit Central Florida, but other events as well so that we can continue to create that path to a wellprepared community.

Great. That's great. Thank you. Any other questions on that item? All right. 11. Mr. Mayor, we The other thing that I want to make sure we do for you all is that when we have that schedule and I'll look to Julie and Scott and Mike that um those teams that are coming in, some of them are pretty exciting to watch. So that we can as we get schedules of what's going on there to let you know in case you want to go by and and see that. and we've had some uh division one schools here over the over the past what 16 17 years that have participated in that. It can be a great night out at the ballpark. So, we'll try and make sure you guys have a copy of that schedule.

Great. Let's get FSU down here. It's too warm in Florida to get the Florida teams, it seems. [laughter] All right. Um 11A

11A. Uh and and Troy Hidle is is here this evening and he can certainly be better prepared to answer questions on this, but this item pertains to a DOT public transportation grant that was approved by the commission back in the spring of 2022 specific to the design and construction of the airport commerce park phase 1 project at KGIF. The project includes the development of an airport development plan for the northwest development area of the airport. So, this is going to be along um it US 92 on the north side and uh to the west of the existing terminal. The improvements that are uh part of this program, you see what's in in the darker color here. So, it is parking that would be on the north side of what is to become new hangers. Uh that is part of also the Blue Line Aviation project that they're leasing from us. and then the apron and taxi way out to or the extension out to taxiway E. We um we entered into that agreement with Blue Line in 23. You know, we we just recently renegotiated that agreement. I will tell you that they have met their first milestone requirement and that they they have pulled a permit for the work.

I don't know that we've issued the permit yet. They've applied for it, but once that permit's issued, they have 45 days to commence construction. Um, as part of that lease agreement with them, we committed as the city to design, permit, and construct the entry road, the apron, and a taxi lane. As you see, uh, those are funded through this FDOT grant associated with the airport commerce park phase one project. At the beginning of the current year, FDOT determined that the original design build grant needed to be restructured into a a separate designonly piece and then a construction only agreement. Um, as a result of that determination, it requires a new FDOT grant agreement for the construction portion. The estimated cost for the entire project is $840,000. It is a 5050 split with us uh with DOT. So, we have $420,000 that are uh being provided from cash carry forward on the city's side and then DOT uh covers the other 420,000. So this resolution 2604 is recommended uh specific to this construction portion of the agreement and al also we're requesting authorization for myself or designate to execute that agreement and take all the other actions necessary there too. We think I'll be honest with you. I think that when when we do this and and start making those improvements, it certainly incentivizes additional development within this commercial corridor of the airport for others that want to come do um land leases for the construction of commercial hangers or or similar projects. Okay. Um, while we're on the topic of airport, just let me ask real quick. I I know the

progress and where we stand on the designated frequency, but I I got a call today that there was concern about safety issues are starting to rise up again. And just, you know, is the school doing everything they need to be doing from a safety perspective of the other pilots that are out there? And obviously, you know, without that designated frequency, it's it's difficult to have that ground air communication, but just quick update on that if you will. Are there any are there issues arising or uh good you may commissioners? Um I I think we're kind of mitigating a lot of the issues the we've been working closely with Blue Line Aviation, particularly their operations manager along with Jake Palumbo and our safety committee. We've come up with a really uh form operating agreement and within the next month or so we'll actually be bringing in an ordinance to the uh city commission for approval to formalize our safety committee. Um I would say the a lot of the issue out there has been the way the pilots communicate with each other. Some of the instrument rated guys are using a little bit over verbiage that the student pilots don't quite understand. And we've agreed to some language that is standard across the board. So we're starting to see improvements in that factor. But again, we're still receiving occurrence forms. We're monitoring those occurrence forms and following up on those occurrence forms. So, I'd say we're definitely on the down slope. And as far as the dedicated frequency goes, we actually had a meeting this morning and there's a letter going out to Congressman Franklin. We met with him down in Barto last week and that is to push the FAA. We expect to have a letter of agreement by the middle of February from the FAA that will define our path for dedicated frequency as well as the remote tower operations.

Okay. So, we're on top of everything out there. Yes, sir. All right.

One of the other uh things that Troy and and the team have been working on as well, we've talked about Sunrs and Advanced Air Mobility and some of the testing that's going on out there and um really trying to strategize between the airport advisory committee leadership, Troy's office, our friends at DOT and FAA to make sure there's solid coordination and collaboration. you that adds a whole another dimension into the airspace and we are the closest airport to Sunrs and what they're looking to do. I think that one first and foremost we have to to make sure safety is accounted for within that because now you've got a whole another group up in the air in that airspace and a seat the that common uh traffic uh air frequency it it it doesn't work right. It doesn't work. You keep putting more stuff into that bag it's going to explode. that that further pushes the need for the dedicated frequency. [snorts] Um, but they're making progress there. And I think that we also are well positioned is probably somewhat of a a good beta test site as advanced air mobility becomes more commonplace in future years. We we have the potential to be a proving ground for how to do that effectively in proximity to regional and larger airports. And so that those discussions we've had a few of those over the past few months and we'll continue to pursue that.

Thank you. Any other questions on airport? All right. Thank you, sir. Uh [snorts] adoption of one water master plan. So this item this evening uh we have brought in members of our onewater consulting team to provide a presentation to you. Uh Gary, I'm not sure who's going to going to provide the presentation, but I do want to introduce this item that in the sense that this is the adoption of the onewater master plan as detailed in our onewater blueprint. going back to and and it's it's a great honor and privilege to welcome Mike Britt back to uh the chambers of city hall uh from Tallahassee in 2009 I believe it was under what was then former uh city manager David Green. Mike led the charge to adopt probably one of the most instrumental documents in our our water efforts in in the sustainable water resource management plan. um that was very I'd say groundbreaking kind of bleeding edge in some of the concepts that were there and we've used that as a tool to guide so much of what we've done since that point. Several years back in 2019, we went through an RFP process that we we needed to update that and not just that plan, but everything that came before it and everything that came after it to really make sure we're well positioned for water resource management, not just today, but you know, 50 years out from now. We we brought on Black & Beach at that time. Um, we had funding partnerships with DP in the process to to come up with a comprehensive integrated framework for managing all water resources. And we you've heard us talk about this time and time again. You know, our water the the

future of water isn't just what you pull from the the Florida aquifer. It's it's how you manage waste water. It's how you manage storm water. It's it's [clears throat] all these things that interface together. It's the natural environment. It's the rehydration of historical wetlands. um everything has to function together. And so with that, I'm going to turn it over to Gary to to give a little bit of insight into where we are and then have uh the team from Black & Beach do their presentation. I appreciate your patience with us as we go through that. This is a again a significant point. [snorts] I do want to make one comment ahead of it though. Um, I don't know if you've all had a chance to read or peruse the February edition of Florida Trend Magazine, but there is an article that's probably 10 or 12 pages in here called Tapped Out that speaks to the water challenges of Florida. um really what's happening and and it's interesting because one of the things they highlight in here is the impacts that occurred I want to say it was in around 2010 uh when we had freezes and how much water got pumped out of the aquifer to ensure the the sustainability uh in the really the livelihood of our agriculture industry in citrus and in the strawberry industry. If you remember those cold snaps, they pumped millions and millions of gallons of water out of the aquifer. I think I read in here that it drained the aquifer down some 60 feet in that period from what was going on. We're seeing kind of that same thing right now as they're trying to protect crops having to do a ton of irrigation. Collectively, that plus all the growth we've had, you know, we have a finite resource. I think that Commissioner Birdong knows that better than anyone is his time on the PRWC. This has been the

primary focus there. But this article speaks to what needs to happen in Florida and what is happening in Florida. everything from uh lower Florida and aquifer withdrawals to the potential for potable reuse and pilot projects that are occurring in Plant City in Altimont Springs, Jacksonville. Uh electric authority is also doing some stuff in that in that caveat. Um but there is I was very pleased to see this that um our one water program is highlighted in Florida trend magazine this month. Uh speak specifically to Gary Hubard in the work that he has done to champion this. I'm going to try and get a signed autograph copy of the article before he he leaves us at some point in the future. But to to have that highlighted of what we're doing in Winter Haven, Florida is cutting edge, I think is a great precursor to the presentation you're going to hear this evening. So Gary, I'll hand it off to you.

Thank you, city manager. Good evening, mayor and commissioners. To expand a little bit on uh T. Michael's uh uh comments. Uh we we started in 2019 shortly after I got here that the utility needed to update its master plans, water, wastewater, reclaimed water. It had been some time and got talking with uh Mike Britain and we decided that we were going to do a onewater master plan and we formed an integrated water resource management team which included uh basically 18 or 19 members from the city government. So it was a member from every department in the city came together and we talked about what we wanted to accomplish out of a onewater master plan and beyond the obvious of water supply and and protecting our environment. The one of the key focuses was we are the chain of lake city. So if we get into an extreme drought period, how do we protect our lakes in the future? So that was really one of the guiding um approaches that we needed to consider as we prepared the onewater master plan. So beyond the the water supply and and flooding issues and storm water, we also need to consider how we are developing in our in our city and in surrounding the city because a lot of times u zoning and planning control the amount of water that is used. So part of the onewater master plan actually has recommendations for us to consider on how we progress with development in the future. Um the black and beach team was selected to prepare the the master plan. So this is a culmination of a six-year effort. Um members or uh members of the team

included the Nature Consery. Um consultants included the Rand Corporation that out of that think tank up there in in DC that all the PhDs worked on benefit cost ratios to help us come up with methods to show the benefits of moving in a onewater direction. So, uh, it was a very, um, uh, talented team that was put together by Black & Beach to address all these issues. And I'll I'll stop with that and let Black & Beach, John Dingis, um, give us a a summary.

Thank you, Gary. Good evening, um, mayor, commissioner, staff. Thank you for the opportunity to give you this brief and informative presentation. Um, thank you for the opening comments. Um, and that's it really set the stage great for this. Um, I'm also joined by Mike Phelps, one of my colleagues with Black & Beach, and then Blake Drury with GI Consultants, and if you see really nice graphics in here, their team did that work. They they're amazing um with the landscape architecture and that that type of work. So, this looks like a lot of information and there was a lot of work done. Um, I'm going to take you through this very briefly. glad to answer any questions about it, but take you from the vision and mission and why one water was important all the way through some of the key outcomes of the master planning effort and then the next steps and the call to action going forward. Right away, uh we worked with the the team here, the integrated water management team to develop the the vision, mission and guiding principles. How you define one water for your particular needs is really critical. that sets the stage for moving everything forward from there. So you can read this on the slide and see key words like collaboration, innovation, sustainability, and the overall quality of life. Those were key words that connect back to the 2010 integrated water resource management plan that city manager alluded to. And to coupled with that was a vision statement and a mission statement to help guide the whole planning effort forward. Behind that was a thought process that if you make fragmented decisions on water resources, you can end up chasing solutions that will cost you a lot of money and time, but they may not work together. So the idea was bring it all together into an integrated planning effort. That's exactly what we did. So the question why one and why do we need to do this now? And we've already heard some of the key

drivers behind the need to do this. key was lakes and wetlands quality and preserving or even enhancing the quality of those natural systems moving forward. The limited groundwater supply that the city manager spoke to that continues to be a concern and you find yourself positioned in the Southern Water Use Caution area of the Southwest Florida Water Management District. That's been in place for probably 20 plus years now. and as well as the Central Florida Water Initiative, which is three water management districts putting their heads together trying to figure out how to solve water problems here in Central Florida. So, the limited groundwater supplies continues will continue to be a concern. You've aging infrastructure as Gary spoke to the need for utility system master planning and then drought and flood, they come and go. We've had both occur during the time that we've done this work from hurricanes to to droughts and back and forth. So, you face challenges like everybody else, but the way you address those challenges, I think this the way this plan was put together is very unique and it gives you a good path forward. So, connecting to the past and again, I got to say Mike Britt's name. We can't say enough about Mike's persistence in helping drive this forward. So we didn't start that meant a lot of phone calls and meetings with Mike and I always enjoyed that. It was great. Um so what we did is we we didn't start from scratch. We reached back and pulled all that data and information forward and we built on it. So you can see the timeline of and the sequence of things that were done over time. And our goal was to get to a point where we have an adaptive plan that you can that is very much implementable going forward and is consistent with the work done in the past and helps implement all of that. So one of the outcomes let's just talk about water use impact for a minute. So if you think of your demands of 130

gallons per person per day irrigation we've all this happens all over Florida. Irrigation is a big component of that. So we took a look at that and said if you continue that going forward the next increment of water supply is going to be very expensive and and you you face that we're facing that all over Florida but we developed uh with our partner Brown and Caldwell developed a very comprehensive water conservation plan and identified through that that you could have a very high benefit cost ratio from implementing for example irrigation kits to help curb irrigation as I understand water conservation's already working as that plan is being implemented. So what that does is it helps you defer new supplies further out in time, defer the capital costs and the need to expand those facilities going into the future. So conservation isn't just feel good, it it has bottom line benefits for the environment and for your expensive infrastructure. Another outcome was the community development uh benefits. So the idea of the sapphire necklace was uh really came out in the 2010 sustainable water resource management plan. So we worked with our partners GI with the city staff with your team to develop the sapphire necklace and kind of activate it if you will and put uh quantities around it, determine what the benefits would be coming out of the sapphire necklace. And that network of interconnected water storage sites could be integrated with a trail system. That was pretty unique to an outcome from this plan and you can see it here. Um the position of that trail concept integrating with existing trails. And then you see the Bradco Farms project which is a project already underway to implement elements of the onewater master plan. So a very exciting way to um envision the future of community development moving forward.

Another out key outcome was a capital improvement plan and strategic actions moving forward. So it's not just a planning document. It's so much more than that where we developed a capital plan of 107 projects more or less over the next 20 years. And you can see the the details of those planned projects. Now over 20 years that adds up to a a pretty significant need [clears throat] for capital improvements. The strategic actions directly relate to the onewater master plan with reclaimed water [snorts] wastewater treatment facility consolidation which is already underway. Your naturebased solutions for recharge and flood control and land use and policy alignment which we've already spoken about. And one of the key tools we gave that we delivered to you is a tool that helps you prioritize and track investments. So over time you look at your capital improvements. If you need to push some back in time, you have an adaptive tool to do that. If you need to pull them forward in time, rep prioritize them, we put tools in your hands to be able to do exactly that. The Rand Corporation was a key partner with our team and we interacted with them in the Nature Conservancy to answer the question. So, if you invest in the sapphire necklace, what does your return look like? Well, it turns out that you can actually quantify that and we develop tools that show that if you invest in those natural systems restorations, you have multiple benefits. You can get water supply benefit, you can get flood mitigation benefit, recreation and habitat, your general quality of life and well-being. All that adds up to when you invest a dollar in those systems. These methodologies tell us that you'll get a return to the community of of greater than three in many cases. So there is a um every it gives you a really good talking point to go out and get grant funds, seek funding, seek partners to

implement these projects because you know you have verified and validated um benefit cost ratios that are very much positive. So another key part of this planning effort was community engagement and the need for funding to get that done. So, we developed a communications and stakeholder engagement plans and we put those into play and we had workshops with city staff with with the water management district and stakeholders to get the word out there. And some of the key stakeholders certainly were funding sources that you can see here on the slide with state and federal grants, revenue bonds, developer contributions, and even phase rate adjustments that'll be needed to fund that capital improvements plan that we discussed. So um that was the part of the communications um elements of our master plan that we wanted to make sure that we were engaging the community and stakeholders. So we're working locally and also externally with u with state and federal agencies to make this uh visible. So going forward, um it's one of the characterized risks of inaction, which if you know there's there's higher life cycle costs if you don't take action, misfunding opportunities, increased flood risk, regulatory compliance issues, and and even the risk of losing your community identity. But the road map we've put together will help you mitigate those risks and move forward. So going ahead in time, you can see we've laid out a road map for action in the onewater blueprint. It's supported by the technical planning documents we prepared so that you can begin uh continue your design, your permitting, your early winds, your grant applications, move into priority construction packages over the next several years, and then over time adapt that plan as you move forward and continue to implement those projects over time. So finally, the the next steps in the

call to action is to adopt and affirm the onewater master plan framework that you'll see embodied in that one water blueprint. And then there's a series of other actions here to consider implementing a Florida Water Star ordinance. Um create and launch a key performance indicators dashboard to help communicate results to the community and to stakeholders. Continue your funding and financing pursuits. Continue your priority projects. And uh there's been quite a bit of discussion with around the state of Florida with the onewater coalition to advocate for legislation that would actually benefit this type of activity uh this holistic type planning ac across the state of Florida. So thank you for that opportunity to present and happy to answer any questions questions. This is um if I could just add in a couple things. I think this is the kind of the the rebirth of the sustainable water resource management plan that we are so very proud of that came out of the the 2009 initiative. It it brings that to modern day and really contemplates the challenges of today and those that we anticipate on the horizon. Um, when we start talking about things such as potable reuse, um, doing more projects that are recharge oriented, uh, finding alternative water sources, uh, whether they're lower Florida or otherwise, um, this really sets us up to be able to embrace those. I did want to point out within our 20 2024 to 2029 strategic plan, we actually have within there is a defined strategy to adopt, implement and maintain the

onewater master plan as detailed in the one water blueprint to ensure sufficient capacity for potable reuse and wastewater needs. So this is very much something that's been a priority for the commission for quite some time. um so much so that it is defined almost in exact detail within our strategic plan. So the the resolution 2605 approves that plan and authorizes us to begin moving forward on actions that support it or that are driven by it. It's really a a framework, a ethos, a philosophy of what how to prioritize our projects going forward um to guide not only this commission but those that come after. Wouldn't would there be a an issue that could come up to where is it as simple as you know you've got one 2 3 4 five and this is the order we need to go in but this is a first one but the opportunity for number four presents itself sooner than number two. Is there movability within the plan? I think absolutely and invite Gary back up, but I think that, you know, because we're dealing with storm water, waste water, [clears throat] uh, potable water, natural environments, it's really subscribing in full that when you look at a project, you don't just look at any of those from the simple aspect of what it is. It's a it's a it's a reuse project. Okay. Well, that we understand it's we need to deal with wastewater. How do we how do we get more benefit out of that? I I've always told people that I think our one water approach is how do you maximize the full value and potential of every drop of water regardless of its source.

And it can't just be about how do we accept more waste water into our system. It's how okay, we've got that. How do we we've treated it. What do we do with it now? And how do we we reinvest that water back into our system? There's not, I don't think, a sequence of projects that say you have to do one followed by the next by the next by the next. It is a somewhat of a shotgun approach, you know, that are all very defined, you know, pieces of that shotgun approach say this if the opportunity to do a recharge project because of funding or willing land partners or whatever comes about, take advantage of it. Um, I don't think you have to do them in any any formal sequence. Gary, anything you want to add to that?

Yes, just some some comments. Uh, you know, we're in the process now, and you'll see here in the coming months, uh, more projects coming to the city commission for consideration, but we're really trying to hit the financial market at the right time so that we can move these projects forward as the most economical manner that we can. We're not under any strict time frames at this time from a capacity standpoint, but those are going to change. We're currently using about 11 12 million gallons per day and swift mud is likely to cap our usage out of the upper Florida and aquifer at our current usage, that 11.5 million gallons. So, what are we doing? We've entered into an agreement with PRWC for 1.5 million gallons. We're drilling lower Florida wells that are fresh. They're a little more expensive than our upper flooring wells, but we're likely to get 3 to three and a half million gallons out of those wells. So that now that puts us to 11, 12, 13, maybe 16 million gallons per day. And then on top of that, we're recharging the aquifer with this the Bradco project. So that there should be additional capacity associated with that. So if you really think about it, 20, 30, 40 years from now, our water usage is going to be in the 18 to 20 million gallons per day category. Likewise, our wastewater flows are going to be very similar and we'll probably use maybe 5 million gallons of that reclaimed water to create drinking water. So that is going to leave the city somewhere in the range of 12 to 13 million gallons per day that's available

for sale. So the real the real payback for the city and the this initial investment is going to be down the road some 20 30 years but 20 to 30 years from now the cost of that water for other people is going to be tremendous. So the payback should be very good. I want to point out something that I that was and I highly encourage everyone to read this article. I think that if you based on what you heard tonight, go back and read this and think my takeaway was I'm so proud that Winter Haven is ahead of this. But there was a statement from Brian Armstrong with the executive director of Southwest Florida Water Management District said Florida's a peninsula. We're surrounded by water. We're we are never ever going to run out of water. We've just run out of cheap water. So the water is always going to be there whether it's through the sal or other means. But if you're not taking advantage of the most economic processes to produce that water, those costs are going to go very much above what anybody imagines. I think what we're doing here in Winter Haven and what this plan lays out for us, this this approach to it is how we know that water's going to be more expensive. We know what comes out of the Southeast Wellfield project [snorts] is going to be more expensive because it costs more to treat it and you're recovering some of those capital costs in the process. Everything we can do to again exact the absolute value out of every drop of water will keep that cost down for our constituents. [snorts]

Well, the simplest solution of course to if you ask our constituents is stop approving developments. But obviously that is a lot more complex than a a simple stated stated um blanket statement. What would be our ultimate goal with that reser is the ultimate goal to ultimately sell that to other users or to continue development? Oh, my thought would be that the um the deficit of water in 20 years is in the range of about 40 million gallons per day. There's going to be a there's going to be a market for that in the future. And uh I believe you you won't have any problems. Might be that you sell water to PRWC.

And that 40 million gallons isn't a winter haven deficit. That is a that's Pulk County,

right? So, and and mayor, you said, you know, the easy answer is stop development. You can stop development in Winter Haven, but your water is tapped into by everyone else around us. That's CF that Central Florida Water Initiative of three water management districts where they come together. They're all recognizing that all of that development has an impact on it. Southern Water [clears throat] Use Cautionary. Same thing. It's not just about a straw that's down into the earth here in Winterhaven. It's all the straws around us because they're all pulling from that same body beneath us. I'd just like like [clears throat] to add too that even with the uh the cooperative [cough] the projection there even there are two real projects that are being pursued the west well and the south well. And at a meeting that we had last week, it was stated that when all of those projects are actually at maximum capacity, that within a 50-year period, we are going to outgrow that capacity. And in fact, and I was going to say a little bit more about this Monday night, but uh there is basically a a a lawsuit that has been uh filed as it relates to uh the Alifi River getting water from there. So, in litigation, in fact, I've been um there's mediation that's going to go on and I'm uh one of the members

that's going to sit in on that uh mediation trying to because the the reality is T, you said it really nice. We are surrounded by water. There is plenty of water, but the cost of it, what we're doing with the uh cooperative is very expensive. This is going to impact us as we all know. But the whole idea is to try to maximize what we can do here in this one water plan. This is it's just not here in Winter Haven. I mean, I sit on the our committee uh they basically took this as a a project as one of our priorities uh last year. And so water is an issue and uh cheap water I should say was going to come to an end.

Mayor, um I just have a question to ask Gary and um we talk a lot about recharging. Gary, do we get any credits for the recharge? So, we will be asking for qu credits from SwiftMUD. Of course, we'll have to see how those discussions go, but that is our our uh focus is to ask for credits.

Okay. Um, one other thing I guess I'll explain a little [clears throat] bit when he's talking about the Alifi River and the Hillsboro River and everything since I was in the Clearwater area for a while. Um the thing is is that they allocate so much water. The first 6 in goes to let's just say Hillsboro County and these are not correct. The next five in goes to another water provider and the next four inches of the river. Um it sounds kind of different I guess you'd say. It sounds kind of confusing but that's their withdrawal that they can withdraw down. And as you know, when it rains, that moves. And so, how do you determine, [laughter] you know, where where you're getting your water from? So, but um that's on the Tampa Bay water side. So,

Tampa Bay wants all of the water basically. All of it. All of it. And that's what the lawsuit is about. As uh T Mike will acknowledge, Mike Britt has been a uh primary driver of our onewater effort. Mike, would you like to say a couple words?

Yeah. M Brit needs to say something because he and I when he first started talking about this sapphire necklace, I used to I said to M, uh, you know what, Mike, this it sounds good and it looks good, but the implementation of it is out of our hands. How are we going to even come close to implementing? And the Braco Farm is one of the first phases of it. So, I mean, we're well on our way. So, Mike, I'm glad you beat me to the punch publicly. You convinced me, but I wasn't convinced.

I'm glad you beat me to the punch because I was going to tell stories on you, too, because Commissioner Bersong was the our uh lakes committee uh city commission liaison when I was a young lakes manager and a cattail cutter basically cutting cattails around the lake. and Tracy Mercer was a my utilities director for a while and and poor team Michael had to listen about water stuff for what five years or whatever it was. We we gave him an honorary degree in hydrarology because he became such a uh a a a good uh technical person on hydrarology and even now can explain the one water master plan as good as anybody I know. So, um, so one of the things I'd love to say is that the city of Winter Haven's leadership in water has been pretty extraordinary and and known around the state, but it's really due to people like our city commissioners who have taken the time to listen and taken the time to understand how important water is to our community and our quality of life, too. You know, we don't talk about quality of life and water together much, but the One Water Master Plan brings the quality of life component into the water management decisions like no other community has. Y I'm sure y'all are familiar with the uh the nature parks around Winter Haven, but we've learned to manage water in a way that benefits the community like few other communities really have. And I think that's going to continue well into the future. Um, so I've spent a I spent a wonderful career here, married my wife, had my daughters and uh had just an extraordinary time with this and so so thankful for that and so thankful to be a part of a community that has such good leadership and has focused on quality of life and certainly with Gary Hubard and what he's done since I've retired and moved on. He's he's taken that to a whole new level and we're we're I'm just very honored and appreciative of all that's been done. So thank you very much. I

don't know if it was John Dingis or Gary Huard, sorry, that made the comment of Mike Britt's persistence. We called that irrational passion for many years. [laughter] And since he's at the podium podium, I'd just like to share it was sometime in 2008 or 2009 when he couldn't stop talking about water and the future of water in Winterhaven to the city manager, David Green, at the time. And [snorts] in his the way that Mr. Green would speak to folks as those of you that knew him, I think his comments were, "Mike, stop talking about it. Go do something about it." And it was shortly after there that that sustainable water resource management plan came to be and he is still helping us do something about it. So,

you're in a you're in a good spot. Yes. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. All right. With that, we will circle back around to our strategic plan presentation on infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and commissioners. Um, we have a host of folks that we're going to parade in front of you this evening. And this is it's very timely since we just talked about one water that we have a number of things that speak to um the infrastructure and water related projects here in Winter Haven. uh the se you know as you know this this pillar doesn't just speak to what typically people think of in in the transportation side but it is our multimmodal components it's our water and sewer it's our vertical structures it's broadband it's lighting it's so many different things that make up the infrastructure so we have a handful of folks we're going to give you some updates on projects that you've talked about recently and taken action on uh the ILC rail spur um give you an update on what's happening there. I mentioned Logistics Parkway earlier when we talked about the construction, engineering, and inspection work. We'll give you a tour of that. Uh an update on the third street complete street project just outside city hall here. Our motorpool road project which is advancing nicely. Reuse distribution system. And then for the the the techy geeks that may be in the room, an update on automated metering infrastructure and how we're doing meter reading nowadays. So, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Labby to talk about rail. Thank you, sir. Wh I pushed a button. I'm sorry. I see I screwed it up already. I'll let go of it. [laughter] Um, so, rail, um, Interotal Logistics Park, um, how far we have come in the last 25 years. Um, and just a quick little point of privilege. I know Mike Britt has walked out of the room, I believe, but when I first came to the city 10 years ago, he took me to lunch and explained to me all about the city's efforts around water and I thought, "Oh boy, this is different." Um, but it's been a a wonderful ride and this interotal

logistics park actually is part of that. There's a um contemplated connection system of of wetlands in here that goes down to the Peace Creek that will be part of the one water master plan. So, it's really um pretty cool that it the one of the most important industrial parks in Central Florida is also part of that one water master plan. But we're here to talk about a rail spur. Um as you know, a little over a year ago, uh you guys authorized um our application to apply for a grant through the Department of Commerce, uh $ 1.5 million grant application. um after review that was approved and the governor gave an announcement in March of 2025 um out here at the facility uh within that property that's uh the trap property spec building which really is no longer a spec building anymore. It is currently being occupied by an end user as we speak. Um, and just a few weeks ago, um, you approved the grant agreement with Department of Commerce. I'm happy to announce they gave us a notice to proceed on the project. And so Todd Gooding um, and that team over there um, have been working to issue a notice to proceed to our contractor. You awarded that bid. Um, they've received a notice to proceed. Um, and we are getting ready to build the city's first, uh, railroad spur, I believe, in its history. Um, it comes off of the, uh, existing Y, uh, located there on your screen. Um, travels, uh, a little bit south and to the west. Um, terminating at the c at the Chick-fil-A um, property, which is currently under construction. If you haven't seen it and you have an opportunity to travel up there and and check it out, um they it is a pretty impressive uh facility. Uh notice that it is located along the um southern

property line there owned by um Evansville Western and that way it can serve future users in the park um as well as needed. Um we are scheduled to complete that project according to the grant I believe in June. Um, and we were rocking and rolling to get that project done. This was a very important project for the intermoal logistics park. Um, and just thrilled that it's coming to fruition. With that, I think we're going to talk a little bit more about the park with Todd Gooding and some roadway improvements.

Thank you, Eric. Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tim, commissioners, and city management. uh in regard to the infrastructure pillar logistics parkway and par road extension project is a great example of the city's focus on infrastructure improvements uh for our residents and all our visitors. Um in 2023 construction began on the northern phase that slide up

on the north not the video back up one. So construction began on the northern phase as seen in the slide before you. This phase consisted of a northern terminus near the CSX crossing along the existing pard road. Then that corridor ran south to the existing wastewater treatment plant 3. This portion of the infrastructure improvements was completed in May of 2024 and consisted of roadway and storm improvements and also a multi-use trail for location and bearing. The current Ball Corporation property and facility sits the west of the roadway corridor and Coca-Cola lies in the southeastern I'll say middle of the southeastern portion of the image. The southern portion of the project which is currently under construction now consists of going from the existing wastewater treatment plant 3 entrance south to connect with the existing logistics parkway. This video will give you a bird's eye view of the ongoing construction as we talk through what has been completed today. Starting from the south end near the Ball Corporation complex, you can see the road corridor has been established through clearing and grubbing efforts. The storm ponds have been established along the west side of the corridor and utility work is either in progress or completed in specific areas. Some roadway stabilization efforts have also been completed. The utility portion is an important aspect as this is a multi-ep departmental project that Pedro will talk about more shortly. As we move north along the corridor, note the east running tree line on the eastern side of the roadway. South of that tree line is property that the city of Winter Haven owns, of which Ball has a first right to refusal should the city opt to sell that at any point in the future. The property is also adjacent to the property currently owned by the Ball Corporation. North of that tree line is property that the city of Winterhaven owns. These revised parcel arrangements were reconstructed

uh through efforts to establish the project's roadway corridor. With the corridor fairly running north and south, this was not the original concept. The original corridor followed an alternate route that had an estimated project cost of $26 million. With a stewardship focus, a revised design, we expect this project to now be completed at an estimated cost of $14.6 million. This including both portions of the roadway. This offering a savings opportunity of 11.4 million. As we close in on the north end of the current construction at wastewater treatment plant 3, I would also like to mention that this project is being completed through multi- agency coordination and that coordination consists of $9.4 $4 million in grant funding to assist in the cost of the project. Construction is now expected to be completed in November of 26 this year. I'd just like to say thank you for your time and assisting in this project. And a hero in the project is Pedro Berios. He's going to speak more to you now in regard to the utility and one dig approach. Thank you.

Good evening. Good evening, mayor, commissioners, and utility manager. Um, my name is Pedro. I'm the utility project manager. Um, this project being delivered using the one dig approach. Uh, as part of the new roadway construction, the contractors are utilizing it's installing the 24 in alternative water supply on the east side of the roadway within the project limits. Once completed, this line will provide the city with approximately 1.5 million gallons of water capacity. This pipeline is funded by Poke Regional Ward Co-op at a little over $500,000. If you look at the video on the screen, the blue pipe, it's on the east side, on the right side of the screen. On the west side of the roadway, two water two storm water ponds were constructed, including one on the southern end of the project. That will be on the right left side of the screen there. If you due to conflicts with new structures and drainage pipe, the existing forcement and reclaimed water line had to be relocated. We will have we have more uh utilities to be relocated as the project uh progress. I also like to note that throughout the construction operations at the nearby B manufacturer facility which operates 24 hours a day has not been impacted. North of the northern storm water pond. We are installing a water uh a water and a force man to serve the future development. That would be north of that pond on the north side there on the left hand side of the screen.

Um north of that apron there on the at that partial we will be installing water main force main and reclaim for a future water plant. north of that water plant will have like an apron that will serve it's for the future fourth uh fourth street. So it's a long it's a big project. It's it's non-stop and it's progressing well. It's as planned. So it's it's looking good.

One thing I'd like to comment and thank you Pedro for talking about the utilities. We just talked about Poke Regional Water Cooperative and Southeast Wellfield. The water that will come into Winter Haven from the southeast Wellfield is that infrastructure piping that you see going in as part of this project that it will come up from I believe it it comes in off old Barto road, Gary, is that sound right? And goes north to our new um Pard Road water treatment plant that is out for bid. that will become a booster station where that water comes from southeast Wellfield down around Frost Proof area, makes its way all the way up here to Winter Haven, gets blended with our water, and then we help wheel that water out to other jurisdictions. So again, this is about infrastructure. This is is roadway, it's trails, it's storm water, it's it's alternative water supply. There's multiple pieces to this um very complicated project. So I have Thank you. With these, I'll turn it over to Tyler Williams.

Hi, good evening, mayor and commissioners. Happy to be here tonight to present some updates for you on the Third Street Northwest and Motorpool Road transportation projects. So, beginning here with Third Street. I was here a couple times last year to uh talk about the progress of the design for this project. Uh this corridor is right out in front of City Hall here, of course, with the project limits extending from Avenue D Northwest up towards around the garden center. Uh along this corridor, there's also the city hall annex, Noro Hall, city tennis courts, trailhead playground, and the senior center. This project has roughly $1.7 million in local agency funds attached to it and is being done in conjunction with the FDOT and the Pulk Transportation Planning Organization or the Pulk TPO. It's also currently out to bid for construction services which will end midFebruary and we anticipate for a completed project to be delivered around early 2027. A quick recap on the purpose of this project. The current state of this corridor is that it is quite wide, which poses some safety concerns for both pedestrians and drivers alike. And to amend this, this project will transform this corridor to feature some more narrow roads, two new roundabouts, additional pedestrian infrastructure, such as new sidewalks and crosswalks with safety islands, as well as minor improvements made to Avenue E and F northwest. Additional lighting will also be incorporated throughout this corridor, which will not only enhance the safety of transportation along Third Street in the early morning and evening hours, but it will also be a great feature for any of the special events that are hosted out of Noro Hall. Moving on to uh the Motorpool Road project. Uh this is another complete street project that is currently under construction with Whitehead and Tucker Paving. It's located just off of US17 by the Lakeside Memorial Cemetery, public

works and wastewater treatment plant 2 facility. Construction commenced towards the end of last year and is currently slated to wrap up in April. This road was formerly a private alleyway that was for employees of the city to access our facilities in the area like the public works facility, but it has since been opened up for public use. However, given that it was initially designed and used as an alleyway, it doesn't currently meet the standards of a normal functioning road, which is exactly what this project is seeking to amend. This is also another critical project because every city vehicle in our fleet uses this strip of road. you know, whether it's a police cruiser or a fire or a solid waste truck, um they're the ones that are driving up and down this road every day to access public works in order to fuel up or receive any preventative maintenance. So, converting this alleyway to a modern road is going to ensure that every city vehicle in our fleet can safely access the facility and also is going to help to prevent any wear and tear on those vehicles as they're no longer going to be driving on top of old infrastructure. Similar to the logistics project that Todd and Pedro touched on, this project is also using a dig once approach, which means that multiple pieces of infrastructure are able to be incorporated into it ahead of time. Uh so that way at a later date, we don't have to rip up the road and do any work underneath it, which of course saves us a lot of money. With this approach, we're able to incorporate reuse water infrastructure, communication lines, a rebuilt road, drainage and landscaping enhancements, new pedestrian signage, as well as an asphalt trail that's going to connect between the chain of lakes trail all the way up to the recently completed Lake Conine Nature Park. That way, pedestrians can traverse between the two public amenities safely. The intersection at Avenue Y and 1st Street Northeast is also currently being realigned, which will help to enhance

the traffic flow in this area. At the completion of this project, the hope is that traffic will be able to move seamlessly between US 17 out towards Lucern Park Road. And it's also hopeful that it will uh provide some relief at the intersections of Havenale and 17 as well as First Street North and MLK Boulevard. And with that, I will now turn it over to the other Tyler from the water department. Thank you.

Thank you, Tyler. Uh, good evening, mayor and commissioners. My name is Tyler McCall. I'm the chief operator at Wastewater Plant 2, and I'm here to show and explain the improvements over the years that have been done to the reuse infrastructure. Um, the image you're currently seeing is how it has ran for many, many, many years. It was planned to being the sole supplier of reuse to the customers throughout the city. But due to the recent population boom we have had um the reuse supply coming solely from plant 2 could not keep up with the demand. So our first solution to this was to tie plant 3 into the master reuse system. And this worked out great. Helped out. It dwindled down our down times even more. But with this we still during dry seasons or even peak flows when we had a little rain etc. Plant two would still run out of reuse in the ground storage tanks. We would have to shut down for multiple days. And due to the distance between plant three and plant two one being on the southern region of the city and the other being on the northern regions of the city that would lead the region around Lucen Loop Road having many many low uh pressure issues with their reuse. Sprinkler heads can't come up. Customers aren't getting their reuse. They're not happy. Um so our next solution was to tie plant three directly to the ground storage tanks of facility number two. This would give us the ability to fill those tanks continuously effectively turning plant two into a booster station more than a sole supplier of the northern and southern regions. And and as you all are aware in the future uh plant 2 will be decommissioned but the one thing that will not be happening during this decommissioning process is plant two stopping reuse supply to the customers. From that point on plant two will no longer be processing raw because we'll be redirecting that raw sewage back to plant three for treatment. So therefore,

plant two, the infrastructure is there, we'll begin to operate more of a booster station solely as that purpose and that's only and hopefully no more problems with reuse. [laughter]

Yeah, I just want to comment and thank you Tyler. I think you hit that on the head that know plant two was that sole source of reuse to our customers and as you have drought conditions or more demand for it if it can't keep up and you know Commissioner Mercer you probably remember this from your your days here we would have to turn off the the reuse system because if it didn't rain um people were trying to run irrigation more and we would run out of water and couldn't irrigate the golf course couldn't uh get it to the customers plant three that connection that was done several years ago uh on the reuse system helped mitigate that a little bit, but is part of this motorpool road project when they could put in new reuse lines and use plant three to back fill and keep a constant supply into those groundwater storage tanks at plant 2. That gives us a constant availability of water at the appropriate pressure to meet the needs of the growth. So pretty pretty creative there in how they made that happen. Thank you, Tony. All right. Thank you. And I as I'll pass off to Don

Good evening, mayor, commissioners, city manager. Um I'm Don I'm the meter services superintendent uh for the water department. Uh tonight I want to present to you uh AMI, which is automated metering infrastructure. Um so historically in the past um we read water meters from traveling from house to house to each meter uh recording that data manually. Um and then we moved on to um automated metering um through AMR which is more of a driveby uh metering system as you can see in the on the screen here. Um you have the van there and a uh meter technician. Um nowadays, uh we collect that data from the water meter from a two-way communication system from the water meter to the to a water meter tower. Um as you can see on on the screen here, that data is then transferred to what we know as uh Neptune 360, which is our our software that we collect that data with. Um our customers would know it better as the customer portal um where they can see uh real-time usage of their water meter uh usage. So if they have a high bill one month, the next month they can plan accordingly and uh ultimately conserve water. Um we have the water utility there from the cloud from Neptune 360 which would um communicate back to the utility and record that that data. Um, moving to the next slide. Uh, this is, uh, what a installation [clears throat] would look like on top of a water tank tower. This is located in the heart of the city here in Winter Haven. Um, you can see the antenna on top of that tank. Um, another one of our installations is from a utility pole. Uh, you can see the data collector there at the bottom um, with the tower on uh, the antenna on top of the pole there. Um so previously in the past u we were

at 65% uh capabilities of of reading u by tower as of last November we're at 87% um we have 20 towers citywide that collects this data reports every 10 minutes of data um so that we can get a a near real-time read. um 95% is projected as of this year um to be able to collect that data as we update our infrastructure. Um a lifespan of a meter is typically from 10 to 12 years old. So we've uh started a meter change out program where we can update that infrastructure uh through that program. Um as we move forward in 2026, we've been doing a beta testing program with our remote um automatic shut off meter. So, this is a three-way valve where we can control uh the water uh flow just from a click of a button uh through the in Neptune 360 software. So, that is a three-way valve. We can turn water service on for a customer that's potentially having uh a water leak at their home. Um so, we wouldn't have to roll a truck for that. Um we can turn or or turn it off and then we can turn it back on if a customer is to move into a a a new a new location. So that's pretty pretty um cool technology that we're that we're moving to with this program. Um here in 2026 we'll have the capability of of reading temperature and pressure as well. So um by seeing that we can tell if we have some water quality issues in that area. uh even with our reclaim system, you know, if if we're having pressure issues in that area or if we have a water main break, we're able to tell just um from the actual meter itself. Um in closing, [sighs] um AMI um AMI is moving Winter Haven from a reactive meter reading to a real-time

system management. It provides smarter data, faster response, and better service for both the city and our customers. Uh today we've presented to you to um the rail spur project, the logistics parkway project, third street complete street project, motorpool road reuse distribution and automated metering infrastructure. Um [clears throat] with that I'd like to open up the floor for any questions. Thank you for the opportunity.

I have a question. I was just wondering uh with the automated metering infrastructure system you said that midFebruary that it would be online is just 95% that's for you all. I thought I heard you say also that uh customer would be able to go online and see real time water use. Yes sir. Is that included in this projected 95% correct time frame?

Yes sir. As we update those meters. Uh so currently about 87% of the system our customers are able to do that. Uh so we have around 48,000 connections citywide. Uh so 80 87% of those connections. So the uh because I I I I look at I paid my bill now online since I messed up a few times, right? And so when I go in and I can pull up everything, but I don't see nothing about this. So this is this is what we're working towards in 2026.

No, [laughter] you're fine. As we update those meters, uh that technology is becoming available to us now. Okay. I just said I hadn't seen it in a And Mr. Mayor or Commissioner Bong Donnie, is it the online payment? Is that the same as the portal? Yes.

So, that may be something that if we'd have to check and see are you has your meter been changed out to an AMI meter and we can certainly look at that and make sure you within the app can see exactly where it shows you what your flow is. One of the things that happens with this, I mean, this technology is is just crazy when we think about just 20 years ago, we had people going out into the neighborhoods with a long stick and a hook on it, opening up meters and punching numbers into a a handheld device, and hopefully they didn't find snakes or other critters down in that meter box. Now, those meters transmit that reading throughout the day back to the to the cloud, as you see here. Um, if we have a an account that runs continuous water for a period of time, the people in account services actually get a notification alarm that allows them to reach out to a customer and say there may be a problem at your property. We're seeing a continuous flow. Could be as simple as a flapper on a toilet.

Could be a hose bib that was left on. Could be a number of different things. I've had at least a dozen customers reach out expressing appreciation for that that you know your water department called me to tell me that I had a leak and I didn't know I had a leak because of that alarm system that goes off. That's I think exceptional for our customers and it also allows them to monitor if they're having spikes in their water usage. uh we can tell them your your water bill is extremely high because your irrigation clock may have reset and it looks like your irrigation's running twice as long as it was a week ago. Um it just gives us a lot more data to troubleshoot and provide good response to them. The other thing on that, if we if we beta test out and are successful on those newer meters, if you could advance the slide, I think two, Katrina, I think that one right there. This, you know, we've not tried this this device yet. This is a new a newer uh Neptune meter that that has that capacity that we can send a signal back to it and turn it off or turn it on. Um, right now if somebody has a problem, if we have to disconnect somebody for non-payment, which we hate doing, we have to send somebody out there to actually do that. And once payments made, we have to go back out with that same person or some other employee and turn it back on. We also have a number of residents that will put their system on a vacation that I'm I'm a snowbird and I turn my water off when I'm not here. So you can imagine every fall and every really about April we have a lot of service that we're having to go out and provide on those. If we could do that just with the click of a a mouse on a screen would be exceptional. So it's relatively newer technology for us anyways that we'll beta test out and see if it works.

When when if if it works you would install these throughout the city. It'd be on the replacement process as we replace out. You don't I don't think we would just go out and suddenly buy 40,000 meters to to swap out. But as we begin looking at where where uh meters are scheduled for replacement, if that's a viable solution for us, we start putting that in. So we have right now we have all meters in the city are the electronic.

No. So, uh, go to the next slide again if you would. One more. There you go. So, about 87% of them right now are on AMI. Um, we hope to be, as it says, 95% this year. Okay. And for just to full transparency, some we will not hit 100%. We don't intend to hit 100%. There are certain meters that we have out there that we need that an AMI solution is not right for or that could be so far remote out that the transmission to a a tower makes that less feasible to pursue.

Thank you. All right. That concludes everything on the agenda this evening, I believe. Um just want to thank the staff for Yeah. taking the challenge is presenting to such a respected group of individuals. Infrastructure is the number one thing that we hear about. So, absolutely. Thank you. Yeah. Um before we conclude, I did want to give a shout out. I do I believe I see a public safety leadership class participant in the back. Am I right? Maybe not. No. No. I thought I saw one. Okay, I'm wrong. Never mind. But they are meeting. I think they're next meeting.

They had their first meeting. I think they meet again next Tuesday. Is that right, Greg? Okay. I know we'll get them here eventually because that's one of the requirements. So, I didn't want to miss in uh in case one was here tonight, but obviously not. So, with that, we'll adjourn. That works pretty good.