e e e e e e e e e e as second second by commissioner Anderson all those in favor I all opposed motion carries unanimously next up City popas Investment Portfolio blanch and team well you need to yes on which is the red button so um um we have before us Morgan Stanley going to give you an update on our quarterly um performance for the Investment Portfolio for the city of apopo we have Mr Glenn Scott and Mr Trish Trisha Mingo all right thank you so here we go all right thank you Mr mayor and Commissioners we'd like to start our presentation this evening with our accomplishments and our action items to brief you over the last two quarters we have successfully opened the city's account with Morgan Stanley we've onboarded it and we have also simultaneously funded your custodial account at covas which holds all the cities Investments the new investment policy has been implemented and the three initial Investments were completed at the end of February and into early March so our upcoming action items we would like to prepare for future funding and build out the Investment Portfolio for the city and to do this we're going to work with blanch and her team and perform a cash flow analys and then we will model Investment Portfolio structures based on objectives liquidity needs constraints and risk tolerance that the city has already set in place and then finally we will select an appropriate Benchmark for your portfolio next I'd like to go into the portfolio characteristics in the top left graph you can see the current Holdings which list SE Coast covis Florida prime your money market and then the three buys that Morgan Stanley completed for the city two United State treasuries and a corporate bond at the bottom of the chart there's your portfolio duration and as of right now most of your funds are sitting in overnight Bank deposits and that's the um largest um bar on the graph where there's no duration and then we go out to the Restriction of 2 to 5 years with the Securities that we have purchased up in the top right hand corner is your issuer concentration this is a breakout of your Holdings and you can see sovis is the largest concentration right now at approximately 59% over time we will go ahead and work that down as we purchase Investments for the city in the bottom right hand graph is your asset class diversification again demand deposits is the largest portion right now now which is the city's Holdings in the overnight Bank deposits looking at the uh yield curve this is a graph vertically is interest rates horizontal is time to maturity of US Treasury Securities and the three lines are the where we where we're at presently and where we've been in the in the recent past and you can see that the yield curve the big structure of it is inverted meaning short-term interest rates are higher than longer term interest rates that's a typical pattern at the end of a business cycle the FED has completed its task of raising interest rates holding them there to fight inflation slow the economy down from an inflationary point of view and now they're going to Pivot we think that pivot will start in September with the First Rate Cuts as the FED starts to become more concerned with how far the economy has slowed and the risks that unemployment rates may be rising in 2025 when you look at the uh previous slide you saw that we were buying Securities out in time that's against a curve that is inverse again inversely sloped meaning when we lock out uh assets belonging to the city out in time we're doing so to lock in an interest rate interest rate now in anticipation that the Federal Reserve will cut rates starting this year and through through a good chunk of next year and so that when we do a break even analysis it makes sense to buy this Securities now un lock in that rate to protect the uh earning power of the city's portfolio let's see here this is a this is a little complicated graph but good good for you to see kind of the work we doing behind the scenes these are implied forward contracts on how many rate cuts the markets are anticipating through January of 2025 and you can see it's just over 2.5 Cuts so it take the um fed federal funds rate down by 3/4 of 1% by the the end of the year on the bottom half of the graph is Morgan sany's projections for interest rates on the two five 10 and 30-year treasury Securities the two and the five is relevant for portfolio construction for you all the 10 year is real relevant when you're issuing debt and also for the people when they're trying to refinance mortgages or buy homes the mortgage rates set off the 10-year uh Treasury and you can see the projections in the base case which is the soft ing scenario which is the policy of the budet administration and the Federal Reserve to hold interest rates to a point in time where we get inflation coming down which it is and the economy is slowing and so now uh we're trying to get inflation back towards 2% which is the target without causing a recession we think that's still the highest probability Morgan St assigned about a 60% probability that that will in fact be what happens there is now a rising U possibility though that the economy does go into recession in 2025 so just something to keep in mind uh and we're not the only ones saying that of the Big Wall Street firms um so there is a rising risk that the the FED had to hold interest rates too high for too long fighting inflation and has put the economy at risk of recession next year uh this is uh Morgan Stanley's economic projections for the rest of this year and then 2025 I'll just highlight a few of them real GDP is the growth rate of the US economy again we see the soft Landing where the economy slows from a 3% in 2023 growth rate down to a 2% growth rate 2.1% growth rate in 24 and 25 if you jump down to the uh middle of the uh chart here that's the civilian unemployment rate you can see that that rises significantly from where it was in 2023 by the end of 2024 at 4.2% and then Rising further to 4.5% in 2025 something we obviously want to keep an eye on um Consumer Price Index and the other measures that the Federal Reserve uses for inflation we'll just stay with CPI because that's the one people are most familiar with we can see that the inflation rate in 2022 is over 7% that was from the effects of covid and other anomalies that were going on in the world economy uh that slowed to 3.2% in 2023 further slowed to 2.9 this year we see it going down to 2.2 by 202 and then lastly the fed fton target rates which is the overnight interest rate that the Federal Reserve controls right now it's at uh we see at um ending this year at 4.6% which is reflective of those three cuts and then further reducing down to 3.6% uh so almost 200 basis points lower than where we are presently by the middle of 2025 so significant reduction in interest rates coming in the next 12 months this is a little bit of a spaghetti chart I apologize but it's just showing the that the inflation rate is moving down in various metrics down towards its 2% Target rate we see it getting to that just right above that 2% Target rate middle of 2025 and lastly Thea the uh investment program of the city you want to take this one real quick yeah okay as you can see the portfolio composition uh Bank deposits us treasuries at 20% the this is the plan program for the for the city and where we had where we are intending to take the portfolio towards with a further authorization of extension of of City money out of the overnight uh Investments that you currently have and that's all we had as our presentation if there's any questions be happy to answer them any questions I I've got one just it I know I can't remember what was the the total dollars what was it like 140 all in how how what's the I can't oh 18 188 189 million so if you were so obviously our our budget year starts October 1st and we're projecting obviously revenues and expenses if you're looking I know in your crystal ball what would you think would be a reduction from this year to next year onund 90 million in interest income okay yeah so that's a great question so if we were to do that reduction of approximately 200 basis points and assuming that balances don't change so we're holding that constant right uh then 2% would be a um it would be about a uh 4 million dollar reduction and potentially an interest rates in interest income okay I mean I just and I wasn't trying to put you on the spot just but but you know we're going into budget and I know we we know interest rates are coming down it just and so for blanch in the back you know we just she needs you know some Direction so helping yeah Mr Mayor that's a great question I I think that the city has to balance off in your budgetary considerations which is interesting we're doing this right after you're doing your budget uh is the rising risks of the Eon economy is slowing which would affect your tax receipts uh inflation is slowing which helps your budgetary side and then your interest income is reducing right so you have all three variables feeding into your budgetary considerations along with all the other variables that you guys were just discussing so yeah it is a complicated mix I I would say that uh a little bit of caution because of the recessionary risks in a budgetary cycle is probably prudent yeah I mean you wouldn't mind just kind of I mean when you get back just kind of pencil and I'm just some rough numbers for us I mean take a little more time with it just say hey you know because if you obviously we're get more in October if they start to drop the rates you know first quarter of you know 25 then it'll it will impact us later into the in the fiscal year versus right earlier so if you could just based on what you're what you were telling us what the amount of you know Cuts in in the uh interest rates along the way right I don't you don't need to spend you know two days but if you could spend an hour on it that would be so perhaps for our next presentation we'll come back and try to assess for you sort of economic impacts as they affect the city budget is that what you would like I'd love to have it if we could before September the the 4th but okay I mean because that's when we'll we'll we're looking at our overall budget so I mean if you could give us some kind of a rough idea by then if that's possible yeah we can okay yeah just it just be nice to have that you know as we as we go into the the new budget year happy to do so Mr thank you thank you all right thank you'all for coming appreciate it thank you than you safe travels Michelle Michelle buland economic development director uh good evening mayor and Commissioners I'm happy to bring forward my second update from The Economic Development Department I will make this very brief just wanted to take the time to introduce a new tool to you that will be featured on our website when it is launched in early August so there's going to be two items that I addressed here uh first the Strategic plan that was discussed as part of the update last time where we are with that and then the sites and buildings database what it is we'll take a quick uh tour of that database and we'll talk a little bit about how we're obtaining the information that we want to use to input in the database so as far as the Strategic plan goes um there was a recommendation made last time uh my update that we do a Citywide strategic plan exercise before we embark on the Strategic plan for the purpose of economic development that was taken into consideration a plan was developed I hope that all of you have seen my email and with requested feedback by tomorrow morning would be awesome um if you need an extension on time please let me know um happy to announce that we did apply for and were awarded a grant uh from Duke Energy the powerful communities Grant uh the grant will help offset the expense for the Strategic plan in the amount of $20,000 so I do want to thank them for their consideration of our application and the award so diving right into the sites and buildings database as you can recall I uh have presented all my goals and initiatives for the development of the department the first being brand awareness marketing and our efforts to attract new business and industry to come into our community one of the items I discussed was an inventory of the assets that we have available whether that is industrial or commercial land or buildings and how we're going to get the information out there we are currently promoting that information through the Orlando economic partnership which is the regional partner but I think it's also important for us to advertise that ourselves and to put out their specifically a popka sites and not just be Blended in with the other communities that oep represents so what the sites and buildings database essentially is is it's a a centralized database of information that can be utilized by S selectors um by corporate Executives by residents of the community by yourself these bullet points here are very limited in what is actually presented in the database but you can take a look at the available sites and buildings the specifications around those buildings the infrastructure that's in place for utilities for roadways for rail for the the education system rounding for the workforce Pipeline and it's commute times all surrounding this building we can see zoning infrastructure and proximity to amenities so the promotion of local assets I already mentioned that it's very important that we're promoting those assets we have a lot of Warehouse spaces out there I'm hearing a lot of grumble about them but what we're trying to do here is bring recognition to those buildings I mentioned um speed to Market and we are in a great position because we have these buildings available and we can fill them quickly for those companies that are looking to be up and running quicker than having to actually build their building um there this will help with streamline decision making so with the process with a corporate executive or a site selection advisor when they are taking a look at that region that they want to be in if they find a building and we have all of the information there and it just clicks away it helps them to speed through their process it's either they're going to eliminate us quicker or they're going to contact us sooner one one way or the other it gives them the information they need so I'm going to attempt here not to mess anything up and take a tour of the building or take a t of the database now I think I mentioned in my email to you uh last week that this is not live it is currently under construction we have um a a web page dedicated to economic development that will launch in early August and this will be one of the tools that is featured there let's consider this Zillow for instance this is where you will be able to find any commercial or industrial land or building that is submitted to us for advertisement on our website so let's just play around with one for instance this is the apaka 429 there are currently three buildings that are fully developed and they are available for lease or sale an individual can come in here and of course they can take a look at the various um images that we have available you can actually see all three buildings here but they can also scr scroll through and find some additional information such as the specifications on it um the available site the the ceiling Heights the number of dock doors and any information um that they could be looking for there are different features within this tab if we wanted to do a brochure again hoping technology is on my side right now if they click this button it's going to essentially creative brochure where the contact information is going to be us we want to be the first point of contact for them because we don't just want to discuss the building but we want to discuss the benefits of doing business in a popup so they can create this brochure and have it on hand but they can also I um access the brochure from the property management company or the seller that is linked here so we are giving them recognition as well while we're in this tool we can take a look at different things if we wanted to look at the the school systems that are available that are surrounding this property and I think we're zoomed in a bit so I'm not certain how it's going to appear out [Music] here but you'll start to see some of these let me unclick it you'll see some of these features start to light up on the page and they can click on them and learn more about what it is the school name information like that we do have utilities here as well um if we were to take a look at infrastructure and I want to go to utilities you can see those electrici excuse me electric transmission lines that are near the property and you can click on these as well learn more information about those lines so there's a lot of features here I'm not going to go through every single one but something that the uh decision makers do look at is drive time for their employees they want to see where they're pulling their Workforce from for the sake of this exercise we're going to look at Drive times from 20 to 60 minutes out and we're going to look at towards the facility if I click on generate report it should populate this map which it looks completely different on my screen you could actually see here within these uh color coordinations where they're pulling their Workforce from um within those those Drive times so essentially a decision maker will look and see that they can pull a Workforce from cimi within a 60-minute drive now it it's also going to depend on time of day and you can add those uh filters as well to be able to see that we can produce the workforce that they are looking for there are several reports that are available and this feature can be utilized uh specific to each site or just specific to the community but this Workforce report shows you within no same parameters 20 40 or 60 Minutes drive time you can see the number of employees by occupation type and their annual medium wage and that helps them to identify if we can fill their Workforce needs what is out there so I'm going to get out of this property and I'm just going to come back out here and for the sake of our community for our citizens here we did hear a request during one of the budget meetings about being able to take a look at different things such as the current developments that are taking place and how we can track their progress under zoning and planning we have the feature to highlight our CRA it appeared here um if we want to look at the current development projects that are occurring in apaka when you click on that you can see the different developments for instance if we click on this development we know it is residential you can scroll through you can find some of the documentation that is attached to that development and it is easily accessible by anybody who's willing to take the time to get in here and wants to find out more now to expand upon this there was a question about how can we track the progress we can't essentially track the progress of the development but we can track where they are in our process of the development I am collaborating with the community development team to see how we can enhance that maybe we can add some check boxes here to say they've gotten this far along in the city's process I can spend all night going through this tool and I mentioned to you that I think that it can appear to be a bit overwhelming to those who are not used to navigating it but I promise you that it does serve a purpose and it is going to be very beneficial to us for those who are looking at our community um to grow here well I took us back to the beginning if we want to start over so with that you might ask how are we obtaining the information or the properties that we want to have featured here I have collaborated with the mediat team and we created what we called a property solicitation form this is a sample of um the insert that will go into the newsletter we hope to do social media um campaigns surrounding this also advertise it on the website and what we're actually doing is calling upon um those realators with Brokers Property Owners um developers property management companies please submit your site to us so that we can feature it there uh what happens is they can follow this link once it's out and they can complete a form that will be emailed directly to me and I'll be able to take a look at the information and then start adding those properties in through this form they can identify the name of the property if it's a site or building what type the address a description provide a link is it for sale or lease upload photos brochures any information that they feel is pertinent for us to have on the website for them with that I wanted to be brief but also hope that I was able to give you a good demonstration of what we're what we have available here and I look forward to launching this in early August and I'm available for questions any questions for Michelle no questions other than um you done a really good job in kind of selling a Popin we discussed that that um when we're driving uh through the 429 and the 451 a lot of our residents see the warehouses and um for some they see it say we're losing all this you know Green space but for some of us we look at it as progress we look at it as you know this is uh revenue and businesses and jobs for apoa so um the best way is to really that you're doing and and I really thank you for this is is marketing us and uh that's a good thing thank you any other questions yes I one question too or or just I guess a recommendation request is that in in filling out the database I just don't think think a lot of Agents Brokers Etc developers aren't going to be as proactive as we' like them to be so I'd like to get ahead of it a little bit and maybe use Orange County Property Appraisers start kind of filling it in on our side of it and if they want to start putting their lease data whatever it may be for sale data then we can add to it but I think getting ahead especially kind of in the C and building out I think it will'll be very valuable just to start um start there and work our way out just absolutely and this is also an opportunity for us to form those relationships and to partner with the Realtors with the Brokers and especially with the property management companies it may appear that I'm showing some favoritism those 10 properties that I have there listed now are those relationships that I've been able to form with those property management companies and we are actively marketing those properties together I I understand for some they are an isore I challenge those individuals to look at them as job creators but Point well taken and we will be proactive in our approach perfect thank you will you be listing any of the you know the existing um warehouses that we have that are operating like our Amazon our Goya because that's a way to really encourage um you know big companies like Amazon and Goya to come here and they see the success of these warehouses yep so I had the team with me today and I want to thank uh the IT team who has been essential in helping with the development of this database and we did a training with um GIS webtech who is the vendor who provides this and uh moving forward this might look a little bit different because we can adjust the what the map looks like and we can identify those uh current businesses those existing businesses and that is a selling point for our community so you'll see labels of existing businesses surrounding these buildings as well so yes we will be able to do that okay I have a few questions so in regards to the accuracy of the information that's submitted from the Brokers and Realtors where is that liability with our city just as questions for you um attorney in regards to the liability with the city a lot of times information that that is online are uploaded from Realtors and some of the information can be misleading or inaccurate it needs to Simply have the appropriate disclaimers that's what I thought so if we can add that disclaimer I think that'll kind of alleviate you know potential lawsuits but I think great job and I'm looking forward to seeing it absolutely thank you Al a great job you address all my concerns thank you thank you thank you Michelle all right public comment mayor if I may before we start the public comment um I just wanted to let you know that we had an item that we advertised uh to be on the agenda it was an annexation it's no longer on the agenda for this evening just wanted to let the public know as well if anybody was here to comment on that anybody that was here for annexation been pulled from the agenda okay yeah okay Ty Ben I had hoped to come here tonight and uh present something notice I didn't give a name just now because I've got no intention of giving it this city dictates policy and they change policy as as of when they care to do so are you okay be I see you're shaking a lot again tonight I hope I hope that's not serious anyway I had hoped to present some videos tonight however it's not going to happen tonight but it will happen in two weeks time those videos show that the city of PKA put demolition rubbish into our sink hles I know some of the Commissioners have seen it and tonight I invite our city manager to uh ask Susan bone for the thumb drives that I provide the season I'm giving the city administ admin straight permission to access those drives so that he's just as aware as the Mission has already seen it in fact those videos will in due course be put to FD they show that there's asphalt brick the sewage pipe blue poly propoline material there's at least 70% of the original aggregate that was put into that whole sand now I'm sure there director of Public Works is is sitting over there and he'll remember that uh our expert Divo specifically said that it had to be graded rocks and obviously I said rocks aren't an Optimum solution in a popka because we don't have granite or quartz so concrete was acceptable what's not acceptable is how they were put that Concrete in 70% dirt and Rubble God only knows where it came from because it is demol Rubble it could contain lead it could contain arsenic it could contain all sorts of things so the first thing that you Commissioners need to do tonight is to ascertain where that initial Rubble came from because if you don't know what contaminants in it you don't know what health risk is now for those Commissioners who have seen what went into that aquifer you have a duty you swore and oath to us that you would protect and serve us is your duty to motion tonight that there's a public service announcement made that we need to be aware that there's potential contamination in that aquifer if you don't do it then I'm sorry you're letting the community down because you have seen the videos you have seen the pictures you need to take action now I've asked continuously to be allowed to make a presentation here there's no doubt in my mind tonight the presentation I was going to make probably will have caused severe problems for the uh Public Works director and the mayor because they're complicit in lying to the residents and I for one come here every week have done for two years and every other week we hear lies it's time we stopped here and lies it's time we got down to straight fact and the facts of the matter are that we contaminated the aquer that on March the 4th the mayor knew what had happened at the aquafer that it was not a natural event in the budget di Buddha said that it was a natural event he put up there it's a public services director lying to us this lies has got to stop I can't stop it but you can you can stop it by asking questions making motions and making people aware of what's Happening you represent us and I'm asking you tonight to motion for a public service announcement that there was Ken of contamination went to the aquifer can't first I'd like to ask that everyone take just a second out of respect for um John ricketson the Apopka Chief he's not going to be um writing any more articles or taking any more pictures here as of last night amen um if you can imagine a hefty person here that was a um a star at a popka high school on the football team and then he went on to be drafted in the NFL and then he spent 30 some odd years working in public service um for the city and he got out there and he cleaned all the ponds and did all the Mowing and led a crew of nine uh prisoners cleaning the um ponds and he led maintenance Crews he's unable to be here today but he's watching and ourand waros he took a back hoe and they had to keep a rigid schedule and they got written up if they didn't turn that schedule in on time and if they ever missed a cleaning uh at one of the workshops it was said that two years ago or that in March was the first time that a pond had been cleaned in this city the first time out loud to put it on the public record it's in video and in minutes and that mayor Nelson did brought it about now for one thing I hounded at it for 18 months before it was started and done and it was just the first time done in the Nelson Administration but had been done religiously for 30 years prior to that and if you'll go back and look at Google Earth yourself or Google Maps you can pull up every year for every few months and look at the pictures yourself you don't have to look at the pictures that I put up and did right here on YouTube from the meeting where I did the slideshow showing how from 2018 of January of 2018 when mayor Nelson took over and the pond was perfectly clear to the time in which 20 foot trees were growing above the level of the ponds and there were stoves and all kinds of D debris in the dry ponds and they were clogged and couldn't flow so I do believe with um the nature of Melvin Jones being upset and Mr boros's name being maligned that the mayor owes them an apology and the record needs to be corrected the minutes I believe that the council needs to vote to have the minutes corrected and of the meeting last week and a written apology needs to be written to both of those men and it needs to be done immediately the mayor also is not not been returning emails and calls to me um it's very upsetting the previous administrator also did not return emails and phone calls and I don't appreciate it I had a very close relationship with previous um Mayors and administrators it's unfortunate thank you Leroy Bell 2308 mod hel a McKinley just got up and spoke about videos this city Administration have a problem with videos uh just during the budget uh Senor millich the mayor he made sure he reminded you that they gave the police department oh oh we gave them a bump now they're already being paid a salary by the taxes of the citizens I think it was either Cincinnati or either Cleveland that a young African-American was shot by a police officer what did the police chief do the first thing him and the M did together was release the video of the shoot let the city let the resident see what the police department is doing you said I think the young man from the fire department was speaking up for the fire department saying yes Chief wall he's getting ready to retire he waited until he was about to retire he strung them along and I think this Chief is doing the same thing yeah and you can smile if you want to man it makes no difference why don't you show the video commissioner Anderson in her expert opinion with commissioner Smith he wasn't leaving her hanging out there he concur with what she seen But 25 citizens seen something different why you won't show it we go down and ask for public records it's $150 for the video and once people come up with the $150 $ and go down then they go up to $600 why you keep moving the gold post why see really see I know my family love me and I know some of you guys don't like me but I'm I'm I'm I'm cool in my own skin but I believe at the next election it going to reflect back on you this is the reason that we need this artist why so many fees for this that this that and another the audit would show that we got a cook sitting right there at the H and the Very people that you guys supposed to be I'm I'm glad you can smile expert here's the thing you guys is f in this city and yes with this last 54 second I am a black man and what Nick Nester did last commissioner meeting I don't see nothing wrong with it and I understand your email commissioner Smith that he's not your boss he's not your boss commissioner Anderson because your boss sitting right there your master sitting right in there right there with his prej behind [Music] R Olson 3156 Rolling Hills Lane um mayor Commissioners the lack of planning and consequent lack of infrastructure is exposed nearly every day in our community by example neighborhood flooding rsr just found out the storm water drain installed 26 years ago wasn't connected to anything so we had flooding there golden gem Pond poor sight selection construction supervision and response Street and sidewalk needs across the community runaway development School overcrowding fa or to spender CRA funds setbacks do we have that picture do not make it no guess not okay I'm sorry any I I had a picture it's a setback it shows on a corner on Meandering Way a regular size pickup truck with this nose against the garage door extends about a foot and a half onto a sidewalk means pedestrians kids got to walk around it it's on a corner going around with a squad a Ford Fusion I have to go a couple miles an hour between traffic much less looking at a full-size SUV for our Police Department ambulance or fire engines we have to to look at setbacks in every development action plan uh to better serve our community one before finalizing the final mid millage rate confirm you've addressed all department needs the current status life expectancy and plan replacement of All City assets uh the cost and ramifications of upcoming pay and benefit increases two immediately increase the development fees to ensure that developer pays for all the utilities we have to run to their brand new developments shouldn't be a taxpayer responsibility immediately establish a Citizens committee to review each and every budget line item related expenditures to be presented by no later than January 15 2025 to be implemented for the 2026 fiscal year for immediately Implement monthly Financial reviews with the department heads these reviews will provide for more accurate and timely adjustments establish a more accurate budget for the future and reduce the time to address at nearly every council meeting moving funds around five immediately Institute live water meter check for any significant jump in utilization no one should get a $2600 utility bill immediately assess the needs for all grants look at what the requirements are to meet them because many cities are not doing some of them because the requirements take too much time and effort seven by November 6th present a camp weall break even plan to include quarterly updates by January 15th present a 20 20 26 budget year plan that will allow all parties adequate time to review and have input nine by January 15 present a detailed 20e strategic plan with Provisions for annual updates prior to the budget cycle the day you each took office you're responsible for everything in this community The Good the Bad and the Ugly and you'll be accountable until the last day that you serve now is the time to take action it's time to hold all of our elected officials accountable as well as all of us in the audience we have to be held accountable to hold the line as well finally I have three quotes um that I feel fit this time quote when things go wrong in your command start looking for the reason in increasing larger concentric circles starting around your own desk General Bruce C Clark quote let it racism be a problem to someone else let it drag them down don't use it as an excuse for your own shortcomings end quote colen Powell quote if you fail the plan you are planning to fail Benjamin Franklin finally last 18 seconds I want to God bless uh Eileen ricketson family co-workers everyone here's a wonderful man wonderful gentleman I was blessed to have known him thank you svest h good evening mayor Commissioners I'll start off with my famous quote our nation is in a national crisis because many good people standing by watching bad things happen happening and not doing anything about it another one is re normalize the abnormal till desensitize the truth to the point the truth doesn't matter let that s in and apply to everything that you hear on the news what do you see is it normal is it adnormal then apply the truth to it I Pledge Your Alle I Pledge Your Alle to the unit States of America to the Republic for which it stand one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all we know it's not true because we know it don't apply to all I would say this and this may go over some some of your heads this country is built on racism and if we don't get a grip on racism it would destroy this country simple as that I want to take time to talk to the firefighters since I've been coming here the last two years plus I hear your pain I feel your pain and you all know you have my love I want you to continue to go to work every day with your head held high let nothing deter you from being the best that you can be mayor I ask by the next city Comm City Commission meeting that you sign a contract for the firefighters and that contract should reflect the love that we have for our firefighters we all go around take pictures with them have promotions we talk about how great our firefighters are and they get up and they go to work without a contract are you working without a contract so I want to let everybody in this room know you've been dumbed down to believe that you have no power the most strongest person the most powerful person in this country is the citizen but you've been dumbed down to believe that you're not why you think they do so much when it comes to voting here's how it work we play on your intelligence we know a few of you going to vote few you not going to vote so we kiss up to the ones who going to vote boom we get our way now we come in and we do what we do Mar Nelson is not the problem he's the effect remember everything in life there's a cause and and there's an effect marelon is the effect the cause is we voted him in out of 35,000 registered voters we voted him in 28 didn't bother 28,000 people didn't bother the cast the book so our May War election with less 11 less than 11% of the registered voters that's a direct reflection on us whether you voted for them or not that's a direct reflection on us but deir I'm saying this for my firefighters to let you guys know I am with you next city council meeting they don't have a signed contract I'm going show you the power of a citizen I'm going show you the power of a citizen when we unite what change we can bring about so you can look at me eye to eye cuz sometime you know you laugh at me you do all these things you demean me but you can hear me and you look at me and you understand what I'm saying because you know there's nobody in this country more powerful than a citizen you've been taught that you have no power you've been taught that they are the power you have the power I would demonstrate that to you come next to the council meeting if they don't have a signed contract man before you start the time I just wanted to say hello to my former colleagues from Lake of Popkin natural gas real quick so good to see youall um Kyle Becker uh civil Chase D Winter Springs Florida um wasn't intending to be here tonight but um and to avoid me mincing words I prepared a statement that I'll just read off um so I don't make any errors um I've written a statement to ensure I say exactly what needs to be said to address comments made during the city council meeting on June 19th 2024 uh during business item number seven where the Commissioners were asked by the mayor to consider resending the successful centure of Mayor Nelson passed by this the council majority on August 2nd 20 23 for lying about the employment status of our previous City attorney there was an outrageous accusation made of Me by the mayor uh as documented and passed in the meeting minutes from the beginning of today's meeting I'll read through the exact quote from mayor Nelson even though his statement incorrectly use the word censorship versus the correct use of censure uh and I quote the censorship was brought forward by former City Commissioner for political reasons and had nothing to do with a good public policy prior to the censorship vote the City Commissioner had asked a city employee to meet him at a restaurant near his place of business during the meeting the city employee was told that if I would that if I meaning the mayor would not run for another term as mayor the commissioner would drop the cens censorship vote the city employee has agreed to swear under oath or take a lie detector test to prove that this actual meeting took place end quote his accusation that I made a quid pro quo type of offer to a city employee is a complete fabrication and not supported by any ounce of evidence said differently it's what normal individuals would call a lie I would like to call out and have you pay close attention to his words he said the city employee has quoted and again quote agreed to swear under oath or take a lie detector test to prove that the meeting actually happened end quote what the mayor did not say was the employee would swear under oath or take a lie detector test to prove that the quidd pro qu request that the mayor has accused me of saying to that end hold the cost of the lie detector test I freely admit I had lunch with a few city employees at restaurants around my office in maand during my time of service all within the limitations of our city Charter however there was only one employee I had lunch with During the period leading up to the centure proceedings and that was Mr Glenn Brooks on July 19th 2023 to claim as the mayor did that I was the one to ask the employee to the restaurant flies in the face of his facts are a funny thing Mantra the real fact is that Mr Brooks texted me to which I actually have evidence I've got the text messages that I can provide and furnish to the clerk on July 12th 2023 at 2:13 p.m. with the following message quote you available tomorrow or Friday for lunch question I can come towards your work if that would be better end quote the lunch itself was at Applebee's on South Hall Lane in mland down from my office and I would have a tough time believing that Mr Brooks could or would a claim that I made that qu quid proquo request the mayor is accusing me of saying or B say that the primary intention for the meeting was anything other in discussing Mr Brook's funding priorities for water expenditures in the Public Services budget being discussed in City budget Workshops the following week from that lunch all said this is yet another pathetic and I say pathetic bolded period underlying Capital work anything that I can that I can say is it's a pathetic example of this mayor falely disparaging my name in a public hearing with zero evidence to support this claim this from a person who at every turn has the audacity to say I'm the one playing politics a poka you deserve better and I'm going to look right into the camera you deserve better you should demand better and more importantly you should vote for better I'll use the last 20 seconds um it really I want to see the evidence I I want you to name the employee that you said in your comments the last meeting that apparently said that I made these these accusations because I had already filed to say that I was not running for reelection and why didn't you bring it up during the vote a year ago or almost a year ago thank [Music] you is ask me I'm do my can y'all see me [Music] now good evening mayor Commissioners everyone in the rightful place quick disclaimer I am not here to bash the city of aapka I do love living in the city of aapka and doing business in the city of Apopka um I am here as a small business owner and I do not want what I'm about to discuss to be used in any way against Naomi kids organization I already have one City Commissioner who chooses to ignore my messages and stuff from Naomi kids please do not hold the organization liable for this I am here today to discuss the new BTR business tax receipt process I am a small business owner I've been doing businesses in Apopka for 19 years now I do own multiple businesses but unlike the city I do not have millions of dollars I'm managing so I have to do the best with what I have available to me I received a letter it's time for Renewal like I do annually I came up to the office to pay to renew it I was told you can no longer do that it has to be done online I'm okay with online hey it's the new thing it's technology however the new process one it's treating existing businesses like new businesses you have have to go through a detailed process including uploading documents from sunbiz and everything as if you're a new applicant that should not be the county does not require that the city requires it then it gives you an option you can either pay with credit card pay with cash or pay with a card if you select the options to pay with cash or pay by check it takes you to another page that no you cannot pay pay with cash and if you pay with check you cannot bring it up you have to mail it um unfortunately my experience with the city and losing mailes and stuff will require me to have to take time off my busy schedule and during the summertime I'm at Camp from 6:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. that does not give me because the well-being of the kids I service is more important than me taking time to go to the Post Office to send a certified mail to make sure it reaches where it's going um so one businesses cannot pay with cash two we cannot bring in a check so you have to mail it it and if you choose to pay with a card to you guys who deal with Millions it's not much to you but for me a small business owner of multiple business to pay 4.5% on a credit card fee is outrageous when I receive stuff from the city for example I've seen city waste money I call it waste money when you send out a $10.99 anyc to nonprofit organization nonprofit organization do not pay taxes on income so there is no need to pay a staff member to generate a 1099 NEC then postage to S it out stuff like that money like that could go towards the citizens to avoid charging a 4 and a half% fee on people renewed trying to do business within the city of aapka thank you that's all I have for you guys St my name is Chris sigaran I'm from um Lake Maran Drive in Apopka um this is a preliminary heads up I had talked to Nick earlier and Diane just before the meeting started I was going to just talk to the two of them but now that I have the opportunity to talk to all of you um I am the lean holder on the smoke exchange over here in fifth Plaza and um most of you except Nadia know what I went through to get my BTR over there we had six months worth of legal battles and everything after the whole store was built now the store is built uh late in or early in 2022 my son came down here from Oklahoma because I got cancer and I was down and out for 7 months and that was right at the time when we opened during that time um he made a real foothold in that store um and I'm not going to get into the legalities of it but I want to let all of you know that it has become a front for a drug operation I've heard this um firsthand I see it firsthand and I've heard it all over social media um he uses something called Telegram and uh he calls them box sales and he's selling everything under the sun over there now my son I didn't tell everybody this when he came down here but when he came down here he was a 15-year career junkie I put him into rehab for two years in Oklahoma I brought him down here so he would be under my wing and I would finally be able to watch over him because I didn't raise him um after I got cancer he went back to his old tricks and on May 10th was arrested by alamont Springs police for cocaine and fenol and a whole bunch of other stuff which is all part of public record um I'm bringing it to your attention because they yanked his the state yanked his tobacco license which was under my name um they've given him a temporary cop2 license which that license allows him to sell beer and wine um and also tobacco um that license will not be approved because he's had over 20 arrests in seven states in the past 15 years um the BTR I talked to Brian Howell and uh Bobby how I'm sorry uh and um the BTR does not allow for that space nor does the landlord's lease allow for that space to sell beer and wine now this has no reflection on anybody else El in that Plaza not the axhole not the brewery not the girls at the end this is just in relationship to the Smoke exchange because this is all that I have firsthand knowledge of [Music] um I want all of you to be aware that that BTR needs to be either revoked or it needs to be looked into because he's doing things he's not supposed to do with it um also for you to be aware that the state will not give him a license because he cannot pass the background check so unless he sells or gives the business back to me um he he won't have a license to sell all the things that we spent $30,000 against you folks to be able to sell over there uh in legal fees where Mike Rodriguez was an advocate for us and he stood up and he showed you know the commission uh Nick knew about this but wasn't part of the commission not you weren't here Kyle here and um uh Michael Rodriguez showed them that there were plenty of instances all over town that they should Grant this finally in March of 2022 they granted it so fair warning this is what's going on over there it's not good for I've lived in Apopka for 35 years I have a good family name it's a not a common name saren so there's very one of us like one and I have a young son 25 who works for Loi Martin I don't want my name dragged through the mud because this kid has gone off the rails again and he's my son and it's very hard to me to get up here and talk to you guys about my son but I'm telling you what's going on over there and I'm sure a lot of you know it because it's been all over social media okay thank you and a lot of people in the city as well yes thank you thank you so that's the completion of this next thank you for your time yesterday on email to respond back Diane no need to talk afterwards I said what I needed to say all right thank you that's it all right anybody else are you Tyler yes Tyler bench golden gem Road do you all consider yourself Patriots and countrymen are you proud of the flag and the country that you serve I just wanted you to be aware that the United States flag code for pin wearing etiquette States the flag is representative of a living country and it's considered a living thing it's because of that the lapel pen is to be worn on the left side near the heart you're all polititions for the United States government so you can't say you're naive and if you disregard an UT utterly ignor the US flag code what other rules and laws do you disregard me and numerous others in this room can name a few if you can't wake up in the morning and put the flag you serve on the correct lapel what makes you think you can run a city that's all okay that it all right we've got uh 10 consent agenda items anybody need to pull any of them if not look for motion to approve the 10 consum agenda items have 10 we have 10 we have 10 oh because I printed it out before yeah it's 10 I'm sorry that's me so looking for a motion to approve the 10 consent agend items so got a motion by commissioner blasquez second second by commissioner Smith all those in favor I oppose motion carries anonymously next up the ridge partiel 2 subf facing je good evening Jean Sanchez with the Community Development Department this is a request to approve the ridge parcel to subf facing construction site plan the property is located north of Boy Scout Road and West of falconhurst Lake it's the Northwestern portion of what's known now as Bron and speak residential subdivision the area in question is approximately 79 acres in size the sub phasing proposes the revision of facing limits to phase 2 a and 2B the purpose of this submittal is to split Phase 2 as previously approved into phase 2 a and 2B 2A will include 88 lots and 2B will include 60 Lots this further facing of phase two will allow for earlier construction and completion of the roads to the west of the amenity area there are no design changes proposed with this revision the CSP approval has been determined as a requirement for the issuance of the certificate of acceptance by the city engineer for complete phases as approved by city council the DRC Rec the ridge partial to subf facing construction site plan staff is available for questions any questions for Jean i' got a couple questions and spoke about this uh during my review meeting I guess there's concerns that if we start doing many phases like this that there's potential the project will never be completed and I'll have a single family home next to a vacant lot that will never be maintained or never be taken care of so it opens up opportunity for projects to be not finished in a pretty substantial way frankly just From planning's perspective that really doesn't um commit a developer to finishing a project by a certain date at least with the city now we have exploration dates for when development orders expire which is um generally it's two years and they can ask for an extension um but I don't know if I can frankly tell you it would commit them to a certain date if we require subf facing or faces or sequencing timelines to be before city council every time because in the past we've never required it and you know it appears that these kinds of like developments in general is dictated by the market so I don't know if we can require something like that and and I guess that's my additional concern as well is just that this if we are because in previously we never approved phasing correct that's usually addressed during the construction site plan process which this is mistakenly labeled here as a major development plan usually we only take development plans major development plans here but in this case and really with a lot of um sequencing plans I think the city engineered has determined to take some of these back to city council I'm not sure maybe it's in the interest of you all knowing what construction is going on and things like that um well I think it's partial to that and I spoke to our city engineer as well Mr ER and he did have some concern just over the downfall some some Downs that could happen from this so I I Echo those same concerns that to your point the market is changing and adjusting and developers can't take on as big of projects they got to fade these out which I totally understand and I just want to make sure that it's not putting additional work or onus on our staff your department certainly is Sir well that's my concern yeah so that that's exactly my concern is that if we do this for I mean the whole premise of us doing a construction site plan to only have I mean we have an option to take construction site plans to city council but really when I was here in 2019 and we were going through the Land Development code update um the whole purpose as I recall is to kind of streamline a process right right the construction site plan is supposed to outline a general time frame for developers now we never dictated which pH is going where I know we've dictated infrastructure and when they should go in um so you know I I don't know I'd have to defer that to public services for you to truly address all your questions about time frames understood so would you approve this I would we DRC approved it we have no objection so you're okay you feel that the Staffing level you are at now and most likely these additional requests coming in from other developers that you can take on the extra work that's not what I'm telling you the proof I'm telling you that DRC has no objection to the approval of this project um okay any other questions my my concern is if we subdivide now what's going to prevent them from coming back and want to subdivide again and um I I would prefer them finding another developer and they partnering together and de development our face I really don't know if we can answer those questions for you um I okay well I'll defer to the applicant representative in terms of that uh George VHB 225 yeah there you go 225 East Robinson Street uh I'm here for the uh the engineer of Records um just wanted to note that uh with uh when we went through city council the first time around the project was in phases Phase 1 a 1B and Phase 2 we have since gone through DFC and we split it into 1 a 1 B and 1 C and two phases 1 a 1 B and C have already been completed and uh certificate of acceptances have an ises for those um at the moment like like J uh Jean has mentioned uh we're looking to subdivide phase two into 28 and Tob to adapt to the uh to the market allows for the market uh flexibility um this also allow for uh the the quicker development of the med are I don't know of any intentions of the developer to subphase it into any further phasing uh as I mentioned the uh first half of that whole development has already been uh closed out and it's currently going under vertical construction um and they're eager to get sorted on phase 2A and and get that developed as well any other questions for the applicant I'm sorry you said the phase one a and one b and 1 C were completed yes and so how many homes are in this phase that you want to subdivide do you have Thea number I'm sorry 80 and66 yeah um so just to clarify the major development plan and really plat right we're all um broken up into phases already it did not include a 2A and 2B it only include a phase 2A this ask is to include the subf facing of phase two everything else has been constructed correct I planning has gone out there and has um completed site inspections for most of the infrastructure on the East so everything has been constructed there um this really I mean yeah so that that has all been constructed it was it was develop shown that I can't hear I can't hear you I'm sorry I'm saying yes everything has been uh on the east side for phase one uh A and C have been has been constructed and closed out and the developer I think showed they they had done that in a timely timely fashion and and it was done as soon I was possible for them any other any other questions well he's not really answering um why do you want to subdivide it well so as I mentioned earlier so when you subdivide it they're able to construct and close out Phase 2 a quicker and that way they're able to adapt to to the to the market you know they're uh building Lots and particular models as as um as the market allows so this has been um what has been happening with the with the previous phases and with previous with other cons uh projects we've got do you currently have builders that are interested in in Phase 2A and 2B I'll have to to refer to uh the the developer for that I don't have the [Music] soon so what infrastructure would you with with the Jean I guess is maybe for Jean you know what the infrastructure that would you dead end I can't read the road at the top the West you mean that that is not constru the infrastructure on the west is not constructed yet is that what you're asking well I mean if we if we were to allow this to go forward where which roads would be all the roadways that continues to the West the spine road because of fire and Emergency Services were required to be constructed in the beginning under phase one right um which makes perfect sense um but yes okay we got I guess a couple of options well maybe let's let's hear anybody from the public want want to speak on this one not ring it back I mean I think we got a couple options commissioner SMI oh okay Rod Olson 3156 Rolling Hills Lane you have that memorized by now don't we my big my question now is especially after and I'll have a picture at the next meeting the setbacks on any property we need to look at the setbacks clearly in the picture that I talked about we've got a setback where this truck is about a foot and a half into the sidewalk and the nose is against the garage uh we've got to look at the setbacks because that means people park on the street and that means our First Responders can't get to where they need to in a timely basis thank you anybody else all right so I guess we got a couple had a couple thoughts one is either we could um if you wanted to bring the developer back I mean obviously he's talking from an engineering point of view we could table us to the next meeting or we could just say if you wanted commiss submit to say that we're only that's the only split that would be a kind of a compromise is that they can't split it's two phases versus splitting the what's left over that's something that's first of all I don't know if you can make that determination probably can't yeah I wouldn't want to of the develop on that so maybe it's missing I think maybe we need to bring it back in favor yeah so let let's do this let's table this so we get the developer to come back and um and we'll talk about you know what what the alternatives are so any that good with that yeah because I'm because we not right now you can't sell me on the sub and I I just for me is that if we allow this big of this to occur it opens the door off for other developers with big projects to do the same thing all right well thank you okay all right so look for a motion from the council to um table to table this meeting until August it second what's the our next meeting second second August 7 so look for a motion to table this uh this item into to August 7th yes got a motion by commissioner Velasquez second second second by commissioner Smith all those in favor I I'll oppos motion carries nously next up Kelly Park Road interchange Bobby how good evening Bobby how planning manager I'm presenting business item number two this evening which is the amendment to the Redway funding agreement for Kelly Park Road uh cloak known as the pioneering agreement on June 1st 2023 the city council appr and certain Property Owners entered into a pioneering agreement to fund roadway improvements within the Kelly Park interchange amendments are proposed to sections 4 A2 and 5bi i1 to extend time frames by six months the amendment to section 4 A2 extends the radway construction start time from January 21st 2025 to June 1st 2025 uh to allow for the ex the acquisition of the RightWay uh and easements along Kelly Park Park Road to allow for the commencement of whitening amendment to section 5 bi i1 extends the funding dates by 6 months uh the recommended motion is approval this evening uh one of the Pioneers is here uh and would like to give a brief presentation to the city council okay come on up Mike good evening U mayor Commissioners my name's Mike Galvin I reside at 121 Snell Isle Boulevard St Petersburg Florida um just a quick presentation on where we're at with the pioneering the advancement of the Kelly Park roadway plans and acquiring RightWay um I'm I'm one of the Pioneers as as you can see uh just one of the Pioneers we've been working the last six months seven months with the city of popka staff on work identifying the corridor for all the RightWay needed um or the project consists of we are advancing the design plans from Waypoint Boulevard to Plymouth sarento and we started um last July and we you really started identifying the corridor on the needed RightWay along this which which originally delayed uh starting the uh construction preliminary design plans um we didn't did kicked off on the preliminary design plans till January uh right now we are at a 30% plant of metal I I know they city has engaged kimley horn and we're on a Bi weekly call every week with our consultants and um so right now the city like I said we are anticipating the construction plans for the entire road to come out sometime of J June of next year starting construction uh really the delay in this process has been you know we've had multiple meetings with various owners out here needing right away uh we have acquired a good majority of the RightWay there there are three remaining Parcels we need that we we believe there will not be a need for any emit domain um we are working with staff on the Green Brier the remaining um right away is this Green Brier pet cemetery um we they have agreed to sell us right away today but they want the deed going straight to the city I I have uh spoken with staff and we're coordinating that today there's two other required uh Parcels that we need Long Wild Oaks and again we are we we prepare Deeds legal descriptions so we're here tonight again um we have personally funded $2.7 million into the City and designated account the total cost to complete the permanent design and construction of Kelly Park Road is $1.3 million so there's plenty of adequate funding so we're just here tonight to really um as you can see construction we were asking for a six-month extension for the road the dollars to be placed in the account but but again um we anticipate construction and the again it's been a working with City staff U we believe the project is heading in the right direction and I'm here to answer any questions tonight any questions for Mike just a couple and it's more just confirmation the the the reason for the delay is due to the fact that we're just still working on RightWay acquisition that's exclusively what the delay is commissioner we uh we we spent six months you know as as Bobby  or this project the pioneering agreement was approved last July you know it took four or five months just going out getting a route survey to determine you know where this four-lane road is going to fit in this Corridor we we did not want to spend the city's dollars designing a road and then having to come back and again um it was important from us from the beginning is to figure out how to build this road without needing City to go out and take property through IM domain so that that's really what was the delay as you can see on this slide we didn't start until we got that Corridor um completed the plary design really did not go Full Speed Ahead until start in January but but again um I think we've been working out and it's so that that's really what's caused the delay okay thank you other questions for the applicant and from understanding there's three different parts that we're going to you asking for extension right is the six month extension for the escrow to be placed into um into an account and what are the other two no uh commissioner we we are only asking you know so far we' placed $2.7 million in the account we did that several months ago we're just asking the under the pioneering agreement there was a provision that the funding from the three Pioneers would needed to be fully funded by August so we're just asking to extend the one part to January but there's three different components to that right it for my understanding I think the attorney it was three different things that that was the first component it's two other things that extension also they're requesting sure good and good good evening uh commissioner mayor other Commissioners my name's Jonathan hules I'm with the louns law firm 215 North Yola drive and I'm here representing the other one of the other pioneering uh owners and developers out there that's participating along with Mr gin um you're right there's there's three requests they're all seeking a short extension of of six months from the the timelines that are set forth in the original agreement that was brought before and approved by city council last June the first being the start of construction which was scheduled for uh January 1st of next year that would be the six-month extension to June and that would allow for this um acquisition of ride of way to be wrapped up as Mr Galvin had mentioned the the majority of rideway has been obtained through to uh his good work um and the good news to report there is that as he had said there it does not appear as if the city will need to utilize its imminent domain Powers that's going to be a great incentive for both the city and uh the pioneers and that we get to get started much sooner so how that provision actually read was January 1 or when the city acquires the necessary right of way we're not going to even need to set off on that or when the city AC acquires the right of way because it's being going to be handled uh we believe feel feel strongly that's going to be handled by the pioneering developers with working with those land owners the other two U brief extension same time frame because we've we're now starting six months later is the fund the the remaining funding obligations uh of the Pioneers into the city's um accounts which right now is scheduled for um August of this year would be pushed back to February for the first uh trunch and then another six-month extension in 2026 that would push it back six months just so the framework remains consistent throughout the the agreement is is really what why those are all being packaged together okay thank you for that because I saw those three separate ones I just want to be clear so we everybody can understand what I saw thank you yeah any other questions for the applicant okay anybody from the public wants to speak Albert MIM 3603 golden jbro I'm not against the extension I'd just like to try and clarify one or two things if I remember correctly the pioneering agreement stated that there would be $50 million in the fund by August I'm not sure if that's right a six months delay doesn't make any difference if the roads aren going to be made but at this particular Moment In Time the pioneering agreement they're coming here to ask for a change tonight well can somebody explain to me why we're coming here to vote tonight for an extension and why we don't really know why there wasn't anything done about adding golden gem to the pioneering agreement Jacob Schumer when he presented the pioneering agreement distinctly said that golden gem Road wasn't part of the pioneering agreement two weeks ago P Richmond said golden gem is part of the pan agreement at the budget meens the mayor affirmed that we would have to vote if we were going to adopt golden gem into the pionering agreement can somebody he tell me what was happening because there a resident who owns property in golden gem road which is going to be Exempted from continuing the road down to the end of my property which I'm currently trying to sell I'm totally confused it appears to me that you really need Jacob Schumer here to explain what's going on anybody else in the public rec I wish I could call this in um I'm glad that some infrastructure is being worked on and the roads are being worked on my concern is extensions because we know with extensions that means in inflation that means we're putting off building and we saw this with with other things that every time time passes we have wasted money and in other projects we've put off that it's cost more and more whether it's building a firehouse or anything else the cost doubles triples quadruples every time we we put time off so I think it's imper narrative that we stop putting things off if at all possible and then the other thing with um approving new projects right now is we know we've got what 30,000 in the near future that have already been approved and we just saw at the budget for that previous issue I didn't get to jump up in time the previous issue is if we approve more and more subdivisions or buildings is that we don't have anywhere for their stuff to go we don't have any sewage space or sewage facilities and we don't have any water for them so if we don't have water and sewage space for what we have and for what's being proposed already that's been approved we certainly can't accept anymore so we have to accommodate what we have and what you've approved but we still we need a moratorium like I've said before thank you anybody else from the public okay not we'll close public hearing look for a motion to approve the amendment to the roadway funding agreement for the Kelly Park Road interchange so move got a motion by commissioner Smith second second by commissioner Velasquez all those in favor I all oppos motion carries unanimously next up Bradley Williams Mr birthday boy what a birthday evening mayor and Commissioners uh rad the Williams Parks and Recreation director uh I'm here tonight with two business items first one up is uh to seek approval for a youth sports partner program agreement with poka Youth Sports Association Inc which is our apka Pop Warner um as we've discussed before the Parks and Rec Department utilizes a methodology when considering potential recreational agreements that includes field rental agreements partner programmers and partner programs Pop Warner popka Pop Warner uh falls in the partner program category um the organization is completely volunteer-led organization and has a long-standing partnership with the city of Apopka the league has provided thousands of apopka's Youth over that time period with the opportunity to build character and learn teamwork and sportsmanship through the game of football papa Pop Warner offers uh only a fall season and their numbers are continuing to grow in fall 2023 they had 307 participants uh in the football uh program with which equated to 12 teams they also have a cheerleading program that had 45 participants the partnership with popka po Warner provides high high quality tackle football for the community at a low cost and allows the par Parks direct Department to dedicate staff and resources to providing other Youth Athletic programmingsoftware popop Warner under the new agreement which is a three-year agreement with an optional 2-year um renewal and it was based off the same structure as the recent Apopka Little League uh agreement that came before the council earlier a couple months ago any questions for rley we gonna make Lamar come down here and talk or not okay all right any from the public wish to speak on this one not we'll close the public hearing look for motion to approve the Youth Sports partner program agreement with a poka Youth Sports Association Inc poka Pop Warner some got a motion by commissioner Velasquez second second by commissioner Anderson all those in favor all oppos motion carries anly next up popka Raptors a thank you mayor um similar partner program agreement before you for the Apopka Raptors AA you uh as mentioned in the last item uh we categorize categorize our agreements into three categories field rental agreements partner programs and partner programmers similarly the papka Raptors organization is a volunteer Le organization and Al has also been a long-standing partner with the city of apapa dating back to the first use of the fields in 2013 uh they've also provided aa's youth with an opportunity to build build character and teamwork through the game of football they do also offer only a fall season uh in Fall 23 they had 65 participants on five teams and again provide a highquality tackle football program an alternate option to pop the pop warner to the community at a low cost allowing the department to utilize resources for other Youth Sports uh we also our staff also um support continuing this partnership with a pop Raptors AA again similar structure to the pop warner agreement and the apopa Little League agreement uh and it is a three-year initial term with a two-year optional renewal any questions for Radley anybody from the public wish to speak on this one okay going down right rolson 3156 rolling is Lane all we ask Bradley is that you rotate those fields more the fields that were in worse condition the last two years were the ones used by football constant all in the same one or two Fields they were just torn to shreds thank you anybody else to speak all right if not we close the public hearing look for motion to approve Youth Sports partner program with ap popka Raptors aaou so move got a motion by commissioner Smith second second by commissioner Velasquez all those in favor I I all oppos motion carries nously next up ordinance number 3051 ordinance number 3051 an ordinance of the city of repopa Florida amending the future land use element of the Apopka comprehensive plan of the city of aapka changing the future land use designation from residential low to Industrial for payable lot asphalt maintenance Inc located at 951 South Highland Avenue owned by Joseph Lewis comprise comprising of 057 Acres more or less providing for severability conflix and an effective date any changes no okay anybody from the public wish to speak on this matter not we'll close the public hearing look for motion to adopt ordinance number 351 so move got a motion by commissioner Smith second second M Mr Anderson all those in favor I all opposed motion carries anesty next up ordinance number 360 ordinance number 3060 an ordinance of the city of aapka Florida amending ordinance number 2840 which is known as The Floridian Town Center plan development PD generally located north of West Orange Blossom Trail and west of State Road 429 comprising 73.9 3 acres more or less providing for directions the community development director separability conflicts and an effective date any changes anybody from the public wish to speak on this matter not close the public hearing look for motion to adopt ordinance number 3060 some got a motion by commissioner Vasquez second second by commissioner Smith all those in favor I I all oppos motion carries anoun next up ordinance number 361 ordinance number 361 an ordinance of the the city of aapka Florida amending the future land use element of the Apopka comprehensive plan of the city of Apopka changing the future land use designation from high density residential to commercial for certain real property located north of South Fork Drive and north of duberry Avenue owned by Floridian Apopka phase 1owner LLC comprising 24.3 3 acres more or less providing for severability and for an effective date any changes anybody from P should speak on this matter not will close the public hearing L for a motion to adopt ordinance number 3061 some got a motion by commissioner Velasquez second second by commissioner Smith all those in favor I all opposed motion carries unanimously next up ordinance number 363 ordinance number 363 an ordinance of the city council of the city of apapa Florida amending the code of ordinances for the city of apapa Florida by clarifying procedures for issuing civil citations for code violations providing authority to establish a fine schedule for civil citations repealing conflicting code Provisions related to code enforcement procedures providing for codification separability conflicts and an effective date any changes okay anybody from the public wish to speak on this matter not we close the public hearing L for motion to adopt ordinance number 3063 so got a motion by commissioner Smith second second by commissioner Velasquez all those in favor I all oppos motion carries unanimously next up ordinance number 3070 oh 37506 56 I'm sorry I'm sorry sorry one second ordinance number 356 an ordinance of the city of Apopka Florida amending the future land use element of the Apopka comprehens plan of the city of apapa changing the future land use designation from commercial to mixed use for property located at 814 Marvin C xanders Avenue owned by Cynthia Henderson and Arion Henderson comprising of 0.8 Acres more or less providing for severability conflicts and an effective date good evening everyone my name is Amir Hamza I'm a planner one oh the applicant has submitted a smallscale feature lers Amendment from commercial to mixed use or property located on 814 Marvin SE xanders Avenue just north of Michael gladen Boulevard and South of 8th Street these are the vicinity and area maps of the 814 Marvin SE xanders Avenue site the total Site Area is 0.08 acres and has a street Frontage of 49.5 Ft the applicant is requesting the future line use amendment to allow for the development of a proposed single family residence which is compatible with the mixed use feature land use category as mentioned before and shown on these Maps the fature land use is commercial and proposed to change to mixed use which which has a density of 15 years an acre or 2.0 ma maximum floor area ratio zoning is mixed use downtown the development Review Committee has recommended approval at the at the June 11 20124 meeting the Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the future land use Amendment based on the findings and facts presented in the staff report and Exhibits the recommended motion is to accept first reading of ordinance number 356 and hold it over for second reading and adoption on August 7th 2024 any questions for mayor anybody from the public wish to speak on this matter not we look for a motion to approve ordinance number 356 a first reading and hold over for a second reading and adoption so got a motion by commissioner Velasquez my commissioner Smith all those in favor I I all oppos motion carries unanimously next up ordinance number 370 ordinance number 370 an ordinance of the city of apapa Florida amending the code of ordinances of the city of apapa Florida amending part three Land Development code by amending Article 5 development standards by amending section 5.14 utilities by adding new section 5.1 4.7 natural gas installation providing for installation of natural gas Lines within subdivisions or red subdivided areas providing for development pay developer payment of cost of installation and materials providing for cost sharing for gas main extensions under certain conditions providing for construction of installation and Main extension providing for easements and permits providing for ownership and maintenance providing for conflix severability and an effective date what she said um actually this is a an ordinance that would have all new subdivisions and re subdivisions within the city that are greater than five lots have pre-existing or installed gas lines so that all the homes there would be able to get natural gas cost will be born by the developer unless there's not a close enough main as determined by popka gas to make that practical and if subdivisions generally speaking are too far from the service to make it practical they would be Exempted otherwise uh that would mean essentially the new subdivisions and homeowners here would have the opportunity if they chose to to hook up to natural gas so that's what this ordinance does all right any questions for Cliff or our team you want guys want to come up or you're yeah um you know when I sat on the board back in the early days I I do remember and Cliff and Cliff would remember that that was a suggestion that I had in mind so I'm I'm really happy that this is coming to fruition um because we're building so many new subdivisions and being able to offer the new homeowners that want to invest in our community um and our city I should say should have that option especially if Lake a papka has the natural gas you know going through that's that uh development so I absolutely am welcome that we have that now anybody else questions for yeah I got a few questions uh this is an an option it would be a requirement of all going forward yes Excuse me yes going forward that's correct yes so I guess there's some ambiguity within this that is concerning in that it's up to like a pop in Natural Gas District to designate what is um reasonably available there's some ambiguous terms that right I don't think I'm comfortable with okay well uh I didn't draft the ordinance but I will tell you what I think the reasoning is even though I guess they can speak for themselves they are the experts in this field we have a 40% interest I think in in the in their outfit um and so if they say it's not practical they're the expert now does that mean there's somebody who couldn't refute it there probably is somebody who might take a different view but somebody has to be the tiebreaker and so this ordinance defers to that particular utility if y all don't like it that's not my issue but yeah I'm sure they can talk to you about it yeah I think some additional and this you just some additional term terms of what that looks like for the developer because I don't want developers to come in and say well this is now the onus is on the developer and we're adding more cost and that's only going to be pass directly on to our residents then that are buying new homes whatever it may be so it it's an additional cost for all new homes and I want to make sure that again we're not um I don't I didn't understand it to be like it it has to be off it I thought it was a choice it it it has to be done if you're bringing a new subdivision or resubdivision and you have to install the lines and the essentially the infrastructure to allow gas to be provided to the subdivision however what Mr uh commissioner Nesta is referring to is that there is a decider in there as to whether it's practical if a subdivision is so far from the nearest connection is it practical to have them bring the line to connect and have gas servicing the area I assume but don't know the things like how many homes were going to be in the subdivision if it's over five but it's only six for example and things of that nature would be considered but I think commissioner nessa's point is who gets to make that decision under the ordinance that's the folks at late Popkin natural gas I think that's what he wants to talk about am I right on all right uh Bren Haywood uh 1320 um wintergarten V Road Lake parket natural gas I'm the uh general manager and CEO uh I think I've met most of you some of you I haven't met before tonight but uh so yeah uh that Clause that's in the ordinance is actually uh um an outlet for the developers um I'm pretty sure the development code here is such that Urban spraw is not an issue but in a situation where where a development were to be a sprawl type development where it's so far away from from the existing Municipal Utilities and or the gas system that we we would relieve them from that that responsibility um one of the things that we we we took into account before we presented this ordinance was making sure that the developers are not unduly burdened by this that they were going to receive the benefit from this ordinance and that's that's the thing that that Clause allows us to make sure that there's no undue burden on the developers um uh to where they can't they can't uh achieve the return on the investment that they're making because we still see it as an investment even though it's a requirement so understood and so and and I just don't know where your lines specifically are at so I think that comes from I just is this you know are they everywhere and I just don't know it or is it um less than what I'm thinking and and there's going to be a lot of extensions that are needed and there's just I just don't like ambiguity in in yeah anything so so fortunately for for popka Poka is really the originator of of Lake popka natural gas we're actually celebrating our 65th anniversary this year uh they were the driving force to create us years ago so actually our infrastructure is more mature and a so there's not really that many areas that would require major extensions um other than if the development is so large that we had to make an improvement to the to the existing facilities um but we actually our board approves us for a um a five-year master plan and an expansion plan that we put in place for areas where we see growth is coming that we we we attempt to make those those um investments before the developer comes but again we're not going to put an undue an undue burden on the devel Vel ER to where they can't you know achieve the return on their investment understood okay thank you that that definitely helps a lot um there was one final question that's okay go everyone else thank you for that okay well thank you all again if uh have any other questions I'm I'm here to to answer well I just think it would be nice that we're able to give our residents an option whether they want have electric or whether they want to have gas and so by allowing this ordinance to pass it would give our residents out that option and a lot of the residents would like gas especially for cooking so I think it's a good ordinance okay so the only thing I I I just want to ask is because I I remember when I would sit in Lake aapka you had the developers come in already um and they were um presenting a future development that they were building but they were already kind of paying the penalty not to have the the extension for the Natural Gas does that development come and maybe that's a question for our uh Community does that same developer come to us um to say that they their intention to build in a particular area I mean who gets to see that developer first maybe that's the question yeah so so in this case when the or if the ordinance goes through it becomes part of the development code so they don't actually have to come through us for approval they would just actually come to us submit their plan so we could go ahead and get the design work done and quote them and everything the agreements that that you used to in the past where we were marketing to developers and and trying to to to win their business um those agreements won't be in of the same nature because the requirement was that the developer didn't put gas in as they had agreed to put gas in to the homes uh that they had to pay a penalty associated with that and so this this uh ordinance actually only requires the the backbone infrastructure Ure to be in there it doesn't require it to go into the houses at all that's our job to win the win the homeowners over and convince them of the benefits of natural gas but the uh the the thing we're trying to alleviate is the undue burden on on future homeowners that want natural gas because in an existing development it costs us so much money it cost us almost three times the the original infrastructure cost to come in after the fact and I think I've heard several times tonight about infrastructure and the cost and projects and we're trying to do is make mainly alleviate the the the impact on the community uh after the fact so this would actually affect all new developments after the ordinances in place uh so we would uh we would we would we would be able to make do the planning do the things that we need to do on that side instead of spending time trying to convince the developer that they need to go with it and you know there's been a pretty hefty Federal uh uh drive to push uh natural gas and and and fossil fuels out of development U but you know uh the thing is is is those decisions are impacting the the the lowest three you know 30th percentile of of people you know we want to make sure that there's affordable energy options out there that our energy Choice initiative is something that's good for the community and not necessarily you know driven by the needs of the development okay Mr Anderson no question I've got I figured out what are there any other municipalities that have the same agreement in place or something similar yeah it's it's become a very common uh ordinance across uh the uh the United States uh I've worked specifically for multiple municipalities who have that uh for Municipal Utilities who have it uh the the the closest one to us is actually the city of leeburg has had the same ordinance in place uh since I think before 20 2019 so probably 2017 2018 time frame and uh of course they're they're growing at at an accelerate rate so it hasn't hindered development but it's also given the choice back to the customers as to what they want in their homes and that we don't C does Lake a Popkin Natural Gas District that's not part of lebur so will we be the first for Lake I mean a the city of Apopka will actually be the first one in in our territory that would that would adopt that ordinance okay and then to confirm what you said it basic we're requireed this would require the developers to run the lines in front of all homes Town Homes whatever it may be and then it would be your guys' job then to sell the resident on that yes so it's not forced to be hooked up to the home exactly you know it it it's one of those things where um you know if if we have someone who chooses to not have natural gas in the home we we want to we want to honor that that choice but the problem is is is in the developments that we have currently we have quite a few developments in apka who don't have natural gas uh infrastructure available uh when someone comes in and buys a home and wants to add natural gas it's just an undue expense on them you know you could be looking at 15 $20,000 worth of main extension cost to be able to get gas to your fireplace or cool heater or dryer or cooktop and uh you know we're trying to alleviate that that continued growth of of of that initiative the what we call the electrification movement um but we're also going to be working diligently on expanding back into uh existing developments and making it available so it really this this ORD will allow us to reallocate some resources back to to capturing existing developments who miss that opportunity as well okay I I like that option that it's not forced it's if the resident wants to uh implement it I like that a lot yeah the origin the original ordinance in 201 2019 that I think that was drafted actually made it a requirement and Ci's Le of leeburg actually requires they they have to have at least two appliances in every home and uh 80% of the Lots in any development have to have natural gas but we we didn't want to go that far as to force our way into people's homes we still want to be able to sell our product believe in it my H my staff is here tonight they believe in it uh we know that it's it's it's essential to who we are you know as a city and as a country okay thank you so just one more question and I thank you I know we have three there's three seats on the lake apart we have Claremont Winter Garden and and um our city yes ma'am clont and winter Garten what are they doing so uh the ordinance is actually in review and and all of those were on schedule for October with Claremont to to get it in I'm going to try to uh get that schedule moved up and then uh we answer the final questions from legal council with Winter Garden so I hope to be on the next uh the next agenda at Winter Garden as well so okay thank you okay all right anybody from the public wish to speak on this one 363 J Commissioner Smith made point he liked the idea that people have options he wanted people have the option of electricity or gas I also like the idea of options I don't like the idea of monopolies you see when you take an internet service you can choose between internet service providers but when you make an ordinance to put in gas lines first I want to know who's paid for it is it the developer that's paid for the gas lines or is it Lake a popka that's been for the natural gas lines in effect if it's Lake a popka that's paying for the gas LS what you proposing is setting up in Monopoly because it means that later on no other gas company if who decided to come in and compete with Lake a popka could compete with them because it's Lake a popa's gas lines next thing is that I find it difficult when a city owns part of a company that's asking for for something to do for the the city I've advocated for some time that the City dispos of Lake a Popkin natural gas I think that the money that we could get from selling Lake a popka natural gas would settle all the screw-ups in the infrastructure that this miror has contributed to we could certainly still allow Le a popka natural gas to supply gas but we should be looking at privatizing all our public utilties ities and the money that comes from Lake a popka natural gas of sale could be used to do that what you could do is privatize water sewage everything but put a cap on what those privatized companies can charge residents and that would be in line with inflation this is a city it runs people it's not a business to run companies it's time that we stopped employing people who can't do a decent job public utilities and public services put it into the professionals let them have a chance to do it I'm all for putting in gas lines not not a problem but I don't want to see monopolies and I don't want to see s this city run public services that they can't provide all right anybody else want to speak on this one not we'll close the public hearing look for motion to approve ordinance number 370 at first reading and hold over for second reading and adoption okay I'm going to say so so mov by commissioner Vasquez second by commissioner Anderson all those in favor I all opposed motion carries nously next up city council reports how about commissioner Anderson you want to start out uh yes so I had the honor of um attending jayen Carter annual summer camp that he want to say it was his fourth camp at apka high school there were over 200 students that was there uh so that was very exciting I'm looking forward to attending next year as well um I also attended the American Red Cross greater Orlando's annual U meeting and lunching was able to get a lot of information um for the upcoming well for hurricane season and um I just look forward to contining to connecting the community that's all I have okay commissioner Velasquez um the whole month of July was very busy for us um I just uh two things uh I I really want to send my condolences to the rickerson family with the Lord with this recent passing of John of John everyone knew is JR for the Apopka Chief and the planter and uh also you know we did the 15 days of hope uh in honor of our fallen firefighter which was Austin Durant and in between you know between January 1st till now we had all kinds of events we had the 4th of July um we just it so it was a very busy month and the only thing that I will kind of remind our public is the import import of these budgets that we've been working on and we did set a millage rate it's not an end all uh we still have until uh September 4th so I would urge uh our public to continue to look over our budget and of anybody wants a printed copy you know um we will try and get that to you I did understand I uh Dr o did Express that she was unable to read the budget um work you know the budget online and you're not the first that has expressed that but uh that's my that's my ask of our public is to really continue to look at our budget and um do contact us and let us know what your feedback is and you know what you think we should have and what's important we we understand that infrastructure is very important to our uh constituents but I want them to know that even though we set a milit rate uh tonight it's not an end all uh it's open it's still open to our public and I'm urging our public to really pay attention to the budget it's important that's it than Comm Smith uh I too want to send my condolences to the rickinson family and to the apoc chief in the pass and of Mr rickerson longtime citizen of the city of apkin contributed a lot to our city and he he definitely would be missed and I too participated in the 15 days of Hope with the fire department and spent about 3 hours at station 4 having dinner with them and really enjoyed having that opportunity to spend some time with them and talk with them and get to understand a little better about what the f department does and what all it entails and what their needs are so uh that's all I have all right Mr Nesta yes thank you I do want to offer condolences to the rson family as well um got to know J over the years of serving and and also just with family here locally so um definitely condolences to the family wanted to thank uh Mr Williams and his team for helping get supplies out to the fire stations when we did a very big cleanup there at um four of them uh it was very well attended over 50 volunteers and I appreciate all the different groups that came out uh was very valuable um wanted to address an email that I received from commissioner Smith in reference to um comments on made at last city council meeting in reference to the censor to um mayor Nelson um I'm not going to read my response I'll provide it to you I'll provide it to the city clerk and um just want to say that my comments were not made to disparage you as a man you as um elected official a pastor it was to bring up similar to what I did I asked everybody including myself what would I do um as a as a father what all the platforms we ran on is what I discussed and that's what I ask myself as a father of twin girls am I okay with um am I okay teaching them to fight against lying things like that so I'll give you my response um and like I said I'll give it to the city clerk as well um but with that that's it all right Jacob yeah just a few things first of all I want to thank my staff um since the last meeting that we had and this one there's been a lot of work that's been G that's gone into figuring out this military rate what we can do with the budget adding subtracting um and in particular blanch Sherman and so all of you know that anytime that you make one adjustment to a number she has to go through the entire thing and make that adjustment and make sure there's no any there isn't any errors or issues with that so there's been a lot of extra hours so I want to thank her for that um second thing uh commissioner blasquez I believe that uh you volunteered I just wanted to make sure that things have not changed to be on the RFP Review Committee for the correct because they the you know I learned that um uh commissioner Nester um because he was the I guess the the person that the commissioner that uh wanted the forensic audit and the former vice mayor uh Kyle Becker and um so being an independent in this forensic audit because I did not contrib tribute to to the forensic audit that I said that I would sit because it's required by State Statute so that I would sit and do the work and put in the time okay I just wanted to make sure everybody else is on board and was that okay with you commissioner Nesta because originally um it was offered to you correct no yeah I me this the first thing me hearing of you taking that role which there's no problem there's no issue right because because it was it was asked during my agenda review and your point statutorily it does need to be a council member to chair that okay okay thank you uh today I had uh the great opportunity to attend the required State ethics training uh it was about six hours long the guy talked really really fast it was hard to keep notes but it was actually very beneficial um a lot of thoughts went into my mind a lot of things were clarified and there there's one thing that I did want to emphasize with all of you as well as with all of my employees uh and that is my position on ethics and honesty in the workplace um so I'm speaking to all of you uh just for your information and to all my employees you know that are here with the city and I'm reinforcing and making clear that is my policy and policy of this Administration that any unethical or dishonest Behavior while representing the city uh will not be tolerated plain and simple in all cases where a complaint is made about some such Behavior I need to let you know that we investigate those thoroughly I have a good team they are uh impartial we look over the facts and after we have conducted our investigation is when we make a decision on what kind of discipline needs to be done with those employees and whether or not they have violated anything within the city council's approved uh Personnel policies um and I'm letting you know and let especially all of my employees know that hardworking intelligent influential employees or any that have um a relationship that that's not an exemption uh all employees who feel they've been dealt with unfairly can appeal to me the decision and part of that appeal should be information that may have not been considered during the investigation and so you know um anybody that has is a subject of Investigation will receive all the information that the the group that does investigation received as well as well as the decision and uh let me be clear any legal threats imitation intimidation or personal slander will not be considered part of a legitimate appeal um in most cases these types of actions reinforce the decision I've already made so I ask all of my employees and and also the Commissioners to not use your position or any other unethical means for me to reverse my decision or any to violate the city's Personnel policies and rules um I will not and I want all of you and my employees to to trust me that that is the point of this um I'm not going to set a precedent ever uh favoring one employee over another and my employees and all of you need to know that you can depend on me to be consistent consistent predictable and impartial that's all I have all right Cliff I know you got a couple of things I all right I'm going to bring them up all at once U did you get make how many extra copies did you make I you gave me to okay I sent you a copy excuse me I sent you a copy of this proposed letter from the mayor to Orange County Mayor de regarding proposed Charter amendments that are coming up for decide they send them voters and we have concerns about them talk about that second this about addition U we got some relief from the legislature probably need to CL if I think you probably need to hand out then go back to the mic just because I will do so we don't get on the record so he'll start over when you get to the mic please sir I talk sorry did I not do a good job getting you guess I could put them all together that the exhibits were thank you thank you we're going to start with the uh L letter to the Mayors um I sent you all not only a copy that I had proposed some revisions to but also a Redline version uh of what I had gotten showing what I had revised or proposed to revise the copy I just handed to you now is the copy that I got with all of those lawyers revisions accepted before I actually got it and the reason I mentioned that to you is because we're on a short timeline to get our uh objection along with that of the other mayors that are under signatories here uh to the mayor um speaking with mayor Nelson uh he believes and I don't have any way to know because I haven't spoken to the attorneys who drafted this before I got a hold of it uh that the time is short and they need to use this original version the one that doesn't have my suggested changes which is fine by me they were mostly um stylistic as opposed to substantive uh the bottom line is the reason for the objection to these amendments is they invade essentially our ability to do our business as governments and and the uh business of our citizens through home rule the authority that we have as the folks most close to the folks who live here to make decisions that are in their best interest that's what this letter attempts to lay out for mayor demmings it also reminds him that we all have supposedly the same responsibility to our citizens and that should include not taking power away from them but giving PE power to them and so that's what this letter is about um I don't I don't really have any other stake in the fight but that's what the letter is about if you'all want to let me know otherwise I think that is Mayor Nelson's intention to or mine I'm not sure which we'll figure it out to get back to the other lawyers and say hey send it and the Mayors will sign it uh I will note for the purposes of the record that there are two other cities that I represent that are on here Eatonville being one and maand being the other as signatories but most every significant City in Orange county is a signatory to this document or will be so let me just I'll just let me run through it so I had a uh we had a council of Mayors meeting last Thursday and uh we had so we had city of Orlando had mayor Dyer mayor Dallas uh mayor of Winter Park um oh trying to think who else we had uh ooi Winter Garden so I think the only ones we were missing were maand and uh Bell IA so anyway all the Mayors or their representatives were there at the meeting we all kind of were looking for it was Kyle Shepard the attorney for city of Orlando and Kurt Eman who represents wintergarten in oo I think witer Garden AO and Winter Park okay so U they they're the ones that drafted it and then you know then Cliff got take a look at it but anyway so that's we're just trying to do is you know as they come forward with their what they're going to put on the ballot in November we want to you know stake our claim as to you know that you know City's rights versus County so um just look for your approval for me to sign this as the mayor of the city CU they they got when did they get this when did they got the day I got it because I got it I edited it immediately and sent it out so Monday and then I think was it today or yesterday that I sent the redline version yeah you did yeah so anybody have heartburn with this if not I'd like to I mean all basically say Hey you know we want to be we want to be at the table and that's basically what's this saying so everybody's okay with that anybody have objections let me know otherwise we'll move on to the next one okay we good so the next is a draft resolution it's not yet on the agenda it will be on the agenda I guess for the next meeting um and here's the purpose of it as you all know we're living in the world of live local um doesn't really matter my personal opinion but I'm not not a fan uh but regardless of whether I'm a fan or not the reason for this resolution is in this legislative session um we got some relief potentially for uh cities like ours who have a uh stand a real chance of being significantly affected in an adverse way um in their budgets it is because under live local not only do you deal with projects that have not yet come to you that might qualify and therefore be able to get 75% of their property taxes Exempted and therefore affect the bottom line of your property tax budget but also they can do that if they've been the project in the last five years and they want to convert that's what happened in maand which is how this got on my radar screen two major apartment complexes totaling I think five or 600 units total which had a major impact on our budget applied for and received uh live local exemption and as a result we are now scambling to try to figure out how to put money together to balance that that deficit in the case of maand maand had an original CRA loan from the city that it still owed on and was making payments what has happened now in order to fill that Gap is they've accelerated the payments from the CRA fund just to keep up with the amount of deficit that they're going to have from these two apartment complexes in this legislative session that Governor signed in a bill that allows cities like hours as long as we're in a county which we are at least currently we won't be for long um that does doesn't have uh a a shortage of affordable housing according to the statistics that they use I'm not arguing whether someone wants to say it is or isn't accurate but according to the statistics they use if we're in that in a county like orange which doesn't have a shortage we can't opt out that's what this resolution does and it protects us from that unforeseen apartment complex coming forward applying for the exemption and being granted it because with our this resolution should you pass it we won't be caught with that prize in the future at least for the length of this resolution or unless they change the law now the reason I mentioned that the fact that we are currently seen as not having a deficit of affordable housing but it won't be for long the last time I heard it was like we have like 700 units in excess and in terms of affordable housing that's nothing it's a blink of an eye but for now we have that so we can use this exemption that's what this is for and uh you'll it'll be on your next agenda you can call me send me emails I'll respond to all of you as I always do and let you know whatever qu answer whatever questions you have but that's all I have no nothing nothing needed tonight except to let you know it's coming great thank you one quick question sorry and I know it's coming up but not to belor at next next meeting so this is 23 so we're going off last year's number so to your point probably sometime next early part of next year whenever this report comes out the that resolution will no longer apply or what what's that process no we won't be a we we get to claim the exemption now for for the period That's set forth in the exemption but once that but we only get it because right now Orange County qualifies as having no ex no shortage of of affordable housing but it's a real close number what will happen in between next L of SL session who knows they might change the numbers or Orange County we're in the process of building housing and maybe that numbers I'm predicting it'll go like this but it might not but it's it's a it's a tight squeeze right now understood thank you okay all right mayor's report well a couple things I got quite a few things here um first of off I want to thank uh our chief WM it's 22 years of service and he announced yesterday that he is retiring on October 31st of this year and we we're excited for what the future holds for him and just want to read his a statement about you know what he's accomplished and also some of some of the accomplishments he's had along the way Chief Sean J WM began his fire service career at Eatonville Fire Department in 2001 and joined the Apopka fire department on October 21st 2002 during his tenure at the Apopka fire department Sean has worked his way up through the the ranks he finished The Paramedic program in 2004 was promoted to Lieutenant in 2007 and assistant fire chief in 2014 as an assistant chief sha served in many capacities his duties include management of all fire apparatus equipment records maintenance and testing he worked closely with the Department District Chiefs special Hazard operations team he developed managed and coordinated all Fire Department training and its instructors Sean served as the city's FEMA coordinator during EOC activations and is heavily involved with the Department's grant writing processes chief wiing chief wum also represented department on Regional basis he served as chairman of the Orange County operations Chiefs group from 2017 to 2019 emergency Coordinating Officer with the Orange County Emergency Response Team and sits on the local mitigation strategy work group he is also co-coordinator of region five State Emergency Response Team in 2022 Shawn was appointed to the district one Orange County director of the central Florida's Fire Chiefs Association Chief WM is a state and nationally certified fire instructor fire investigator fire safety inspector and is a FEMA certified emergency program manager in 2018 Shan became the first in Department's history to to earn the state of Florida's highest certification for chief officers Fire officer 4 sha has degrees in fire science EMS and is a graduate of both the University of Florida's executive Fire officer efo program and fire and Emergency Services Management Programs he has completed the fire investigations and Special Operations program management at the National Fire Academy Chief W has been awarded the professor professional designated as a quote Chief Fire officer CFO by this Center for Public Safety excellence in 2020 Sean was accepted in the institution of fire Engineers if at the member grade level Mi fire e and just I want to give you a couple of I mean when you go back and look at his his Exemplar service just want to give you some of the some of the highlights under the safety programs updated hearing and ey protect for all firefighters updated the station tones night mode to reduce stress to Firefighters by eliminating other station alerts when your station is not responding at night to improve sleep habits he provided a second set of bunker gear to all firefighters he he had the diesel exhaust system funded no smoke smoke exhaust systems now into the buildings he had yearly physicals updated the NFPA 1582 standards also added heavy metal testing and calcium scores as preventive measures for firefighters he formalized the mentoring process and then under operations he established EMS safety captains established EMS quality Insurance Specialists increase the minimum requirements for promotions to ranks to establish minimum qualifications for each rank to not only meet but exceed exceed industry standards he replaced all the air packs with the newest NFPA standards using recover cage funds from the state he updated all the SCBA bottles to the 45 minute bottles he developed Asher active shooter hostile event protocol with regional collaboration and surrounding agencies and he added training props include Comics box prop lion digital attack roof prop forceable entry door and watering map props under the administration big big big he had the EMS changed our EMS billing to change Healthcare generating over a million dollars more in income for the general funds he updated s so's to include risk an an anal analysis and implementing policies and Sops he implemented the power DMS program for S so's he updated employee appraisal systems including six-month evals conducted by the lieutenants he trained our chief officers on Professional Standards developed a formal succession plan began a strategic plan established fit for Duty protocol with clinic and he obtained the state appropriation helped me with the state appropriation for station six and work with air methods to have a helicopter here for Air Care at station 4 which will give us a higher level of care to all our citizens in the region and for that we are proud and honored to say that he's been a a wonderful fire chief for the last five years so thank you Sean W for what you've done for the city of Al next up um got an interview starting tomorrow for I maybe just one day uh for a community development director so I'm not even sure who's on that well we moved that actually to Monday and Tuesday oh Monday and Tuesday yeah we're gonna do that Monday okay so interviews for the community development director uh as everybody's already mentioned John rickinson a good good friend of mine um passing and John you still ow me a fishing trip on Lake Apopka so if you're listening up there you owe me that one fishing trip um Radley waves always talked about his birthday um and last I think is pretty cool um I don't know if you saw the paper yesterday but Logan Gilbert a a pro a Protegé from the Popin little league is now in the baseball Allstars and if you remember when we when I threw out the first pitch at the Little League um I gave Gary Odum runs the little league program a signed jersey that is Logan Gilberts who now is pitching for the All-Star team so with that we'll call it a night for --------- e e move on yeah call the special council meeting to approve and set the proposed fiscal year 2024-25 millage rate come on down blanch yeah we're just going to get right into it we'll do the prayer pledge and invocation at the uh General council meeting good afternoon mayor commissioners I'm try to make this as quick and painless as I possibly can would have been great to have a prayer before but let's go into it just want to give you an overview of where we currently stand for the fy2 2425 budget after the workshops and all of the comments and inputs and requests from Commissioners and the mayor the attempt here of course what we need to do is approve the proposed fy2 2425 military setting we need to set the rate tonight okay just want to give you an overview of the key Revenue increases that we have Incorporated in the budget we're looking and this is without the millage rate increase right now of the adorm taxes of 4.9 utility tax for the electric about 1.1 building permits 1.9 state revenue sharing 628 th000 sales tax 1.9 engineering fees 1.2 Recreation activity for the programs that they have 159,000 and interest and dividends a million so a total of 12.9 we started with the general fund of about 89.8 million with the use of reserves about 8.1 million we're incorporating another 1.7 in the millage rate increase going to the 0.25 and that is for to have a contingency for the firefighters Union and another 1.5 increase in the millage to have funds transferred additional funds transferred to the streets fund and other items that have been Incorporated as a result of the workshops and input from the mayor and Commissioners is an additional 455,000 you see that both on the revenue in the expenditure side of the general fund this list is a detail of those additional changes as you can see any additional changes at this point comes as a result of a increase in the use of those reserves and these are excess reserves over our 25% % Reserve per policy I know there probably will be some questions on that but I want to go through the presentation and we can come back if needed this slide slide shows you the source of those reserves and how we're using them our policy allows us to assign Capital reserves in the remaining balance was about 4 million so those are the items that are being applied towards that 4 million we have committed reserves one of those is a tree bank so we plan to spend 500,000 in this budget and so the source of that would come out of those committed reserves the unassigned reserves that are in excess of the 25% we're using about 3.9 of that for the various reasons listed 2.6 going to streets 475 for an additional 5% for the firefighters Union a carryover amount of 80,000 related to those Co fund and 251 for the equipment for the 10 new police officers and the additional request from the Commissioners about 455 157 another view of how the the source of the reserves starting with our audited financial statements Reserve balances as of FY 2023 the on sign was 34.6 mil million we used 200 out of plan reserves and we did about 4.2 in budget Amendments of that on a sign and the 3.9 is the for fy2 which I just shared with you on the previous slide that 3.93 939 as mentioned before the reserve policy allows us to assigned reserves for Capital purposes for onetime Capital purchases as of fy2 3 that amount was 16, 742 716 when we I presented the budget to you last year we used about 8.1 of that for Planned use of those reserves we've had budget amendments about 4.5 and an fy2 using another 4.1 at this point exhausting that capital reserve and again you see the 500k that I mentioned earlier so I want to go into the utility operating fund but I don't know if there's any questions at this point in regards to the general fund before I go into the utility operating fund okay any questions on the general fund from the Commissioners I'll just wait till you through this wonderful well we're going to go in utilities now right yeah I'm going to utilities I'm coming back you want to ask your questions on General funds I mean one of the things I think there's been some some Mis information out there about that our reserves we we're we're wasting away our reserves our reserves are still above the 25% threshold that was put into place sever years ago yes so our reserves are still going up we're not going down yes in the general fund yes okay I I think but I I believe the the concern is that as uh our city manager had pointed out is that every year the trend seems to be that we go into the reserves to balance the general fund and that's the concern well when you planned like I said the plan reserves that's why you set aside those reserves for those onetime Capital items so but when you go into the general operating reserves for recurring expenses that's where the risk is so that's what we've done that's what we're doing with the utility not with the I'm not not in the Utility Fund that's a different issue but yes but that is operating Reserve which they don't have one because they're in a deficit yes ma'am but in the general fund where I said the unassigned reserves in excess of 25% we don't want to use those for recurring expenses it should be just emergencies one time and different things like that however there are it these the amounts that we're using is in excess of our 25% it's nothing that we want to continue to do that's why we're proposing to increase the millage okay okay all right so in regards to the utility operating fund what we're proposing here in this budget request is an increase in the rates and the budget that was presented to you in the workshop we reflected a 10% increase as I doing that Workshop that was not adequate it still left us with a like $5.6 million deficit just for that year we already have a $3.5 million deficit going into 2425 okay so what we have here is a comparison of our existing rates compared to some of our peers in other cities and municipalities and the proposed [Music] rate so we're still at this point in time not the highest we're not higher than the city of malora O uh city of Sanford and some of them as I understand it are proposing increases as well so in that rate there is 40% increase on the water 40% on the sewer and 15% on reclaim this is a chart where I'm sharing with you the deficit as we stand right now at the 5.6 and what it would take to cover that deficit that's why we're proposing the 40% for water 40% for race water and 15% for reclaim so overall for the total budget we're looking at a total actually when we Factor the 1.5 for the street funds I want to make that correction here is 201 587 851 for revenues and expend [Music] expenditures in regards to the millage and the radb back calculations as you can see the 0.25 generates the 1.7 that we want to utilize for the firefighters Union negotiations and the going to another 0.25 or 0.5 increase in the milit rate generates to 1.5 which is additional funds that we want to transfer to the street funds these are some additional calculations just wanted to share that with you in case you want to see what those incremental differences are if you choose to go higher than the 4. 6876 here's a comparison um to some of the other cities and a poka at the 41876 and a poka at the 4. 6876 there are two different ey colors other than the blue we're still lower than the city of okoi and I think they are proposing a 0.25 increase if I'm correct Jacob so other cities are looking at increasing their millage rate as well I wanted to share with you that comparison so at this time we're proposing the rollback rate to be to 38384 and the proposed millage rate of 4.68 76 any questions any questions this is just we're just setting the the millage tonight yes sir with a we have a final I guess will be the last Wednesday of the month the 20 I couldn't understand the the we'll set we'll we'll have to the second reading will be the the last Wednesday of the month no we're setting it tonight I have to submit the information to trim and then we we're coming back for a public hearing correct on the fourth with the budget and at this point in time as mentioned by the attorney and myself we can't go we can go down but we can't go higher right okay okay any questions is there still an opportunity between now and I mean we'll set a millit rate tonight but is there an opportunity until it is actually voted the second Wednesday of September which I see here is the 18th um to still kind of go into the budget to um adjust or ask for some things to be um yes we can okay but we can't change the military yeah the only limit is we cannot increase the we can't increase the military everything else below that right we can but I just want to make sure that we can still go into the budget and say you know we don't need this right now and and that'll be less use of reserves okay that's all I want to to to have that opportunity okay we have two hearings the fourth and the two weeks from there okay yeah okay body else all right anybody from the public wish to speak everyone knew the workshops were coming up the city set the workshop dates the budget sheets and everything should have been Advanced they should have been done and ready days ahead of time so that they could have been prepared and available to the public we still do not have them posted online we don't have access to them and I was just told a few minutes ago because they're not ADA Compliant none of them were ADA Compliant on the screen when we looked at them from home they were so tiny that they could not be read when we're in here these ones that we're on the screen now we have to have the logo up there we have to have a title and except this screen I could not read them sitting right here and I could not hear the speakers in here today again the audio is bad the meetings are not ADA Compliant in here so what's the excuse for not sending us an electronic version of the budgets they could have been loaded we could have downloaded them on our computers and we could have blown up the screens now as far as the Village rate goes if you can bring it down but you can't raise it up go ahead and set it for one 1.0 and then you can adjust and get what you want when we look at the fact that we have seven people I believe it was on the public service group and they asked for one more um supervisor that can get out there and break it up into two teams instead of seven people standing out there for a two-person job and the others are standing there watching them it's not right maybe four people are needed to do the job and the other three are standing there watching them I've driven by I've seen it happen a couple of times it is wasteful but if you get one more person to come on as a supervisor or a crew leader whatever they're calling them they could break it up and they could be doing twice as much work out there they've got two trucks come on guys so go ahead set it at 1.0 and then bring it down to point to0 6 or 0. five once or 055 once you find out what we need but for goodness sakes get that one extra Tru leader so that seven people aren't wasted on fixing one manhole let's use some common sense here but do get us this information we shouldn't have come here with no one in the city but you five people having the budget that was a crime that we could not get public documents to be able to give you input on the millage right tonight an absolute crime thank [Music] you hello Todd Banks and stormway Court City of Apopka I've been hearing from some police officers firefighters citizens about going out to Kelly Park and look at the growth out there so today when I was coming back from Sanford I actually did that and went out on the 429 and was pretty Blown Away with what I seen going on out there um there's literally an apartment complex that's grown out there out of the ground going up so I drove from that apartment complex to station five doing the speed limit not using my stop Wars at the stop light and such and it took over six minutes we got a problem we we got a problem going on um such as with ISO we have that problem how is the tower truck going to get to those areas um we got a problem going on here the next situation that when I stopped at station five I seen a fire truck sitting there that had an engine one on it so I asked them I said why is engine one there and then they told me a story I said I can't be so then I talked to somebody else and sure enough engine FES broke so they went and got engine one to go out there and now there is no engine one those firefighters went on the Tower and the rescue we don't backup trucks we have no backup trucks we have a financial problem the next fire chief the next mayor or if this mayor stays we we've got a problem going on here a serious problem we got to do something um it's just time to do your job basically I mean like bill bich says you got to do your job it's a hard thing sometimes financially but we are digging a serious hole for the citizens here and for the future um really that's it I just didn't know if you all knew that I don't think the mayor knows that we're doing without a firetruck here or the city manager or you folks it's just a situation we're in by being out of Reserve fire trucks thank you Albert mck 3603 golden gem Road I would like to Echo the Tod sentiments and and other sentiments that when we come here we have expectation of having correct information we were left to come to budget meetings and when we got here we were listening to things that were presented and it didn't make sense to me let me give you an example if we look at the requirement for sewage we were told that we will be able to be in compliance till 2035 we were told that we have permits for 16 million gallons of water we were told that as of today we use 10 million gallons of that allowance so we have 6 million gallons to play with between now and 2035 but there's a problem Commissioners because our public service director across there said to us that it's going to take at least four or five years to build a new sewage plant well look at this when we come here every month we're given figures the figures that we currently believe are accurate are there are 12,000 new homes going to be going in between the next five or so years in the Kelli Park area if we take 12,000 homes three homes per per for three people per household that's 36,000 people that we're going to add into this community of 56,000 that's 92,000 total people that we have if you work it out with percentages with what we currently have what you're looking at is by 2029 we're going to reach 16.4 million gallons of capacity of sewage it's pretty simple calculation so the fact of the matter is if we don't budget now for the design and implementation of new sewage we're never going to reach 2035 because your own figures that come from from planning tell you 12,000 homes 36,000 people in the next 5 years that means 16.4 million gallons that you're going to be at capacity by 20130 it's going to take five years to design and Implement new sewage we have serious problems there's nothing in the budget to allow for that planning so I don't know what you're going to do and that's only the start of your helps Rod Olson 3156 Rolling Hills Lane uh mayor Commissioners uh this is my vendition of The Good the Bad and the Ugly of the 2025 budget the good five Department dep stated that the budget they presented would meet the city needs the bad 35% of our city assets are beyond the projected lifespan and it doesn't appear that the budget has addressed known upcoming pay and bend of H increases I maybe modify that a little bit Bas to what just came up the ugly all but five departments did not present their real needs one Department presents five staff to oversee a dozen pick a ball and in tennis courts three days is not enough time to make an informed decision your Commissioners received your packets what on the eve of the first meeting is not adequate time even if with the 40% increase discuss for utilities is implemented it does not address required upgrades uh only a handful of residents showed up for the budget process that's criminal uh any change in age vesting or Co allowance for the pension fund must be thoroughly researched the current pension is at $7.4 million and it's going to 9.6 based upon the preliminary uh findings uh and not it's not fully funded uh a $20 an hour employee in a poka retires at 55 currently would enjoy a1115 th000 in pension we need to look at every line item and every L anything that you look at doing there at this this time we should be setting a millage rate as high uh because it's easier to take it down I'm not an attorney but a neighbor pointed to me and said if you look at a poka I'm not poka Florida State Statute 200.0 65 2D States quote the tentatively adopted mill rate if the T easy for me to say if the tentatively adopted Mills rate is greater than the proposed rate used for the trim notice each taxpayer in the jurisdiction must receive notification of the increase by first class mail at the taxing Authority expense uh which is not we can't go up uh a budget must be based upon what the people need in equipment supplies materials personnel and then you as Commissioners need to find a way and look at it to far it it out and come up what the rate should be we've got to do a better job thank you good evening mayor Commissioners and guests I am here tonight to ask for the adoption of a new Museum of a Bren business model I waited the society waited into all the budget meetings were done to present this information inform because as we look at the budget meetings there was no real budget line for the museum there was $100,000 for some repairs but we're Beyond repairs I send a package to all of you you have time to look at it we're going to go a little bit over there but I want to uh discuss this plans because we really need you the Commissioners and the mayor to actually take pride in your history and and your [Music] people under Maryland Administration we had the museum and the city budget and had three full-time employees Nancy Blac Diane n and Francis white Marland was a founding member of the museum and the Historical Society he understood from the beginning the importance of preserving our history and giving the community a place where they can learn about the people who came before them and help create the town town we now all enjoy at the Museum you find the history of Dr Robert Williams the first of africanamerican to attain a PhD in apka at the new in the month of March which is women History Month you get to see the photos of our female Commissioners and the first lady of the PPA the first his Spanish commissioner in our city Mrs Diane Velasquez and now the first africanamerican commissioner who had the same she will had the same privilege this event inspires young women from our Community to see what can be possible at the Museum you will find two big bass fish donated in 1969 by our late friend of the museum John rickerson well known as JR this fish have light up the faces of children that came to their Museum and do not have the privilege to experience fishing for some due to their social economic status thank you Jr for leaving a legacy of smiles to the children in our community at the Museum you will find the story of a young man in the early part of 1971 working at the bank in aova and giving a whole loan to an African-American family even though the city was not yet embracing the desegregation law of 1968 this young man West foring commissioner Bill oros Smith and I can go on and on I know we spend money in many things in this city we W part of a facility assessment report the city spent 36,000 of tax paare money for this report when we actually knew that the building we occupy right now has a termite problem and is very small also has onethird of the walls for the African-American community and there is no space to showcase the contributions of the Hispanic community in the town it's okay I got appreciate it h i want to speak a little more there no no that's good we got we got plenty of speakers to come on no I need to speak I need to I need to finish I need to finish what I had to say [Music] only um no I want to have another four minutes can I come back and have another four minutes got [Music] more okay well since I don't get to speak any longer I want you the Commissioners to look at the paperwork that I sent you I also want to than the commissioner they give a donation for a 55 year anniversary thank you commissioner Smith Dam and commissioner Nesta the double the um contributions uh and I also want to ask commissioner um Anderson uh an invitation I want to invite you to the museum so that you can see her hands since you now are sit on that chair thank you ler Robel 2308 blue medals Court um before before you guys set the millage I want you to think about when it com to the utility part of it when you go when you set it think about the people over in s poka how it going to affect them they don't have anything to do with the shf of the city in the shortcom of this Administration if you remember when this Administration first came in this Administration came in saiding that it was no money all the money was swallowed gone away come to find out that was a lie the first two budgets that were passed I think commissioner FAS was on the passage of those two budgets uh that was the ex commissioner the the uh Court leader uh uh representative de Bankston voted against it he voted for $260,000 for this parking lot up here instead of for trying to push South forward so I'm asking you when you said this millage I don't understand why we got to dig in the reserve when we are charging fees for everything uh police department $150 for a video now they went up to 100 I mean to $600 anytime you ask for public records they jacked up the price you're paying in the front and in the back why are you putting it pressure on the back of the citizen of a pop not even in the utility with set the millage what good that going to do for the B out no good the M said that you're going to have to do something about that pretty soon what about let's stop wasting money every time it turn around that something happen in the city and you guys vote on something it need to be L when you vote on it let it stand still allow this Administration to go out and high Consulting forms firms to do just the waste of money all these lawsuits I know Insurance paid but the first $50,000 where do it come from it come from the city of apopa because of the dick lectured of Duty of this ma somebody need to stand up and start looking out for the city of apka and stand up for the city of apka and stop this guy cuz he going to break the set of a pop good evening Alex cler a popka professional firefighters um here address concerns raised at the last budget workshop and Military meeting um let me be clear the city of Apopka does not need to raise the millage rate or our taxes because of our firefighters full stop I know I've pre previously addressed this issue with commissioner Anderson I appreciate you not adding to that conversation last week um the need to raise the migrator taxes is due to the entire budget including competitive wage and benefit increases for General employees and the police department over the past three years this includes a significant pay raise for chief wum his Fleet of brand new F-150 take-home Vehicles as well as the mayor's salary adjustments and the future pension he's about to be eligible to take our firefighters haven't seen a paramedic pay increase since before some of them were even born it's incredibly disheartening for them to know that they're the lowest paid and employees in the city while an intentionally misleading narrative by the guy who's supposed to have their backs suggests their overpaid we cannot continue to balance the budget on the backs of hardworking firefighters The Narrative from mayor Nelson and chief WM brought up at the last meetings and in a Facebook thread is based on a 2020 nfda survey which mind you only included 2,200 out of 30,000 fire departments it excluded combination fire and EMS departments which is what we are this has no relation to what this department is this is not a fair comparison nationally 37% of fire departments do not provide EMS 17 provide ALS service and comparing us to cities like CMI which Outsource the majority of their ALS Services is misleading at the very best do you think that the population of 89,000 residents in cmia is served by four ambulances you cannot believe that do you want us to um so our citizens are better served with our current model that we've always maintained lastly gratitude must be easy to be full of gratitude when you're being paid competitively when you have a brand new top-of-the-line take-home vehicle and when you get to come up here and get away with lying about qualified inspectors performing all 2,000 property inspections in the city of Apopka when you get to come here and lie about how long it takes to receive a vehicle like ambulance 3 the Top Secret Surprise retirement ceremony was a perfect summation of the baguer Run of our fire chief you drug us through the dirt for two years you came up here and you said I want to fix this it's my chance to make this right and you did nothing but buy time until you could retire with your pension and sail off into the sunset no plan for these guys no plan for the future no plan for succession it's disgusting in your email you said you prayed about the decision you prayed to collect a check and you're a public servant that looked out for yourself first that's your legacy maybe these PE men and women right here will have some gratitude when we stop blaming underpaid firefighters for poor management decisions maybe we'll have some gratitude when we quit letting career politicians Place their shortcomings on the backs of the working class and maybe we'll have some gratitude when the city meets and reaches an agreement with these firefighters who've been there for us in our times of need and continue to do so lastly for the record because I only have four minutes I want to be clear I don't stand to earn a single dime from that contract that I'm fighting for for these guys I'm not part of that bargaining unit I am fighting for them because it's the right thing to pay your employees a fair wage which we decided to do for every city employee we have to stop passing the buck and waiting for things that are never going to show up pay your firefighters treat them with respect Jeff Ty 1120 leg Drive Popa Florida uh first I want to thank the men and women of the fire rescue department and our Police Department for the job that they do every day we asked a lot of them and they've come up and they've asked dur in their budget Workshops the need that they that they have to have um I didn't know that there wasn't a fire truck at my neighborhood fire station today that disturbs me that it was out of service um that's unacceptable people are asking for better things in our city roads Recreation Rod's asking for soccer fields every time he comes up here Public Safety needs Better Staffing you have to address that with this Millen increase it's going to hurt but we have to do it our City's growing it's just like Todd was talking about those apartments they're isolated on a island out there on Kelly Park Road right now with a six-minute response from station five which didn't have a fire truck today and a longer response for an aerial apparatus from downtown we have to get in front of that we have developers that came into this room tonight and they're building out there like crazy I'm sure they want some services for the development that they're putting out there a millage rate is more manageable for the common taxpayer and a one-time tax at the year rather than a 40% increase in our water rates they just increased last year I don't see a bunch of taxpayers up here complaining about spending a little bit more in their taxes to have better services to have roads to have all the things that just talked about when the Public Services director gets up here and talked about during his Workshop the needs that they have it was incredible when he puts a slide up there and says there's no funding for Road improvements come on we have to do better than this you're our leaders lead stop sitting there let's lead okay so we're back to the proposed fiscal year 2425 milit rate setting um I do need to share with you the notices for the various increases that we have Incorporated in this budget will have to go out and we will have the public hearings on on the 4th so I have to send those notices out regarding the like the 10% for sanitation the 40% and 40% and 15% for water and waste water and the storm water increase but there will be public hearing on the fourth for those did you find out on the setting theill is it if go up thean is two3 two any other last questions for we St sorry about that all right we all good okay well let me I'll read the statement here in accordance with the truth and millage trim compliance requirements is set forth in chapter 200 of Florida Statutes the city must set the proposed millage rate and advise the property appraiser of the proposed millage rate rolled back rate date time and place of the tentative budget hearings the tentative budget hearing is scheduled for Wednesday September 4th 20 24 at 5:15 p.m. in the city council chambers the statutes require separate motions the operating millage rate used in preparation of the budget draft of 41876 is 22.12 per higher than the rolled back rate of 3.8 384 mayor I think she gave you should be the 4. 6876 this is 4. 6876 which is 22.2 okay probably need to read it all over again yeah cuz I think these are the old ones in accordance with the truth and millage trim compliance requirements is set forth in chapter 200 of Florida Statutes the city must set the proposed millage rate and advise the property appraiser of the proposed millage rate roll back rate date time and place of the tenative budget hearing the tend budget hearing is scheduled for Wednesday September 4th 2024 at 5:15 p.m. and the city council chambers the statute requires separate motions the operating millage rate used in preparation of the budget draft of 4687 correct is 22.12 per higher than the roll back rate of 3.8 that's not right either 3.8 the roll back rate of 38384 yes aidd is the tax rate for each $11,000 of taxable property value yes I look for motion to approv setting the millage rate for 2024 at 38384 let's start at the first motion needs to be the roll back rate okay we need a motion for the proposed operate millage roll back rate of 3.83 184 8384 got a motion by commissioner Smith second second by commissioner Velasquez all those in favor I all opposed motion carries unanimously now the second motion I I need a motion for the proposed operate millage rate for FY 25 of 4.68 76 okay look for a motion to set the proposed operating millage rate in 2024 tax year at 4. 6876 corre before we do that real quick mayor I haven't heard your comments on Us increasing the military to this what are your thoughts on this we we'll we'll look at it I mean we've got time to look at the budget and uh I mean I think there's some things we haven't put in the budget that we haven't added for additional um negotiations with the union we have an add ining for the um uh the forensic audit and we've about spent all the reserves down to the 25% so I think we need to be sure we T we've sharpen our pencil and um make sure that we're I think there's some things in there I I probably wouldn't agree with on uh the additional expenditures so but this point we're just talking about the millage so with that I look for a motion to set the proposed operating millage rate for 2024 tax year at 4.68 76 thank go together they just need separate motions what's that I say they go together they just need separate motions right I know yeah the roll back is calculated based on that make the motion commission blasz what are your thoughts on this the 4.6 is half a minut we've had um some of our residents that said uh why don't we go with the one point at least we can we have from now until we actually vote for the for the budget you know the the the final millage rate it would give us an opportunity to kind of massage our budget and go over what we fuel is not necessary and what we must have and um uh the maximum rate with a two3 vote is 4.83 N9 which one would it be for 8399 4.8 I don't see the eight there look on the screen what look on your screen oh here it is yeah there it is and that would require okay so that's 4.8 399 would it would require a 2/3 vote and what would be the next one would be 4 and that's one mil if I'm not mistaken right one mil which one the 4.8 right no that's not one mil that's less than one mill compared to the 4.18 it's a differential between the 4.18 and the 4.83 and it would give us an additional revenue of another million if you take the difference between the 3.4 and the 4.4 so that would give a buffer for the extras you want to see how you compare to go into the 4.8 and we would be and we would be allocating 1.5 to towards streets but we would still be operating in a deficit not with not with streets that's just giving them additional money to continue the road resurfacing program and the sidewalk program that's what the additional 1.5 is that commissioner Smith recommended and the 1.7 is designated for um help with the negotiations with the firefighters Union commissioner Smith can I ask um for your input um CU you recommended I recommended the 4. 6876 um because I F we definitely need to put some more money in the streets and so U I thought we need that additional funding that's why I made that recommendation based on the budget hearings that we had so now when the mayor is saying that we still have not um allocated uh anything for when we finally settle the the Union what what do you were expecting um what what was the last offer last last offer was over two million well with the additional changes that 1.7 and the additional request that came from the Commissioners we're looking at a total of 2 million for the union negotiations uh commissioner Nester asked that we bring that up to 2 million so we got another 289,000 coming out of reserves so this actually includes 2 million in regards to those negotiation plus the additional 5% see if I can find that one the additional five and what did we give the general employees in fire it from the numbers that I saw yeah um it was like an average of five point something percent no I meant the no no no the we I know we gave the police a a bump last night the Poli came a with 6% and then I think they came and got another something on that was that like 700,000 almost a million 900 and some thousand yes and then we the the general employees out of the one point 1.7 about a 1.7 yeah the general employees probably is a portion of that and police has a portion of that as well so 1.7 plus the the 900,000 so 2.6 million is what everybody minus the the UN yes the union got because the this the U fire admin got they got raises as well that's my understanding I guess they got their normal raises okay so to confirm though the police and general employees had consistent increases regardless of um up to 6% we matched whatever the market was doing so it could have been I mean there were some department heads that got sub 40% raises 30% raises uh so we're not comparing Apples to Apples when we talk about General and police because fire has been behind is that accurate I just know that those were some we did some adjustments that you approved um for the salary adjustments based on Market sure and those numbers came to the 1.6 including police it did not include fire and the police did have an additional increase and that equated to almost a million dollar sure so everybody but fire is based on Market I yes they were not ad fires below Market I don't know where they stand in compar to Market because they were not they were not a part of the state so that's the true Narrative of this we can act like it's a one-time big lump sum that the fire department's asking for but in reality they have not kept up with the market and we've not allowed them to stay up with the market so we can keep saying they're costing us $2 million off the bat but that's just to get to average we're trying to get to average okay so again the proposal and the 6% Merit increases included in this budget yes um we do an average of a five but yeah they could go up to six yes it is and and the and the union has still been getting the 5% yes six I think they've been averaging over 5% so they've been getting even though they were in negotiations they haven't not gotten raises it's just they've not gotten that's my understanding yes okay raises from a below market rate and at this budget we don't even have um which is another concern that I had uh is because we had Emerson Park here who was asking us to kind of somehow I think we discussed that doing your brief the $3 million in order to bring their streets up to City standard before we take it over yeah they they're required to do that the the mayor had kind of offered them some kind of um I I don't want to it's alone it's alone so which we' get interest on yeah and I think the attorney explained at that time that that's right I don't know not possible uh where's our our attorney Cliff sheeper regarding the $ million loan with Emerson Park for the city streets is is that a is that possible is not a city street it's a private own Street I mean they're going to become our street though but we can't I'm gonna let the attorney talk when you say is it possible what do you mean I I don't is is that something we we can do make a loan to a private entity yeah we're not a bank okay and that's a concern because they're they're expecting to come here the second meeting of August with some expectation that somehow they going to get $3 million to fix their streets there are ways to fund through special taxing districts and things of that nature where they're assessed over time to people to map it out there may be a way I don't know there I've seen before where somewhat a private entity can use our bonding rates do not know that they qualify but I do know that that I've seen that happen but at the end of the day we're not a bank okay so so Mr chairman should we not accept the 4.68 76 m tonight and decide to go to whatever that maximum was that was the top that the line 8399 so do you have to go back to the drawing board again no I'll just submit the forms to at the 4.83 99 what does that work out to um a homeowner at the end I did not calculate that but I did calculate the um 4.68 and remember I shared what was that about 375 ,000 I mean $375 do not say thousand I'm sorry say that again $375 per household based on the medium value per year okay now remember it's like $31.25 per month for the 4. 6876 and I'm just going to interject here for a second as the admin administrator we do need to set a milit rate tonight and few minutes to do so commissioner Smith did you have a motion there no I was just asking the question what was the effective okay the roll back rate that I have presented here is based on that 4.68 76 it's a calculation so there's a different rad back if we go higher I'm hoping not but the the on the form it says the highest we can go these rates here is 4.83 N9 and it required a two3 vote so any increase requires 2/3 well based on the calculation this what it's yeah because even like if you're going down at the 4399 it just said majority vote right so let me understand this the roadback rate of 3.83 eight4 would be the same if we went to 4.83 N9 it should be it should be I have to confirm but it should be okay so we can move to do the 4.68 76 or the 4.83 99 I need I need if we go to the higher I need to reread the whole I'll need to reread the whole yeah go back have the calculation yeah because we started with the 4. 6876 at 22.1 two% higher but it won't be it'll be more than that yes sir it will be so we need to I mean on what what you want to do if we go to a higher rate we need to she's going to need to calculate that all right looking for somebody to give me some direction here commissioner Smith and commissioner leester and I guess going tap on you you have any input you have ni I do understand that we're just setting the rate right now my concern is the senior citizens that have reached out to me that only receive a 3% cost of living increase every year so we have to keep that in mind because $50 is not a lot to some of us per month at ATI Bill are $30 for some people it's the it's the cost of eating so I wanted to keep that in mind we're actually setting this right that we do have people that are on set rates and on Social Security that are seniors that are retirees that income is set so all right we need it's 7 o'clock folks we need to this is I mean we do have the opportunity to refine the budget further if we go with the 4. 6876 as pled as mentioned but again as I I stated before I will be sending out the letters in regards to the rate increases because I have two and the public hearings will be on the fourth I don't know this will help but I'm going to try if you think you're going to need more money go to the 4.83 N9 rate if you don't think you're going to need more money based on the budget that is tentative now the rate and calculations that you have in front of you are the rate you should use this is not the time to do calculations on the fly if you need more money go higher if you don't think you needed more money you're good you can always go down by cutting things out of the budget I move that we set the M rate at 4.83 N9 you calculated yes and that is uh increase of 2609 over the roll back rate of 3.83 eight4 okay all right in accordance with the truth and millage trim compliance requirements is set forth in chapter 200 the Florida Statutes the city must set the proposed millage rate and advise the property appraiser the proposed millage rate roll back rate date time and place of the tenative budget hearing the tenative budget hearing is scheduled for Wednesday September 4 2024 at 5:15 p.m. in the city council chambers the statute requires separate motions the operating millage rate used in preparation of the budget is 4. 8399 which is a 26.09% higher than the roll back rate of 3.83 eight4 four midle is the tax rate for each th000 of taxable property value okay I need a motion to set the proposed operating millage rate for 2024 at 3 point that's the rollback roll back rate of 3.83 eight4 we did that that need so move got a motion by commissioner Smith second second by commissioner Velasquez all those in favor I I'll oppose motion carries n now I need a motion to set the proposed operating millage rate for the 2024 tax year at 4. 8399 so Mo got a motion by commissioner Smith second second by commissioner vquez all those in favor all oppos motion carries an noun all right third we got a third motion got a set to meeting okay motion number three move to set the date time and place for the public hearing on the tenative budget for fiscal year 2425 as Wednesday September 4th 2024 at 5:15 p.m. in the city hall Council chamber and with that thank we'll take the five minute no they they need to vote they gotta vote on it vote okay on them oh yes motion to motion to set the date so move got a motion by commissioner Velasquez second by commissioner Anderson all those in favor I I'll oppos motion cares now all right 10 minutes we'll be thank you or