for in go Tiffy that's what you get from a fire department Alyssa's going first is this guy just gonna run on its own or yeah okay okay okay yeah just going so right when they start Ju 23r beautiful down 6 Stone Street Florida do we have any tigers in the house of Allegiance will be by Kathy hilon Brown invation will be performed by Council Matthew stand okay I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all father fell where two are joined you were in presence for sure tonight there are many of us here that being said let us go forth and show fruits of the spirit a reminder to all of us that if you tell the truth whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers in mine you did for me let that be the humble guiding uh light that guides our decisions this evening and Heavenly Father where there is discussion that may be robust or concerning make it come from a a place that keeps you Center we pray this all in Jesus name amen everyone please yes sir mayor Blake present ma'am Deputy Mayor Hearn present council member Behringer council member Goins here council member C here City attorney gargan here and city manager Whitten thank you thank you very much Madam clerk Arsenal proceeding on to item number two- one regular meeting of July 23rd 2024 I would like to make a motion to amend the agenda for the regular meeting of July 23rd 2024 with an amendment to add council business number 7-5 naming the Coco conservation hiking trail at the GRE Soul second item City business number excuse me 8-4 to negotiate a multi-contract a multi-year contract n TR bank and City business number 8-5 to apply for two water quality grant program chair would like to make a motion to amend that and I need a second second okay we have a second on the floor by councilman G okay CH call all in favor by saying I I I unanimous such a beautiful place to have all these smiling faces here today see our greatest investment that is our item number two D2 minutes regular meeting Mo approve for May 14th 2024 yes sir regular city council meeting minutes of May 28 2024 we have a motion on the floor by councilman G I'll second chair is going to call the question all in favor by saying I I any n eyes have it unanimously proceeding on to Awards and presentations we have a presentation of the city of Coco's 2024 Coco work Summer Youth Employment Program 24394 let's give our young men and young ladies a round of applause piure slideshow and we just realized that stand stand you fall because if they're proper training you so that you are gainfully employed so that you're starting what we call the word life and commitment and dedication so if you have your family members here turn around and give them around okay okay this is our Ninth Annual Cocoa Work summer youth program we're we're about to bring them up one by one for certificate so but um quickly I'll do an introduction real real fast um this is our Ninth Annual um summer youth program it's a five weeks paid internship we're um we hire them for this summer and they work in different departments throughout the city so this year we had 13 students and um we prioritize um students that live in the Coco as a Coco resident um in Coco High um or rockage high and but um we did have a student I think from Meritt I I think one student this year snuck in from Meritt Island so anyways but Alysa backer I want to thank her she's in our human resources department she was awesome at um bringing this program like kind of um we really didn't know if we were going to have a program at the beginning of um spring and um she was really um just awesome at um bringing it to life so I just want to thank her so thank you Alyssa so so and we do this in a partnership with Career Source so we have a couple um representatives from Career Source ton tonight um Jana gullen um Mark Andrews and Jan's right there okay and ammani I don't know if she's here no okay so um and they help with training so the first um couple days they do a training program with financial education and a couple other um things to help them get ready for their employment here and then um and then we bring them on board so let's give them a round of applause okay and Alysa is going to help me read their names and then they're they're going to come up and um we're going to do a group picture so when you hear your name um please come up front which way would you like them to walk they're very nervous about this just follow Tammy come here the middle all right so we're going to start with Kia Baker who was in our human resource Department start over there and we'll work you that way all right next up we've got Trinity Smith she was in our code enforcement we have Madison Wilson who was in our finance department Maris Sims he's over at WF nios work our warehouse former Daniel brigh who was in our community Evan Bri who was in our it Department Tyler sakur who is also in Our IT department oh Tyler you forgot your Joseph Schwarz he was with our feet Luca Dilan who was with our wfo sorry AA Hawk who was with fire and last but not least Steve's not here so Steve was here too though and we have tyia Davis who was in our Leisure Services Department I'll take Steve if all right pi family me no not today everybody call you on call Sir come on come on family that proper preparation come on man we taking pictures come on it's imparative that we acknowledge our youth yes ma'am we know the flip side any brother sister families come on Miss will so when he says come up he means get in the picture okay one second come on come on thank Youk leave your phone will thank thank you thank you thank piur come on hey we go there we go I know come on in yep I got everybody and I got lots of phones to take pictures everybody patient ready one two three okay hold on stay tight stay tight ready one two three okay one more or a few more I got this is what it's all about investment of our children is that everybody they are today's success but tomorrow's future so we want to make sure that g why because we all need Social Security did everybody get am that's go go go go that way app situ support here will you guys have a great night than you the Hamilton Brown get ready okay moving on to item number two High School Award presented by high school principal apparently appears that we have experienced some difficulty here but we a an administrator graduate C High School is Kathy Hamilton Brown um I don't know if we have the proclamation orward for her from her do we have in our possession no this was a and I just texted her the principle to see but I just realized she wasn't in the audience but I haven't heard okay what we can res and young thank you guys appreciate it it number okay and it number three School Foundation presentation jump scholarship recipient see I call your name for a reason yes ma' come on down and this charming young lady I think and myself work with this group of people that Charming young lady you got it yes thank you well I want to say thank you mayor Blake for joining us on Saturday for our backpack program um to share with everyone we gave out 1,656 backpacks to kids who needed them um we did pack 2500 and the remainder were distributed amongst 76 schools in our district so teachers will have them in their hands for the first day if kids come and are in need so thank you um but the real reason I'm here today um as mayor Blake stated my name is Nina Moser and I'm the director of development at Bard schools Foundation y thank you Bard schools Foundation fills Educational Funding and opportunity gaps at our 84 public schools for some 75,000 students and 5,000 teachers by supporting Innovation engaging communities and changing lives I join you tonight to present the city of Coco jumpstart scholarship to a deserving member of our community two out of every three new jobs created in Florida by 2025 will require education Beyond High School the jump start scholarship program was was established to create and support life changing scholarships for deserving students to help meet this need in our communities jump start scholarships are need-based one-year Florida prepaid plans that can be used at any Florida public or private college or university or trade school funds used to purchase the plans are matched by the Florida Prepaid foundation with nearly a 3 to1 match on behalf of bravard schools Foundation I would like to thank the city of Coco for their partnership in sponsoring this scholarship for a city resident and now for the exciting part it's my honor to present this scholarship to Joshua Brown so Joshua graduated from Coco high school and has already begun his studies at steson University with plans to pursue a business major and to quote his application as a high school senior with a passion for business administration my educational and career objectives are aligned with pursuing a degree in this field in college I aim to acquire a comprehensive understanding of various aspects of business including management Finance marketing and Entrepreneurship through rigorous coursework and practical experiences I aspire to develop strong analytical problem solving and Leadership skills essential for success in the business World congratulations Joshua all right where's Mom Mom Mom's gonna have to put the phone down for a second and come join us um mom is Kathy Hamilton Brown um assistant principal at Suntree Elementary School the mother and the father it's a family sir yes sir sir yes sir thank you thank you sir come on up here man oh man y'all IM everyone's wearing cream and flos I would be remissed where's Miss Nina Nina sir oh okay oh I think you one of the students that just that young ma' I would be remissed this young man is serving in also our United States Air Force is that right yes sir yes sir let's give him a round of applause and the good book it talks about training the child upright and this is indicative of the Browns family Legacy living Legacy he has other siblings that participated in the military correct ma'am and sir yes okay very good so on behalf of the great city of coko we are extremely proud of this young man because he's worth the investment just like we invested in the younger group now we're investing in the season group and and I'm very proud of this young man he's one of my outstanding great students his mother and father did not play the radio the tape player none of that they were strictly academics and now we're we're celebrating his performance and more to come amen all right let's give him another round of applause all right now now which one of y'all three or all three can speak if you don't mind you let Mom speak okay here we go and she's never testing the the mic the mic not on um I want to thank the city of Coco Bard School foundation for giving my son um this onee prepaid scholarship and he will he's the first recipient of it so I hope this will you know be continue on and son I want you to know I am very proud of you I love you and make us proud in in college in the Air Force and whatever you do cuz you know I'm your number one fan we're know your number one fan we have your back we have your back okay okay anyone would like to say anything come on on t a pride come on man come on excuse me Jos I just also want to thank you for help bringing that state championship back here to Coco back to back back back that's right now now real quick Josh tell us what your GPA is and then I'm going to let you off the hook and turn give you the microphone and then any other council members I'm sorry I'm sorry how y'all doing all right U my GPA in high school was a 3.9 I finished with a 3.9 GPA and also uh and also I did some talking around uh when I got to college and I actually changed my major from business administration to cyber security so I like yes sir that's the way counil M we hear from you Deputy uh excuse me um Mrs councilwoman call councilman baringer um so the The Humble kid you see here is uh not so humble on the football field um um he he is a great athlete but also a much better person and so congratulations on everything that you have accomplished uh I just don't hope your mom don't try to move in your dorm um that's that's probably the next thing you got to kick her out but but you know we all support you so if you need anything from me and us or anybody you already know we on one phone call away and so you're right there in Dand it's not far away so now you get to come home and eat food on Sundays too so yeah but but and laundry and laundry but but congratulations all right councilwoman calls or and Council just say well I know how proud you are and I'm sure you've really elevated him throughout his life um I'm proud that we can give you the scholarship and this will not be the first scholarship I understand this is going to be an annual event so I'm really proud that we could do this partnership and that your son in particular yes yes is the recipient yes thank you all right let's give a round of applause now from my administr come on man give man please yeah come on thank you as a as a family all I can say is thank you for literally being the model of what it is to be a family that can grow and call Our Place home uh really make the absolute benefits and find the achievement as a family supporting each other where you can live and grow go down the road get a great education as well whether it be here or whether it be a little B further down the road and I hope is that you we're going to bring all of those wonderful skills and cyber security right back home and so thank you for that you want to say anything add I just okay I just want to make sure man you know I love to hear you talk add uh sir ma'am oh okay um this is indicative of three things I would like to say his performance on the playing field his performance on the battlefield but more so than anything else is performance in the academic world and when all three of those come together we get an outstanding individual like Joshua Addington Brown and I'm very proud of this young man because we know the flip side so we should always celebrate and embrace the great positive things you are doing now young man but more to come amen let's give him a round of applause all right oh hot big a dog get up front all right let's see just Round of Applause sir than yes indeed we have our sister city we have a presentation Miss let's give round of appla come forward as they read this Proclamation into existence and and I know I do he wants us to come down that's what he said thank you mayor Blake I have a copy here ma'am you have the original yes ma'am but I actually did my homework went on your agenda today made sure we were going to the right place the right time and printed up the letter yeah this thank you sir yeah our love for our sister city cannot be broken come on down get it up come on yes Face the Nation yes welcome welcome come on come on front and center come on Canada Michael Michael motorcycle go ahead all right good well on behalf of the sister sister city program of Coco Florida and be sheemish Israel we have a letter written and hand delivered from bemes directly a couple of weeks ago we had a gentleman here with 13 of his family members from Israel and we had a gathering with about 70 of us with Mayor Michael Blake and his beautiful sister and we had an amazing time together it was Jews Christian unbelievers all Faith coming together to show support for the nation of Israel and this country is the only democracy in the Middle East and so it is with joy that we partner with them and we support them and their right to exist as a people and the mayor of bat schemes his name is schmuel Greenberg and he sent a letter to our own Mayor Michael Blake and so I can read this it says Dear Mr Blake I hope this letter finds you well allow me to introduce myself my name is shuel Greenberg and I am the newly elected mayor of bate sheemish I am a former deputy mayor in bat sheemish and have always attributed great importance to our relationship with Coco I have heard a great deal about the strong partnership between our two cities including the productive collaboration and mutual delegations that have taken place over the years I am committed to continuing and strengthening this relationship during my term in office as mayor I believe that our connections are of great importance they allow us to share ideas host friendly delegations and allow for more understanding I am confident that the Foreign Relations Department in our city under the leadership of councilman Mr V Waki will continue to drive this relationship forward I look forward to many more years ahead of cooperation and to further strengthen the bond between our two cities also I would love to have the opportunity in the current term to come and visit the city of Coco to meet face to face see and examine additional ways to strengthen the alliance between the cities sincerely schel Greenberg mayor of bat schemes Israel all right our love for bet shim our sister city will never be broken we will stand as Israel stands so will the a great USA we stand together because there's power and numbers and at the end of the day we All God's Children amen I'm a firm believer in that and I did have the opportunity to go to Israel be sheemish and also to the Dead Sea and and the ngev and the desert and it was quite an educational experience cultural awarness but the beautiful thing about it there was love and is love in the air and that's what I felt and I'll go back in a heartbeat because I believe in Israel and I believe in our sister city and keeping that line of communication over so we stand together and I thank you all thank you very much all right all right what do you want what would you like can I just have youve to the side so I can see everybody no you mean you can't get the skinny side of me belt side oh okay I'm always trying to hide perfect thank you so much all right ready one two okay thank you thank you done sweee thank you on delegations mindful you have three minutes to elaborate on particular item not always what to say but how you say it and I'm just asking that we just use a little common courtesy because we proceed make sure you have all your cards first on the this we have JB JIS re Jack B Dennis 3710 K Drive good evening everybody for the last 30 days we have been on a campaign doing a Q&A with the voters and we're using this sign here we asking the voters not to elect none of you again we have ruled you as inhumane career politician for the fact you have no mercy compassion for the homeless I've been in here advocating for the homeless since March and your action show what the people are saying they ask me why you think the city of Coco is not doing nothing but the homeless the truth pH answer is they don't care they got money to spend on the fish pond we got grants for bright line we'll even build an airport if we think we can make a profit but we have no mercy and compassion for the homeless so until the day of an election we will be out with this sign asking the voters to get rid of every one of you have a good night i' just like to remind the council and those who might be concerned I think our last council meeting I actually brought forth a plan that put the new requirements that are going to KCK in for mandator man mandating a place to go where you can shower B have facilities I brought for a plan that would be fairly adjacent to the vi Middle School uh there's a a big junk of land over there uh there's every government service that you can possibly ask for so I would just like to remind that f one plan and I would hope that maybe that would take some consideration and again my question would then be if not the why not thank you very next theist will be good evening everybody uh first I would like to thank councilman Behringer for his service and thank you for stepping up for your community it takes um a lot of strength to run for office and to serve your community and so um whether everybody always agrees or not it takes it takes a lot to serve your community so thank you for that um and I wish you all the all the best in in what you have after this uh next I would like to speak about back when I was here in March um I I requested that the council look into adding election information and the financial to the website so that it could be a little bit more transparent and easily accessible for the residents so that they could kind of know what's going on know what the processes and um just make that a little bit easier for people uh and since I'm I'm not able to be here for the whole meeting um I just would like to request that since we're so close to the next election it would be great for the voters to have a say in who um takes the seat that's going to be open so I appreciate the time and have a great night good evening Council Kristen LTE Coco resident and founder of both the Coco care citizens Hub and The Bard care citizens Coalition on Facebook one of the things that I do is I go around and I look at different practices that different cities have for for their various things um I've commented here before tonight I want to focus on local election information so I'm aware that on the supervisor of elections website um voters can get some information about the local elections and who is in them but the Coco City website is absent of information on local elections in my review of the counties that I have searched so far Coco is actually the least transpar parent of any of the counties what I have found is is that there are three races open I have brought this to the city's attention I have not found any information anywhere on Coco sites I have a community newsletter very glossy newsletter does not mention the local elections in the three races open in which the announcement period goes through August 20th so it's wide open right now whereas many of the cities close down their announcement period early not Coco Coco is wide open and yet you refuse to announce it you also declined to put it into in your monthly newsletter you've declined to announce it on your Facebook page I have specifically written the reason I can say that it's intentional um is because I have written to the clerk I have written to my councilman I've written to uh copy sorry the councilman and Mr Whitten on this it has been brought up in March so this is not an accident in my opinion that Coco declines to put put local election information on the website in contrast the most transparent City that I have found so far is Coco Beach residents of Coco Beach can find the openings they can find the financial reports on the candidates they can find the forms they can get well informed so residents of Coco Beach have a lot more going for them in their information on elections than Coco does so I would like to ask Coco to step it up and at least put up some Facebook announcements and press releases coko also has an excellent system of announcing uh meetings and notification system it would be very easy for Koko to utilize its its press release system it's got a new Pi officer congratulations uh for Coco to utilize the current mechanisms of getting information out to let voters know about the election with my last 30 seconds I would like to comment on the Clear Lake Boulevard project which has been called the zig zag Maze and which I know Coco is not responsible for the project it is an fot project nonetheless the question that I have is a citizen who is witnessing 16 foot sidewalks 16 foot wide sidewalks who has seen the grass strips filled in in in between the sidewalk and the curb stop I mean it looks atrocious how did that go for 30 second just seemed to skip right there I am very dis my question is I will end with this my question is what could have been done to prevent the Coco zigzag maze which even Trooper Steve came out from TV6 to call out and to drive down and which I have posted video into Coco cares what could have been done to help that project and what could you guys have done and that's my question call I'm address the Clear Lake first of all there were a series of public meetings for that project and well actually first of all this is an area of regional concern because of the high fatalities deaths that have taken place there how many because I can't get informed on that well I don't have I don't have the numbers because it is dangerous by Design people fly down that road and have always sped down that road and pedestrians have no places to cross this project still won't be done for another year and I know it's very confusing and the you know the lines aren't painted on well and I know you have to be very attentive when you drive down that road but I'm hopeful that there was so much public input into this and that the engineering studies are based on making it safer for all of us so we don't suffer those fatalities that a year from now we're going to be a lot more pleased and um you know residents we want to make it safe by Design and I know people are complaining believe me I get the calls so um and there'll be people that'll be angry for me just for supporting it but we know from the data that there are things you can do to make a road safer Cal Palmer and this is what the design is based on might not be perfect but it's going to save lives I am confident about that thank you for your comments residents disagree with everything you just said and I can't get the documents from F do thank you I do endorse what council woman call stated because we're on the TPO and we had the secretary from District Five there John Tyler and anyone dying on any public highway is a tragedy even just one it's one too many period Point Blank okay proceeding on um I'm sorry I have one more card um the last card will be Mrs Heather baringer would you please come forward surprise surprise hi good evening everyone good evening um over the last 12 years um I have never missed a meeting that my husband councilman Binger has been at it has been the Tuesday night scene in our home um it's always been an important thing for me um that our children understand that are that the head of our household has a servant's heart um and that's and excuse me because I may cry um I couldn't let this night go by without saying that over the years of course you know with with this position there comes many many things um good and bad um but all I can say is that every decision ever made by my husband as I have watched watch him for all these years was made with a pure heart for the people that he serves and all he ever wanted to do was to make the communities better for our children and for the people that live there so as and I'm jumping ahead on the agenda I think but as he resigns um I just I just needed to to publicly say that and to say um how thankful I am to have a partner um that has chosen this for me as I have a new opportunity in a new place and we have children that need us in a different way now um so that's it just again with pure heart and pure intent he's decided to support his wife and his children and that that takes a lot of Courage um in today's climate and today's culture um so I just want to say thank you to you guys for giving him this opportunity again um because it's truly his gift um as he serves and and I know that no matter where we are and what we do he'll serve in some way um so that's that and as we as as you guys know um councilman baringer and I both work um in education so as he leaves and as we leave and and unfortunately we leave this this city and and this place um I just ask you to consider some of the things that he said about really diving into education here and I just want to leave you with this I know that Dr randelle will come here and give you a presentation about SE schools and how that's doing great but to put that in perspective that means that two-thirds of our students here don't read 2third of our students in the city of Coco do not read if we have SE schools it only takes 33% of the students to be proficient to have a C- school as a principal of a school that serves over a hundred kids from our city I'm sorry I'm going to finish up right now I serve over a hundred kids from our city that drive past many schools to come to mine we are an a-rated schools our kids here deserve better so I just ask you to hold those people accountable that we've elected in those places the same way that people come here and hold you guys accountable make them do it make them pay attention to the kids here because that's the answer for our city so thank you again M Aus do we have any more cards ma'am for notations thank you very much this concludes this portion of delegations we will proceed forward to desend agenda items motion byoun second second by counc call question all in favor by saying I I I any N I have it okay proceeding on to item number 6-1 approve the first reading of ordinance 10- 2024 providing for a Coco ad forar tax abatement program extension to appear on the referendum ballot extending the program of an additional 10 years 24- 387 yeah it's okay no harm no fou teamwork dream beautiful okay so this this referendum was held back in November the 8 1995 where the citizens of Coco had a majority board vote authorizing the city council and the City of Coco granting Economic Development esad gargan would you read this into the ordinance number 10224 an ordinance of the city council of the city of Koko bavar County Florida providing for a referendum election and ballot language for the November 5 202 for election for an election scheduled thereafter providing for an economic development at VOR tax exemption pursuant to section 1961 1995 Florida Statutes providing for coordination with the supervisor of elections providing for severability and an effectiv dat this is first reading of this ordinance also a public hearing item as you indicated mayor since 1995 um the city has had um an avalor exemption um opportunity for certain economic development project s that meet meet certain criteria that that authorization was granted by the voters of Coco on several occasions even thereafter that authorization from the voters is set to expire um in a year and this uh ordinance proposes to put the issue back out to the voters to ask whether they still want to allow the council to have that Authority uh for another 10 years be happy to answer any questions mayor and as you can see there's been what nine examples that that has taken place okay any other questions for Esquire gargan and or um city um excuse me manager saying Council sorry yeah I was going to ask about the Walmart do we know what the the value of the whole abatement was the total value I'm sorry I did not see it in the materials I had I don't have it I don't have that information in front of me yeah I think it's I think it's generally 300 plus thousand a year so if you just go five times five time three that's roughly the number somewhere between 1.6 and probably 1.9 million and the 2 million that we gave them the 2 million incentive that was on top of that right it was a cash cash incentive yes ma'am on top of that yeah that was the only one now I was here at the Genesis of that I was on your side um in the audience um myself and one other person spoke against that I had actually researched the three locations and was convinced that they were going to come here anyway just because of the advantages of this particular location now having said that sitting on this side and thinking about the different scenarios that can take place this is a tool and one that we it's up to us to use with discretion um and uh to research well um before considering it because it is a a substantial amount for a city that only you know still generates under what $10 million and uh 12 million um in taxes so um I'm going to support it but um I'm going to be very I I'm really going to resist using it except when it really presents us with an advantage that we wouldn't have otherwise um there was one on here there was an 8-year project project with an 80% abatement I know that company is doing really well the second example they ended up moving I believe because they found another location more advantageous but um again this is a tool the city managers uh sir do other municipalities emulate the same referendum excuse me ordinance that we have here with the cooko adum tax abatement um yes sir uh the the county currently has it in place city of Coco I don't know the other cities off the top of my head but I believe there are other cities in the county that actually have the tax abatement program city of pombay does city of I mean there's number of cities that have the same type of program thank you very much sir uh Council thank you and I in city I just want to make sure I'm clarifying on this this isn't a discussion on the value of tax abatement not tax abatement do tax abatement don't do tax abatement the the the question here is do we allow this to go to the ballot so people can choose and have a point on that and that's that's how I'm taking this so it gives people the option to to have that discussion yes sir first first reading to do that it'll obviously come back for a second second hearing thank you sir sing do we have any other questions saying none chair let us close this portion of councel to the public please come forward to state your name and your wishes as concerns going what you got a card please submit all your cards just like you did for item number 7-1 Christen LTE Coco resident I wasn't sure if I was going to speak on this topic but I have decided to after watching the County Commission meeting this morning there was rigorous debate on the County Commission meeting from commissioner toaya about this same 10year extension of the advalorium tax abatement and he brought up examples of how it is only it has only benefited the county by like 42 jobs was the information so they had a war of competing narratives where you had the um experts on it that were saying that hey this done all this good for the county and then you had commissioner Taya saying hey we've only had 42 jobs and really um challenging that narrative so I left it you know thinking that you know I'm uncertain I'm not supporting it or opposing it but it was helpful as a resident to see it debated as councilwoman cost just did to say what are we really getting out of it and should we question this rather than just automatically putting it Forward because voters aren't going to know I mean voters you know a referendum I thing like this this is going to how many people are really going to research it so I just would like to draw council's attention to the fact that it was heavily debated um it was disputed one of the members of the audience Sandra Sullivan also spoke out against it and it does lead one to questions of why are we so heavily supporting large business uh commissioner Goodson asked about why are why aren't we helping small businesses are they benefiting from this and the answer is really no it's it's really geared to large businesses and I think it's a good question to ask how much Walmart how much did the companies that are listed on the narrative that's in the city documents how much benefit did they have and do some more analysis on it so I can't solve that but I would like to relay it for a council's benefit that it was just debated this morning at the commission and I and I recommend watching that recording thank you okay anyone else did you did she submit a card because I just want to make it official okay thank you um do we have yes sir I'mma bring it back to councel okay um seeing we have no more cars chair like to this portion to the public and return to the councel Council M sir yeah I think uh some sometimes we we have people come and speak on we the people and I think the opportunity to put it on the ballot is giving that opportunity to the people um i' I've SE um plenty of different things on the ballot I may not understand but it's my job uh as a citizen to do my due diligence to find out um what what am I voting on now there are some people that may not pay attention to it but I think we're taking that out out of our hands and putting it in the people's hands U then also talking about the rebate program itself um really a lot of those funds end up coming back to the cities and the counties um through uh Employments um and so you know I I think even if we have the program the council whoever that may be in the future still has the opportunity to debate approving that particular business for the rebate program anyway so we don't know who that's going to be on Council but you know they they have the opportunity to have that discussion so that was my thank yes so we toured the Walmart Distribution Center we toured Paragon Plastics we toured U Guardian ignition interlog manufacturing we toured that facility did we not miss um singer I mean we've taken that tour so we clearly see the number employees that they have and that's gainfully employed and within the city limits of coc how do I know because a lot of them are former students so I will believe in this and I think the people are competent enough they will you know advertise this in the newspaper you can look at it through the internet even in social media but the point that I'm saying to you um I don't sell the people short so my thing is I I believe in the people and they believe in us and we'll move forward to approve and I'll second we have a motion on the floor to approve this particular item ordinance number 10- 2024 for Coco avium tax abat and a second by chair motion by councilman GES and a second by the chair CH going to call the question all in favor saying I eyes have it unanimously proceeding on to the next item second reading of the Land Development code text amendment to appendant a article 11 section 19 of the COC ordinances of the city of Coco to add truck parking facilities to the list of permitted uses in the m-2 zoning District to provide a definition of truck parking facilities um I think this is is this you Mr Murray is that Mr Patrick Murray um also this was approved June 12 2024 by the PNC board and we approved it July 9th 2024 and I know you must um read this to ask for sir okay ordinance 07224 an ordinance of the city council of the City CA bvar County Florida amending the zoning ordinance of the city of Coco to add truck parking facilities to the list of permitted uses in the M2 zoning District providing a definition of truck parking facilities providing for the repeal of Prior and consistent ordinances and resolutions incorporation into the cability and an effective date this is second and final reading of this ordinance also a public heing item there have been a few um amendments to the ordinance since first reading I think uh the planning consultant may want to just touch upon them before uh the council takes this up yes thank you Council patri Patrick Murray uh rvi landscape uh planning and Landscape architecture for the record um following our hearing two weeks ago uh the applicant requested slight change regarding the um landscape design requirements and it was added that landscape shall be designed and placed in a manner as to not impair impair vehicle visibility at the corner of intersections or Ingress and ESS of drives um this was primarily due to the um orientation of the building as this uh individual applicant is proposing and the applicant is here do we have any questions for Mr M saying n thank you Mr M CH closes portion to C over to the public please come forward and state your name for us please submit a card in advance if you could going once going twice chillot to close this portion to the public and return of the council what are the wishes of councel chair like make a motion to approve the second and final reading of this particular item we got second by depy mayor Hearn CH going to call the question all favor saying I eyes have it unanimously proceeding on to the third and final item under public hearing request to postpone consideration of the zoning map Amendment consistent with the appendix a zoning article 21 to change the zoning map designation of 11 Parcels totaling 1.39 Acres with the address of 301 South Coco Boulevard from CP commercial Parkway to CN neighborhood commercial um Esquire gargan sir and also is Stephen here or are you going to speak in Sten St here okay I know I know we postponing I get it but I'm just say ask my understanding is the applicant is requesting postponement until um October 8th uh regular city council meeting okay and we will any questions so I can close it to councel open to the public you can only talk about the postponing of this Con consideration of this zoning map consistent with appendix a zoning and once going twice sh like to close this portion to the public and return to the council what are the wishes of council motion to approve we have a motion on Appo by Council calls second second by Deputy Mayor Hearn just call the question all in favor by saying I I any n eyes have it unanimously proceeding on to item number seven dash one provide Direction on The District 4 bavar County Parks and Recreation and a local agreement all right um we've been dealing with this particular item Squire excuse me Mr city manager would you like to elaborate on this before I turn it over to public work I know we are well rehearsing this and I do have some cards in the audience yeah just yes sir just very briefly um as you as you said the uh city has been uh going back and forth with the county for a number of years this actually expired in 2011 and 2012 and so the county put a proposal on the table um and approved it unanimously at their April 24th 2024 meeting and uh advise the city council that they have an option to accept it and that acceptance must be U they must be notified by the end of this month as to whether or not you accept the uh the proposed contract um for an effective date of October 1 uh 2024 so the beginning of the next uh fiscal year again this contract really seeks to uh limit the expenditures uh the the county expenditures um to the revenue that's coming in from the special district and then uh share in any expenditures uh share in approximately a 5050 um split between uh for those expenditures that uh come in after I'll say that uh the expenditure exceeds the revenues that are in the um that are in the uh that come into the district from the city of coko um and so we went over this quite extensively at the uh budget Workshop and so uh we'll answer any questions you may have again staff is proposing that we do take over uh three parks and those are Abby I can't remember those off the top of my head Coco Manor Carl Anderson and fern Prospect and and again just for to remind the council and and the audience that this is this has we're estimating at this time approximately uh up to a half a million dollar impact to the to the city's budget and so we will answer any questions that you may have we on one ACC Court do you have anything you would like to share on Mrs Morgan ma before I open it to the public I just wanted to add that that um interlocal agreement as part of the uh agenda item does exclude the three pars yes thank you yes okay uh councilman go and councilwoman C I'm asking you would like to elaborate now or would you like to hear from the public and then after they give us their concerns and then I'll return the microphone back to you guys okay is that fair and applicable this lty come for please good evening Christen LTE so I watched the budget meeting on July 7th or July 10th online so I saw that and I was also in attendance at the commission meeting on July 9th and got to hear some of the discussion there so what was revealed is is that KOCO has about a 133% advantage in terms of the three players that are in the Parks budget and now this agreement this new agreement seeks to remove that and equalize the amount between the three the Coco the county and rockled so um I wanted to share a few of the comments that commissioner Goodson had made on this he he said that he supported the equalization of this effort because one he named some things on Coco one was the splashpad which has been disputed for years by residents some residents for $710,000 he named he said as Coco has enough for the $5 million train station allocation and he made the comment which was quite interesting to me he said you can't fix stupid that's what he said during the meeting commissioner Tom Goodson and so I was sitting there in the meeting and listening to it and I once again had watched the the July 10th meeting and my take on it is is that as a concerned citizen I wasn't able to go in and Advocate on Koko's behalf for anything on the parks matter and the parks agreement because my I have concerns so as a concerned citizen I'm concerned and I brought this up all the way back from 2021 when I first started getting engaged about lack of public engagement in the Parks planning I did a PowerPoint presentation I was promptly interrupted at minute three of that uh nothing has happened despite repeated attempts to try to get the public back into the parks planning so if we don't have the public in the Parks planning where are we and then there's a lack of transparency and public input put in the district for Budget in particular I attended a meeting just last week on Thursday big meeting week on Thursday and I was trying to get insight into whether or not the prioritized spending that occurred on March 5th for the special equipment for the parks ended up in the budget and I can't even answer that question and I went to the meeting and I spoke with Mary Ellen Donner after the meeting when my question was not answered she had uh she revealed after several questions that she had privately met with Mr Whitten about it but this is the amount of effort that is required I even go to the meeting on a Thursday afternoon at 2 pm and I can't figure out what's going on with the district for Parks budget so I really think that you guys should rethink this even at your meeting where you're talking about mini soccer pads and new spending and Veteran spending with the with the um juny Rios Martinez fund I mean I was just appalled by that and here we have I mean I was just appalled by the lack of public engagement absent Leander Hearn thank you for suggesting that the public be engaged and it was it's 121,000 that's missing from that budget not the 60,000 is reported by um by Shon Whitten who prior said 95,9 189 had been spent on engineering so we have numbers that don't add up and lack of public trust there's no one to help you engage with the county thank you very much thank you okay we will proceed in this s councilwoman cause you turn your light off oh well I there turn back what you say I didn't hear you miss ly did you say something I thought there was another carard but I was wrong thank you br okay councilwoman calls then councilman going then councilman B we'll proceed in that order yeah I I had a question does rockage have an agreement or do they have this what rockl has uh an agreement it's not this not the same format not the same substance as his agreement they have an existing agreement that expires in maybe four or five years okay so they've had an agreement since there's originally expired and it how different is it from this I mean I guess because I guess my biggest problem and you know we discussed this at length so no need to talk about it a lot here but half of the kids that participate are from rockage or unincorporated area um we have in our Parks we have with stadley Park we have a regional uh Field Park you know for organized Sports um these are all services to all the citizens of the county so it does feel like um that you know there's fairness lacking here um this was the first time I saw the salaries um attached to the parks and you know looking at 145,000 for Travis I'm kind of amazed by that given that it's only open um so many hours a day and there's very little activity there I guess that includes the overhead salaries as well um and I'm wondering have we considered and this is the first time I brought it up and I'm sorry I hadn't we didn't have a chance to talk about this because we didn't didn't get the background on this until today but or yesterday but the have we considered because I think what I saw here was that we're suggesting taking Jolie Taking Over Jolie right no okay it's not the the Recreation Center no ma'am it's it's not um the recreation center it is it is Gilmore family Carl Anderson and Coco Manor and Coco Manor okay we we do have language in the contract that says that the city can have those discussions about who they want as the uh operators at uh parks there and so that would be new that the city could at some point in time decide that they want to go to a third party to uh with City staff to actually operate the parks but that requires a negotiation between the city and the and the county okay okay well that um I was looking through the slide presentation I did want to point out on page two the second slide just so we want to look at this when we present in the future because I don't think it really serves us the way um is currently laid out the current level of service exceeds the comprehensive plan requirement um that 323 Acres I believe that includes the Coco Conservation Area and um as you know when we brought that up I think Eric was the consultant that was here he confirmed that that is not considered Park recreation so um I mean the Department of Environmental Protection their definition conservation open space is separate use from Recreation um because it is used to conserve potentially environmentally sensitive lands as well as wetlands and floodways so just to point that out because if you take that away we have quite a bit less than 2354 Acres of park space per Citizen and I've seen that come up in comp plants before so okay that's it thank you chair Point order sir and just for um my question is it I my understanding was that our conversation relative to the entirety of the subject was going to wait to the end of comment therefore comments would be direct to the speaker at this point and that I'm just checking as a body are are we making General comments to the issue or are we making comments to the to the speaker at this point it's option okay just check all right thank you all right um Council M your next sir um city manager is your light on the angle light I'm at it looks like yeah it is Ser it's on me oh um so for f first thing I I don't like this particular contract at all um um because I I'm probably the only one here that is um you you know currently a w partner now and I know the issues that the county has which is uh employees and so and lack thereof and so I know we have our checks and balances inside the our contract with them of Maintenance schedules and and things of that nature I'm just concerned um with changes of employees within our city um those checks and balances away and now our citizens um and to councilwoman calls this point our parks are used by the entire County it's not like it's just Coco residents so when Commissioners say certain things that they don't know what they're talking about um because they don't go to the parks themselves to visit they don't go to any events inside those Parks but they make comments um that they don't even truly understand or even reach out to our administration because they don't have the respect for those people that we have in um in in in leadership within our city um it it disturbs me because again I am I'm every single day I'm in the park in some sort of a park within Coco Rock Ledge whever and they don't have enough employees to handle the checklist that we're going to provide them and so I don't want to hear the crap about um we don't put enough money in based on our tax revenue um when our citizens are not the only citizens that use the parts within our city it makes no sense to try to use Apples to Apples on something like this dealing with uh quality of life dealing with Parks it it is is it's asinine to even go there that's like having a dog park in Rock Ledge what you think only Rockledge Dogs Go To Rock Ledge dog park no it it make it make it makes no sense so so this to Citizens when when you have Commissioners who represent your City to represent your area and they don't work with that particular City for whatever the situation is reach out to them and ask them why okay that that's all I ask from our citizens um because I know we have several individuals here that go to those meetings I think that's a question that we should ask is is is what why is that open line of communication not there I know County Manager speaks on our city manager a lot but again when Commissioners make those statements is disheartening because again I'm there I'm not talking from behind a wall I'm not talking from a dis and trying to make myself look smart I'm there I see it I see the lack of I see uhe buildings not being pressure washed bees in front of bathrooms that little girls got to go in and they tell me that they clean the bathroom but it's three was nests over top of it there's no way you went clean that bathroom so it it's it's certain things that I get upset about because again I'm there every single day and so I don't like this contract but I do understand as far as financially for our city this put us in a bind CU we don't have the finances to maintain all of our parks and they know that too so they knew that throwing this in our lab is going to put us in the bind and we don't have a choice and so I just I want to make that be known that our parks are not simply used by just our residents these are Bard County same thing in Melbourne I have teams play here and then they go play in Melbourne so it should be a shared responsibility and so that's just my my my opinion on it but uh back to the checks and balances what what as far as our city how do we or what's the plan for us to make sure that those checks and balances are there what what what do we do how do we yearly monthly how do we do that I guess that's my question for for us as a staff yeah and I think as as a staff there we have to we have to check that they are are doing these things there and so that'll be largely the responsibility of staff I mean the the the the one good thing about this is this new contract is that they do have the service levels standards there and so and so we know that on a daily basis they're supposed to be doing certain things and so we'll just have to make periodic checks on on on whether or not they're doing those things against this service standard checklist um and so the a couple of couple of points of clarification there was never uh 700 some odd thousand budgeted for a splash pad um at juny Rio's par there you all have dispensed with the splash pad uh uh discussion uh that is no longer a project that is under consideration for you all but again there was never um 700 and some odd uh thousand budgeted for a splash pad um I believe that commissioner Goodson um um use the phrase you can't uh uh help stupid or stop stupid uh when he was referring to or talking about the fourth quadrants for the railroad crossing um I I don't think that he was talking about staff or the city of Coco Council when he was uh uh when he said that um I have no idea um what she uh What uh Mrs lorte is referring to with regards to my math versus her math there we know exactly what we spent on the design and I trust staff's uh numbers on that um and so again we're sure of our numbers this uh Recreation District was created in 1961 and so it's been here for uh what is that 63 years so so it's been a districtwide uh program uh there was never consideration of who was putting the most in the pot and getting uh and and getting the the the the the least from the pot there that discussion uh started occurring a number of County Commissioners back and so uh this is uh there was mentioned a 133% disparity uh disparity there is uh no question that what is collected from the district residence in the city of Coco um is less than what we've been getting from the district again as as councilman going said it took because it was set up as a districtwide park system I.E you're not restricted as a Coco resident to the Coco Parks nor are you restricted as a Rockledge resident to the rockl parks you can use any of those parks there and so so this has been a a long time coming um we don't have an ability to to fully fund the cost of these District parks there are there are eight District Parks we are again uh we are again uh taking over three of them and so ultimately at the end of the day your $12 million in in property tax revenue and and um the district tax revenue whatever that amount is um won't allow us to actually uh uh fully expense all eight parks and so this 5050 swap or 5050 Arrangement after we get to that Revenue ceiling is is um is something that we have to take or you all have to take at this particular point in time um hopefully there are better days coming in terms of tax revenue but you have a whole lot of competing interest on those tax revenues there your your five million that's dedicated to the to the station is coming from fund balances and I can guarantee you that when that station happens it'll generate um tax revenue that that uh is uh significant and so um so I'll make that point there and then the last point is is that uh Mary Ellen Donner is the is the parks and rec director for for the uh for Bard County and uh I I am the city manager and and I don't have any private meetings with Mrs Doner they're all on the schedule uh we talked about this agreement we talk about various Parks projects and so uh to characterize it as private meetings is is a misrepresentation of what those public meetings are okay thank you good yes sir okay city manager good yes sir yes sir councilman uh b sir thank you and um just in in I think keeping with in with Roberts um this is specific to the speakers Miss ly this there's questions I had for you and or comments I had for you uh and then I'll Reserve comments on the issue as I think we only get two bites at the Apple something like that right so miss ly the well okay um but it's I would leave that to you they're in genuine so I just to clarify uh during the budget meeting that we held one of the things that I did was in short bring forward to council to NX the the additional Splash Pad at juny Rios and you your take was that kind of the idea that many people wanted to have happen yes okay so that didn't I'm just saying so it was brought forward uh you also asked how much the engineering was I'm sorry you asked how much the design fees were and Mr Whitten responded 60,000 and that is not what the city's records respond so I'm accurate about that right but I'm I'm just saying it was brought forward to that's correct right to to to to be done and so that was all feedback that I had gotten throughout the district uh after visiting the park knocking some doors and so for and so on so I I just share with you that outside of holding an additional public meeting uh that was going out meeting people in the place where they were to to get that I just share with you that was the process uh the second was that are you aware that I also offered a budget cut uh across the board you requested a budget cut of like if it was 10% for it be shared for all the districts you say that yes we don't know what will happen but yes correct just to clarify so from a money standpoint that was something that I had offered all the way across to everybody uh and you know to each Council so and so on uh I know that there was a council member who was advocating for additional resources to be spent in a district I think at the expense of District 3 uh but you know I offered I said fine we can all take it and then nobody did so I'm just to clarify that it wasn't just you know gross overspending I think I think it was hearing what people were saying hey let's try this something different and then also offering a cut and the third part is that inclusive of that cuts and this is I would just share with you where we may differ uh the reason that I offered utilizing funds from a reduction of spending to a potential splash pad with a reoccurring 40,000 a year was instead of personally trying to increase the millage rate finding a way to utilize funds from some place without increasing millage to get to a veterans representative that could service veterans needs within the city of Coco so while I hear you saying that that was appalling that that I will stand on that all day long so councilman it was the part that I was concerned about is is that the reallocation of the remaining 589 th000 that I had concerns about representative for citizen representation in the reallocation of those remaining dollars and that the citizens be included in that discussion so that is my concern and I heard it being reallocated elsewhere before coming to the citizens and I I I I believe at this time also that we had a uh I think from that meeting there was some kind of a plan that talked about projects that could happen and then also we had talked about maybe getting citizen input on those projects on the specific ones that you came up with that that that sorry the city manager came up with on those specific projects corre only to do a poll on that which is still supportable not as supportable as getting actual citizen input from the Grassroots and then and then each one of those would be brought before Council for approval thereby allowing people to have process in the input prior to input is always welcome yeah is always welcome okay all right thank you thank you if you attend the meeting you have the opportunity to speak that's just the bottom line so so Mr Mayor yes sir on the the juny re Splash Pad design uh the lady said that I said 60 something I could have off the top of my head said 60 something she said 120 something and the encumbrance was 95 uh 95,5 so so again off the top of my head there may have been a number that I actually uh said at the meeting um but again we have the encumbrance we have the financial uh Records there and so it is different than than both the 60 something and the 120 something okay thank you for the point of clarification okay um see do we have any other cards okay saying none what are the wishes of council pertaining to item number 7-1 provide direction of the district four of our County Parks and Recreation in a local agreement you have your light on councilman U baringer uh yes sir and this is on discussion a a concern that I had uh specifically to the agreement and and it's under section four for public accessibility so I I think one of the concerns is that the language that's within the contract might be dated uh and ultimately it reads as follows public accessibility all recreational facilities buildings and Centers located on property shall be accessible to the public on a nine exclusive basis without regard to age sex race religion disability or place of residence uh and in short it says if you short that it's all Recreation facilities shall be accessible to the public on a non-exclusive exclusive basis uh without regard to sex uh ultimately the the Florida legislature passed the safety and private spaces act and under under that transgender individuals can't use a public bathroom so how do we navigate that because that language doesn't work so do we hang signs up again you know like you can use this you can't are we back to there you know certain people only we have a history of that in Coco in the 60s so I I don't know who's printing the sign I'm not I'm not excited about that is that it sir oh and hear from the attorney yeah attorney can help us out and I I use a prime example my cousin went through a transition went through the whole shebang doesn't have eggs she doesn't have eggs but if she comes to Florida it's got to use the bathroom she has to go in the boy's bathroom after going through a full transition which okay there's a lot of people who think that's awesome but I'm just our our language and our actual bathrooms kind of don't work for a percentage of population and I think that's probably pretty cruel I mean if you have to use the restroom and you can't but okay I don't know so can you help say thank you sir I don't know if I can even address that um other than I mean the county has uh proposed this contract to take it or leave it I don't think there's any intent to discriminate with respect to this provision um you know I think from an operational standpoint it's going to would behoove the county and the city to comply with whatever uh the applicable lawers regarding accessibility so I that's about all I can say at this juncture okay I'll reserve a comment okay yeah a list okay you finish yeah I'll list okay um Deputy MN uh yes at the most recent uh budget meeting uh councilman baringer he had mentioned something that on the lines of the uh rate the rate at which the county pays for uh water usage at the parks around the county um does anyone know by ch against the the type of rate that we charge the county at the parks are they paying nothing or they paying a a regular residential rate well the agreement has us paying it not not for our parks within our city I don't I don't I don't think they pay a residential rate Jack they would probably pay whatever whatever tier that they're in I don't know if there's a commercial rate there I don't know what to call it there but but they pay uh for for the utilities at their Parks this agreement actually there was a change in this agreement in that we we now will pay directly for the utilities at are at the district parks there whereas the district was paying for for those rates previously for those uh for the utilities utility bills previously so my next comment probably be a question for attorney gargan um You probably don't have the answer now but maybe in the next meeting or so could you bring back um uh legal advice if it's legal to look at different tiers that we charge at other uh parks around the county uh that we Supply water utility to well it's going to be it's going to be again the the I mean the tiers are are based on Jack correct me if I'm wrong the type of property and then the the usage amount so so the the tiers are what they are that's in your ordinance with with regards to the fee schedule for for the utility rates there so so they're paying um the appropriate rate based on what what tier they're in there again I don't think it's a residential tier I guess to clarify more what I'm trying to say uh does council reserve the right to uh take a look at those fees uh sometime in the near future yeah each each year you all approve um don't have speci rate yeah yeah we we so each year you don't revisit the rates there there there's a uh Revenue sufficiency study there is the remember we only went up 2% on it's not a special class yeah right yeah so so so I don't know that you have an ability to to carve them out of the existing rate schedule I'll just say it that way okay is that it sir okay city manager City attorney if we do not approve this item tonight what are the repercussions they're GNA Force go ahead they're again there action um was and I'm going to read it in its entirety on uh what we have on the presentation at least on April 24th 2024 bvar County Board of County Commissioners approved direction to staff regarding the proposed interlocal agreement with the city of Coco for the operation and maintenance of Coco parks with the following options number one was to present the proposed interlocal to the city of coko as it is for their approval by by October 1st 2024 number two if the city does not approve the interlocal agreement by July 31st 2024 the county will notify the city that it will cease to maintain the city's the city of Coco parks on October 1st 2024 and that's the beginning of the fiscal year so and and again they did allow us to make some changes even after that approval on the April 24th we've made some changes and some logistical changes we've made some changes with regards to uh Financial reconciliation um and so we did make some operational logistical changes within the contract but the bottom line is is that you have to notify them by the end of this month whether or not you're going to uh enter into this agreement if you don't they will notify you that beginning October oober 1st of this year that we are responsible for maintaining those District parks and um 100% responsible so on that information and chair would like to make a motion to approve District Four board County Parks and Recreation and a local agreement and I'm looking for a second second okay I have a second on the floor CH gonna call the question all in favor to say hi hi hi n no okay let the record reflect we have four yes the only dissenting vote is councilman going thank you very much proceeding on to item number 7-2 bright line update Mr city manager sir thank you all right I love it thank you brother stole it depends if you depending or not thank you m Mr mayor um sir as you know the the the bright line um project has been a whirlwind um starting with the announcement I think the announcement came back in either January or February that Coco was the location uh for the station um and so we've been uh fast to work uh hard at work filling out the uh Grant application uh going over to the county to uh to uh advocate for tourism dollars there and so um again we' we've been successful in all of those things we were successful in submitting uh the Federal Grant application the city is the applicant on the Federal Grant application and I think the TPO is the co- applicant on the Grant application this station is a 80 something million dollar build um again the the revenue stream at this particular point is city of coko has a $5 million commitment tour his development tax taxes are a $5 million commitment um the TPO has a 15 A5 million doll commitment uh Congressman posy had an Appropriations request of 4 million that is in uh the agency budget at 2 million um and I don't think I I'm not sure that I'm missing any other uh funding categories and so so again that left 47. I think 5 million as the Federal Grant application that was submitted at the end of or the third week of was that May third week of May that is uh that application is in hopefully we will know something um uh by perhaps October November maybe even early as uh September but but again in the fall months hopefully we will know something um part of the update and part of what I need the the council's concurrence on is that uh the mayor myself the County Commission chairperson um the $25 fine sorry sir the uh I think Linda weatherman with the economic development commission uh bright line executives are traveling up to Washington DC to meet with uh agency heads our agency staff in the uh in the Federal Department of Transportation um we're also meeting with um Senator Rubio's staff uh Congressman posy staff and we may have some other meetings there and so the board can just uh give me the concurrence or approval of that travel for the mayor and myself and that that happens next week it is a 26h hour trip so we go up one day and we come back the next day but again we'll be up there uh meeting with them part of uh um actually creating uh the vision for the bright Line Station remember this is a multimodal station uh and that was what was on the application if you uh you will recall and and and perhaps the public didn't know that the city actually owns approximately close to 40 acres or maybe a little over 40 acres uh right behind the Walmart uh super center and right uh adjoining the bright line properties in the curve the curve is uh we'll just we just call that uh east of uh the Walmart uh Super Center west of the uh west of US1 and then south of 5 208 and north of Michigan so it's that swatcher property there so we own um three Parcels uh in that curve one of the parcels has uh it's a 25 acre parcel that has a conservation easement in favor of St John's Water Management District and I talk to you all individually about pursuing a transfer of that conservation easement or a release of that conservation easement so that we could actually um um utilize that parcel perhaps subdivide the parcel to establish public private Partnerships for uh mixed use development and uh uh Mr Ryan secis from rvi is here to sort of present that Vision not sort of he's going to present the vision of uh of the curve if you will and so I'll turn it over to him ultimately I'll come back uh when the time is right and ask for your approval but again just so that you guys are aware we are pursuing a release of that conservation easement on on uh on the on part of the 25 acre parcel that runs directly behind and and to the to the south of uh Walmart uh super center and so I'll turn it over to Mr secis to to take you through the presentation all right thank you Mr wooden uh good evening mayor council um my name is Ryan secist as Mr wooden said I'm with rvi planning landscape architecture um I'm the principal of our design practice across across our five Florida offices I'm located in Orlando and work with Steven notto who was an extension of planning staff years you you've met him um I'm going to go through the contents of what we're going to talk about today so in a little additional highlight or background that Mr Wht provided I'll kind of extend on that uh Mr wood asked us to put together this document to show what the opportunity could be and help with some of the applications that he's running through coordination with different agencies uh and as we started that out uh we always like to ask ourselves before you put bubbles on a plan to start assigning different uses what's what's the reason behind it what's the why uh where's the meat behind the idea that's going to drive it what would make people want to come to a location like this um and I mean the site uh adjacent to the the bright Line station so we're exploring opportunity and really getting into social and cultural cues in addition to of course physical and economic implications of developing a site like this and different Vision implications um so we'll look at Opportunity definition I'll Define that we'll look at some case studies on how this place could physically manifest and of course I'll bring up the concept plan and we can work through those iterations together uh so the opportunity uh y'all know the site location he described it here it is for for everybody in the room on location the green property is the city owned Parcels that Mr wooden me mentioned the red Parcels are owned by bright line and then the sort of orange yellow Parcels are adjacent Parcels that are primed for development owned by different entities and then we put this map on there the outer ring is a is a one M walk radius uh the inner ring is half a mile um and we'd like to put that up there just so we can get a lay of the land and understand what are the opportunities outside of the site that make it valuable and what we noticed that there are of course a lot of private and public assets around this site in particular you've got for example you've got Coco High School within walking distance you've got Eastern Florida State College there's a UCF Coco extension there as well so there's a lot of opportunity that could catalyze growth on this site uh and be used by a lot of different folks for a lot of different reasons for a mixed use development in addition to the catalytic use of a bright Line Station that's a regional connector so start off with a question what if the bright Line Station was insulated by Coco's Premier creative and Innovative mixed use District uh so in addition to having a bright Line Station what if this was a hub that could attract an assortment of of users for an assortment of reasons so it's going to be well connected in addition to having a regional train cross through this area you're also going to have access to these private and public institutions that I that I mentioned that surrounded or public uses um you're going to have hopefully a a compact District if it were imagine that way that could be walkable bikable able to connect back to main routes to the greater Coco area uh to get to a regional Hub that kind of Spurs off the different spots in add in addition to attracting New Uses uh that hits the accessibility rejuvenating it's a wetland site on about half of the available land I would say for development on the city own property it's it's a substantial amount of it we have our experts our biologists that have looked at it it is is an isolated Wetland it does have a conservation ement on part of it we do believe that St John's would support uh removing that conservation but we also see that as an opportunity from a development standpoint there's a lot of reasons that you could maintain part of a wetland for storm water applications to free up other developable higher quality Upland properties around it onto perhaps a portion of the city-owned property that could be sold back in a way for use of the surrounding development uh attainable this is a good opportunity for different types of housing um in a new District like this that may attract different types of folks uh at different socio economic levels and and there at different times in their life it could be an opportunity for a density it could be an opportunity for different types of rental housing in addition to housing for purchase for example um educational opportunities I mentioned this the surrounding schools that are in proximity that could leverage this for housing mixed use opportunities additional campus assets of the sorts and of course creative it's an opportunity to do something brand new with a raw piece of land that is spurred off of an exciting Railway opportunity with the bright line there's a lot of energy behind this and we could Elevate this into an exciting Dynamic and beautiful place for people to live in a contemporary design space who would go there right so I think a lot of folks could go there but who could we Target in in particular so as an example emerging Scholars folks that are coming out of school or coming out of their training uh as they leave High School get into some asset figure out what they're going to do for their their lives they could go to a new place like this with diverse housing types uh and close to local institutions for Education you're talking 21 to 25 year old folks starting to look for jobs for the first time in their life for educational opportunities they could be attracted to this place because it could be a place that requires the need for for for for maybe not a car you could walk you could bike you could do those things in addition to other types of job opportunities uh young professionals so they've kind of got now that range range you're talking 20 26 to 35 year olds so uh really getting into the middle of their of the start of their career I would say they've really kind of taken off they're past the entry level job they're looking to maybe upgrade their housing a bit um maybe they're not with the roommates anymore they're starting a small family you could provide different types of housing opportunities to progress into that level and that could be for rent or for purchase in addition to having a dynamic mixed use area with different types of night life or job opportunities you know eer e and stuff and also again something that you can walk you can bike you can get to Regional destinations uh and then quote I'm going to go with Wayward retirees we're in Florida that's a reality and I think about folks that are downsizing they maybe empty nesters or on the verge of retirement maybe they're going to move out of their house that was that was kind of built for their family and now they can get to a place that has a regional Hub to go to different destinations as they start to get a little bit of free time in their life and also have some disposable income because they're not encumbered by child care costs and the things that people in the middle of their life often encounter so it's an opportunity for again another type of housing Choice uh that is brand new and can be uh reinvented in such a way couple case studies and this is really physically inform form how it could come so when I say mixed use housing opportunities you're looking at you know mid-rise to to lowrise Apartments you're looking at pocket Parks uh plazas you're looking at ground floor retail opportunities different types of commercial and that's kind of what the scale has meant to interpret here on the screen a master stormw water park system now this one might be slightly outside the box you know why would we donate land or use land towards a sto a storm water function so the larger picture that's called Victory Point Park that's in Claremont and they had an opportunity where their downtown kind of got maxed out on infield development they ran out of space the only opportunity they had was storm water ponds speckled throughout the town they said you know what if we freed up development and they used actually a wetland site in a similar situation and I is olated lower quality Wetland that didn't have a environmental function outside of the footprint that it was in and actually turn into more of an environmental asset that was capable of freeing up the developable infill land around it so on the bottom of that picture that's a lumber yard that's slated for different types of land uses so they've changed the land use so when that user matures to the point where they decide to move on and capitalize on their property that will be the new premier location in Claremont for new development and infill and it will leverage that pond for stormm water without encumbering their site with the need to do storm water so therefore making their property more valuable and more apt to be developed so that's the opportunity that a city can capture by putting a storm water facility on this property in addition to that is a that's a what I would call a worldclass park because they actually attract uh kind of world attracting Triathlon events and such so it's also the stage that folks come to and they see and they recognize Claremont for their Innovation mass transit we know that we know that bright line is coming in that's a tremendous opportunity it's a highquality development uh and you see the one on the screen it's seamless to the community so the idea is that a new development could Embrace this I show a picture on the top left that's actually a SunRail station in um Maitland Florida so that was seamlessly designed to have a mixed use development in tandem with the station they have for the train there and that has really been a catalyst for New Growth around it for a Transit oriented development a compact accessible place that people can get regionally and compute around um and I think that could be a great vision for this place to to understand and if you look a lot of the bright Line stations that are down towards Miami those are seamlessly designed they've done a great job with it that opportunity could translate here as well absolutely so here's the here's the conceptual plan um all the things I mentioned are up here in some type of form and again this is an exploration we took notes from from Mr Whitten and we applied them to a site to leverage the opportunity and some of the things I'd like to point out are you know first and foremost for most there is a wetland on site we've tried to maintain a portion of that but it's not necessary we think you could get by without doing it but why not leverage a natural resource to cleanse your storm water on site create a park at set that could have Trails boardwalks and also raise the property values of the mixed use development around it by creating open space opportunities that often multif family developers and other commercial developers that are trying to build for lifestyle are often attracted to uh without wasting a lot of land right so it's still going to be used for storm water not any more than it needs to be but a substantial amount of that Wetland could be positively used without say wasting any development opportunity uh the corner has a park allocation we understand uh through Mr Whitten that part of this land was donated and there was a request that some portion of that land be used for City Park land we think that's a fantastic opportunity it happens to be on that quadrant of the site and that's that's Michigan a coming in uh if you imagine this would be a primary Gateway into this development you could put a large Gateway sign there the Park would welcome folks to this District as well as Pride great accessibility through there you can imagine events taking place around this kind of um place that's surrounded by an an a lush environment like a wetland but also an intense development that could activate it uh you'll see the master storm water system that I explained there just behind the Walmart site uh the location of that is for a couple reasons that's towards the Headwater of that Wetland and elevation and also that creates a buffer from the back end of Walmart um so it's a little bit more aesthetically pleasing in location conceptually um and also it gives some separation because you do have the bright Line Station which will have parking maybe a garage some buildings that cushions it a little bit maybe calms down the intensity around that use while also creating this magnetic Hub towards the middle and then around it around all these uses Parkland Wetlands storm water ponds bright Line Station you're surrounded by all of this mix use development that I've been describing which could be anything from housing commercial institutional anyone that might find this area that's attracted to all these different types of age groups demographics people at different points in their lives the opportunity for them to live in this Dynamic fresh new environment and that's that's what we've got for you today thank you right Ryan can you go back to 14 thank you and and so just to be and and they they did a they did a great job in in uh yes and taking uh my uh my vision or or Concepts and and and actually putting them on some sort of conceptual plan and actually making some rhyming reason to the different uses um and so when you look at the mixed use that's to the left of the screen that that is uh primarily the the city- owned parcel and the thought process would be mix use development similar to what you're going to what you're going to what you're going to review tonight with regards of the RFP for the five acres there so the vision really is to actually in whole or in part or in Parts uh do an RFP for public private Partnerships for some sort of mix use development as Mr secet has said uh restaurants offices uh housing there and again um um you know that that those those uh that's a that's a city controlled um initiative there the park again we have that parcel where there is a covenant on it that uh that uh um restricts it to public uses uh primarily uh Park uses there and so I think they've hit that perfectly um and so um you know that's that's the vision that he laid out if you if you look to the right of the of the uh of the the site plan here bright line actually owns everything um so there's the post office if you can remember where the post office is right off of industry and then there's a parcel right next to the post office and then brightline owns everything from one parcel away from the post office all the way through the curve and up to our property and so and so there's a wonderful opportunity for this to be um as a as a Mr secret said the the premier sort of P mix use development in the city um this had to get done because St John's uh Water Management District St John's River Water Management District requires us to submit a conceptual in their consideration of the uh the release of the uh of the conservation easement and so so this was put together uh in pursuit of that but again so it will serve that purpose but but also gives a good idea of the conceptual of what we believe uh are the possibilities in and around the train station so we'll we'll take questions uh Mr C myself if you have them Mr Mayor thank you very much let me be first to say now deputy mayor has his his light on on your conceptual plan Ryan uh awesome well connected in reference of mixed use a regional life an educational environment with the location of uh the beautiful thing especially that area within a mile radius you can go from elementary school to college to postgraduate and be accessible so that will have a definitely positive impact in the community I I am in support of protecting mother nature in reference of the Wetland Park helping to purify the runoff War order and I think uh would like for us to continue being progressively Advanced and kudos to you I salute you Mr city manager Mr City attorney but more so than anything else I want to say salute you all staff all staff members directors all 400 plus employees of the city of coko and the residents um the fame is saying if you build it people will come and I know we're finally going to get our Red Lobsters all of God etc etc so all dollars will stay local by local spend local keep it local because every time I want to go to a Red Lobster I have to go to Meritt Island I have to take my cocoa dollars out of the area and that's imperative that we keep our dollars local so we can provide jobs so we can provide an way of life to ra a family and I think it's important that we do so so thank you for having that Vision because our station will resemble the station photo you just showed us I think was at the Palm Beach station yes sir I think so yes sir yes Samantha are we are we the Palm Beach or station or are we the boka it'll be similar to B boka boka okay I love it what we're talking about what under 10,000 square feet something I think something to the dimensions to that the building the edifice itself so it's um I want to make it you know aesthetically pleasing to the eye so you come back you here that's where we at sir our Deputy Mayor sir so first I want to say thank you for the work that you put into this uh conceptual plan it's beautiful um definitely paves away for a future in Coco um however I put lot of thought process into this uh over the weekend and one of the things I talked about over the you know three years I've been in here um is connecting our communities to our uh the amenities that we do have and that's going to come to Coco um especially when you speak of District 2 I can see now once this is up many kids teenagers even adults are going to want to access this this beautiful uh plan or work here um so I don't know how much hard work it would be to do what I'm going to about to ask um but I spoke of this before um I've traveled places outside the state where they have uh walkways along the rails um they're enclosed so it protects people from you know accessing the railroad and getting hurt um is it any kind of way that we can um have something to show along the rail down us one uh to uh Dixon Boulevard like a a walkway that that's possible I know it may be a no but I mean if we don't present it I don't think we'll get it but I'm real big on trying to uh connect our communities uh in Coco when you when you say a a walkway you mean over the over the tracks or uh no uh next to the tracks from what I was told I I spoke to some people there's a buffer that bright line owns between uh private property along the rails and uh their the actual rails itself um as I stated I've seen walkways they were in they were enclosed with fencing um like a sidewalk that people access on bike walk um but that's a great way if we present it and it goes through that can connect people from District 2 mainly um to this beautiful uh plan here that's going to be in District 4 especially with a park sitting right there on the corner of Michigan um and it's it may be difficult it may be a long shot but I I'm I really want to push to at least present that idea to Bright line um it it's also I've read an article I can get that article to you um people that do put walkways along rails it it prevents pedestrians from uh being enticed with walking on Rails and getting hurt um so yeah and we can we can certainly talk with you uh further about that individually um Ryan don't you have around the store storm water Pond some walking trails we do I I think and I really appreciate the the comment Mr Hern I I think for a development like this I think connectivity is key um of course you know starting with the development as the attractor and then working outward to try to make connectivity to those locations that are drawn to it um I think is is often the Second Step because that requires you know significant investment and once the asset is in place the investment usually is realized and and folks want to get to that point in the realizes that or or the county whatever the roads are that access it that perhaps a plan can be put forth and if Grant dollars are put in place that maybe get a transportation enhancement or something to put a bike a bike path or a widen Trail down one of these rideways or be at the railway that's usually when it happens because you know the hard work has been done to Manifest this place that is an attractor so the grant almost wres itself and or or any amount of other dollars that can be attracted to it that that's usually our recommendation as a consultant when it comes to that um but with absolute certainty access will be key and I do think that we should identify those opportunities now where they're available by identifying right of ways that are maybe a little bit wider and could accommodate a change later I think that's how we could put that into a plan um and it can be a phased approach right you can put it in there and say what's the reality of this it's going to take significant dollars but let's plan for it so somebody's written it down and it's an asset somewhere on a on a plan what one of the one of the the you you see the proposed roundabout um in the in the curve on uh on 524 and Clear Lake and that is uh an accepted design revision by F dot Abby make sure I'm not saying the wrong thing that's correct yeah and so and so one of the partners in this you know there's there's a city there's bright line there's a f doot and fot is accepted that roundabout proposal that that would uh require um Walmart to actually uh bifurcate their Pond um their retention or detention Pond there and so Walmart is also a partner in this one of the fortunate things for the city is that uh the previous development agreement with the super with the Walmart Super Center required them to actually you see the red dotted roadway coming from the roundabout it actually required them to actually uh bear the expense of building that roadway and so and so we have Walmart in this as a partner and so just some some sort of perfect timing with regards to to all of this coming together there but you know we'll we'll we'll sit down and look at those opportunities to to tweak it and uh and have walking paths and and uh um Walk Way walk uh amenities wherever we can along Michigan heading east along Michigan is also uh already as an approved uh part of the plan is is a is a uh That Sidewalk is another wide sidewalk uh that will be part of the uh Trails um um system and so um so so that'll that'll be another wide sidewalk in the city but wide sidewalk are designed to uh get people off of the road pedestrians cyclists and other folks off of the road and so that they all can share the sidewalk without uh a need or or without feeling as though they have to get in the roadway so so that that that uh is a part of would be a part of this system too again Mr may I want to thank uh rvi and and in particular Ryan secis for for um putting this all together um in terms of the council if yes I can have your concurrence again the mayor and I will be traveling with I think Samantha you know how many other folks are going up to DC with us um there's probably like another handful of people that are coming along yeah I'm going to start using the number handful that way I won't get criticized for having the wrong number there but but there there are there are folks uh probably 10 12 maybe um I'd say probably like five or six coming along with you did you mention chairman steel yeah chairman steel the mayor myself uh the port uh chairman the the chairman of the Port board is going uh Linda weatherman is going and I think a couple of the folks from the community community leaders are going there and and then bright line uh Representatives will will be up there also yes that's right I'm sorry the TPO administrator will be there so so again just the council's concurrence on that uh council's concurrence um to submit this to the uh to ultimately to the consultant who's working with rvi who's working on the city's behalf uh with regards to releasing the um the um the uh conservation easement um and so just again uh just your concurrence on on continuing forward on those initia okay okay let's see um let me say it this way yes so can I hear from Council then we'll proceed from there uh councilwoman calls then councilman B are you I'm sorry are you finished Deputy uh yes I I think my request was uh heard correctly so thank you I was just going to say in response to uh Deputy Mayor Hearn there is a natural actually you can see see where the circle is on Michigan and I believe that's the road and that goes through the uh there's a I guess a storm water Pond over there but it connects up to fist there's a very natural Emerald necklace that goes through there that that um could be developed and um that would be great for connecting things you know both by bike and and walking passive Recreation I wanted to ask um you said what did you say the classification was on the wetlands um so we do we do have an expert with a firm called biotech looking at that our understanding in Consulting with him is that it is an isolated Wetland um based on their classification and and while that might mean that you know some water may be connected to some surrounding culverts or things like that but from an environmental standpoint it is not connected to a larger Regional system in major water flow and that's what they've identified and only part of the Wetland is actually within that conservation easement there remains a larger portion that is not um so in their opinion uh St John's W Management District would be in favor um with some with some likely probability that they may have some conditions but with um development of that site and plans like this where we are advocating for using the Wetland for a environmental benefit um goes a long way with the district and to your point there is a emerald necklace that continues or a Greenway that does continue naturally through there and we are proposing that we maintain that connectivity for potential High hydrologic flow and environmental reasons of keeping that connectivity within the plan and we believe that will be fondly looked upon by the district okay I'm glad to hear that um and you know because the ridge goes through there and you have the Florida long needle Pines any plans to try to keep those well certainly as part of the process as development goes along um we don't have a survey that shows any of the of the trees and species that are there right now but certainly uh that will be taken into consideration for any development plans as a requirement okay thank you I'll be anxious to hear Greg do you plan to speak on this yes I have a card okay Council mares sir thank you and this is specific to the presentation and concept uh it number one you're the professional and I am not so I recognize that what I would say is that in Bard County something I learned uh maybe about a decade ago is I love rectangles instead of circles uh because there's not a whole lot we get to do with the Indian River uh and besides what has already been done and so whatever that in that diagram of the circle whatever the area is within the Indian River if that is then applied to the opposite side or take whatever way you want you know make a ramus it doesn't matter but I think it I think it shows a truer picture of potential impact in contrast to typically where the Indian River there is zero development to some to that extent where we're not putting in you know a new Marina down there uh and we're not putting in new restaurants on the river so I I just you know what whatever that looks like moving forward I hope you might make that consideration of just how we might be able to uh show the impact to the residents who might be impacted uh with that um and and the next two go more for Council I am way ahead of the the horse on this and so I just put this in your minds this I you know not need for discussion tonight right um from from my standpoint on the uh on the roundabout I'm going to offer two things one is honorary namings uh and the first is going to be for the roundabout and I would hope Council might consider something along the lines uh for Congressman Bill posy as an honorary Freedom Circle so that roundabout that we could celebrate what that might look like uh I know that he has been instrumental and helping support this project happen where the money has come from I know that he uh by far in his legacy of service whether you agree with all the politic poring or not he has been dedicated to our country and dedicated to the State of Florida in decades of service and so I think recognizing that uh and the contribution of making this happen I think that designated as a Freedom Circle fits right along the lines for he believes he stands for so and I think that there's a lot of people in Bard who would believe that too uh the second would be the Park area uh and that would be an honorary Park to actually uh representative Tom Goodson uh and prior to uh Mr Goodson Service as our County Commission of course you know he he he has been a businessman in this community for a very long time through Paving uh and from a District 3 standpoint that has been a long in commitment in his Florida legislator days I know he kind of bounced districts a little bit and you know maybe I well okay no problem uh and then came home to serve the community as well and so you know he's been instrumental in our Park deal and so I would love to see that the same level of service uh that we might receive at his honorary Park as well would be equal to all the parks within our Park District so uh I think in in honorar naming that so I just hope that you would consider those two uh uh and I think that that would be well deserved thank you yes sir oh and sorry sir the last part uh City I'm I I'm glad to hear that the port uh commissioner has decided to join that trip uh and so uh to be to be frank uh I also think from a presentation standpoint I got to believe that this is good for the port I believe that I think that they often uh they don't care until they have to uh and so I'm glad to hear that they are opening their eyes to this and may actually utilize tax dollars uh for what they are which is Intermodal Regional Transportation uh as a complete system so I I'm glad to know that but just in conceptual planning as well whatever that looks like on the benefit to the port as well because I believe that we also have a lot of people who come here for vacations and they take Cru and that they would be willing to stay in Coco the day before they leave so especially with some of our new hotels and things like that so thank you yes sir yeah and councilman baringer I'm I'm glad you mentioned that because the mayor and I uh two maybe three weeks ago met with um uh Port chairman um Michael Lloyd um Port CEO and the County Commission chair and so to talk talk specifically about the project there and so so we're continuing to to extend ourselves to the port to talk about how they can participate uh in the project thank you okay all right any other comments before I turn this over to the public uh Greg I appreciate you've been old s gentlemen let me do this first you may have a seat Mr Ryan thank you yes sir uh Miss ly come first and then Greg after that 3G thank you sir Christian LTE Coco resident so I hadn't planned to speak on this topic I saw it in the agenda and it says in the agenda bright line update by the city manager so that just set update then once I saw that there was a the presentation was involved it went online to look at the backup on it and there is at least a part of this presentation perhaps even most of it but all of it so the mile circle is not available online and there is no narrative so that's what surprises me the most is is that we've got a trip to Washington plan and got a roundabout we have all of this all of this that's been created and there's no narrative in the agenda backup and then my question always comes back to where's the public participation in the public business you know like I you guys are about to take a vote to get consensus on this before it goes to Washington and I just I'm just sitting there and I'm surprised that well why should I be surprised on March 5th is when you guys took the vote the final vote to do the $5 million allocation and not a well attended Workshop daytime workshop and there was little detail there was very little detail in your budget so why should anybody be surprised so I guess my takeaway is that anytime a resident sees bright line on on the agenda get your ears open but I am very disappointed to see a lack of public engagement about getting the public involved in the conceptual planning inclusive of conman hearn's ideas and people from the audience and people at home and residents and people who like roundabouts and people who don't like roundabouts just as anecdotally the city of uh Cape Canaveral they planned around about and this was in the last two years and they were able to get that averted from their City based on their getting involved and ahead of the game not like Clear Lake where we're behind everything they got ahead of the game and they wrote to fot and guess what that roundabout is not coming and you can correct me if I'm mistaken but that's my understanding is is that the city wrote a letter to fot that roundabout is not happening uh in the City of Cape Canaveral so I just once again I cannot land enough on public transparency and public engagement especially in something that's high-profile like this and then when it comes to I just happen to have a book in my bag called the bevard good old boys and what I the reason I'm actually bringing this up is because one of the things that got questioned in this book are trips to Washington and expenses so you know I just here we are this was in 1992 and now we're in 2024 over 30 years later and now we have a trip to Washington I don't want to say that anything the fairest is going to happen on this trip I'm just saying where's the transparency where's the community engagement so you have our support in this EX ensive conceptual planning that's already taken place so I object to that I object to not having the public in the public business and having our Our Lives decided by others thank you m Mr mer may I so you may sir um I've been here uh four years in October this will be my first time actually traveling officially uh as a city official I'm I'm not really addressing Mrs ly so so uh just let me make some clarifying points there and so so uh the trip to Washington is to meet with um the agency which the grant was submitted to and so we're going to talk about the grant we're going to uh provide them any information that they need uh from the city this is conceptual this is the first time you guys have seen this this doesn't travel to Washington uh uh there's a process a public process associated with any F do project just like the Cape Canaveral uh uh roundabout this would go through that same public input process uh the the city uh future land use changes and Zoning changes would go through a public uh input process and so this is as uh as uh as was indicated uh the city manager saying to the consultant let's come up with a vision for uh the site and and let's present that vision and let's work up to the various sources that need to eventually approve that vision and so so um so public input uh will come um there's plenty of time for public input this again is very conceptual nothing is approved on on this um I told you when we started with bright line that I'm going to seek permission uh seek uh forgiveness on a whole lot of things and so we've move because we've had we had to move quickly um submitting the the Federal Grant application uh the county uh ask of the tourist development taxes but again you've you've you've not approved anything you approve at each meeting travel this is the one time in the almost four years that I'm asking for your concurrence on the travel for myself uh and in addition the the mayor I don't know how anything nefarious could be going on in DC when we go up and we talk to agency heads and we say we have a project that we think is transformative it is submitted under the Chrissy Grant and do you have questions do you need us to provide additional clarification um what can we do to actually make sure that you have all of the information you need to favorably consider our gr Grant application that is the basis the rhyme and reason for the Washington DC trip thank you very much Mr city manager you may be seated ma' uh Mr uh baringer I'm good man okay sir uh Mr um 3G he himself eaglet sto sir all right okay we all know I'm a train fan right okay let's let's get that out of the way right off the bat uh I'm I'm glad uh slide 14's still up there though uh I'm kind of torn a little bit one first of all let's all hope that Chrissy Grant goes through and we get our station I don't know what's going to happen if we don't get that Chrissy Grant because that's a big chunk of money million here millionaire pretty soon you're talking about big money right uh so I I I look at our bubbles uh and with all due respect to our consultant uh you know when I look at the uh uh Google Maps uh that little sliver of wetland right along Michigan Avenue there actually takes up about 80% of that but that's neither here nor there my my real question is and I love the idea of a park not only that but if you look at that land uh I'm sure if you dug down about a foot you'd see pure white sugar sand right because we all know that's up on a sand pine Ridge has the sand pine trees uh it probably evolved from a rosemary Scrub but yall don't care about that what I care about is is a park and and so my real question is and and as as uh uh I had been enlightened to uh you know there is a a conservation eement or a covenant or whatever you would like to call it for particularly that part parcel actually I think there's two Parcels in there uh why would we have to remove that uh if there is a reason that people much smarter than I uh need to do that great but from the Layman's person hey if we're going make it a park and it's got a conservation easement on it why can't we leave it uh uh but let Let's uh uh let's not forget the discussion we were having earlier this evening about how much it costs for Parks right uh uh so uh uh and also uh uh it had been mentioned uh Mr Whitten uh had mentioned about the uh Michigan trail on the North side uh from my uh uh activities on the uh TPO yes that is a fully funded project and I believe uh I'm sure miss Morgan could tell you the exact dates but uh that's coming up fairly soon uh the only the only thing that's kind of shooting me in the head is you know here we went and just did that Crossing maybe it's going to get upgraded again and now we're going to have to put a 8 foot or a 10 foot path through there so let's do work three or four times which I always hate uh lastly I'll finish up by saying uh Mr Behringer uh thank you for what you have done for the city uh I've seen you in action and I have appreciated and learned from you as all of you council members and staff believe me it uh your work is much appreciated and no I don't want your job thank you thank you thank you thank you yeah Mr Mayor just to clarify for uh for Mr stole the so the part parcel there are two Parcels there there those Parcels don't have conservation easement on it they just simply have the Covenant that says park or some other public use thank you sir so now you just needed consensus sir um in reference of um as you alluded to previously in the conversation correct yeah Mr Mayor we're we're presenting this to we're going to have the consultant on the city's behalf present this to uh St John's Water Management District as they continue to consider our requests to uh remove the easement or allow us to transfer the uh conservation easement um and then uh approval of the travel for next week for you and myself for Washington uh DC okay separ yes sir two separate ones um yes let me make sure it's approved by the City attorney that's okay Mr City attorney what two separate motions or yes yeah two separate motions is fine or one I mean I the way you present it that's the reason why I was saying two separate ones I mean you can use the word and which is a conjunction which means to include so I get it so we'll just do two separate ones just to be on the safe side so there's no as those individuals take their copious notes to approve the to move forward with the conceptual plan I'll second it call the question all in favor saying I I and N eyes have it unanimously make a motion to approve the Washington trip to advocate foring for city manager wh and also mayor second okay we have a second by motion by councilman go and a second by C woman cost CH going to call the question all in favor but saying I I any a eyes have it unanimously okay I got this done I got you Mr sto proceeding on thank you very much Mr Ryan C Chris now do I see you every uh January the 1 I got by the name only wish okay thank you all great project God speed home he you right that's well okay I got it like that okay here we go proceeding on to um Council business item number 8-3 approve resolution number 20 24069 recognizing the resignation of councilman Matthew Beringer and declaring a vacancy in seat number three of the city council take whatever action the city council deems legal necessary to fulfill the seat District number three vacancy on the city council pursuant to article 3 section 10 of the city Charter and as you know there's three parts to this um the city council has a duty to attempt to fill the vacancy by a majority vote of three of the remaining council members at least at the next two Council meetings which will be August the 13th and the 27th city council can take a less structured approach and leave it up to the each city council member to nominate one or more qualified person consideration um and the nomination must occur August 13th August 27th also the second portion and I'm going stop and let the city manager take it from there the city council can take a more structured approach require the public notice be published in various public excuse me in various places advertising interested candidates to fill an application for serving in District 3 seat by 12:00 p.m. Tuesday uh August the 6 2024 Mr city manager sir yes sir Mr Mayor you hit it and so the the the again as you noted the the council by Charter um rule has uh two meetings um after acceptance of the resignation to uh to designate a replacement um the the charter language also says that if that does not happen within those two meetings it goes to a a special election obviously the uh the supervisor of election is not going to hold at this point a special election and so that would uh presumably go to uh the general election if it's left uh unfilled there and so um um it's the same process as before with regards to the advertisement um approval of the resolution tonight leaves the again as you mentioned the August 13th and August 27th meetings for you all to appoint uh a replacement okay do we have any questions for the city manager councilman uh sorry Deputy May Hearn sir excuse me um I just want to say uh councilman Behringer has been an honor serving with you uh if you brought certainly brought a different perspective respective to this Council um with your educational education background and I I certainly appreciate that your service the sacrifice it takes um you know being away from your family I know how many hours uh it takes putting into this um so thank you for that um uh just my opinion on the matter I would love to take the uh uh take the route where we advertise the vacancy and allow uh anyone interested to uh put their name in the Hat uh for the position and I'll hear from the rest of council okay um with your blessings thank you very much Christ Miss Kristen ly Miz please come to the podium now miss corado Celeste now you put uh a as number nine informational you put in the card were you trying to speak about this one right here no we don't have we don't discuss information agenda okay so I'm just trying to say give you the opportunity to speak about this particular item here would you like to speak ma'am okay ma'am Christen LTE Coco resident excuse me and I am here to speak about this topic first of all I'd like to thank councilman maringer for your service thank you thank you for your service we haven't always agreed on everything but I have uh very much appreciated your willingness to dialogue we've had some very good dialogue so thank you for that on this transition I have a couple of concerns on the transparency with is how this has gotten into the public Airwaves which is first being announced tonight publicly but councilman baringer put in his resignation on the 15th and it's now the 23rd so it's been over a week so I oppose that lack of transparency and letting the public know timely about this vacancy the item was only added to the meeting agenda yesterday so we only had the opportunity to review what the city's thought to were on the plan for for what's happening yesterday and so I've touted about this in Coco cares because I think that the public should be timely notified you know and I would have liked to have seen the data and the background online so that we had a few days to digest it on the options that were s that are suggested for this I am a proponent of the option to not vote for an appointment so my first advocacy would be to not vote in the next two meetings for the reappointment to avoid the favoritism that can be involved with the incumbency favor position so someone who is appointed if they're going to run now if they're not going to run and they just want to be here for a few months I guess that's one thing but you know if they could be planning to run they then then do have the incumbency advantage so I liked the U part of the U dialogue where it said that if you did not take a vote if you did not come to consensus then what would happen is that it would go to the election and let the voters decide but if you do decide that you want to do an appointment then the first person who should be looked at is um Patricia weeks because Patricia weeks miss Patricia week she was she put her name in for the first time back in October uh she was not selected she put her name in she will be putting if she hasn't already her name in again she's clearly running as a candidate she is the only person who has vied for this position and so the idea that we're going to go out to the public and advertise it I don't know about that you know we have someone who clearly wants the job so why wouldn't if we're going to be in the appointing position why wouldn't we appoint uh Miss weeks so that she can have a couple months in the in the seat and see how she does so I just do you know this announcement this short announcement window I'm suspicious about that um I'm not in in favor I'm just not in favor of that I think we should do one of the two options that I suggested uh for the and for appearances you guys are under you guys are are under scrutiny because I'm upset about the way the pnz selections have happen in this Council so I do not like the selection process that has happened I comment a numerous times about various ways in your decision-making why not do the fairest thing and either not appoint or reward the person who has spent their time their money their initiative applied for the position twice and appoint them thank you cman going on oh sorry um Madam clerk do you have any other cards because it's the only card I have I'm just saying if anyone else submitted a card no sir thank you count ma'am councilman G and then um councilman baringer um so oh councilwoman cost I'm sorry Council mes then councilwoman cost thank you very much um so as far as transparency um regarding a resignation I believe that councilman Behringer asked for an extension and this meeting was the next meeting um that was available for us to discuss this Am I Wrong by saying that your just your your extension was to July 31st right correct so so technically um you're not resigned until July 31st am I correct correct okay so um but I was just as shocked as everybody too that was it had me down a little bit um but but when on one hand you had Deputy Mayor Hearn make a suggestion that is a public process we say no because it won't be something favor that we want right and so I'm in favor of what deputy mayor uh suggestion was because of that same reason because it is open to the public for whoever uh it it may be and then further I'm in favor of of using the date of August 27th um to solidify it because for that purpose of and I agree with with with um Miss ly on that point of using uh an appointment as a grandstand opportunity as well uh for for anybody for anybody um to be an incumbent to use those few months just to be here because we have a lot of work to do it's a lot of things with the next few months that's going to come in front of us um so whoever whoever that may be I don't want it just to be for the purpose of November and so I I don't know if that's a possibility to actually use the August 27th date because our uh qualification uh dat date deadline is August 20th and so 20 August 27th will um let us know um whoever that may be that put their name in for that particular position and I I don't is that possible for us to I know we have two dates the 13th and the 27th but could could we actually lock in at August 27th as a date just a question for for um Esquire Esquire well I think the city council just needs to come up with a process right so the v as you indicated the vacancy occurs July U 31st so that triggers under the city Charter a duty and the charter uses the term duty to um try to appoint someone in at the next two regular meetings so the staff is is proposing two approaches a structured approach and a non-structured approach historically the city council in this circumstan has used a structured approach for the most part where you uh put out an advertisement for seeking candidates to appoint um someone to serve so where your question goes you know how much time do you need if you're going to use a structured approach to put notice out there and give people an opportunity to submit qualifying papers to be considered for appointment so that that's the date that we will dictate if if that date is not until uh after uh the first regular meeting after the vacancy then you then you're left with only one meeting to a point and I think that I think maybe that's what you might be saying so you would be setting an an application deadline that really only allows the council one one meeting instead of two instead of two so you may want to give that some thought when if you if the council is inclined to use a structured approach um what that deadline for applications is going to be okay point taken uh councilwoman costs yeah um so when does qualifying begin August 6 six the six okay and qualifying the deadline for qualifying is on the 16th on the 20th at noon on the 20th okay so I had that wrong we've advertised it in Florida today um you know the general election okay have a copy of the yeah let's let's make sure we're talking about this the same thing we're talking about I mean this is the the the the deadline for applying to replace the V vac slot we have is August 6th yeah on the second page and we have as August 6 those were dates yeah that we put into the agenda item right so so so to fill the vacant slot it's August 6 now the August 20th may be the the deadline to qualify as a candidate to run for the seat so those are those are two different things I just want to make sure we're talking about the same thing we're we're we're talking about this application process which we've said that I think we set August 6 by 12 uh by 12 um noon because that would allow us to actually have heard it at the August 7th meeting and they also need to be qualified um by the city clerk um before we put them on the agenda for the next meeting right so she gives us time to do that yeah she'd have largely a little over 24 hours to do that but and so and so the August 20th date is is the the the the qualification period for candidacy for to run for the seat yeah so I feel similar to uh councilman Goins I'm I'm so reticent to put come in a position of well first of all we have one person that has has stepped up um and just reticent to put someone in a position of being able to claim incumbency because we know how strong that is so um and would we really be looking at appointing someone that has no interest in the position long term County Commission yeah count Jason steel right she say and I guess now I'm a little confused so we are because I'm just reading this haven't had a chance to to read it before now um so we're proposing the 27th for the decision and we're advertising and getting and and what's the deadline yeah the the the charter says you have two meetings and So based on the charter we presented you with an agenda item that said the deadline would be August 6 so that if you chose to select at that at the August 7th meeting you could do so or you could do so at the August August 13th thank you August 13th or the August 27th coun goings has suggested that you guys set the 27th as the date to actually make the the pick so we could slide the application deadlines if if that's going to be the case it is the board's prerogative with regards to whether you are going to to say that you're going to try to pick on the 13th or you're going to absolutely pick on the 27th and we would just move the application uh deadlines as appropriate or as necessary just let me finish you finish ma'am yeah okay me one one other thought is because the timing of this is coming right up on um Regular qualifying for for the seat um you know if you you're going to be setting a deadline for applicants for the appointment it's just just the thought I'm not suggesting one way or another to the extent that you roll it into the normal qualifying period I don't know what confusion that may cause for candidates um those that want to qualify to run and those that want to just qualify for appointment a two you know you may get the same pool of candidates or you may not you may so if you're going to have two qualifying periods simultaneously going one for appointment and one for the normal election I would just mention that we're the staff is really going to have to clarify that in the notices so so potential candidates don't get confused everyone comprehends okay councilwoman call are you finished ma'am yeah I say it again no my lights's off that's on um yeah I said yeah I said off yeah Ian we have one person who has stepped up and I would hope well I would hope you know somebody at least has enough enthusiasm for the position that they would have considered and considered it and uh campaigned which uh brings them into contact with people and have a better sense of what's going on at this dis right now in terms of the issues which of course I know Miss weeks has been watching and attending so uh yeah I'm done okay councilman Binger sure Deputy May so um I think three parts so the first is the the you know concern for influence to election uh I will always give difference to the voting population so if I'm going to air to one side or the other I will air to the Judgment democracy works so if it doesn't produce the right candidate you like 50% generally probably would say you're that worked out great so uh no matter the concern of incumbent not incumbent and so forth and so on I I make no bones about it being an incumbent can be good but it can be horrible too so that's political science and I won't go there all I all I know though is that I will not fade away from the value of the democratic process that is going to happen on Election Day no matter what so I that that I have to leave for all it's good and bad that's just the risk of democracy and that's a reality uh and it's a good thing um the the second would be from an appointment standpoint I if I had my brothers I would say wait until the end of qualifying for the seat uh Mrs weeks has above and beyond shown her dedication to to to running for this seat and so to your credit and service previous to the to the city thank you on the board of adjustment appeals So to that end that you know that that that's easy there but there may be other folks out there and and they are deserving of a chance I think if I had my brothers personally I'd say wait until the last day of qualifying when only one person qualified then boom there's your answer that seems very smart and I really like that there's only one problem to that is that in our city Charter and clean me up because I don't want to misstate this that's right it's already written how we're going to do it and in my mind if you are a constitutionalist the city Charter is our version of that here at the city and although I don't like what it says in this very situation I will abide by the city Charter for the purpose of doing what we said we would do even though I don't like it unless there is a different interpretation of how we might be able to interpret the the shs and the must dos so because when it's shall and must and you go away from that although this seems like a slam dunk no-brainer easy decision it can lead to precedence where minorities whatever that political position might be then that is a tool and a rationale to really hose it to the people who don't have the power in the room and I am vehemently opposed to setting that precedent so even though it would make all the sense in the world but I'm going to stick to the city Charter of the must dos so if we have flexibility in the must do I would gladly make a motion to to to to bringing this back the day after qualif ifying uh and I think that that would be great if we don't have that flexibility then so forth and so on and I would also give staff if they need time to reflect on that time to reflect on that but that's where I'm at okay all right uh you're light yes sir all right Mr gargan Number Two has a date of August 6 as um the deadline for that candidate for appointment am I correct number two um number two that staff suggestion has a deadline of August 6 right but that's a s i mean that's a suggestion and recommendation it's not but number one does not have a definite solid date for that application so someone can actually come in the 13th or the 27th with an application on those particular days no I mean one you you have to you have to V one is a less structured approach um there may not even be an application for the appointment under a less structured approach right okay Point okay okay LCT and the charter does have a sh you know once a vacancy occurs you know the council the remaining council members was there'll be four of you shallu you know have the duty um at either of the next two regular meetings so the charter says either of the two next regular meetings so it doesn't even have to be the first meeting on the 13th you can wait until the 27th if you wanted to do that as well so my point is you know if you were going to have applications you know you know you don't need it by the 13th if the council's not inclined to consider to the appointment on the 13th but you definitely have to cons do consider something by the 27th by the 27th and it has to be a regular meeting not a special meeting so oh really correct I don't that's what the charter says and then the charters also has some wisdom too that you know the charter does contemplate that you know the council may not be able to make an appointment in that case the charter directs the city clerk to have a special election um called but the charter also has wisdom in that if the special election is or or the general election is less than a 100 days away which in this case it would be there isn't a special election it actually goes to the G you know actually the election actually occurs at the general election which is already scheduled and in this case you know there's an intervening general election for seat number three for a whole new four-year term so there's not even a need for a special election because under the norm noral schedule District 3 is up for a regular election anyway yeah so you it works out either way whether Council makes a temporary appointment or if you fail to make an appointment there will be a general election to fill District three regardless for a 4-year term regardless right and the charter works and we do have to attempt to make an appointment it does say you have a duty so I mean because the law doesn't favor vacancy even for the shortest period of time so you know if the council makes an appointment for a short term for for a few meetings then so be it but if you can't come to an agreement the chter also recognizes that may happen sometimes then it goes to election okay but that is also going to mean that councilman Behringer would not be a part of this process it's going to be a four team vote yeah it's four because you can't fill the vacancy until the vacancy occurs so councilman Binger will be off Council which then triggers the duty at either of the next two regular meetings yes sir okay thank you okay councilman baring sir yeah I I would uh offer as a motion to bring it this and no before I make that the 27 the 20 what is the last because I heard you say the 27th about three times right so uh my motion would be to move forward with an appointment on the 27th okay for the council member district 3 seat in accordance with our city Charter okay so that' be number one correct that you're choosing the less structur process okay and that it be advertised in accordance to the same process we used for advertisement previously okay so that is not new I can dig it I roll with that you going second you made a motion make a a second okay I roll Madam clerk do you have that motion I I see you councilwoman okay I just want to make sure she has it correctly yeah so my understanding is moving forward option resol amended to so ask comment is I I just I just need a little clarification because I understand the August 27th deadline but is it sounds like it's option number two is that two well it's a it's a hybrid so so so it's it's you're going to select on August 27th you're going to take appli appliations we just need to determine when the deadline for those applications will be and so either way the the deadline is going to be sometime in August we're going to have to put a caveat on that deadline saying this is not the deadline for um candidates who want to run for the open seat we're going to have to come up with some sort of caveat in the advertisement to say that okay are we clear for discussion sorry do do we need a do we need a a close out date sir are you looking for that well the the the the resignation is effective the 31st if you if it if it's three weeks what what what date is that from the 31st yeah the 21st 21st see the 21st is very close to the 20ths does it really make it confusing isn't it I mean if it's they're both on the same day I mean is the 20th enough time for the clerk to do what needs to be done yeah the the three weeks is I forget how long we put the other ad out there but the three weeks three weeks is three weeks there you know it's it's gives people I guess time to consider to time to sub submit gives the clerk six days to actually ensure that they're qualified and again either way I think it's it's uh prudent to actually put some sort of caveat that this is not the the deadline for uh candidacy for for the The District 3 seat there this is the deadline associated with the replacement of the remaining term yada yada yada a quick question okay guess give me a second we good I I think you're good you just have to come up with a date that's not gonna confuse everyone mat you're the last one the floor could just make at the 16th and which is a Friday right and then by the 27th we know if they're if they made the deadline for qualifying right there you go okay 16 you finished sir councilwoman calls then Deputy Mayor H okay well it's fine going to make it the 16th he's including that in his motion you make an amendment Med okay you mening your motion okay de M just for clarification for those who may be watching online um attorney garan you've been with the city of Coco for quite some time 40 years right um while how how common is appointments is this is this uh something rare or is it very common um yeah it's very common I mean to have a provision to appoint someone the fill a vacancy okay got you and I just sometimes you don't sometimes you just can't agree and and it's you know there's an election that's right takes care of it for you right and that's the Democracy that he's talking about okay is that it sir Deputy yes sir okay sir okay we have a motion on the floor with the designated date motion on the floor by uh councilman barer and the second by councilman go and CH is going to call the question all in favor of saying I I eyes have it unanimously okay proceeding on to the next item number four I'm going to recuse myself item number four um and then I'll return on item number five okay is that correct Pano uh yes Mr Mayor that's the RFP for 9 15 Florida Avenue and do do some you know previous okay thank you very much comments yes I would recommend that you just yourself all yours so I read it in uh next item the next item we have is to authorize the city manager to publish RFP uh number p24 dxx dcoc in accordance with the community redevelopment act of 1969 to solicit proposals for the purchase and Redevelopment of real property currently owned by the city of Coco and located at 915 Florida Avenue within the city redevelop sorry within the coko Redevelopment area and I believe is this Miss Charlene nman this is going to be me Mr city manager all right so so this is um again um as you mentioned this is the RFP associated with the approximately 5 Acres uh that is at the uh southern part of uh Coco Village there this is um WR to comply with the uh with the um community redevelopment act and so it's an extensive uh RFP But ultimately at the end of the day it's an RFP requesting proposals for a mixed use development uh on that 5 acre parcel um again the the the updated appraisal is attached for you so you can see all the assumptions associated in there um I think um different than the last proposal that went out where we actually had have said that hey there may be some additional Financial incentive uh provided or considered if there is a public parking component um but but again at the end of the day this is uh to put out in the marketplace or on the street an RFP for mixed use um development recall that um the comp plan was amended to um to to include on this particular parcel a density of 125 units per acre I think you can only get to that density via development agreement um uh mixed use large building type and so uh RFP is attached and I'll out uh fill any questions the council may have questions I'm sorry any questions of from councel see on this public hearing um so at this time I'll close it out from the council open it up to the public if you would like to speak U anyone would like to speak on this item come up make sure you uh submit a card seeing none close it out from the public open it back up to the council uh what are the wishes of the council motion to approve I'll second all in favor say I I I any NS eyes have it unanimous what item is next do we know I think it's Greg sto's resolution thank you brother can we get just a cou minute break um so I'm going to step out for a minute T entertain a motion to for a 10minute recess I need a second second all in favor by saying I all 10 minutes I have unanimously yes sto let me come see your brother come on up here my friend oh baby yeah man thought you too young to have arthritis man entirely to Y yes sir man I when I together Piper with the kid ma'am yes ma'am I'm so glad we this was fascinating she has the original letter it was in my I had I just tried to find how you doing man no no no no cuz he's next on the list be asking that short sweet thank you lady right now I had to take my medicine this morning because I don't take medicine so different yes well thank y'all for enduring you did a marvelous job be thank you thank you very much well you teenagers have fun remember you have a curfew okay Che yeah all right thank you oh a lot lot lot of rumors out there about that e e e e e e e e e enjoy so many records we didn't hire this guy so I can we never let it freeze man let it freeze that scen what's going on we're gonna talk yes sir coun to devour cuz you know he he be checking in you know it's kind of late okay let me do I need to go get I get he might be in the restaurant that's there he is there he is he heard us see that pizza didn't I tell you he was in there de borrowing food okay for fueling yes sir ch like to make a motion to return to the meeting and I need a second second second by Deputy Mayor Hearn proceeding on to item number five which I do support and endorse I just had my God bless americ paper in front of me um this particular item is talking about the Coco conservation hiking trail and this Coco hiking trail is in honor of a gentleman that's in the audience come to the podium 3G I just had play right in front of me okay anyway um yes we have it uh no no worries no worries I got in front of CH like to make a motion to approve the naming of this wait let me regress that's what conservation is in your District right that's not right sir yes no no you're good no no no no go ahead I'm trying to pull language yeah just oh let me I'll speak from the heart yeah uh the Coco Conservation Area um has been uh by its very design is the uh Essence I think of where when you try to think about what is the best of Florida where you have an opportunity to surround yourself with the the the most natural states of what Florida was and what Florida still is today uh while still having access for people to go explore to go find and for that area to to remain what it was intended to be the stewardship uh to be frank of of as a community has been just that to member cost I'd like to say thank you for your leadership and stewardship uh on the Coco Conservation Area over the years and to this Council thank you all for your uh continued engagement uh in into the development of of that true treasure often in Coco we we talk about the diamond Square we talk about that is uh the the Coco Conservation Area uh is a diamond the same uh in my humble opinion that that being said those stewards who would dedicate a lifetime of service to this city in addition to an emphasis on things that we would never know if they weren't here to share the history and the value to help teach us the value of that very place and so me uh Mr stall uh is without a doubt one of those gentlemen who has dedicated hours upon hours upon hours he has a a better track of maybe what that looks like but from a volunteer service it comes from a true place of heart uh and citizenship is an example barnun So to that sir I'd like to say thank you uh by all means so uh that being said uh if you've not been out there I would ask please please please go take a walk uh in our newly freshly marked beautiful Trails uh that are out there since I've been out there I've seen more wildlife in a in a quarter mile walk uh than then you you just wouldn't even recognize that it would be right there uh right outside your neighborhood so please take your kids City staff a huge thank you to all the blood Sweat and Tears you did putting in those pylons and city manager thank you for the belief of just that that was an enhancement that we could make uh that was both deserving and achievable uh and and fiscally done well so uh that being said to Mr stall I'd like to thank you for all that you do all that you'll continue to do and truly as a steward of the Coco Conservation Area helping to continue to teach the value of of what that might mean um by far I would hope to approve uh make a motion to approve resolution 2024 070 renaming the Coco Conservation Area hiking trail to the Greg sto Conservation Area hiking trail with comments also from Mr sto if that would be okay please uh so first thing was when uh unfortunately I had to miss the uh Trail re dedication uh Mr a flu had me uh but uh the week beforehand uh when I had found out about this uh I was worried about our friend the goer tortoise and and there's quite a few of them up there uh and unfortunately they like The High Ground which is the parking lot so uh uh with help from uh uh Public Works uh they got me some steaks and and some ribbon and I went out there and I I I I broke them things off uh uh uh so uh uh so it's not that disturb our longtime neighbors since some of those things can uh live a very long time uh probably the most encouraging thing that I had experienced in my time uh up at CCA uh uh you know uh and we experienced it here earlier tonight when we had all the kids here uh uh well I'm at one of them goph for tortoise Burrows and no one I see a goph for tortoise about this big that is a good sign so uh uh uh we may not you may not know much about them but I can tell you what they like high and dry okay so high and dry isn't really that prevalent and where it is uh and it's on private land the developers want to develop it which they certainly have every right to do but the city owns some of that land some of it is being a park right off of Michigan I don't know if there's any up there but the the environmental guys will tell you when they do their survey uh so so uh I I've been here Matt I've been here before talking about conservation areas uh years ago and I believe what I asked you all to do some of you are here some some have gone some are new to put the 50e Hat on or the 100e Hat on Long past your service on the council because these are little glimmers of what used to be and while they will evolve because the natural processes of succession continue even if we interrupt the natural fires and the the flooding right you know some say Florida only has two seasons wet and and Fire season uh so uh so so but this is like a little glimmer I mean uh and I believe one of the other references I had was when I grew up down in Fort Lauderdale just north of Lauderdale was a a a small Park in Oakland Park and and it was this little G yeah you Stockton you know it's this little gem and with mangrove swamps and everything and there's a boardwalk through it and here you are in the middle of the city and you could walk down that trail and you were back in Old Florida those are the things that when you talk about the gem that's the gems and let's not let them go while we're flourishing with a train and the development and Hotel downtown and God wouldn't it be good to have a hotel by the train station and stuff like that there's all of those good things let's not lose sight of what we have right right there it is and I oh Tammy you didn't even have me on the timer I think I kept within my three I promise not I'd only do three you're good all right congratulations sir list thank you sir give him a round of applause young man do you have someone with you there young man there all right bring it take a photo off here CH call watch in all the favor saying I okay eyes have it unanimously okay got two got two oh and if you don't know my wife I get the I get the whole pass conat yes sir we got okay here we go number 8-h one Council approve of the First Amendment to interlocal agreement between the city of coko and the City of rockage for school crossing guards CH make a motion to approve second got a second on the floor all in favor by saying I I I eyes have unanimously proceeding on to the next item approve an agreement for water meters and me reading equipment purchases with Ferguson Enterprise LLC authorizing the city manager to approve purchase orders of Ferguson Enterprise LLC up to 1.9 excuse me 1,900,000 and request Council to approve a resolution to wave competitive bid with Ferguson Enterprise at LC for the purchase of Neptune water meters and anciliary Hardware we're required to support meter operation upon the adoption of fiscal year 25 budget um Mrs thank you Mr Mayor this is a routine item that we do each year um we use Neptune water meters and approval of this item will allow us to uh purchase water meters for the fiscal year beginning uh next year uh we need to do this um uh contract Award right now because the contract actually expires in August so this will allow us to purchase our water meters make a motion to approve looking for a second all right we have a second on the floor by Deputy Mayor Hearn she's going to call the question all in favor saying I I have unanimously proceeding on to item number four multi-year with sorry what's wrong I didn't say anything oh sound like I heard oh yeah you did yeah I heard that what you you're good sir yes sir oh we're all right are you back in class no sir we're good sir we're good negotiation multi-year contract with truest bank and I think that is you two again is that correct Mrs um yes Mr Mayor this item is a request for app approval to change our piggyback contract that we're utilizing and use bbard County's contract so we can achieve better interest rates in earnings credit for for our uh relationship with chist bank okay chair let me make a motion to approve okay we got a second on the floor CH going to call the question all in favor saying I I eyes have unanimously okay was your public comments yes sir um this the only card I have is the military that was L's card thank you sir I put in two cards one for this one for the um which one MTI contract well come on up Ma come on up so I'm not asking to change the vote um Kristen but what I wanted to comment on is is that this was a walk-on item this is added lit last minute add and there is uh there is some material on the backup for the online so I like seeing that that's not always there but I just want to call out that this was an item that is a lastman ad and it's the public needs more notice for these this could have been something that was really controversial so I want to uh draw attention to that and ask for the you know for the city to do the best it can to get the materials up online and available to the public thank you thank you very much M Mr May Mr Mayor yes sir on this one um Finance director came to me on on Friday and said hey uh I got a call or I made a call or somebody called her and said I met with the bankers last week yes she met with the bankers and the bankers said that hey you can be you can get a earn more on your on your money if you switch over to the uh County contract and and my question was can we start earning that right away uh I think the answer was yes and so said that that deserves a walk on and so that's the reason we put this on because we want to start earning that higher interest as soon as possible thank you sir again we've been good stewards of the taxpayer dollar sir we being physical sound because our record financially speaking is clean and press team is next to Old okay moving on to this item approved no yes is this the correct item yes approve the resolution item number 20 24- 063 establishing the roll back rate approved a proposed millage rate for the purposes of notification to the taxpayers by bavari County property appraiser and set the date time and place for the first public hearing to consider the fiscal year 2025 budget so we're going to have to do date time and place it also recommends us excuse me it also recommended for the city manager to be instructed to complete the Florida Department of revenues certifications of taxable value forms dr420 Yours Truly Mrs B thank you Mr Mayor um this agenda item is something that we have to do every year in compliance with our uh trim statute um so at this meeting we're going to be talking about establishing the proposed um millage rate so um the proposed millage rate is being requested to be adopted um according to trm we need to adopt that by August 4th so this is the last meeting before August 4th and then at the end of this presentation you'll be requested to set the first public hearing September 3rd 2024 6m here in uh council chambers and that will be advertised on the notice of proposed property taxes or otherwise known as trim notice mailed to the taxpayers in August so um this is a slide that shows us uh what our valuation is we're at 1.8 billion we did have $67 million of new construction which is about 4% of the total valuation we did experience a total increase in property tax values at 13.2% this is showing you graphically that nice increase and we've how we've Rec covered since 2014 um and obviously the new construction helps with the increases in the property values uh this slide is showing you a historical review again um of the millage rate and our Revenue collections in addition to the valuation so with setting a millage rate at 6.95 32 Ms which is the same millage rate as last year uh will be collecting about 1.4 $1.5 million in avalum taxes at 95% which a statute says that um we need to um to um set a minimum to collect and I'm sorry I said um our total avalor is $12 million so it's about $1.5 million increase so 14% increase so um this is showing you what your rate options are you always have the option to go back to roll back rate go to a maximum of 10 ms or go anywhere in between roll back rate um and the maximum millage rate um as was discussed at the budget uh workshops and uh special meetings that have been held uh the city manager did prepare the budget utilizing a 6.95 32 millage rate um again um just to remind you uh even though we have that nice increase in uh property tax collection we have two c so we need to um share their proportionate share um of avalor and proceeds with them so we're actually transferring an additional $131,000 uh to the cras as a result of having them um we usually compare ourselves to the other cities there's several cities that haven't provided the information yet um but this slide shows you uh what other cities are doing relative to the city um and it shows you again that we're third highest in millit rate in the county but um we're one of the lowest as far as property tax collections so um the uh difference the gross difference in the revenue is $1.5 million or at 95% it' be a milon $459,000 um again the first public hearing will be set September 3rd 2024 at 6:00 p.m. at CoCo City Hall um I would like to mention to you all that that will be a special meeting because the school board has their meeting on our regularly scheduled meeting dates so according to State Statute we can't hold trim hearings on the same date that they're holding hearings um this slide is showing you uh what difference it would make to the um property owner this is a slide that we normally provide um that's just a generic um generally speaking type um information of what the impact would be if someone had a $50,000 homestead exemption um and with the millage rate they be experiencing a between A3 32 and a $39 um increase in property taxes for the entire year and then this is showing you um again with um a higher valuation in their homes with a 300, ,000 two or $300,000 single family home they be experiencing between 62 and $42 um increases so the tentative proposed budget for general fund has been prepared um the total is $ 54.3 million as you can see um as is normally the case the biggest portion of Revenue uh for general fund is uh in fund transfer and unassigned fund balance and so that's about $21 million followed by taxes which is a combination of all taxes and then charges for services and other government other uh Revenue sources the capital by funding um as you will recall that we had at the last special meeting regarding budget um there's some money some uh items that are being funded uh with recurring revenue and then um you had approv for the city manager to uh debt Finance some of the capital and you can see the capital that's being purchased by the different Revenue sources on this slide I will be coming back to you with an agenda item in the near future to request approval to proceed with that debt issuance so that I can start the ball rolling and get the paperwork and and do the agenda items that are necessary to do that debt financing um then in the water in sewer fund the budget total is about $86 million and as you can expect the largest source of Revenue is charges for services at about $80 million in the storm water fund we do have a special assessment so that's about two $2.3 million so looking at Citywide the total proposed budget is about $173 million which is about a $4 million increase from fiscal year 24 so at this time the action requested is to proove the resolution establishing the rollback rate of 63761 Mills approve the proposed millage rate of 6.95 32 and to set the first public hearing date and time at September 3rd 2024 6: pm here at City Hall in the chambers so we have to do a combination of both rollback rate and approve the no sir this one is just establishing the proposed rate and then uh in September we'll come back and do the establishment of the roll back okay all right I do have a card do we have any questions for Mrs uh Bowman thanks sir all right come to the podium please l t Coco resident so on the resolution that's being proposed tonight one of the things that's not in the backup detail unless you click on the resolution itself is the following statement it says now therefore be it resolved by the city council of the city of Coco as follows the um millage roll back millage rate is 63761 and it says the proposed millage rate for the city of Coco Florida for the fiscal year 2025 is 6.95 32 Ms which is 9.05% greater than the computed rolled back rate of 63761 Ms that is the location where it's spelled out that we are actually going to be charge more taxes this year than we were last year because even though we're using the same millage rate we're going to be getting more um coming into the city and a question that I've had as a resident is why don't we ever consider using the rolled back rate like every time I hear Coco talk about millage rates it's always about well should we do a millage increase this year or should we leave it the same and I just like to point out that just this very morning at our friends at the county what they have done is they don't have to send out the trim notices they don't have to bother with that because they are so close to the roll back rate that they don't have to send out notices like they're literally not doing hardly any any portion of an increase so I just like to say that on the record while we're talking about the budget that we Coco never even considers using the roll back rate and then that is the fastest Financial presentation I've ever heard in my life so you know we don't really dwell we don't really talk about this or have a discussion but you all did have a discussion and you had a workshop on July 10th and in that Workshop you do have a few slides this presentation I did not see online this presentation here now I'm going to have to go and get it from the clerk but why can't this be available to the public in advance of the meeting where this decision is being made but you do have some slides in here that do speak to budget things but I don't hear a robust budget discussion that happens I don't hear council members asking a lot of questions I don't hear the public in here and I would like to have more insight into the details of the budget to be more comfortable with why we need more money this year than we do last year so I wanted to make sure that I brought forward the contrast of what the County does that they actually not only consider the rule back rate but their rate is so close to it that um they don't even have to send up trim notices and if you guys decided in any of your next two meetings to try to use a different rate you would have to resend out the trim notices so the decision you're about to make in just a couple of seconds if you were to make a different decision during the hearings your own paperwork says you have to resend out the trim notices so this is a very important moment for the city of Coco thank you and I'm available if there's questions yeah I will Mr Mr Mayor um every County every city in the State of Florida is sending out a trim notice regardless of their rate as a matter of fact they're not even sending it out trim notices are sent from from the Property Appraiser's office and so regardless of where you you are in relation to roll back there is a trim notice that is going out per state statute um we've given you uh we've had extensive discussion on what this budget proposal is you saw on the uh on the one of the slides that the difference between the roll back rate and maintaining the current rate is about a million dollar uh salary increases uh cost of living items um equipment um Insurance increases that million is funding all of those things um and so again it is a matter of state law the truth um reporting and and millage is a matter of State trim notices go out from all of the taxing authorities um and again um very easy to explain what you don't get to fund in a budget when you don't have uh that million dollars thank you very Sir Mr Mayor um I would also like to make a correction that you're correct we need do need to be establishing the roll back rate with this resolution yes ma'am thank you kindly ma'am thank you you're welcome it's only my 16th time but it's all good teamwork is dream work and I appreciate you yes sir all right we're gonna I believe in you all and I believe in the city of Coco and again we're going to be good stewards of the taxpayer dollars uh we've seen crime go down we've seen occupations where we have um it both in the fire department at its Max and also in the police department in safety so clearly beyond a shadow of doubt it's still the same rate and yes you all know the rest of that story so um I will hear from you counsil um beer sir uh thank you so um there is a responsibility as a citizen to to to care for what it is that that you want to be involved with so absent of language learning what rle back is comparative to existing Mig rator responsibility as an informed citizen if there are questions on what that means reach out to your council member is incumbent on a citizen to be informed uh and so whatever responsibility is there it is not the responsibility of the dis to explain every single uh verb that is or word that is in there if there's confusion I can understand that but that is not the responsibility that is why you elect people who will hopefully understand what these words mean and therefore can communicate that and as an informed citizen if you want to come up speak onto it that's great so putting additional language in when it's already implied in the statement that that that I don't see the need for that uh I love being compared to the county as well for what if you ever watch their meetings they are atrocious generally uh we have count we have members of our County Das who are uh speak to people with disdain I mean absolute disdain it's really disgusting to be quite Frank and they degrade people uh horribly who you know there so as far as the effect of our County governance I'm glad not to be the example uh that they often set there's some highlights in there sometimes but to be frank you know Mr toaya uh he's awful to people he's just atrocious I feel I feel sorry for people often when they go and speak with him although he's serving uh the other part is that uh in in where is the money going uh city manager you might be able help me out every time I go to Every time I watch a county meeting I see a fire department that talks about closing stuff and people coming up firefighters talking about pay how we doing with our staffing with our fire department yeah and we we went over this at the uh at the uh a couple of meetings ago the fire department we have probably two vacancies now I think we just had one one a firefighter leave and we're actually holding a vacancy for the next uh high schooler so fire department technically two vacancies one of which we're actually creating uh holding open for uh for the high schooler um in the police department I want to call it uh after everybody through the Academy I want to call it two or three but but okay so two those are significant accomplishments in this day and age when everybody's fighting for that same staff resource and so we're very proud of of uh where the council uh what the council has done and where we are in terms of those vacancies so and and also sir when I go out to the Groves a lot of unpaved dirt roads I know I go up to Mims a lot of unpaved scotsmore a lot of unpaved dirt roads when I head down towards Palm Bay those are the roads that the and in fact I think that we've had quite a few people in here off Friday Road in the county who complain about the lack of response from you know the money that's being spent invested in in in the Groves or so and so on so sir how many miles of unpaved Roads do we have in the city do do we have any ballpark on that there are we pretty close to actually having paved roads in our city I don't I don't know that we have we may have one or two unpaved roads but I don't I don't I don't recall Abby if we have any unpaid Road I think we might have a couple and they very short segments of grow yeah so and and and I mean that resp I I really do mean that respectfully so the question is where is the money going I think that comparatively it's pretty easy to point out that there are different levels of service standards between the county and the City of Coco our service standards are much better I will I will take that to the bank uh I would gladly again welcome the county to to to loosen up on transport they're so broke and Miss ly I would welcome you to go take that to County Commission I've offered that plenty of times and I've yet to find one person who says oh we're so strapped that you know we can't afford transport for some reason they won't do that so again I just the the the amount of money that we're doing for millage we have a station coming in we have big things that I think that you can see we have staff that are not leaving which is fairly I think that's great uh and those are the headaches we're not dealing with so I I'm glad to I while I inh here there's a fundamental discussion on if you're raising more taxes by not you know rolling back millage that's a philosophical thing yeah we get more money coming in I know that guidance to council that guidance to city manager I asked for two things specifically as a council member one do not increase the millage rate two do not cut employee benefits and to that end for this council member that is exactly what's happened so I I say you know good job thank you okay all right well that Clos this portion to the public and R return it to council I just want to verify this Mrs Bowman city manager and City attorney just want to make sure we've dot all eyes and cross all tees are we a okay is that all right Mrs Bowman yes sir Squad ganes yes prop resolution to consider thank you very much Mr city manager thank you very much so now what we have to do is establish the date that's the first thing correct ma'am yes sir and that date is September the 3rd 6:00 p.m. it's a special meeting because there is a conflict with the school board and it's going to be at yours truly 65th Stone Street is that correct ma'am yes sir okay so Cher I to make a motion to approve this portion of the first part of the two items that we need to establish September the 3r special meeting at 6: p.m. location beautiful downtown coca 65 mayor if if you could approve the resolution establishing the roll back in the millage rate right first and then the resolution also has the the hearing date too yes so the resolution is complete with the information that the council's required to approve at this stage of the uh budget process Okay so so approve all the just approve the resolution chair would like to make a motion to approve the resolution establishing the rollback rate of 63761 approved the proposed millage rate of 6.95 32 and set the first public hearing date and time which I told you September 3rd 2024 6: pm at City Hall 65th Stone Street at the city of Coco council chambers and I'm looking for a second second I got a second on the floor by Deputy Mayor Herms just going to call the question all in favor by saying I I any NES eyes have unanimously thank you very much anything else Mrs bman before I go on to the next item the final and last item for tonight which is for the application of the two water supply qualities Grant programs that's all for tonight from the finance department sir thank you kindly ma'am thank you um we have thank you thank you sir we have a proposal just to make it and I'm G turn your light on counc cost um to apply for Grants and if we don't apply for these grants we can't participate in the game and I'm in favor of these Grant application to provide direction to submit to FD Grant applications by July 1st excuse me 31st pardone me today is the 23r so we have eight days quick turnaround time Mr Walsh for the Indian River Drive septic to sew conversion now I'm in favor of this Mr city manager I'm sure everyone else will be too as well Mr city manager would you like to elaborate on this particular item um if the council is ready to vote and I'm I'm good sir this is just again as you said um still chasing dollars for the uh J&K septic to sewer uh project um sort of the chicken and egg argument here um our issue here um as you're aware the council has not given us any Direction with regards to whether um we ultimately are going to pursue uh septic Advan septic versus sewer but again um pursuing dollars that may be available and then ultimately having to come back to that discussion on uh on the policy issues that are still left unanswered I have I have a question so why so if we haven't chosen or haven't chosen a direction related to jnk and whether we're going to go Advance septic or the proposed septic to sewer because that's still pending why would we seek another Grant if we haven't been able to make the other decision we didn't get the funding right because we were trying to get an allocation direct that didn't happen so that so that main issue as to whether we should fund jnk through the utility or through some other method or we should release it and do Advance septic which would put it into a whole other category and other funding related to save our Indian River Lagoon I'm just wondering why we would seek and do we believe that the the next Grant would would completely cover or do we do we have any idea what what that what we're doing here with respect to how much we're going to ask for relative to the project and if we get it or if we don't so is is the IDE is that this FD is going to somehow fill the Gap is that is that the idea can yes ma'am okay but excellent question give me one second and I will acknowledge you just for safety measures esquad gargan I know um Council woman C lives in the area that's pertain even though I know it's a grant and I comprehend it fully but it involves J and K I just want to protect her so that it's not a conflict with her if she votes on this I think she's prepared to just State again her voting conflict because it goes to funding okay so okay okay but I would like to give the background on this and answer his question first you just need to just advise that you're going to be um yesus yourself from voting commission and that I'm accused from voting on projects JK because I live there not because it's a corruption thing but because I live there in stand to gain or in this case lose as compared to home owners but um is that good yeah and I'll do a you have to just fill out this standard form okay the eight form eight I believe well I'm sorry that the mayor left um I appreciated his support I wasn't expecting that but the only reason I'm even presenting this I wasn't prepared to present this I was at the savear Indian River Lagoon meeting last Friday as you know I sit on that advis board and I was advised that the dollars that we received additional dollars that we are eligible for from the commission had a stipulation remember there's a soral grant and then um councilman gos uh suggested we go to the commission and ask for more dollars it's like I forget what the dollar amount is it's probably here but it's over a half a million dollars I was advised that and that money will be announced by the end of the year and that uh that incentive that half a million dollars the stipulation was that we seek funding by the end of two years end of those two years is coming up and I was advised that unless we show some good faith that offer is going off the table actually I I believe that letter staved too 12 it was only a onee stipulation for the what I believe was a contingency that was identified by Saar R Lagoon believe it was only 12 months that that 12 months is essentially up and I don't know that it doesn't have any caveats about whether we should seek additional grants or whether the even if the grants would even count that what that says is that we would put that project into motion that project is not in motion and it's not it's still in deadlock with Council uh please let me please let me finish um Mr Whitten do you have the letter because I wasn't prepared I didn't know I was going to be presenting this so I didn't I'm not sure that the the even the revised letter captures what the actual intent of the motion was there but it but it it is actually to to use the money within a two-year period and so it is actually to encumber that money towards the project within a 2-year period so I think it said that we had to that we had to apply for the money we had to seek funds Now give me one second and I I have it here somewhere okay so and of course these grants of course we've been talking about this for a couple of years we know the law has changed we know that this is going to be a big issue for us Beyond J and K we've got a lot of decisions to make in regard to the um hooking up the quick connects and um if we're going to upgrade septics or go from septic but um so that's why I had the conversation with Stockton on Monday um I didn't know I was going to be presenting it I would have done this a little bit differently I actually Rob if you have my slides I actually have a slide that addresses uh at least the the Law changes so um and I might add the meeting on the meeting on Friday we really saw a significant uh a significant increase in water quality very good sign for the Lagoon this year better than we've had in many years um we also got a report on groundw monitoring and on the projects that we have been able to successfully complete showing significant differences in nitrogen collection okay so um significantly increase in waters we know we're on the right path you know we've got 60,000 septics in bouard County um the law that was put in do I guess I needed the clicker please and I won't give a tonight so councilman C so you want me you want me to to yeah okay did you have something um I was going to read the memo I I I still think it's wrong but let me just let me just read the uh the memo uh the clerk for the County Commission uh provides an Action Memo of each item on the agenda after each meeting and so this was the the uh the memo with regards to our request for additional funding for uh j& K uh this is to this is to correct the memorandum of October 26 2022 the board of County Commissioners in regular session on October 25th 2022 authorized a $545,000 funding in increase for the zones J and K septic to sewer project with a caveat to give the city of Coco 24 months to secure the funding otherwise the city will have to reimburse the county um and that's that completes the uh the memo there there really is no nothing for us to reimburse the county for because we haven't drawn down anything and so I think the memo is a little off there I think the frustration for um um well let me let me let you do go over here and then we can come back to that to Mr well I mean so I was advised that if we were going to go for that half million dollars that we would have to take some action the deadline has been extended to July 31st the I think the announcement comes out in October of who gets those grants right or later this year um but in 24 and um so anyway I just brought that to Mr whitten's attention um we know we've been having this conversation for a couple of years um we've been as you said chasing the money um you know some things have changed it it's we now have a law in effect of course you're fully aware of it um because we have you know a report due um on August one our assessment of our system and our plan since we are in the IRL Protection Program we know that those on septic are either going to have to upgrade uh their septic tanks or they're going to have to be connected to se by 2030 um we also know um that there's some lency on the uh the Grant the local match um and let's see like I said I apologize I wasn't prepared to give this um yes okay so the very top bullet is the one that um to consider the feasibility of providing sanitary sewer services for developments of more than 50 residential lots so of course uh part of our planning is going to have to look at Carlton Terra have to look at that J&K is um so even if we were to make a decision it it really boils down to this we just lose that half a million on the table um you know or we test those Waters I'm not sure how difficult that Grant application is but I was told that it's not overwhelming and that um we see if we come back with the dollars we need and make the decision based on that again the reason upgrading septic is great you've got a conventional septic it brand new it uh captures some 30% of the nutrients that will last a couple of years and then it will downgrade from there it is now the law that you get an advanced septic that captures the new captures nitrogen to 65% what it doesn't capture and why it's not preferable is it doesn't capture phosphorus which is another a big issue for the Lagoon you also understand that that whole ridge that we're on is Sandy um it's a Sandy Ridge and it's porest you know it's the C so excess nutrients have easy Pathways to the Lagoon and we know particularly after last Friday's meeting we had confirmed even more um the opportunity here to prevent those pollutants from going in the water to begin with um and let's so anyway I was just trying not to lose that opportunity by bringing it to your attention um if we decided had to apply for it we' just lose that H that half million would be off the table we still haven't voted on the J&K I can tell you that the quick connects that we now have 405 quick connects done which is only about a third of the dollars that are available so there's Quick Connect money available there's also we've we've done 488 septic upgrades which again is only about a third of the dollars aailable um but both of those are very competitive and a can't do a lot with those lots we can't do a lot with those lots when so much of it is dedicated to the sepic field so there are lots of considerations um again this infrastructure is really important to Economic Development and S the sustainability of our community okay I know Mr W she wanted to say something for you you have anything to say no sir I'm good thank you okay sir C woman call you are you completed ma'am I think so does anyone have any questions councilman bar thank you uh a couple one point of personal privilege you have I take on my jacket yeah go ahead thank you all right uh yeah thank you so I'm I'm G ask Council to meet the moment um and so I'm G I would welcome discussion uh so first off uh Mr Walsh thank you for holding us accountable for doing our job which is to vote on things uh I appreciate that thank you for bringing that's a good sign of a leader um is to push push right so and and I welcome that uh my my take is this and I'm going to make a motion momentarily but my motion is to move forward with advance septic through the entirety of the Bap not to the exclusion of just the J and K area because as we talk about J and K we leave out hundreds of other houses who face the same issue that are required to do the same thing so financially J andk you can argue maybe it's a big project maybe it's not a big project I'll I'll take the the the reference of staff for the caution but even on its best face it leaves another half of the area with no plan whatsoever and no money to do anything so what do those people do which is we have no plan for that so I think that the answer is meet on advaned septic it's achievable within the next five years which is the intent of what's being met and we do that an advanced septic at a at a hybrid re rebate or something along that effect where everybody has skin in the game so the city covers 50% homeowner covers 50% for the transition and I would scale the percentage of reimbursement as discussion so maybe Council feels that we would help cover 80% maybe Council feels that so we would pay for an 80% rebate for a homeowner that would go out and get the advanced septic right something along those lines so everybody in the Bap goes we agree we may not like it but we say here's a plan for the entire bmap area which is part of this requirement Not Just J andk it moves forward with something that we could rebate through funds I think through our utilities one way or the other to meet some some kind of a a match with homeowner that would be my motion okay so can I let me ask you a question all then I got to ask counsel um through your motion she cannot vote so can he make that motion that you understand what I'm saying does that create does that create a conflict sir can't she can't vot so she's already declaring okay but he's making a motion now I'm just so used to people just maybe going in the audience or going out the room or sitting in the back as she done in the past that's all I'm saying I mean I don't mind her having the dialogue and I support that I'm just trying to make sure that she's protected that's okay can I say something it's informative only yeah I got you I got you I got you um he's made a motion okay okay can I give me a minute I don't want to vote on my own motion second rather um hold that sir Council woman call yeah the um from what I understand the staff is currently involved in preparing the final report for FD just due August 1st in that is an inventory um and just a better understanding of of where we are and what needs to be done by this deadline um I would uh there are more decisions here that I that we should be making a 20 at night point point of order okay if it so first off and and I I mean this respectfully because I I believe that you have something to offer of which you you have and you have for a very to your credit you have advocated when appropriate for a very long time my qu my question is on a recusal if I if we recuse and whatever that means and and I'm okay with whatever way that goes all I'm saying is at what point does this become I'm okay to be frank I'm okay with being more informed so I'm okay with that but that does not seem like that has been the process that we have used since I been on the DI so I mean that respectfully I'm not trying to make one project where we can hang out and then this is the magic one where we can't you know like I'm and I'm ethically struggling with that right now okay for example here's something I could vote on and that has to be considered when you're looking at this whole thing the whole idea um that you know we need to decide on those that are already have seage available the rules in terms of do they need to this was it was described in here um on the last paragraph on the first page the whole idea that uh everyone has to participate well we need to and and this is this would be reflect it would mirror what the state does the state's law this our ordinance would just need to mirr that and the county as well as most of the other municipalities are moving in that direction so if you have stage available under these new laws um you will be connecting and so we're going to need to bring that in order too so I think it's more than a vote at 10:20 at night that's all I'm saying there's there are a lot of things to cons here considering this is going to impact our infrastructure for the next hundred years I got a question I'm ask no give me your legal opinion right now pertaining to what's trans right now just give me a legal opion conversation we're having right now opinion for the Rapture yes and the septic advaned septic sister cuz see when I get your opinion then I'm going ask Mrs Bowman and Jack Walsh the city manager do we have the money to cover sounds the idea that's beinged by counciling seems to be different than what the agenda item is stating and you know seems to be suggesting that the city somehow participate financially in contributing to a septic conversion to more advanced septic for people I think in the area right whether or not that the city has money consider fing I don't even know whether or not Sor money that you have already committed would even be available anymore and that's the case where the money come from it's a financial that idea get yeah and so if I if I could U piggy back on that so so going to Advan septic and being able to be reimbursed with regards to going there um that reimbursement is only available for those um houses that are in the J and K and not for the houses that are in the the bmap which we don't know how many people in the bmap are still on uh the old septic I'll call it um and so we'd have to determine what that number is what councilman baringer suggest you is and I think the uh uh uh the attorney hit it you know it is not only well the be the the folks that are in J and K would have an ability to at least get part of their expenses re bur through through a Soro um but the folks that are in the bmap they would all that that would come from the sewer water or from the utility and so we're back into the equity the equity of of uh funding those folks there and so again we don't know what that cost is we don't know how many uh of those uh of those uh systems are still out there but again that may be a huge cost for the utility system because there may be hundreds upon hundreds of uh those types of properties still out there so it is a little different discussion it extends Beyond Just J and K again the 88 homes in J&K have some ability to get reimburse for part of the conversion from septic to Advanced sep iepc but the other folks outside of that and within the bmap I think what the council member is suggesting is that they be funded in whole or in part by the utility system and correct me sir if I got that wrong yes is the short answer but I'd be happy to come back to that yes I got it right or wrong yes sir yes sir you have it right I'm happy to come back to it yep right right counc your light is on I'm coming Council M I'm coming soon are you coun woman are you reinstating or you just inadvertently left your light on yeah I think thank you man okay councilman uh barer your light is still on so from the the motion from a motion that I would propose Adam I I would be definitely willing to if we need to drop the reimbursement portion if that if if if we can't get there then okay but I think at a minimum we should give to staff Direction on we're going Advanced Z septic in the Bap area that that's the direction we're headed that that would be my take but if if we can't agree that there'll be some burden to the utility or to what percentage that might be because at the end of the day what what whatever whatever may be missing we are years into this discussion uh we know that Governor DeSantis totally vetoed any assistance so to our governor keep that in mind I just for what it's worth so there is no relief coming so so ultimately the the the Florida State Legislature went ahead and said let's try it and the governor vetoed it there is no magic bullet coming so that being said I do not believe that we can absorb a12 million potential hit or 8 million potential hit for 100 houses that fiscally doesn't jive with me that being said what's the best way to tackle this entirety of the area who's all part of the deal we get a percentage of reimbursement on only a little but that doesn't exclude a responsibility that I feel that we have at a minimum that we have to service the entirety of the area that being said financially that is an argument how we get there I would think at a minimum to Mr Walsh's question like what way are we going are we going to go dig up pipes I think is a bad idea or at a minimum can we agree to meeting at advaned septic which is a viable option per the this outline right it's not like this is a you know a madeup thing it was option A or option b one is incredibly ungodly expensive and digs up the entirety of the place the other one has also been deemed environmentally appropriate for a much shorter cost where we can service more people it's it's that easy so and and that's where I would rest my emotion at a minimum to provide staff guidance that will'll be moving forward with Advanced septic in the bmap area thank you very much sir thank you how's going sir yeah I mean I I I understand where he's coming from but at the same time I'm just I'm because of so so many unsure answers and questions um as far as the dollar amounts that's what I'm concerned about I don't want to put the city uh in a in a situation where we make a decision such as this without having those dollars without having the information available cuz I'm from what I understand apparently right now we don't have all of that information available about how much this cost how much how many sep tanks are we talking about we don't have am I wrong for saying that Mr Walsh I think I I have I'm trying to find it I have an exhibit where we've done the analysis to try to identify who's on who's on septic and who's not so I'm trying to find it but as far as a total as a as a total cost we don't have it if if if we're looking at an advanced septic I mean I think the number that they use is 30 plus thousand per unit times 100 units and then each residential uh each house can go out and get their own $8 $20,000 Grand or whatever that's if you're in J and K if well yeah if you're in the Bap area you get you get certain benefits if you're not and that's the area where I think we're really focusing on because that's the area that has influence to the Indian River Lagoon right that's the area that you know that clear We There are septics you know all the way on the west end of Coco do they really contribute to the Indian River Lagoon probably for another discussion but certainly the folks that are west of or east of us one Carlton Terrace and all those other folks that includes J andk are all right up against the river are just a few blocks away the Fe the 88 lots that qualify for J and K are only 88 lots and councilman bering's point there are a couple hundred other folks in there for Carlton Terrace and all the other areas Highland and all that other area up in there that don't qualify and then in in the way the at least the Indian River portion not the D stuff but the Indian River is also prated based on distance as you get further away you get less money because they're saying as you get further away you don't contribute as much but but in the end I I do agree that hey if if there's D money but the council still hasn't decided you know if we're going to go to a advanced septic system then it's going to be for it sounds like what councilman baringer was who wanting to go for like go let's put everybody in the same pot and go for some money and then try to offset it with what we can do and have to make some decisions related to that if you want to get more complicated and you want to separate the J andk from it and continue to pursue that and try to do this now now you got two different things and two different potentially applications because those are not going to be the same ask does that I don't know if that makes sense and and so just just so I'll I'll clarify I think I misspoke earier earlier so if you're in J and K we know that the amount from Sor is is 18,000 remember that number was 18,000 per uh per installation there that you could be reimbursed that's for the folks closest within right 50 meters or whatever it is right but and I'm saying those are the J andk folks there once you get outside of J andk but you're in the bmap there may be an opportunity for reimbursement but it it is at a reduced or pro-rated rate yeah the F the folks that are all the way up in just adjacent to us one get really zero because they're too far away for some of them dep because it shifts but you know those guys along the edge get almost nothing people in the middle going to get you know5 to 8,000 and the people all the way you know who are right up against the river and maybe the one lot behind it depending on how long the lot is may get the 18,000 or or just slightly less so but yeah if you go to the save our Indian River Lagoon uh website they have a map and you can click on a parcel it tell you exactly what the reimbursement is it's it's right on there for you yeah information's available and and so again ultimately it is I mean the J andk folks are do they do they does the city not contribute anything and they go for the 18 that they can get through sorrow and do you cap what you give to the folks that are in the bmap or anybody who's on septic toour from the utility do you also cap it at 18 18 times hundreds of home still significant and and Mr may I heard you talk about the 11:00 deadline uh I think it got a little warm in here because the air shut off there and so we're trying to keep the systems up there but I just want to want to make you all aware of that so we may have a hiccup with regards to the recording because our systems are overheating because of I think the air turns off at a particular point in time each night thank you very much I got you okay are you completed councilman going yes yeah right now yes yes sir okay thank you sir Council M call yeah the um the August 1st final what was it an evaluation that is due that they're requesting I think we already we were supposed to submit a preliminary but this is this was with the this is basically to give the state so that they can look at all the needs to determine what the funding needs are going forward 100 million was put into the Lagoon program this year I mean it's not that there has been a lot of money going into this program by the state absorbing 88 houses when in fact the FD money can double what we sorl which would bring us to the point of at least the estimates we have right now of Meeting those we just don't know until we actually get final uh estimates on the costs but we know there's money there right now um and anyway I still think it's a late hour to be determining something so important um that has such a big impact certainly on my constituents um and yours without there even being aware that we're talking about it really I'm the mayor because I'm I cover all districts so it impacts me as well so yeah but you know use great discernment when coming because it's not fair be fair and Equitable so thank you I just had a question I me but that is the purpose of this report it's due that we're currently working on so I you know when you look at the trend there's been more money spent not less more money invested because we know this is such an issue because we know that even Advanced septic does not cover phosphorus and we know that's a big part of the problem um as far as J and K in the case of J if you're laying a line down Indian River Drive you have opportunities at later dates to capture other parts of that neighborhood so it actually in in all of these cases is kind of a it's kind of a starter to get the septic sewer program going and then expanding it as you go just like I'm sure we have we may have other places in the system where it makes sense it's a short amount of pipe or whatever just a lay pipe um again where lots are small and irregular you run into all sorts of issues trying to place a septic field Mr W did you were you able to retrieve no I mean I have a bunch of stuff but I don't I wasn't I wasn't quite prepared to counc M you had your light on you good yeah I I just don't know we have this discussion but what where is where is this agenda item coming from today okay is it is it coming is it coming here because of that particular date for that Grant is that the only reason why okay all right that's it okay so I mean you could easily do nothing and then you know you're still we're still I understand that report that you're working work on is still going to be coming back to us um with all the information we need to make a more informed decision Jack question yes sir if if this is approved this grant does it have enough to cover the work or the labor and the material that's it's the same question we had with J andk that we haven't decided on which is I don't think I can tell you what the cost of that JK is going to be uh a year ago two years ago six months ago and today I I really don't I don't and that's the fundamental problem so what I was trying to I was trying to make my point earlier was simply when I was trying to encourage Council that there was no decision made because there's some complex issues complex because it's not just digging pipe and ground it's digging pipe through Cina rock that runs along a ridge along the Indian River Lagoon and that comes with some huge unknowns and huge risk for construction you know you know in general you know when public works or utilities does a project we come up with the engineer cost estimate it's usually fairly close but even that sometimes they come up short we have to go back and find funding we have to keep going um in this case we've identified you know there's a pretty big range that can vary by millions of dollars not not not a few hundred thousand but millions and so that's where the well what do we do if we get this grant who's going to make up the difference if it goes if it goes under no problem but we still have to have a plan I think before we accept the dollars in in order so that we so the citizens know how money is spent is the utility going to pay for anything or a portion okay that needs to be decided and are the citizens going to be responsible to pay for it are they gonna have skin in the game as councilman bar mentioned earlier do they are they are they on the hook and what percent that they pay we don't we may not know the total but if we can decide on percentages that would be a certainly a good start and then we can go for whatever grants we can supplement whatever percentages we have that's that's a plan and that that was sort of presented not the percentages themselves but the ideas were presented in the previous five or six agendas that have come before this Council over the West you know how however many years it's been since we doing it but they still remain on the same on the agenda because we haven't been able we've been deadlocked we haven't been able to decide and so right now we've got the 88 Lots locked up in septic to sewer money which is separate than the advanced septic it's it's part of savear Lagoon but they're two different pots of money and that's why we've had some people come in and complain that hey I want to go to advance septic but they can't because we're holding the 88 Lots in limbo because we haven't decided to to apply and take the money from Save on and move the project forward because there's a lot of unknowns with with respect to the total price tag and who would pay for the overages if the D or any other grants that we go for us come up short so I guess tonight if we want to decide to go forward I guess I would I mean city manager maybe could guide this a little more but as a staff member sitting here I just want to know okay what's it going to apply to and who's going to pay for what that's that's fundamentally what I would I guess I would want to know and if we understood that then let's apply for the grants and go forward if we get the grants and we still don't know we still have an argument or still have a deadlock I think we're going to have some trouble uh certainly it would have to be worked out before we have any of the other deadlines and and again I apologize I thought the deadline was 12 months for the extension from the county and that was just my memory but was 24 months and we're 12 months into it right so we have another 12 months to decide how to expend that money but to council woman's cost is point there's a cycle with respect to the DS and we certainly don't want to miss the cycle and so um you know we we we apply for the grants and we don't know what that amount is I forget what what I think I gave um representative opment a $6 million $6 million figure um I think we projected that that the uh that the the overage at at one particular point in time could range from anywhere from 691 th000 to almost 5 million you know and so that's why we sort of swag the number to ask as a as a legislative appropriation and so in in these Grant applications I would I would ask for that same amount you know something something uh north of 5 million but again as to Mr Wash's point we don't know if that number is in the ballpark we don't know where that number is and ultimately you have to come back to the council and we still have the same questions that need to be answer answered you know the same policy decisions that have to be made you know um and so you know you're ask for a big number you lose the additional funding but but uh you know uh in some respects so so what because again you you still don't know the number and and maybe 6 million makes the project or or it doesn't we won't know until we have those policy questions answered and we actually able to put the um the uh the project out to bid so so again we could go for the funding funding doesn't make the project because again we still have all of those and and I think I looked at the previous agenda item and so we've we've Revisited this this issue one two three four five maybe six times um yeah tonight maybe six or seventh time there and so so again answering those questions again that's what I meant by the Chicken and the Egg Jack was a little bit more uh explicit and and and the frustration there but but again so so we you know those questions still have to be answered I can I can swag the ask in the grant but but we're still going to be back here asking you to make those uh decisions that are that are necessary is that it sir I'm do yes sir thank you Mr uh councilman baringer sir uh and this will be this will be my last one so uh I am not going to ask staff to go out for another Grant potentially incumber money that could be used for the Lagoon somewhere else for us to not have a decision and plan made to guide staff and direction I think that that's wrong if money could be used someplace else to be doing the work it's supposed to do and we encumber it to go well I'm not sure that's not good leadership to be frank and and again and I mean that respectfully as a dis so uh this is this you know fifth time sixth time I would welcome you know to put it back on an agenda item in a later instance but quite frankly I think that we have heard anything that we need to know about the same Foundation issues that are J andk one it's an unknown two there's not there may or may not be enough money to complete the project three it rips up an old area for sure uh four it doesn't address the entirety of the Bap so there's still policy questions after the fact that being said uh you're as council members you're gonna have to make a call one way or the other because at this point we are being indecisive at best oh and I mean that as a body so I am part of that uh and so happy to bring it back if if you don't feel comfortable with making a motion with the information that you know I know that in meeting with Mr Walsh when I first got on the Das this was something that that I discussed uh and something about a hybrid program and you know so on so on but at a minimum do we want to put the city on the hook for a couple million on an unknown for 90 you know for less than 90 people multiple millions of dollarss or do you want to service the entirety of the citizens that are within that area and I'm not even talking about necessarily doing a reimbursement I'm just saying here's five years to know that in the city of Coco if you live in the bmap you're you're going to advance septic that's an option so that that's as that's as far as that discussion would take it so the question is do you plan on laying pipe for a few and potentially doing Advanced septic later on down the road or doing pipes but you only have five years so if you got kids in college good luck coming up with that 15 grand so every day that we wait longer that's another family who's got to figure it out with less time to deal with it so I don't know how long we want to wait so that that's all I'll say about that I I I I will make a motion to to move forward with direction to staff that the council's intent would be to move forward with Advanced septic throughout the Bap area and leave it at that and then any further questions could come back at further discussions we have a motion on the floor by councilman barer looking for a second second okay you have a second on the floor by councilman go with discussion you have your light on so far as far as the financial side of it what's your suggestion for that my suggestion would be then that would be the ongoing discussion that we continue to have with staff past this point step step one is just are we doing septic or are we doing are we are we doing pipes or are we doing Advanced septic and how are you going to address the whole Bap so at a minimum uh I'm going to put it at a quarter percent of what it cost to do pipes for the entire area on on the advanced septic I think when just doing the 100 houses I use J&K as an example if if I went you know the the potential 8 to 12 million that it might cost compared to Advanced septic at 15,000 time or 30,000 times the 100 houses the advanced septic was down to about a quarter of the potential cost so for and so on so we're going to eat cost either way potentially or maybe not I don't know but I I would leave that to a later discussion I'm just saying which way are we going and I haven't heard one I haven't heard uh to member cost I've heard you talk and and as a council I've heard us talk about the only the J andk people to the total exclusion of everybody else who has the same requirement it it it we just don't get reimbursement from it to your point the further away you are so I think you bring back that discussion on how do we even get to that and for some reason if we hit a grant worth millions of dollars that covers subject out of the blue which it seems like that's what we keep waiting for then God Bless but I don't see it happening especially again with the governor vetoing it that means we are not in favor of that kind of project for the Lagoon specific to the governor that's my take all right we have a motion on the floor by councilman berer and a second by councilman G now you have your light on councilman okay now so there's only the four of us voting on this she going to call a question Village Water grants yeah okay but but the motion that he made is not pertaining to oh that that that's your card is pertaining to water grants it's this item that's what this item is about that's what it says come on ma'am Christen LTE the reason that I put water grants on my card is because that's how it was announced at the beginning it was not announced as this is going to be a soral item so it's unsettling because there's not people in the room to represent this particular ular topic so I always start with the process and the process is that there is zero information online about this nobody knew anything until the agenda item was added to the agenda there's still nothing online about this I was sitting next to someone who lives on the Indian River Lagoon who had no idea that this was going to be discussed and I'm very unhappy that a decision that could adversely affect people who care about this matter are not represented so I would really like to say that that this is you know the part of the reason for indecision is because this is not an easy topic but additionally there hasn't been a lot I mean Coco when you guys get in line with getting information up online and giving people options there are options and it's easier it's not always clear but it's easier there's nothing in this online about your discussion about the dollars and when it comes to the decisions on the soral grant there's gridlock we really have grid luck because we have the gridlock of utility saying we need certainty we want to know we can't provide the exact amount but we need to know that other people people are going to pay for it the citizens are divided they're in gridlock because there's some that are very Pro some that are very against they're not all in alignment and council is divided on the matter so in in in all of that the thing has been has been kicked down the road but at the same time it's a very supportable you know the getting sewer into that is a supportable as a whole pro project and what I'm concerned about is that the triggering event is the grant money that we're afraid that we're going to lose out on some grant money because of not making a 10 o'clock headed towards 11 o'clock decision on a Tuesday night where the stakeholders are not in the room so I'm troubled by that when if you're having to make a decision it should lean more towards going for the grant I mean the worst that can happen is is we got lots of Grants so we don't end up doing all the requirements for and that fall by the wayside but you could have some pretty unhappy citizens who find out that you bypass money because of this and they didn't have the chance to be here so I to me it's either go for the grant or hold a special meeting where people can come put it on if if it can't be the next agenda then it' be a special meeting but I don't like people not being represented on decisions that matter to them and affect them to councilman behringer's point it's great to think about the whole Bap but this agenda item seems to be about these Grant this I'm just you know not even clear about the whole Grant thing so I find it very troubling I just want to speak up on behalf of the people that aren't in the room tonight that you're about to make a decision on their behalf and I don't feel that enough information has been disclosed and so and by the way I did misspeak I got the the trim conflated with the notice of tax increase on my prior comment I just want to own that the trim yeah everyone has to send out a trim but it's a notice of the tax increase so I'm owning that but the rest of my comment stands thank you the trim and the notice of the tax increase can be one and the same thing no else have a card you have any card Aral thank you very much okay we have a motion on the floor by councilman b and a second by councilman G just gonna call a question all in favor by saying I I any Nays nay ah she can't vote Deputy Mayor all right sir I'd like to make a motion to uh go out for Grants um see if we can uh find any grant money um and after the report is issued out what is it August 1 uh we can come back and have another discussion in regards to uh the other homes that are located in the Bap and because we'll have a a certain number will be able to at least you know try to come up with an estimate and go from there um I also I'll have a event coming a community event along the jnk location this weekend I'll be able to hear from citizens if they have any concerns and um I'll be able to make a more informed decision on this matter just clarify so you saying you saying for them to for staff to go for grants for What on this item of what that's what this just this item I want go you good find  you want to address that than sir um St yeah so so it would be to submit um for the water quality Improvement Grants even Happ you got that and the inan river Lagoon water quality improvement grants for the Indian River Drive septic to sewer conversion which is which is known as J and K I guess I could ask the question of if we're going to do that do we also apply apply for uh septic to Advan septic grants for uh the rest of the Bap under those same programs when we when we were initially looking at the number of homes it was 494 and so if if if you suppose that uh right now if you're in J and K the amount that you can reimburse from Sor is 8 ,000 and so if you said that you would do the same thing for those for those homes there and you just went four 449 times the 18,000 that's $8.8 million um and so I guess I guess I would suggest that if if if you're of a mind to go for the grants let's go for the grants for for everything they can be separate grants but but again try to try to cast the uh the net as wide as we can iend my motion to uh reflect uh the city manager's uh comments or suggestions second got a motion on the floor by Dey MNS and a second by Council MCG G to call the question all in favor saying I n nay n I need play Lottery okay this concludes this portion of the council meeting chair ask that we extend the council meeting make a motion to extend the council meeting for 30 minutes incs of 30 minutes and I'm looking for a second second thank you sir call all in favor saying I right I have unanimously reports Triple G come forward sir you turn your offe counil and staff normally I would uh release my time but I only have about 10 seconds and it's for district uh two and District Four specifically this is from Space Coast TPO and uh spe uh in relation to the Clear Lake Road Project I'm sure everybody's heard about all the the great comments on that so I just want to make you aware if you haven't already heard there is another project that will be on Dixon from the intersection of Clear Lake over to us one it is a project just like Clear Lake Road and uh there is a working group meeting uh kicking off on Wednesday September 25th 10:30 at the Coco Civic Center uh so if you'll remember uh the contractor did give us a whole big layout of Clear Lake Road and what they going to do to it at a big public meeting held over at uh Eastern Florida State uh or actually it was in the solar energy center and so just be aware uh maybe we can get ahead of this one and and uh uh uh prevent uh prevent comments prevent no not prevent comments we want to take good suggestions that is all I'm tired like us all let's see um no other comments from the all any reports um so as far as reports we'll start I'm not okay I had a report so we'll go councilman be oh sorry uh any staff reports I'm sorry I'll be fast I'm sorry um back to school supply Drive collection event is this Saturday at CoCo Walmart from 9:00 to 2 distribution event is Friday August 2nd from 2: to 7: there's going to be free haircuts free food free bike helmets um while supplies last so make sure you come out to provos park August 2nd it's a Friday from 2: to 7:00 p.m. um and then we're collecting at the Coco Walmart uh this Saturday from 9:00 to 2: we are working with um Main Street historic Coco Village Main Street on a small business conference that's Monday August 26th from 8:30 to 5: at the Coco Civic Center um and we are now accepting applications for our Citizens Academy you can go to our website Coco fl.gov Citizens Academy to get the application that's all I have you um any other staff reports city manager all right City attorney uh councilman baringer I'll be fairly quick that's you want last last thank Council go uh yeah how long we got an hour 30 minutes baby 29 minutes uh um to councilman Binger uh I didn't really want to receive that email that I got but I got it and uh but I I I understand family first I appreciate you for uh dedicating your time to the city uh actually giving us some dialogue back and forth that was nice to finally have uh so I appreciate you again for all that you have done so thank you for that thank you sir yes sir um only thing I had was I want to bring back the um our speed bump policy for a discussion uh maybe at our next uh meeting um there's some areas I know in my district definitely like on Blake and some other places um and because of where our policy is written we have to basically do n or 90% sign petitions um and I think some areas don't need to have um that much difficulty to make our road safe kind of like what we dealt with on Michigan when um unfortunately man was hit by a car on Michigan um they had to go through a full process you know some neighborhoods it's hard to get those uh petitions done so I want to bring that back at our next uh council meeting but other than that thank you I'm done at District Two I'll be real quick I don't know which order the pictures gonna come up because I think they got mixed up when I sent them so we'll go through uh today I had a chance to go over to Clear Lake Al and speak with some of our elderly population um give them some information on what's going on with the city um as far as our projects uh this current election just trying to keep our forgotten uh population informed of what's going on in the city it was a great event um this is actually in councilwoman cost um District I believe she had a recent event there as well and they're real uh receptive to us uh city leaders coming and speaking with the uh citizens there so great event if you ever get a chance go and and and check it out talk to some of the people in there good people people so um what else I have here uh oh what did I do that was it okay I sent two separate emails so it probably got mixed up so U that was it for district 2 this week Council woman cost do you no pass I mean I yeah okay first of all Matt we're going to miss you but a man has to do what a man has to do do that's take care of his family first and foremost so I applaud you for that thank you sir um I I I make that analysis similar to a athlete who's in who respects his head coach and a head coach gets a different offer or different circumstances that has to alter their decision in order to protect their loved ones and I totally get it I totally toally supported and I totally appla you for you and your lovely wife that takes courage to do what you all are doing and will continue to do I will miss you thank you sir definitely for an order I'mma take my jacket off for an order all right whenever you ready for me Mr Beach sir thank you sir okay we had the family reunion with uh District number one former representative Clans Whipple Jr that's his uh cousin in the middle she's a mayor in the state of Georgia at Town in Georgia um we did that one hey this is where Deputy Mayor um Hearn and I were at Clear Lake Middle School this picture speaks volumes Chief Hennessy ma'am that's how one of our two newest member from coko high school that completed their Academy that's old dog on Gabe Schuler notice how attentive attentive this child is this is a future picture that when we invest in people you can see the rewards and the point that I'm saying just you know it's like that Rockwell picture that you see how the child is amazed with this vehicle and and our men and women working with this child um this is the line lining up in the you see the kids there has their hat on showing that love for Coco fire department I think that's truck 31 or 32 ma'am no it would be 31 31 see yes ma'am attentative and alert uh this is we inside um School Bo former School Board member Jenis Kershaw um Mrs Kennedy and the lady on the very end is Miss Nina that was here tonight um in reference of Base that do add facility there I mean it was wall to wall people L line started from the front entrance all the way to the gymnasium and it was there for hours hours it was Jam pack uh you can see the various groups that participated the D9 Delta Sigma Theta various organization L do and everybody All God's Children I love the diversity I was able to get that low without splitting my pants hey yeah you got to have a little humor here we are Deputy Mayor and this is the international group from Jamaica M and they were actively involved to they teachers here in in in the BPS system Bard Public School System but they're bringing that International flavor here um this is f. where uh The District 5 secretary John Tyler 10th President of the United States um we attended Where Mrs um Gillette received a an award for her due diligence and prevailing in reference of safety so I was tickle peek about that and I think that was wonderful we acknowledging that sign there's zero tolerance also um councilwoman C was there and we're talking about the scenario about the safety of the roads on Clear Lake and also what was that uh 520 to as well yeah yes ma'am and we talked about the death fatalities there even on Dixon I think we had a fatality on Dixon to as well uh Hometown hero um I wasn't sure if I submitted this or not but anyhow that's us receiving this the recipient this is my second time in Mrs miners or councilwoman um mineus been a recipient of this award and I think this concludes my portion hey mat we love you ain't a damn thing you can do about it brother thank you sir Mutual exchange sir thank you all right holy smokes that's right baby I got one sorry staff thank you by the way Lo spin keep uh just at Publix's uh the serman was out there he was literally M AR he out there he's collecting carts for Publix and putting them back because he cares I thought that was an amazing show of heart uh the gentleman on the right uh was broken down on the side of the road he was stuck I stopped I jumped his car for him turns out his dad owns a restaurant over there and it was just a nice way to help because ironically i' had been stuck in the same exact spot six months before and there wasn't anybody stopping for him and that was wrong so I appreciate it you shared a smile and uh some barbecue so that was really good some barbecue yeah uh as a friendly reminder D3 is the engine of the city in my humble opinion uh and so this is just today I don't know if you know that place on the left but man it's coming along uh and that place on the right turns out there's some cars over there too so for those of you that haven't looked at our Amazon Mega Lex over there they're they're doing work so just as a friendly reminder that being said uh sorry staff uh these this is also uh an issue um that I've had three of the property projects that have gone up over there uh from an industrial park standpoint where our tree ordance uh there's a lot of good that our tree ordinance does but I think that we need to look and r visit what what our tree ordinance is on the M2 zoning and and and the reason I say that as an example there's developer that like to do a project the land is right the tree ordinance would cost over $900,000 for the trees that would be knocked down that is an exorbitant amount it it it it that doesn't work and so that being said uh my suggestion and I will leave this to to council you know at a different time but you do a cap per acre in industrial that's how that's how you do that so you do a Max cap eight grand I think is kind of about where you're at in Florida somewhere about where developer will still say okay you know something like that so for every acre you you charge them up to about eight grand and then you you move on I would leave that to discretion at Council for some but that would be an idea of how to do that I am not suggesting revising it for other zoning districts at all I think that the intent is exactly doing what it's supposed to do but specifically in our Industrial Area I don't think that the industrial area has any the same uh requirements that our residents should so somewhere about there and I think that that would keep our industrial engine growing uh at a and and and so for and so on my hope would be that as a council we could ask staff maybe to bring back suggestion on what that might look like meaning no decision to be made right now but just guidance to staff if they might take a look at is there anything we could do in that M2 zoning specifically I'm looking at that industrial area on on how we might be able to kind of balance out whatever that that tree mitigation would be I know Council would that be a I'm seeing head nods yes sir does that work for you yes sir okay thank you sir all right um uh the the additional um from from a veteran standpoint um I learned today I met a veteran who is no longer able to go to the VA Clinic because of the amount of money that they make as a family they're retired they're in their 70s the 20year uh veteran disabled veteran I was blown away I couldn't even fathom that that was something how we would treat our veterans and it's not a matter of the money it's a matter of principle for what will stand up for for a debt owed by a country of course that is not necessarily we we don't have any authority over that but I'm wondering if we might be able to collectively as a body send a letter to Congressman posy to say would you mind looking at why we are asking we are kicking veterans out of the VA hospital so something to the to to the effect that would show that we uh have questions about why our veterans in our community are not allowed to use the VA Clinic based on income I don't know as a body if we'd be open to doing that or no or would ma'am exp I would like to know more about it or oring to bring it back you know but you know just give him Direction man that's all you have to do just give him Direction so yeah go ahead BR I that that would be my hope but I you know so I I'll just leave it at that okay uh and then the last part just want to personal and thank you staff because it is super late um first off um I my resignation from this position was as much a surprise to me as it was for everybody if you had asked me a month ago if this was going to happen there was no way no how um I'm not going to go into the personals of my own family but I can just share with you I fully understand the commitment that it that that is asked of a council member uh and knowing that I assure you that I in good faith was moving forward with that I've always weighed decisions on the front porch test meaning that when I am in my 70s and I am on my front porch and I'm in my rocking chair did I do the right thing and this would be one of those moments where everything about it I hate the idea of having to do it but it doesn't pass the front porch test me Stang uh and so so that being said I am grateful for all of the burden that this has caused that you all are just your willingness to say let's move forward and keep the city going in a great way so thank you for your leadership in that I appreciate everybody uh for that and I I hum I absolutely apologize uh and it is a horrible thing but it's the right thing so thank thank you all for that a few words of encouragement is well well the other what you don't know also and just a I'm GNA quash a couple okay so I I saw something out there that this was a sneaky plot for me to make way for somebody to take the election I just let you know just like I did in Titusville I would love for somebody to find my uh my my rerunning campaign reports because I never filed ever to rerun in Titusville never did never did so you know I I don't know how that works out but uh that that's totally false uh the LIE lies utter lies that are cach AED in care related to myself personally uh is dishonorable at best and I think that that's maybe the difference between people who have just a opinion about something and they're entitled to it and those that actually take the time to do the homework and ask the questions and have those discussions and are upfront instead of just being Warriors behind some you know keyboard or something something like that and that being said uh honor is a real thing I am sorry to the public that politicians have been so dishonorable to leave you with such a lack of trust and so you know I get it but I I there's not a person on this Das who I don't trust that you are coming in with the best of heart and to do what is right I I stand by that 100% and I'm thankful to this dis for that all of us uh the the other part is to be frank also our personal family has been absolutely destroyed by one of our family members absolutely destroyed and I paint that as a tale of caution to our community because the the the belief system out there is those who are not like us cause us the most problems how many illegal immigrants by the way have committed a violent crime in Coco over the past year or so the answer zero not one not one murder rape and right that's what apparently immigrants do who are invading us so no zero absolutely zero uh no uh sexual misconduct in our public restrooms by the way so that would be another one that every you know I'm so okay all right um so I I just share those narratives that are perpetuated for the purpose of you know scaring the hell out of everybody know your neighbor and know that there are people out there who are willing to do good and that is the people that are surrounded in this room right now who are the staff in the city of Coco and his council members so thank you for choosing to do good even when people want to sling things that are dishonorable uh for the purpose of just gaining some traction for for their own fulfillment uh and that being said uh I'll leave it at that thank you all it has been a privilege and an honor so thank you thank you all thank you we're good than no Samantha we got a book drive this weekend right you mean collect school supplies yes yeah okay yeah that's it okay yeah I mentioned it okay good go ahead go ahead sir come on you sleepy no no I you and your break okay yeah see that you sleeping mat okay take to the sir uh one I forgot to mention I would although I don't get a recommendation Miss lty I hope that you are going to put in for the appointment uh as well as Mrs weeks so uh I hope that that is the case uh the second is a motion to adjourn second all in favor say peace good luck