I algi to to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible of liberty and justice for all all right at this time I will accept a motion for the agenda approval motion to approve do I hear a second second motion a second call on the vote eyes have it so moved all right first proclamations Lamar Advertising and just hit that gray button it'll turn red name and address and it's all yours thank you I provided some materials in your packet tonight will those be up on the screens okay thank you good evening leadership team of Destin congratulations on a extremely successful 2023 and um great to be a part of that great to be a part of the city of dtin for the last couple decades and great to be a part of their future um wonderful job by the leadership team in play staff councel everybody congrats again um again my name is Stephen Sanford I'm the vice president general manager of Lamar Advertising met with you all back in June of last year and um at that time we presented a proposal for you regarding 11 Billboards in the city of dtin first things first um I want to catch you up what's happened since June 20th when we came in front of you before um one of the first things that I'd like to catch you up on is that Lamar Advertising acquired another billboard company called Bill Sal Bill salzer outdoor we closed on that acquisition on September 5th of last year uh after we had presented to you guys and after we pre presented to several of the Committees that you directed us to um we gained 700 billboard structures within this area with the acquisition of Bill Salter outdoor two of those structures were within the city of dtin I've talked to some of you about that specifically um and and and some of some of you are aware of that but I'd like to address that immediately so that some of these some of these issues that we've been dealing with concern our 11 structures that we came to you with initially and I like to be as transparent about that as possible right up front when we presented in June you had you had directed us to present to three committees um on July 18th we presented to Public Works um we received a unanimous vote to approve the proposal that was in front of us um some very engaging conversation um congratulation councilman Stevens uh you were a part of that conversation and uh I appreciate the engaging conversations as I have with all of you throughout this journey that um there were great questions great conversation they were very much in favor of the emergency messaging at the digital Billboards offer also um there was a motion made after unanimous unanimously approving our proposal to actually save an additional structure within the harbor as opposed to taking down the four that are in the harbor um that is not on the table tonight that is not something that we recommended we are very happy with the proposal the way it is right now um on uh September 7th we presented to the LPA there was another committee that you guys pres uh advised us to present to we were rejected by that committee there was some uh I presented the same proposal that was presented to each committee and they had cited the Land Development code of 1996 and read specifically from it for the grounds to reject our proposal um as they were reading from that it is not surprising that we were rejected for that considering that's why we're here that's why we've met with you guys individually is because the Land Development code does not allow us to to convert these to digital structures so when they read from that code it was not surprising that we were rejected on that proposal we have uh attempted gone to the harbor District um committee three times they were unable to achieve Quorum we did a workshop one time had Lively discussion um we was uh favorable discussion favorable questions and but because of the inability to achieve Quorum they they did not vote on the pro The Proposal the way it the way it was sitting at that time we also tried to present last week as well and as you know the the meeting was canceled as recently as last week um so that catches us up to where we are tonight um I've sent you you should have in your packets multiple documents and thank you staff for queuing up the the proposal this this is similar to The Proposal um that was presented in June um there are some some different things at the end of it I do have a map of the 13 structures that are now ineson with the two additional Salter boards um but the way that this proposal reads it does have the 11 structures that we initially proposed back in June again this proposal is to take down five billboard structures and keep the remaining six with the ability to convert to digital structures backtack digital structures these Billboards have been here for decades they will continue to remain for decades um regardless of the vote tonight we are in in operation and currently in Destin we have one digital at the mid Bay Bridge we'd like to convert the remaining digitals uh remaining structures after the five are taken down into digital before I begin the presentation are there any questions on anything to catch us up K you have okay okay okay thank you um as mentioned back in June we presented this in an effort to unify to beautify as we call it we have worked in this in this city for decades we will continue to work in this city for decades we would like a partnership with the city and be a a good Community Steward of the city of Destin like we operate in many of the municipalities that we operate in um we are we were founded in 1902 we've been in the business a long time we're we're the nation's we're North America's largest outdoor advertising company we H we were also founded right here in the Panhandle in Pensacola um we have over over 4,500 digital displays we operate in cities like d but also Savannah Georgia Panama City Fort Meers Florida Charleston South Carolina all over the country as you can see from uh from the map from the map here 170 offices nationally um and also throughout Canada we had a a speck art on how we foresee the future of the digital Billboards to look in Destin we would build a facade around that that fits in with a coastal vernacular that we understand Destin wanting to look like as well as the digital screen on there that is uploaded automatically for the city of Dustin one thing you don't see in that in that picture our our utility lines going to power like we currently have on our Tri visions that exist we' be on the Forefront of the underground utility project by doing that um in in advance of any other uh utility projects that are done so all those would be done with uh underground utilities again this is a a speculative drawing that we that we came up with um to create a more a static view of what the billboard would look like when this was presented as mentioned there are 11 Billboards on that along 98 right now when this is agreed to we would remove the four in the harbor as well as another an additional thank you councilman AAR for the recommendation when we met with you initially the four that we had initially proposed you'd said it wasn't enough you wanted seven and I I had discussed the the livelihood that we have and the revenue that we increase um by doing digital and how it wasn't possible we found an additional one to create five Billboards that we would take down forever when these are when these are removed there will never be a billboard built in the city of dtin and that is how the the landscape would look with 45% fewer structures based on the original 11 that we discussed um councilman Schmidt isn't here tonight but in conversations with him I appreciated the the conversation that he had with um some of the input that he's received is that our Billboards are going to fall down that their Billboards are not structurally safe and they're not going to be around long and they're just some people are willing to wait them out until they fall over our Billboards are not in danger of falling down there're steel poles built into the ground so one of the things that I did was had an independent engineering analysis of the structures there's a company a structural engineering called beneden plus um I'm going to have a tough time reading that but it's in your packets I did um could we zoom in on that by chance on on uh that that that's fine there can I use this here um bened and plus is a structural engineering company that's been in in the business for 60 years 50 of those years they were um this thing on um 60 50 of those 60 years specialized in towers and billboards um they uh were focusing in on the 13 locations that we have in the city and uh skipping ahead to the second paragraph um the engineer Tommy Ireland um says to start the convers to start the conversation it is important to realize that steel does not deteriorate or break down without external forces such as water oxygen Etc by far water and oxygen combined to cause the biggest battle rust however with maintenance it is easy to provide a barrier to prevent water and oxygen from reaching the steel and causing damage in fact many of our older Billboards and towers are in very good shape regardless of the location to summarize my professional opinion with proper maintenance Billboards constructed with steel really do not have a limited lifespan and can last longer than anyone can accurately predict sincerely and it goes on to list his professional engineering Florida license number and his name Tommy Ireland um I appreciate councilman Schmidt's input in the engaging conversation that him and many of you many of the others here tonight have had with me to understand some of the conflicts and some of the apprehension regarding our plan our plan is truly to remove Billboards forever in the city of dtin and come back with the remaining structures to be digital one of the things that we have promised the city of dtin is a slot on the digital panels um six to be exact they can be utilized with our unlimited copy change and utilized in many different ways that many of our advertisers find very useful um we have over 80 digitals within the Pensacola Fort Walton dtin Market already these are some examples on how we how you could utilize these messages the flag warnings storm evacuation events employee spotlights and things like you spoke about tonight the Library events the different achievements that you've created the uh employee spotlights that people have have uh earned and celebrated throughout the time here um many municipalities use them frequently for all kinds of different reasons and I don't think I think that the staff within the city of Destin as talented as they are would find a lot of useful ways to use them um one thing I'd like to mention since this the Land Development code was enacted in 198 1996 um digital screens have become much more prevalent uh that Land Development code disallowed us to convert to digital structures after our addition in 2003 since then along 98 in the city of Destin you have over 160 digital screens of De Tronics watch fire screens these are the same manufacturers of our digital Billboards they show full animation they blink they flash um our Billboards do none of that in fact our one digital billboard that's in at the mid Bay Bridge abides by the Land Development code of TW 10c dwell times councilman Dustin I appreciate your Insight on that regarding the different dwell times for digital signage unchangeable messaging we adhere to the 10-second dwell times for our digital product none of the on-premise digital signs do that um so it is it is a something that I'd like to highlight and differentiate that when this was when we were prohibited to convert to digital we didn't all have digital screens in our pockets and on our wrists and along our things digital was a different thing back then that it is now currently that's why I me mentioned some of the municipalities that we operate and partner with digital advertising is everywhere and it's and municipalities have a very useful um you have very useful technology departments that utilize it very well um in your packets you have over 20 letters of support from advertisers um neighboring cities and land owners I mentioned this before that the uh the city manager Lanny Corbin had wrote this back last year when we initially made this proposal and support of our proposal the uh mayor City of Fort Walton Beach has also written in support of this proposal to the city of dtin and the uh the letter of support here is from Kevin Guthrie the director of Florida Emergency Management Services that partnered with lamara Fort Meers after a tragic storm um hurricane e and and emergency messaging was something that uh the Florida Department of Emergency m messaging was able to utilize frequently for a lot of different um areas um I do want to focus on emergency messaging for a minute uh I'll make no disagreement our structures exist for advertising we exist to serve the public and private community and partner with um organizations businesses and individuals throughout uh throughout the area that want to get their messaging out there but one of the unfortunate things that I hope none of us ever have to use is the emergency messaging for our digital product in 2000 uh or I'm sorry in 2023 just in Pensacola Fort Walton Destin alone we played over 6,000 Amber Alerts um that we part partnered with the Federal Emergency uh system with we played over 3,000 FEMA emergency messaging on our digital product as well um the way that those work on am alerts we partnered with the national Center for missing and exploited children in 2007 our digital Billboards are targeted through zip codes where an amber alert occurs it's immediately uploaded an emergency message and broadcast out to the communities that that Amber Alert occurred this is examples of how those Amber Alerts look when it shows up on the Billboards we partnered with FEMA in 2012 Lamar did this uh at that time we mostly provided information to the public after a major hurricane or other severe active nature January 22 we implemented a fully automated alert system using FEMA's integrated public alert and warning system since then weather warnings emergency messaging traffic incidents Public Safety alerts are POS posted automatically in the target areas based on the fips codes of each display again this is something that is automated based on the zip codes that the digital displays operate in flash floods civil emergencies are some examples there as well as uh local emergencies with law enforcement and traffic we partnered with the FBI in 2009 the FBI reaches out to Lamar with information needed for the creative creative is then made public when the FBI tells us it is typically it goes up in a display like this where there's a situation where there's wanted again fortunate for this presentation but unfortunately uh locally we had an emergency in 2017 there was a uh a wanted couple wanted on a on a murder in Bula scambi County sheriff called our office who works who works with within Pensacola um called our office for assistance and locating uh two fugitives that were on the run our count executive uh called up neighboring Lamar offices in Alabama Tennessee and Georgia as well as Florida and within minutes we had put these Billboards up and they were caught in mountgomery Alabama directly because of people seeing the Billboards um in 2017 I have the letter in your packet the uh civilian service medal was awarded to three people on our staff it was the general manager at the time our sales manager and the account executive that helped get that done that was instrumental to catching those fugitives that were on the Run uh accused of murder as mentioned this is a partnership this is something that we see for the future of Destin being beneficial for you guys as well as beneficial for us I know in past conversations we've discussed there's been this this conversation has gone in many different terms we are a company that does survive off the advertising revenue of billboards digital billboards with will make it easier for us to produce Revenue this is not a short quick turn for us to in order for us to make that happen we're removing five structures in the order to come back with the remaining six with digital there are two other structures within the city that we've acquired through Bill salzer outdoor um those were not included as part of this proposal but it is something that now have the Lamar logo on it as well so any questions or or comments or anything you'd like to discuss Council M yes sir one I appreciate your presentation and your tenacity because I know we put you through a lot of committees and and you're very diligent in following through um I do want to make a couple comments I did meet with uh Mr stoffer last year I can't even remember about what time it was pretty early on uh when he presented this to me uh I asked for points of contact between Pensacola Gulf Breeze Fort Walton Beach nville and City Beach so I could speak to the city staff or Representatives personally each and every one of them said that it was a very useful tool for safety and that it helps their their uh their Community get the word out to the public efficiently and effectively additionally I've heard comments up here from Council Members stating that they get alerts through their phone they get alerts through their car not all uh public gets that has that luxury not everybody gets that that has that uh financial fortitude to be able to to have these devices that can send these signals to them my truck doesn't um and as far as Amber Alerts that thing goes off at 2: am so I have mine silenced because I'm not waking up at 2 am for an amber alert so this is something very useful I've also talked to our city staff and they've mentioned that this would be a very useful tool for them to get information out when we look at our our state of the city address we had less than 25 people here tonight for the state of the city address I didn't Market it at all well that's what I'm saying maybe this would be that useful tool to get people here as we look across these meetings these chairs are rarely ever this is one of the fullest nights I've seen in quite a while um in my opinion we need something that brings people into these meetings helps educate them on when we're having the meetings maybe what the topics are about uh the safety factor to me is is huge uh even if it's it's down during a hurricane just letting people know where they can get water after the hurricane or ice or or food or or anything like that any of us that have been in a hurricane that have lost the power for two weeks the the the hardest part is the lack of information if they can generate something that helps us alert the public on how to safely achieve these things I'm all for it I'm I would like to make a motion that we accept Lamar's package to remove the five keep the six convert them digital I'll second second all right for the discussion gu I know you love letting know letting people know if uh they're inside the city limits or not rightfully so that's our job to make sure the the residents the local businesses are taken care of as long as the tourists that are here out of the list of letters of support I found two that were inside the city so it seems like the majority of the businesses that benefit from your advertising do business outside the city and are looking to advertise within our areas rightfully so um I just one of of the many things that seemed um not not a favor of as far as the letters of support just don't come from many citizens there's two amazing lashes and maryan wines were the two letters of support that I could find that were inside the city limits um up next councilman dtin thank you mayor as uh the Gent lar told us they acquired Bill halter advertising I have a billboard that's located on property that I belong in another town that uh now is owned by Lamar and makes me uh they're they're my tenant and they're paying an entity that I have a interest in which means as the City attorney recommended and as I agree that I will not be able to vote on this issue so I'll have to declare a conflict of interest and not vote all right thank you for that uh councilwoman AAR thank you mayor um thank you for your presentation and I appreciate you uh taking down five but I see that two popped up right in the middle of where we were trying to clear out how would you feel about these new um two acquiring that removing one of those because then that way you're still you still have one right in the middle of Destin um and we are trying to do a lot of that undergrounding for the first five years is going to start from the bridge and go to the airport road so what are your thoughts on adding one of those as a removal since they're so close to each other anyway for your digital purposes I'd be in agreement with that I appreciate the uh negotiation that you've done with us so far as I mentioned in the presentation you were you were first on the list to ask for our removal removal um for additional Billboards and I see your first tonight to ask for removal again um and and you know I I Lamar Advertising worked on this acquisition for you know it was a possibility for decades and we did not see this happening when it did um um but I would be in agreement with that with the capability of the re the uh six structures being decided between the remaining seven if we took an addition so so we have 13 structures with the two Salter boards initi uh we are proposing to take five down right now correct we would take six down one of the two that you just acquired one of the two that we just acquired with the council's agreement for the same amount of digital Billboards but choosing where that additional digital billboard would be which is not building any new Billboards it is just the conversion and upgrade of the existing structures well I am I like that you're you know proposing to do that and I was very much against even you know looking into the longevity of our city trying to just completely remove them all it's been a big you know conversation between myself and staff and our attorneys and I did some discussions today and then bringing your letter in with the um the construction of the steel and the management of these are just not going to fall down my anxiety is that you know the thought is okay we'll just wait till they fall down and just not approve this at this point I'm my anxiety is is I'd hate to wait another 20 years for them just to fall down and we've got five right down there in the city area where we're really trying to aesthetically set the entry into Destin with nothing above ground so you know I I feel like the you've presented a very good case tonight and removing one of those two signs that are right on top of each other that youve just acquired um would be more positive and my for moving these to digital and aesthetically pleasing bases on them versus the big steel Tower so that's my thoughts for now thank you and and to touch on that as well I I appreciate the feedback since day one when we met with some of you and and councilman guile to to jump in the truck with me and and take a look at these and put eyes on them to talk specifically about those structures um this could be the first since this Land Development code was written there are more more Billboards in the city of dtin there's not less Billboards you annexed fudpuckers into the city within that Land Development code to create another billboard in the city of dtin this Council right here could be the only Council to remove Billboards from the from the city skyline so I would I'm excited for you to be a part of that as well and look forward to the partnership in the future yeah that reminded me so in in there from your engineer you said with maintenance does the codee allow for them to have maintenance on these structures not on the structure itself but on the on the top part yes yeah but his structural engineer is saying with maintenance they could last a long time but we don't allow them to do maintenance on these Billboards not on the structure part all right thank you councilman Bagby we we have the code I have put the code in The Proposal if you'd like to read exactly what that that says regarding the main I I was on the council and I've been recognized but I appreciate it it does not allow the maintenance of the structures which I know you all have added solar panels and some things but if we don't catch if you don't if the cop doesn't catch you speeding you're not speeding Mr Mayor I I would like to uh pause for a moment because this shouldn't be here to be voted on this is for public presentations are presentations not for action and this is for Action so I we can solve this I think one or two ways we can allow the public to provide input during this or we can put this later in the agenda and allow the public input before we vote on this because right now you've uh yeah he's AE of allowed the public to basically be blocked out which is not how we operate in this city so I it it's your call you run the meeeting but either let the or kick this down to down in the agenda and then I'll have something else once the public has their input I'll keep the discussion going and then if we can table the vote until after public comments I think that would satisfy that all right up next councilman King thank you sir thank you for the presentation we always enjoy having you guys here um I think the uh uh I'm I'm with Mr gu I'm I'm in support of um the digital Billboards I think it's a it's a great thing for safety and Public Safety and um what we've got going on here I personally this just my own thought I don't love I know that the Salter Billboards were not part of the original negotiations or the talks um I'd love to see both of them gone I hate to say it um but I am in full support of the ones proposed to be digital I think that's a great thing um especially where they are in Destin it's ridiculous that you were shut down for the 1998 LDC um just want to put that on the record that's that's ridiculous um just based on what the technology was like then um and the amount I didn't realize how many Billboards there were how many digital Billboards there were out there you if we're going to let them do it we're not let you guys do it that's outrageous so full support um I will say I would like to see this Salter boards gone both of them yeah okay yes councilman Stevens uh thanks uh I'm definitely in support of um the digital Billboards but um I had a quick question on councilwoman's uh uh idea so would that be where six would go away and then seven would be digital or would six of them be digital and one would be uh not digital six would be digital one would be static I'm not asking for a further ask of digital okay um I mean I'd definitely be in support of that if that's if councilwoman uh would like to make a substitute motion or if I can or okay I'll make a substitute motion of the combined 13 where six of them go away six will be digital and one will be static I'll second that all right councilman Bagby yeah so I guess we're all going to finish speaking for the public so I'll go ahead and get my I I think everybody knows that I was on the council along with Mr dtin when we got when we voted to in 20 years or whatever it was get rid of billboards and I've made no uh secret that I'm not in favor of the Billboards uh because when I look at Vision my vision of Destin when we're looking down Highway 98 and we buried all the utility lines we've buried everything else I don't want to do that so that we created an unhindered view to these Billboards which is what we're doing you know we're going to spend $30 million buried in utility lines so we can have unobstructed views of billboards uh there was a reason that the city council 15 years ago said said no we don't want it it wasn't because of Technology it was because that wasn't our vision of Destin and we're getting ready to go into a visioning session and you have to realize what it is you think this town is going to look like and if you want build boards you know I think the thing that really hurts me the most or one of the things that hurts me the most is there's one of us up here from Crystal Beach okay y'all are just pushing the problem and I know you're not doing it intentionally I'm not saying you're doing it intentionally but there's a lot of us live out in Crystal Beach and you're pushing all the Billboards out there you know you got them out of the harbor congratulations I'm I'm well you may have them out of the harbor I don't know where they're going to pick and nobody up here tonight can tell me where they're going to pick their seven Billboards but you know you're going to push them I will remind you that there are three entries into this town okay maror Bridge Bridge the mid Bay Bridge and 98 coming from Walton County and one of the reasons I keep pushing so hard to make to fight to make sure that you know we continue with the plan that we voted on where phase one is the harbor because that's our history okay but phases two and three are 98 is because that covers the entryways into dtin and there is nothing more than I that I would like to see than people driving in here to go the Harbor from sandest to go damn where did all the power lines go and there's no Billboards and I can see trees and I can see you know great architecture wow this must be like a fishing Village and then the same thing when they drive out of Dustin and they go on the island and they see a row of power lines or they go across the mid Bay Bridge and they see power lines and billboards or they go into Walton County and they go are we in a different place because it's ugly over here that that's that's my vision for Dustin besides more parks and more beachfront property and all the other stuff we always discuss but pushing it out into Crystal Beach isn't going to make it go away and I get the safety thing and I get that everybody doesn't have a cell phone although there's probably more than one per person in this room right now cuz I know a bunch of people that have two and some that have three so but I get that and I get the safety argument but there are other ways to to address that issue I guess this is about the vision that we have for what Destin's going to look like 20 years from now and yes to your point they're not supposed to be doing maintenance on it on them the existing they have done it I know cuz there's one or there's a couple outside my neighborhood and I see them out there and they put on solar panels but I wasn't on the council at the time and I probably should have called somebody and I didn't and you know that's shame on me but they yeah if we allow them to do maintenance they'll last forever but that wasn't the intent of the ordinance that we passed you know I can't remember the year but 15 years ago and so I can I can I know everybody's on it the the one thing I would ask you is [Music] agree to what you're agreeing to don't leave it up for the staff to negotiate or something else you know if you want six you better know exactly where you're approving those six cuz you know the people in Crystal Beach are going to know if all six of them are out there you know I'm glad y'all don't want them you know down off Main Street that y'all see every day I see Crystal Beach every day about three or four times a day I don't want them out there either so if it if it's so good put put them down in all parts of the city I just don't think it's that good I don't think that's what uh where we've been going for 20 years for the division of this city thank you counil G I have a question for Ray Bailey sir a state stat was made that uh we can't vote during this presentation is that the case or have there been votes in the past during presentation it has been done before uh the past however um Mr BBY is correct also that before a uh motion is voted upon you should let let the public speak we can let the public speak that yeah that's not a problem I just wanted to understand if that was an accurate statement or there was wiggle room okay and then uh I will say this and and then I'll let this go to me I I'd love to see a billboard down in Destin personally for safety purposes I mean the six that were chosen aren't necessarily six I would choose but that's up to Lamar and whatever we decide on this panel um what whatever he's willing to negotiate with us uh but I I just wanted to understand more than anything if if we were breaking any rules it doesn't appear that we are um so if if it's okay for the public or or whomever I'm more than happy to wait for that Council MC oh sorry and actually the state law the attorney can correct me if I'm wrong but state law requires that we allow public input before we take a vote nobody's St yeah all right councilman Stevens um I was on public works when we all wanted um a sign or a billboard on this side of Destin that way people can see the emergency alerts um so I mean I'm I'd be in favor of that too so but that's all I got all right here's my plea then when I've knocked over a thousand houses trying to get in the seat one of the biggest issues that I came across was the perception from our citizens thinking that this Council and this government body has always taken a slight reactive approach when it comes to envisioning what the city looks like I'm sure there's a lot of them in there but this is probably the best example of our older forefathers our older council members uh really taking a an a proactive approach of what the future a good City would look like and that is without Billboards I mean I I'm glad that your company is doing so well um but to see so many dots across the country I think that's a horrible thing to see that many dots across the country the the claims of emergency messaging and the need for this emergency message is just a I think it's just words that invoke emotional response because we're supposed to be up here for the betterment of our community but if anything bad were to happen our Okaloosa County government our Emergency Management government knows every elderly address knows what their issues are and God forbid a big hurricane or something comes here they know the addresses to bring these people to so whether the I guess the the message is going to be it's red it's double red flags or something out there but TDC has a text message for that what I don't really get why the the public safety argument is so strong up here because there's so many alternate communication lines that are directed specifically to the person regardless if you turn off your emergency message or not I just think this is such going backwards I I respect everyone's perspective on this but I think we are we are doing something that the city's never done and that's take a proactive approach and make it reactive again and I I'm just pleading with you guys to make a decision not for us but for what Destin not even 20 years for 50 years 100 years how long do you think the city's going to be around these Billboards will not last that length and by opening this can of worms we're going to give them a century of billboards in the city and I just think it's it's a very sad day if this Council makes a short-sighted decision for emergency claim that I just just don't see any any validation for it so I don't see any of public comments I'll I'll give you the last word before we give public comments I need you to Define proactive versus reactive because to me this is proactive so I need that definition proactive for me is exactly what councilman Bagby we don't ever see we see ey eyes sometimes but for me proactive is what do we want to see this city become and the undergrounding is a great example all these great things that we're doing to increase the aesthetic appeal of this area and the one thing that they're holding on to is Public Safety how is a billboard an unquantifiable marketing tool Public Safety there is no way of course it's going to say every Pi is going to say yes this is a great tool because it's a checkbox of saying we did this we did this we did this but there's no quantifiable data to show what a Billboard's actually doing I'm sure being out there in the face I'm sure there's some driving traffic because the market obviously buys them so I'm sure it helps in some way whether it's exposure or it may be the marketing tool of just putting it out there like Coke does and they want you to see their product every every like seven times per day the I just don't see how this helps our community our locals our local businesses I just don't see that you just contradicted yourself because you said there's no quantifiable data but you just stated that these people are making money through marketing through it so if they're making Revenue through marketing how the hell are they not becoming more safe because they're finding out and this diminishing it to Red Flag versus this is where you can find water or this is after a hurricane to me that's irresponsible and that's where you can find water yeah after a Hurrican we're an island if there's a bad hurricane no one should be on this peninsula but during every hurricane I've never evacuated that's your own personal choice I know a bunch of people that have it yeah and so I mean I think you're putting this in a little shell of of never Neverland the reality is our jobs to protect the public period and and you trying to to diminish this to a red flag is just ignorant and you trying to booler this as a way to reach those that are unreachable even though we already have them in a county database is insane to me okay so the the roadways are never closed after Hurricane we can agree to disagree we're not going to change anyone's opinion on that so last comments appreciate all the engagement the the negative feedback the positive feedback everything in between we are a part of this city to address councilman Bagby um regarding pushing things to the east our Billboards exist to the east they are there already I want to reiterate we are not building any new Billboards our Billboards are here they are here to stay they are they are structurally sound and I look forward to the partnership with the city staff and the City Council in the future these are uh very useful to many things um as you mentioned you didn't Market the event tonight and you have a very low turnout for the the city the State of Affairs of the city um people who understand marketing better do understand that a billboard is a very effective way to get communication out to the public Mar I've had marketing background for 10 years that's my business I would never use or recommend a billboard okay okay well you know I've I appreciate I I misheard that when you said you didn't Market the event I did not Market the event because we're going to take video and we're going to take content we're going to slice it down and give it to the people how they like it which is short concise topics and so that being recorded is going to be all the content I need to push it out on next store Instagram Facebook I'm going to go and present this to people in person that's that's my marketing is in face Toof face person list no list yeah well as mentioned in our email exchange I look forward to having a cup of coffee with you sometime discussing the straints and benefits of outdoor advertising and and you know maybe we as you mentioned to councilman guile agree to disagree on certain things but I appreciate all the engagement and all the insights from um people of the the council when this code was written um that affected Outdoor advertising and not the on premise signs um as well as the support that that you've given us and as far as the engagement thank you thank you all right all right so we're going to hold on the sub motion I'm going to let the public go through we'll close public comments and then we'll go back to that motion if we're all in agreeance okay all right I'm going to start with my left anyone want to come up here public comment you got three minutes to speak on anything you don't have to speak about Billboards but anything you guys want to talk about name and address and you have three minutes yes sir there you go well I've been I've lived in dtin since 2001 know a lot of you folks up here and uh you know we we bought uh shak's Frozen Custard we started that that's the oldest ice cream store store in Destin now but um I I'm up here to really just talk about Lamar as a person who has a big sign right on in the middle of my property and that got there in 1994 long before I bought the property by way of an easement and when I uh I had some problems with h bird droppings and other issues and I tell you what Lamar did I went to him and said look guys you don't pay me a cent on this sign but there are some issues I'd like you to take care of so actually bless you by the way they stepped up cleaned the sidewalks on an ongoing basis uh fixed any of the issues and in fact gave me use of the sign at no charge um so basically I just want to say Lamar as a business partner is really been a good partner for us even though I make nothing on it they they don't have to pay me anything um we've had a 15-year contract or agreement with Lamar they stood behind it uh it's been beneficial to me and to shakes um we're in the process of negotiating that right now again Steve right so um as far as removing five signs and keeping the other six or whatever guys this sign on my property is going to be there until it's no longer there probably long before it'll be there longer than I'm here so if you can get rid of five and keep what what's there I say do it I'm in favor of it thank you all right thank you so much Sandy treml 3823 Indian Trail um and I too was on Council when this Vision came about believe it or not we were in the middle of an 8-year recession we had no money to was the one thing we could do for the future of Destin was put this ordinance in place because literally there wasn't any money to spend you guys have had the luxury of having income to spend when you're in a recession there isn't any you're barely making budgets for your employees a comment was made to me about not everyone has a phone well I don't know if you're aware but there is federal legislation that allows even the homeless to have phones anybody in the United States can get a free phone if they qualify did you know that I happened to be in the dollar store one day when two people were arguing because one of them didn't get their iPhone 15 upgraded you know or their old one upgraded they had an old one these were two people that do not have homes and they were discussing this to beautify Des by undergrounding by getting rid of all of the lines the spaces and all of the air that we all look at I don't know about you but when I drive down Highway 98 or any other Street when I'm going into a different town I don't look at the Billboards my phone is telling me something my GPS and my car is telling me something all of this is telling me something that is the future our kids don't look at that I'm here to to support my children and my grandchildren I want them to be here part of this came about because we had a hurricane and the sign bent it does bend it does take wind they do Bend they may not fall apart for years and years because they're powder coated but they will bend in a hurricane after a hurricane and I don't know Mr Des was here I know when the water came up to Highway 98 we had boats sitting in the middle of Highway 98 how did we how did we get to anybody then we needed Billboards then because there wasn't all this Public Communication that we have we just put up a new tower behind destined water users for all of our uh emergency respon First Responders to coordinate all of this stuff you know it's coming out to us as soon as anything happens so I think we need to look at it that way um and personally I would like to see them all gone because I too uh think that one end of town shouldn't be to another you know shouldn't take over whatever the ordinance is should apply to everybody and I know I appreciate taking them down but I think they all should go down because to me if you've ever been in a hurricane like I've been in a hurricane in this town things blow around and anything that's in the air is going to blow so the more things you put up there the worse it gets thank you thank you okay anyone else from my left so push the button and let go yep there you go hi Tammy weidenhammer 98 Palms Boulevard um I'm in agreement without the signs the digital signs and I understand the safety aspect of it however I didn't really hear percentage of the safety aspect I heard like three things from 2017 of how they were used in a safety Manner and I've been coming down here since 1989 I think moved down here permanently about a year ago and I left the city to come here because it doesn't look like the city and I do like seeing the trees and seeing the sky and seeing the peak of the waterline when you can get it but um and also having all of those digital signs on 98 is very distracting I mean we already can't get through a day without an accident on 98 to get down there so I just I don't understand how the digital back and forth back and forth distraction is really supposed to be helpful either so my opinion thank you thank you so much all right anyone else on the right oh there you go anyone in the middle yep push the button on the thank you uh Scott Remington I'm here with Lamar just had a clarification or question for the City attorney based on something I want to make sure everybody is clear the 96 sign ordinance says that no sign may be Str structurally altered to increase its life however every year we can do repairs to the structure as long as the repairs and The Replacements don't exceed 25% of the value of the structure that's under Section 5 b 2 of your sign ordinance and I would submit to we can read it to you sure it says no non-conforming sign shall struct shall be structurally altered to prolong the life of the sign but work may be done in any period of 12 consecutive months on ordinary repairs or on repair and replacement of nonstructural components to an extent not exceeding 25% of the current replacement cost of the non-conforming corre and getting your number so the point is that we can paint these steel poles is far less than 25% of the structure and that's the only way these these signs are going to go down is if they fall over and they're not going to fall over and they've lived through most of them at least four hurricanes um so this is truly I think the only chance this Council or any future Council in the foreseeable future will have to reduce the number of signs in your city thank you thank you anyone else on my right all right seeing none I'll close the public comments um this isn't a judge but any final remarks councilman King yeah I just wanted to say um I would like to see I think that that your Mr Mary your remarks were very compelling um I think maybe so so much so to take me to the other side um I would like to I know that we can't I know I can't make this motion now because we've got a motion and a substitute motion but being that this was a this was a presentation mostly informational I would prefer to see it tabled um if we can't you know I don't know that would be if if I don't know I I don't know if I'll be able to make that motion but I would prefer to see it tabled um until we can you know I think mle through the information and I don't I don't feel great about voting on it right now personally all rightone someone want to help me with this Robert rules if we have a table does that supersede everything or we have to go through the motions do we to table over everything cor right all right so do you want to have a motion yeah I'll make a motion I'll second that but just for clity what what um how long are we tabling it to or for what purpose I know you said to mull it over is it indefinite or is there a time period Well I don't know what y'all think I would say until the next meeting at least I would like to see the change like I felt the same way as Mr Bagby the compelling if we're going to take it let's get Equitable so between now and the next meeting maybe figure out if we're going to do six digital signs and remove five or six figure out that it's a fair equal Destin Crystal Beach end so that it's not like all of these are gone and then there's four over here does that make sense is that enough for you whatever the council wants to do is that what y'all want to do all right I have a motion I'm not clear on it though are we negotiating the locations of the signs now and the number I just want to be clear on it because there's a lot of opinions and they're all different don't look at me I want to deny it can we finish talking can yeah yeah we'll keep discussing it can all right because we got can can [Music] iable no there's no discussion yeah it cancels I would ask you P yeah pull pull it if we want to discuss remove remove your table so we can discuss everyone CU if you get a motion a second it's done okay I'll I'll pull the motion to to table for the time being all right new stuff every day up here thanks for the we're learning John Stevens councilman Stevens um I guess if we still talking about the substitute motion before we vote I would like to know which six will be the digital and which one would be the still one I think that's the basis of councilman King agreed so if we can get that clarified tonight tonight or or later I don't know if he's allowed to or yeah I mean it's open discussion I didn't mean to and and I don't apologize for your P I'm not no I'm not apologizing for anything I'm saying I didn't mean to to Blindside you I was I was uh in full support you know I think that what's tough up here on this Das is we've got a thousand different things to think about um you know and and one of the one of the things that maybe the one of the most important things that we are dealing with right now is the undergrounding and somehow my brain compartmentalizes things in such a way that I I'm throwing high fives to see power poles come down and power lines come down and to see these beautiful oak trees overhanging Highway 98 and then in the same breath I'm like yeah let's make some digital signs you know let's just keep it going so that's where my that's where my mind goes with this I didn't mean to Blindside you I just want to tell you that's where I am with it well it's not a Blindside this has been a topic of discussion since the Land Development code was enacted in 200 in 1996 and then revised in 2003 I believe after our digital went in and because you guys do have so many things to focus in on that's why I've tried to make it as simple as possible um the mayor's comments councilman bagby's comments I appreciate all the conversation I sincerely appreciate the people who took the time out of their busy schedules to meet with me individually and discuss why we're enacting this when we talk about beautification of the city and people talk about enjoying driving down 98 seeing the oak trees you know when these power lines are brought down and the city is underground utilities our Billboards will be here our Billboards are here when people appreciate the beauty of Destin right now they are looking at technology from 1987 with tri Visions turning and turning and turning I am a billboard person I dislike Tri Visions our digital platform is a technology that's utilized by many municipalities similar to Destin with great success that can be debated from Mr Wagner as I said we can talk about the strengths and weaknesses of billboards and Outdoor Advertising be happy to share that I've been doing it for my entire career with Lamar Advertising um as Mr cheraki stated tonight his business uses the the Billboards as well the tri vision technology that currently exists in Destin I am not a fan of digital Billboards exist in Des they're regulated as on premise signs and they have full motion going on our bill our digital Bill borns which have TW 10c dwell times are way less distracting than a full motion animated picture that's going on on a 6x12 on premise sign tonight we talked about bringing down an additional structure I can make this decision on the Fly we've been talking with you guys since back in June about um and before that we met we met with you initially in May before the city council we presented in June um so we've been we've been going back and forth with this for quite some time is there any way to zoom in on the two Salter boards that are within the west side of the district that that's that's fine um I think the easiest way to look at it is through the billboard structures because it highlights where the Billboards are again I I like to be as transparent as possible with our intentions here our intentions are to make Destin a better more visually appealing place our Billboards exist as as the structural engineer listed our Billboards will exist long before I'm I'm long after I'm with Lamar Advertising if they do routine maintenance the quote the the way that the letter reads is that with proper maintenance rust will not inhibit the Billboards the only thing that would prevent rust is paint painting a structure is never going to require more than 25% of the structures value continue thank you the um the two Salter boards that are listed there we would remove one of those and and uh I believe it's the structure furthest actually the street view may be better um because this one of those structures we would remove and one of them we would come back with digital that would leave us that would leave us with the four that are to the east of 293 in the mid Bay Bridge leaving one of those as static because initially when we're removing the structures we still need to operate as a business this is not an immediate Revenue producer for us to re to take down 45% of our inventory and still do business in in the city of dtin this pardon me that's not even ad that that okay one second that says Bill Salter Okay the reason it says Bill Salter is because that is the billboard that we acquired in uh September of this year so is that the structure that's further west or further east in my map that's my question should right that is Elite Jeeps if you're familiar with the company um they are the land owner we would take that structure down that structure would remain and we would convert that on one side on both sides as digital basically we're asking we have one digital in the city of Dustin as it exists right now there is a digital currently at the mid Bay Bridge we would be adding 11 digitals 11 digital faces we would include one or both sides of that as the 11 digital faces that was initially proposed and we would take the other one down which one would be static then um if you zoom if you uh go back to the Lamar map it would be one that we were proposing to do digital with if you look to the east of uh east of here it would be the second structure at um of the mid Bay Bridge right there all right I'm going to continue discussions here up first councilwoman abar thank you mayor um the reason why I was agreeing with Johnny is is I I realized that you can maintain these and keep these boards Billboards probably last another 50 years and so you know we just say no we're not doing anything we're not going to let you do it you're just going to they'll all stay in the city for the next 50 years years and people be like well y'all didn't fix anything you didn't get rid of anything because they didn't fall apart and that's my anxiety is that we're going to as a group try and say okay we want our city to be completely power lines gone Billboards gone and we get the power lines down and 20 years from now the Billboards are all still up because we didn't agree to anything and then 20 more years just the minor maintenance you're able to maintain these Billboards and everybody in the city's like we got rid of none we've got all these Billboards and they're not falling apart and I just feel like if we move some of the request of what the six get rid of that we do two at Crystal Beach in like to the looking at the map those two to the right take those down and take like leave one where the word Destin is and leave the one right there in the middle of the map so that that way Crystal Beach only has two let's just leave the one where we own the land so we can at least have the income now now when you say something like that this is this is where it hurts because this is this is where councilman councilman Dustin has recused himself tonight because he owns a property with a billboard and receives revenue for it when I talk about Elite Jeeps we have to take down a structure to please the econ accomodations of city council that business will lose Revenue with taking down our structure Mr chaki spoke tonight these are people that depend on our revenue for the structures and depend on our advertising for the thriving of their business um true I only have 20 letters of support tonight and and only two of those reside in the city of dtin trust me we have many advertisers that operate within the city of dtin and have successfully used Billboards for years these were letters of support that were written in a matter of weeks that um I just wanted to address I apologize if my comment of sarcasm came out a little forward no apology necessary I appreciate it but this is my point you said let's keep the one that the city Revenue City all right let me let me redact my statement and say I wish to see no Billboards in dtin regardless who owns the parcel but this is the conversation and and and and it's frustrating because I've had this conversation with people inside Dustin outside of Dustin and it's a heads scratcher for me to understand if your goal is to not have Billboards in Dustin we accommodate this goal this is what we're here for this is what I've been talking to you about since councilman guile said wait a second what are you trying to do and I said can you meet and jump in my truck and drive down 98 and look at what we do and I and I'll tell you exactly what we're doing and correct me if I'm wrong councilman guy it took him about 20 minutes of questioning and trying to figure out where does the other shoe drop what are you trying to hide from me you're telling me you're trying to get rid of these things and you're having a problem and that's the heads scratcher we also operate and thrive in the city of Destin we're almost sold out on those Billboards for the upcoming season we'll be telling advertisers sorry within 6 months of this agreement getting approved tonight we will be removing all of those structures we'll have to accommodate you on one of our digital signs that we will be building in the future in the removal and replacement agreement in your packet it states that from the time this approval is signed within six months all of these structures will be removed yes that includes the one that the city of dtin just purchased on the property and the City of dtin will lose Revenue because of taking that that structure down for Beach weeken that's the advertisement there that's a Fort Walton Beach pontoon company all right just in the Nar of councilman gu I'm sorry Jim first and then gu sorry one one correction you do not receive revenue from the boat rental place you receive revenue from Lamar Advertising on a check that we send monthly that's fine but I'm I'm just saying don't mislead by saying that s of time going is not you receive revenue from it's from Lamar Advertising councilman first I'm sorry um I I do have a question and it's to reiterate something that I agree with councilman abar uh but um if we vote no we don't want to do this all signs what do you do with the rest of the signs they remain they remain so if the goal is to remove signs they remain until they they become structurally unviable or or structurally impaired in some some way shap or form but according to you um you have the right to to do the maintenance that's painting to prevent the rust from deteriorating the metal itself if for some reason we have the the impression that that's not allowed and we try to stop that what's the next step what do you guys do to retaliate if we tell you you can't pain them or do you hire a lawyer and and go after us from that that first of all they have a lawyer here but second of all why don't we let staff answer some of your code questions if you don't mind because Steve has been sitting there very quietly but what we're trying to explain about the code he deals with every day so maybe he can just explain what is meant by the code yeah so the maintenance yes that is allowed um because if if the city doesn't allow maintenance of a sign um that's could be considered negligent um however in this conversation what I'm observing is um when the term structure is being utilized um and please correct me if I'm wrong but it seems to be focused on the pole the monop pole that is there and while that might be the main structure that holds up the sign behind the sign face there is structure and if that is damaged or destroyed they cannot replace it as well so while while the pole itself is a massive piece of Steel um and will likely last Outlast everyone in this room and 10 generations and Beyond um there there are other structural elements to these billboard signs that I'm sure if you've driven down any Highway anywhere in the United States you've seen them collapse or fallen over and that's the structure behind the sign face that if it if it is destroyed then it it would not be able to be replaced so any other questions on the code none for me CC I I'm not finished with my my session go ahead that was my last question on the code all right go ahead so right now we're looking at uh tremendous number of signs on 98 currently right most of that is not in the city of Dustin but it's in dtin it's not in it's not annexed into our our city limits but we still see numerous signs out there that we have no control over now we keep talking about this 20-year plan in 20 years Council I don't care hasn't done anything to reduce a single sign in the 20 years that they've been here they're waiting out they haven't done and as far as the comment about the cell phone I made a a compound comment about cell phone and vehicles that can talk to you but it's great when somebody singles out one portion of that to try to fit their their little agenda their propaganda but um so what we're looking at here is right now we have an opportunity to reduce signs now and if if we vote against it then we just got to wait everything out and try to figure it all out that's all I wanted to understand thank you thank you thank you sir councilman Bagby final thoughts and we're going to get this going thank you yeah cuz we've hour and 20 minutes almost on uh this and I understand it's it's a big issue and and people are passionate on both sides I think you and I passion on one side the uh and I'm not going to get into all the counterarguments or anything uh the but I will say this the previous Council that voted uh to amend the ordinance is get did get rid of the sence we knew and we were advised by our council at the time Jerry okay that we could not Outlaw and demand that they be taken down uh because they have rights their customers have rights they have lawyers and we would lose but what we could do is as the Chinese have learned so often you know time cures all problems and what we could do is say you can't structurally improve them or repair repair structurally you know you can change the face or what it's advertising or whatever you can paint it but structurally eventually that Still's going to give way or a Storm's going to come and it's going to blow the substructure that the signs rest on and then they'll have to take them down so you just wait and that's what we did and sometimes you know things take time up here sometimes they take too much time I agree with you you know the park on the Harbor should have been done a decade ago all right there are a lot of things that but that's the nature of government it takes time and eventually we will be rid of all the signs either because technology in our glass es or a little chip in our brain or whatever you know not just cell phones or cars or whatever that that's the direction we're headed uh eventually the science will be gone and we'll have trees and we'll have Sky what what my concern is undoing you know we're at the goal line we've been working for 15 years to get and cross the goal line and all of a sudden it's like NOP we want to do something different because we haven't scored a touchdown yet patience is a good thing sometimes in in public service in public government and you just you got to vote on what you want the town to look like the one thing I would say is and I appreciate your motion because I I do believe that if we're going to pass something you ought to know exactly what you're agreeing to and it ought to be in print and we because we haven't really discussed the contract we've talked about our vision we've talked about how much you know a lot of things we've talked we haven't talked about how much revenue you're actually seeing you know I what my question was 180,000 is that the value of the 10 seconds each you're giving the city okay so you've got uh 11 more sides that you're going to be doing you know six times that at 10 seconds a piece so so that's 6 * 10 * 180,000 good good for you this is America I want people to make money but we didn't get in the contract we didn't get in all this other stuff we're having a philosophical debate up here and I get you know safety is important and I get Aesthetics are important and the vision we have for this community are important uh I don't want to table it because this is kind of like the pickle ball courts you know and I said just build some dang pickle ball courts and I didn't realize that'd get quoted in the paper and I got some push back from that but you know it's time for us to decide what we want this town to be like and so you know I I you can make your motion to to table and we'll probably table it and we'll come back but at some point we got to decide what we want this town to look like right can you repeat the the motion that's on the table substitute motion substitute motion was to accept the proposal of removing six billboard sign converting six to digital and one static I would go back and and make the motion to table again all right I have a motion to table I hear a second all right looks like it's dying for a lack of a second we're still on the motion and I will call the vote for the uh substitute motion I have it three to two with one exstension is that a all right I take that as a direction for us to work with County staff to finalize an agreement city city and um excuse me agement has not had legal review so we will deal with that um so this was a philosophical approval not a contract approval the contract will come back to council okay yeah thank you all right thank you for the patience thank you for the Insight all all feedback was appreciated I appreciate all of you I look forward to working with you all in the future thanks again thank you all right moving on after a long 1A Public public comments are done consent agenda do I hear a motion motion to approve is is motion in a second is this on that I'd like to pull a and b okay retaliation all right here we go actually and also I wanted to pull uh uh C all right we're doing them all one by one 3A come at me uh it's not just about 3A 3B or a I I just as a joint can you just let the public know so they understand what they're spending what you've accomplish during these two things because from what I hear it's good things absolutely so they should they should be course happy to I'm not here to attack ATI I'm here to serve the public I'm just having fun up here I'm just having fun same team all right one the league of Mayors legislation action day all right so we're at Tallahassee so while we were up there uh defending home rule and some of the bills that are coming up to uh preempt us here locally from making our own decisions uh we were there I was there um as a collective whole on those issues while I was up there I was talking to Pat Uh representative Pat man uh Senator um J Trumble and a few other representatives from our Panhandle that aren't uh representing us uh and making sure that our Appropriations all seven of them uh any information they needed if I need to lobby with any of the other uh delegated voters on our on our appropriation so basically trying to bring home as much of the seven Appropriations that we asked and the money that we were asking to come back home uh the update is uh because of so many HOA members uh speaking out over in for prong Lake uh that became the priority um for representative man uh seeing that there was about 50 uh citizens there asking that this is a serious issue um so that is fully funded right now in the Senate still under negotiations but that is their number one priority that they're not pulling from the other two out of the the other two consisting of the total three out of the seven Appropriations that we requested uh the dredging is partially funded right now and they're working to get that back up to a fully funded and the St man intersection at Highway 98 is also partially funded uh cross town and the other three Appropriations were uh denied at either committee or Senate um so just updates on that uh 3B uh was going down there and that's just leadership communication and uh trying to be more effective leader for us up here as well as the citizens uh so that was a workshop on how to communicate and uh lead not only a council but trying to lead individual workshops individually to try to get the most out of it so that's a and b for you thank you very much for your diligence in serving this community yes sir uh John do councilman Stevens sorry yeah for uh I'm not on a first name basis with you no worries uh for uh consent or for the public comments under the uh uh approval minutes on page 98 under public comments uh it said that there was two residents that wanted to fill the interim um council member position it was actually only one resident that wanted to me so I just want to get that adjusted all right thank you all right with the correction in the minutes uh approve I hear a motion second second second call on the vote all right eyes have it so moved city manager mrzi uh thank you mayor uh good evening to you and uh the council members uh our first item this evening has to do with a presentation by the Raymond group Raymond James group uh regarding our current interest rate uh status Chris do you want to introduce the group yeah um Stephen K and Brian Hogan are here from Raymond James uh at a previous council meeting there were some questions raised uh between our portfolio strategy and the benchmark that we have so they're here to do a small presentation on the current environment uh investment environment and Andy is going to pull open the slideshow right now thank you guys for coming out SL show wonder about that yes so thanks for having us we won't take much time only about five minutes of prepared remarks and only three slides we'll see if we can't even shave it a minute off of that but just in light of recent conversations the last few quarters to help provide some insight uh specifically to the city's Bond Investments and what that looks like in the cont text of interest rates especially in the last couple of years and so that's what we have up first is is really just a chart of interest rates versus maturity date on the bond with the red line on the bottom looking back three years to 2021 the blue line at the top today the three-year time frame is significant because on average the bonds that are invested for the city have a maturity of about 3 years although we have bonds maturing every month some are shorter some are longer it takes about 3 years for the bulk of the portfolio to mature and looking back at the red line at the bottom 3 years ago on the far let's see left we see that a bond that matures in one month which would be a short-term T bill cash paid zero that's the first of the city's benchmarks is the Florida Prime which is essentially a zero duration investment it's fully liquid moving out to the one-year point a one-year treasury it was available again at near zero that's the second Benchmark for performance standards at the city and looking three years out where we buy Bonds on average it was a rate slightly better than zero and we we joked at the time it wasn't much to brag about but it was about a hundred times better than cash and and in that environment it's easy to outperform we did outperform although the numbers aren't that thrilling and that's what we would refer to as a normal interest rate environment that we're all used to a longer term debt will pay more a 30-year mortgage would have a higher rate than a 15-year mortgage and in that environment the numbers weren't great but but the performance was good fast forward three years the blue line on top is today's current interest rates and there's really two takeaways from that line first is that rates across the curve have gone dramatically higher in a short period of time as a direct result of the Federal Reserve purposefully causing that environment but that leads to two takeaways in terms of performance on a bond portfolio the first is again looking at a three-year Bond instead of paying slightly more than zero now pays closer to 4% that's good news once you're able to buy a 4% Bond but that's the first take way is that a portfolio that of bonds is going to lag because we can't immediately invest the entire portfolio new three-year bonds but that lag takes a couple of years to to unfold and about a three-year period which is now we're seeing that that leg is largely gone and we do have yields on the current portfolio closer to that 4% and so that's that's good news the other takeaway would be on the far left cash now is paying more than 5% which is what we call an inversion an unusual circumstance we're not used to cash paying more than long-term rates that and will continue to be a headwind as long as the interest rates remain that way uh however we have some thoughts on that do you have anything to add on that one yeah I would just say that the red line is more traditional where you see a yield curve that shows next to nothing at now and something later and then the blue line is the very unusual in fact I think this is the second longest period in modern history where we're at roughly 18 months of an inverted yield curve meaning that the shorter term rate is paying more than the longer term rate and I guess my only thought on that one would be to point out that if you were to know this three years ago even though we couldn't buy things that average more than five uh year durations across the the Spectrum it would seem very logical to buy into as far out as you can go to get that higher rate however if you'd done so you'd be locking in now would be 50% lower than what is currently at now even in an inverted yield curve so you had gotten your potentially your your your uh you know marketto Market rates would be showing exceptionally negative returns right now even though you would have locked in a higher rate than the zero that it was giving at the time and ironically now uh we thought we we took a bunch of uh well actually it was almost three years ago when we made the big recommendation to shift more funds into CDs and lock in higher rates at a shorter period of time which has now been our number one performer um but um and then the longer term looks not as attractive but where are we going from here if they keep going lower that will have looked really attractive and that's the dichotomy we have to face every day with with managing the portfolio right so two takeaways on this slide before we move on first is in in the the context of what do you do in this environment the first is uh your cash should be earning something now not zero 5% or more and that's in fact the the work we've worked through Crystal and the council as well to put essentially all the funds that are needed for the next few months into a money market fund that it's earning 5 and a quar perc that's great the challenge is that there is no three-year Bond available in the marketplace or anything between one and five years that's high quality that pays anywhere close to that so we either accept an underperformance or move everything to cash and our best Insight on why we don't suggest to move to cash and stay the course really is looking to history it it times that this has happened before and what happens there and that's really the next slide if I can figure out how to change it all right hey look at that right so this Nicks chart is looking back 10 years to 2013 on the left up to today on the right 10 years ago is when we were hired to serve this chart shows a snapshot in time throughout that 10 years of the rate on cash in red or the rate on a three-year bond in blue and there's a few takeaways here first on the far right we see that the red the cash rate is higher than blue but in the past decade and in fact for decades prior those periods of inversion are both unusual and shortlived we don't know how long but it tends to reverse and go back to a normal curve the other thing we can see on this chart is there was a very rapid rise in rates compared to the prior period which would have been the 2016 to say 18 time frame in the mid of that chart both periods had an inversion like we're seeing now just more dramatic now than we saw before uh but what we saw in the 2016 through 19 period is what is sometimes typical again we don't know how this ends but typically things reset abruptly which is what happened with covid a recession and everything went back to zero if you own cash you went to zero immediately with it if you owned a three-year bond for at least three years into that new environment of zero interest rates the return was very good and in fact that was two of our best years of outperformance and we joke at the time it won't last forever depends on what happens to interest rates uh but that's that's a takeaway there is that moving to cash would ultimately burn you historically and we believe that's the case again anything to add on that one yeah I would just simply add that um a couple things one is we always try to find times to sit down with each one of y'all individually to discuss this personally so that you can ask your own questions and and not you know get kind of caught up in whether or not it's logical to ask something pertinent or not kind of thing uh and number two is that on this chart it shows that we've beaten our Benchmark roughly 80% of the time and when we were here last time I don't know about three months ago there was some question about well how are we not beating the Benchmark we said just stand by because if if rates do come down and we keep escalating what we're getting maturing at a higher rate then eventually we're going to be on the pretty side of this curve and that's where we are now we're actually where you look and we'll show this on the next slide but um Steve's going to show us on the next slide here we do we have one final slide this is the chart we always include in the quarterly report but it helps show these things in action and not only a snapshot in time but what it looks like investing in a portfolio over time and seeing these lags and seeing these inversions again the chart all the way back to 2013 the dark blue line is the city's realized performance whereas the light blue line is there you go the portfolio of one-year US treasuries during that time which is which is the benchmark again we look back at the 2016 period when rates Rose last time around our outperformance narrowed but when rates collapsed after that into Co it was in fact the best period of outperformance right we see a repeat of that going into 20 2021 rates come down it hurts our outperformance and in fact underperformed for a period of time and finally on the far right we see that Gap closing dramatically and this is the first time now that that lag is caught up now that interest rates have stopped moving your next agenda item is the first quarterly report in several where we are showing some periods of outperformance versus benchmarks again not for changing anything but simply from time for these things to work out and trusting that an unusual event historically continues to be an unusual event yeah this last one basically speaks to current cash rates versus a three-year duration which is roughly what we have with the city of dtin which is why you see the quarterly report the performance is excellent 12 months is is is solid and then you see the 3 years an Inception it's it's kind of that's where it gets squirly again because that's assuming Mark to Market numbers and those are never quite accurate you have a much better performance numbers with what Crystal produces with with income and how you that's hard numbers of what you've actually gotten in income and dividends returns those are real uh versus the sketchy numbers that come in at three-year time frame so the quarter and the year is is is much more in line with where we want it to be and where we're coming back to and that very very last right tip there just hard to of see where it's coming up really quickly that's maturities of some positions that were at 1% or less that are now going in at three to five or so percent and that's that hard skyp uh steep little uptick you're seeing there and and we project that that will bypass where we were and get us back on top of where we've traditionally been above our Benchmark going forward yeah my last takeaway would be the higher interest rate environment it's higher than the last decade is working its way in last year's calendar year performance was our best ever in the 10 years we've served at positive 4.73 the performance has clearly turned around we'd expect that to continue the disparity on the benchmarks remains to be determined depends on how long the cash inversion remains but we would not Advocate chasing that yeah that's a tough one you it's the next logical question somebody was probably going to ask is so with that great advice what do we do and our answer is still not really sure because we don't know you know right now it's very volatile the interest rate environment is and we don't see a clear distinct I mean last year 56% of CEOs said it was inevitably going to be a recession in the beginning of last year they said 56% said it's no question about it you know the good Lord's been on my shoulder and says that's what it is and then it was going to be uh beginning of this year there's going to be six downturns in the in the FED I don't even see how that's possible that they could do that six times in one year that doesn't seem likely I don't know that it's going to be two frankly uh but if that starts happen then it makes sense to go out a little bit longer but if the longer you go out now the less you get and that's a real hard pill to swallow if you can get 5.5 on a money market right now which you know you're not going to get if rates come down but you get four on a three four five year CD it's that's like hard to sell so um there's going to be opportunities that come up the active money manager guys doing very very well with that with eagle uh the CDs are doing what we asked them to do but I think this is going to be a very very um interesting year in regards to what we do to take advantage of the volatile situation we're in that was a long five minutes that's sorry right councilwoman abar thanks gentlemen for your presentation it's always um fascinating because you know I have my investments and I watch my 401k growing and everyone when last year was like oh it's going to be a bad year you know and you're like so far D's doing great nasdaq's doing great but also the fact that this is an election year usually an election year is a very bad year it's always up and down up and down but it's been a pretty steady no real big drop you know maybe one but it rebounded so do you see that where we're in invested now do you feel like we're in the right place for this type of volatility that could kick in because the elections are coming up at the end of this year yeah I can go ahead I can feel that uh from both our experience with institutional cash management type clients similar to the city and again as a resident and a homeowner here in the city as well I my ansers are resounding yes if there's ever going to be a period of underperformance like we've seen I would rather that be during a strong economy with strong ad vorum revenues that type of thing this type of portfolio especially after locking in the higher rates is set to perform better than just about anything else should things really get bad as as08 we spoke to earlier that's that's the time that's going to work best historically nothing's guaranteed but that's that's who I'd want to be you're right that historically election years tend to be more volatile uh because everybody's jacking in to try to pitch their angle right but statistically the market stock markets that is tends to outperform a little bit more during re during reelection years than not uh we're not in the stock market the bond market also tends to do a little better during re-election Years also because they're trying to and this is not a political statement but they're trying to everybody's trying to you know make it look pretty so that they can get reelected Etc both parties do it it's just what happens consistently I would simply add to what I said earlier which is like this is going to be very uncommon and we're just going to watch it extremely closely and make sure we're on top of it to the best of our ability well we appreciate what you do and thank you for working with Crystal she is our rock star I don't know how we found this wonderful woman she is a savior to the city so we love her so thank you for all the help you give us to help must be a successful city thank you our pleasure our pleasure all right not seeing any other comments all right thank you guys thanks Scot thank you take care right who uh yes the next item is the about the courtly investment report uh Chrystal do you want to just give a highlights of it uh yes so um I I put this uh right after the Raymond James presentation so that you'd have numbers available to you bottom line is that quarter ending December 31st um we earned more an interest income than we have in uh many years so um we're doing well at this point and with that I'll take any questions and we still have our wonderful Raymond James guys here if you I just want to commend you for finding us more money Crystal thank you all right cman Bagby yeah I just have one ask uh you on the comparison sheet you have you know our performance versus the uh Bank of America performance I would just ask in future quarters you you can come up you don't have to but in future quarters could you also track the Florida prime or the FMI yeah I will need the microphone for that one okay the uh short know it's lagging on the chart we cannot because we don't have the the feed for that data we had maybe a 100 or more Bond benchmarks to choose from and what we learned is while we had access to all of those benchmarks the public did not it's a licensing thing so the Florida Prime was a good publicly available proxy but does not feed into our systems so it's we kind of tried to find the best balance of things that could be publicly validated versus what we can show on a chart but we don't have that capability basically okay can you just uh give us another chart with Florida P primes performance we're trying yeah it's not as easy as it sounds No I know but yeah we're working on it I understand that to produce the numbers crystal is already doing a little bit of math because the construction of that number is also a bit different it's more of a forward-looking what is your rate today if you place cash with the with the fund it is not an experience of your investment in that fund historically and so there's a bit of a it's forward looking not backward looking so depending on where the yield curve is they either look better than us or much worse than us MH and we have to give only backward looking uh the only thing we have that's forward looking Mark to Market which almost always makes you look bad right and so it's it's not Apples to Apples but we're working hard to see if we can find more apples okay what I don't know but I'll look at and share uh with Crystal if we come up with something if they publish a similar number that is in that three-year range that's closer to the experience of a three-year duration Bond portfolio that might be useful I don't know if they've produced that number and I'm just glad that you guys didn't vote to um to release to remove the table cuz I think the table's are really good yeah it's still here still here all right yeah all right thanks guys yeah I just we have two benchmarks so correct a benchmark doesn't do you much good if you're not comparing to a benchmark so if we can figure out and next quarter hopefully you'll have that figured out I think if we can get the yield curve back to something that's flat or or even normal then I think we can get back to some kind of bench marking that's logical okay all right thank you guys again right city manager yes um the next uh item is about the city's Mobility plan and our city engineer and our Consultants will cover that for us uh let me just say that tonight's presentation is gear to get council's uh input on the uh priority listing of the projects that we have for you as well as the phas in so uh city engineer good evening councilman there um so yes this Mobility plan has been in the works for a while now we've had public workshops we've taken it to committees uh so now we're bringing it back to you all with the rankings based on the feedback we received and uh Tim from 3tp Ventures is here to provide uh a little presentation and then we're here to answer any questions all right good evening yes I'm here to present the update on the mobility plan I'm Tim from 32p Ventures um I have a brief presentation um I guess I have control here all right so the agenda for tonight's presentation is to present the project prioritization that we developed um to get feedback on that prioritization from you all and then to highlight what the next steps are for us to get the project uh wrapped up so the purpose of the plan this is just a little recap of of what what the plan is the plan is uh really to look out for a long-term vision of what the future Transportation Network in the city of dtin should be also has the goal of identifying some of the safety issues that are affecting the network today and then the overall theme of the transportation network is to increase opportunities for walking and biking um and then the these projects will work to uh develop the mobility fee which is essentially an update to the transportation impact fee so that future development will be paying their fair share of the needs on the network so we have a draft plan this is a pretty picture of what it's going to look like once we uh get it turned out uh the key issues that we looked at at the very beginning of this project which was over a year ago now but we we took crash data uh we did a level of service analysis on the roadway Network and the multimodal network and we also did a network inventory of bicycle and pedestrian facilities to kind of highlight what the gaps were on that so the projects that were developed um we broke them out into categories uh five categories the categories being the the continuation and completion of what the cross town connector network was originally envisioned uh for the city uh New Street connections that make some some uh areas of the city more connected meaning the trip would be a shorter length if you had an additional Connection in the network uh bicycle pedestrian multimodal projects um and uh Community parking and the last is the intersection enhancements which really focused on um that element of balancing mobility and moving vehicles and safety of the users on the network this is a overview map of the projects uh which we we showed at the throughout the the public input portion of of the exercise that I'll go through that help this create the prioritization so the prioritization process uh included three inputs the first input was a benefit score that we developed using the data that we had collected uh at the beginning of the project uh the the second element which which the council has sent us to get further input from the public we did a public Workshop in August uh compiled that information into a score that also went along hand inhand with the benefit score the final piece of the puzzle was uh The Advisory committees provided us input we basically went to the LPA Parks and Rec committee and the Public Works Public Safety Committee and said hey of these projects give us your 14 top projects and so we collected all all of that data and basically did a yes or no comparison to add to the two scoring elements so once we synthesized all of that information to come up with priorities we broke the projects into three separate phases so from current day to the 2050 planning Horizon we developed three basic groups of projects being phase one phase two and three based on the years um really what we're trying to do is create a logical break when we are coming up with the mobility fee because the fee is going to be based generally on the years that the projects are going to occur so knowing when they fall that's a key element coming up with the fee um you can see here they broke out in in similar dollar amounts of total cost uh and you can see the breakdown of bicycle pedestrian uh the new Street connections Community parking and intersections here and this information was in your packet hopefully you got it I'd be happy to answer questions about it uh once I wrap up the presentation go back to it um and then so what we have here is the top priority projects that we came up with uh based on those three uh scoring inputs the benefit score which is is an analysis public input where we just put the projects on the wall and let the public score them with dots and then the committee inputs uh the three committees listing what their top projects were so um so the goal for tonight is to get input from Council on on the scoring that we that we came up with for the projects and see if there were any of the prioritization projects uh you had specific input on that we could uh incorporate so that we can go in and get the draft plan completed so that we can bring it back and uh have you guys vote on it so we can move on to the fee all right that's our open invitation I I I had one more slide keep going I did next steps and this really puts a bow on it uh what we're looking for is is for you to provide com final comments and endorse our prioritization and the community's prioritization Really um and then so that we can get those final comments into our final draft and move the project forward and then the next step will be beginning the process of calculating the mobility fee and getting in put obviously from from you on how that fee evolves so that we have to sharpen our pencils again once we wrap up the plan itself so we can get that fee adopted now I'm done thank you all right does anyone have any further input all right counc M Dustin this plan has been reviewed by Public Safety Public Works yes sir and they endorsed uh we I I don't think we specifically asked for endorsement we asked for them to provide input on the projects that we had developed so the dra if I understand correctly the draft plan will go through LPA and yeah correct yeah for for the endorsement from the LPA I would have I would have appreciated their vote on the opinion to endorse or not endorse um there are a couple of projects here that are pretty expensive 31 million on a Zerby street parking lot um you know the power line easement multi-purpose I see is what 10 or 11 million that that is the linear Park I take it or the linear Trail whatever we want to call it I I think we determined earlier that we weren't going to turn it into a full Transportation Corridor and so the 10 million is that for as we have designated it would be or is that to actually have it open to traffic that is for the multi-use path only okay um you know there there are a number of the uh projects that I'm not sure I publicly am prepared to support at the moment I'd still like to get a little input from the public on some of them but that's just a personal opinion um and kind of piggybacking on the update from uh representative man um obviously I don't think he has the power to give us 10 uh but he seems very committed for that to be one of his he hasn't said these words but in my I I took it as almost his legacy project that he could help Dustin so just just words for thought I I not do anything but he was very ambitious and trying to do whatever we can to make that happen um we can always direct him to do other things or help us but just from our last meeting in Capitol Hill that's that's something he did bring on and i' I've had dinner with him last week and he's same message yeah the only thing that gives me pause on all of this what what was the total amount of money on all of these projects uh the total right now is 150 million okay 150 million it's not hard to calculate backwards on what the mobility fee SL Transportation impact fee would end up being and so that gives me pause to all of these projects being lumped into as a priority 150 million is oh 10 times what we're going to spend underground utilities um you know and we're going to we're going to base our transportation impact fee on that number I've got a problem with that right Council go ahead I would just provide feedback that the the Mobility plan represents all of the needed projects in the network not necessarily all the projects that should be included in the mobility fee because it's geared towards only the ones needed for future development I just would clarify that and all of the projects will obviously go through the Capital Improvements program so this prioritization is a generalized prioritization we're going to come up with a fee and I take it that without a fee we can't go forward with the with the new Transportation scheme that we're working then we have to have a realistic amount on what the fee would be and uh 150 million is quite ambitious and would represent a tremendous amount of increase in Impact fees and I I'll say that um we have it broken in three phases so the fee can be looked at after each phase is completed and recalculated so right now phase one the way that the priorities is laid out is like 61 61 million so we're asking tonight for are you guys all right with phase one the projects that are in there or do you want to bump some of those projects to phase two or take some from phase two up to phase three and just kind of give us some direction on what phase one should look like and then we'll come back with the fee schedule and all that and I get that part I guess somewhere along if we're going to make a motion I'm going to make a a motion to uh set a public hearing so people can come tell us what they think before we commit ourselves to spending 61 or 150 million or whatever it may be so we'll get there in a minute I suppose all right councilman Bagby yeah uh I guess my point is and I think Mr dtin was making it to the our fellow council members this you can pull priority project number 12 and move it up to eight and you can put two and move it down to 45 and you can change the phasing and everything but what this boils down to is dollars and you know if you haven't been as I told the staff earlier today through three or four of these processes where we were going to do multimodal training and now we're going to do a Mobility fee and we're going to do the we have to figure some Revenue stream out uh there's nothing that precludes us from breaking this into three phases or five phases or seven phases there's nothing that says we have to keep that parking garage there I'm I don't know where you are on the parking garage but you know $31 million on phase one I just kind of zoom in on that and uh but if we want to do these improvements we have to have money to do these improvements we're going to find out the same thing with the RNR fund you know when we get to the visioning session the only thing I asked the staff to provide for the visioning session was what are the dollars we're talking about for the RNR fund because everything we're doing now is coming to a head and somebody's got to pay for it and we can stretch this out over 50 years and do 10 phases put five projects in each phase and it's $3 million a year or whatever but we have to have a revenue stream just like we identified a revenue stream for for the undergrounding to do the projects that the public and the Committees have told us you know this is the priority this isn't the priority I would give you I you know if you were asking me for a priority I would do the intersection at Solomon and 98 would be my first priority just because I want to put tunnels under there but I've been wanting to put tunnels under there for 20 years but it it make no doubt this is about money folks and so you can put as many projects in phase one as you want you can put as few as you want but at the end that's going to say we got to figure out $40 million or we got to figure $20 million and now when you do a Mobility fee you got to say all right and here's what that quot equates to uh and because it's got to be paid for so you're you're talking about the future future but you're really talking about dollars and cents we're going to have the same discussion okay when we either at the visioning session or later on where we say we got we've got to fix and replace vehicles and how are you going to you know who's going to pay for it do we going to we're way behind we haven't done it in 10 or 12 years I don't know when they stopped doing it but and now we got to play catchup just like we played catch up on the staff's salary and compensation and we have to know our numbers and we these are their best estimates on our numbers I'm I'm okay with another Workshop if that's what the Motions going to be I don't think it's going to change this a whole lot other than we probably need to give you guidance and go for me parking garages not not in my top 10 I'm just going to tell you uh particularly at the cost that they are and I know the cost isn't going to go down but at the cost uh I want to do some things that we can achieve that we can show some progress and get people's Buy in and then identify other maybe we can get part of the County's half cent uh tax I know we're looking for Grants it doesn't all have to come out of the mobility fee cuz I know when we put it in there you have to calculate the mobility fee based on the projects that are approved in that phase correct so uh we need to do this but we need to be judicious about you know don't take too big a bite of the apple and I was I noticed our biggest bite of the Apple was that first bite and I was like oh no so I'll point out a couple things well when we broke this into three phases we were trying to do it equally so 50 million per phase once the purchase of one Harbor happened we bumped from phase two to phase one the parking grit cyber survey because of the boardwalk under the bridge getting pedestrians to park it there and walk under the bridge like that whole area's Dynamic is changing um so that was what bumped made the discrepancy between phase one and two um also the whole point of this is to start calculate a fee that deel new developers and Redevelopment has to pay and that is supposed to be paying for these projects so that's the whole goal of this and it's not the city trying to come up with extra funds to fund this all right um I mean my only comment to the workshop um I don't think it would matter if we put them on every billboard we seem to get the same participation from from our citizens whether it's our um our D funds and trying to do our resiliency or we're doing these workshops it seems to be at best the top 20 All-Star citizens that come out every time so uh that that would just be my my only concern about a workshop I mean going the other way and doing it more Judiciary I'm I'm not against but uh that that's just one thing as a comment of coming to most of those workshops it seems to be the same input and I just don't want to waste our staff's time hearing from the same people again um that that'd be my only just two cents well mayor The Logical conclusion to that train of thought is never have workshops or public input no no just again of this I mean if there's other ways to solicit feedback oh no absolutely yeah all right so I didn't mean to be that funny with it but um all right and also any other suggestions for these guys they've been working hard we're trying to get this to ahead what can we do to help them help us I'll make a motion that we uh schedule this priority list for a public Workshop in front of the council and that we give staff the leeway to schedule it over the next month or two whatever is appropriate for their timing and uh you know we don't have to follow it on to a meeting like this one it looks like it's going to last a little while so uh that's my motion and I would also like to just get the public works and safety's opinion about this list I got a motion on the table to hear second I'll second I I'll ask that we limit it to six weeks to to execute this Workshop I before we get to the summer I want this thing done you know we we need to okay all right motion I got a second uh any further discussions seeing none call on the vote all right I have it unanimously so moved thank you Mr Mrs Z you're up next um the next item has to do with a TDC requests uh for the city to provide uh its proposed expenditure plans uh for the promotion of tourism in the city uh our grants um manager and cryistal uh will help us uh go through that process good evening mayor and councel uh the uh TDC expenditure plan request came through a short while ago uh this is for the fiscal year 2025 and they said we had about 1.99 million available to us um for fiscal year 25 proceeds to use towards expenditure plans which would be uh TDC eligible um projects uh in the past and we will have to do this again uh 750 of that is allocated or needs to be allocated towards the advanced funding agreement payment we have for the money we borrowed from the TDC for the tarpon project uh we also you know are able to do other projects we do recommend we still need money for the development of the park um at Crystal Beach Tarpon and uh the crystal short Crystal Beach Park so you know it would be staff's recommendation that we do a request for a million there um there are other projects that we've included that might be possibilities as well well and I I feel like if we wanted to put request in that we're above that 1.9 million we could do that um I think there is some banked money left although we don't have a a strong number on that but I do believe we have a bank of money that we could uh fall back into if we needed to so we could exceed that $2 million amount so I'd be glad to have a conversation and answer any questions might have all right first uh councilman Stevens yes I got a question about the additional lifeguard costs um not too long ago the tdd had their annual meeting and they had a slideshow that showed Public Safety they allotted 4 4.6 to Public Safety and aren't they supposed to a lot 10% uh state chatue allows them to allow up to 10 up to 10 so is there a way we can ask for more for Public Safety you read my mind without sunshine you guys any want to ask yeah answer uh yes uh this is something that uh uh Kim and I and the um Finance director will be reaching out to the TDC uh director uh to discuss ways we can improve the way we collaborate um so that we get a better understanding of how they come up with the figures uh and also give us enough time for us to uh prepare our requests uh and have a more collaborative effort anything else good all right Council woman neighbor I move to authorize city manager to sign and submit the expenditure plans for the following projects do you want me to read the attachments one two three and four you just say present as presented right I have a motion on the table second the motion a second further discussions councilman Bagby I I didn't understand the so they authorized how much for Public Safety 4.6 okay so and that's about 10% what do they expect to to bring in this year that's 4.6% right no they're not bringing in a 100 million nice try just tell me the number I don't know I don't know I don't know every number off the top oh okay oh here we go okay uh millions of dollars FY 23 42.8 million trism tax revenue yeah so they're at 10% at 4.6 million so my my point being no 4.6% not million Oh I thought it was 4.6 million no no percent yeah they did a little pie graph with the percentages oh okay and that was a little nugget we took away okay so TD D rep why why did they approve why did you let them approve 4.6% we've had discussion she's coming to speak to council ironically this has come up before the week she's supposed to come talk to our Council okay so 4.6% of 4 I'm sorry 7 I don't want to her to come back and correct I'm sorry 4.7 okay so how many millions of dollars that's like a million point6 or something uh 2 million so that is for the sheriff that's for the sheriff and the lifeguards right for Okaloosa County uh for Okaloosa Beach and ours yeah okay I'll wait till she comes oh yeah all right anything else seeing none we have a motion in a second I'll call the vote mayor can I get some clarity first please okay so that with the motion being uh to put the two plans in that plan being the advanced funding agreement payment and the Crystal Beach Park development are there any other projects that you would like us to put in for as well because that will that will not get us quite that get us to what 1.75 million and we have about two we could probably even go a little higher than that so are there any other projects on that list that you want to do an additional request for the Beach and Boardwalk operations would be uh one we've traditionally done in the past and we will need to spend that money again so um if I had to make a recommendation I would say maybe some extra funds towards that towards that would be wise yeah I would say the 500k for the dredging because the additional lifeguards we should be able to squeeze that out of the county yeah uh the Crossovers I'm you know that's a year away and the Beach and Boardwalk operations I'm not even sure what that would entail on top of what we're already already contributing now that um the past let's see it's been about 5 years uh the TDC has been contributing uh it's last year it was $600,000 right to to keeping our um operations at the beach and boardwalks keeping the bathrooms clean keeping the trash emptied all day long during the summer season so I thought we were taking that out of our share that's what this money is this money is our share well then we're not going to develop Crystal Beach Park this year so the the just to also clarify the Crystal Beach and Tarpon Beach that interlocal agreement we signed with the board of County Commissioners they're take they've taken the lead on it they're the ones who've hired the the the contractors who are doing the design uh they're also going to be hiring the construction contractor so it's really not within our ability when the bills come in I have to pay them I don't I don't have an option to tell them to uh you know may maybe Lewis can talk to them and ask them to slow down um but it's it's not all in our hands if you understand we're we're not the leaders on those projects but we signed that agreement that we would pay our our part and they come in as they come in so there's really no calculation can we add that Monies to that TDC offer well that that's the the top that's one of the top two uh items that I recommended just to meet the interlocal agreement that we signed Jeff I think we could put in for all three and with the bank money we have in the bank now I think it's between 500,000 and a million so I think there will probably be enough money to do all three of those can we push for that then let City let Manager work with them and and push for that absolutely sure all right so we're we're in the awkward situation where I got a almost nearly locked in vote with a little bit addition is that more guidance at this point are you good okay yeah take I'm good all right Y what was the last suggestion uh do all three can I ask a question I I thought they had the lead on Tarpon but we had the lead on or vice versa I'm sorry I didn't think they had the construction lead on both the beach part uh projects I believe I miss something we can clarify that up but I I thought they do yeah they're the ones they they hired Baskerville Donovan to do all of the design um and that's just part of the interlocal agreement but we can double check the the agreement all right so eyes had it so moved on that motion all right city manager uh the next item is about the our resilient plan oh sorry that's what the request from Department of uh do yeah for comments on uh the proposed 98 and Palm Street intersection improvements uh yes do this is kind of just informational but if you want me to say anything request anything to Dot from this um I have to respond to them by next week um on this plan so they have done some analysis the analysis triggered the need to install a signalized intersection at Palms Street in '98 um so they provided plans and want our feedback on it and essentially the easiest one to see is this one um heading eastbound on 98 on the south side of the road they're proposing to add a right turn lane obviously that'll help get keep through traffic going while people are slowing down a turn right and then on the left turn lane to turn South they're going to widen that turn lane and lengthen it which is getting more cars off the through lanes and stocking into the left turn lane and you can see that between these two split sheets and you can you jump over to this um signing and marking plan so we took this Public Works Public Safety um last week their only comment was um asked for a landscape plan so we're going to ask for that engineering's only comment is this is their proposed striping plan for the intersection is have a crosswalk on all four not just three um so those are the two comments that we're going to take actually there's a third one we're going to add is with the north south m m Kelly connection like in the horizon of something to do um and that will cause a signalization at that intersection have dot aware of that and have them compare that need with this intersection and see since they're so close to one another what changes might need to be done at this intersection with that in mind of what's going to happen in the future um so that is what they're proposing right now so if there's anything you guys want me to add to the list that I need to get them next week um so they can keep moving forward um that's what I'm here for right I'm seeing crickets your job's very important there's a crosswalk there's a crosswalk uh pedestrian activated crosswalk just to the east how far is that and is that going to stay there or are we going to is this in front big cunos I believe so yeah no that's further uh yeah it's right there in front of big kahunas I can I can mention that to them um as these start getting developed out the intersections get built out I would anticipate that eventually the midw walk cross Crossings will start to go away um forcing people to walk and cross at intersections instead which I think that will help the overall flow down 98 once you start cleaning that up and not having so many stops just for pedestrians yeah that that that's really my point is we keep hacking this thing up about 20 times and you know we don't ever remove them then it's hard enough although they have done a much better job synchronizing the uh signals yeah uh but okay um so I have a bonus now all right um Andy can you go to the next we have we have bonus bonus material um so last Thursday they actually came back to me again and said hey by next week we need some feedback on another one so I've already brought this to you all for 60% so this is the 90% And this is not in the city of dtin limits it's Danny Warf away so this is kind of more of a if you have any feedback I can give it to them but public knowledge hey this is going to be happening soon so they're looking to go out to bid in um summer to at um do Mill and overlay the entire stretch from 98 to Mid Bay Bridge um so I don't think they have an overhead view a here it is it's it's nothing fancy it's just a Mill and overlay but is coming um like I said it's going to go out to bid summer or this year um so that's just kind of for everyone's information wait is it's okay it's going to go out to as somebody that lives in Crystal Beach and drives that Highway every day multiple times is it going to go out to bid or is it going to be done during the summer the only thing they s their emails is going out to bid in the summer okay so we can that can be my feedback to them let's put this Construction in the off seon you know November uh when do they anticipate construction to start would be my question or feedback uh based on their bidding process I know they have a timeline and I've got to call the district three guys tomorrow and go up and see them but if you have that let me know please we'll do all right than that was it for the bonus thanks thanks for the bonus all right Council yes uh the next item is an update on the current uh resilient grant that we have uh from the state uh we've received additional funding for it and uh grants coordinator we share details on it last year we were granted funds for a vulnerability assessment and uh when the opportunity uh opened again for additional funding I requested um additional Monies to change that to a comprehensive vulnerability assessment and to add an adaptation plan uh to that work um which will really give us a better uh final product and uh we were able to get $ 156,000 additional dollars and uh I'm asking you tonight to go ahead and approve that Amendment and then once that's approved I'll bring back a task order to uh engage the engineer uh for that work all right do I have a motion or any discussion I move that the city council accept FD Grant agreement 23l November 64- amendment number one and authorize C manager to execute this agreement return to FD for their execution in addition I move to adopt the proposed budget amendment to increase Grant revenue and Grant expenditures by 156,000 for FY 2024 I'll second right got a motion and second any further discussions seeing none calling the vote all right I have it all right Mr Z yes uh the next item is regarding the funding for the pickable courts uh you previously asked us to come back and and uh share with you some options for funding uh to brid the Gap uh I think we have done that and Crystal will share that information I'm going to let uh Ryan Scott start off uh just with a description of the the changes that we're requesting yes so at our last meeting uh we talked about with the option that was decided we what $27,000 and some change over budget so we were directed to come back with two different options of how to cover that that Gap um since then we talked internally about how to get this project to the Finish Line um and we internally I don't have the time to manage the construction of this project so we thought about bringing Matrix online to take this project to the Finish Line we have not used them yet since they became a continuing service contractor um at the high end we're anticipating that to be 30 grand additional um but I believe we can talk them down because that's for them to do the project from start to finish and we're kind of halfway through everything on that so um the the request then was for the 27 plus the 30 and then Crystal has that information all right so um in your agenda packets um I was only able to come up with one idea which was was to uh use the the excess Bank interest that we've earned year-to date uh to cover these costs but um at the last minute uh before this council meeting started another really great idea came up um we had budgeted $60,000 to do storm water mitigation at Clement Taylor Park the thing is that money was Okaloosa half peny sir infrastructure sir tax money that our count Council committed to storm water projects and pickle ball is not a storm water project however because it was a council commitment to spend those dollars on storm water you as a council also have the power to change your mind and say oh no let's use this on a Parks and Recreation project specifically the pickle ball since we're not going to use it on that storm water project so I just wanted to bring up that second option uh as it came to me a little uh late in the game all right councilman Magby I move to approve a budget amendment taking the money from the no longer needed storm water project at which Park clor CL Taylor uh and apply it to this project for a for the anticipated construction cost along with the inclusion of Matrix into the project team second all right Motion in a second any discussions go ahead thank thank you very much I appreciate that another rock well no I mean these projects that either come in under budget or we cancel because we determine we don't need to do them we need to reprogram that money before we start dipping into our piggy bank because that piggy bank should not always be our first solution absolutely all right seeing no further discussion the vote all right eyes have it so moved uh the next three items um mayor and Council uh are all informational unless you have specific questions on them uh staff is ready to answer any questions that you may have all right I don't see any any announcements anything all right yes we do have some announcements and uh yes we we do have some there's not there's not many I promise we just wanted you to know that we did receive a notice of concern from a citizen about the navigation lights the red and green lights on the Jetties from the pass to the gulf and our staff reached out to the Coast Guard and is working on a fix for that the SRS kickoff meeting with staff is this Friday February 23rd that's of course the group that will be working with us on the Town Center design our visioning session will take place on Thursday February 29th we also wanted to remind the public that they're invited to the inaugural Captain's Hall of Fame induction which will take place on Friday March 1st at 10:00 a.m. at the community center and 16 captains will be honored and Tina who still in this room right now wrote a very beautiful article shout out to Tina about that in the Destin log if anyone would like to read it about the captains the Destin library is putting on a 10-week small business Workshop starting Thursday March 7th it'll be um every Thursday evening for that those 10 weeks and it is free but we do ask individuals interested in that to make sure that they reach out and register for it Tamar real quick what time is the uh Hall of Fame deal on March 1st 10 a.m. you got it thank you all right yes thank you all right good to go all right public hearing thank you guys so much for hanging in there with all right so first up uh can we take a 5 minute break absolutely if everyone's dying I know I keep you guys oh we're just going to Kick the Can one more time only bathroom break and we'll be right back we'll continue this meeting to order all right um our attorney Kim C okay so this is 5A uh this is a request from Panhandle engineering Inc on behalf of Ramada LLC they are requesting approval for a major development order which includes the construction of a 64 unit boutique hotel along with the associated site infrastructure as well as separate overflow parking lot for the sundestin Condominiums subject project is located located at 1035 Highway 98 East and it totals approximately 9.18 Acres so this is a quasi judicial hearing and for that reason I will ask the city clerk to swear in anyone that plans on providing testimony just raise your right hand do you swear or affirm the testimony you will given in this proceeding will be the truth yes okay from here I'll ask um staff Steve O Conor to give a brief introduction and then we will let the applicant um make a presentation if they desire after that we'll take public input all right good evening Council um the uh the background that uh Miss cop just uh reviewed is a pretty succinct um overview of the project it's a it's a a boutique hotel um offering about 60 or offering 64 units um and there is a a a unique aspect to this development in that they are providing an overflow parking lot for the sundestin development which is um South of Highway 98 this development is on the North side um and that is part of an original parking agreement that was um from the original sundestin development do back in 1993 uh do 9309 so um as proposed um they are providing 7.14 dwelling acre dwelling units per acre the maximum is 24 um 16 ft uh it's a one story structure they're allowed 75 and six stories um the the setbacks are a bit unique since this is a flag lot um their their property there's a very small portion of the property that actually buts Highway 98 uh ride of way um so they don't meet that setback but that's due to the the um orientation of the of the lot um otherwise uh open space concurrency um and everything else does meet uh code so um just a brief overview of the parking agreement it was a or it is an an agreement between Sund Dustin and originally the Athena development uh Enterprises uh back in 2003 um recorded in 2004 um it requires 111 parking spaces um to be uh developed into an improved parking lot um and the uh the amend the the agreement has been amended um over time and uh um and I believe that the the agreement will be amended based on this development as well um there are let's see here um we yeah yeah so there is a memorandum of understanding between the two parties um uh detailing that they both agree both parties agree to that parking agreement and the development of this of this project um and that is essentially is the uh extent of the public comments that staff has received um for that um we did receive uh an updated photometric plan and um uh we haven't received the you specifically but the the the updated photometric plan um was in response to the memorandum of understanding um this the the photometric plan has not gone through official staff review however um at a the only addition to it was an eighth light on the southern end of the parking lot um and I can pull that plan up um for you all if you'd like to to see it but it does meet code all all right with that oh I'm sorry go ahead yep and so uh with that um the pain handle engineering is requesting uh consideration and approval of this major development order and uh with that I'll turn it over to the applicant right thank you so much you want to push the button Let It Go red it's all yours push the button little gray one yep um good evening mayor commission um Council staff Jim SLO a panhandle engineering representing the applicant um I think Kim and Steve pretty much gave you 90% of my little bullet list also 64 key one story I think you ask what's the boutique hotel it's it's a one story layout which is nice with no have the historical vertigal that a lot of hotels have um it's an existing access connection the road that's there is where the old um Chick-fil-A used to be so when we're not adding another driveway we're just executing the um access into the property we have um upgraded the sidewalk to a 10-ft crosswalk and sidewalk in front in accordance with your requirements so we're upgrading that have a DOT permit that approved it the storm water system um it's a very Aid Dune area back there um we have a storm water um facility that U basically exceeds a 100-year event with no discharge just cuz it's sugar Saiyan in there so that's nice um I don't always have that um we have public water and sewer through dwu um I have a copy of the executed and notorized memorandum of understanding I'm bringing it back to the attorney in Panama City to be recorded tomorrow just put it on the record um I think everything else has been said I'd be glad to answer any questions you might have all right thank you so much thank you all right seeing that this is a public hearing at this time if there's any public comments on this specific issue oh will there be uh someone with standing that would be speaking let's see go ahead all right anyone from the public here to speak on this specific topic all right Mr please step up first thank you I'm Brian migu I'm with the Becker poof law firm in Fort Walton Beach and we're pleased to represent Sandestin International condominium Owners Association just for the record are you claiming party standing we are an interested party if that answers your question okay thank you um and I I'm here as one of uh a team of lawyers who've been working on this principal among them being just for the record Miss Katie berky who is leading the effort and who I'm sure would want me to express our thanks to miss cop Mr ' Conor uh and others uh for their work uh helping facilitate our concerns or address our concerns speaking of our concerns they were touched on by Mr ' Conor and Jim in there those remarks and uh there was mentioned uh in that connection of the change to this photometric study that that amended the number of um lights to eight there's one other change and that uh we would ask that the city accept and I think it's understood to Jim and Mr oconor too and that is the sheet 12 of the plan that uh touches on the thickness of the base layer of the parking lot under the current plan it's said to be 4 in under terms of the memorandum of understanding it would be 6 in and so we would ask that change be made part of the record as well so two changes sheet 12 and also so the photometric uh component uh to reflect the change in the number of Lights our our interest is I'm implying is in preserving the Overflow parking lot which was part of the reason uh the development order that allowed the construction of sundestin back in the 90s um was approved and and it was approved uh among based on among other things that there would be overflow parking that was both U required under the terms of that and and needed to this day uh 111 spaces we need it during seasons in particular vacation Seasons it's uh sorely needed so this is very important to us to preserve and so we're grateful to Ramada to you sir and to everybody else for helping us hammer out this m Rand of understanding that addresses our concerns and makes our task in coming before you this evening much easier so as as Jim commented uh theou has uh been signed I guess by everybody and notorized and and notorized and and so uh we have no objection uh we would ask perhaps that it uh that the final approval will be conditioned on theou being recorded in the the public records by tomorrow February 21st and subject to the council's questions or others uh that's that's our comment Council M do you have a question for him she she's waving I have a question U so the 2in base increase was that a was that agreed upon I going to step up yes um I can speak for the applicant that the gentleman's comment regarding the additional light standard as well as the two additional inches of Base as well as the recording as a condition of the development order approval is acceptable to us okay that's all I wanted to know and just from the city's perspective for for the staff um I don't believe staff because we just got the changes today I don't believe staff has had the opportunity to ensure that the REI the revisions to the lighting plan meet code so they will want to do that so um and Steve am I correct on that that you still need to review the lighting yes it it still needs to go through do an official review um but like I stated earlier it it appears to to meet uh code at this moment and it's relevant because if the light shines onto a residential which I don't think there's much around there but people can complain so as long as that meets code staff will be okay all right the council could make that condition that that that additional information is code all right councilman Bagby yeah I just will make sure for the record uh we're talking about the accessory parking pavement d detail is going from 4 to 6 in because the hotel pavement detail already has 6 in for the line Rock base right yes the parking lot is basically just a parking lot on base material right the parking lot in the hotel has an underground storm water system so it has a Little Bit Stronger bearing on it so there is a little bit different of the substrate to the two but we are upgrading the thickness of to two inches and six inches two inches asphalt six inches of base on the parking lot as part of our negotiations but the reason what is referred to is the accessory parking pavement detail correct on page 12 thank you all right councilwoman neigh that that being the footprint for the 111 parking spaces I move city council approved with oh wait I move the city council approved Villas a major development order as presented with recommended authorization yes with all the other condition with the lighting M like whatever he's got to do contingent on approval of the lighting right and theou and theou all right I got a motion I'll second and a second any further discussions for us oh well yeah I asked and he was the last to come mayor yes does that include theou being recorded by tomorrow yes is that all right the extra light two in of Base extra two in of Bas yes I would be glad to Memorial there's a lot of people who listen at home there'll be an additional eighth standard for light fixture there'll be two additional inches of lime rock base there will be this document that's fully executed notorized recorded tomorrow and staff is going to look over the photometric to make sure it complies ma' all right seeing no further discussions call on the vote eyes have it unanimously so moved thank you guys so much we're excited to have you guys here thank you I appreciate you guys hanging in there with us too let us know when we can come let us we want to come check it out [Laughter] okay all right all right that's concludes public hearings we'll go into public our councilman comments uh councilman Stevens I have nothing except for I guess the appointment as Council representative to oako County Public Library Cooperative all right do you want to make your motion uh sure I'll make a motion that uh to be appointed as C IL representative to oaka County Public Library Cooperative I'll second that mayor yes currently uh uh C member King is the alternate can we clarify with who's going to be primary I I appreciate your thorough John Stevens is gonna be the primary on the okose county library qual i' say Mr King's okay with alter can you add that to the motion um yes uh I'll be primary and Johnny King will be uh secondary and I'll still the second that all right with a motion of second call on the vote all right ice Havoc congratulations all right council member gu the floor is yours I'm not really going to cover project status updates today but I do want to make a note um we are not getting to the public because we not seeing a whole lot of public uh interaction with these Council meetings or even the city address we got to figure out a way to get the public more involved or get these these notes out to them including the city agenda uh because what I'm I'm I'm starting to see I'm getting a lot of response about that stop sign on uh Kelly that we just added and people are claiming they don't know and I'm explaining the agenda is posted online every month but for some reason they're claiming ignorance and I I feel we need to take some responsibility and figuring out a way to make sure the public knows how to get this information so that they can be more proactive and being involved in these decisions than reactive um so I'm just going to ask and I'm not making a motion I'm just asking the city to come up with some kind of ideas on how we can get them involved for the visioning session one of the items in the visioning visiting session all right there's we said all right there's 22 people online right now with us but again point taken that's nearly that's not nearly anything as far as I was just going to add the same thing not not at all detracting from that since I think we definitely need to do more but 80s something overall tonight earlier too okay right I just mayor I make just one small suggestion during my eight years on the school board we were able to contact all 35,000 students and parents with uh text and calls and instantaneously now that might get a little dangerous depending on what we want to tell them in our text and and our calls but certainly if we could contact that many people we could get a list and tell everybody what's on the agenda so just an idea I love anything that's point to point and 80 people is 6% of our population less than one% not nearly not nearly a quorum anything else yeah real quick could we um add it maybe our social media where we actually have the uh agenda posted every Thursday with a link to the um the the big the big Pages just as it comes out from the clerks mayor when we publish the agenda it sends an email out to hundreds of people also so all right I'll get more to sign up good everyone good all right counc medes good that's all I had tonight all right counc Bagby uh nothing nightmare I'll wait till the visioning session all right councilwoman AB bear thanks mayor um I had talked to uh Doug rer uh he's the U Waste Management fearless leader and we were talking tonight about a way to update our residents of when trash pickup is when debris pickup is and when bulk pickup is because there's a lot of people there's a lot of newer residents a lot of renters that are renting from owners that have left the town so you drive down Main Street well I drive down Main Street Kelly and then cyber and I'm out of town every day but you see like bulk doesn't matter if it's Monday Tuesday Wednesday or Thursday then you see a mattress you know out on Tuesday when they don't pick up till Friday then you see debris you know yard debris people have done you know work on the weekend and they drag it out to the street and it sits there until Friday morning when realistically if we had a clarification in an ordinance that stated you know if you don't retrie retrieve your trash back within you know whatever days it kind of would help code have some sort of hey we need to go to the door these people their trash has been out here for three weeks you know please take your can back but I know that Waste Management has also um discussed trying to do something and they're going to work with the city to help get like some sort of a a letter out and I know the city used to send one out about every year or so but we haven't done it in like a couple of years so I know there's something on file I just don't know exactly how it's labeled that we should push back out to our residents that Updates this is when the trash is picked up this is when your trash and recycle is picked up this is when debris is picked up and if you have a bulk amount call Waste Management and specialize that you need more because Doug said that they can come and pick up stuff if you just call them and a lot of times people don't realize you can't just drag it to the street and hope for luck that they pick it up because they they won't if it doesn't meet the day of the week that they're supposed to pick it up it won't get picked up so I know there's only 22 people watching right now so there's a bunch of residents that don't know this so somehow I was hoping we could hopefully work with waste management or ourselves have the letter that we used to send out maybe resend it out that notifies the citizens of the pickups of what types of trash and debris and what days so they don't leave their trash and stuff out there all week or all month that's all I have thank you my only comment to that is I constantly forget and I luckily have one of the trash cans that has a sticker on the top I don't know if everyone would operate better under that but that sure um helps me figure it out can I keep going out there on the wrong day all right councilman King nothing tonight thanks all right all I have is um councilman sweeters uh now that he is gone I was looking to um take his positions on the linear Trail Andor Park that it says here and then the appointment to uh the representative of Okaloosa County League of cities I'll make the motion for those two appointments mayor all right motion a second any further discussion anyone else want it all right call on the vote all right thank you so much all right City attorney two quick things one um the form six complaints were filed and I um forwarded you them today by email if you have any questions just let me know and um the other thing is on the Billboards yes we got to go back there for a second so they don't the agreement will not meet the current codes in comp plan so we will have to bring back um a comp plan Amendment and LDC amendments prior to the contract that's why I wanted to specify earlier that the cont contract was going to come back so what we'll do is staff and I will work on those ordinances and bring them to council and then once you have those approved we can put the agreement on like a future consent agenda would that process work for you all Council meston question of course U the agreement won't go forward until those changes have been made correct that's what I that's what I'm proposing yeah we would do the ordinances for the comp plan Amendment and the LDC because can't enter into that agreement until those are done and then we can bring the agreement to you um on the consent agenda at a future meeting after those are approved so with a comp plan Amendment you know it takes a little bit more time yeah well I and I couldn't have imagine how we would enter into an agreement to violated our present comp plan and agreement so that's the only way to go that I can think of right clarifying it for you all uh with with that just just for my understanding would that mean that anyone could then be putting up Billboards or is this an exclusive deal like if we're re amending the comp plan does that mean that it's now wide open I would not propose to write it that way okay we can write it my intent is probably to I would suggest leaving it the way it is and then I'll maybe add some simple language that just says unless otherwise you know unless an agreement is approved by council with some criteria there um and then have you approve the agreement but you know it's up to you all really what your policy is going to be C Bagby yeah but we're not allowing any more new Billboards and they still have to be it be removed if they become structurally unsound right they're going to remove the full Billboards that are there now and replace them with entirely new structures so it is technically new Billboards I mean they're not new as in the location never existed before just new equ new um structure they are not putting the digital sign on top of the existing steel poles they're removing them well they're not here to answer that question now council member Bagby is your question if the the if the agreement is approved and the new digital signage if it gets knocked down can they replace it or if there's structural damage to it could it be replaced is that your question the couple I had a couple of different questions embedded in there but yes that was one of the questions the the agreement I haven't read the new one with the no 13 signs but the original agreement was for them to be able to rebuild should those get knocked out yeah okay I want I want to know the day because obviously the only way we're going to get anything done is pack this damn Hall and I I'll try work on that I'll get West deson so do you all want the ordinances and the agreement back on on the same day or do you want to have the ordinances what I'm sorry no do the ORD the prevailing party do we have anything from the pr for for all no I'm going to have bias but for you guys who said yes this is your question well this is uh what you're saying for those guys that said yes it was voted yes so it's a it's it's part of the council yes it's not just us against you situation the two Nays are the only ones talking right now so I want to an opportunity to voice your opinion have that time whenever they come back with their agreement all right I was just helping the attorney out don't have any other questions thanks all right thank you so much all right public comments final last word seeing none motion to adjourn or not motion adjourn adjourned --------- good evening everyone if you everyone could please find their seats yep one minute warning please find your seats silence the cell phones turn them off I left mine in the car um I all right hey yeah keep it warm for me all right good evening everyone thank you so much for being here a little bit early hopefully we can do 30 minutes Less on the back end after the council meeting so I want to thank everyone for coming out tonight it really means a lot Mel everyone waste management and Doug thank you guys it really means a lot to see some of the community members in the audience tonight all right as again good evening and welcome to my second state of the City address I'm honoring I'm honored to highlight the programs and the remarkable efforts of our city staff the community members the council everyone that has such a magical moment for me and everyone around tonight we celebrate the three pillars of our community our people our parks and our progress and the extraordinary Journey we've embarked upon together as we reflect on 2023 triumphs the challenges and honestly call it sheer inspiration that let us be reminded of the boundless potentials that lie within each of us and within the Beloved City when we move as a collective unit we have a lot to celebrate so I hope everyone's got some food comfy everyone good okay up first January un Q January unfolded with revived energy with significant strides in enhancing our city starting with the tarpon beach access which now has over 300 ft an unstructed view we welcome new Talent like Dr Tamar young to our city the new public information officer if you guys haven't met Tamar yet she is amazing I mean the amount of energy the enthusiasm she is overqualified for this position and I can't wait to keep her as long as she'll allow us to so thank you so much for all you've done this past year our we welcome okay yep our local a artists continued beautifying our main stream through the betterment business Alliance are we continue to see improvements in the medians of Highway 98 and let us and we also contributed towards the Okaloosa County attainable housing plan is aimed at formulating strategies to enhance Workforce housing opportunities so thank you Mel and everyone at the community at the county for making sure attainable housing's a huge importance in this community with that being said we've seen measurable improvements across every city Department in nearly every single area that is called Destin slide February brought more positive chains introducing our new hire Troy Williams from The Code Department director of Code Compliance his leadership and dedication to our code officers led to Works improved enforcement communication all sectors of the city and Community engagement I appreciate after going through all the minutes the man has done so many workshops I thought we were good up here he's hosted a lot of workshops so proactive enforcement communication thank thank you so much for all the time you've put into it it reminds okay our city staff also Revitalize the Des history and fishing Museum in February I haven't seen 30 40 staff members from every Department come together trees beautify the area put up fence around the um the the garbage disposal area just seeing that many staff members come together Twilight of dawn Break of Dawn coming together within a couple hours seeing the transformation of just one parcel just reminds me of just how impactful the city can be when we're United as a staff so thank everyone who's came out for the for the museum meanwhile at the national stage the hson beach resort was recognized Forbes travel guide which showcased dtin as a familyfriendly destination offering a blend of luxury and comfort not to mention that they're a huge business uh supporter of us of our community so not only are they a nationally recognized Resort but they also do a lot for our community so and also thank you to our tourism Development Council TDC for their support Jennifer Adams does amazing work and that was in collaboration with our PI and getting that message out as March unfolded travel and Leisure honored Dustin as one of the best beaches in the United States to ensure longevity of our national resources for generations to come this Council also adopted a no smoking on the beach and on our public parks through public workshops we created a vision to revitalize Joe's these plans were designed with the locals in Mind by improving the boat launch process rebuilding the fishing pier and providing more green space and amenities not just for our residents but also the kids hopefully at the elementary school so I'm very excited this is probably one of my favorite projects coming on right now it was going to be a years in the making and but I really am excited to see this I probably won't even be in the position when it's done but I can't wait to to have picnics here at Joe's Bayou in April we hunted eggs planted trees cleaned up the beaches all in thanks and around the volunteers of our community and the Destin Parks and Recreation or the parks and rec crew not to mention that last year 28 out of the 32 members got CPR certified including our fabulous Parks and Rec director Lisa fth they continue to be the heartbeat of our City's Beauty and the recreation activity at all levels in all ages in our city in May our team welcomed Andy Peters Our IT director from AC across the country thank you uh he brings a brand new era of Technology advancement inovation I mean if you guys have ever been on any of our online stuff it gets a little clunky from time to time and I'm very excited to have so much time and talent out of you guys I'm very excited to see what you guys create uh with the IT director as uh we just had that briefing a counsel or two ago if you haven't met Andy you just know that you're in good hands he's I know he's not the Pio he's not out there shaking hands with everyone but I would highly recommend you shake his hand the man is full of wisdom we've we've honored Our Heritage through events like the founders day big trucks and the American Legion Memorial Day ceremony these moments celebrate our Collective identity and history and pay homage to where we've come also and where we're going to be going after years in the making our Harbor capacity study finally got completed and the community development team in conjunction with our Army Corps of Engineers came together to make this a a completed thought process and I'm very excited to see how this uh these list of priorities and and the recommendations come together to see that our Destin Harbor is not only in good hands but we have a plan moving forward for the environment for the process and the businesses down there this is an enhanced all levels for the harbor may also remarked in significant Milestones including the first graduating class of the Dustin High School and the grand opening of our very own coffee bar at the library the destined Community has always cre cared for its own and this is shown by the fundraiser and blood drive held at Morgan Sports Center in honor of Colton Ward the Community Development Department also installed utility wraps with different scenes around the city one of them in honor of Colton and big shout out to our own engineer Ryan for putting that together and putting in the work you're way overqualified for that task but I know me and a lot of the Community really it meant a lot so thank you the destined Community is one of a kind and I'm so proud and honored to be up here today sharing all these things but just know that as I'm going month to month that I can't possibly hit everything so these are just really some of the highlights the people those parks and the progress so these are really what I think are some accomplishments and some things that should be really noted so in June we focused our efforts in proactive emergency preparations for Hurricane Season June 1st is beginning of hurricane season all of our favorites and that is led by our very own Michael Burgess Andor MC and uh our dedicated team is equipped to handle any challenges demonstrated recently through that last little burst of storm that we had uh their team went out there cleaned the road swept them up got everything safe within I don't know a couple hours it seemed like so their team is on it and we are very in very much good hands when it comes to storm Readiness from small scale wind advisories all the way up to a category God willing so I really appreciate their team and their effort for being out there not to mention on a side note we also had a street sweeper purchase last year so uh I've already seen it out on the street so hopefully that will just help continue to make d a beautiful place for everyone as the Destin City Center moves forward with the construction of Publix the Destin fire department was able to use the old Cinema 10 for training while our Council selected their top choice for the Strategic land use planning consultant to help us be proactive and envisioning how we can best design not only that area but all the area in land that is owned by the city this is a huge Monumental task moving forward and it's going to take a collective effort from all of us to make this happen our commitment extends Beyond construction to care and create an accessibility of our city for everyone the EC Rider bus system underg go an overhaul optimizing routes while the city under the guidance of the Community Development Department initiated a workshop for the innovative multimodal plan this plan promises to make the city of Dustin more walkable offering safer and enjoyable bike Pathways for all including the residents and a bus route from the community center hopefully through West dtin all the way to norago point that um that study will be coming out next week through the county very excited to share that and get everyone's feedback so I I look forward to that that's a little uh pre sneak peek to what's coming next week in Ju was ex July was extremely busy and honestly probably my my favorite month um I actually had to stop drinking coffee because we had so much going on that it was just too much we we were we were winning on all fronts so we started with the ribbon cutting of our new captain Royal Melvin Heritage Park at the harbor we secured 100% of the land and approved the final designs for the cross town connector we acquired the 2.5 acres beside the Destin Bridge known as one Harbor Boulevard and approved the long awaited Destin pickleball facilities that's going going to be right over there next to the Annex Building our dedication to the sustainability and resiliency was showcased through the storm water improvements throughout the year and the groundbreaking of Live Oak fibers for new high-speed Fiber Optic internet throughout dtin our city also set records by hosting the Northwest Florida League of cities events with Colonel Allison black as our guest speaker this event showcased the strength of our community's collaborate collaboration and growing influence not in not only in Okaloosa Florida but throughout the whole Florida Panhandle I also want to recognize and celebrate Kim cop our very own now City attorney uh that happened in July again just someone who is beyond qualified to be here and while we see so many moving things happening it takes a it takes a village it takes an effort of so many different not only people but talents and mindsets and backgrounds and having her up here with us just makes us that much better better so thank you so much for everything you give us she calls texts me at all hours of the night so I don't think she sleeps so I appreciate the Relentless effort you give to the city thank you August brought us to the to the water to defend local businesses from policies coming from Tallahassee and Washington we backed Okaloosa County with a letter of support in opposition to speed regulations on fishing vessels in the Gulf of Mexico we collaborated with Congressman Matt gates to keep Crab Island local for another year while we work to address environmental concerns with local Solutions in mind a heartfelt thank you to Okaloosa County Sheriff's Department in the back uh department and all the other sheriff's departments across the Florida Panhandle for their unwavering support in August in preserving and protecting Crab Island thank you so much continuing with the Water Theme the desent council also approved an emergency dredging study to keep all of our boats and commercial operation in the harbor in September our commitment to Excellence shined through dedicated staff achievements led by our very own HR Director Jamie dmer our staff engaged in multitude of training sessions ensuring top-notch proficiencies across all staff levels the city also began work towards the 501c3 nonprofit called Destin Parks Foundation to help serve our community and bring more public benefits to all of us our Public Works committee and Department uh collaborated to install six pair of flashing pedestrian beaking Crossing signals Citywide in an effort to continue our commitment for pedestrian safety and alternative motal vehicle travel another public information officer and our public information officer with the Okaloosa County Health Department and pedestrian safety created safety videos reinforcing our commitment and to safety and walkable communities I read that backward sorry there it is but as but we also love to have fun up here shocking me and alongside of our some of our staff members participated in a very much fun dragon Dragon Boat Race presented by Our Hope Squad if you guys have not done a Dragon Boat Race it was all our first time we had no idea what we were doing 22 people in the boat I don't know what better team skill building exercise is losing to Fort Walton and Kim over there [Laughter] so October our fisical year bringing excitement exciting numbers and achievements the city maintained this maintained our tax rate of 1. 1615 generated over $12 million for the city Jeff our grants manager secured an impressive $4 million in Grants and wrote $2.7 Million in state Appropriations this year alone thanks to his hard work and and not only him at the local level but I also want to take this moment to to thank uh representative Pat man uh Senator J Trumble their staff and all their supporting uh colleagues for not only supporting us the whole entire Florida Panhandle I went up to Tallahassee and they are on 15minute Windows and blocks those guys are busy and I don't know how they do it so I just wanted to give a shout out to them for everything they do at the state level representing us here at the local I also want to give us special thanks to our entire finance department led by our very own Crystal Strickland uh managing the books for an entire city especially one that changes our minds and has so many budget amendments uh is a daunting task and I can't imagine how many hours they have put in uh as a as a team of three three I you know holding 70 $72 million organized with three people uh that's just an impressive number so thank you guys so much I hopefully we can get you guys some even more some more relief in the future uh um every project up here is in part because of a vision that we've had and we pass it over to our staff so again while while there's so many outward facing things that look good for the city I can't stress enough how many people are behind the scenes making this happen and making it a reality that is more than just a vision also October is Florida government week local government week so Dr T and I uh went to the middle school the high school all all of our schools in the area in dtin and really got to meet the kids tell them about local government get them excited and it's it's just an awesome uh place to be when when you're around young kids who not only are excited about their Community but also get it that you can see that they want to be a part of it have ideas that are not just in fantasy land like they really want to be a part of it so I really believe that this generation coming up is going to be something special especially being around him so much um not only that but the city off uh also hosted an their annual Open House Event the Fall Festival and continued to support our very own destined fishing rodeo in now their 75th year almost double the length of the how long the city has been Incorporated uh in November marked a month of unity recognition and Forward Thinking initiatives in Destin in November our commitment to inclusivity and Community welfare has highlighted was highlighted by the approval of the Ada transition plan by our Council this plan reflects our dedication to accommodate everyone in the city regardless of their limitations or how they show up in the world we're not making Parks just for one person not for just one side of the city but as we build these Parks we want to make sure that everyone's has the accessibility to get there and enjoy something in the park for each and individual I also want to take this time to uh thank again the Main Street betterman Alliance that added to the spirit of Hosting their very own their annual vets Day 5K honoring our troops and fundraising for veterans in our community a special thanks to uh who used to be sitting over here all the time uh Deputy Shane beninger for earning a Statewide honor in combating retail crime and Destin an achievement like that enhances our city safety and reputation and we really again just appreciate the leadership from the top down at the sheriff's department allowing their deputies to think outside the box with some of these initiatives so something like that is very something is is very um Forward Thinking and I'm very proud of what we can do here in Destin with some Liberties uh additionally weed the 2023 2024 Des youth Council uh providing a future where young leaders contribute to their initiative perspectives and and solutions for our community I have enjoyed working with them and I am looking forward to continuing to support their future generations and everything they do final finally D or December in Destin was filled with heart warming festivities and essential Community initiatives the Christmas tree lighting went off without a hitch with no weather issues the Christmas parade almost went off with no issues but was very much a very last down to the minute uh decision I'm so proud we hung in there uh and I'm very excited and honored that our Dustin Dome did not fail us uh that would have been a mess so I appreciate everyone staying strong with us and believing in that and I'm so glad it went out without a hitch once we started the rain went away and it turned into a beautiful day and it's just an awesome time seeing thousands of our community members get out there and really you know embody the spirit of this community and what it's all about Not only was the parade amazing but the generosity from the parade is something that really is to be noteworthy of uh we ask every float to to donate gifts and so this past year we were able to bring and collect gifts for over 40 families giving multiple gifts to 120 kids right here in the city of dtin So Not only was the prade a great outward expression of our community but everyone in their generosity give inwardly to give to those in need uh just again to make these kids have a Christmas is amazing on a less cheerful holiday note but very important nonetheless uh is the responsibility of a renewal and replacement of our infrastructure for too long we have kicked the can on repe on repaving our roads and managing our storm water and with much of the analysis complete thanks to our very own Jim Bagby hounding it down getting it done making sure we have that renewal and replacement sheet uh we are now posed and ready to get after this and make sure that in the future that we apply the resources necessary to repave our roads make sure our storm water is there in around town I know Legion uh is done now holiday aisle um Matthew Boulevard there's a lot of Paving going on right now and that is hopefully the beginning a very long list that needs to get done Destin so I'm very excited that not only are we outwardly projecting what to come and all these new parks but we're also taking care of what is already here and that is very important I also want to mention that the very first time ever at Morgan Sports Center we got to replace all the fields on the soccer field all three of them as well as the Destin library was able to rip out the carpet and get some brand new carpet in there and at that point I want to uh thank uh when Livingston our library director not only her but our her entire crew over there at the library they do so much more than than books uh they do so many Community uh events so many readings so many different Community engagement workshops that host there at the library so if you haven't checked it out our library the AG the architecture is amazing the staff is wonderful and there's so many resources there books and community outreach nonetheless I wanted to share some of the proclamations we did in 2023 slide you as well as mention our Proclamation congenital heart defect Awareness Month uh we have been collecting pop tops and in a a arms race with Fort Walton Beach and how many pop tops we can collect with one another so uh again just communities coming together to serve a greater purpose uh all of them are going to be going over to Pensacola uh for the Ronald McDonald House um I've had people drop off random baggies now of Pop Tops at my front door uh the first question was how do you know what my front door is uh the second question is oh my God that's amazing how long did it take you to collect all these pop tops so if you guys are one of those out there that collect them please bring them to the annex the community center the city hall uh we're really uh looking forward to not only collecting these pop tops for a good cause but also uh beating for Walton for once because right now we're 0 and one when it comes to that Dragon Boat Race I mentioned earlier um so again I won't read them off but there's so many proclamations out there and every one of those proclamations also represent uh volunteers community members coming together for a mission that is above themselves uh and we just can't do this not only can't government create a community but it takes all these different kinds of missions coming together to support one another from every Walk of Life from everything from our citizens above self award aty and everything they do to just anything from the Destin Arbor Day and making sure our environment's good so I just really want to take a a second to say that it takes a village and it's so much more than just we do up here that makes our community and City run forward okay all right here we go I have I want to extend gratitude to my very own uh clerk Ray Bailey also known as sweet baby Ray and the clerk's office everyone in the back thank you guys uh for all the countless hours you guys put on behind the scenes from the council to all the Committees every time we do something their am man mandatory to show up every time we're asking questions about the past and and what happened where and these records and everything from the public or us up here it's them getting it done uh not only is it a a charter from the state and a legality for us to do but it it's also a great personal tool and a great thing so I really appreciate all you guys do at clerk's office Ray the team everyone thank you guys so much um I also have so much appreciation for this Council behind me here who consistently contribute their time and knowledge to this beautiful city we all come from a different perspective a different Walk of Life and together we all create what is the city council on your guys' behalf as city as small business owners and the tourists that come here we reflect you guys and we we work daily in out without pay to make this happen because it's a it's an honor and a privilege to be up here so thank you guys and I really appreciate serving with each and every one of you guys in closing our community strength oh where's Lance all right as we honor a great man who has served the city this community with love and compassion for over 20 years Lance Johnson I wanted to just give a shout out to him as last year was his last year here but not only that I also want to give a big thank you to Louis zenui uh our community development director who has stepped up as interum city manager and to lead the city in a changing in a very Dynamic time right now it's it's pivotal that we keep moving right now and to have someone of is his of his caliber uh keeping us going I really appreciate it and allowing us to have a smooth transition and and keeping things going in closing our community strength lies in the magic of creating when People Unite progress isn't a destination but a journey it's a journey we're on together as a community as we celebrate these achievements it becomes clear that our potential for progress is boundless when we work together as one recognizing the value of unifying I urge the council cue the slide I urge the council you guys behind right here to ini initiate a referendum providing all unincorporated citizens the opportunity to officially join and unify into our city and not just the city that is today but the city that we're going to be building for tomorrow by placing this topic on the ballot we invite nearly 3,235 unincorporated voters alone to express their opinion and Views and contribute to the shaping of our collected Destiny here in dtin while the understanding while we understand that Community identity expands Beyond geographical boundaries together through a United effort we can continue to build a future that reflects the aspirations and dreams of not just those inside the city limits but those in the unincorporated Destin limits while that we understand that the community identity is crucial I just want want to take a moment to say I am very excited for this I've been slowly talking to unincorporated Destin community members my promise and pledge to everyone as if we were able to do this would be open communication just like I've always done I can't wait to go to each HOA spread out the facts the good the bad the positive and and the challenges that we have in front of us but regardless of what's in front of us I know that together we'll be stronger together we have more diversity to allow this community to move forward into the future and I just think if if there's 3 TH or 3,000 voters that means there's nearly over 5,000 people that are not represented in the city limits the city has grown our staff capability has grown and I think it's now or never when it comes to the the things that we can give to them the things that we can offer and not only to what we can offer them but what they can offer us we're better together and I look forward to the challenge of unifying Destin in their 40th year of being a city tonight I am filled with gratit itude for the production the productive Journey we've shared through 2023 in celebrating the pillars of our community from our people our parks and our progress we've witnessed the extraordinary potential that arises when we move as one from revitalizing our parks to embracing technology from preserving natural resources to fostering unity in our community each month brought new strides and accomplishments and it seems like year month over month we're gaining momentum we've never seen before I extend my heartfelt thank you to everyone here in this room the council behind me the city staff the volunteers that show up every day and our residents for your unwavering commitment to making Destin a great place to live work and play together let us continue to grow to inovate and to thrive charting a new course towards an even brighter tomorrow thank you so [Applause] much