##VIDEO ID:QScsXr0l574## you I'm trying to get it live right now I was waiting until y'all came in it doesn't look it doesn't look right though y'all are live yellow hey good evening everyone it is 6:03 p.m. I'd like to call the meeting to order it's August 8th 2024 and this is our regular council meeting Lori can I get roll call please Mayor Young here vice mayor sori here council member Brandon here council member painter here council member French here thank you and the invitation and Pledge of Allegiance will be led by council member Brandon all right you all bow your heads please heavenly father thank you for always protecting our village please bless us this fall season as we head into some holidays and our kids start school please protect us during the hurricane season as it comes towards an end hopefully always protect and thank you so much for loving on our people who serve us outside of our country and here at home and we look forward to you guiding us with your strength and love for the rest of the year amen amen amen please I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all all right can I get a motion to approve tonight's agenda so moved second all in favor I right first up our presentations we are excited to welcome Senator Harold in our Chambers tonight and she's going to kick us off with the legislative update but thank you so very much Madame mayor and it's is light to be here and please excuse my voice I've had this cold that uh I got from my grandchildren who were visiting me uh this summer and they left me with a little gift so I do appreciate it and I won't touch anyone I'm not contagious I had it's not Co been tested three times so I'm good uh but thank you all for having me and I think uh representative Snyder is on his way and when he gets here we'll kind of tag team but in the meantime I'll just kind of go ahead and get started and give you a little bit of an update on the session and I have to say this was one of the most productive sessions I have ever been in and this is my 22nd year in the legislature and I can tell you I have never seen a more concentrated focused on Health Care in any other session and that has been uh really for the Senate that was the main driving principles that the uh president of the Senate really really wanted to look at how we are dealing dealing with Healthcare in Florida but before I start with that let me kind of give you a little overview of the budget and of course the budget we had 117 million billion doll budget and uh again a very large budget and I'm so pleased that we again were able to put uh over 10 billion into reserves we have to be ready for the future you know with what happened in the stock market the other day who knows what the future is going to bring and we want to look and make sure we have reserves we learned a lot in the recession in 2010 11 and uh we were able to weather that rather well compared to other states because we did have the Reserves that allowed us to continue to fund our schools continue to fund Medicaid and all essential Services of the State of Florida and this year we uh continued the the fiscal conservative policy that we have in Florida and we're able to uh put 10 billion billion dollars into reserves we also made uh lots of G tax holidays for individuals we've had some back to school holiday right now so if you are shopping for school clothes and school supplies there will be no tax on anything you buy up to a certain amount also we have had excuse me uh we are we of course have hurricane tax holidays and things of that sort so we've continued this policy of really returning back to the taxpayer the dollars that you provide us and I want to say thank you to the uh the village of taquesta for everything you are doing here for your local community as well and it's a partnership we you know some of the dollars you have come from State dollars and we appreciate everything you are doing so carefully in uh frugally with the dollars that you do get from the state and speaking of that I was so happy we did get the sequester Regional Park in the budget this year so and I want to say to Madame mayor thank you so much for your diligence in this in your driving force behind it uh you've done a great job on that and as in education we've been very delightful we've continued the progress we've made in education in state of Florida and uh we are making great strides I can tell you that we've put huge amounts of money into education again this year increasing teacher salaries for $1.2 billion into teacher salaries and we are increasing the ffp as well by almost 7% so we are on the march to continue the work we are doing and I want to congratulate Palm Beach County on their a ranking I was delighted to see that and we are determined that we are going to have the best education system in the State of Florida and I can tell you and I we've put huge resources into our higher education into not just into our state colleges our community colleges but also into our universities I see my compatriot uh representive Snider come join me I'm just giving a little bit of an update on the budget but I just and then I was going to talk about health the live healthy but I'll turn it over to you and let you give a little bit too before I get into the live healthy uh legislation but I have to say uh we did amazing work in the environment and for us here in our area we live in Paradise do we not and our beaches our Rivers everything here that is so much a part of our our livelihood and our life and really the future economy of the State of Florida depends on our environment and they're so jointly linked our economy and our environment are together and I can't tell you this is we have put amazing resources into the environment this year and and of course for those of us who are impacted by Leo Kobi releases and also the um devastating effect of the blue green algae we have um made sure that we have put huge resources into continuing comprehensive Everglades restoration and this year I'm delighted to say we put $27 million into comprehensive Everglades restoration and $50 million into Beach restoration which which I know is a big issue uh in our area as well we want to make sure we're continuing to uh with Florida forever and make sure we're continuing to uh bring those natural resources and having uh land acquisition as part of our natural uh ability to keep our environment safe and secure and I'm delighted that this year we put uh 96% of the gaming compact dollars that we will be getting we finally got that settled down and the gaming compact is now completely signed and done and through legislation this year we put 96% of those dollars that will be reoccurring dollars into environmental issues land acquisition and environmental uh issues and infrastructure it's going to make a huge difference in the environment for the State of Florida and um I could go on and on but I'm going to turn the mic over to my wonderful colleague we're so delighted to share this uh to share the vileg of tasta and represent you in the legislature so it's all yours representative and then I I'd like to come back if I can to talk a little bit about Healthcare well thank you so much Senator and good evening mayor uh vice mayor uh Council great to be here before you and it's always a treat uh to to be a part of the traveling band with Senator Herold because as she's mentioned that former school teacher comes out and so I know um she's really able to to to to deliver a lot of the the accomplishments uh that we were able to to get done this year um I will say it is always a treat uh to be able to to come back and and share some of the good news uh with our partners and that's how we look at with all the different municipalities uh counties uh districts um we can't do it uh alone and so uh having a a council uh and staff that are really so plugged in um my my my opening is is really thank you uh Jeremy I remember I think it was one of my very first uh meetings after I was elected four years ago um we sat down in the Hope Sound office and and we know um as someone who was born and raised in Martin County um trying to really figure out what does the future look like for the taquesta regional park we know um through a variety of different Community uh input the the shape and maybe the original Vision has changed um but what I what I truly believe we have before us as an opportunity uh to to make that investment build on that uh to make sure that uh not only our kids um but the residents here uh in Northern Martin Southern Palm Beach uh have have that resource so look forward to continuing we know this was just the beginning uh to be able to get that project uh up and running um but hopefully uh we will see that one all the way through a couple other just quick highlights right here in our backyard um as as Senator Harold mentioned a historic budget once again but our role really uh I believe uh our primary function is to try and bring home as much of that funding uh right here to our community as we can uh so bush wildlife uh which we know is a a major asset here in our community we were able to get some funding uh for their continued operation uh the L Center for Autism uh which was another project that we worked uh jointly on uh making sure that uh kids and really adults U of all ages that are diagnosed with autism have that dedicated resource uh to learn how to swim uh we've just had some recent tragedies right here in Palm Beach County uh with that that specific population so we're going to continue uh working in that region uh and then of course loggerhead marine life uh just down the road again uh doing great work in the Sea Turtle Beach renourishment um and so those were some of our key priorities uh on the Palm Beach side of the house um one quick uh policy point just to touch on uh Public Safety and I wanted to say thank you to our law enforcement uh First Responders uh that are here today and are the backbone of of uh keeping us all safe at home we've seen some of the trends around the rest of the country where where um basically uh retail theft has become normalized and in some Essences legalized that is not something that we will allow to happen here in Florida and so one of our signature uh Public Safety uh bills this year really focused on ensuring that our retail establishments know we have their back law enforcement knows we have their back uh and this this phenomenon of walking into the uh drugstore to just take what you want off the shell that impacts all of us we pay more we can't get to the things that we need in in a timely manner it impacts our labor U so we we l on that front uh and I will'll just close with this as we head into this next legislative session uh we know that there is always more work to be done and so we look forward to continuing the conversations here uh with staff uh and I will say this um our our primary focus as we had in this year we know property insurance is has risen over time I will say on that front uh we are getting very encouraging signs from the marketplace uh we've had nearly a dozen new insurance carriers come into the state um based off of some of the reforms that we've passed uh in the last legislative session and we've actually just had multiple carriers file rate decreases with the state so um I'm a Praying person so I will continue to pray that we have a quiet hurricane season so if you knock on wood whatever you do uh let's continue to hope uh that that we have a quiet hurricane season and uh can get us through uh hopefully uh some brighter territory on the property insurance front so with that um happy to uh look forward to continuing the conversation uh with the team here and Senator Harold turn it back over to you we're team we're tag team very well I just want to mention a couple of things that were major pieces of legislation and I was very involved in them I've spent my um last 30 years really in healthcare and for me this was a momentous momentous uh session uh as you know we have a thousand people a day moving to Florida lots of them coming to the beautiful uh Village of taquesta and unfortunately they don't necessarily bring their uh Physicians their nurses their med techs uh their respiratory techs you name it they don't bring them with them and we have a real problem growing in the State of Florida and as we become senior years I relate to that uh we need more Healthcare so we really want to make sure that we have the workforce that we need and this year we passed major legislation called live healthy and it really is opening up and changing how we're doing Health Care in Florida we're recruiting people to come to Florida we've increased uh the numbers of residency slots tremendously we know that where an individual does their residency they most likely will will practice so that has been a major increase we also have put uh lots of money into uh loan repayment you come to Florida you uh stay here you work in underserved Community or you take Medicaid we will help you repay your loans and this has been expanded tremendously uh nurses doctors dentists You Name It We want to bring healthc Care Professionals to the State of Florida we also have uh an attacking the a huge drug problem that we have here not just not just in Florida but across the country we've got to address the uh mental health and drug abuse issues that we have going on in this country and one of the things that is so Innovative that we are doing that I think is going to change Dynam dramatically uh the numbers of practitioners we have in the mental health and substance uh arena is the New Concept of doing a a specific hospitals who that are uh mental health specific residence hospitals so we are starting these are teaching hospitals where we will be teaching not just uh psychiatrists andsy but also psychologists therapists you name it and this is going to be a new model I think there's only one other state that's done anything like this and we are going down a new road to really build our own Workforce course in this Arena and we also want to be as Innovative as possible one of the bills that I'm so proud to have sponsored is the health Innovation Bill and this bill is putting $50 million a year into specific Loan program that is going to help uh providers and and a variety of in of companies and whomever uh everything from uh hospitals to nursing homes who have innovative ways of doing something and if you are willing to invest in some Innovative Concept in changing How We Do Healthcare we are willing to invest with you and when I say invest we are doing it at a very low interest rate less than 1% and I don't know where you're going to get that today but I can say uh this new healthcare Innovation Council will go around the State of Florida listening to new projects new ideas how you change how we deliver Healthcare and then they will be the ones who make recommendations to the agent to the Department of Health on how these loans will be uh given out and it's a recurring 500 million excuse me $50 million a year for the next 10 years and as you pay it back it goes into the fund again and it will be reoccurring so then you will be somebody else will be able to uh get that money in order to invest in innovation in the State of Florida we also put huge resources into trying to deal with this opioid problem this is a major major problem and we have put uh uh over $180 million into it through opioid abatement settlement and also additional dollars that the State of Florida is putting in so we're on the track to really try and change directions in the State of Florida when it comes to dealing with mental health and substance abuse problems we've got to deal with it deal with it you know our law enforcement deals with it uh we deal with it in the homeless population we really need to address the issue so I think we're on the right track it's going to take some time we'll see how it comes out Palm Beach county is a is a designated County so that they have huge resources now coming in I would assume that that uh someone from the council may have uh either be on the on the committee or whatever or have some input into it but follow that very closely we want to make sure these these dollars are carefully spent in Palm Beach County so that we're getting the best bank for our buck to really uh stop this whole problem we have with with uh addiction and opioids especially so I'm going to turn it over and let you add some things well thank you again Senator um I want to be mindful of of the council's time I think uh just my closing remarks again would uh would be thank you for the invitation for having us and uh please let's keep the lines of communication open as we head into session uh and to those members in the public uh and and those that might be watching uh uh in other means we do have a also a shared uh legislative office here uh just up just down the road uh in Jupiter and so if you do want to to meet with our staff or you have an issue you don't have to come all the way up to Martin County um but do give us a call that that office is by uh By Appointment um but but we're happy to to sit down and meet with you or please call our office we are here to help uh we look at our role as really as as a customer support role uh we know that that navigating state government can be complex cumbersome and confusing and so anything that we can do to help on that front uh please don't hesitate to reach out to our office and our team uh it looks forward to continuing to serve uh our joint constituents so uh thank you again for having us thank you thank you thank you if you have any questions we're happy to answer or address anything we've left un uh mentioned thank you Council any comments or questions I don't have any questions I want to thank you both for being here as always uh greatly appreciate all the work you do thank you thank you I do have a question but I will contact you at a later time because doesn't have to do with the village okay it has to do with our state in general no thank you both especially for the sequester Regional Park uh funding thank you thank you and for both the work that you've always done for the village last year we had the what we call the Dober ditch um which is making its way through the process and that'll be it's joint with Jupiter so thank you for that and and really um for the work that you both have are doing and have done on Behavioral Health um I'm sure your Martin County jails like the Palm Beach County Jail is probably if not the largest mental hospital in your county and also in St Lucy it's very very key and that's something that's never really sexy and it's it's good to be talked about and it's tough to get it over the finish line that funding so the work you guys are doing get those those Appropriations over the finish line is is just admirable work so thank you very much thank you I of course just want to thank you both for your time coming here I know you both have very busy schedule so it means a lot to take the time to speak to us and I want to you know thank your staff Karen and Sarah they are both a pleasure to work with as well and uh and really I know test Regional Park was a couple years in the making so thank you so much for your hard work and really advocating on that for us we have great Champions at the state for us in our district and we look forward to work working with you this next session as well thank you thank you thank you thank you have a great [Applause] night okay moving on agenda item three our annual overvie overview presentation by the Palm Beach County Commission on ethics are they here Jes did you see her no okay we'll move on right our final presentation uh is by inter Nicholas all right so if I while he's walking up if I can give a quick introduction I mean some most of you guys have met him um just funny story you know I met uh there was a fccma uh meeting over on the west coast I was over there doing some introductions and and he stood up and you know I guess hesitantly said I'm interested in an internship anybody's doing I so I gave him my card and say I'm I'm over on the east coast and I know you're over here on the West Coast but if you're interested you know we have an internship and he's like oh I actually live over on the east coast and so it uh worked out uh he's been a a great uh just I guess great addition to our team over the time you know he's been very positive he's uh just fun to be around and um I think he has a bright future in in management which is where he wants to go um and so hopefully he'll be afforded the time by you guys to to give a quick presentation on what he's working on for his master's program and some of the work that he did in the village that kind of corresponds with that so with that I'm turn it over to Nicholas thank you okay uh I don't have the clicker but you can just toss it just make sure it's on there we go good evening mayor vice mayor councel my name is Nicholas gambali I've been the summer intern here at the Village of Testa and Mr Allen as a part of my internship has allowed me to present a topic of my choosing to Village Council kind of a final project before I begin I'd like to publicly thank everyone at taquesta for my time here everyone's been so helpful and generous with their time and helped me learn a lot I can honestly say this has been the best place I've ever worked uh everybody's been so nice to me and you know helping me learn so much and before before this experience I hadn't had any time in uh local government so I think it speaks a lot to the type of culture that Mr Allen's built here and everybody I I think I've interacted with probably 80% of staff and top to top to bottom everybody which has been really nice and really helpful so thank you to everybody so the topic that I will be talking about today is utilizing AI in the village of taquesta I chose this because AI everybody everybody knows it if you don't if you're not familiar with it if you don't know how to use it if you don't want to in my opinion you need to because it's coming and it's it's becoming more of a prominent factor in all organizations but especially I want to talk about local government so these quotes here are one is one is from Jeff Bezos he says AI isn't a golden age and solving problems that were once in the realm of sci-fi and then the other is from the CEO of alphabet which is the parent company of Google he says that artificial intelligence will have a more profound impact on Humanity than fire electricity and the internet so it's that just goes to show these two prominent figures both acknowledge how important AI is and will be and while it's fun to think about the Sci-Fi aspects of AI I want to focus on local government because that's what we're all that's what impacts people the most in my opinion so Ai and local government the use of AI has become one of the most important issues for local governments across the United States and cities towns and Villages are at the Forefront of this technological Evolution current use cases of AI and local government are focused on enhancing public service and optimizing internal operations and AI presents numerous opportunities for local governments to enhance public services from assessing infrastructure conditions to improving Community engagement AI can make government processes more efficient and improve resident interactions I'm not going to go through all these These are this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of AI software but I wanted to include a table of some of the software types that I was able to research and then the names some that I'll be talking about specifically would be uh chat GPT that's a big one GIS software geographic information systems and uh grammarly that's a big one and vc3 that's actually one of the ones being implemented in the village that I'll talk about so resident interactions that's one of the biggest aspects of this and that's one of the biggest aspects of the village in general AI presents numerous opportunities for cities to automate routine and formulate formulate government services and streamline their resident interaction in recent years many municipalities a set of AI chat Bots to respond to questions these programs need to be trained to answer specific specific questions but automatically learn with enough use to eventually be able to answer wider arrays of questions that haven't been taught and it's interesting this is one of my first assignments at the Village we have a botbot on the Village website which I encourage everyone to use because it's really it's really cool I I hadn't used any chat Bots before and Lauren MC Williams actually let me uh help her train the bot with specific prompts and uh one of them was the Public Works fix it form usually a resident would have to call or or come in and find that form to report any any type of damage like a sidewalk a road maybe a pothole and one of the things I did was program it to a person could just type in the word pothole on the on the website and that form would come up automatically and it would it just makes everything faster and if people don't want to use they can still call but it if they are in a rush or they don't want to go through a whole process of asking an employee they could just find their answers quickly the some of this some of this presentation I'll be going through each department in the village I don't want to take up too much time so it's quick bullet points for each one if we didn't have a lot of time I would I you know I could talk about this for days but uh the building department utilizes AI for public information processes and inter departmental Communications the department uses a software called e plans soft which implements various AI programs to streamline their operations uh the building director Wayne Cameron and Nara kavak coni in my discussion with them sorry I should have mentioned this earlier I actually met with I was able to meet with all the building or not building uh department heads in the village which was really nice because they're busy and you know I'm an intern so they could have just said I'm busy go go look it up go Google it so so everybody was able to meet with me and they actually I told them it only take 10 minutes and they met with me for like 30 minutes because it's an interesting topic and they wanted to help me with my presentation so the building department told me that they could continue to use and develop with AI to Aid in the application process and Code Compliance and in my side research I found that the National Institute of uh building sciences and the International Code Council say that plan review applic ation pering automation through AI improves the efficiency and accuracy of these processes while minimizing time spent on repetitive time consuming tasks and that's going to be a major theme that you'll see throughout each department it's it's really about minimizing time spent on repetitive tasks that could be automated freeing up people's uh employees time to deal with uh more important issues or help residents personally the clerch department is one of the leaders in the AI utilization in the village in addition to the vbot that I talked about earlier the department uses AI in other areas including uh in intergovernmental communication Public Notices press releases letters to legislators and Village social media Lori McWilliams and Diana Manali uh told me that one of the most important ways the clerk's Department uses AI for is satisfying the requirements under the American Disabilities Act uh this process involves using AI software to format Public Notices Friday newsletters and other official Municipal records so that they are compatible with screen reading technology they they really wanted me to emphasize how important that is which it's true this it's a really cool process and it's before AI this had to be done manually and this this can be done a lot smoother and a lot quicker in other other ways the clks department could continue using II as a tool uh would be focused around social media you can analyze metrics to maximize Eng engagement you know choosing what time to post could help more people see what the village is trying to say and AI software could analyze and compile minutes for public meetings I know I haven't even done that that wasn't part of my internship but I know that's a timec consuming process and there are there are AI software coming out that can make transcripts or summarize minute meetings at a fraction of the time that it Community Development uses AI for interdepartmental communications is and but mainly geographic information systems GIS software director J hubs told me that the department uses the palmes County GIS software to view zones overlays and properties in the village additionally Department could benefit from implementing AI to reduce time spend on repetitive tasks like permits application analyses uh optimization of land use code and ordinance riew that's a big one land use patterns and transportation and environmental impact data I actually J Hub uh allowed me to access the gis software and I I didn't even know what that was but it's actually really cool and it it can be used in this department as I'm will talk about in uh utilities it's it's a it's a growing thing and it makes everything a lot easier it's a really cool piece of technology other other areas that this department could use AI would be developments in affordable housing and real estate urban planning smart growth and sustainability the finest department is one of the departments in the village that is currently in the process of implementing AI this this this is called vc3 and it'll automate processes involving procurement cards accounts payable PNC transactions and bank reconciliation jff Snider told me that it would cost $4,500 to install and it's it's a good price considering how much time it would save and also $5,000 a year that was his initial estimate and it's really hard to gauge how uh expensive different AI software will be because it really depends on what you're using it for how you're going to implement it how big the village is or the city wherever you're trying to implement it but so it was nice to be able to know exactly how much this one would cost and they're they're currently implementing that right now other ways Finance departments could use AI would be budget forecasting programs like clear gov open goov and gov pilot those are really helpful we actually Village has used those for Budget planning they're not considered full AI software but they use AI elements to to create that budget forecast and make it easier to digest the fire department that's a big one uh I talked with them for about an hour which is really nice I know they're really busy they said that they use chat GPT for office Communications like memos and bulletins which are general orders that are not yet policy uh Chie the fire Administration and chief troop told me that further implementation of AI in the fire department could be useful in drafting policies and standing operating procedures maximizing efficiency in the creation of training programs and using the gis software like I mentioned earlier with Predictive Analytics to see vulnerable areas and you could even run simulations of disaster relief that's for Emergency Operations to ensure maximum effectivess Effectiveness and Public Safety other areas in Other M municipalities where AI has helped fire departments involve machine learning and data science approaches that help identify and organize disaster data predict the financial and safety implications of a disaster and there's even an AI power 247 dispatcher to monitor incoming distress call signals that's probably for you know bigger cities like you know with hundreds of thousands of residents but it's just cool to see the capabilities human resources and risk management uh they are not using AI right now but they are using a software called bamboo HR and it's just an example of how the village departments have already they already use software or technology to Aid in their processes uh there there are ways that AI can be utilized in Human Resources uh the top areas where AI is being used to support HR activities are hiring and recruitment Learning and Development and Performance Management uh with that being said it would be important to protect employee privacy and data security uh that's that's really important and HR could create um AI policy to help you know stay away from those those issues that could come from implementing AI in it I talked with the director Brad G gomberg and he told me that every organiz every organization in municipality is either currently using or should be in installing some form of AI software he said that utilizing AI has changed and will continue to change the way Village operates from an everyday perspective it's he said that they're currently in the process of purchasing the commercial chat GPT license plan so every Department can have access to it uh and it's the it's the better plan so it's not just the basic one this department is one of the Departments that will be impacted the most obviously it's the technological one but just in my three months here I had a few fishing attempts on on the emails and it using AI to filter those could lead to less of a risk for corruption and and security breaches uh filtering traffic flows and fishing attempts can significantly increase the security of Village records and data Parkson Rec is not using AI right now but director Greg Corbett said that the department can significantly benefit from using AI in various ways including enhancing efficiency resource management and Resident experience utilizing AI can also help with predictive maintenance Safety and Security Community engagement environmental monitoring uh overall integrating AI in parks and rec uh operations could lead to more ProActive Management and better service delivery overall this entire presentation is mainly about enhancing resident experiences at w with Village residents uh and facilities and events the police department like HR it's important to maintain the privacy of citizens not not necessarily employees like ahr but uh with police it's more citizens because you're dealing with very sensitive nature very sensitive information uh the police department uses chat GPT for public information and media releases but uh Chief Medina and assistant chief McGrew told me that using AI in the in Police Department you could create more advanced training scenarios they're actually they we tried to work it out but we weren't able to there's a training a virtual training um method called embarass and you put on these VR goggles and you go through these simulations of what police officers uh have to deal with and I know I'd fail so I'm okay with not doing it but it it was really cool and as this technology advances you can there's more and more opportunities for enhancement of police uh protocols uh other police departments can utilize AI in areas like predictive policing video surveillance and Records maintenance uh however like I said it's it's crucial to carefully maintain the security and privacy of citizens almost done with the Departments one by one sorry uh publ Public Works isn't using AI uh for any specific operations but they do use it for general office and interde departmental Communications uh director Doug Chambers and I discussed this he said that AI will continue to become increasingly prominent in everyday organizational operations and implementing AI in the department would be beneficial in reducing time spent on process involving bids uh technical information and evaluations writing contracts agenda summary prep and tabulations in recurring work orders uh other areas where AI could be used in public works uh include Asset Management resource allocation predictive maintenance of roads and sidewalks and traffic management for safety regulations last one of these sorry uh the Water Utility department that's a that's a really important one The Village the water department it's it's one of the most important departments in general it's you know citizens would definitely notice that their water department wasn't working right uh they currently utilize AI for administrative and commun communicative functions and this one grammarly was a big one uh director margerie Craig uh strongly recommends using grammarly uh uh my fellow intern Diego bada told me about Florida Atlantic University uh they're implementing AI in a number of its engineering programs um wearable sensors to detect leaks in water pipes and proactively address water utilities issues as another example of predictive maintenance and that could help save the village money and also reduce the amount of problems that residents would face from un unexpected issues so I I wanted to include this slide this slide has slides created entirely by AI this is just you know scratching the surface of the capabilities AI of AI but my presentation it took a decent amount of time I had to do side research and then I had to meet with each department individually and then I had to design the slides compile take notes everything and this took about five minutes I just typed into chat GPT give me some bullet points on AI and the police department and then it designed these slides it shows the colors and everything so but you'll notice that these these slides developed by AI aren't they don't stand up on their own in my opinion it shows that they can deliver information quickly and it saves people time but it doesn't go into as much detail as it should and it you can just tell it lacks that Personal Touch so that leads me to this quote by F Fe Lee She's a computer software uh engineer at Harvard she says artificial intelligence is not a substitute for human intelligence it's a tool to amplify human creativity and Ingenuity and that's basically what my main theme of this of this presentation is uh in every discussion I had with department heads a common theme emerged each department acknowledged the increasing prominence of Ai and local government processes emphasizing the importance of using AI as a tool and not as a crutch implementing AI software that streamlines governmental processes will enhance productivity and performance in the village and taquesta is already adapting to advancements in technology and Leever leveraging AI to uh enhance government efficiency but the village can continue to be a leader in South Florida in this area by further embracing AI as a tool that being said this is the most important thing I want to leave you with it's crucial to preserve the characteristics that define the village which is personalized customer service and human touch by integrating AI employees can be free to engage even more effectively with residents increasing the use of AI could help the village ensure maximum efficiency and Effectiveness with taxpayer dollars and service of these residents so with that that's my presentation on AI thank you all for this summer and letting me do this this has been a great experience awesome great job thank you Nicholas Council any comments or questions um I mean I got a thousand questions but I will not only because I I'm one of those people that has probably I've been a little more reluctant to AI than I should be but I uh I love the presentation great job and uh best of luck don't be a stranger we're we'll all be here well I don't well I'll be here but most of us will be here um and just yeah great luck or good luck and thank you thank you so much good job I hope you enjoyed your summer thank you great job Nick I use AI daily and I don't know if I can go without it anymore I appreciate you clarifying some of those things as well thank great job and it was a pleasure having you here all summer best of luck when you go back thank you so I I relate to uh council member painter I was very reluctant to get on board the AI but um at Florida Le of cities conference last year Kevin cus was one of the keynote speakers who was like a pioneer on AI and so I was like oh I better get on board fast and educate myself fast so I've I've you know I've educated myself and I'm more on board now and um so it's a very relevant topic and so I appreciate you know doing all that research for us and then um something that I think I you know want all counsel and uh the public to know is that the county is actually working on draft guidelines for AI so I think I think March I was notified about that so it'd be interesting to see what they come out with I think it' be good for us to take a look at as well so I am so happy to hear you enjoyed your summer here and I want to thank all our staff too for being so welcoming and supporting Nicholas on his internship as well good luck to you in the future thank you thank you Nicholas take care okay moving on to the consent agenda can I get a motion to approve so move second all in favor hey Communications from citizens laori are there any card yes we have Paige Lewis hi good evening mayor vice mayor and councel first thank you for having me here um I'm Paige Lewis I'm running for school board and district one um all about safety academics and accountability in a very large budget that we have um qualified for this position with a background in education mental health as well as small business but in case anybody has gotten any of my mailers you know that I am very hyperfocused on literacy and reading reading can it actually helps with so many other problems that we have uh in the school district so kids that can read on grade level are not a problem in the classroom because they love learning they come to school the teachers are much happier because they have children that are reading and want to learn it cut costs later for later in the um as they progress through third grade fourth grade when kids that can read in kindergarten through second grade um we don't have to teach to attest because our kids know how to read and actually select a b c d so we save a lot of money by actually making sure that our kids can read uh and this is really my focus um all about safety we have to have safety in classrooms um and we are we're working on that now with u in varied ways but we really do need to ensure that we have enough school police uh present in all of our schools uh we know it's not when if there's going to be an event it's when there will be another event and we need to make sure that our school police our teachers and our students are prepared for those moments um you know the um arrival time for outside help uh even if it's only six minutes there's a lot of things that can happen in six minutes so the people that are in the building really need to know what's going on and I'm very very focused on that um again academics I mean if you can't read you can't do math you can't do any of the other subjects so I'm hyperfocused on that I have a plan for that um one of the things is making sure that all of our teachers are trained properly to teach reading they may have one or two um classes in teaching college and um that's something that I want to um work with the state to ensure that we are really doing that on a college level but we need to start at the district level because we need to start now um our kids need to read um our teachers need better pay um a lot of my teachers that support me actually live in taquesta over the line in Martin County um and but we need to make sure that our teachers can live in our communities and I see that I'm running out of time so I'm just going to say please forgive me for all my flyers you can save them in wallpaper your bathroom um but please vote for me on August 20th uh we need change and it needs and it starts with our kids being able to read thanks thank you thank you Jan Fenwick hi yes I'm Jan Fenwick I live on aelia Circle there are 10 houses on aelia Circle five right now are rentals or Airbnb and this is just a small sampling of what's been going on here in the village I there's another house that the lady passed and some relatives that are out of state are taken over so I think the six house is either going to be an Airbnb or a rental I grew up in this town in from 197 6 and then went off for 23 years in the military and came back and chose to live here in this town CU it was a residential town it's no longer a residential Town these people coming in don't even wave to the neighbors when we have a very good community and our our Circle between us and Ridgeway behind us we have a lot of neighborhood parties and get togethers and we watch out for one another and these new people that are coming in and and I don't know if you can call it affordable rentals when they're over 5,000 a month you have to have quite a bit of money to to afford that um and most of these rentals are four and $5,000 um but these people they don't want to assimilate they don't even want to wave to the people they don't even talk to the neighbors even though um myself and the whole neighborhood has come out and tried to um talk to to the neighbors the the rental people and get them involved you know be be be neighborly you have lost that in this town and if you aren't careful this whole place is going to be a rental now the five of us that remain and one of them is rents what used to be a garage so four and a half of us that are that remain um right now are all talking about moving out of the area because we can't put up with this the Airbnb they don't come and clean it they don't put their trash out um for 3 weeks there was a mattress thrown out on the lawn that the trash people didn't even pick up they just came today and picked that up so uh it it's just um I don't know what you got to do I understand if I want to rent my house I should be able to rent my house but you took a residential town and now changed it into a transient town to where we don't know who are need star thank you thank you thank you I know I do just want to say um to the public is aware that especially you know rentals and especially the vacation rentals that's a tough topic that we are preempted by the state on it's pretty much every session it has been uh on the deck for some kind of Bill modification I know that our ordinances are as strong as they can be within the state preemption so our staff could at least look into um your street specifically and just make sure everyone's Reg properly and they're following you know the law to the abity that we can enforce right but the shortterm rentals they they don't have to provide anything to people if they rent less than three times per year okay our slatest our staff will look into it and did you if you leave your information with the clerk we'll get back to you ma'am thank you so much for coming and talk to us Harold Taylor carold Taylor 1 Chapel court at the November 2023 council meeting three citizens expressed their concerns about bright line passenger trains blowing their horns at the quest the drive Crossing since that meeting other citizens have contact with the village of the Kirk's office estimating the total of 68 people have voiced their concerns I'd like to voice two concerns I have with the village council's request that our manager look into the creation of a quiet Zoom at that crossing my first concern is about Public Safety I am sure that Ford East Coast Railway has a certain degree of backup in their designs for Railway Crossings how deep these backup systems go I do not know what I do know that the system can experience failures in at least one direction I have been forced more than once to detour from County Line Road to Quest to drive to get across tracks because the crossing arms are down and the red lights are flashing a counting Line Road with no approaching train can the system fail in the other direction and fail to warn the public of an approaching Train That's the safety concern I have fortunately the FEC has per backup system that does not depend on any atg grade installations that system of course involves blowing horns at all Railway crossings by creating a quiet Zone you are eliminating that backup system and putting the public safety at risk that is not a good idea my second concern involves the use of public funds to address the concerns of so few people before the last council meeting I had asked our village manager about the quiet Zone he told me that the village would have to spend about $6,000 to relocate I think he said driveway in order to implement the quiet quiet Zone spend about $60,000 to relocate a driveway in order to implement the quiet Zone that enables spending between $7500 and $10,000 in each each of those 68 people to address their concerns of annoyance or anxiety over the blowing of these horns these concerns should be considered the sign of a mental health issue these people can address mental health apps like wood bot that provides on demand support that aims to change behaviors and feelings these people should contact the clinical psychologist for the additional help they need to address their concerns in summary the women is the blowing of horns by creating a quiet Zone creates a s safety concern and spends taxpayer money on too few people Village council members serve the interest of all 6,000 of us to Quest the residents not just a few thank you thank you sir I have no no more resident comments for General any other public comment okay moving on Communications from Council I don't have anything tonight I'm I have no comments as well same um I just want to thank all of our staff again for hosting a successful Palm Beach County League of cities launch a couple weeks ago um even as of this week at other meetings and events I've been to people are still coming up to me and ranting and raging about it so just great job by all thank you so much okay moving on to appointments agenda item seven consider appointment to fill EAC vacancy the the um environmental advisory committee currently has a vacancy due to the resignation of member namoth and we have put the um solicitation out for the vacancy and Wade chance was an applicant and he is aester resident and so he is here this evening to answer any questions you may have thank you hey Wade if you wouldn't mind just telling us a little bit about yourself and your interest in the EAC you bet I'm way chance lived in a village about four and a half years my wife and I uh we're pretty much empty nesters now our kids are off in college and uh doing well so I've got a little extra time I'd love to serve my community and I saw the announcement come across and thought I'd apply um I am not an expert in advisory Council or advisory uh topics uh but I've certainly uh spent about the last 33 years in uh senior executive roles where we've discussed a lot of complex topics and brought folks together in a common goal so uh if that interests you I'd love to serve my community if not uh no heart fails yeah thank you Council any comments or questions no no thank you for uh your willingness to get involved yeah random I mean you are aware there are a 2 pm meeting what's that they have meetings at 2 pm at 2 pm that work can make that happen okay that's it thank you we talk about that last time right yeah I do believe the EAC is talking about is it on their going to be on their agenda to talk about the time I mean yes they have a meeting next Wednesday and uh that is going to be teed up for discussion okay so for future uh if it if they do decide to change you know like could maybe help um future applicants I have no questions for you thank you way thank you for um your willingness to put yourself out there it's not always because you'll sit here during those meetings so just so you know so but thank you for that it's it's a it's it's honorable for us to see you for the things that you're willing to commit yourself to to so thank you very much I I second that is you know it's your time your time is valuable and to want to give back to your community it's great so thank you for stepping up all right can I get a motion motion to approve oh wait I'm sorry do I take public comment on appointments don't you take public comment I would I would consider that a more ministerial act and one of the exceptions You' are not legally required okay sorry about that just want to be sure can I someone made a motion a motion to approve I'll second that all in favor I I thank you thank you all right wait I'll be in touch with you hey standing reports Village attorney oh just since I feel like I have to say something I'll let you know my uh my staff and I attended the Florida Municipal attorneys association annual seminar at the end of July and got a little bit smarter on everything from back to basic topics regarding code enforcement and comp plan amendments to Cutting Edge you know new new legislation and new case law on homelessness and um ran the gamut it was a good seminar and uh we had a we had a good experience and that will be my report for tonight than you questions Village manager uh yeah the most of you guys are aware of the work that's being done on Country Club to replace the AC pipe um and that project is getting getting closer to the end um which brings bad news typically or usually be good news but bad news is we will have some inconveniences there at El Portal andest a drive uh starting August 13th through the 16th we will have some road closur so that entrance of Country Club will be rerouted around to the north entrance um for that that two or three day period so I know that our team is working with a contractor to mitigate it and try to keep it open as much but I think there for those three days we're going to end up having that closed and so we will be putting on notices you'll see some signage we'll have the big police sign out there as well um and trying to just let everybody know uh inconvenience but it's uh we need to tie in our water line to um to that so um if you guys don't mind I'm going to ask Lori uh just uh I guess kudos to her and her staff for the school supply drive that they put on and um it seems like you know what started as an idea a few years ago has just grown and so I will turn it over to Lor just talk talk about the success of that thank you Mr Allen so this was the third annual um teacher school supply drive and it's kind of a reverse Supply drive in that when you see school supply drives those generally go to the students in the school but this drive goes to the teachers because so much money comes out of their pockets every year um we had 23 teachers this year from prek through high school and one college teacher who goes into to the preschool classes and um our business Community came out this year with overwhelming um generosity and 19 business donors donated um approximately $6,000 in gift cards cash or checks um the participants are taquesta resident teachers and we opened it up this year to teachers that teach in a taquesta school such as Good Shepherd the Harvey school and Providence education so um our teachers are very grateful and I ask that they always thank the business sponsors too awesome so you know thank you Lori and her team for Diana and MaryAnn for their work with that couple meeting announcements next uh Wednesday August 14th environmental advisory committee meeting August 15th planning zoning meeting uh then August 26th we'll have our third budget meeting hopefully it's on everybody's calendar um and then my last I guess announcement that uh I'll steal everybody's Thunder but um I just want to if you haven't heard uh Chief tro is uh announced his retirement and uh I would like to be the first uh in public to just you know publicly thank him for his 31 years of service most people probably don't realize I probably learned more from him than he has from me and so um you know I I I wish him the best we've still got you know six months with him if not more um but I just wanted to publicly thank Chief tro and his work and uh while he's not going yet um I think you know just kudos to him and his work he's done with DED dedicated his life to the village and so I appreciate you my any comments or questions for Village manager thank you um just one quick one you mentioned the road closure for the water M and I know there's upcoming closures in the country club and school starts on Monday do we communicate with the school district with the bus drivers now we will be yep we will be doing that we're going to I know we've had it over from what I understand over time we've had a couple of uh inconveniences there where the school would drop would stop there and the kids would walk over they'd get them we're going to coordinate that effort I think our road projects we're trying we're going to delay that so we're not having everything at once I know lockah hatchee is trying to do a couple projects over there like it's just the the the the storm all hitting us all at once but um I know Doug and Marjorie are working together to try to mitigate this as much as we can but it's just uh it's I'll say it is what it is so we we'll try to though okay thank you right next up police department good evening Council mayor vice mayor City attorney city manager and city clerk as y'all have the uh police department's report in front of youall I'm just going to touch on a few highlights for the month of July and take any questions y'all may have after uh for the some of the monthly service task we've continued to hold our nautical club events every weekend this weekend will be the last weekend from the nautical club sergeant Kowski will take the children to the boys park and have a cookout with the children watch him swim and snorkel there he's done a very excellent very good job just been excellent with the children this year so he's deserved a lot of credit for nautical Club this year so we failed weekly explor meetings uh trying to wrap up the final loose strings for the Explorer meet uh Club we're there we're looking very forward to having this new program with us it should be a very big benefit for our children here in the village of Testa uh we continue to address the parking issues along the Beach Road and also enforce start stared enforcing the illegal fishing on to quester bridge even more so we've had a lot of complaints about the fishing on the quer bridge and we started really being on top of that so the residents will know will know and see us there and not how should I put just see a extra police presence there uh for meetings this month we've had a meeting with Thea Oaks uh homeowners association in reference to parking and there and we also attended the North County Police uh Chiefs meeting for training all our officers attended defensive tactics and chief Medina completed the Federal Bureau of Investigations National command College we're very proud the police department is very proud of Chief Med for being able to complete that course that's a very prestigious course he was able to attend for the marine marine unit for the stats we've had 33 and a half hours of Marine Patrol 12 contacts one vessel stop and one warning for the Bureau of Land Management we've had 20 foot hours of Patrol 134 contacts and four written warnings and for parking enforcement citations we've had 30 and that includes uh Beach Road and test Oaks so any I'll take any questions you may have thank you Council no questions thank you thank you are you doing what you guys call it bus stop operation Operation Safe start yes we are that will start sorry I'm coming to Summer brain yes will start August 12th okay that's always a fun time yes very much so we enjoy being out and interacting with the children and the parents at the bus stops that's when you really get to know us as parents we're looking forward morning every year I've been here eight years now and every year it's more and more kids the demographics are really changing and the question is very exciting I told you all to get ready and they're all tur into twins they are I have no questions or comments thank you for the upd just on the nautical Club um I know it's been lotted meeting after meeting but I some of the comments that have come in from the parents of the participants have been shared with me and it's overwhelming and it's one of these programs that makes taquesta as I always say truly taquesta so congratulations officer Kowski the work that time he puts in and with your your team over there um the pictures have been amazing and the feedback it's just something very unique that we do that I hope you always will continue to do so thank you for that thank I have nothing thank you he fire department see if we can't get the show on the road here first of all I want to thank the manager for those nice comments I appreciate that so mayor vice mayor Village Council Mr manager Village attorney and Village clerk you of course have my report in front of you uh this last month the fire department has been engaged in in quite a bit of training actually mostly water rescue related we've conducted several uh drills in house and we also invited in dive rescue International to conduct Red's class training which is essentially our Escape botels for our dive Rescue Team uh in doing this training and in doing this some follow-up training that we're planning for October this will bring our dive team membership up to nine with one more just one class short uh and this is a big accomplishment for our for our department because just a few years ago we were on the verge of losing this team uh we only have three members so we go from 3 to 9 almost 10 in a very short time um so I'm very proud of that uh additionally we hosted uh we had Palm Beach State come in and they taught an engine company operations class all three shifts we are in fact trying to bring them back again here later in this budget year upcoming events Operation Safe start so is on my my list of things to do we work with theop PD very closely on that uh we visit as many bus stops as we can over a three-day period uh the the police departments were good about spotting all the buses and and basically escorting them through the village uh our firefighters will be out talking to kids and parents and uh basically reminded them to stay out of the street stay up on the sidewalk you know stay in a well lit area and uh normal stuff you know no horse play and just say no to drugs right the um so that that's a good teamwork thing that we'll be able to do uh we are also planning to host the uh the fire chiefs Association uh that is on the 22nd of this month so we'll be doing that and we are going to be hosting another Palm Beach County fire rescue training class on uh August 16th I'll participate in the public information program uh regarding flooding and working with the building department on that uh for CRS points and and so forth um we also here recently under Emergency Management we completed our point of distribution agreement that was in your consent agenda I'm very proud of that and I got a lot of help from Jay uh who kind of Led Led the charge on that um that is something we we hope to duplicate with other other um churches and other areas that we think we can establish a pot in so that's going to be a huge help I think in the long run as far as dealing with Emergency Management that that grows beyond the capabilities of staff so and I think I'll address the last thing it be my retirement so first I want to uh I just want to say thank you uh I want to thank the Village Council for supporting myself and the fire department in all the years I've been the fire chief in really all the years I've been here at Desta I'd like to thank the manager and of course the senior staff that's it's both here and maybe not not here tonight uh just for their support uh one thing I've learned as fire chief is you don't get you don't get you don't get anything done in a back vacuum you got to have you got to have support um we've had that uh through all of you we've had it through all the residents I think any time a survey goes out fire department always scores very high with with What the residents think of our our product and uh with that I'll turn around to the guys over here and girls over here in the corner um we can't do it without our firefighters of course um they're the team that that supports every everything that we do and again we don't get anything done in a vacuum everything that we accomplish we accomplish together and that's the way it works that's the way it's always worked but I want to say thank you to everybody that I've mentioned tonight um it's been for me an amazing 36- year career 31 plus here at Desta I'm looking forward to my last 6 months we still had a lot of work to do um it's kind of a surreal moment yes there's mixed emotions but at a certain point in time I think you just you know it's the right time kind of alluded to it with water rescue I could point to a lot of other things in the fire department but our fire department is very strong right now very strong we will take our last firefighter or two that are on probation they should they should be off probation in October be the first time in probably more than a decade we didn't have somebody on probation we've got good leadership in the captain and lieutenants ranked and Senior firefighters we've we've done a lot with equipment we've done a lot with vehicles we've done a lot with training and again through the hard work of the gu guys that are back here and the support of everybody else uh we were able to accomplish a lot of those things and we're going to continue to push and I think that's that's the bottom line we uh we strive to get better and I think uh when I step away whoever replaces me will do the same and uh My Hope and I'm just not really a hope I know it'll happen is that they get the same support that I've received and the fire department has received from from all of you that serve or will serve and all the residents here because need it this job this job is difficult that I'll just say thank you thank you thank you CH thank you any comments or questions yeah I guess I should say did you have any questions about the or did I sneak past you there oh he got you for six more months yeah for more months am I getting choked up yet we're here a little B long I like that one I got a comment for you oh sorry I'll save my special goodbye for you for later okay we've got six months we'll have we'll have more meetings boots is coming what I uh you've done an incredible job with this fire department and these firefighters from the education the training the certifications the customer service um it's above many many departments that are much larger with much more resources you've really done a great job and created a special group thank you I appreciate that it's it's those guys that do it so kudos to good job that's a John CIO the advice I give to the next chief is if John ask for anything just say no thank you Chief Department Marjorie Craig utilities department it is so hard to follow him I got to tell you um but I will miss him greatly so um I won't go through everything here I did want to give you a shout out thank you very much for approving uh the um scada improvements out of the plant they were very old um and at risk of being blown over by the storm it's the first we've still got a few more things to um uh replace and some training but that'll be coming to in the future and just a few pictures there um and then the the manager talked about the road closure which I I I couldn't I could barely come in here and talk about that cuz I knew school was starting um and Doug we thought we had a really elegant solution and it just didn't work I will tell you that we he really worked with me and you know I've been doing this a long time I can't say enough about my colleagues and uh just the coordination that Doug has helped with um as all the directors so we tried we didn't want to have to close it on the um opening day of school um the other thing I'll just mention is that uh Martin County does have we do have the interconnect open with Martin County they are taking about 300,000 gallons a day um we did have uh you see some pictures here we have a little project to upgrade the interconnects with the town of Jupiter and also with Martin County we just didn't quite you know it the meter gave out before we could get there uh but you can see that some of it still needs replacing so we'll be doing that the last thing I want to do is introduce my new engineering intern his name is uh oh he's going to have to tell you all the names but uh Diego Andres um uhoh mo mo mo moika vo did I say it right almost I'm still learning I'm actually trying to learn Spanish on du lingo so my accent's atrocious but I took French so it sounds like French um so he already has a degree uh so he's working on his master's degree he's pretty amazing anything I throw at him um he's been jumping on it and um you will just want to introduce him because you'll be seeing him around and then Nick is going to show up and Heckle him when he gets his presentation to you at the end just saying are there any questions Council no questions thank you I have a comment just want to thank you for you know when I first took a tour of the facility and there's a lot of numbers that you give out and I don't really have anything to compare those two right you tell everybody takes pride in their job but uh doing some work with a another municipality and then seeing their numbers uh thank you for doing what you do for the village not just the quality of the water but uh how you use the resources um and everything in between uh phenomenal job when I start using those comparisons I appreciate that I do want to mention that I have not used AI to create any of these and the um I worked with Nick on some of the you know information most of what his slide showed for utilities and for some of the other things use analytics which is data um as opposed to what I would consider AI which is learning you know to prict so oh is that my deadline okay thank you Mar do you have anything thank you Mar and welcome Diego welcome okay on the regular agenda business agenda item 12 second reading of ordinance number 0524 which is to add private Museum as a use to the C3 District thank you mayor ordinance 0524 an ordinance of the Village Council Village of the quest of Florida Bing the code of ordinances at chapter 78 zoning article 6 in general section regulations Section 78 178 C3 General commercial District to add private Museum as special exception use with distance separation requirements and at article 10 off Street and on street parking and loading regulations Section 78705 required number of parking spaces to provide the number of parking spaces required for these establishments BR each and every other section subsection of chapter 78 shall remain in full force and effect as previously adopted providing conflicts Clause severability Clause authority to codify an effect if they in further Purp say we have arrived at second reading thank you is there a presentation tonight I don't know if we no I see something on them I think the last time this was before the council you had a um you had only four of you here there was no action taken so we're back right I just saw something on screen so we make sure there's no presentation but yeah we're back because there was no action at the last meeting yeah y okay any discussion Council I don't have anything else to discuss nothing new to add nothing new that I haven't stated in all the other meetings same here any public comment okay can I get a motion so move second all in favor I I I no opposed okay moving on agenda item 13 ordinance number 0724 second reading of uh adopting live local and the enforcement procedures to our code all right thank you mayor ordinance 0724 uh ordinance of the Village Council Village of quest Florida amending the code of ordinances of chapter 78 zoning article 6 schedule of District regulations by creating a new division three entitled affordable housing and live local act provide and Implement administrative procedures and requirements for development of affordable housing projects pursu to the Florida live local act providing for enforcement providing for penalties for violations prior that each and every other section subsection of chapter 78 shall remain in full for effect is previously adopted providing conflicts Clause severability Clause authority to codify an effective data and further purposes this version of the ordinance that's before you does have revisions pursuant to council Direction uh regarding uh enforcement and um Jay can remind me what the other edit was clarifying that a conceptual presentation is not required and that's my presentation sorry man Council any comments or questions on this one further nothing further okay any public comment yes ma'am could you compensate your name and address on the podium new to this without the AI and minor 478 over Road I'm just curious like how many public housing um buildings are there into question now so that this has some context around it for us sorry so I think um if council's okay J can ask the question and then after that um if you have any more questions Jay is your guide to answer everything so this is a the Florida State Legislature adopted um legislation that says that when um developers build U affordable housing the municipality has to approve it if it meets certain criteria so we're we're basically just codifying what the state is forcing us to do we're not approving any ual developments um we're just um putting some stuff on our code to make sure that we're consistent with the state statute and um also just clarifying how we'll enforce certain things so that people actually have to meet those State guidelines we don't have any um yeah we don't have any proposed or we don't I don't we don't have any that would qualify currently but uh just being safe here thank you all right any other public comment can I get a motion so moved second all in favor I I under new business agenda item 14 resolution number 15-24 to adopt the new refug Recycling and yard waste collection contract with Waste Management it says Jeff Snyder but I'll be Jeff Snyder um so uh the village recently heard a presentation from W management I think it was uh in July um and so the proposal was was uh to automate similar to cities around us the discussion started a few years ago actually when you know we saw a huge rate increase um and at that time you know due to you know supply chain issues Co um and I think the direction of council at that time was to work with Waste Management to make sure that that didn't happen again and really look at our rates as part of that conversation uh you know we really looked at automation because that's what the surrounding cities are we're able to to take advantage of some savings because the smaller cities or the bigger cities around us take on some of those costs and so tonight you have in front of you uh an extension of our current contract that has one year left on it uh the idea was to smooth out those cost over a six-year period we are seeing increase of $346 $346 a month um that is the proposal um we have advertised uh at 1945 so the rate increase that we've negotiated with waste manag Is 1920 um 19 the other 25 cents would be an admin fee that we would collect to offset our cost it's 1.29% of the cost typically with our franchise agreements all of our other franchise utilities water electricity gas we charge a 9% to those funds um so we're not really capturing our cost but um that is the proposal in front of you tonight I know Waste Management looks like they have their whole team here they can answer probably any question you have but uh Mr sain has uh you know been great we've had a lot of great discussions about really trying to um keep the cost down um obviously we everybody's seeing increase in in employer employee cost um so I think you know in my perspective sitting in my seat Jeff has really tried to work hard to get us get us the lowest rate possible within their realm so thank you Jeff do you have anything to add before I open up the council discussion no ma'am I I concur it it's been a long road but it's been developmental informational educational and we put a whole lot of information in and we've spent a whole lot of time in developing this plan for the village residents we're very excited about it all right Council I'll open up for discussion I can add one more thing that I didn't add is that you know this is going to be an automated system we do plan on rolling out all the information our citizens make sure they understand you know that process we don't see any drop in service you will still get your pickup twice a twice a a week still have the the other pickup with the bulk pickup as long as you make the phone call um there will be a slight change in scheduling for some residents not a drop in service just a change in the days uh but they will publicize that and make sure that and we'll help them make sure the residents are informed about those thank you all right Council I don't really have much um I've lived in a a city that has automated worked just fine you also get a pretty expensive trash can out of the deal so that's good um but no I I think this is the right move you know we certainly don't want to end up like the example in our memo here so I think this is all in all a very competitive and a good choice for our village thank you for always working well with our team and thank you for keeping our two days a week service that was that's the biggest thing I hear from residents is oh my goodness we're going to one day a week but we're not so just thank you and always give U Mr Allen information because we always love pushing that information out to our residents just no four minute videos on how to roll your can out to the driveway please She Knows Mr s uh your first presentation I believe I was a little offut as it almost seemed like you were telling us what to do opposed to presenting however I I was mistaken on the approach after speaking with multiple elected officials across the county um I think it was more of you knew you were offering a good service at a good price and after speaking with all those elected officials I I easily came to that conclusion that this was a good change and you were offering a great service to our residents so thank you and even though I didn't say it I apologize for thinking uh that your first presentation but thank you um yeah I Echo what my colleagues say and you know nobody likes an increase um and it's insulting to say well it's only $346 a month because to some people that's a lot of money um but there's certain things there's a baseline that that I believe that government has to provide it's keeping your RADS well it's delivering your trash in our case in our our wonderful Village it's the water it's our storm water uh and trash collection is something that we have to do and we can the village can do it better and cheaper than individual homeowner and I know some people we have got feedback where people are upset about this and I I understand where they're coming from uh but I stand behind this because number one we have a partner in waste management and prior to that Nicholls that has served this Village for a long time U they meet our philosophy of a green footprint their their trucks that run through this The Village are quiet and their natural gas propelled um and nobody likes to approve and we struggled we had the same conversations last year with our water uh but it's just something that the village has to do and the village can do better and more efficient than individuals can that's why it falls on the village so I support this and I thank waste management for being a great partner I suck in a lot of what the vice mayor said and um you know if you SWA has a link on their website that shows all the municipalities and who they use and um you know there you can see in our area waste management is really prominent in our area and if you if you go out to bid and you get others bid they're just not going to be as cost efficient because they don't have uh the benefit of already being in the area and then um there's actually a lot of municipalities that do their own service but if you do the math on what you know this costs annually versus like starting up Ro it's not even comparable it's not even a question so uh you know I am confident not going out to bid that we are getting the best price that we can um one question I was hoping you can answer because it hasn't really been discussed and I kind of just want to on record I the commercial rates are going up too and I don't think notices go up for the commercial rates and they're not on a resolution either they don't have to be but can you just for a record explain the commercial rate changes absolutely thank you for the for the comments um really appreciate we're we're proud and I have to introduce our team who's who's with me this evening because without them I'm just uh they they do all the work and uh so I'm very blessed to have Alexandra martinella martinello she's our Communications expert and specialist um we've prepared all the collateral the information mentioned U both for social media and we've got it in in draft form so after this evening's meeting we'll be circling back with your staff and sharing all that information with you we've already shared some drafts back and forth to make sure that the pertinent information is included but that comes from our expert over here thank you aanon Bailey she's our uh operations manager she's where the rubber meets the road every day she with deployment of our crews and every morning she makes it happen she's so familiar with the village and she's very happy to be uh serving The Village residents as well and then the senior district manager Dwayne Robinson who's been with the company many many years and has uh CAU up through the ranks and he really is the point person for our operation in all Martin WM the Martin County uh with that answer your question about commercial rates commercial rates are included in the franchise agreement and they're very intrical and very important part of it um we don't and actually I the the increase specific increase to a commercial customer in the village of Desta their rate is going up only 34 cents per CU cubic yard um because the rates are Market they're they're within market and competitive but those rates are really important because they drive Revenue that helps us kind of offset not not to say the word uh suppl or subsidized but whatever they do help um and also in the village is unique in a certain way that the uh commercial businesses and some of the the condominium their containerized they have the ability to flex on their service depending on season and offseason so they get the benefit of that but the commercial rates are included in the exhibit and they will be adjusted and they are actually part of the franchise agreement did I answer your question yes thank you okay and then my only other question is when you kind of touch it when is the marketing or information campaign going to start like how long is is that campaign go to when you know you're going to start picking up automated like how much time will we have to educate the resident she gave me cheat sheets you never going get the question it's not AI That's AI she she's AI but yeah that that presentation was fascinating too by the by your intern that that was excellent we were thinking of ways and how we can incorporate in our business customer service and some other things that we want to improve upon uh by creating some de uh interactive abilities for customers so that's something that we're going to be thinking about as a company going forward that to improve our accessibility by the resin and the customers uh a number one mailbox week of August 26th postcard coming soon coming to your your curb very soon so that's the first uh mailer that will go out followed by social and no in conjunction with the social media that will reflect the same information but it'll be based on and formatted for social media that says postcard in time in conjunction with the postcard delivery week of August 26th as well so bear with me f um the next is social media number two week before before cart delivery so the week before the carts go out you're going to send out a social save the date for for everyone on social media uh week of September 9th correct you can correct me anytime you want awesome oh cool okay cart brochure and we we I brought one okay wait so this social media post be bful hello uh the social media post would go out the week before cards would begin delivery which would happen uh during the week of I believe September 18th yes yes yes September 18th so we would have a brochure attached to each cart in the bag it outlines the services it also would give the new service map um it will also link provide a link to your website so residents can view the map on your website good good um and then our final would be another social media post provided to you guys um reminding residents the week before the service changes to mark their calendar because the new dates will go into effect on October 7th so this is a very quick coming campaign your first uh Communications to the residents would be arriving the week of October 26th carts the week of September 18th and new service in effect the week of October 7th I have a question can ask a question okay so if uh let's say that a resident has the same style trash uh can that you guys are will be dispensing could they bring that to the curb as well or we limited to the one that comes directly from Waste Management great great question we're issuing the standard 64 gallon garbage card to every resident and one of the most frequently asked questions is and we've addressed this before what do we do with our other C if they have already bought and we're saying utilize that for your yard waste okay so it it should be branded the waste management branded can and I think I think you had mentioned or I'd heard that we may have the option to purchase a second is that true that absolutely correct okay for those that need and generate the larger households you can acquire an additional C for toal $100 that includes delivery to your house and everything and no increase in the cost okay of collection but yes they are available got a lot of I would like to add that those questions are actually going to be included in the brochure here and our frequently asked questions so I have um how do I request a second trash card what do I do with my old trash cart and how do I pre schedule an oversized bulk waist pickup pile because I feel those are our most frequently asked questions in this area so that will be on the cart great yeah thank you and on the cart will be this it will be additional information and the same replicate the brochure for all the services and and any questions and of course we've got our customer service folks that'll be queed up we'll have to make sure we've got enough because we always there'll always be calls there may be a resident who doesn't receive the mailer so we'll have extra ones we'll be able to supplement those out then we'll provide extra ones uh that we can leave here at the Village Center as well and then I um people that need assistance with the trash that's not changing correct I feel like we talked about that before yeah handicap um that service Remains the Same instead of looking for the can we'll look for the cart we'll go up and retrieve it on those addresses that require that service it and then return the cart back our only request is that they put the cart line of sight and we'll that way we know and that the crew member will go and and retrieve it dump it and return it back to its original place okay yes ma'am thank you for making trash as fun as it can be do we do we land on the colors of the cards cuz I don't think anyone here had preference I know it was a whole thing in Jupiter but I like I don't but what are the colors like I don't care I'm just curious blue was confusing cuz it looked like recycling yeah we strategically avoided that discussion because exactly what happened in in Jupiter and we that's why we went just standard green cart with just a WM logo on it just to keep it keep it simple the only um one other thing I just want to since you guys are here and she brought up um scheduling pickup because you guys have been a little more strict about actually having residents call because you guys have been so gracious in the past and kind of your guys or your team would tagging as they were picking up trash can we make it a little bit easier to schedule cuz the website is not user friendly so maybe some AI I don't know just something to look at um like lately in the past couple weeks I know our neighborhood has had a lot of complaints and frustrations with scheduling for our Monday pickup for like big piles of PM frons and debris great excellent and with this new schedule we've dedicated Wednesday as the bulk day which will be Village Wide okay bulk day so everybody knows put it out on Wednesday when we'll scour the entire Village on Wednesday to make sure the curb is clean middle of the week things don't get carried over the weekend and things that's really one of the benefits of this new schedule okay it gives us that that Wednesday where we can cover the whole village for all bulk items all right all right cool anything else no no me okay all right any a public comment yes I have quite a few okay Jan Fenwick Tres I'm Jan Fen Cel Circle I am glad I came because the mailer that you all sent out saying our rates were going to go up $233 40 per year added to are non um adval taxes would double more than double my uh taxes um I'm um you've answered some of my questions but um I'm a little confused my rate's going to go up $346 a month or is it 1920 a month or is it both added together so if you have do you have any more questions I'll let you list out your questions and then maybe either um Jeremy or Jeff could answer okay well I have that and then also for um pm frons and things like that are we going to have to get another bulk trash can for that we can still just throw them on the side of the road okay and um and yeah I understand everything is increasing but a lot of us they on fixed income and it's not just waste management um the next thing that's going up is the storm water the port tax hadn't gone up it since 1972 so that's being increased citizens is going up over 14% food's gone up and pay has not so um Please be aware a lot of people in this community cannot uh take much of a hit your W your water bill has gone up here Ina mine's doubled since you added the 20 some dollar um admin fee on there thank you ma'am um do you have anything else no and I don't really care what color the thank you for that thank you all right I would if because I think you know there's probably resids I do I don't know if Jeff or Jeremy P you want to explain the you can sit down I'll have one of them come up and explain the rate exactly what that looks like per household so the the current rate is it's going to from $15.99 to 1945 or 1920 but that's a $3 and if you calculate the 20 it's $321 uh per month increase so it's 321 per month that's 12 cents per pickup it's going up to go automation so yeah that that's $321 or $345 depending on the 1920 or 1945 okay thank you for explaining right Lori Stephanie Modo hi I'm also little hello everyone Stephanie I live in Village Boulevard in a condo that I do own and the letter is just a little confusing after hearing you guys talking about 348 in 1990 so how does that increase our taxes by $233 can you explain that and as a reference as a point of reference since I do live in the condo we bring our garbage to a really big container and it's picked up I think once a week we do not have any recycling we can't do anything about it the management doesn't want to offer it so it's not the same as someone who has a single family home that gets their garbage picked up from their curve twice a week or whatever we just got done say so I just wanted some answers on or clarifications on the letter because it's really confusing hearing you guys talk about 20 bucks and then meaning $233 increase in our taxes and like she said things are all going up so it's it is not great okay do you have any other questions nope that's it okay Council are you okay with bringing Jeff up again we usually don't Q&A but this is important so if you want take your seat we'll have Jeff come up and answer just a quick summary and maybe maybe somebody else talking uh the total is going to be 23340 is the proposed so that's why we get that number we take 1945 12 months it's 233 so the increase is going from the1 1590 $346 a month will be1 1945 so it's 1945 * 12 is the 233 so that's how we derive those numbers anything else to add and with the apartment building for oh yes I can address that um they're multifam containerized um so they receive um equivalent service but they have a container and in this case it's it's a dumpster and that's accommodated within the franchise agreement where if you live in one of those uh buildings or multif family dwelling units you automatically have get twice per week uh collection service so um I picked up on that if it's only once a week we can we can certainly pick pick it up uh twice a week because that falls under the requirement of the agreement we can take care of that for sure and then the second is the recycling that's easily uh resolved we just have to dedicate a space for the 96 gallon solid was Authority blue and yellow carts and they can recycle and we can we can arrange to make that happen Okay thank you great Ann Miner hi an Miner 478 do Road um I like thinking creatively and with Solutions and all that my main qu my main question centers on why is it the same amount for everybody the reason I mentioned that is because there are some kind of million dooll multi-million dollar houses on the river great you have a big lot you have a big house you have the potential to grow a lot of trees and have a great you know outdoor life great indoor life um I'd like to know what the differential is and how people were thinking about how you all were thinking about um charging more for people who consume more and in terms of thinking creatively the math is possible to charge back those people more I think this gives a lot of credence to people who have said I've lived here a very long time I my taxes have been a certain rate for a very long time this concept could be applied not just to this type of Bill but across the taxes where you know it would be relative to your property tax number rather than a blanket amount for everybody regardless of consumption I think it's fair um you know some of us who have moved here more recently yes we'd pay more um but people with big properties would similarly pay more so I think it's um I think it's a good compromise in the chargeback um that's my thought thank you thank you thank you Vanessa fanga hi my name is Vanessa fanga we just moved into Lighthouse Cove I just want to know if this is something new because we just moved here I don't know is this something always an adoption I don't know can you tell me ma'am do you have any other questions and then we can answer this the question this is your question because I don't know because if it was if it's something new I want to be told more about it in writing fully to my home and if it's something old I want to know what it was previously because I'm an oppos to this I oppose this for another $233 assessment a year over every every year I'm new to the area I own the condo we bought the condo I don't understand this okay the contract um the contract not we've had a contract loal base management for I don't know how many years now but it is increase so I think St has was it previously I want to know what it was it's increased $415 a year not this was in this always was in adoption it was $15.99 per month and now it's gone up to 194 194 this is not something new no ma'am this is not something new because you know I'm just getting a letter like this for the first time I'm new here and I don't know about this the contract is also not negotiated every year it's a multi-year contract that's why if you just moved here that's why you're getting it every resident got a letter correct right but people I'm speaking to where I live it's like they don't know anything about it people that have lived in my condo for years oh what is this about and I'm here I don't see anybody else well this one lady I don't know how long you've been living here but people that have lived in my condo for years oh I don't know anything about this what is this something new okay well I think I know our staff has your information and our staff information if it could be given to me or mail to me personally so I know more about this you know I'm willing to pay it if it's always been adop an adoption if it's something that's an increase fine I I'll be willing to pay it but you know I don't know anything about this because we just bring our our waste to the recycling bin you know and it's abroad I just thought we pay our taxes all the time it's part of our taxes we pay I I don't understand this so I'd like more information if possible absolutely our because I'm new here we're not even here a year so this is all new to me okay and um I just thought now what another $233 a year then it's going to increase over over the years and it says here till another $750,000 is paid you know so I just like more information you know because no one is explaining to me at my compo unit our staff will do that for you but again so if you leave here knowing that it's going up to if you don't mind thank you ma'am our staff has your our staff has your contact information and they are they're more than happy to sit with you and go through the contract and and show you the changes from what it was before to what it is now Lori you do have all the contact information so we'll get all your answers absolutely thank you for coming and talk to us thank you Patrick Wilkinson thank you I I'm Patrick Wilkinson 419 North Cypress Drive uh windamir Condominiums over there um I've been in palmach County third generation um my my question really is I also utilize you I'm also the general manager out in Jonathan Dickinson State Park so come on out see us everybody please uh that being said we utilize you out there a lot too I've Ed you guys a lot um do we need it is this something that's being sold to us or is it a necessity I guess that's the only question I have with it because I I want to reiterate what everybody else said we we're getting nickeled everywhere you know so that's a tough one so that's why I'm here to ask about that too and number 17 when we get to it so that's it I can take my question off on okay thank you thank you sir we'll get that answered appreciate that love JD I don't have any other comments any other public comment if you could state your name and address address for the record I'm I didn't get answer is this is this something we need can we choose to not do it so I'm sorry can you sit back down and I'll so you can come back up to the podium if you don't mind get my name is Don M I live at 47 Chestnut trail and I have a question as to we have been I've been here 35 years and supposed to just one year uh and on the TA my tax bill I've been playing non advalorium tax through the county every tax bill now will that replace the bill on count County with that came through last year at $191 going up to 23340 does it replace that or is this an addition to that the money that we paid already for uh solid waste and refuge is that your only do you have any other questions pardon is that your only question do you have any other qu okay do you have an answer okay Mr sneer will so if you would would mind taking a c our finance director will come up and answer that this replaces that bill it adds to it by the $40 46 $41 52 so your non adum bill for the solid waste will go up $41 52 cents next year if this has passed sir sir if if you want to speak public comment next I'll call you up thank you thank you thank you sir okay does that answer your question okay so it's I think that's what everybody wants to hear theer refug collection line item is being replaced from what it currently says to 233 so correct thank you okay and then Jee I don't know if you can come up and talk about why the switch to automated why it's a necessity I believe that was that gentleman's question Jeff Jeff Jeff Jeff oh yeah Jeff sa um it's a great question uh it's one in which uh the indust has been faced with I think it got it was exacerbated by Co um but labor has been under pressure now for quite some time um and it's been very difficult to obtain and retain good labor especially the repetition of the job that they're required to do uh so yes we it is it is a necessity because it's the way the industry is moving and how we have to address our labor costs and all costs in general but labor in particular we're trying to extend the life of our employees that we hire as well and this gives them a great opportunity they can work for us now well into well over my age so so yeah um so yeah it it is and we're we're looking around the landscape um in Palm Beach County we mentioned Palm Beach County went to automated collection uh I think four years ago so uh they led the charge in doing so they saw where the rates were going and the trajectory and that was also a mitigant to reduce and to mitigate those cost increases over time and so that's why we approached the village and to look at this a number of years ago thank you for explaining that yeah no other cards any other public comment ma'am you um you already spoke we can only um call you up one time to speak but if you would like to connect with me any of the council members or staff we can answer your questions after the meeting or you can email um we can connect later this week com on your paperwork here again you can send that to staff and or any of the council members and we'll be happy to address it thank you so Council I don't know if you want to have any other discussion I know um all of us initially felt and possibly still do that is it's a necessity to raise the rate the the one and I do take the comment seriously with you know it all adds up I've been I've said that many times on the Das since I've B on Council like it all adds up um so even a small change here it compounds on everything else not just that we're doing but inflation that's still bad and insurance and all those things so I mean the only wiggle room would be potentially not to do the what is it 20% or 20 25 cents recovery cost for us have we ever done that before no we have not what would that pay for uh staff time I we obviously have um you know uh work with finance that has to be done obviously the trucks use use up our roads and the wear and tear on our roads I mean you know there's a number of things that it can help offset that is directly attributed to this service want to throw that out there for a council consideration like can we man manage without that since we have been since we've had this contract I think for the for the first question and those were good comments uh and questions from everyone but we have done research for the first part of it and increase um I spoke earlier spoke to many elected officials from other municipalities um there wasn't a question on that behalf for the recovery cost I do still still support the recovery cost for staff time um those costs are also incing increasing on this end and we haven't had that in the past and there's absolutely a staff cost involved in dealing with contracts Communications um until AI is full on we're going to have those personal Communications right um so I still support those recover costs yeah I mean I I have to lean on staff on this one if it's something that the village feels we need then I uh you know I I defer to them and um but I'm open to discuss further options but I'm okay with it um and this is not my first rodeo with working with WM used to be Waste Management I waste management I know same thing for me it's still done for I'm still getting used to it um but in my experience you know they usually come at renewal with a not a huge number but a higher increase and I will say that staff does push back at them quite a bit to make sure that we are trying to get a very fair number for our taquesta residents especially since most of the time our council members are very cautious and concerning about our citizens who are on fixed incomes or maybe single and not have a dual income um so I know that we do push against WM for better rates and there is discussions it's not a this is what we're proposing take it or leave it I will vouch that there is some push and pull push and pull back and forth and knowing other municipalities and having properties in other places in my past trash is very expensive um I know people who invest in trash because you need it and it's not going anywhere so unfortunately for me it is it is a necessity it's just like our storm water it's it's not great um but I appreciate WM working with the village because I do know where you guys are wiggling a little bit from your original numbers and the fact you guys aren't that far from us you guys take that into consideration as well um so I appreciate that and that's all I have to say Vier I think we should keep the recovery in there okay all right and to everyone that spoke tonight truly thank you for coming and if you have any other questions we want to hear them we do have rules of deorum that we follow up here which is why we can't keep you know bringing everyone up and doing Q&A in the audience but I know um I can I'm not speaking for room but I'm sure all of our Council will get back to you if you email us through our website you can access um our emails or you reach out to staff and our staff can answer your questions directly or you know they can contact us as well we will get back to you so please feel like after tonight you can still reach out to us and get answers to any other questions you may have okay can I get a motion and mayor before the motion is made I just want to make sure it's clear technically you have the uh new franchise agreement which provides for the new automated service as well as the new rates but you also have resolution 1524 which is the normal tool or mechanism we use to adopt the rate increase uh and it's the same rates but there's two documents so I just want to make sure the maker of the motion is aware of that and and captures everything that needs to be be moved okay can I get a motion someone everyone someone get that I'm not going to do that this time I can't make a motion so I can't do it I will make a motion to approve the contract with WM anymore the and the resolution yeah the and the resolution adopted 1920 or 1945 that's oh okay that's the motion that has to be made okay well the recovery cost right yeah 1945 the rates as being set by contract is 1920 we proposed and sent out notices for 1945 I I will make a should I make continue the motion we you start it off okay well the motion is to approve the franchise agreement and uh to approve the resolution for 1945 second all in favor all okay moving on agenda item 15 consider approval of Health dental and life insurance really Madame mayor vice mayor councel um first of all I just want to say um Nick um congrats on your tenure with us uh there was a gentleman the last time we had a an intern do a presentation he made a statement and I absolutely loved it it said our children are a message we send to a future we may not see so I believe the country is in good hands if we have more of you so thank you for your tenue okay um the item this evening I'm going to ask is to consider approval of our 20242 Health dental life insurance and EAP renews um but firstly I want to thank the committee as well uh Ry I don't get to see you a lot but he's on the committee representing the PBA we have Jason representing the I and we have Bo chzn representing the CW and then there is Jeff who has left uh well not this Jeff the the finance director myself and Brad gumberg the IT director and of course um we have the gearing group this is Christian our consultant so again um we all and of course Jeremy uh he we get to recommend to him and then we take him to counselor so that's how the process works so I just wanted to thank everybody for getting this to work now the village currently offers um an a pack P AG that includes um fully insured Medical Dental basic life uh uh ad and along with an EAP program and in July we came before you to talk about the landscape because we could be here all evening um health insurance and especially that's that's the the big not that we have to crack so um I know that Christian came in and spoke a little bit about what we were facing so we uh told you at the time that we would be seeing a roughly a 16% increase and that is exactly what we got a 16% and the reason for that and um the reason for that is as he explained our medical claims especially are currently running at 118% of the premiums we're having a bad time right now so we were actually fortunate to get it sounds funny but to get a 16% increase we did budget 15 Point um we did uh budget a 15% increase because we knew this was coming so overall the budget had a 15% increase in in it and we did uh realize a 15.6 overall increase now because of the the well just to break it down as I said medical was 16% uh we shopped we didn't bother to shop because we did that last year and we only had one quot and it was 40 something per. nothing has changed in fact we' have gotten a little worse so uh we decided not to shop this year we did shop the dental because that came uh that gave us a little decrease uh and we changed the carrier from the standard to Solstice we shopped as well the basic life and at ad and d uh and the reason for that is we were experiencing a 25.5% increase but we were able to get it down to 21.9 by switching to the hard foot the EAP and it it's been at least four years that we have had no increases there and they I spoke with them and um as Christian knows as well that um it's been it's been quite a while and I was kind of surprised that there was no increase this year but pleasantly surprised uh while we do not contribute to the vision plan and so on we did get a 2.6% decrease for the employees just wanted to mention that and uh all the documentation is at the back the breaking out exactly how uh the sh the car sharing and so on goes on so if unless you have any questions but overall we the employer employee cost uh is 2.4 million combined both part both sides um up from 2.1 and I'm just rounding here so that's uh that's the recommendation that the committee made to the Village manager any questions comments Council any comments questions no great work one question this is on the life insurance also right yeah B yeah that's a life insurance paid by the village The Village to the employees is that a straight 50,000 or is it whatever your salary is how does that work 1.5 times your salary up to a maximum of 150,000 okay okay one time one payment of 1.5 times a shower I plus 5,000 let me not forget that and what was the cost of that dollar cost it's uh if you go to to calculate it um on the last page life it's uh go to the like where you see the Standard Life One Two Three the Third from the bottom um you go across it's we're moving from the standard to the hardford so in the third column third box from the bottom what page I'm sorry oh the the last page oh appendix a last page 265 yes oh sorry let me just4 okay Point yeah go over to it says the hard foot you can hardly see it there not and the emplo I think you're you're looking at the overall summary the last page page 157 I think of the agenda well I'm not sure of the page number but it's a pendix a you're in the right place just keep going down okay got it yeah and it's right there down more what's it can you tell me the number it's blurry on mine yeah it's it's it's a little blurry on mine as well but um it's uh the the well it's all employer cost so it's um 16 cents you have to calculate it but they're just telling you um per thousand What's the total overall cost to the Village if we had to pay annual oh the total overall cost yeah sorry no thank you um it's $ 29,6 $624 oh okay have we ever used that policy yes oh yes we have okay thank you unfortunate understand thank you any other questions NOP thanks mayor no nothing I have no questions either good this is a lot of work every year around budget season and uh we appreciate you guys doing such a great job at maintaining the level of benefits we have and you know getting the most you know cost effective price that we can so thank you for all your work yeah thank you it's it's pretty tough every year thank you yeah thank you thank you Mar any comment cars any public comment okay can I get a motion so moves second all in favor I I okay agenda item 16 consider approval of amendment one for a contract uh with aquafire maintenance performance systems good evening marer Craig utilities director and uh you may recall I brought this uh contract with amps for the well maintenance for the official Wells a few months ago and uh we piggybacked on Palm Beach County and I'm sorry sorry on City Palm Bay and so this is the first renewal of that contract it's just so we tried to get the renewal before we came to council but they didn't post it in time so we're going to we're requesting approval of the one-year renewal so we can continue with our our just programmatic maintenance of our surficial wells and there's a lot of information there if you do you have any questions I could bore you with well filled information any questions specific capacity and and making sure that this maintains the Integrity of our wells that's important so very important very important necessity necessity any cards any public comments all right can I get a motion so moved second all in favor I agenda item 16 resolution number or I'm sorry 17 resolution number 06 act 24 to adopt the storm water utility fee U margerie Craig again utilities director and um this is uh requesting approval of a resolution of an already approved rate increase from before and it's considered a public hearing um and if I'm stating that incorrectly please let me know Mr Davis um but we're we're bringing it before you it's 5% rate increase which ends up being um an additional 36 cents per month per the average resident um with a total of uh that uh the total amount that the residents an average resident would pay is $751 as opposed to $7.15 um so it varies depending on the amount of impervious area that we have in our records so it's that equivalent residential unit calculation um this is something that's very needed and the comments tonight are I mean I kills me to have to come for a rate increase but this is um we have more projects than we can possibly get done if we look uh did some analysis of some of the projects in the past just like our water main project the price for El Portal for our pipelining everything's coming in for the bio swes either 60% more than they it used to before Co or even 100% more it's just the price is increasing and we have a lot of needs um and in the presentation there are some slides that were um and I didn't bring them to present because you've already seen them twice in the budget uh presentations but it it talks about um it's the slides that talk about all the projects that we've gotten done all the pipes that we've lined we spent um over 2 and A5 million about $2.6 million in capital and operating costs on our storm water system and um we still have a lot lot of needs sorry my voice is going so this is these are highlights from the budget um and then and with that let me also tell you wherever we can whenever we can we ask for Grants we got the the do ditch which is a about $187,000 Grant um matched with 187,000 and then 60% of the costs are going to be born by test and 40% by Jupiter because we share the ditch portal um we weren't able to get a a grant but for the vulnerability assessment it was 100% Grant funded the 95% um vulnerability assessment and then I got an additional $50,000 for the gap analyst to have the survey done um bioses we got a $30,000 Grant you know whenever we can um and you know I going to apply for resilient Florida funds this year for the storm water pipelining is probably a real long shot but again wherever we can we we asked for Grants so this is just a summary that Jeff had put together the projected unrestricted net position which is a lot that's just about as you know like my engineer AAL speak um that's the finance speak for um uh leftover money or revenues that we get and then operating expenses you know just looking at your revenues versus the expenses we've also had to use I don't know if you want to talk about this Mr Allen about the arpa funds that we had to to use for some of the pipeline as well we grateful yeah we use some arpa funds to cover some of our cost in storm water fund I think the other part and I missed the very front end of the presentation but in 2021 we set out um to increase our storm water fees we had a fiveyear we have a 5year plan to increase these fees so this is not like some new new fee because we're you know we're obviously we know where our fund stands but this was always planned and then we will look at we are going to re revisit our rate structure in this fund and maybe have to Pivot and and adjust that that overall plan uh we will start that next year that was part of our strategic plan but this 5% that we have scheduled for storm water was planned it was previously approved even Council any comments questions um no I just want to say I I know we know how hard yall work and the explanation on the grants is very appreciated but um we know we know all that and we really appreciate that and we also or I I won't speak for everybody I also know how important and unique it is to have our own water department and especially for a small municipality like ours um and with that comes a lot of benefits so we get that so I commend your your efforts your whole team's efforts so thank you thank you no comments thank you Marg I'll just say you know next to refuges and recycling this is one of our leanest um funds it's very very lean and um I will say the you can visually see the benefits of projects that you have accomplished uh you know noticeably less flooding on on some of the projects so there is a huge impact um to the residents with being able to fund these projects because flooding can get dangerous if out of control and so that at the end of the day storm water management is so the village doesn't flood so it's it's it's critical it's a critical um critical fund so thank you for your hard work and with that I'll may I just add a clarifying comment um the rate increase that's before you tonight has certainly been presented to you and it's been workshop and you've discussed it gave consensus to bring it back tonight I wouldn't say it's been pre previously approved I would say it's been previously presented to you and discussed as uh Marjorie said we have now provided public notice for tonight's hearing which is when it will be you will take action on it tonight U so just just to clarify that no that's that's exactly what I need thank you L any comment cards yes we have quite a few Jan Fenwick Jan Fenwick is a circle here's another increase and are they are you all planning on putting storm drains throughout the town cuz I don't have any storm drains I'm now paying for an act of God the water runs off it pulls in the street runs off the street and runs into my yard and my grass takes it in and now you're going to charge me an additional $586 a a month a year I don't know which which that is um for an act of God what what are you planning with this are you and Cypress still floods Cypress Drive that does have storm drain still floods so um what's the plan okay do you have any more questions then I if council's okay we can have margorie come up and address it do you have any other questions then I'll have Marie come up um just a comment you did much better on this one than you did on this one it would have been it would have been better if you put some of the um some of the requirements that you're still going to do the twice a day you know twice a week trash pickup uh blah blah blah all the all the information that was presented tonight would have been nice to have on this okay thank you I'll have margerie come up and you can explain how each house is assessed via the impervious percentage that they have and then also um and you can talk about upcoming projects we have sure so but you have one more question ma'am no it's just it's I know how it's assessed it on my roof run off in the concrete I have okay but it runs into my grass it does not run into a storm drain because there's no storm drains in that area Okay um there there is still when the village was design there was still storm water planning and uh drainage a drainage plan plan was put together for the village itself um there I'm not sure exactly where you live aelia okay and I'd have to go look at it but there are typically swales uh that used to run in front of all of the houses right now the the cost the um revenues that we get for the storm water Pro storm water fund um pay for basic maintenance and for reining the uh we've been reining the storm water pipe that exist and even if you don't see storm water there's probably something that um it it still is part of the storm water system the overall storm water and the original plan for the Village um so that water still runs into our the receiving water bodies are the lockah hatchee river and so we have been trying to implement projects that help not only retain the water but also treat the water as well um so that's the BIOS swell helps treat the water El Portal helped retain the water and keep it from just rushing into the river itself um we also have we have pipelining uh plan for uh the future and we've done a lot of pipelining uh over the last five years and we we will continue with that with renewing those pipe systems um and then we will be implementing a save the soils program at some point which will be uh doing uh some work to restore the soils that are used to be there used to be in place thank you margerie thank you Stephanie Modo answer my question okay um can we can connect you with um Margery after the meeting if you don't mind thank you hello again Stephanie ma from Village um again the the um timing is everything so we get one letter and then two weeks later we get another one so it was a little bit of a shock so I wasn't understanding um everything specifically so I guess my question is is this year that there's a everything is calculated or measured as an equivalent residential unit again as a condo is that considered one because it's described as a single family home of 2500 sare ft and it says in here in the back of the letter that it was 9 2 or so something in 2024 so is that going to 277 because I did not do the math um but that doesn't seem like a 5% increase so I would like the clarification of how are these things calculated between single family homes that are several thousand square feet and my small condo that is less than half of 2500 square F feet so that I did not get in my previous question how that is calculated it would be nice to learn about that that's why I'm here to try to understand and clarify the situation because as was previously mentioned I'm not trying to offend anyone but it would have been nice if the water letter was a little bit more positive in explaining how we're benefiting and why you're increasing the price that wasn't said now I know that you're automating the system and obviously is important and like you said what trash is not sexy water is probably not sexy and it's it's inconvenient when it puddles but like it's just better if we understand this better and when you compare it from the last tax to this tax again it's just just an easier way of understanding why and and again I wish you would have increased it in 2021 so that it didn't happen at the same time as this other one but that's essentially my question how is the division or the calculation between condos and single family homes that are huge um how do you do that thank you ma'am marer is that something you can't answer thank you um what I'd like to do is just is get with her and go through the explanation of an equivalent residential unit and then um and I'd have to dig into what they what they did but typically when you're looking at a condo you're also looking at the the dividing up like the um if there's any uh additional comment yes thank you yes that um so I if that's okay um and the this rate uh the although this specific you know today before you you have the option to renew approve it or not there was a rate um that was set in 2019 and so it's been an annual indexed rate since 2019 okay so thank you an Miner last say that again an Miner she was in the back I I I don't see her anymore okay well someone locks in again we can uh Vanessa fanga no you know okay and Patrick Wilkinson I'll Rel my time and my opposition to it after what I've heard thank you thank you sir that's all I have any other public comment Okay and like I stated with the um refes and recycle we absolutely want to answer all your questions marjor is here to answer questions now and and then you can reach out to all of us and um we can make time to meet with you as well thank you coun any other questions or comments Ma I thought that was good good comments but that's something we can learn from too is put calculation on the letter and also the benefits an explanation not just what's happening right because I would feel the same way as I said that Jeff Saban was talking to me that way this is what we're doing you know have that same feeling and that's not the intent right thank you okay can I get a motion so moved second all in favor I item 18 resolution number 16-24 to uh enter into a grant agreement for the state funds for dequest to par so as of Friday we got this agreement from the the state or this uh we got requests from the state uh if we're moving forward with this request they gave us a number of check boxes one of the check boxes we had have a resolution from the council endorsing this project and so when we check all these boxes they gave us a date of August 21st to send it back so we quickly quickly turn this around for the council to to approve once we get everything in um in order they will send us the agreement and it will come back to council and we will approve the agreement this resolution is supporting this uh appropriation um and we will have several other uh check boxes for this this but um this is what's in front of you if you have any questions I can try to answer those thank you Council any comments or questions I don't have any I just had one as a standard because it just said authorizing the mayor just in case there's something you have to be at sick is that standard system where you weren't able to be there or whatever that may be the vice mayor whomever could step this is just authorizing the mayor to sign the res sign that's all stop signing me up for Stuff [Music] good question though okayer no comments any public comment margerie I mean Mara sorry sorry about that um Marsh neelson 94 Beachwood Trail I'm a little confused because when I went on to the agenda this wasn't there it it was added after I you know looked at the agenda when I did so not exactly sure what we're doing okay just just a quick synopsis would be helpful okay you want to I know you kind of touch this was amended uh the agenda was amended on Tuesday it was added um so I know we posted it on the Friday before this is a a resolution for the council to agree to enter into a grant agreement with the state of Florida for the appropriation of funds that the state um did it was well all cover tonight of $340,000 we have to enter an agreement that we will you know do what we say we would do in that appropriation request form and so that once we agree to this resolution they will put all that in a document for an agreement for us to sign so tonight uh the council is basically approving this resolution to move forward with that process any other public comment okay can I get a motion so move second all in favor I lastly any other matters Council anything else to bring up tonight I don't have anything no ma'am I have one uh any any committees that we have that I'm not able to attend uh I always like I receive a summary or I listen to them on the way to work uh and I was listening to the environmental advisory committee which they do a phenomenal job and a great discussion was being had but I also wanted to better understand the committee and from what I understand is that they were set up for to review our comprehensive plan and at this point it kind of seems like they don't have direction from us as a body and I I bring this up as if there's a committee or a meeting out there that doesn't have Direction um how much of that do we need and is that Committee just going to create new issues right if you're meeting you have to have something meet about are you just going to create new issues issues and as a body that has to deal with those issues um or should be directing the committee I I'd like to suggest that we either place the committee uh like freeze or on standby if we have an issue uh or reduce those to courtly meetings I I think a monthly meeting when you don't have direction is U it's too frequent that does not go against what the committee is doing uh they're phenomenal and when I listen to it I'm like I'm glad I listen to that uh but just sitting in this seat I think it's uh liability is not the right word but I think it's unnecessary unless they have Direction looks like he no the only thing I I can offer is that when that committee was created there was a resolution that was passed and the resolution has um I don't remember exactly but I I will say high level parameter Ms on what this committee is supposed to do so there was some direction at the front end now whether what they're doing here in 2024 is within the four corners of that direction or not I I truly couldn't say but there is that resolution that does give a a sort of sets a u a frame for within which they're supposed to work understand thank you I know I mean Council has TK them at times like the the um Green Building see if there's any and send to like that's something we task them with so we we do that and they do bring topics of their own um I will say I mean I know um we made adjustments and have Jay attend those now to kind of streamline it hold on so like that has been noticed and we have made some adjustments to make sure a little focused and streamline um but if count I mean if Council once discussed it we'd have to add it to um a workshop agenda so is there any consensus to discuss it or does everyone want to leave it how it is if we do discuss it obviously can we please have their chair yeah a part of that and speaking on behalf of you know the opinions the involvements and the scheduling or schedules available from other committee members since it affects their not only their schedules and their lies but their was the right word they what they do bring us they do bring us stuff every once in a while sorry yeah I mean that's fine just keep I want if we do have a conversation let's make them involved in the conversation it's all the same I'll sign that very I think my uh only thing to add is there is a new chair do we want to give him a a couple meetings well or do we want to give him a couple meetings and see how it goes before we decide to talk about it or do you want to just talk about it now I i' st to him or the new chair or the group I mean if if there's if they don't see it as an issue then they want to give it a few more months Prim but I just don't know from their they're the ones attending um so I don't know if they see it as an issue or not but I mean also I don't know what our staff or how much we have on our next workshops coming up for for me this is not high high priority I'd have to also see what is coming down our desk soon I'd rather take care of things that are more high priority and sensitive right and I know so they are talking about they're talking about time mean time of the meeting next is are they talking about frequency too or no uh we can definitely throw it on there just to see if if they self self- select in that situation that they think and just and if they don't then maybe we can wait a you know a few months and see if the feeling is still the same um and then kind of go from there and that'll give us a chance to kind of work through our our workshops like Miss Brandon just said and just make sure uh you know we'll find the time for it over a couple month period that way we're not prioritizing that necessar right now and just see how it works out that would be my recommendation I like that I like that too we'll see how that conversation goes at their next meeting and we'll go from there I I'll want be clear I think they're really great conversation I listen to as a like a podcast on a way to work um and good car self I have nothing to add either no I'm good all right with that can I get a motion to adjourn sub moved second all in favor right you always get those good Zs always the end I want to get the last oh thank you thank you I am going to