e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e Ritz Theater in Winter Haven on Saturday June 29th we will be hosting two showings of the movie musical 1776 1 at 2 and 1 at 7 there will be displays goodie bags and photo opportunities with Betsy Ross and Abigail Adams and we'd love to see you there thank [Applause] you thank L of stairs here two one three two one all right thank you guys [Applause] got one more one one more one more all right next up we have was and recycling workers week and I believe our Public Works team has a handful of f here to receive it give down a second to come up all right whereas the nation celebrates the week of June 17th 2024 as National Wast and recycling workers weak and whereas the City of Winter Haven has depended on Solid Waste Service provided providers to keep the city Clean and Free of debris for over 100 years and whereas the city of winter Haven's hardworking waste and recycling professionals service over 19,000 residential homes and 18,50 Commercial businesses per week and whereas the City of Winter Haven solid way service providers impact over 50,000 residents indicating a healthy and continually growing city and whereas the City of Winter Haven values and celebrates our Solid Waste employees for service to our community and commitment to our residents and businesses now therefore Nathaniel J Birdsong Nathaniel J Birdsong Jr mayor of the City of Winter Haven Florida does hereby Proclaim June 17th through through 21st 2024 as waste and recycling workers week in the city of Winter Haven and urges all citizens to support efforts and extend its sincere gratitude to all of City of Winter Haven's waste and recycling Professionals in witness whereof he has here and to set his hand and caused the Seal of the City of Winter Haven Florida to be affixed this 10th day of June 2024 sign Nathaniel J Birdsong Jr mayor good evening mayor Commissioners I would like to take this opportunity to express our team's gratitude uh to the commission for this Proclamation and for recognizing Solid Waste and Recycling workers week every day the men and women of our Solid Waste team ensure that collection Services run smoothly and they play a crucial role in maintaining the cleanliness and beauty of Winter Haven the dedication of our Solid Waste team often goes unnoticed but their work is vital rain or shine they are out picking up what we all throw away and many do not appreciate how hard these men and women work until the garbage isn't collected and then suddenly trust me everybody notices it is a clear reminder of how essential their daily efforts are to our community and tonight's Proclamation is a wonderful recognition of their efforts and on behalf of the entire Solid Waste team many of who are with here tonight I want to thank you for Shining Light on their essential services that they provide and for your continued support of the solid waste division how you doing man [Music] hey SRA two one two you little Mr Mayor there is one more uh presentation this evening for Winter Haven so um we have with us uh Brad bat with heart for Winter Haven if you're so inclined we'll invite him to the podium to yes give his presentation on up Brad uh good evening mayor Commissioners uh Brad Bart for Winter Haven and I've brought with me I director of programs Tabitha Keith who's in the everyday workings of our grant uh partnership that we've had for the city with the City of Winter Haven for I think going on five years now to prevent uh homelessness and to rehouse homeless families uh in the City of Winter Haven so just as an update and this is sort of a midyear report it goes through May so it's about 62 and a half% through the funding year so we have almost a half a year left um is we had goals to uh rehouse 10 families who are currently homeless uh to prevent 20 families who are at imminent uh risk of eviction um and then provide them with stabilization services so that they could um maintain and their housing stability so good news we've helped over 22 families so far including 55 uh children in those families that would have been or were homeless um and that's just the Midway point so we have we have quite a bit to do and I look forward to reporting the rest of those um at the end the the one um other part one the other goal was as administering an accessory dwelling unit Grant we've only made one Grant so far but it was exceedingly successful ended up being a three-bedroom unit that's now being rented below market value to a family and I've asked Tabitha to just to share a Qui story about a couple of families if you don't mind yeah I just want to share a couple of quick anecdotes from the people that we've served through this funding um two briefly single mothers who were had uh one had three children the other had two children the first mother had unexpectedly lost one of her parents that she was living with and that forced them to go into a hotel room with just her and her children she could afford the monthly rate of the hotels but she couldn't afford that initial move in e e e e e e e e e e e the packet that was given out this evening is um a total of 295,000 and I think our our allocation for current fiscal year is 220 so roughly you know $75,000 additional um and that's taking into account the reduction in the uh accessory dwelling unit funding the inventory uh expansion there and then also the additional funds for that um that uh voucher bridge program that I just mentioned okay and then the other question Brad since you're there with the microphone um I I kind of have an idea on how this works but for the edification of the other Commissioners we had a great meeting at the ahac the other day about rental assistance and and I've talked to Cedric about it a couple of times and I'm a proponent of it on some level but the fear of course is um people taking advantage and becoming dependent those kind of things could you tell us a little bit about your process on how you look for those type of things and how you can assure us that that's not the case or not prevalent with heart for Winter Haven yeah uh tath I that's really her job every day okay that's great so through the emergency rental assistance program with the covid funding we did about $45 million of rental assistance and I can understand how other people's opinions of dependency that this type of funding creates could could have come out of such an experience um with the program that we offer we do ask that people have skin in the game in order to be funded so they have to they have to do financial literacy they they also in some cases have to do employability training and and be really upfront and and transparent about where they are in their lives this is not a hand out it really is a hand up um so that kind of prevents some of that uh enabling that you mentioned or even just the kind of get it and leave the there will be none of that with this funding and you guys offer this training here yeah we offer it inhouse and we're also working to offer it at Satellite sites so we can have it running on a continual basis not only in Hartford Winer Haven but at other places businesses and churches around po County I think sustainability is a big issue for us and so we're very careful to understand people's financial position before they're awarded any money to ensure that they can continue on the the the Lost transmission transmission repair the oneoff thing uh is is easy to understand but some people just have a lack of understanding of how much they bring in and and and then how they're spending that money so we but we make sure that people have a good understanding and that they won't be in that same situation where they can start creating margin to avoid that in the future and do you have a metrics on how you're success do you feel like you have you do you're shaking your head that's good yes how is that metric word so we use the Arizona self-sufficiency Matrix which covers eight different domains housing food employment income spiritual health uh substance abuse and mental well-being and it's a self assessment so our clients get to basically assess where they are within those eight different domains once we see an incremental change whether forward or backwards then we're able to you know kind of assess our own impact that our programs are having or our wraparound services are having in their cases and I know this is a last silly question Mr Mayor but is there ever enough rental assistance money I mean if we give you $10 million will you use every penny of it is it just is it just never enough or is there a number that's enough I I I said there is there is a a limit as to what's helpful right now the only money that that we know of that's available in Winter Haven is the money that we have in partnership with uh the City of Winter Haven had a conversation a call from our May if you rem me sharing this mayor he had a referral for someone that he knew that was in need of rental assistance but they didn't have children in our public schools had a very legitimate need uh so there is a case to be made and we talked about this to the ahck of uh ship money 15% of it can be used for rental assistance and there is a case to be made for considering that as part of the elap and maybe making that change so that there is money available to to people of other you know who don't have kids in our schools but the money that from the City of Winter Haven goes to families with children children correct only yeah and only those who can show that sustainability and one other thing I I share with you commissioner dancer and for the entire commission um you know it's it's the it's the housing piece it's the financial literacy it's the the other support services around that the workforce skill development um another thing that we're trying to do specifically with with har for Winter Haven because they have access to individuals um who may be looking to how do I how do I get in a better position from an income standpoint and they're working maybe in part-time or low wage positions we make sure that Brad has access to every job that we post that that's an opportunity for us to backfill our own positions with uh individuals that they see day in and day out that may be just enough Leverage on top of what they're they're proposing with this pilot program to get them a little further past that hurdle so you know it's it's a it's a multi it's a multi- approach multi uh kind of facet approach to how do we improve the lives of people through maybe better employment better skill development better financial literacy better Housing Opportunity good idea I guess question not question but I guess I'm asking um about uh emergency housing um we know that the Salvation Army was here a couple months ago and we know the property that was uh that they forly owned uh for emergency services primarily for women uh of course that uh facility or building was sold and to my understanding that the Tober house has purchased that that's what I understand yes and I guess the assumption is that they would be operating here in this area uh with the with the service they provide similar to what they what they were doing or they will be doing something similar to what the Salvation Army was doing prior to from what I've read and I haven't had any conversations yet although I think NE in the next week uh representatives from topa house will be coming over they intend to convert most of that space to apartments for uh families women L families with children and and essentially do the same kind of uh housing transitional short-term transitional housing or emergency transitional housing so how often are you uh inquiries made about emergency uh uh housing with regards to your organization and do you partner with other entities that uh do try to at least provide some wraparound or some Services as well we we probably get like in emergency situation American Red Cross is is a lot of time people's first uh point of contact because they show up up at the fire at the the disaster and then pass them on to us um there's I don't know a lot of cases of that but we we certainly anticipate that because I as I understand the tabbat house won't be uh you know after the purchase it won't be renovated for another year and be up and running until sometime in 2025 so it it is a concern we do have uh as a part of our plan a hotel voucher piece that would provide some temporary emergency uh shelter until we could find a permanent residence we children for for yeah for again for families who have children in wi Haven schools one of my you took the words out of my mouth so one of my favorite things about heart for Winer Haven is that it is truly it is a hand up versus a handout and you work with these individuals and providing the financial literacy that you know for for whatever reason it's a whole another debate but why that was ever taken out of schools right along with driver's head is and probably why we have a lot more car accidents these days and if you had kept driver's head in in school but that's that's another discussion for another day I worry about you know what is around the next corner I think it's roughly like one out of five Americans are now maxed out on their credit cards and I think a third of those are on their way to default if not in defaulting already and I fear that that that could potentially grow and you know create another financial crisis for lack of better words um to dat you know I I've been up here now for four and a half years and i' from what I see I I think we've come a long way but can you just speak a little bit to the how far we've come and are we are we spinning our wheels are are we going to two steps forward and then one back or or do do you see progress what what kind of progress have you seen so I don't think we're spending our Wheels I I think what we set out to do we've we've accomplished um we don't have any fresh numbers from hearth for today we really hoped that we would but for instance last year we know where there was a 20% overall growth in student homelessness in P County Schools last year at the end of 2023 uh there was a a flat effect here in Winter Haven so we had 500 in end of 22 and about 500 at the end of 23 so we where we should have seen almost 600 so we we do think that it is having it the desired impact we're also working with developers and and talking as as the uh opportunities arise to increase the the number of uh scattered site affordable housing the Adu program is a part of that I think it was a resounding success even if it was just one ended up being a three-bedroom home that uh helped a family that was literally literally homeless and got them into housing and and where they've remained so I think we're having that net impact and I I we have uh monthly meetings of local providers and business people that are interested in solving this problem in both the resources and ideas both from the city and from those other partners it is having that cumulative effect and we're getting the data that we need to understand where do we need to go next and so I I think the data supports this voucher program and it's a best practice across the State of Florida Florida Housing Finance has supported some of those so we're modeling it on good practices and I fully anticipate that by the end of 2030 we can stand here and celebrate you know that we are now at functional zero with uh student homelessness in Winter Haven um mayor protm I'd like to just comment in addition to that so I think what Brad said about the statistical data the key metric is the number you're getting from the school district because that's the that's been the mission and the goal the objective of the commission is how do we reduce the prevalence of homelessness among students within the Winter Haven area um and it's not just about that that number stayed flat it stayed flat in terms of high inflation rates it stayed flat in terms of you had had a grow you had a significant increase in population at the same time so there's a number of things that can contribute to that going up so the fact that it stays flat I think is a is a very big win that's reflected on last year so once we see this year's number that's going to going to tell us even more um you know when you I think the the beauty of the of the pilot project that we're we're talking about is that for a relatively small investment because it's not giving a hand out it is truly a handup it's and it's you've got to reach yourself um when I when I had looked at it initially based upon a a $100,000 you know initial investment um estimating potentially upwards of 13 individual families could benefit from that and I was using a much larger number than the $500 voucher that that Brad had mentioned this evening so I think you know that's it's it's incremental steps towards that and I think that maybe it creates an opportunity for it not to just be built off of City of Winter Haven financial support for that but maybe that opens up an Avenue for other philanthropic efforts within our community that want to do something to impact this issue and and make a small contribution into a program that builds that that trust fund even farther for that specific purpose because if it's $500 a month helps house somebody and I'm looking to make a contribution of $6,000 $6,000 on its own doesn't do a whole lot but if you put it towards a program like this and you have a handful of businesses and Community leaders that want to do something like that you can move the needle pretty quick Mr Mayor I think it's it's a mindset and an awareness you know that you have to have before I was privileged to sit where I'm sitting tonight uh this issue came before us and we were dealing with it as a community across po County and that in the year 2021 we were looking at least 4,000 uh students who were homeless yes sir that is why we challenged uh through peace pooke County and oftentimes you don't hear people talk about peace if they do sometimes people don't use it in a positive way but I I know better than that because I know uh what 20 at least 23 congregations across this County have stood for and that was to build people power to do justice because we recognize that 4,000 students were homeless that was a tragedy in our community and that we are better than that and we should do something about it and uh even when Brad was uh the mayor he uh certainly met with us to to Really deal with that issue I think again it was about the mindset and understanding and awareness that this is a reality that we're living with and that we can make a change in this very important area that our children were going home and really many didn't have a place a place or a home to even go to and um because of that uh we challenged Lakeland to do 500 units uh and we asked Winter Haven to do 150 and Brad remembers this very well because that's that's why Winter Haven did the study is because people got behind it felt that this is something so important and what amazes me and what really blesses me is to be able to sit here and to know that we have that kind ofare awareness and concern about those who are less fortunate in our community and we're trying to do something about about it and uh so I think that uh that speaks well to where we are I think we're headed in the right direction but I hope and pray that we never give up on trying to make sure like you said bring it to where everyone has a decent place to live and uh we just had a lady uh move into Florence Place and uh Carolyn's uh about 70 years old telling uh Carolyn Story the other day and uh she lives on the third floor and uh but she didn't really have a place at all and all of her belongings were in the storage and I've got members been working with her trying to help her get a situated carollyn now has a bed in her place she's got some given her furniture have other people working with her you know so it's wonderful to see Community coming together uh to make people's lives better and um and that's again I think that's just where it really comes down to is that we've got to care enough to make sure that we do whatever we can do to make it uh make it better for all those students I think about children coming home uh and not having a a place even to really call a bedroom or even a place to study so uh let's keep up the great work in this area thank you any other questions comments all right thank you thank you very much we have no developments of note Commissioners you have the minutes entertain a motion Mr Mayor yes motion to approve the minutes of the May 13th 2024 regular City Commission meeting thank you I will close the uh City commission meeting open public hearing anyone wishing to speak to the minutes may do so at this time seeing none I'll close the public hearing reopen the city commission meeting all those in favor of the motion let it be known by saying I I I oppose this by the same sign we have no comments from the audience however if if you would like to address this commission and you didn't sign up this will be the opportunity all right seeing none ordinance's second reading 02 2419 would you read by title oner City attorney thank you Mr Mayor ordinance number 0- 24-19 an ordinance amending ordinance 2324 the 2035 Winter Haven comprehensive plan by amending the sanitary sewer subelement to address septic to sewer conversions repealing all ordinances in conflict herewith provid for the administrative correction of scor's Errors providing for separability and providing un effective date thank you yes city manager has anything changed Mr Mayor nothing has changed staff recommend City commission approve ordinance o 2419 on second and final reading thank you thank you Commissioners Mr Mayor yes motion to approve ordinance o- 24-19 thank you I will close the city of commission meeting open the public hearing anyone wishing to speak to 02 2419 may do so at this time seeing none I close the public hearing weop the city commission meeting all those in favor of the motion let it be known by saying I I poses by the same sign hearing none 0 2419 is adopted Commissioners you have the uh consent agenda Mr Mayor yes motion approve consent agenda as a whole thank you I will close the city commission meeting open the public hearing anyone wishing to speak to the consent agenda may do so at this time seeing none close the public hearing reopen the city commission meeting all those in favor of the motion let it be known by saying I I poses by the same sign hearing none the consent agenda is adopted in its entirety we have no resolutions we have ordinances uh first reading um we won't take a vote tonight but the uh second reading will be on June 24th ordinance 0 2427 would read by Ty Lon City attorney thank you Mr Mayor ordinance number 0- 24-27 an ordinance extend the corporate limits of the city Winter Haven Florida so as to include therein additional territory lying contiguous and adjacent to the present boundaries of the city wi Haven Florida describing set additional territory repealing all ordinances in Conflict here with providing for the administrative correction of scers errors and providing an effective date General location 2400 Avenue Southwest the area covered by this request is 0.91 plus or minus Acres thank you thank you C the manager mayor Commissioners Clauson trust is requesting the annexation of one parcel totaling 0.91 plus or minus acres for the purpose of receiving City future land use and Zoning designations compatible with the existing developed commercial property staff recommend City commission move this ordinance to Second reading thank you are there any questions all right we will have the second reading on June 24th uh ordinance 02 2429 with J by tyone City uh attorney thank you Mr Mayor ordinance number 0-24 d29 an ordinance extending the corporate limits of the city wner Haven Florida so as to include therein additional territory lying contiguous and adjacent to the present boundaries of the City of Winter Haven Florida describing set additional territory repealing all ordinances in Conflict here with providing for the administrative correction of scrip errors and providing an effective date General location that portion of West Lake Eloise Drive lying between Lake Eloise Terrace and Hidden Oaks Lane the area covered by this request is 3.95 plus or minus Acres thank you thank you city manager mayor Commissioners staff is requesting the commission consider annexation of the West Lake Eloise Drive Right of Way lying between Lake Eloise Terrace and Hidden Oaks Drive totaling 3.95 plus or minus Acres it's part of the harmony development this road is being realigned a short distance to the west of the current roadway to better facilitate the further development of the site since this portion of Westlake Eloise Drive was not included in the annexation of the ab budding parcel several years ago it needs to be annexed into the city to allow the creation of the new building Lots staff recommends this be Advanced to First reading or second reading sorry thank you we will have the second reading on June 24th uh new business Chain of Lakes Park two Park element not to exceed authorization mayor and Commissioners um 2023 the commission had awarded RFQ 2245 for the Chain of Lakes Park Phase 2 construction manager risk services to R Construction final Park plans have been developed and the southwest Florida Water Management design permit has been reviewed and is expected to be received this month first major uh work to be done on this project was the structural demolition the next significant aspect which R is completely finalizing bids on is the park elements that is the baseball fields themselves and the third segment will include the architectural items such as the concession restroom ticket office and support buildings while finalizing the bids R has confidently estimated they can deliver a minimum of a base project for the park elements for $17 million this includes the four Collegian artificial turf baseball fields depicted on the screen the fan areas with accompanying uh autal site drainage and utility work is associated the common areas parking both paved and unpaved perimeter fencing the burn path landscaping and other support areas based on the nature of this project it's anticipated that the part uh as part of the park elements work it may be prudent to issue portions of the project in multiple purchase orders instead of a traditional singular one quotes for the park elements are expected to be submitted to the city over the next to six weeks and staff is requesting that the commission authorize the city manager's office to issue one or multiple purchase orders for these Park phase elements not to exceed $17 million an additional item is expected to uh be brought back to you later this summer for the buildings on the uh on the site again the concession restroom and ticket office uh that's portion of the work is not estim is estimated to not exceed $2 million we have a $20 million budget for this project there is a table within your uh fact sheet that illustrates the design work for 845,000 approximate dollars uh the ball fields or the park Elements which included that demolition work previously authorized not to exceed 17 million and then the architectural buildings not to exceed 2 million for a total price of 19.8 million again under the $20 million budget that has been established St recommends the city commission authorize City manager's office to issue purchase orders not to exceed $17 million for the park elements phase and present an additional agenda item with architectural work in the final GMP contract Amendment uh at a future city commission meeting thank you thank you Commissioners Mr Mayor yes motion to approve the authorization for Chain of Lakes Park phase two thank you I will now close the city Commission meeting open the public hearing anyone wishing to speak to this item may do so at this time seeing none I'll close the uh public hearing reopen the city commission meeting is there any discussion all those in favor of the motion let it be known by saying I I I opposes by the same sign hearing none new business item 13A is uh is passed new business item 13B city manager mayor and Commissioners Blue Sky communities Lo has approximately 12.1 acres under contract on the east east of the intersection of Recker Highway in 21st Street Southwest uh Blue Sky intends to make application to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation for 9% tax credit financing which is due in early July 2024 and are therefore requesting a local government contribution form from the City of Winter Haven the local government area of opport opportunity commitment for p county is $460,000 and that is what the city's commitment would be blue sky anticipates developing this site in two phases of 60 to 80 units each first phase would serve family and families and Workforce the second phase would serve the elderly demographic there is a summary of the anticipated first phase within your within your fact sheet showing a total development cost of approximately 24 24, 500,00 000 there's no immediate financial impact with this however if it's approve if the application is approved $460,000 would be uh contributed by the city and the city will budget that from available funds within the affordable housing trust fund although it's likely that the actual distribution will not occur until sometime around fiscal year 26 staff recommends the city commission approved the local government area of opportunity contribution the amount of $460,000 and authorized city manager to execute the Florida Housing Finance Corporation local government verification of contribution loan form this is the same process we did for Florence Place as you may recall we I think we executed that um contribution loan form uh I believe in late 2021 and we just made that uh payment to Blue Sky uh in in the recent months um upon the completion of their project all right Commissioners Mr Mayor yes motion to approve the local government verification of contribution loan form all right thank you I will now close the C the commission meeting open the public hearing anyone wishing to speak to this item may do so at this time seeing none close the uh public hearing reopening to the commission meeting is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor let it be known by saying I I I opposes by the same sign hearing none uh item 13B is passed 13c say the manager okay trying try and keep this one as uncomplicated as we can um shared with you the other night uh that your Grant a committee has has done their work um I see Melinda caligus is here um members of the ex officio Christine Samuel and Allen weeks are here don't know that I have any other members of the committee present but they had um got gone through all of the applications that were uh that were received total of 50 applications were received um nine of those were flagged as incomplete through that verification process that I had mentioned when we met in agenda review last Wednesday um after having gone through all of the applications the grant aid application Review Committee had made a recommendation or had spent of the $35,000 $27 1,000 leaving a balance of 34,000 um as I shared with you Wednesday evening uh there were there were applications that were denied or or removed from the process because uh they either lacked they had incomplete information or were lacking something or in one case the uh the applicant didn't attend one of the trainings so what we have presented for you this evening is um really a couple options here and I'm going to suggest that perhaps the best way after discussing this with the city attorney uh earlier today may be for the the commission to take action on first the recommendation of the Comm of the committee to spend the $271,000 and then give consideration to if you want to do anything with the remaining applications that were received and because those one of those applications does involve uh First Missionary Baptist Church we would ask that the uh mayor and commissioner dollson uh refrained from participation in that vote is being Affiliated directly with the church uh in their respective roles um I will say that there are there are uh two scenarios to consider uh and perhaps even a third based upon the conversations from last Wednesday is listed in your fact sheet one scenario would be to take the $34,000 balance that is set aside for the grant aid program and divide that up proportionately amongst the applicants that were not funded based upon their proportionate share of Prior Year awards that would um that's depicted within your fact sheet and you can see the dollar amounts that would go towards that scenario three is shown considers funding those entities that were not included in the in the prior list based upon what their allocation was in either 2023 24 fiscal year or the 22223 fiscal year in order to do that um I would need to identify within our budget efforts an additional 11,146 a fourth option based upon discussion that was held Wednesday evening um and and correct me if I'm wrong I believe it was uh mayor proam Yates that expressed interest in considering um Meals on Wheels at the full amount of their request of $20,000 um that if that was done that Delta goes from the 11,146 to 1,646 which is what the additional amount would need to be so that would fund um just for clarification all of those that were deemed incomplete based upon their prior Year awards from the city if that makes sense okay so there are four options first well there are four scenarios but the one scenario is that we will take first and take a motion to accept the recommendation of the committee to spend $271,000 so move I will now close the city commission meeting open the public hearing anyone wishing to speak to this item may do so at this time seeing none I'll close the public hearing reopen the city commission meeting all those in favor of the motion let it be known by saying I I postes by the same sign hearing none the uh 271 $1,000 will be dispersed all right now Commissioners I will uh handle the uh the scenarios but I won't be voting so Mr Mayor yes make a motion to approve scenario 4 as discussed uh with uh the except with um increasing doing everything that scenario 3 has with the exception of Meals on Wheels and taking them to 20,000 all right I will now close the uh Commission meeting open the public hearing anyone wishing to speak to this item may do so at this time I have a question I'll close the uh public hearing we open the city commission meeting we have a question did we find out if Mills on Wheels charges I found out you I called them I got they charge their need-based they they're they're I can I can I've got some information from you they their their meals cost $9 a piece and they they never charge more than five but half of the meals they provide are free and the other half the people charge so if they take meals out to Cypresswood or Lake Eva or somewhere then those people pay five bucks and but for people that can't afford anything they they uh they don't charge them anything so I think the information I was able to find out was the Mills on Wheels total cost for for the year in Winter Haven is around 350,000 or just shy of that yeah large portion of that is all you know private they don't take any other Government funding if they took this if these funds this would essentially be the only Government funding that Meals on Wheels receives or takes um yeah 50% I think pay 575 a meal um5 that's 38% or free meals 12% are reduced cost meals but everything is pre-qualified need needs base as commissioner danler stated so my problem it's not a problem because I like to give away this money I don't want any money sent in the bank in this type of scenario is this is and again this goes back to the conversations we have with the TDC where we're giving away a lot more money than this about people that do the applications wrong or they turn them in late or they mess up and somehow they get excluded there's there always a great debate about whether you're rewarding bad behavior by still giving those people money or giving them their full allotment because they did something wrong even though it's something that's not their fault whatever there's always these stories that we hear and I always fall on the side of let's just give them the money next year they won't do it but there's always people on the other side I think that we shouldn't do that because PE they have a process that they put in place and they're supposed to follow the process and you got to come to the meeting and blah blah blah blah blah so so um and and then as we discussed at the workshop we're going to tighten up this process every year we have a very good functioning committee and they're going to Pro make they're going to make the process better every year but at some point we're going to have to get to the point where we actually say no and then fact the next year it's I see it all the time when people get excluded because they messed up the next year they don't mess up again if they come back and apply for for their money so um I don't know how you give them the money and say now next year we're not going to give it to you when when when we are proving to them that we are going to give them the money but I still want to give them the money particularly Meals on Wheels but um I I mean I I attended both of the the meetings and you know had an opportunity to speak with several of the the ones that were excluded and I mean it's evident like they know you know I me I I know what you're saying but at at the same time I think these are tried and truee entities that you know historically we've given money to in the past we we know we we've gone through the processes and I I hear the argument but at the end of the day these entities need the money to continue and Thrive and do the things that government lacks and they kind of fill that that void so I I just think to deprive them because of a a technicality or they didn't dot this eye or didn't I me I was going to ask you that it was it was technicalities it wasn't in my mind it it was but staff will probably correct me on that but I I think you know there was one for example you know that didn't attend the the workshop well that's that's a problem for me because you got to go to those workshops which which they attended in the past and you so that's where I kind of get into the point of being a technicality well I thought I already did this you know we we've already done all that so I think that this the process and system needs to be continually refined it'll need to be refined after next year and the next year staff does an awesome job but there's always something that you don't think of that you that you miss you know and so I think that's that's the ongoing refinement of this process um but to you know again I I'll let staff talk to the technicality piece of it but I I I felt like for the most part it was you know there was well another one was um they said the form didn't populate the way that it should have populated so one box was left empty but then you look at it well everybody else's forms popular I don't know what computer system they use or software they use and you know I've seen that happen too so I I just hate to deprive the community of of of these funds for these entities because of of you know a box being missed and I I I get the point but the um if I if I could weigh in on that just a moment the one of the things that the committee we discussed with them because obviously their their concern is very similar to yours commissioner dancer is um you know you have you have rules in place and you have processes in place and if you don't follow them then you know they they really do no good um one of the things that we have dis we discussed with the committee during their second meeting is they were contemplating what to do with these particular individuals uh applications we we will be making a proposed amendment to the process whereby we will shorten the application window so they'll have less time to apply but that allows us a period to do a application sufficiency review and contact those individuals with a singular opportunity to make corrections to things that were missing and so that you know it's a kind of helping them along in the process um and I think that that's you know that's valid um I think that the requirement to still attend annual trainings will remain because if there's any changes in the program otherwise that's how that's communicated and opportunity for questions to be answered um I think one of the other recommendations uh that I'm going to look at to present to that grant and aid committee is to remove the one-time single initiative because we have not been able to do that based upon the number of agencies that we have applying and in funding one of those at $440,000 eliminates upwards of you know8 to 10 of these IND individuals so um but we'll bring those back to you and we're comfortable with with making some amendments to that we you know we grow this program and a it's a heck of a lot better than it was say 10 years ago so my goodness I'm so glad that our committee's doing it we're not doing we're not doing this so I say we call oh go ahead I'm sorry yeah call question um I kind of um think that you know I want to give thanks to the committee and and also to staff um you have to have guidelines you know there has to be some guidelines and so um and I understand that they miss some but they have to know that it's a onetime forgiveness when you can't for keep forgiving them otherwise we're violating our own rules so um and that's not that it's the funding amount it's just that sometimes you know that's that's what it is um uh and if you've applied for Grants this is a very simple easy process if they were to apply for other grants someplace else it would be a lot more complicated so I don't think we've made it so complicated that they you know can't do it if they need assistance I know that um you allow them to go come to the meeting and and speak or talk uh if um if they had some issues or if what what it was that they had along the line they could you know remedy that at the meeting I guess was that part of it they could discuss it and explain they can they can when upon submitt of their application they can also you know follow up at that point is is krina hill our director of public affairs and Communications points out the um and apologize she she's on vacation so we couldn't be part of this conversation but a lot of those the applicants submitted at the very last day so there's not that opportunity to say to call up and say hey I just submitted can you tell me did everything come through clearly the sufficiency review will allow us to do that I just want to say that even though I'm not going to vote I think our overall purpose is that during the course of uh the time that we have as a commission uh actually reviewed and did the applications ourselves our intent was that if there was a uh a proposal that really met the needs of what we're trying to do that was going to supply that then we would fund it I would hate to see anybody not fund it for something that we really want to take place uh because of of a disqualification let's put it that way for something that uh that within the process really in in the process so I really look forward to a revision or Improvement to the process so that when the committee is looking at applications and trying to uh uh make recommendations to us they'll making recommendations based on what we want to approve and that there's nothing uh other than that that that what they have to be concerned about so that's a great point I'm just going to say that one of the things that we'll also be doing a better job of with you is in advance of those first meetings that we have is getting a very clear understanding of what your funding priorities are in terms of areas of service so that will address specifically that absolutely mayor call question all those in favor of the no motion let it be known by saying I I I motion car record will reflect that U mayor motion will reflect that uh mayor berong and commissioner uh dollson did not vote and we'll file the appropriate form with the city cler U mayor I will say that your committee's your your committee does a great job I encourage you all to reach out and and thank them and we're hoping that they will continue to serve uh Miss kigus has two more years uh after this one the others have all served three and we're hopeful that they will um volunteer to reappoint if they don't and we can't find others then you get the whole process back so maybe a little I know for one I appreciate it and if they we need to do something give him a raise doubled or salary ah all right let's move right along um we have no uh other business so um City attorney oh wait a minute City commission Le reports I'm looking at the wrong uh commissioner denler okay uh attended to f MIT te meeting down in um South Florida uh nothing really to report what they're after this year so kind of a quick meeting um also went out to the the game Trail opening uh out on State Road 557 and I4 which is it was in actually in today's P or this weekend's newspaper uh it's a it's a game passage it goes under I4 so deer Wildlife Corridor Wildlife Corridor they can get underneath the highway without getting injured it's pretty pretty cool and if you haven't been out there to see it they've got a double roundabout too at 557 and I4 yes not just a roundabout but a double roundabout so SC it's yeah I hate that thing but we need more of those game Trails that's that's a pretty pretty slick deal they had pictures of the they already had pictures of the animals going underneath there and there's these big cats and all kinds of stuff going underneath there so um also went to the Trap property tour I know Comm doson was out there and got to see how big those buildings are that are being built out there I want to hit some golf balls in one of those buildings and see if I can hit to the end they're that big pretty amazing how big those buildings are and then last we had an ahck meeting and just talk briefly about our aack our ahck committee is doing a good job and we had a excellent meeting and we talked about a lot of different things and uh you guys saw Brad Bey here tonight he's the chairman of ahak so he keeps things moving along he's he's developing nicely as a chair doing a good job with that um and one of the things we discussed of course was rental assistance which is something that I'm constantly pushing as no no mystery to any of you guys and we have we have money that we've gotten from uh the state through the through um through um what am I not ship ship funds and the ship funds allow 15% of our a lot from them to go towards rental assistance but what we have to change is we have to change our document and I talked about this a year or two ago and we didn't do it and at some point we're going to have to change this document if we're ever going to enhance our rental assistance for people that don't have kids you we're already doing rental assistance for families that have children you you heard Brad talk about that but there is no funds available for people that need rental assistance that don't have kids and um the reason I asked Mr Bey to explain his processed to us so I wanted you guys to hear they don't just hand out money to people and it doesn't become a it doesn't become a lifestyle for them to come in and ask for for help but they do actually give hand outs H you know hand ups and not handouts so I'm going to encourage us to revisit this idea again of our of our um of re of re rewriting that document so that we could potentially use some of that money for rental assistance um and I applaud this Comm and applaud T and the staff for what you brought for us tonight for a new program for some rental assistance for using har for Winter Haven and I want to I want to encourage us to get behind that as well but um our ahat committee is functioning it's doing a good job Cedric has done a great job of getting us all kind of and and and getting us going in the right same direction so Kudos the staff for doing that and I'm just encouraged with what I'm seeing with our affordable housing action committee so you you um to that point uh we are more than we're almost more than half year with the U ship program could could we sort of see where we are I'd like to know because I know the last report we got we hadn't spent a lot of the money and so I'd like to see where we are so that we could really look it's just amazing since we talked about this I've been inundated with people looking for rental assistance that have no kids let me tell you all you got to do is talk to the people on the front lines and they all tell you that's what they need I mean down payment assistance is great but the people on the front lines are saying they need more money for rental assistance so if we could get that uh we'll have it for the um try and put that for the next uh agenda and uh an update with Eric and Cedric on what we've done to date with our ship program and where we stand okay thanks yes sir commission Mercer okay um went to the winter Heaven uh EDC openhouse and tour um and found out it it takes uh 15 to 20 minutes just to walk around the perimeter of the floor out there um also um we I attended the community openhouse at the Wonder Haven Rec um and culture center um it's going to be a fantastic building there it's really going to be a beautiful place um and um also went to the lake Howard Heights 45th anniversary and um I did coffee and conversation and Emily Rogers was the speaker there and one of the fascinating things about this is there was a plumbing company there and um he talked about the the master plumbers and above that and he was in management but he said one of the thing that they do when they get a call for services that um someone from staff calls and tells them who's coming and uh they also says um he has you know he's married and he has three children and this you know this is his name and everything and I thought that was really interesting that they would even do that well he said well now we've gone better we do a video and we send that so I guess there's ways of um you know and I can understand that because when you're going into people's homes and having to do things they want to know who's coming in and feel comfortable with them and it wasn't that I wasn't going to vote for the uh um grant and aid it's just that sometimes you know that is um uh my preference to you know and it not to penalize them to give them forgiveness one time so that they can you know be better about getting that because it it puts some demands on not only on staff but it puts it on on the committee and they need those in order um they need those boundaries in order you know to fit things within those boundaries okay that's it commissioner Thon uh I you know I was able to uh attend as well the uh senior uh uh housing at uh Lake Howard um and the uh the mayor uh gave a great greeting there and uh we uh place was packed and uh they had they had stuff everywhere it was just really a nice really a nice celebration uh what I didn't count on was uh the uh one of the ladies she uh she brought the mayor out to dance and she decided to bring me along with him so the both of us had to get out there on the dance floor and uh then she whispered to me she said you know how to do the Electric Slide I said uh I can slide but I don't know how electric is going to be and uh so but we had a great time just enjoyed just being in that uh setting uh and among just some wonderful people I got a chance to meet uh several of them them who were veterans and uh you know knowing that uh you know D-Day recently celebrated um acknowledge rather uh just being able to see our our men and women who serve this great country and uh to let them know how much we appreciate them for their service um also uh able to um was able to go to the uh Northeast complex and you know there's a lot of kind of mixed emotions in that in that setting uh and uh there's a lot that transpired in that building over the years 50 years I think it's been in existence and uh I want to thank the staff for doing an outstanding job just you know setting that up Ian it was really really nice coming in kind of had a mood setting and presentations were e exceptional city manager did an outstanding job in your presentation so uh appreciate you for that and and I think people really got a real good sense of what this new facility is really going to uh mean to our community so a lot of people are excited about it's a lot of Buzz about the uh new new facility and I think we can't wait to see uh what it looks like and be able to move inside of it I think the other piece of it is so important that we try to uh one capture our you know our heritage and our history um often times you know African-American history is not been told uh and so you and some ask why do we have a black history month is because often times much of the the history was excluded and uh but to know who school boy terson uh was and to know his contribution and recently his record has now been acknowledged uh finally as well as others and you think about the greatness of a Babe Ruth but there were those who actually exceeded uh what Babe Ruth had done in terms of home runs but they were not they were not given the due uh acknowledgement of that so it's wonderful to see that happen uh but also to be here on the night where you have juneth Proclamation and the Daughters of the American Revolution on the same night I mean uh that speaks volumes to say the least and we all know history and um so it's just wonderful just to know and to see that and be a part of that and to see that uh with all the challenges we are facing in our nation the visions that we see happening around the world U that uh I think Winter Haven can be and and is a place where we recognize that our differences and our unique uh aspects of what we bring to this are are really what makes a community a great community in which to live so uh just honored just to be able to be a part of that commission may protim yes I I'll pass this evening nothing to report thank you okay um have a few things I want to say about the uh o open house for T property 1.2 million square fet nonone air conditioned the way they built that building is such a way that it doesn't need air conditioning that's just amazing to me that size building and so I walked I out in there cuz it was 12 noon on a very hot day and it was very comfortable I mean I just couldn't believe it really if if you told me that I would say you don't know what you're talking about but uh at least that's what what what took place so I was very enthused about that uh went to the Northeast uh recreational center and it really staff y'all I was when I walked through the door I said am I at the right place because it was so nice in there y'all did just an outstanding job and the presentation to Michael was was spot on um what Rend doson didn't tell you about Lake Howard Heights is that uh the ladies that we danced with were 90 plus and they were moving better than us 90 plus moving better than us you get it all right uh tend the scholarship banquet at our church that we give for our graduating uh seniors and uh in this group we had a Salud tutorium for arandale high school that goes to our church5 4.5 Boo Boo Boo I don't you know I was lucky to make 3.0 I heard he's going to FAMU too yes uh you going to FAMU okay yes and um finally I went to a place where they make candles sended candles and they also have a massage place in there as well so I'm saying man it smells good and you got a massage too I mean you know I that that was I never seen anything anything like that and they say they have groups that come there and it's like team building so I'm okay man I'm really feeling old y'all because in my day I be good disgrace is candle making and massaging in the same place but any R um that's all I have for for this evening uh S turn thank you Mr Mayor commission um I have some good news to report um after the meeting started tonight I've been advised by the attorney who represents uh Us in the um form six litigation that the court has entered an order uh positively uh in in joining uh the defendants who are the State of Florida um must take no steps to enforce Senate Bill 774 unless otherwise ordered the preliminary injunction binds defendants and their officers agents servants employees and attorneys and others in active concer participation with them who receive actual notice of this injunction by personal service or otherwise and it's going to have statewide effect it's not going to be just for those folks that join the litigation um so that that order came out um we're still studying it of course and there might be steps that maybe taken by the state to appeal what have you but for now the preliminary injunction was entered um so it it uh it appears that form one will be the form that needs to be filed for municipal officials that started mine so um happy to report that to you I you know it was a 33-page order that I read quickly while I was listening to the other uh presentations tonight and so I'll have an opportunity to digest it a little bit more but I quoted from you what I thought was the relevant part so that's a that's a positive thing for our for our entire State frankly um yes so all right that's all I have thank you okay city manager how do you follow that um about candles and massages well I got orders of the Court uh just two things one again uh want to remind you about the dedication of Ruben Williams Sports Complex on Saturday morning at 10:30 been a while since we've had a a ribbon cut on a new park in a new space um of that magnitude so just it's going to be a great morning followed by a fantastic event several of you commented on the open house at the Winter Haven Recreation Cultural Center we are elated about that project moving forward but I do want to make sure that I give uh recognition to Natalie Wilson and the team in Parks and Recreation who put that together and that whole concept of kind of a sendoff party feel to it um and so that was I think a lesson that's a case study in how to do community engagement from start to finish on a project so kudos to the parks and rec team for making that happen yes Deputy city manager nothing tonight sir thanks city clerk nothing this evening Deputy city clerk emergency matter is not received for the agenda oh she's not back there she was she said maybe she in the office she left on the Senate candles and Miss candles emotion to a joy we stand the joy