[Music] [Music] [Music] to our Tuesday April 2nd I had to look at my cheat sheet to figure out what date it was sorry uh commission work session we will call this meeting to order and thank you all for being here today um if you will join us and if you can please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance Jennifer I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you Jennifer okay okay uh just a quick announcement um before we proceed into presentations um how many people do we have here for pickle ball yeah so we will move that to item number one under action items so that you can get through it quickly and get out of here go play Pickleball and go play Pickleball not that we don't want to keep you here for the whole meeting but and you're more than welcome to stay but we we like to be friendly to our visiting guests they won't want to stay no they won't want to stay you won't okay uh presentations Arbor Day Proclamation I'll turn that over to vice mayor frany thank you mayor um and I'm not okay Vince and great okay Arbor Day 2024 whereas Arbor Day is a special day set aside for the planting of trees and was first celebrated on April 10th 1872 with the planting of 1 million trees and and whereas the planting of trees for the future sets Arbor Day apart from other commemorative holidays and sets the city of denan apart as a community committed to the preservation of the environment and whereas organized efforts of the city of den Eden and the contributions of hundreds of individuals have allowed trees to be planted in the Parks and public areas of the city of denan and whereas the city of denan places great importance on being designated a tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation for the 35th year now therefore I Moren mofin by virtue of the authority vested in Me by the mayor of the city of denan Florida and on behalf of the entire city commission to hereby proclaim the observance of Saturday April 13th 2024 as Arbor Day in Denon and urge all denan citizens to attend the tree giveaway which begins at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday April 13th at the Achieva Credit Union corporate headquarters located at 1659 achiev away y accept the go and accept the [Laughter] proclamation thank you m vice mayor Vince gizy Parks and Recreation director and is my pleasure this morning to introduce Rick Warren who just accepted the proclamation our new City Arborist yay Rick with us for welcome welcome with us for just a couple of weeks now Rick is a graduate from the University of FL South Florida College of Business Administration former owner of Warrant Tree Service since 2007 who has done about 10 years worth of service for our city he's a Isa certified Arborist issued by the international Society of Arbor culture for the past 16 years excellent excellent customer service and communication skills and one of his objectives on his application was to be a differen maker and the Ultimate Team player and to uphold the legacy of the excellent City Arborist that have defined this position and our city such as Craig Wilson art Finn and Alan Mayberry so preciate that and Rick you have a few words to say all right please Thank You Vince you you you know you you need to know that your your position whoever is in your position is a beloved position in this city so it's a big deal yeah oh I know I know I appreciate you are like the face of our city I swear all right well thank you for that and I'm honor honored to be there well Vince uh covered a good bit of it um uh it's kind of a full circle moment for me like like you like he referenced it started right here in the city done Eden 2008 it's when I got my certification under then City Arbor Al maybery so it's kind of a kind of a cool thing like Vince set out of business you know pretty proud of what we've done over the last 16 years but is ready for a change and when I heard this opportunity became available I knew Craig Wilson well we were in the same class together back in 2008 so nice know Craig well got a lot of respect for him um honored to be here and I want to do my best for sure to represent the city um we're here to talk about the Arbor Day Proclamation which you've already done 35th year Tree City USA so I know everybody's really proud of that um the tree giveaway again like those details are already out there April 13th at the credit union we've got uh about 750 trees we're going to give out uh 12 different varieties 11 of which are Florida natives so the ultimate goal is to have diversification of canopy throughout the city like we've already done a good job of um list of trees that we're doing this year American elm bald cypress black tupo com PR simmen dun Holly Magnolia CRP Myrtle red Cedars red Maples Southern Live Oaks Southern slash pine Walters VI Burnham um they're available to anybody any Resident in the city we just ask that they show proof of identification each household can get up to two trees as long as supplies last um we're encouraging everybody to take a look at the calendar haded time to look at the different varieties and see what species they may be interested in and um it's going to be a drive-through event so the park staff will be out there we'll hand out trees people drive through we'll give out the trees uh to the folks in their cars so appreciate being here thank you everybody that's awesome we we cannot wait um to see what you can do in our wonderful City you know we are a tree City USA and it's so important um and just so you know I don't even remember if I've sent you an email but I did have a lady uh send me a video that I have not been able to send out all week cuz it's stuck in our email Cog if you will um about these beautiful trees on Pinehurst um at a house that I apparently is going to get torn down and rebuilt four houses and all the trees are going to get cut down so we hope you they call you to go check it out will they will okay because it would be a prophecy all right thank you so much we're so excited to have Youk welcome Rick is definitely hitting the ground running picture oh picture can you get I can't stand like right here make sure no one's blocking two one got it thank you thank you all right and then our second uh presentation is Earth month Proclamation I will turn that over to commissioner G thank you mayor Earth month uh you every month should be Earth month uh and if you don't mind Natalie I'm going to have Rick come up with you as well yeah just and and you can receive it but I just want to give him as much exposure as possible we've got a we've got a group everybody oh my goodness yes please this is amazing this is amazing oh my goodness you've made my day all righty so first I guess Natalie I'll pass this off to you and I'll ahead thank you very much every month should be Earth month but we'll start with April we got some hard work to do ladies and Rick all right Earth month 2024 whereas April 22nd marks 54 years of worldwide Earth Day Celebrations which began in 1970 when 20 million Americans rallied for a healthy sustainable environment and whereas all life forms on earth have a right to a healthy sustainable environment and as caregivers of the planet we all have an obligation to change human behaviors that contribute to the environmental degreg to preserve the Earth's Beauty and resources and whereas D is fortunate to have over 1,600 Acres of parks open space preserves and trails which enrich the lives of residents visitors and Wildlife and whereas the city of deden is the home City for the Florida Golf Coast hope spot which supports critical marine species and promotes ocean conservation and water quality and whereas Den Eden has ready for 100% clean energy goals for municipal and CommunityWide oper operations and whereas the city adopted D's resilient environmental action master plan dream which is a 10-year plan which uh with 150 action items and whereas the city of deden will continue to support and educate about the environmental awareness natural resources and Wildlife Conservation clean energy sustainable practices and so much more related to the well-being of our planet now therefore I Jeff G by the virtue of the authority vested in Me by the mayor of the city of deden and on behalf of the entire city of deden commission do hereby Proclaim April 2024 as Earth month in the city of deden and call upon all residents of this great City to be engaged in local and Global efforts to protect our environment and join in supporting the goals of this worthwhile effort thank you thank you thank you commissioner G and Earth good morning mayor vice mayor commissioner city manager Natalie gas sustainability program manager for the city of denan very excited to be celebrating Earth month with all of you I agree Earth month should be every month um but we dedicate April to this and excited to share some of the fun activities and events happening throughout the month so all month we'll be promoting the 2024 Panella solar Co-op which the D which D Eden is actually co-sponsoring and that is open to all residents and business owners um to go solar and it provides uh good protection education and resources um even if you're not ready to commit it's a great way to learn more and uh get information the library is hosting the growing together event on the 13th which will be a day of plants crafting and Discovery and great speakers on that same day will be the uh Arbor Day tree giveaway we'll have a booth downtown at the market on the 19th where sustainability and environmental staff will be there to educate our residents and visitors and we have great support from our Communications team they're going to be promoting um information education on social media as well as we'll be sharing blog posts on the website with that I hope we all have a great Earth month um we learned something new about the planet that we live on participate in these doneen activities and take action within our community along with introducing the city's new arborist we're also excited to announce and welcome two new positions and staff members to the city I'd like to call out Bill piam the city's Solid Waste superintendent and Michelle Monte Clair the city's environmental environmental program manager for those introductions welcome good morning uh Michelle Monaco I'm the environmental program manager and I am happy and so excited to introduce Nicole Silverman uh she is our environmental specialist one with our storm water program she has a bachelor's in Marine Science from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and she also worked at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Institute as a fish and wildlife technician uh she brings a wealth environmental knowledge and scientific knowledge to our city and we're so w we're so happy to have her here [Applause] welcome good morning good morning Bill pickrum was uh sanitation and recycling I wanted to be brief with this but uh we have a a second hire in at Savannah Bunch Savannah she is if I give a plug to Jennifer orge and Sue Bartlett through how we've Cal in some of the old-timers here this is our fourth hire for the position is is back filling Natalie's position but this position really has it a fourth generation to where it's it grew from the CQ to get a recycling program but Savannah is the fourth hire and it just tells you how much these uh positions are sought after but Savannah comes to us from the University of South Florida with an undergraduate in Psychology and then she also has a MERS in sustainability and management from Bath College Bath University over in England um and I just want to introduce Savannah [Applause] welcome so so as you can see we have quite the the team here in Den Eden for sustainability the environment and resilience and we're just really excited to have this level of support from our commission and our leadership as well as our community members so thank you well we couldn't be more excited right Jeff very excited I always look at him if you don't know Jeff is our environmental Guru keep them busy so we're very excited to have each and every one of you and I know we're going to want to do a picture with the group so come on down right three [Music] two got it thank you thank you everybody all right uh Now we move on to Citizen inputs so this is the time for anybody that wants to come forward and speak to an item that is not on the agenda please feel free to do so all right seeing or hearing none we will move on to our consent agenda which is the approval of the minutes for the strategic planning workshop regular meeting and work session board and committee appointments for arts and culture advisory yep and then the award of uh gec service authorization task assignment to Kimberly horn in the amount of 158,000 in change um the award of a bid for well re Rehabilitation um for 314,000 and the request to approve to issue a purchase order piget piggybacking the PA agreement for precision sidewalk safety in the amount of $200,000 are there any items to be pulled I'd like to pull 2D and 2 e 2D and 2 e and I concur on 2 so yes anybody else no okay so can I have um a motion and a second to approve all items except 2D and 2 e so moved second okay commissioner torga and commissioner gaw is there any public input on these items seeing or hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I any opposed okay motion passes unanimously um we will go to item 2D which is the southeast drilling services in the amount of 13 I'm sorry 314,000 did you just have a quick question well uh it's a it is a quick question but then I'm hoping to get a little bit of background as a result of that question do you want to ask the question first yes okay good um so first of all you I completely understand you know the fact that this well has been in service was placed in service in 1915 I totally I think we all totally understand the obsolescence issue with regards to the the infrastructure that supports that well um I guess I the question is probably about um how uh if if you give a real quick overview of what the plan is with that because obsolescence is a huge issue and protecting our wells is a huge issue and think just like to get a little more background yes m city geologist your mic can you turn your mic on sorry um sorry once again my name is Mike maanik I'm with I'm the city hydrogeologist I've been with City for over 20 years um and just to give you just a very brief backround well this is the first uh mun City municipal well it's located behind the uh truest Bank building right on the um um pel's Trail um uh as far as and you know it's been serving the you know citizens of the dun Eden for over 100 years and great quality water up for over a 100 years it still produces really well water quality is phenomenal way better than a lot of our Inland Wells for Coastal well that's it still performs really well um yes after a 100 years the the casing has degraded quite a bit first thing we're going to do is um restore the casing uh putting in uh replacing the 10in that 10-in steel casing that was originally installed with a 6-in casing stainless steel casing um down to and then doing a pump test to make sure that the the well is is uh performing water quality wise production wise the way we expect and it should it should be uh we're putting all in new equipment um pump and mode this will be the last submersible configuration uh that will be installed replacing all the old uh above ground turbin that we had in the past um in addition to that we you know control valves check valves uh skat communication systems um pump testing I think I mentioned um briefly that's that's all the work that uh will be be going into that no I I appreciate that I I think uh where I was interested was is the then actually leading to the next question is the viability of the well and it sounds like you've got a good engineering plan um and by reading the background though it I was my impression on that was is that the viability of the well itself doesn't really get tested until after the the engineering part of it the infrastructure is replaced I expect the well perform the way it's always performed which is you know which is one one of our best like I said top you know the city's won Wards for you know best tasting water and chlorides which is a a big salt water concern especially along the coast uh are very very low um and I expect that to be unchanged um but pump testing uh just to ensure that that is the case prior to putting more money into it uh is something I just I just want to make sure that we do you know good morning Nan Bennett uh Public Utilities director the the contractor the drill well driller that does the work puts in a temporary pump to do the the capacity test and so that is done before we invest in all the equipment all the pumping equipment and everything and that's what we're confirming in advance okay perfect yeah uh thank you very much that anything else anybody else have questions yes there I do thank you ahead um so as we begin this uh activity if something happen or a determination is made is the person that was a qualified bidder are they aware of the fact that that it may stop at that point in time so that that's that's good I appreciate that very much and then second of all um I had a question about the uh about this well obviously this is tremendous history for us um part of part of the reason why why dun Eden was even was founded the way it was because of because of our water supply and then we got this number one well that was just just fantastic the the difference in the bid there was a $345,000 bid and then there was A500 and some ,000 bid are we are we okay with with I like the less expensive one of course this is John but but I just want to make sure that that that's that's understood or about the bid itself I couldn't agree more um I we we only got two bids and uh I I hear what you're saying about regarding the the difference in the cost but the the winning bid is a uh is the contractor that is has a maintenance agreement with us uh currently uh so I've uh work with them they do work with us on a regular basis uh pulling uh pumps they've uh pulling and replacing pumps as needed uh um I I know the owners and I've worked with them for probably 15 years just with the city and they have a good reputation we check their references and their references are good as good as I would have given them I've given them good references in the past so for other you know as as you know requested for job so I'm I'm very confident with them I'm glad they got it yeah thank you mayor mayi mhm uh just because it's talked about almost every day or week or month in the region in the concern over freshwater and that we're running out uh is is is that concern is there a tie between that concern throughout the region not dun but the region and the the failure of this well and if it's operating and how are we in General with our fresh water in the city okay the failure of this well was mechanical of the equipment the pumping equipment it wasn't of the quality of the water or the aquafer so it's it's the equipment that we're reworking so I would say no it isn't necessarily tied to that but having as many Wells at our disposal so that we can rotate and and gently remove water from various parts of the aquifer is an important best management practice for making sure that we don't cause any further degradation of the resource thank you Nan that was the answer I was I was looking for and I think it's important that the public hear that that this isn't a concern for our overall water quality issue and from what I know for well number one it is the highest quality water that we have in the city which is ironic given it's also the closest to the coast and water so I think that's really interesting if for whatever I'm just going to put this out there uh that there is an operational failure to that well and it cannot be operable because if it's not only uh valued from a water standpoint but as commissioner T mentioned the historical value and how far back that well goes to the founding of the city that if it's a failure and can no longer be operated that it isn't just covered up that there is some acknowledge ment of what it did to us for us in throughout history and I'm just going to put that out there I'm pretty confident that it will remain operable but I just wanted to put that out there before just concrete it over yeah that that's a obviously a great idea something that we've been always been thinking actually in 2017 well one was designated as a historical landmark and it has a plaque on on the building and uh so yes we'll always uh give that well the respect that it deserves that was you know the first Municipal well that's you know served a lot of people for you know a long time still does hope hopefully for years to come hopefully thank you thank you mayor anything else okay um any feedback from the public just curious how many sorry you you've got to come to the microphone and announce yourself don't get yourself in trouble girlfriend what would you like to know hello I'm Kathy kenowitz and we were just curious this is the first we heard of it how many Wells are there in denen 29 production Wells wow thank you and in that nice we have so many and you don't even know that they're out there yeah you don't okay uh can I have a motion and a second to approve so moved second second third okay commissioner FR or vice mayor frainy and and commissioner Walker we've already asked for public input we've gotten it any final discussion all right all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed motion passes unanimously all right and then Rob the request on the sidewalk is it a question you have uh yes question thank you let's wait for our folks to come forward oh she leave me all alone good morning welcome what's your question so um you know with the with the brick sidewalks with the uh you know the the significant uh tree infrastructure in the way of roots I know that keeping ahead of the the the sidewalk maintenance is a is a full-time plus job um the only question I would have on this is is that um with going to a purchase order Vice a piggyback um Arrangement is that going to expedite some of the repairs that need to occur um is you know we get feedback every single day almost with regards to sidewalks that need some element of Maintenance um and you any feedback on that would be helpful so you're asking oh Mark Walter's public services manager good morning hey Mark um to to go out to contract if that's what you're asking we would like to do that but I don't think we have the funds to have a major contract right now like pelis County's putting out a couple million dollar sidewalk contract we like this because it it buys us time over the over a 10-year period and we're getting a biger are done and saving a lot of money and a lot of DP triping Falls um like I said we saved uh $310,000 so far in the three years we've done this and a lot of Manpower it sa about three months yeah I was going to say it's got to be saving time yeah that that was the thank you that's the answer I was looking for um because you know it's um you know it's important um that's really all the questions I had thank you anybody else may or may I sure all right you may I love talking sidewalks um Mark in and Teresa uh throughout this whole thing what I read was liability in Ada and that's wonderful I get the safety aspect of it I like the idea uh the Ada aspect but through this process is there any lens that's looking at the sidewalks uh Forward Thinking on they meeting the current standards are we seeing places in the city where the sidewalk should be wider I did read in the report that you are seeing increased pedestrian traffic on the sidewalks because I'd like to see our sidewalks looked at from the same through the same lenses we uh put not the same lens but the same emphasis through our roads and our infrastructure there and look at sidewalks as really true forms of transportation Pathways and and so I'll be looking at it through through that lens I'll be looking at wider or increased sidewalks throughout the community etc etc uh good morning um mayor vice mayor commission uh Teresa Smalling director of HR and risk management for the city and to your question commissioner GA I believe all that is included in the uh multimodal Transportation plan that Community Development has put out uh I know um they have ear marks spe different sections throughout the city for wider sidewalks as part of the balance in pedestrians with traffic uh unfortunately with the amount of sidewalk that we have throughout the city um that is would be truly a challenge for us and um you know with the the current the contract the piggyback that we're looking at um we do not have the Personnel to maintain all of our sidewalks so this will help us and short answer to your question is yes we're looking at it thank you Teresa oh I would say but take all that road infrastructure money maintenance and put it into sidewalks and the better our sidewalks are the more people will walk um but we'll get there uh you'd mentioned that's also in the multimodal plan and there's a lens through that and so now that just speaks my C so do we have two different lenses we look at our sidewalks are we duplicating efforts instead of you know if they're out looking at the maintenance could they also be looking at it through that expanded sidewalk lens instead of two different departments that may or may not be talking to each other May Commissioners George Kenny Community Development so I thought I would jump up here and talk a little bit about the multimodal transportation plan so I don't believe there's uh Nexus to the existing program that you're looking at today but there's certainly a plan from the Community Development standpoint to get back into that multimodal transport ation plan and do a little bit more work with both bicycle and pedestrian uh improvements if you will the multimodal plan unfortunately doesn't specify um sidewalks generally for different kinds of environments so obviously local roads your sidewalks don't have to be as wide urban areas you want wider sidewalks because you're dealing with Street trees and furniture and amenities and those types of things and you need that passing distance so part of what we're thinking about this year is introducing a new business plan initiative that would um not only look at some of our bicycle improvements but would in incorporate a pedestrian design standard or a sidewalk design standard if you will similar to what you see in larger cities like Minneapolis and and those cities that actually put those illustrations forward with minimum design WID so we are considering that that'll come to you uh shortly as part of the budget process so hopefully that will address some of those issues that you're talking about that's the answer I was looking for fantastic yes Bob yeah no I'm just going to say from a obviously a downtown perspective walkability is absolutely key and of course we just did the costantina street skate we widened it and we took care of the Ada aspect and we're looking at the second phase too so obviously the high walkability areas within the downtown we're looking to see where we can widen it get rid of utilities and things of that nature make it more walkable so that's always number one in the downtown you know I really do like a city that can have a project on widening a sidewalk and how excited we get over that is just and we all talk all the time about what a wonderful project that was for our downtown yeah so thank you thank you all anybody else uhhuh I have no idea why we're talking about trip and Falls today walkability um so one one of the comments in uh the agenda item was 25% we're at 25% where we've fixed our sidewalks and um I had asked Jennifer this question when asked you guys um how much after this $200,000 you think will cut into that in terms of the percentage of sidewalks and fixing well this this coming year I'm I'm really hoping to get the whole Ranchwood and rwood area which is huge which is huge and that would also complete Amberly and Pipers Glenn um those are big areas that we've I remember 15 years ago they went through and and replaced a lot of sidewalk in there and it's it's just the tree roots the main thing on on this so I'm hoping to get through the neighbor this year and and uh I still see we're we might be at 40% after this year so we still got ways to go but in some of the newer subdivisions they're not going to be as bad as the older subdivisions and we've already completed the South quadrant of the city so that that was a big Improvement to us yeah I mean I I'm very supportive of this I shared a couple um concerns smaller concerns with Jennifer but I think it's important the city will pay one way or another as a former risk manager I know that to be true so I think it's important it's a great program thank you anybody else well if I may then mayor um I think it would be interesting I'm sure there's folks here that would like to know how many miles of sidewalks we have uh the areas that you mentioned are are the most particular areas for us to contend with at this point in time and we approximately have 35 miles and I'm hoping before I come to you guys next year that I'm going to have a better idea and through the gis program on how many exact miles we have um but I'm I'm thinking somewhere around 35 and and also also just to know that this has always been a a point of yours of of that kind of repair um just just for usability if nothing more um I know the commission here has has supported this for years uh we went from fact the city manager and I were talking again about this yesterday we went from what was it 40,000 50,000 whatever that yes that and it needed to be bigger than that I know Jorge was all over that as well and we're now at 200,000 an attempt to to correct the situation so they probably wanted to know that number they have it now and uh and we are we are on top of it but great points so we need we need to get it done as quick as we can as money thanks um the only thing I will add and it's not really a question it's um you know you have the one thing about widening in certain areas we have the other thing about you know fixing and replacing repairing from longtime tree root damage um but then there's also the other issue of adding sidewalks where they are not and there are any number of older neighborhoods in our community we started we started uh to do that kind of a program I want to say it was 20 2011 I I just don't remember the exact and uh we ended up taking the money you know we were adding money and adding money and adding money trying to urge neighborhoods to um to allow us to do this and I I think we have to get back to that program you know you have a LoveHate relationship with sidewalks and um I can think of one very long-term neighborhood that has not had sidewalks they do have wider roads um they've been around for a long time um I'm looking at Vince because it's his neighborhood I just don't want to say it out loud because we'll start getting emails about it um and you have people that are walking constantly in the middle of the road and that's just not safe and and so there are neighborhoods that I I do think we have to plan over time um for for added sidewalks and we have to come up with a process of how to do that um it is our RightWay it is our ability to do that and if it's a public safety issue we should but I leave it to my colleagues as something in the future to be looked at because we've had plenty of past commissions that have felt pretty strongly and there there are a number of neighborhoods that have no sidewalk we shouldn't put our kids or our folks walking their dogs out in the middle of the road and and so I think that has to also be addressed it's not a cheap thing to do and it's very controversial because people don't for some reason I haven't had a sidewalk now I don't want it in my front yard except that when you go look to buy a house that's one of the first things you look for is having a sidewalk you know and H you know and being safe so I just throw that out for my colleagues to think about for the future okay uh anybody from the public wish to speak to this item all right [Music] um can I have a motion and a second to approve so moved second commissioner Walker commissioner gal any final discussion okay all in favor signify by saying I I any opposed motion passes unanimously okay pickle ball all right so we have resolution 248 for safer Grant application nope sorry I was just teasing really um we have the contract award bid 24-12 59 for Eagle Scout Park pickle ball courts in the amount of 7285 $16 um Vince it's all you buddy thank you may there we go thank you mayor vice mayor City commissioners with me this morning is Bruth worth our city Consulting engineer for this project and also Joselyn Broadhead our Recreation superintendent will be assisting me in presenting this morning so as you're all aware the parks and recreation department has worked diligently over the past year and a half to find a space to construct dedicated pickle ball facility beginning with a public meeting back in January I tell you the exact date January 4th 2023 after much research and Community engagement staff presented the recommendation to repurpose the three Tennis Courts at Eagle Scout Park into 10 pickle ball courts this recommendation was supported by the Parks and Recreation advisory committee and approved by the city commission at the July 27th 20123 commission meeting that's where we went over all the details of the project staff sub subsequently received a scope and fee proposal from kimley horn to provide Design Services and prepare construction documents bid documents and Construction Services the project scope includes removal of existing materials except for the concrete base so most of the uh tennis court is going to remain expansion of the base on two sides north and east we're going to be expanding it by 18 ft to the north 18 ft to the east installation of new sports surface that's this is a premier Court surfacing from Sports Master Pro fencing netting wind screens shade structures bench LED lighting and a sidewalk connecting to the courts a bid alternate to install a sidewalk from from Virginia into the park for improve pedestrian access and safety was included in the package that was the the bid alternate the project was put out to bid with submissions due on March 12th 2024 the re City received four proposals Sports Service LLC was the lowest bidder however their bid was rejected as they were not properly licensed the lowest responsive and responsible bidder was Tim group building and general contractor in the amount of $728,000 staff recommends commission approval and again I'm here with our Consulting engineer Bruce worth and josn Brad any questions okay questions yep vice mayor um so Vince um I know that you try to get a lot of eyes on this to make sure we didn't miss things but like explain a couple of the Nuance things that you've done like the area down the middle like the buffer area things that maybe some places might not do but they're important to the players they're important to balls going into different courts and I mean can you talk about that and where that sidewalks actually going to come in here um just a couple of those thing in shaded areas things like that so the um if you see on the the picture uh that's shown the the rendering you'll see an area that's darker blue and white the darker blue areas are awning structures it's about a 10-ft pathway um through the middle of the the courts and mostly for disruption so when pigle ball players are playing if people have to walk through their courts it does disrupt disrupt the play so that um is an aisleway down the middle and um there's five shade structures and 10 benches in that location uh around the perimeter we also have excellent LED lighting around the perimeter that's going to be 16 lights um four on each side of each side of the courts so so all around the perimeter there'll be a total of 16 uh the sidewalk that's coming off of Virginia is mainly for safety reasons when you go by that Park and now that it's going to get a little busier um and we did this also at um at uh on Ed eard into Highlander Park we're adding a sidewalk that's going to take you from Virginia all the way into where the Community Gardens you can see the that's great that's helpful yeah okay um well I know again I and I've heard some of this from some of the the people that play pickle ball you know that they've had some input into some of this um who's going to be the actual um and I I trust you guys will tell me if they've missed something critical when you get your chance um so um who's going to be the project manager Bruce Bruce is okay good because and we've got the staff time you've got the time to make sure I mean obviously we wait a long time for this so you know you'd like it to be perfect so I I make the time yeah Vince has my number so number painting walls and and other things I I it has not been a problem um it it works out well is there really nothing that keeps me from doing this and several other projects at this point so and I'm I'm comfortable with that so great I'm good okay and then Kim Kimberly horn is going to be doing some moderate inspections as well yeah okay great okay I think that's all I have right nowk okay any questions commission yes thank you um uh two questions about the Ingress and egress um first of all we're familiar with that road it exists uh the sidewalk is is going to be done we are planning on doing the sidewalk yes but yes are there any other entrances to this park that are desirable by by our uh residents and the users of of this facility that's a loaded question desirable yeah there is another entrance well the other the other entrance is on the is on the east side of of the park there's a small parking lot on next to the compound next to our Public Works compound how about how about yes but you can't access the park from from that side it's fenced off and then the only other access really is the fire the firehouse itself has has a road but that's really not where the public should come into so really the only access is what you see on the West Side along that along that road and that's the only one that we've heard about and that has been requested correct yes okay thank you can I add in qu there is a foot access on the North side in the corner down at the bottom corner of that picture unless it's been blocked off it it is obstructed right now and it's not legal access I know right it's obstructed yes how is it obstructed it's overgrown oh gotcha oh they know yeah well that shows my age is I lived right behind there so I used it many many years okay gentlemen questions thank you mayor uh Venture money mentioned it is there a start time to this and when it should be open well if you let me so how how we do this so today's the award soon as we get that we'll reach out to the uh contractor uh we know we want to FasTrack this so we've let them know we'd like to do the pre-construction meeting in the next two weeks uh typically we don't do the construct the preconstruction meeting till we get the agreement signed so that so just from today we'll send them the agreement they have two weeks to to sign it provide all the information in terms of insurance and bonding comes back to us and then we have two weeks to and we've been doing a little better than that to to get our signatures and we typically don't do the preconstruction meeting until we have the agreement in hand but what we've done particularly with this particular contractor they're they have a couple projects with us so we're very familiar with it we can we intend to bring them in a little early to do the pre-construction construction meeting just to lay things out they're ready to go so my expectation is is that we'll uh get all of that done this month I don't know if we'll get if they're ready to do the notice to proceed um going forward uh typically the contractor likes to hold off on the notice to proceed because that starts the clock until in in a case like this they have to order materials and things so they'd like to get some of that going before the the official start the clock she'll probably start June in May I would expect that we would begin I would hope to begin in May and how long does that take how long does this take uh we gave them a 60-day um turnaround for substantial completion 90 days for for final completion that's not unreason beginning of fall you know July August yeah yeah early fall probably September early fall yeah so we'll we'll see where that goes I know weather could be issue we're trying to get get some things particular the concrete work stuff ideally could be done before any heavy rains that's that's critical to get that additional piece and then the court surfacing is uh dependent on somewhat on weather but they're they're lined up their subs all right and we've done all the boring s samplings we're confident about the stabilization of that area we have we previously did some geotechnical work at one point the idea was to to build a separate set of Courts to the north um it it's an old landfill uh but we think that uh and so we used some of that information but this the surface that they're putting down doesn't hold a lot of weight it's it's a floating thing so we're comfortable that you know we we put some additional uh base and compaction requirements into this just for the new the the new U concrete on the North and the East so we won't see any cracking in the next 2 3 4 years well that's that's the key is they have to Dow that piece in very very securely um you we give them we gave them some specifications on how they have to make that connection so that you don't have a seam that that moves okay and um LED lights so they'll be able to play at night um is there any timer on that there's going to be a certain time when they are no longer they need to go home and go to bed yeah yeah the hours will be from 7:00 in the morning to uh 10: at night and the the light will just switch off lighting will just switch off at that time however the system that we have works very well you you go you put you you want to play it's dark out you push a button the lights will stay on for 1 hour if you want to continue to play you go back out inside the courts push button again on the control panel and it'll stay on for another hour that way when and at 10:00 they'll just go off completely okay so they go off at 10:00 automatically yes but they will go off they won't go on until unless you push that button right so but if I push the button at 955 they're not going to stay on for an hour now it'll still go off at 10: okay it's kind of the same as little league yeah I'm just concerned about the residence around them being good neighbors all right and noise ordinances and things so that's fantastic um are there any bike racks no but we we have plenty of bike racks we can not in the plan but we have been plenty of bike racks that we can we will incorporate them in this yeah thank you uh and just because I heard from them the the invents we talked a little bit about it yesterday for the price tag of this and I certainly heard from uh the soccer Community who are have growing frustrations and concerns over the condition of our soccer fields and so they look at this and go what about us so uh there's no doubt that you will hear from them and something hopefully we can do for the soccer fields over there cuz that's and I have I have been meeting with them and I told you we have a a plan to um to get the fields back into the shape that they need to be okay wonderful right thank you thank you mayor I can just add to your soccer conversation well and you might you know John hackworth is in the area this this week I just saw him you might want to reach out to him I know you worked with him on a program a couple sum ago or Springs you might want to re as far as soccer goes you might want to reach out to him and find out if there's you know as you're as you're doing these improvements he might be able to make suggestions so you could have that sort of soccer spring training more often just a thought I can reach out to him he's he's he's down by IMG right now but I mean I think he's there for the whole week okay I have his I have his um cell phone number I can yeah shoot him a text Rob uh yes ma'am thank you um and you may have covered this but what I'm not seeing um you see the new amenities does any of those new amenities include uh shade or any sort of covering around not over the complete courts but that aisle down you totally missed it didn't you you really missed it it's the whole Center thing Oh I thought that was just the sidewalk part of it well the the blue areas are they're blue awnings and the blue areas are the awning structures and there's five of them and and under each awning is two benches so there's a total of 10 benches and five warnings but I have been asked about covering the entire I I certainly appreciate that because um we know how hot it gets out there I just want to make sure we were positively going to have some coverage yes okay thank you um then if you want to just talk some more about parking we estimated we have about 60 parking spaces it's it'll be it'll be that's just it's grass parking yes it'll be mostly grass yes which it is now right for the ten courts and yeah and that reduces the whole storm water situation which safe space okay okie do um it is time now for public input anybody want to come forward and speak to these to this contract good morning I'm Jessica Reigns I'm uh sorry sorry don't worry about that no no you got to do it but time's up good job minutes trying to fix the clock for your input I do play pickle ball um there is a saying that it takes a village well in this case it took a city but oh what a truly special City it is I want to say thank you to the mayor all the City commissioners and the city manager this has not always been easy but you never gave up and you believed that the permanent pickle ball courts were an AM amenity that the city needed I also want to recognize Lanny who's not here today Joselyn and Vince Gizzy from Parks and Recreation the effort that they put into ensuring that our courts would meet the needs of all levels of player players and be built in such a way to maximize the efficiency of the courts and the opportunities offered to the residents is to be commended the patience that they showed in meeting with varying Community groups and listening to everyone is to be commended as I know you are aware that pickle ball is the fastest growing sport in America and that dun Eden sees this and acts on it is just one more reason to love our little piece of paradise pickle ball is a sport that can be played by grandparents parents and children all on one Court the opportunity for everyone of any age to get together to be outside and get some exercis is priceless permanent courts will allow more people to give the sport a try because they won't have to bring a nut to try I can say from experience that if you give it a try you will be hooked thank you again for continuing to invest invest in activities that all residents can use and enjoy looking forward to seeing all of you out on those courts playing pickle ball thank you so [Applause] much well it sounds like she just spoke for everybody is that good for you guys hey I'm Charlie street it's good to see you it's good to see you all again good to see you too I live in Amberly sorry um I had a couple of questions actually for Vince um Vince on the project are there going to be any improvements or expansions to the bathrooms that are currently there all right let's not do we'll wait until the end and all questions we'll get him to answer at the end okay uh bathrooms that was my question that's the question okay but I'll show my age too because I I is Den is so cool and you know this because you all live here uh we're always repurposing and and recycling our our space and I remember when the den pool was on that ground we which is why I used to sneak through that back area just saying I know it existed at one point but I agree it's it's a great idea I I was going to ask commissioner Frey if she that was a pickle ball accident um yeah sling I'd like to say it was I think the last time I I saw commissioner G down downtown we were talking about pickle ball and trying to get him into the into the fold but uh I've got a racket in the ball you can ride you can ride your bike to pick two or three balls actually and you can ride your bike to pickle ball so I could I could prob my mik if I had a bike he has he has accidents on bikes though okay I still support thank you all right but Charlie tell Sue happy birthday you'll have a bike wreck anyone else I a couple of questions about design is that for after or no you can tell us what the questions are and when everybody's done talking I'll get i'll get Vince to answer Mary Jo Van Beek I live on Lagoon Drive and I also wanted to say thank you for doing this Den is such an awesome City and I think this is just just going to make it even more awesome so I really appreciate all your hard work and everything I went into this and I appreciate the thoughtful design um I was at the last meeting and we talked about like putting the thing in the middle and I have played on courts like that so thank you for putting all the thought into the design I was going to ask I see lines in between the courts does that mean there's going to be a fence in between each is that going to be open don't don't answer we're going to answer everything at the end okay fence in between and then um my other question was what the plans were going to be for Highlander courts if you were going to leave the lines on there or remove them okay anything else thank you all right thank you all right anyone else hi name and address for the record so I have some questions the s name and address for the record oh my name is Lee so I have some questions like a similar to them one question is if you have you build a new bathroom and the water fountain another one is uh the cover is not I'm not talking about the bench cover also the cord do you have a cord cover and another the other one I I hope you please leave the Highlander line since already there can you just leave there because see more and more people play and we need that line Thank you thank you excuse me ma'am I I don't believe the clerk got your name and address could you could you say it again into the microphone I yeah they did they did they did I leave in address we didn't see her I'm sorry what I leave in D yeah we do name and address or you tell how about your neighbor how about the neighborhood you live in if you know Highlander Highlander yeah okay Community K gotcha okay normally we don't allow that twice but we will do that that's okay we will we'll make Jo van be Lagoon Drive and um the the C you said something about the floating surface I just want to get more information on exactly what the surf thank you uhhuh anyone else okay Vince I have the list all right first thing is is we have bathrooms that were I think they were built a couple years ago maybe they're about 10 years old now actually okay is there is there plans to expand them they prefab bathroom that was put in about 10 years ago mostly for the the community garden use of the community garden uhhuh and the the dunen Garden Club and right now there isn't a plan but I can have some further conversation we are in a budget year budget um time frame okay so currently there are no plans but it doesn't mean that there can't be you know it's it's a phased approach um water fountain there is a water fountain there but I know and we can make an improvement on that Fountain but I do know most people do bring their bottles of water as well but we can um look at that okay and is there a fence in between on that little yes there they're half fences they're not 10-ft fences they're 4ft fences and there and there is an opening I don't have the dimensions right in front of me there is an opening between between the courts but yes there is the lower fence so the balls aren't um and that's that's in between the two sides yes gotcha okay uh plans for the Highlander courts and the lines on the Highlander courts right now we have um we're actually looking at the Highlander courts now Bruce and and I had a um um kimley horn back out to take a look to see what we could do time up Vince sorry go ahead oh he's happy about that I'm so I am so kidding go did you want to talk a little bit about kimly Horn's proposal yeah just to follow up where Vincent so we we actually had the designer for the eagle scout come out and we we did a site visit last week on the Highlanders Court uh it's in pretty rough shape so they're going to give us a proposal uh the idea being is they need to look at that we need to do some corings out there to figure out what that Court's made of long story short yes we're looking at it um we've asked them to give us a proposal with the thought being is we Vincent wanted to have a potential plan um set to maybe go out to bid this summer or late summer so that we would maybe do construction in the fall if the if the monies were available but you know kimley horn would look at it um just give you an idea of of what we asked them to do is to do and they did this here also they will do a court survey you know uh to figure out if it's flat where the depressions are this one's a little rougher than Eagle Scout they're going to do a little more concentrated uh again as I mentioned we asked them do some corings to figure out what that Court's made of what's underneath it um so anyway we're in that that mode and we expect we asked them to give us a proposal here in the next uh 3 or 4 weeks but is the proposal I think what they're asking is are we leaving the lines up at Highlander Court yeah that's um well I just also want to just follow up one thing Bruce said we also have uh over 250,000 in our budget this year to make the improvements on the courts so that's why we'd like to get this project started but we didn't want to start until we knew that we were getting the pickle ball approved because we didn't want it to displace pickle ball right until these courts were completed so the lines on Highlander Court are we leaving them there right right now um we have that's to be determined we want to see the play that we're getting on the and that's the way to approach it right so they're not going anywhere this second is the point right and if see what the play is you're going to see you're going to do the counts yes you're going to monitor it before making that determination to be determined at this point got and that's an easy that's an easy fix it's a matter of repain Lin and that makes total sense okay and uh complete Court cover no there is not a complete Court cover right right just over the center correct um and floating surface can you talk about what a floating surface is I'm not sure what that question was about but the surface uh it's a sports surface I'm I'm not sure if I would call it a floating surface but it it will it'll it's a layered surface that they put on top of the existing concrete um it's it's a combination of you know paints materials and also it's built for I don't know how to answer that necessarily of an exper but it's it's built for an outdoor quartz that you know get the extreme sunlight the heat the expansions all of that so so it's a layer on top of the foundation it's not fla not the concrete is poured on top of something floating it's on top of yes so they're going to put a and there's some in specs we show what it is that that they're proposing but it's a combination of of you can imagine the first coat after they scrape everything off they're going to seal it and then they put some different layers on then final the final coat will will be the the surface itself so my understanding is there's a couple of different products that you lay on top of one another to get to the final surface okay and any of those Coatings do they help correct a bad bad shot yes depends who's hitting the ball so it is one of the best that we we our research tells us it's one of the best it's called Sportsmaster Pro cushion premium Court surfacing so with that name you got to feel like it's the best the best surface you can get for for pickle bow Courts for recreational courts okay we've got all of that done oh go I just wanted to ask one question I want to ask this but so as we're doing all this we love our pickle ball players but we're also continuing to have good conversations with our tennis players and just the changes we're making true yes in fact we've had a few meetings with tennis players and we're going to continue meeting like every six weeks or so and we're talking about the courts almost similar came up here today courts the bathrooms at at Highlander Park we just actually painted the the bathrooms in Highlander Park so that's one little small Improvement that we've were able to make but we want to do do a deeper dive on what the um Highlander courts are are going to need and we have done some temporary filling of crack so uh they're still playable uh but they do need an improvement Thank You Vince and we do have the money we do have money in the budget and we we feel that number I mentioned uh could could do it but once Kim Le horn gets a better look at it you know and again it's budget time we may be able to add a little to the following year thank you and I just have to say you and your staff take such ownership with how you do your projects and it's very appreciated and also um Jessica Jessica did mention uh Lany sheets she's she isn't here today but she's been real instrumental in putting some of this design together very very true uh I need a motion and a second to approve this bid so moved second okay vice mayor fry commissioner Walker okay final comments vice mayor no I mean this is been a long time coming appreciate the pickle Ballers patience I know sometimes it was pretty thin uh appreciate the tennis players patience because this has been a thing where people got pitted against each other in ways that you know is unfortunate um but it wasn't anybody's fault I mean this happened uh maybe we should have been a little better ahead of the curve but I think Ben you tried to tell us and uh but we're here and we're here and it's happening and so by the Fall we'll all be playing and Kathy did train me a little bit so maybe once I'm healthy I'll be back out there but uh so I'm I'm real excited about the project okay commissioner Walker yeah I'm I'm very excited about this as well I think the passion of the pickle ball Community here in Denon is absolutely undeniable and uh I will say that uh having um actually inadvertently attended a pickle ball tournament in Grand Rapids I think I can attest to the fact that it is a very rapidly growing sport I was just surprised at how many venues were repurposed for the purpose of the tournament as well as all the participants that were were in the city at that particular Point um the other thing uh just in terms of the staff I Vince and your staff you guys really kept on this and got us to a solution that uh I think we can all be proud of and excited about so thank you commissioner thank you mayor it's just a wonderful example of the good thing that come together when we all get together so it's a wonderful project uh Vince just my thoughts on the overall shade structure or the lack thereof um at at some point if our summers continue that's going to be u a necessity I know for sports like this for sports like tennis uh actually in my opinion they're always half used you can go out to any of these Courts at 2 in the afternoon and there's nobody there rightfully so cuz it's too hot to play uh so what we'll do do is if demand for pickle ball increases and I know that demand is actually already here and some of them would say we need 20 courts uh instead of going down that route and have 20 courts that are half used look for a way that this can be used full-time um and I just think it's cheaper a little more efficient and saves a little green space all right but uh overall it's a Well Done project good commissioner torer thank you I'm very pleased that we have an ongoing solution both for pickle ball and for tennis and uh I'm delighted with this plan looks good to me thanks well guys you worked really really hard I mean and so did we but um the advocacy that you guys have shown about something that you're so passionate about is really commendable and when I look at you I think of this is exactly what deden is doesn't matter what the subject is it matters about the effort that you put into your community to advocate for yourselves and your your teammates or your colleagues or whatever the situation is you guys are what make me proud to be a part of this community so thank you for all the work that you've done yourselves a little hand Jennifer I know you have some things to say I do and thank you mayor vice mayor and Commissioners and and I very very much appreciate your comments in regards to staff and Jessica your comments in regards to the commission and administration and um I wanted to add uh uh special thanks to Vince and to Lany and to Joselyn uh Bruce as well but especially to Vince who has really driven this effort and this project forward you remember some of you may have been on that meeting at that meeting on January 4th of 2023 really difficult meeting uh and it was it was to move forward from there to get here has been you know a huge effort uh and Vince we meet every other week on a one-on-one and every week every other week we talk about pickle ball and he's really been pushing it and I'm really you know you really want your director of Parks and Recreation to be there to push this type of thing to say our community needs it we've got to do it keep on pushing it moving it forward and still con you know continue to meet with the tennis players to find out what it is that they need um so I'm really proud of Vince and his staff and what we've been able to do here um looks beautiful it really does and I can't wait for the ribbon cutting so thanks very much thank you mayor any last Works SP I can't say anything more than that thank you Jennifer okay appreciate it but I also do want theis committee and and and the and you said it mayor pretty much the people that are in this room today have really been behind me and the project really cool isn't it let's do a roll call vote please commissioner GA hi commissioner TGA hi commissioner Walker hi vice mayor frainy hi mayor Bowski Hi and then motion passes unanimously hey can we get all the pickle Ballers to come up here can we get a big group picture I I just really think it's important we'll just stand up but I I just you know it's just a great view point of what we can all do together look at Sue Sue is not sure if her phone can do that maybe we can get a tall person a racket I could hold just come here and then look that way it's awesome yeah Charlie yeah come on Charlie need everybody to squeeze in though yeah yeah you guys got to squeeze in a lot she's hating yeah I know it I don't care how you do yeah I see one day there we got a tall guy right back there I'm standing on my tippy toes early in the morning can you get the be I'm I'm tipping actually awesome all right thank you you Jessica thank you oh you're welcome so we're going to take a quick break while these guys disperse thank you for your advocacy all right we're going to take a quick break five [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] minutes [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] yeah [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] yeah [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] to get four people within number of absences that we have uh due to Vacation sick leave uh Extended Medical Leave military leave education we're still running with a minimum of three people on each apparatus so this would allow us to reduce some of the overtime as well by adding these six firefighters so did I cover everything I think any questions okay yeah we've got questions I'm sure okay you want me to start sure okay um Chief remind me the four and the truck issue cuz I know it's to go in the building to stay out to do just remind me how that works and how does that truly play into our operation since that's for fires and 85% of what we do is medical just kind of if you could help me through that right and this this grant Bas is based on fire so it's not based on EMS but the basically we have four if you have four people on a a ladder truck you're allowed to have two people run the ladder the aerial at that one time and the other two would be able to do some interior work as well uh ventilation uh searching walking around a building to 360° U search to to evaluate the the construction of the building and what the conditions are so that's where we would benefit from having those four people on the ladder truck especially and in in the way that our system works like how fast do you get so much um from other departments for like a big fire event does that become a real Factor it it does it varies uh based on the number of calls as you said you know most of the majority of our calls are ems calls so we'll see uh especially nowadays um you know we we gave you that chart there 2007 till now we've increased 40% of our calls you know per year uh we've actually from last year station 60s area we've increased was it 400 and some OD calls over last year uh to this date um so we're our number of calls are increasing which means the number of units have haven't been added uh except for rescue 60 in our area uh but that's means that these units are busy they're you know we do training uh with the the county we do North County training so we have units unavailable able uh if we have to transport a patient that means our unit's down uh if we run into Bayfront or any of the Trauma Centers we're out of the area for extended period of time that takes the whole engine out of service because our paramedic has to ride in with the ambulance so there's any number of reasons why we would be relying on Mutual Aid to come in and and again they're further distance away they have to fight the traffic issues to get into the city uh as you know 580 is no uh no gy to get get through uh rush hour or any other time of the day lately here but uh so it's it again it varies what the time of day is obviously and and the activities the calls that we're on well this is a necessary question but I'm I'm relatively certain no one up here has had the experience I just had where I actually got to personally try out our new transport unit and I will say that we waited for something star and while we waited I was in a lot of pain so I was given pain med and and I didn't even understand it but with the pain med like even with if senstar had gotten there in time one of our firefighters would had to stay with me because they've given me a pain med and they're the only ones so they would have they would have to stick with me through the ER so again bogs our people down and um and our firefighters were amazing by the way and um so it's just interesting how those things can over overlap but either way because Sunstar just wasn't coming um you know I got to ride in our new transport unit so so can I add to that can I add to that when I broke my back in 2010 and we were waiting for you you know everybody to come to the den Marina um hey I just couldn't breathe because the pain was so excruciating and um Sunstar I think you all maybe have arrived at the same time I really don't remember it was a little hazy on it but Sunstar wasn't going to give me any pain medicine and you all advocated for a den Eden resident to say it's very clear because I mean I couldn't breathe because the pain was so bad so yeah I think so it's exactly why the transport unit makes sense to have and with our call volume we prove that out I mean I one of the things that I did ask Jennifer because a lot was put on call volume in their backup but my question was well I think in a lot of ways we've proved out call volume that's how we got the transfer unit so to me it's not as much about call volume is are we appropriately having enough staff to do what we have to do out in the field and and I think when you look at our overtime the answer is a resounding no um so um so I don't really have any other questions at this at this stage so but I appreciate this I absolutely support this yeah could could I add to it and just with Sunstar real quick they they went back when we got through Co they as well were trying to they're going through their times with the the Staffing so they instituted a BLS unit which is basic life support unit which doesn't have a paramedic on it so any of those calls like your reference to your call that's new to us that we would have to ride in with that patient if it was an ALS patient I appreciate that I did have one other question so in the other departments in county is it more common than not to have at least four on the engines or is that still a work in progress yeah that it it's work in progress they um they do like to do that uh again this is just a hit and miss type of thing if we have a great day where everybody shows up to work and we would be able to staff war on the vehicle we can't do it today because we're still missing those two you know one for engine 60 and one for the truck but but that's the goal but we just can't nowadays it seems like we're always you know we allow two people off on vacation we have sick people we have one out right now on an extended medical leave uh we have one on an extended military leave so we just can't seem to get ahead so I guess that that again emphasizes it's not as much about it's nice to have four on the engine if you can but in a lot of ways it's can we just keep it adequately staffed overall and not have to take it out of St and that was one of the big things we heard our crews you know in the last couple years when we were going through the The Growing Pains here trying to keep people is that they were working excruciating hours of overtime and they just didn't have time to spend with their families and hence the idea of the switching the shifts to the 4896 where they got to spend more time at home as well with their families but it's always been a concern lately as of late to to just get people where we can reduce the amount of overtime so this would help with that as well okay thank you commissioner than um I saw this is as really two particular issues and see if I'm correct or I think you've already stated that but I saw this as simply a safety issue um first of all and certainly certainly when you're working uh when you got two and two um to me I thought that was the safety side for having the four on the on on the vehicle but then also Prin ially because of all the stress that's been put on on our firefighters from from the work that they're doing and all the overtime hours I mean it's just been incredible so I that's how I saw this is that is that correct I'll make my comments later but yes sir that that's the way like I just talked about the overtime relief there that's that would be helpful and also we have what they call the two in two out and I think vice mayor talked about a little bit there but we have when an engine arrives by statute we have to have two people inside or two in order for two people to go inside we have to have two people outside and they don't count The Incident Commander is one of those two outside so the more the more Staffing that we can get to make that four uh person crew the faster we we'll be able to attack fires as such uh the only op the only option that we can get out of that is if there's immediate threat through life uh you know that we can go in with with three people on a a crew but we would rather have the four you know and be safe with that thank you okay questions no no questions questions uh yeah just a just a quick one um you just uh Chief you just made a comment um with regards to the safer Grant opportunity is based on fire and not EMS um I'm it's a little unclear on on kind of how both of those requirements get covered I see the Fire part of it but I mean um are we are we still going to be impacted by EMS certified qualified individuals yeah we're we're not changing the people that we hire we still want firefighter paramedics and we'll put them through school if they're missing one or the other uh the thing that we're learning from the safe for Grant is that it's based on firefighters so it's not based on they don't want to hear the are going to put a rescue in service with paramedics because that's not what this grant is about it's about putting firefighters on in the seats so we just had the benefit of cross trining them to do both yeah uh yeah I have no further questions okay um I don't have any questions I got them all answered is there anybody from the public that which wishes to come forward and speak to this item okay um we'll come back to the maker of the motion um um vice mayor no I mean i' I've been concerned about our level of overtime and and making sure we don't have to take units out of service um for some time and I think this is a very um it's great that we're doing this and and I hope that we're lucky enough to to get some firefighters out of this I think you know so I'm very supportive thank you uh commissioner trer I fully support the program thanks for bringing to us and I hope this we can get this done as quick as possible if nothing more than for safety for our guyses commissioner gal uh thank you mayor um I didn't have any questions just you know put my concern first I'm in support of this but at least want to recognize that for the number of employees that we're adding it's because of a grant that after a certain period of time the city is going to absorb that that personnel and the number of personnel that we're absorbing would we be absorbing them in that period of time have we not had the grant to begin with and and so I just want to right are we grabbing at free money now at the expense of future budget concerns in in in the future that's just a concern thought in my head if you'd like to respond you may it looks like you do and you wait till the end certainly okay all righty and then other than that like certainly do want to recognize the overtime and the concern and stress that puts on the individual and thereby the department as well I also have my own concerns about future heat related events and things like that that are going to come and it's not going to be an individual necessarily it's going to be groups of people and things of that nature which is going to require more personnel and so it's because of all those issues I do certainly support this item before us but I just at least wanted to put that that budget concern out there mayor yes thank you we uh intend uh in fiscal year 2028 to absorb those six positions if we're awarded those six positions I've been working with les Tyler our Director of Finance as far as what that looks like this is a general fund expenditure and so the impact is on the general fund so we're being very careful to monitor what that impact would be moving forward um uh I am very hopeful that we get all six positions if it's three then we'll take three um moving forward but we do intend to absorb that and we're going to make sure that we have the ability in the general fund in year 2028 to absorb those and um um Jennifer if you can also just elaborate on the you know the way you're looking at it is the reduction of the overtime costs that we're currently paying right so it's not just a a an add-on of whatever the dollar amount we're going to pay these people it's right some of it is an exchange for what we're already paying out so there are two reductions that we're looking at 12% from the county to begin with in 2028 um and also it's it's we pay a we budget for overtime in the fire department every single year and every city does because there's unfortunately there's always going to be overtime in the fire department so we last year we we had about 22,500 hours of overtime I think in the fire department of that 20,000 of it was leave annual leave medical leave military leave and that type of a thing so we're hoping that in the future moving forward we're going at least be able to offset um the overtime and the leave time with with just general fund monies so it is it is it's it's essentially a wash moving forward so um but we are looking forward to I think I want to emphasize that it's not just straight overtime it is overtime because of people who are on leave because of people who are on sick leave because of people who are on military leave and so um and we need to address that and I think that this is the um and the way this has been conveyed to to to me by fire admin is that this is the fix that we need for that overtime and it's har approach to get right money right can I tack on to that though um maybe I'm wrong but it's been my experience with fire service that to some extent they like some overtime oh yeah they do truth than that yes so again I I just think as we hopefully we get all six positions between the time of that and the time of Our intention to try to absorb it um that we understand the Dynamics of what this did what it didn't do and and we have a clear analysis of that right just to speak to the uh the kind of scheduled overtime or the the the yes the firefighters do enjoy the ability to have some of that over time um we run the Duneden blue J's games all summer long we're running the the dun Eden uh football games for the high school we have multiple special events throughout downtown that offer um the firefighters the ability to to work some of that and the nice thing about those are those are scheduled uh you know we can look at a calendar you know three months in advance and know exactly when those events are and people can plan their lives around it and and decide to take it or not um we of late have had very few times that we've had to mandatory a firefighter to work a special event just because the fact that we know when they are great thank you and by the way thank you for that cuz I remember the days when there wasn't a standby person at the dunan high school football games yeah and we appreciate that because that was something we worked really hard on to support our school back when I was schoolly yeah we're excited to to be able to be a part of that again uh this is our second year doing it so and plan on you know continuing that as we move forward that relationship's been good with them thank you uh commissioner final comments yes ma'am uh you know as I I think one of the the biggest the most important issues is uh making sure that our First Responders have a quality of life and uh the the um limitations of of morale and such are significantly impacted by the current state of our overtime um I view this as being one of the biggest issues that we face and uh I will say that I was very excited when this was brought to us with regards to being an eloquent way to solve one of the biggest issues that we have um so I'm obviously in favor of this very strongly um I uh I I will um maybe have a little bit of a different perspective on the budgetary concerns um the yes the budgetary concern making this decision um at the potential expense for future budgetary decision um is is not the way I would look at it I look at this as being a way to fix a near-term problem the the second part of this is is that um I think it's our responsibility to make sure that this doesn't you know doesn't we we not kicking the can down the road um in the hope that you know we're going to be uh able able to solve this through attrition and and everything associated with it um but uh I I the city manager provided great um a great remedy for that but I think just be mindful that as as leaders of the city we're just going to be have to keep an keep an eye on this because I you know two years from now um you know we want to make sure we're fully staffed and you know we're not we're not spending you know ton and overtime and that more importantly the crews have their quality life and uh you know everything associated with what you know they deserve so anyway that's all I've got thank you thank you I I got they've said it all so have no concerns I'm actually excited that we did have this approach so good job on coming up with it okay uh I think I asked for public input didn't I I have none yeah okay all right roll call vote please commissioner Walker hi commissioner gal hi commissioner torga hi vice mayor Bry I mayor Bowski I and that motion passes unanimously thank you thank you gentlemen thank you commissioner okay we have the reimbursement agreement um with Verizon for undergrounding at a cost of about 880,000 Bob yes Mayor Bob irith director of economic IC development uh this is in conjunction with the skinner complete streets project if you recall uh from the commission recently approved this going from four lanes to two lanes creating a safer environment has two roundabouts 7 foot bike lane 10 foot wide sidewalks and in that was also the undergrounding of utilities to remove the blight and uh there are some joint users on the Duke poles this is one of them MCI Metro also Verizon and this would uh be a reimbursement agreement get those uh utilities uh underground they would go ahead and do some directional bore there would be no impact to U any um the U consumers no impact whatsoever and this is the first we got a couple others that we'll be coming to you here in the near future which would be Frontier wow and uh and Spectrum so I'd be happy to answer any questions that you that you might have this is the first step to undergrounding those utilities overhead any questions there's there one okay so this again I think you you say it in the but in the Staffing I just want to reiterate because there's so many of them um so all of these collocations have been factored in excuse me to our total cost and budget to get skinner done I mean there's no surprises here uh that's correct vice mayor it's all been budgeted and accounted for this party overall project and you know as a result of of efforts from Jenifer and Jorge U you know the Duke uh was less so actually we're a little bit ahead of the game but yeah it was all factored in great I like being ahead of the game that's perfect okay thank you anybody else with a question yes since this is the first one correct yes commissioner um and your estimating we're going to have X amount of others uh after this as you just said uh how close did this come to what we estimated it it to be uh very close we were right in there around the 80 grand number so very very close on this one yeah we got pretty good numbers on it but uh thank you commissioner anybody else with questions anybody from the public wish to speak to this item it's not pickle ball I know it's not as nobody's rushing to watch that's okay I know all right can I have a motion to approve second second third no okay vice mayor fry and commissioner Walker any final comments from anybody okay uh all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed motion passes [Applause] unanimously Okie do now we have the proposed agenda for April 16th work session all looks good to me any questions or changes okay can I have a motion to approve so moved second commissioner torot and commissioner gal all in favor signify by saying I I any opposed motion passes unanimously okay we have our Workshop item which is the discussion of amendment to city services agreement with Empower Financial Services Teresa we should go quick right good morning again good morning again uh uh VI uh mayor vice mayor commission Theresa Smalling director of HR and risk management for the city uh as uh in your Staffing we talked a little bit about the what we are looking to do and I have a brief PowerPoint to just go over all the high points of what was in um the your your Staffing so uh just a little bit of a a primer uh the city has uh two uh vehicles for retirement that are available to uh for the for 41 A are our general employees and for the 457b all all of our eligible employees the 401a plan is 100% funded by uh City contributions the employees do get to choose what funds that the money goes into uh when they first start it's defaulted into what's known as a Target date fund uh so that uh which basically gives them puts it in a 30-year plan that they can fund that they can change at any time the 457b is 100% employee contributions and they also get to choose what funds uh they want to put those monies in on the next slide just gives a asset summary of the 401a the dark blue as the target date funds uh that I just spoke about and then uh the 457 the similar break down with the the various plans that are chosen by employees so what we're here to discuss today is the capital preservation investment option which we referred to as a guaranteed government fund uh currently the ggf that's provided by Empower has um uh is makes up about 14% of the total plan assets that's 189 participants and then of that 35% of a total 541 participants are have funds invested in the ggf so the we have 54 employees uh or participants I should say uh who only are invested in the ggf that means all their money is in that one uh fund um and that represents approximately $3.6 million uh the credit rate or the return on the investment right now as of uh quarter one of 2024 is at 1.9% so that's almost like a savings account so the things that we were looking at uh currently we have a 7-year service agreement with Empower it was awarded in 2020 to through the RFP process and at the time we looked at the uh ggf and the the main factor of not switching then was if you remember the the current um Market at the time uh there would be um we could incur SE losses because of the way the market was if we made that transfer so we put it off and kind of uh asked one digital who's our investment uh partner if you will to kind of track it for us and as of last year as the market improved the environment became a little better for us to consider going changing so we there are um similar Capital preservation Investments as well as money market funds that now offer higher rates uh Empower service agreement does not allow us to add on so we would have to basically uh get rid of the the current ggf in order to move forward with a a plan with a higher investment or higher credit rating that is so um just the what we call the market value adjustment if we move if we switch the the ggf and power does require what we call a penalty depending on the market and what the value of what we're moving is as of the time that we we want to move um and they do not offer if we we considered if we just requested that Empower give us a different Capital uh preservation option and they do not allow that because they will not absorb any type of loss so as you can see um right now as of December 31st we're looking at possibly um 375 because of the way our our um the market is and I can have Ron talk a little bit about that if you have questions on that later so if we um ask one digital to look at a couple of uh options for us and uh they in talking with Empower uh were told that Empower would accept the link stable value or the standard Apex guarantee uh what the graphic shows you is the current uh credit rating un adjusted uh of empow 1.9 standard is about 5.25 and Lincoln's about 4.75 and these figures are as of uh late March so you know knowing the market this can change from time to time uh the credit rating with if we do the MVA penalty uh would drop uh the rates to 1.79 4.91 and 4.41 respectively um and then there would be a period so there would be a period where the standard and Lincoln would recoup the the loss that they absorbed over a certain amount of years and that's shown there so for the first 4.25 years we would get a return of 3.46 on the standard and for the first 5 years it would 3.21 for Lincoln uh so even with taking the penalty and going through that that period of recouping the loss you can clearly see that you know the employees would still get a rate of return that's better than what they're getting now with Empower so just things to consider as I mentioned before um there would be an our asset base fee which is right now at1 1 uh which was negotiated down from 0.18 at the time of uh the RFP process would go up to 0.15 and there would be an additional 30 asset based fee assessed for Empower to recoup what they're losing from no longer having a ggf with the city uh there would be also some uh changes in the other benefits that power gives to us uh so that just shows with the um distributions there may be some uh additional cost and the employee education days that Empower provides would be reduced now I do want to stress that in this whole transaction employees do not lose any value to their assets their their assets would not be impacted in any way so we do recommend and ask for consensus direct consensus direction from the city commission to uh continue in this process of looking at another Capital preservation option and then if a commission does allow for this we will come back to a future work session um with this agendized uh for final approval and that just gives us our limits and thresholds so at this time uh we're happy to take any questions that your com comments that you may have okay I'm going to start at this in any questions Jeff Rob for me question I have questions MH um so I mean I hear 1.9 and it sounds horrible because my investments that I keep you know through a mar prize you know are you know again the typical 12% a year so and I worry about the retirement plan for our employees that they are going to have enough to you know live on um when they actually do have to retire or want to retire um so I'm trying to understand let me ask one question um HR who who was who oversaw the bid originally in 2022 for the company like who who evaluated the bid we uh Empower I'm sorry one digital as our uh consultant uh put the helped us put the bid together we evaluated with them find HR um and our one digital examined and came up with the final list can I ask Les to weigh in on this and recommendation and how this is so low at least in my mind with the rest of the world yeah don't fall down good morning mayor vice mayor Commissioners Les Tyler the finance director uh yeah uh I was involved in the RP process that uh you just asked Teresa about and uh you know uh Empower has this guaranteed fund that's not flexible and and we've been in it for a while and uh as Teresa mentioned we've had Ron our consultant uh here with us today who's been looking at the market the past few years and the markets uh you know change to where it makes sense to go out and look at other opportunities uh you know as Teresa mentioned uh the the Lincoln and and the other fund just mentioned uh they're they're earning uh one of the things when you look at the the fund we're in now if you look at the last uh three years or so as an example or even more than that maybe five years that 1.9 doesn't change a lot it's it's it's it's it's moved a little bit but not much uh it's not it's not moved with the market and that's kind of what you're getting at I know and so uh what we're we've been watching the market for a while Ron has and and and you know we think it's a good time to make a move now to try to get something more closer you know we'll be at uh we we instead of 1.9 we'd be a be it about 3.5 or six whatever that number was for the next four years and then it then it would go to market and and that that will fluctuate more with Market uh in these other funds but it would be a better return then we we've been getting with our current situation with Empower so I'm sorry vice mayor I do want to point out now that that 1.9 is just for one Fund in the entire of funds so the the the this option the ggf is basically a savings account when you just put the money in there and it doesn't do much in the market so it's potentially the most conservative option that we have so shifting that right so what what we've been doing over the years in working with Empower um is because Empower has been with the city since about 2009 what we have been doing through the Empower rep Christina is uh reaching out to those employees that only have money in invested in that ggf and kind of because I know it's scary you know the market everybody's scary but with retirement over time you may lose money but you're always going to gain they call it dollar cost averag and as you all know so this what we're talking about is just uh as it says here you know 14% of our plan assets are invested in that fund but we have a whole menu of other options so people can take something much more aggressive if they're younger and they have time correct all right so this is okay that that does help me that's how the target date funds are set up so that the further out you are the more aggressive your Investments and and the closer you get to retirement the more conservative the Investments become okay that that makes sense that does help thank you appreciate it um I don't think I have any other questions thank you anybody else questions I I'll go ahead questions okay goad so uh when I looked at this proposal um I I assumed that I would be doing exactly what I'm doing right now I'm going to ask just a couple quick questions and later I'll give I'll give my my POS what I think we ought to be doing with this but um as I looked at this uh I I I had some degree of comfort that that only 14% of our money was in here um and and I'm very pleased I think I heard you correct because here was my question my question was have we been and can we have we been advising our our uh our employees that we we got a this one particular fund is is not well um and so if you're willing to accept that well then there you go um it's guaranteed right yes it is guaranteed it's guaranteed so somebody may say fine I I'm willing to put 5% of my monies in that um I I don't know but so that is that is correct and that they've been advised and and that's that's really important that's the important part we just happen to have a flat tire here uh in this particular Fund in my opinion and I don't know how that happened so my second question was how did that happen how how did this get um just out of curiosity how' this get just so blown out of out of proportion compared to what you can get any place any place I'm going to um allow Ron to there's some history involved with that uh you can you can make it short yeah the the the these and and I I'm glad everyone understands that there's a lot of investment options offered to employees the city's obligation just like any other you know institution we work when we work with you know six other municipalities here in penel County helping them councel your your the the the city's job is to offer quality Investments and we monitor those quarterly and if they fail to meet Benchmark standards we'll recommend replacing or removing them this is the one investment option that it's a little bit more difficult to do that you know because we have we have this behind the scenes contractual obligation that that if we wanted to move it we have to deal with this market value adjustment penalty if the interest rate environment is one that that would trigger that um so that that's part of the answer is that we watch it um but we have to it it there's more impact than we change like if I change a large Company stock fund from T price to JP Morgan the city the city approves it um that happens overnight proper communication to employees it's very simple and seamless uh the second part of this answer so it's a little bit more complicated contractually with this this this specific investment the most boring investment in the invest menu by the way is sometimes the most complex um the second part is that this type of investment we kind of call this a stable value investment they're only available to be offered within employer sponsored employee employer sponsored plans for employees you can't get this with your aor prize uh account for the for for you know for that reason um and just predictability of cash flows I could get a lot deeper in this I'll I'll refrain stay high level um but one of the benefits of these stable value funds is they tend to be able to pay above short-term interest rate Market yields in a lot of in interest rate environments um and they're more stable um than money markets for example money markets just three years ago were paying you know 03 8% and this was paying over 1 and a half% so it does benefit employees in low interest rate environments we're obviously not in a low interest rate environment and the magnitude of the difference between short-term interest rates and where we are now has been magnified so that that is it's not been a poor investment in fact it's outperformed short-term interest rate environments many cycles but right now and as the FED raised rates so much and as we might not see them cut rates as we see that in Publications it's very important and prudent for us to consider this and that's why we're bringing it forth to you well so thank you so then I I I really shouldn't say that it's a flat tire because I I understand what this is It's a guarantee uh no no matter what happens you you're going to get this so there'd be people that would put some percentage of their money in this it depends on how much money you have Etc as to how much of a concern you'd have about this so we didn't start out with this much higher and and have it have it come down we're just discovering that hey we're not really quite happy with this and we know there's other guarantees that we can get funds that are that are going to be better than this is that correct that that's correct and and in a lot of other in in other contracts we're able to add as TR mentioned earlier a more competitive short-term interest rate option like a money market for example City of St Petersburg did that and their plan um we're just not able to do that here so we're having to look outside but yes we this is this whole conversation is a product of ongoing due diligence monitoring staying on top of this to make sure the employees have very competitive investment options for their program and compl competitive we going to go through comments now or not are you to make my comment wait for all the questions okay then we're going to do comments yes yeah thank you questions okay y go ahead yeah the only thing um and I just want to make sure I got the math right um the market value adjustment of $360,000 um it appears to be covered by the performer project ed u um rate increase is that correct yes the there's there's several of these investment managers that will agree to if you allow them to have their fixed account investment in the plan they will agree to absorb any negative penalty make the employees whole so their 100 cents in a dollar stays 100 cents in a dollar and they finance that over a period based and and reduce the rate in this case the rate that they would reduce to is still considerably higher than what we are seeing with Empower so it teams to be a one- win okay yeah that that was really kind of the only thing that kind of jumped out at me on this um anyway no further questions thank you okay anybody from the public wish to speak to this at all okay we're looking for some consensus Direction um to and then your bringing something back right Jennifer that's great okay um everybody have consensus direction of moving forward I I I'm delighted to have them at all times looking at ways to improve so yes yes for me as well I think continue the consensus direction is to continue to review this is my understanding okay I'm in favor of that okay anybody have any final comments commissioner t you had you wanted no just that I'm very happy that we're looking at this and and understanding it and making sure that the employees know that we're looking at it and and and observing it and trying to find a better deal for them so always thank you yeah I mean I I agree with that and I agree with the fact that we continue to educate our employees to make sure they know and they're thinking through that decision based on you know what the the return can be so thank you anything from you guys uh just deing everything that everybody else has said um yeah 1.9 that 1.9% that's but I understand the premise of that fund but you know I'm glad that we are looking at ways to improve that thank you thank you for bringing it Forward we're good thank you thank you awesome okay now we're going to move to informational items commission discussion I didn't don't think I got anything on that that I saw uh city clerk's update um thank you mayor I actually have a few things today um let me time stamp that um the first thing I wanted to talk about is at the last meeting you had mentioned the May 16th meeting and asked us to do some research on it because of a um Awards type dinner visit thing yeah visit St P clear water and so I did print out the um May 16th agenda and currently um the only item on that is National safe um voting week Proclamation that is um that May 18th through the 24th so um depending on uh the discussion and what how to move forward um we could reach out to them and um have them move but currently I do not have any it's a little early so there aren't any action items currently on that agenda right now and so Jennifer are you okay with it all yes we have nothing nothing but that one item okay so so the question is and I don't even know the location yet and I don't even know all the businesses that um will be in the top three usually it's top three um but I think I shared with you the 20 some names you probably saw it on our newsletter 20 or 30 I don't remember uh that are a part of this so I just feel like it's something we should participate in so are you guys willing to do that cancel that meeting and go to go to this event this is a Thursday night right right I don't know uh in the future are you going to be open to cancelling a Thursday morning Tuesday morning just kidding I'm kidding it's a joke okay you really do owe me that I I think that I mean I think it's a one I think if we don't have things on the agenda and there's a way to support our community in a different way that probably makes 100% Good Sense totally agree yep you're here John no I I agree if we have as soon as I get so we're we're then consensus Direction canel meeting as soon as I get the information um I checked this morning before I got here to see if they posted it yet and they have not um we'll get Lindsay on getting us tickets and I just think it's a good way to go out and support our business community and show the love to visit St p clar i mean we know it's going to be in the Tampa Bay area right I mean yeah we're not traveling no it'll be it'll be somewhere we can go yeah okay yeah somewhere in pelis County we just don't know where I know it's at 5:30 I just don't know where to be determined and and and I don't know how many but I have gone to this before in the past yeah I have too there are I mean we always have a number of deden winners so I just somebody from deden will win something and I just feel like it's good for us to go and when we plan ahead it's easier that way that's why brought forward get that off the um peek and a couple other items thank you mayor um I did want to give an update on the general election on um the candidates we did have um one candidate since I last briefed you that decided to withdraw so I still have um three for the mayor um Marine Morini John TGA and John shine and two for seat one Tom Dugard and Shane worth and then Steven sandberger would be um seat three but I just wanted to give an update on that and then I also have um an update um the Citizens Academy um we just met yesterday and kind of finalize some of the dates and they're on your calendar we did meet with Lindsay and make sure that those dates um were so starting May 1st actually the um Citizens Academy through June 14th we'll get that on the website and that will be the application period just in case that you um get any questions on that and then just the last thing that I had is I just wanted to it's all on your calendar but I I will be out of the office all next week and a couple of days of the following week um to attend my son's wedding and um get some great uh grandbaby time and spend some time with my family so uh Michelle will be here but I'll have my laptop um I'll check it on occasion and have my phone but I just want to give you a heads up that I'll be out of the office and tell me again the dates you're out of the office um starting next Monday okay um through uh the 16th the Tuesday so I'll be about a week and two days gotcha you usually put it in our calendars yes it's already it should be already in your calendar yes so and um that's all I had thank you any questions for Rebecca thank you Rebecca city manager update I have no update there you go yay City attorney update nothing going on I do have an update we decided to switch this time um so just very briefly um earlier this morning you approved a piggybacking agreement for sidewalk repairs and unfortunately it's coming to my attention that the agreement that was provided in your packet um was not the most up to-date the changes that are different between what you previously looked at and what um is now before you is are minor there was a weas clause that was added to the agreement that just simply stated that you desire to continue to maintain and repair it sidewalks as needed and the contractor has agreed to repair and perform the maintenance on the city sidewalks in accordance with the original contract and then the only other change was in exhibit B and there was just some minor languaging with regard to um changes in the level of the sidewalk so the scope didn't change and the dollar amount didn't change um but so the record is clear we would like a new um consideration of the commission and in approving the revised contract a new vote a new vote okay can I have a motion in a second second okay commissioner TGA and commissioner gal all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed motion passes unanimously thank you thank you okay uh Commission and comments vice mayor well I'm just going to focus on uh my last two weeks and I want to just thank particularly the two firefighters that came to my rescue literally in downtown denen with my accident um firefighter EMT Derek Courier and fire uh firefighter paramedic Nick Kosco hope I'm saying this right they were uh no less than amazing in a time of Crisis and I'm extremely appreciative to them I'm also extremely appreciative that we have a fantastic uh Den me hospital ER and uh Roy and Sam two of the guy nurses Sam's both of them guys and um they're they were amazing and um but the care there is just is really great and so uh and uh as I was laying on the ground um I had someone call uh uh commissioner gal to see if he could go to the Elks event for me that night of the incident and he stepped up within because it was 2 hours before it or something and he stepped up and did it appreciate that cuz I know the Elks really appreciated that uh one of the events I could not go to was the John morone dinner and I know some of you did and I hated to miss that and um but U I'm sure it was it was a great evening and uh the one of the uh other things I hated to miss but it was the day after surgery and I was not in a good place um was U Peter Ker's um book um um book signing and and Peter's been you know a great person for this community and I hated to miss that but uh I heard it went well I heard it was well attended and that makes me happy it was at the public library but so but in general I'll be I'll be U basically as I said I'll be bumming a lot of rides here in the next month uh so hope you all be open to that and uh but I appreciate the support so thank you and the community because I had a lot of great comments from the community and things and it's very appreciative appreciated well we're very glad that you're on the amend yep good for you commissioner TOA I have no comments to or updates for the Lea on commissioner g g uh yeah sorry um it's okay um yeah just real quickly uh we had some good conversation psda just wanted to bring everybody up to date I don't really discuss psda nearly as much as I should uh but we did receive an update we have a new Transit Center that's going to be coming at downtown Clearwater at the owner of Court Street and Myrtle uh and that is coming along that's all going to be paid for through Federal funding with local contributions from the Flor Department of Transportation for pangas and the land was contributed by the city of clear water so kudos to the city of Clearwater uh it's going to be a multimodal transportation or transfer facility it's going to include room for electric fleets um hailing taxis pedestrians bicycles so it's going to be really something that's wonderful that's coming uh the sunrunner uh Corridor which is has been getting some attention lately attention attention uh and I just wanted to you know there's some really good information that's a 10m route that the Sun Runner travels and along that route um I just want to talk about the Redevelopment activity that comes with multimodal and public transit and um brt bus routes we have a total residential units being uh currently planned or in production 14,750 total commercial square fet is 2,675 th000 and the total estimated value of $9.4 billion for for St Pete and that's what public transit uh multimodal can can do for you uh psda just had an audit that ended uh uh September 30th and in the sexy world of financials and audits uh we received an un unmodified opinion that states that the the financial statements were fairly presented and that's as sexy as it gets in in in audit world uh there were no material weaknesses and no significant deficiencies identified regarding internal control over compliance so kudos to PSTA um also for dunan high school want to say happy 62nd anniversary to dunan High School uh that the school actually opened on September 5th of 1961 to students and the school was actually dedicated April 1st of 1961 so happy birthday Falcons and uh certainly uh last but not least is its Highland Games week so just a reminder that we have our Highland Games this weekend it actually starts on Friday uh it's going to start at 4:30 with festivities down at Pioneer Park and the step off for the pipe band Clan March is at 6:30 uh followed by a full day a full day of Celebration uh with our Haring games at Highlander Park um it'll open at 7:00 a.m. for uh participants 8:00 a.m. for the public and I'm going to run till 6:00 uh it's a big year we're expecting the largest crowd ever at the game so uh please come have a good time and just want to acknowledge that this is the time that they set up before the games and uh tomorrow would be a big setup day for them but it's supposed to rain all or most of the day and so there is a concern over that so they are asking for anyone in the public that would like to come out on Thursday kind of all hands on deck to try and help them catch up because usually they are full days of getting things prepared so we're going to have two days in one on Thursday uh to acknowledge that then they have to turn around and prepare downtown for downtown's event on Friday night so Thursday is a big day so if you've got some extra time to give come on down thank you mayor thank you commissioner Walker I've got nothing to add nothing hey can I just say one thing for you girl uhhuh I I should have mentioned um the day of my accident Jennifer came to the ER and she was nothing less than amazing and she actually went to the the pharmacy to get my prescription for for my painkillers and and uh and she was just a big help and a big moral support so I just didn't want to leave that out thank you and then the blackberries oh my God yeah the blackberries to you know for for uh you know keeping down this falling yeah for yeah anyway I didn't want to forget that because she was right they on scen checking in on me and it was again very appreciated sure so most of you if you haven't seen it we we do have a group visiting us oh there goes our firefighters where's Mo where's Mo hey I'm safe we do have a group from Pennsylvania of retired School teachers coming into town that visit CP cleer reached out to us about um on a bus on Thursday I think it's it's 12: or 12:30 I'm sorry I don't remember coming into the Marina and The Visitor Center the visit donen Merchants Association Etc some staff from the city are going to go down and cre them give them a walking Ma say hello but they'll be floating around downtown for good couple of hours um so that's really awesome also uh Den Eden's good friend Mike manino who used to live here yeah ran for public office in Clearwater cuz he's been living over there five six eight years I don't remember but he also you know kind of grew up in both communities one has election and got sworn in yesterday so he's officially on the dis so we wish him a huge congratulations he'll do a really good job over there yeah and then just one thing I wanted to point out um that we don't have and I thought we should because we had one on our old building well let me ask Jennifer do we have a painted orange anywhere on this building in a conference room outside uh no not that I know not outside I think we should yeah we better take care of that yeah for a lot of reasons yeah but I I mean we had one on our old building and the old building was uh I think we were one of the first people tagged before anybody even knew who was doing it okay so I think in homage to that and omage to a lot of other things it might be nice to even have one on the front one on the back you know I just I just think it would be good I will put it on follow and apparently step's uh Facebook post he's available yes which you know made me think about it um and and any number of other things but I I just think it they're everywhere why not here and especially if they're doing if people are doing little um scavenger hunts that they do go find the oranges we should be on that list thank you uh that's all I've got so if nothing else good for the order we are adjourned yay [Music] [Applause] [Music] e