[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] welome everybody um to our January 25th City Commission meeting we'll call the meeting to order um before we get started into our normal process I believe we're going to have our zoom up and running here in a hot minute we have um commissioner Walker and commission there they are joining us via Zoom um they have the Extraordinary Measures that we've been allowed by state law to allow them to do this um I'll leave it to them to share or not share what that might have been um so you guys can hear me okay we're all good all right okay so uh Jennifer Cowen will you please lead us and the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance let us begin this meeting by taking a brief moment of silence and reflection amen amen I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the repic stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you Jennifer so we'll open up with our presentations our first uh presentation will be Teresa who's going to introduce us to some new uh Personnel at our panel's County Sheriff's North District station for the city of denen Welcome Teresa thank you mayor good evening uh vice mayor commission Teresa Smalling director of HR and risk management for the city as well as the City's liaison to the panel's County Sheriff's office there have been some Personnel changes recently in admin staff and a couple of cpos at um the sheriff's office so I have the pleasure of introducing Captain Melvin Jackson who is a North District station Commander to talk a little bit about those changes welcome Captain Jackson thank you mayor good evening everyone so as uh Teresa just mentioned we've had some turnover in our leadership at the North District station uh Lieutenant Tim Kelly and uh Corporal Tom Goldberg have both been reassigned their Replacements are Lieutenant Tom Montgomery and Corporal Dustin WRA unfortunately or unfortunately the lieutenant couldn't make it tonight but I do have the Corporal here and I just wanted to bring him up and introduce him to you all so that he's not an unfamiliar face so the the corpor and I actually we go back a ways um we've worked in our field training unit together and we've also served on our SWAT team so I'll bring up Cor for w track to tell you a little bit about himself okay thank you thank you for having me welcome good evening thank you uh Corporal White track with the Sheriff's Office uh it's been about 13 years I've been with them I've been in a couple different components as a detective Tac units uh detective in burglary uh and now here at CPO so I'm happy to be here so you're going to be one of our community police Poli in officers correct yes oh good so thank you guys for having me and are you going to be introducing yourself around to all the local businesses of course absolutely yeah I'm going to start attending some of the events um since I just started uh the first one I went to was a dco breakfast yep so it was very good okay very good any questions from anybody well I just did you win a door prize at the dco I did not unfortunately the lieutenant and myself we we did not in the PR but I'll attend the next one I'll attend the next one okay well welcome thank you very much appreciate you all being here and I appreciate you being in D Eden we look forward to getting to know you thank you guys thank you appreciate [Applause] it all right and then next on our agenda um I'd like to recognize Phyllis gorsy our library director who is going to lead the way in recognition of our city of denen Martin Luther King Jor sa contest winners thank you mayor um and I have with me Carrie kicho she's the assistant Library director so she is going to be helping me to pass out these wonderful certificates and gift cards to the winners of our Martin Luther King Jr ESS contest um I want to start by just um thanking our parks and wck Department um the Martin Luther King Jr Unity breakfast was amazing on Saturday January 13th and our essay winners read their essays um at that breakfast um we also have the essays um scanned and on our agenda so that if anybody would like to read them um they were amazing um but I do want to recognize um all of our um essay winners and call them up um so that you can get to see them meet them and we can give them their certificate uh so from denan Highland Middle School we have uh Sashi Gupta you want to come [Applause] up um Amelia Lane from dened and Highland Middle School Isabella lemons from San Jose Elementary School uh Dolce Rodriguez s Camelia from denan high school and Zoe veter from denan high school and I want to thank principal kiblinger he is at every single event um so thank you for being here for our essay winners um and they definitely need some photo ops I know so thank you to all of you their essays were amazing awesome so come on up we'll do [Applause] pictures there you go all right now we got to get the City picture there okay away from this great I'm going to do this way too we'll just all right do parents want to come up and get some pictures I mean come right on up is your Paparazzi one last one thank you so much for the time too hey and I I just do thank you guys so much for for participating in our event but um I just want say that it if you didn't have a chance to read these go on our website and look at our agenda so that you can because they were really impressive um no matter what age group it was it was just so impressive um and let's give him a big round of applause [Applause] again okay guys you can go you're good thank you and for you you guys and your parents you don't have to stick around you you will not we will not feel that you're rude if you want to get up and leave all right yeah super impressive all of them and I've gotten to know all of I'm just I recruited for Library volunteers and parks and W volunteers they're they're signed up aw awesome very good I'm and I and I I know that commissioner gal and commissioner Walker were really impressed they were both at the the event as well okay but they're not not in the picture too bad all right so wow we have our lovely Library ladies um we will go on to our love your library month um I will turn that over to vice mayor frany stop city manager is making me laugh okay love your library month and we do love our library uh 2024 whereas libraries connect people materials and culture to build and sustain a diverse and Vibrant Community and whereas in a world undergoing constant change libraries provide enduring connections to the past and future of our communities Nations and civilizations and whereas the expansion of electronic networks linking libraries and the resources make possible better and more easily accessible information for Library users around the world and whereas libraries provide entry to important research about health economics housing the environment and countless other areas to support better living conditions and to help people lead longer more productive and fulfilling lives and whereas the denan public library offers story times teen programming and summer reading programs to encourage children to begin and continue habits of reading that will benefit their personal and professional lives and whereas the Duneden Public Library supports a competitive Workforce with basic literacy programs computers small business startup job searching and other resources to support businesses and economic development and as if that's not enough we're going to continue on whereas the den Eden Public Library engages the people of den Eden with unique services such as a seed library passport services Museum passes homebound delivery and so much more to enrich their lives and the life of our community and whereas the denen public library creates a welcoming environment for everyone to celebrate the joy of literacy learning creating communicating and culture exchange now therefore I'm Moren mofin by virtue of the authority vested in me as vice mayor of deden Florida and on behalf of the entire city commission do hereby Proclaim February 2024 as love your library month in denen encourage all residents to visit our library and thank our amazing Library staff for their hard work and dedication in making the dunen public library a cultural destination in our city yay you don't have your library dress on today they know well thank you um we know that every day is love your library day um but I do want to thank we have an amazing staff and we do we have so many unique Services just listening to that please come in or and those watching and those here in the audience the library is so much more than what you may have remembered it being you know a quiet place and just books um and as um you mentioned our passport program is amazing we are a passport acceptance facility that is car's baby she is running that and doing a phenomenal job um all of our appointments are booked um we're just it's it's awesome so um if you need a new passport you can sign up to get an appointment for that but we're celebrating the month love your library with some of our favorite friends the friends of the library Library they're hosting their annual book sale um so I just wanted to make an announcement of that um it starts um next week Wednesday January 31st is the member only sale um but if you're not a member you can join on the spot our book sale continues um Thursday February 1st through Saturday the 3rd 9:30 a.m to 300 p.m and all of the funds raised um come directly to the library and support programming for kids teens and adults so um It's a Wonderful way to give back who doesn't need more stuff on there to be red pile um so stop by the library um and again if you haven't been there in a while please come and visit us we've got lots going on so thank you and thank you for your support thank [Applause] you you you should know oh okay who's on it yeah a little okay thank you all right thank you ladies all right now we have um Now's the Time for citizen input anyone wishing to come forward and speaking to any item that is not already on the agenda agenda please feel free to do so um if there is something on the agenda you want to speak to you'll be afforded the opportunity at that time sing or hearing none all right it's action items and I am gentlemen I am changing the agenda order because we have one of our local matriarchs in the house and we need to take care of her so we are going to jump down to two D huh 2D yes 2D which is the first reading of ordinance 24-5 Historic Landmark designation for 611 Lowden Avenue are you there with me guys give me a thumbs up yes okay all right um Jennifer would you please read ordinance 24-5 by title own ordinance 24-5 an ordinance of the city of Duneden Florida designating certain real property located at 611 Len Avenue Duneden Florida 34698 d710 paral number 34- 28-15 d241 2- 00- 0070 with designated meets and Bounds and totaling approximately 62 acres and the residential structure thereon as a local Historic Landmark and providing for an effective date that was resolution 245 read by title only I don't know when it's done until you do that know it's ordinance 24-5 yeah it's ordinance 2405 yes not resolution okay can I have a motion to approve please so moved second okay commissioner frany vice mayor fry and commissioner TOA thank you very much I will turn this over to Francis for the staff report yes good evening Francis Leong sharp planner 2 for the city of denan and this evening we have a presentation for the Historic Landmark designation for the property at 611 Lowden Avenue um this is um also known as The People's home um it is home to Frederick Thomas Peebles and Ken de garanda Stevens and as you can see that we do have a photo a historic photo I'm I'm guessing it's an archival photo of the pe's family that you see at the top and then the bottom image is the present um view of the home and just to get everybody's bearings um it is located at that aerial uh where you see near the corner of wilky and Lowden and based on the criterias for designation um we do have a several list of criterias for designation and I just want to highlight um the two significant um people on on this um for for this uh historical home um Frederick Thomas pees as you see in the timeline um founded K and Peebles um Den's Pioneer law firm in 1925 and then on 1926 um he was among the 35 charter members during the formation of the denan Boat Club and then 1927 he was appointed as judge of the municipal court and then from 19 29 through 1939 and then from 1946 through 1949 he was the City attorney for denan um and then from 1938 through 1940 he was the vice president of denan Gulf club and then during World War II in 1942 he served as a US naval Reserve as Lieutenant senior grade and received an honorable discharge as Lieutenant Commander in 1945 um he was also uh a board one of the board of directors for the bank of denan in 1949 and last but not least um he had been involved with many development projects with a um known um developer Sam Kelner who in um small fact um the roads Spalding uh Spalding Street and fredrica Lane uh were named after um Fred um Frederick and Karine peebles's um s um kids excuse me and then the other individual um miss Karen Peebles um we have an image there um in the spirit of Gasparilla um it appears that she was um queen rela of denan and there's an image right there um in World War II in 1941 she was the chair of denon's Red Cross surgical unit um rallying women to support National Defense efforts and during the war times as well she also participated in night watches from the tower at Edgewater Park and the other U thing that she had done was uh former president vice president and member of Morton F Plant Hospital o auil and foundation and last but not least she was the head of the people's Wallace Day School in Little Red Schoolhouse at the Bellevue B builtmore so a lot of historical and cultural significance um for this home and not only for the historical and cultural significance but just looking at the architectural significance of the structure itself um the peoples did purchase this home um back in 1930 and it is of the style of colonial revival and um as evidence that you see the center Gable front entry pediment support with columns right here and then the symmetry of the building in itself um unfortunately we do not know who the uh Builder and the architect of of the structure but um regardless based on the criteria they do meet the criteria based on the architectural style and the age of the home and just to walk you through um the several um images of the home um based on the side elevations here or side perspectives uh the rear perspective of the home as well as the accessory structures that are sitting on the property and based upon that um the historic preservation advisory committee or hpac uh did hold a public hearing on November 9th 2023 and they did um unan unanimously recommended approval for this historic lmar designation um along with that sta staff finds that the request is consistent with the uh criteria that were evaluated against as well along with h pac's recommendation um staff recommends approval uh for this application and we do have our um matriarch of the yes I would like to see if she would like to come forward and share a little something with us matriarch pretty close pretty close mayor vice mayor Commissioners and staff um I would first of all like to thank all of the work that you have done Francis in getting all of this together and also Kevin conell for getting it started and most of all an tried to prounce Beren berenberg for all research bachenberg thank you for all of the research and extensive amazing research she did on this she found things I didn't know she had that picture of my mother or me in my diapers in front of the house for my father eating watermelon that's how we spent many afternoons you know the the big tub and the ice thing whatnot but the research I so pleased that the house will be intact upon my demise it just it's something that one kind of worries about but more important I am so pleased that all the contributions that my mother and father made to this community are being recognized my father was a very humble man he was known as the the honest Integrity businessman of Flor of Don Eden he had always wore a suit was always very proper and at his death when Greg came up to help empty out his closet he was shocked that he had golf clothes in there he only saw my father and you know very formal suits and type of things uh my mother also volunteered for many things in including from this lot there when the um Police Department was here she would help Chief sheets get together the Christmas gifts for the needy children in the community and she also she also would cook the hot dogs with Chief Sheet's wife at the Independence Day celebration down in the park saving her one time she caught on fire the chief's wife caught on fire mother was first at her she just threw stuff at her and she was fine you know they lived happily ever after but I I am absolutely thrilled that the house is being preserved and even more thrilled as I have said that my parents are being recognized for their contributions thank you thank you very much and thank you everybody back there I think I saw um former vice mayor Deborah K's come in are one of our local historical gurus and of course Kevin and an who strongly support um our historical research and preservation and I see Vinnie are former director of the history museum thank you for being here um is that it I I'll open it up to the public if anybody wishes to speak to this item I'm assuming that you all don't have any questions but I'll go to comments um vice mayor frany you were the maker of the motion no I mean excited to be a part of this Frederica I've known you for a long time and and I I do think it's great that your parents are being recognized too by this too but good for you for wanting to preserve this amazing piece of history and uh and memory of your parents as well so um I'm excited to be up here being able to approve it thank you commissioner Tonga sum it up in one word excellent I really appreciated not only seeing the house and knowing that the house was going to be recognized but I like the presentation that you made about your parents that's fantastic that's the history of our of our people that made done even what it is thank you commissioner Walker uh yes mayor thank you uh thank you for R for for doing this um I will say that the historical preservation advisory committee and the work that they're doing is so important to the community of denan um and I I think that this is a perfect example of how the the Legacy the cultural and the historical aspects of our community gets remembered um too many communities are letting this go by the wayside and uh we have too unique and wonderful Community to to let that happen in the needen so thank you for all the hard work that went into this thank you commissioner commissioner gal oh thank you mayor thank you fredri for for bringing this forward uh tonight was just an example of it's not just the architectural significance of the structure but it's the people who live there and as commissioner Walker had mentioned it's it's just and and commissioner Tas it's it's the people that lived here and the lives they LED and the influence and impact that they had on our community just one more opportunity to talk about that is something that uh is so shortsighted by those cities that they don't recognize the historical significance in their communities so um it's a good night tonight thank you thank you you um I don't think I could have said it any better than my colleagues I'm I'm just glad I knew this was um you know kind of a long time coming and I'm glad we were able to accomplish it and I'm glad about all the hard work that's gone into it thank you Francis all right can we have a roll call vote please yes mayor commissioner gal hi commissioner Walker hi commissioner TGA hi vice mayor fry I mayor balski I and that motion passes unanimously there will be a second reading right yes yep second reading of ordinance 2405 will be held on February 22nd and I believe that might be your mother's birthday or was today your mother's birthday the 22nd will be your mother's birthday so that's awesome so we hope to see you back so congratulations and you guys don't have to stick around if you want to stay you're more than welcome but feel free I recommend against it yeah feel free to go thank you guys all right now we're going to go back to the regular order of our agenda which is the first reading of ordinance 2401 uh regarding our franchise utility agreement which one is this one is that the one you want to do the intro to okay go ahead ordinance 24- 01 an ordinance of the city of dun Eden Florida amending section 78-51 15 of article 10 chapter 78 of the city code of ordinances to provide that utility providers possessing a franchise from the city for use and occupation of city right away shall not be subject to the annual General permit requirement set forth therein providing for severability providing for codification and providing an effective date that was ordinance 241 read by title only thank you um can I have a motion to approve so moved second okay commissioner Toro vice mayor frainy thank you I'm going to turn this over to Jennifer for opening uh thank you and good evening mayor vice mayor and Commissioners um I just want to give you a very brief overview of the two items uh regarding the electric utility that is under your consideration tonight at first reading ordinance 2401 uh Jennifer just read the title to that ordinance and then the second one is ordinance 242 uh these are as I said related to the the the provision of uh electricity if you in the city of denen which is kind of a big deal I think so um just by way of background uh first of all you have an ordinance regarding the general permit requirements for utilities with uh with um with a franchise agreement in denan and then the second is the electric utility franchise agreement itself so the the ordinance 2401 needs to go first uh and then 2402 second uh on December 20th of 20 2001 the city commission entered into a non-exclusive electric utility franchise agreement with Florida Power Corporation for a 10-year term with a 10-year option for Renewal and then in on July 12th of 2012 the City Commissioner approved a 10-year extension approved that 10-year extension with Progress Energy under the same general Provisions as the ordinance 01- 45 and in 2001 so progress then became Duke Energy of Florida and in May of 2021 the city commission authorized staff to work with Duke uh Energy Florida to draft a new franchise agreement by necessity given the expiration of the previous one uh and that is the item that you have before you today 242 ordinance 2402 this ordinance prescribes the terms and conditions relative to use of public streets and public rights of way for the per purpose of providing electricity service within the city of denan uh the city commission authorized vice mayor frainy to represent the city commission as a liaison during these negotiations given her uh her uh past with with these types of agreements and negotiations as a staff member actually at that point and also our City's uh leaon is our Deputy city manager Jorge Kines and uh Jorge has been negotiating for a number of years along with uh vice mayor frainy uh with Duke and uh with our other partners we have Chris row um on as well from from  um Who provided his his legal advice on this agreement and we have plenty of folks here today so I'm going to ask corge to introduce them and then we have a presentation for the city commission questions and then we can move on so thank you mayor thank you Madame city manager good evening good evening mayor vice mayor and Commissioners um just as the city manager indicated um this first item is ordinance 241 and I worked closely with Chris row with Tallahassee um on the development of this and it's essentially the reason it's a companion item is IT addresses um an exclusion that applies to or has to apply to those entities that have a franchise agreement with the city so it couldn't have been handled directly with the franchise agreement itself because it applies to more than just Duke Energy for example we also have a franchise agreement with clearw gas so that's why there was a need to uh draft up uh ordinance 2401 um and there's if you flip through it the page four or five is essentially the the revision uh that speaks to that uh that exception which says this section 78515 of the code of ordinances and the requirement to apply for and operate um an annual under an annual General permit shall not apply to utility ities possessing a franchise from the city or which have entered into a franchise agreement with the city so the reason this is a companion item ordinance 241 is because uh as I mentioned it IT addresses um the need to make that amendment to our code of ordinances before we proceed forward with the franchise U agreement which will be the the next item 2402 so with that uh Chris I'm I'm trying to channel you as best I can buddy uh after spending two and a half years at the I I I think I'm a frustrated attorney but you please clarify anything I may have done incorrectly there very good uh Jorge thank you so much and good evening mayor and City commission the only thing I would add to um Jorge's summary is that the uh elimination of the requirement to apply for the annual General permit will apply not only to your electric provider but any other utility provider operating under franchise as of now there is only one other that's Clear Water gas okay um any question questions from our commission okay um and then commissioner or vice mayor um when we get to the big one I I'll give you an opportunity to speak to your experience being arly Aon that'd be awesome thank okay uh anybody from the public wish to come forward and speak to this item all right uh we have a motion and a second for approval any final comments from anybody um um commissioner torga final comments on this particular thing no this this I believe this is administrator as much as anything could be set up for next Point corre yes yes and there there will be a second reading on February 22nd yeah yeah and again my take away from this is again the franchise agreement is stricter so we don't need to have this and so they're conflicting so anything from you Rober Jeff no I don't B okay um I don't have anything either so uh roll call vote please commissioner Walker hi commissioner GA hi vice mayor frainy I commissioner Tor I mayor bajowski I and that motion passes unanimously there will be a second reading of ordinance 241 um on February 22nd so now we'll move on to the big one the first reading of ordinance 2402 I'll let you read that okay ordinance 2402 an ordinance granting to Duke Energy Florida LLC doing business as Duke Energy an electric utility right of way utilization franchise prescribing the terms and conditions related to the occupancy of Municipal streets and RightWay in the city of Duneden Florida for the purpose of providing Electric Service providing for separability of provisions and providing an effective date that was oh that was ordinance 2402 read by title only thank you man you're just not on your game tonight girl you know um okay can I have a motion in a second so moved second okay vice mayor Fran and commissioner torga um I'll let you do your presentation and then I want to before we go to questions or go out to the audience I want to let commissioner frany speak also perfect um again mayor vice mayor Commissioners um so this is as U the city manager indicated this is uh ordinance 2402 which is uh essentially the franchise agreement that is being proposed to be renewed with Duke Energy Florida um and so under past actions as uh city manager indicated we've had several franchise agreements in place uh previously uh ordinance 1232 uh was adopted back in July uh of 2012 that was with then Florida Power Corp uh at the time doing um business as progress energy and that was a uh 10-year agreement with uh on option to renew for an additional 10 years so that was a 20-year agreement prior to that there was ordinance 0145 and that was adopted in December of 2001 uh with again with Florida Power Corporation and that that was again a 10y year with a 10-year extension so another 20-year agreement that was in place most recently um Duke Energy came before the commission during a workshop presentation in February of 2022 uh and provided a status update regarding past current and planned improvements to their electrical system infrastructure uh there were concerns that were raised U by the city and and the commission as we entered into the negotiations associated with this franchise agreement um so along those lines uh city manager kind of stole my thunder a little bit so um I'm going to probably repeat a couple things but uh as she indicated back in May of 2021 um the staff began coordinating with uh the vice mayor who had been uh requested to be the boor liaison representative uh along with staff uh to enter into um negotiations with Duke Energy uh to review in detail some concerns and receive documentation and assurances on how past deficiencies uh had been and were being addressed uh an update was provided during that Workshop uh in February of 2022 um summarizing their efforts to address their grid and system reliability um subsequent to that um the city also entered into a um clean energy connection uh program uh agreement with Duke um to subscribe to 2009 960 Kow worth of uh um Power and uh Duke if I'm not mistaken by the end of 2024 will'll have 10 of those solar farm sites throughout the this state uh under their purview and and the expectation is that uh about 40% of the City's power will be produced through that solar uh clean energy agreement um as a as a result of us entering into that um um that agreement with Duke Energy um that helps obviously to um to be in in uh alignment with the are ready for 100 uh goals uh for renewable energy uh in 20 35 for internal City operations and a Citywide goal of 2050 there's a memorandum of understanding that's U tied to the franchise agreement that will uh run with the same term as the the proposed franchise agreement that that um it iterates uh Duke Energy's uh goals along those lines and and they seem to be rather aligned as far as timing and and similar goals so um as as the city manager mentioned we've been at this for quite some time uh we've been negotiating the terms uh of the franchise renewal agreement for over two years actually the the prior agreement has has since expired and we've been working in good faith as as required by that agreement uh to uh bring us to this point where we will recommend the current uh 2402 ordinance for the franchise renewal um you will notice in your packet under um the budget impact that the franchise um amount that would be collected is uh equal to 6% of Duke Energy's base uh revenue and I did work with less Tyler and finance and over the last two years over 2022 and 2023 that has been approximately $22.87 2 million collected yearly um as a result of of that agreement and and that um franchise fee collection that Duke does on on behalf of the city so um as I mentioned previously this proposed ordinance renewal uh the term is a 10-year uh term and uh it may be renewed for up to two consecutive 5 years as a deviation from prior it was a 10year term initially with two with a 10e renewal this one is a 10e with two fiveyear options to renew moving forward um concurrent with as I mentioned concurrent with the negotiations associated with the franchise agreement um staff's been working with Duke in order to develop a memorandum of understanding providing strategy and a framework uh so that we can have a cooperation and collaboration that focuses on those common sustainability and resiliency targets that that we we want to uh see occur as a result of the agreement um the duration as I had mentioned earlier for the memorandum understanding is going to coincide with the franchise agreement and it is uh scheduled to be executed um following the second reading of the franchise ordinance which will also be on February 22nd so uh as I mentioned tonight um we have several Duke Representatives here that'll U be providing an update to the prior uh Duke Energy agreement that was um brought before the commission as I mentioned during the February 22 uh Workshop presentation um I'll introduce some of those and I don't know sequence if you want them to they have a brief PowerPoint presentation we can do that um before after vice mayor uh for any U comments but those Representatives that are here on behalf of Duke this evening are Chris teig he's the director of government and community relations and public policy uh Jeff Baker is sitting next to him he's the government and community relations manager and as well as Kimberly Graves behind me uh we've got Mike Mali uh he's our account executive Mike and I are on some speed to each other um he's not that's like Jeff and I yeah he's he's not yet blocked me so that's that's good um we've got Shannon hagard manager of outdoor lighting and Chris Glenny um area operations I believe I'm missing somebody but um I'll let Chris and Jeff introduce them but I don't know what sequence if you want them to run it's a I think a nine slide PowerPoint or if you want vice mayor fry to go I'd like vice mayor okay oh I can yeah um okay so talk a little bit about what what your experience is yeah so um uh I'm glad you mention everyone out here I I I'm going to just highlight obviously Jorge and Chris from our side and and uh Chris and Jeff um on the Duke's side and of course Mike's always my hero so I got to say something about him uh he's Johnny on the spot and and I going to give a shout out because when we had the tornado at honeymoon uh mobile home park and uh there was one of the people who whose home was shut down mobile home and um and it looked like they were going to have to spend the weekend with no electric but between our people stepping up and Mike stepping up um uh I forget how it all kind of happened but it happened it happened that night and they had electric and it was great so and it meant a lot to an already devastated situation so I'll say that so I as I remember being um doing the lay on rooll I think it was the mayor volun told me and I'm not sure I stepped up and volunteered I did I told her yeah yeah she didn't so I just wanted to clarify that for the record um focus welcome to my world uh my focus as as lays on and I kind of laid out a few things so I could really U Pull It Together my focus on behalf of the commission and our residents more importantly um was first and foremost reliability so at the end of the day it's it's it's about that that you have reliable electric when you want it it's not going out especially when you have a lot of people working at home now um you know reliable during storms Etc um the uh the report that um you had in your packets and again I I couldn't remember I thought it was two years ago that they did the presentation on the report I'm proud of this report it was brutal to get to right because uh two years ago when we started out it was wanting a userfriendly document um it was intended to be readable organized summary of what Duke is doing specifically to improve reliability of electrical system for denan residents and prior to that time it was always kind of more massive numbers bigger regions and so this really drills us down to kind of the impact of what's happening I think in our community even though sometimes we're pieces of other other areas um um it's as you if you read your uh memor of understanding it'll be updated annually and we'll meet about about it annually because I think good service and keeping in sync with each other and communicating is part of the part of the the trick here um so um you know some of the key areas you'll see in there are the feeder improvements the improvements to denen substation and other substations that impact Den Eden um addressing The Chronic issues um and of course we had a lot of chronic issues and and I know staff feels like a lot of those things have been resolved not that things are perfect by any but a lot of the huge chronic areas have been uh been targeted and resolved um I know that some of the people that used to call me I've called them and they said oh hugely hugely better um and um the library which I know library in the stadium I called our library director today and I said tell me on 1 to 10 based on Improvement of the electrical system like what is it she said it's not perfect but she's probably seven or eight that's pretty good now I try to get to sue about the air conditioning and how that's affected air conditioning so again you know some of that's still a work in progress and you'll see that in the report um you'll see in the report about the selfhealing smart grid technology where I think we if I'm getting this right you'll see it when they do the update 84% of the city has that now the feeders um with the rest be done by 2027 I think um again um uh poll inspections replacement uh in the report uh and they're going to talk about a little tonight storm resiliency and Improvement um so stainability and responsiveness so I mean first hopefully it doesn't go out but if it does what's the responsiveness um climate goals are a part of that I'm sure commissioner gal may have some questions about that tonight um Street lighting that was obviously a focus we've talked about up here they're doing new decorative LED light fixtures 270 poles in the downtown CR area with the gfis for lighting you know I I.E holiday lighting Etc so that's my passion um and of course Banner sets up and I'm going to specifically say to the mayor because this was her passion about the famous Planters um we we talked about it extensively um but it wasn't recommended because of costs because of the structural Integrity of the polls and just the maintenance of the flowers oh you can believe it was one of the only things I asked for I'm sorry and I just thought i' hit that head on so okay but hey you know um I was just a Las on not giving up I was just a l on everybody can have at this trust me it's not me uh and of course the Denine substation which see that wasn't all you asked for because you wanted improvements to Denine substation oh yeah and esthetically they painted the look a lot better yeah privacy fence to the point they could because of some other considerations they couldn't totally close it off new landscape and irrigation plants that they coordinated with our um with our arborist so um all that um um you know that being said I mean so I think that um we wanted to be a little bit bit more involved in community things with us because that's what businesses do and I think they've stepped up in that regard um uh so but again I go back to and we're counting on you this year too I I know for me but I pounded the drum that with all the things we have to talk about the number one issue is the reliability and the sustainability and and our climate goals so I think um you know that's what our residents care most about um and um although I do want you to tell us what drove the big increase in costs this past year so I did ask them that prior to the meeting um just for people to understand um so uh that's kind of all I have to say now I do have my a couple of questions that I'm going to ask about the franchise agreement in particular but I would just say I was merely a Lon um you know um I um the commission should have at it I mean whatever you feel are issues that maybe get got addressed or didn't I you know feel absolutely uh ask the hard questions tonight did you guys have a some things you wanted to say before we did questions they have a presentation let's do that some of that will repeat what I said but let's do that yeah I I'll just start out by saying you might my first note here was to thank the commission for um encouraging vice mayor fry to uh work directly with us but then I heard that you know you were you were volunt told by the mayor so thank you yeah well we didn't have a choice okay you know that yes um but no and seriously I want to just thank uh vice mayor for her she has worked diligently on behalf of all of you and more importantly the citizens because she was you know wanting to make sure that the agreement that we came to would benefit the city and would benefit the residents so thank you for all that you have done towards that you know this has been a journey but um I'm sure all of us expected it would be completed quicker than what it was completed Ed but for me I feel like this been has been a worthwhile Journey because we've had so much conversation and we've got to know each other much better I think our relationships are better than they have ever been and so it's one of those things where it may have taken more time but in the end it was beneficial to all of us so um even though it didn't happen as quickly uh as we had hoped everything was was worked out the way it should have you know having a streamlined uh RightWay use agreement you know it benefits our customers I mean obviously the services that we provide um is beneficial to is a requirement for for all of our residents and by having these agreements in place it helps us do our work quicker and faster and ultimately uh probably saves our our customers money in the long run so we certainly thank you know all of you for the time and effort that's been put in and I'll going turn it over to Chris and we'll just go through um an energy report update statee it's a lot of the same information we covered in you know two years ago but the good news is that it's even um better today than what it was when we last spoke so I'm certainly proud of that and with Chris with that I'll turn it over to you any questions or comments before before I start nope all right so again this is a update to the more comprehensive report that was put together and presented back in 22 um this can change year to year so the contents you see up there that's what we felt was together was important to cover for this meeting but for next year we can uh we can add some different things in there but knowing that reliability will probably always be a core component of what we provide to you so starting out with um what I think is something that would be of a of great interest to the city is giving a comparison of how is the system held up during the past few major storms so starting with Irma where we certainly saw some challenges with a lot of outages long durations for customers being out from a from a major storm that was not your finest hour yeah we understand that we and we we've heard that a lot and we a lot of lessons learned have come out of that storm and uh so we felt going into Ian and adal we're able to implement a lot of those lessons learned and by just looking at some of those those data points there you could really see so an outage count just that's just uh it could be a small outage of a few customers or One Outage could mean several hundred but you could see there from uh The Marked reduction and the number of outages the number of customers there that are out and then the shorter durations that's really uh a product of that selfhealing technology and a lot of the hardening that we've done so in the last meeting from two years ago we Prov provided a video that really showed what smart uh the the smart grid doesn you describe the self-healing technology cuz I even think residents that you know hear this would like to know understand it sure so the self-healing technology is really when uh it's you could think about it as redirecting traffic so if the power running to a certain location to a residence gets interrupted by maybe a tree falling on it the selfhealing technology has smart Dev devices on our equipment so on our poles wires that can then sense that Interruption redirect power so it comes in from another Direction and the what the customer experiences might just be a momentary Interruption instead of maybe uh a long outage and then also that information is relay to our crew so they can go quickly and right to the spot they don't have to go searching and patrolling the line up and down to try to find where that Interruption occurred they go straight to it I identify what happened and perform those repairs more quickly so it provides a few benefits there but this it's hard for us to parse data by by a city because our our grid doesn't work like that our grid does not see Municipal boundaries so just being able to uh dissect dissect this data down to as best we could down to the city really shows uh some differences and some improvement even though there's no storm that's going to be Apples to Apples we know that but this is um a pretty good picture and then here is similar to kind of what we showed last time so the different colors really just represent how different substations serve the city so that's what those colors see there and uh this is just kind of a an overview of some of our major projects that have occurred in there so feeder upgrades of where we've done some projects that have improved the the load uh and the reliability on a few projects of those are are major Branch lines that come into the cities underground projects right here at City Hall we worked with yall to um underground that line that's one of those joint projects and we could do more of those theou can speak to this a little bit as well where if the city wants to do an underground project um and that's not something that Duke already has as a planned project there's a mechanism within our tariff where it's a shared cost and uh it's almost like going in 50/50 because Duke is going to experience some benefits from reliability going uh underground that's definitely the the most reliable source uh so we're able to pass on those savings to the city we did that with the city hall project and then a lot of the work was again going back to the self-healing projects that uh vice mayor frany spoke to we have a few more to go but for the most part we've got a lot of this technology already implemented we expect to have the bulk it done by 25 in the city uh 2027 the goals really have just about everything Statewide but the the work in the city is for the most part on the front end of that overall program and the last one's not maybe such a visible project uh but this is something a lot of work goes on inside the fence of our substations where we replace and rebuild and improve a lot of the equipment that goes inside the substation we did this at the the the needen substation on St Christopher a few years ago that was a very big project the next one plann is at our Highland substation it's not in the city limits but the lines that come out of the substation come into the City and serve the city so this will still see um an improvement so these are all very large Capital Investments that that Duke is doing and there's another one coming too where we'll have some more substition hardening projects that are really feeder hardening that are coming out of the needen sub once those projects get scoped out a little bit better uh those are a great example of what theou does where we'll take those projects and come to Jorge and City staff to say here are some more major projects we're planning to do they could be projects one that if we're doing overhead hardening you may want us to underground instead and we would go through that process let you evaluate your options there or at the very least you can see when we're doing a major project make sure it doesn't conflict with any projects that the city might have planned so either way what provides us that that proactive notification to you and here are some pictures there uh of what we did there at the substation so again we we did try at first to put the fence across the entire sub station uh that was a a challenge at first and then with other issues and incidents elsewhere in the state where we've had I guess well just say substation break-ins and vandalism it has become a serious issue for us and having some visibility to be able to see partially into a substation it's important to us to maintain that Integrity so uh while it's not a a full fence along the front we did uh really as best we could while maintaining that balance of having that integrity the system and to Street lighting so there's been a lot of conversation a lot of coordination between uh Duke and the city on this and we feel like uh we're really about to get started on major on a major change out where we'll have now consistent looking decorative poles throughout the downtown area and so we've landed in a very good place where these will be replaced with nice nice black concrete poles with common fixtures and those receptacles the cost is slightly more something that is H well a good part of that is the receptacles another part is going from the I would say the less expensive fiberglass poles to the concrete poles is probably the other the other driver of the $2,000 cost increase but all in all there's um there's a major savings without having to pay for that installation cost so we're able to work with yall to find a way where we didn't have to uh pass along that cost and then our schedule there we've um proactively ordered some materials and we look at having that completed by November and we worked closely with Parks and Recreation on that because we wanted to make sure that it was an advance of the special events season you know absent any crisis that might occur during hurricane season but um assuming everything works out the plan was to have that in place in advance of the upcoming special event season yeah and I was just going to add to that that you know Bob arith you know with the polls you know he was involved and then also in parks and wreck from the very beginning was involved in inventorying and planning and how how this all would work so and then next we have the our e charging so um our first pilot program has sunsetted and that's where those are those eight level two Chargers that uh the city's taken over and we we have heard some of the frustration that you all have had with our EV Chargers and now that you're um moving on with your own program uh we do want to do better on how we work towards the two fast Chargers that are going to stay uh within the city so we'll uh we could talk about that more obviously but uh those two DC fast Chargers one there at the library and then at the parking garage um those are two expensive pieces of equipment but that's part of our I guess second pilot program that's that's out there and we look forward to maintaining a relationship with yall and hopefully we can um do better and demonstrate that we can be responsive and and give you all what you need and give the give the users of those Chargers what they expect to see and then really last slide it it just for the most part this just shows the increase in how the the EV Chargers have taken off and the usage and the awareness so hopefully now with the the city taking over and adding these and more Chargers out there you'll see more increase and uh hopefully this is becomes a a good successful program for youall so I did want to make this a dog and pony slideshow so hopefully that was short and sweet if you have any questions about that welcome to take them or mayor if I if I could I I failed to U mention Chris Rose's involvement in this um he has done quite a bit of heavy lifting along the way he did an excellent job benchmarking to make sure that our franchise agreement um was at least on par with any other recent agreements that Duke's entered into so um please feel free to ask Chris any questions he's poured through this and helped me throughout uh the two and a half year process quite quite a lot thank you Jorge if I can get uh Zoom back up oh you guys don't yeah it's not it yeah I need I I can't do that all right we're just going to open up for questions uh all of my um colleagues today I'll start with you commissioner TGA thank you thank you mayor um maybe you can just help me real quick all maybe you can help me real quick uh the the numbers on the Chargers here these Chargers that we have at the new city hall where do they fit into this um thought Natalie was going to be here um these are they were installed as a part of of this project so those are the ones that are under the city's control and um part of the the rate structure that the commission recently reviewed and approved so not sure if that ANS so those are in addition to what's what's listed here yes the ones spoke about were the the four that are at the Old City Hall Parking Lot those four plus what we have here correct cuz I keep getting asked that question by by people um by residents and and folks so I just want a clarification for that thank you um the we talked about the the the lighting poles down here in in in the city here um do we have any other decorative polls within the city other than what's downtown and and and does that need any attention we we do we have someone Patricia as well yeah I'm not exactly sure how much how many uh commissioner but we have them in other areas of the city as well so they will come in on the same program no no I don't think it's part of this 270 but no the future as as Chris mentioned theou is kind of a living document so we'll continue to update those is going forward but one of the advantages with going with this replacement cycle is as you know some of those older poles are fiberglass poles and you know Shannon can certainly speak to this much better than I can but you know a lot of times those those uh Poles get impacted by let say an accident and they get knocked over the replacement cycle associated with those just because they don't keep those on hand those poles can be down for quite some time now with this program where we're just going to go with the composite concete rete poles that I believe you guys keep in in stock you know the replacement of if a if a pole were to be damaged because of an accident those could be replaced much faster than we currently have with the fiberglass poles the um feeder technology well we we had a quite an increase in in electrical expenses um last year I believe it was 14% or or some number like that I think it's 14% will that affect will will this feeder technology affect that will that help to drive down some of that cost or it seems like it could but I don't know well that technology that's really just uh built into our rates what you saw for an increase really wasn't tied to or driven by smart technology I mean that would be a maybe a very small impact if if any measurable to what the customer experienced on their bill the real experience that the customer would see is really in their their level service and reliability but specifically commissioner to the question you're asking last year because there's many components of a electric utility bill uh but the two primary ones are what we call Base rate and what we call fuel the fuel charge um natural gas if you looked at natural gas pricing last year it skyrocketed with all the world events that was happening so the increase that you saw last year was primary uh specifically to the the natural gas price all the way up to eight bucks now back down to two right and then now and that's the thing where as I was sharing with uh Vice Frey earlier you know your rates actually for the month of January well for this calendar year that we have fuel mayor I think that's it for me for right now okay vice mayor um just a couple clarifications on the actual franchise agreement um so um you know obviously part of this is you have unre restricted ability within the right ways um so I guess my question is like how do we just you know the the agreement talks a lot about um being careful with uh traffic you know being able to to you know safe traffic flow Etc but it really never talks about like visual blight so when I say that um if you have unrestricted access to the RightWay what stops you from okay we have this brand new city hall and you plop some ugly in front of it or you know or the museum at downtown or or really any business that we put so much into you know into their business wherever it is in the city and you plop something down a real life experience that we had recently and it wasn't you guys it was another utility um but one of our uh neighborhoods in the scottow area literally put I bet almost $100,000 in improving their entrance way and one of the utilities is put this big ugly box right in the middle of it now we worked with them and ultimately they um they were able to kind of help and make it right but it it really you know it was a a high drama because of the money that they put so I guess I'd ask you because really the agreement doesn't specifically put any restrictions on you with that how how can we feel comfortable that we don't need to address that in some way here or that that's not going to happen so good question um one one Clause that we did add to the franchise not in maybe probably not in the majority of them but it is in others is notification about significant projects and anything that we would consider as a city project of putting something like in front of a let's say a major city asset like anything around the new city hall uh the library Stadium things like that uh those are things that we would interpret and when it come to you and that's I think what the the beauty of theou is it really brings us to the table to be sure we're talking to you about our our projects and that we have a constant communication two-way conversation about what's happening so there's there's that clause in the franchise I think it's section n that speaks to notification of significant projects but then also the mou where we'll be talking at least on annual basis but it gives us opportuni to speak more often than that to let you know about other projects going on and the other thing too is where our relationship now I mean honestly the the Improvement of the relationship what puts us in a position to want to talk to you about all these other things say hey this is going to we're about to do this project what do you think um so coming to the tail War off I think there'll be another benefit there okay and Chris I guess I'd just ask you as our attorney like you think it's strong enough you think I mean and and I agree our relationship is better I expect if that accidentally happened like with the neighborhood because that's I'm worried about the neighborhood too because that wouldn't be something it wouldn't be a significant project but it was a very significant project to them and that thing was plopped with signage all over it and and uh you know and it took a while for it to be fixed but they did make it right so so maybe Chris I just want to make sure that we're strong enough or if there's any other wording that between now and second reading um my uh second thing I know that you guys use a certified Arborist so again I just ask you Chris is you know do we need to say anything about certified arbest in the agreement or just that's kind of covered in other ways so the the agreement as written doesn't create an affirmative obligation on the part of the company to minimize visual blight during construction projects however it does have uh Provisions um regarding tree uh pruning and the procedures used there any any such pruning is required to um basically comply with standards uh prolongated by um I forget that the the full what the full acronym stands for but it's NC a300 00 it's basically Arbor Arbor tree pruning guidelines to to preserve the the beauty of the natural canopy and not halfhazard Le um whack limbs off Etc so there is an agreement there is something in place in the franchise agreement which requires them to abide by that if they undertake tree pruning measures but as far as taking additional or any sort of um measures to minimize the visual blight that might otherwise accompany an improvement project we we we don't have anything to that effect as of now okay I guess just something to think about between now and second reading if there's anything stronger that's not all unreasonably restrictive to you guys either I get it um but just you know that's what comes to mind I mean we put a lot of money citizens put a lot of money into making the need beautiful so um and you know there's some real life experiences again nothing that comes to mind with you guys so I'm not trying to create issues I think that's important I agree thank you thank you joh um my other one really has to do with something that came up late in the game well we talked about it early in the game we talked about late in the game and that's the the first right of refusal if if you were going to sell um and and I've thought about this I talked to some some other experts about this and I wonder if if and I know you don't want to do that and I get that that makes you guys crazy I understand um and so um is can we have language that would say something like you know if if there was going to be a merger or if Duke was going to be acquired that um the basically the franchise agreement would basically be terminated so the new place would at least have to come to us and we'd have to set these same you know some new standards and create a relationship and that that pressure would be on them to do that so I I I'd like that to be looked at between now and second second reading because I i' I'd like to have something that makes me feel better that all of a sudden and there's a new sheriff here and we have no control uh that would be a difficult thing to address right now but that between this and the second reading we'll talk to our legal folks and work with Chris and Jorge and see if there's see what the where that conversation will take us okay thank you I I don't have any other questions thank you very much okay uh commissioner GA any questions uh thank you mayor uh yeah I I have a few um and also just some some comments I know in part of your presentation gentlemen and thank you for being here tonight and going through this uh you talked about and hor he dressed it as well that the finest hour and and some of the issues we had with Irma and we acknowledge the improvements that we've made uh with Ian and Adelia and I just least wanted to acknowledge that while we don't have the opportunity to choose the storms that come here um compared to Irma uh Ian and Adelia were much smaller storms and and uh and uh Ian went to the right of us and so which is the weaker part of the storm and AD Delia stayed offshore 100 miles and so I don't know that we really felt the an equivalent impact with Irma so I just want some confidence from you all that you really have stepped up and and have taken measures to make sure that the wires are clear and things of that nature um cuz I I don't want to see a graphic like that then all of a sudden we do have a big storm and we do have stats uh closer to Irma than than not and so youall do feel comfortable with your pruning and your maintenance that we won't have another Irma we do uh so in areas where I would say more Central to the state that maybe are more comparable from Irma to the more recent storms we saw a huge improvement from the lines at went through our storm protection plan hardening program they performed fantastic in the last couple storms so we saw a very good Improvement but again it's it's so hard to find Apples to Apples on this but we can at least say that where we've done our storm hardening program they performed as we expected they they would okay okay um and undergrounding versus not undergrounding um right is is it safe to assume that undergrounding is is better than not undergrounding at this point typically you could you can say that one way to describe it is there's good better best and good is our just our standard overhead system better is our overhead Harden system than best is undergrounding um but there's there are some disadvantages with undergrounding if a a fault does occur it's it's harder to find it located and repair it if something is overhead it's is easier to get to see identify and repair but you have fewer of those outages with underground system than overhead but um generally you would say underground is more reliable than overhead okay I noticed on that map that there's actually very little undergrounding in D Eden at least was shown on that map dun Eden it's a fairly Old Town uh has been built out for a number of decades now for the most part uh how much of dun Eden is undergrounded at this point uh I don't have that I have that information in the original uh report from 22 so I don't have that at my fingertips right now so we did look at and measure by number of miles of what was overhead what was underground so I'd have to get that information back to you in between this meeting in the next one and you had mentioned um planned undergrounding and if there was something that wasn't planned that the city doesn't even want there'd be some sharing of cause type thing and so what do you what do you all look at when you look at whether something's is planned and if it's planned by you who is footing the bill on that and does that plan imply that at some point the entire city of den Eden will be underground well I've got the um go commissioner to your question um there was a a a bill passed in 2021 by the Florida legislature that required all the utilities to uh create What's called the storm protection plan and what we have to do under that storm protection plan is look at our entire system and you know it's based on reliability data that's what determines you know what Duke undergrounds what we just Harden and what remains um as is uh so when when Duke is actually undergrounding that is um at Duke's expense so there is no cost sharing with the homeowner home or business owner but uh you know we have the ability where we have jobs that let's say for example that we're you know our you know based on the reliability data of that system that we would be doing overhead hardening if working with a city a developer uh a neighborhood or whatever if you know they wish to underground you we have the ability to cost share in in those in instances okay and and the reason I just bring this song all this up is right that we're in the middle of uh discussing undergrounding for Skinner Boulevard and their conversations have been at what point is it cost prohibitive this gentlemen it's insanely expensive and and if it's something that in the long run is better protects the residents of our community um it makes it re really hard and and so I guess so when you look at according to that 2021 and that storm protection plan what do you look at in making that decision because it sounds like that any development going forward is undergrounded but not necessarily in any already existing established neighborhoods or communities and and so is there an opportunity for for Duke to help out in that regard you'll have new development new cities that won't have to bear any of the cost but you'll have cities like dun Eden that have to bear at least 50% which is still exorbitant well in the case of most newer cities and when I say newer cities uh I'm talking about new developments within cities and obviously pel's county is an outlier so let's use the Lake waya Vista area uh in Central Florida obviously there's tremendous new development of sprawling neighborhoods happening you know Duke that is not being underground at Duke expense it's not being underground at the city's expense the developers of those homes typically pay for that undergrounding because obviously in today's world if you're building a new subdivision it is the expectation of buyers that they have underground utility so if a developer were to put up overhead utilities um they likely wouldn't sell as many homes so that cost is is being borne by that specific developer who's developing uh that uh subdivision but you know commissioner gal if I could add on to your question we do have a lot of older neighborhoods um as you know I mean you were just here for histor you know historical preservation we have another one on the agenda after you and I would just say that we also have especially a number of homes that have their power lines in their backyard and that's where the major problems really happen and then the major expense so even if it were for those kind of neighborhoods were you know getting it out of there and having some kind of program to partner with these people I think I gu you know over time the um so so of our hardening program a component that what we call lateral hardening underground and one of the major things we do look at is back we call it back lot lines yeah and those are a huge problem for us it's hard for us to access they're usually a lot of trees back there too so those do have typically uh lower performing reliability scores so we take a look at several metrics that determine how many outages are occurring on that line what's the duration things like that based on certain events and so we take we aggregate that data to develop this program to identify what are we going to underground what are we going to Harden overhead and we do look at what is the cost difference because really feeders so those are the the main lines that are going down roads not the Super tall concrete uh 100ft tall poles but um is that rain it it may be the air condition no our air condition is not that loud yes it's rain it's raining at my house so yes it's not always costeffective for us to bury feeder lines because those can be more expensive to bury but the lateral lines that come off we do look at doing a lot of undergrounding with those and a lot of times that is could those are the lines that are going in the neighborhoods whether it's back lot or front lot um but again this this is another feature that where we would take a look at underr and if you're getting if you're hearing from your citizens your your residents of issues and concerns and you want us to take a look at a certain area and just do some reliability data mining we can do that and just give you the information of what we see if that is a future candidate for Duke to underground and if it's not then maybe that's something we do the the cost sharing through the Tariff well part of the problem though is it's if you have those poles in the backyard you got all the other utilities on them too mhm that's the issue is that what we ran into that's something that we've tried to address in theou see if if Duke can help us with those negotiations it is difficult because they're collocated on Duke's polls and we ran into that on the city hall project they were done they were ready to remove their poles and we had to wait for the other utilities to get off of it and and I get I do get it and I do get you have to look at your data as to you know it's got to benefit your your overall maintenance costs as well as um the outage that the folks are um experiencing at the home but then there's always um just good Community partner has to be considered into that because it improves the value of the neighborhood when they don't have polls in their backyard where their kids are playing because people think differently about that now I I just put it out there okay uh back to you commissioner gal sorry I jumped on your question oh it's okay mayor and and that's Bas basically it I'm I just wanted to acknowledge that it's very expensive to underground and by not undergrounding given the situation does put our neighborhoods at a greater risk uh for outages um or the concern over maintaining of those lines when they're overhead uh but that's it back to you mayor okay commissioner Walker questions uh yes thank you mayor actually uh my questions have all been addressed through the through the price and the associated cost as well as um possibly a provision to address uh any sort of uh Market consolidation in the utilities so um no I I have no further questions okay then I'm going to open up to the public do we have anybody from the public wishing to speak to this item seeing hearing none I'm coming back to the commission [Applause] um I can sure going to the right person I think it was commissioner vice mayor frainy this final comments yes yeah no I mean I'm I'm supportive of this I do want to thank Chris and Jeff and their team um you know this really did start three years ago and it was a rough start um there was a lot of improvements that needed to be made and and I I feel like we've come a long way and our relationship is definitely is I mean I feel good about it I just feel like you know there's just a a trust that's been built and that's a that's a great thing um so um I would like you guys to consider those U other two things if they're uh if we can do that verbiage and I know you want to make me 100% uh well you're not going to make me 100% happy but as happy as I can be that would be great to add that uh but yeah I'm supportive of this and and thanks to the whole team and especially I I certainly Chris and Jorge on our side because they worked hard and I I know Jorge will be real happy when this is done so VI mayor if I could you mentioned two things I I had one notation I took down that had to do about the sale or emerger what was the yeah I can give you the verbage but it's just the it's the verbage of uh you know if there's a merg or say duke is acquired that the franchise agreement would be terminated yeah I had that got that the other one was the the any additional language for the visual blight potential so okay commissioner torer final comments thank you mayor um I appreciate the enthusiasm that you have met this with it's been a it's been a long time um but we're we're seeing changes and and and our residents appreciate that um it was very complicated to work through all of this and in the agenda review with with our folks going spending a lot of time with us uh understanding this I and I appreciate um the work that you guys have done I know they they've mentioned that so I want to thank you it's sometimes you're a Target when we have the when we have the storms where are those guys and of course they are out there working in the storm I appreciate your uh communication about a couple of the issues one of them is the solar side um that's that has to be always referen in cost and and certainly in in the results that it brings us um and then the second part is complexity of of of Going Underground um it's as as I've spoken with you before about that Jeff uh the concerns of of having a community try to do it and you've got to get try to get everybody in the community to be involved in that so it is complex but um again I appreciate the enthusiasm thank you okay uh commissioner gal final comments just gentlemen thank you for for doing this thank you to commissioner Frey for taking the lead as the liais on on U trying to work through things because it is it's difficult and it's hard and I get it and um electricity is expensive and you're the guys that nobody talks about when they turn their lights on uh it's when they try to turn them on if they don't come on then all of a sudden um Duke become comes the bad guy and so it's hard and you guys have hard jobs so thank you for coming here tonight we really do appreciate it thank you okay commissioner walker uh yeah so I'm I'm I'm in favor of this and just there's another optic uh that we need to just kind of bring into view here uh since I was elected to the commission a little over a year ago uh one of the things I've noted is is that uh you all are are are visible in our community and uh you are you are members of the community and uh um you know I I think that's an important aspect of of being a good partner so I greatly appreciate I know this is a very complex issue and uh uh thank you to the staff uh vice mayor Briny and everybody that was involved with it okay um I appre appreciate all the hard work um Jorge you and your team as well as our liaison um worked on this for a long time um there was a like a method to our Madness when we appointed vice mayor frany to this a she was a staff member here for long time and had worked on um a whole electrical analysis electrical infrastructure analysis and understands where all the bad spots were and how a real institutional knowledge um about denon's electrical infrastructure so um that was the main reason but the other reason was every time you guys came up here she was here for 30 minutes questioning you and we thought well why don't we just appoint her she's she'll beat you up more than any of us let's put her off camera and let her beat you up a little more so there there was two methods to our Madness um institutional knowledge and passion about the subject so I think she did a really good job um and our team did as well you know we understand a negotiation is um where everybody walks away unsatisfied your side and our side but I still will keep fighting for my flower pots on on the life holes because everywhere else has them everybody um and you know we should have flowers on our sidewalks so figure out a way that can be done without a structural engineer document just to hang some pots because I heard what the issue was and that's your requirement not ours and we're talking about some little metal things with a little pot that you get for three bucks at Home Depot so I will tell you I think a structural engineer or whatever it is is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life for light pole um and that sounds like a bunch of engineers in a room who you know talk about how to complicate things so I'd like you guys to go back and rethink that um so if I had to ask for something at the next reading it would be that because I really don't think that that's necessary um and we don't have to hang them all year long it's all fun in games till they start flying in a storm but oh my God and so you're the one that's got the problem I'm just it's you that has the pro okay well then how come every street on Toronto has beautiful you know know hanging plants on their light Pooles you have to look at it that's all if I see another hanging light hanging thing I'm going to send every picture to you okay cuz you're an engineer too so you're just as bad mhm love you too mayor y'all talk about this this is important stuff absolutely no I'm not teasing but it is it's certainly not as important to have our infrastructure I don't want to make light of of what has been accomplished here um it's really important as to what's been accomplished um and I do think that our relationship with Duke has come a long way and with that I would kind of like to address what commissioner gal asked about you know comparing the storms um just to be very Frank commissioner gal um Irma was not our finest moment at all uh I think we can all you know all I think all Duke employees are at the point now where we can all agree that there were many mistakes made in that storm so again if we were to have again not that the exact same storm would ever happen again but if we were to have that exact same storm tomorrow I feel very confident that the results would be different even if we started with the same numbers that we had up there is in terms of the exact same number of outages uh we've just you know I'll use the I can't recall the name of the storm that hit Mexico Beach for example uh that was you know a cat 5 hurricane that did yeah Michael that just decimated that area and you know we are the utility provider there um as well and our response at that storm was exceptional so I again I think a lot of the problems of the past um were just truly operational issues that we had and Technology issues because that was when we significantly started investing and um smart grid technology and things of that nature so even if we had the same storm I I feel confident that the results would be much different today well I think we can all really appreciate that and it gives us a lot of comfort to be able to say that to our residents and that really is the most important thing and absolutely you know that's kind of how you and I met absolutely on Facebook in front of the world oh yeah it was ugly I had to tell them where but you know I was out of electricity for 7even days and then I had everybody in their brother who was out of electricity you know blaming me so yeah we we understand that you get you get the brunt of Citizen complaints we all do we all do but I had to let the mayor and the city manager know where to go to dinner in Tallahassee so uhhuh yeah okay uh let's do a roll call vote please commissioner Walker hi commissioner gal hi commissioner torga I vice mayor frainy I mayor balski I and that motion passes unanimously gentlemen thank you thank you thank you Chris and Chris thank you Chris mayor may I yes please for one moment please sure thank you so we actually started these negotiations under Doug Hutchin yes when he was theut city manager yeah and um um I just want to thank Jorge for all of his hard work everybody's sitting here but Jorge especially because um having started under the previous Deputy City maner he inherited it he was the obvious choice to be our staff leaon but he also worked this negotiation through a time when he was the city engineer when he was the director of utilities and the city engineer and the deputy city manager and the project manager for City Hall and all those things and so yeah I'm just very grateful to Jorge for hanging in there and the great work that he did um and I'm very pleased that he and and vice mayor still love each other and you know that things are still good she asked she was one of my ref give me those last two items for those last two items yeah but yeah just thank you mayor for that moment but just thank thanks to all of you um and and I like the opening that this is we all got to know each other better and uh and you know Advance our partnership but again especially many thanks to Jorge for doing a great job thank and I've seen the inside of Chris's uh garage SL office was in Zoom meetings so many times I think I could probably pick out where he stores different things behind him so thank you mayor I appreciate it thank you and I just have to announce there is a second reading of ordinance 2402 which will be um heard on February 22nd which I imagine you all will be back for absolutely okay thank you gentlemen thank you thank you um all right we have uh the first reading war is 2404 historically un Mark designation of 501 New York Avenue staff is asking that to be postponed um until February 8th so so mayor to that end my understanding is the the remarkable Sylvia Earl will be here for the first reading of that ordinance so so excited pretty cool all right can I have a motion a second to approve so moved second M vice mayor frainy commissioner TGA all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed motion passes unanimously and then we have our um proposed agenda for February 8th which has much of nothing on it yeah um so can I have a motion so moved okay commissioner fry or vice mayor frany can I have a second commissioner gal okay all in favor signify by saying may we uh consider the fact of what's on that uh is there some other option that we could have I'm just bringing it up for the good of the good of the order yeah I think it's because Tuesday is pretty heavy I we discussed that before in our agenda review but I just thought i' bring it up to see if anybody had any thoughts on that yeah another option in terms of putting something from Tuesday onto Thursday I I'm not I I mean I think weed this for Sylvia Earl we did yeah you know I'm fine with it the way it is but whatever you guys want to do just just bringing it up if there's no other input I'm ready yeah I mean I know what you mean but I'm not sure the you know the W way to go since Sy Earl's coming yeah okay all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed motion passes unanimously anything for the good of the order uh I will say that I did um Jennifer and mo I sent you the final three date options for the Toronto trip oh okay by email okay and I gave you what the conflicts are so that none of them are very good okay okay but okay there are choices and and I do want to say that the reason um none of them are good options or none of well there's only one that's really halfway decent and it's but it's it's not going to be good for everybody is what I'm saying okay um but I will say that all these years that I've gotten annoyed by this process I have now understood why nobody's ever explained it to me why it's so difficult to get these dates so I do want to share it with my colleagues for for future Prosperity [Music] um the the management team here wants to be on the trip with us there and if they have a home game here the during the summer they cannot be on the trip to go so they have to it's not just picking a date they have to pick a date when they can also be there and that's what's that's what's causing all of the date conflicts okay okay so that's why it has but nobody's ever explained that to me and I'm always mad at Shelby would you just give me a date interesting so anyway uh once we get an option we'll certainly let the entire commission know I'm I'm letting Jennifer know because there's a scheduling thing and I'm letting commissioner fry know because because she's at the Lea's on with the J's and she should know right now but until we get it picked we'll let you all know all right uh thank you all for being here have a good night we are adjourned bye gentlemen