##VIDEO ID:m8ENnMkIFuE## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e yep okay good afternoon we're going to call this meeting to order today is Monday September 29th it is 5:01 huh today's just the 9th what did I say 29th oh I'm sorry Monday September 9th I saw the 202 and the 2 2024 it is five we uh the clerk reached out to uh Tommy doel the election supervisor and he responded um that if this Council would like for the election to move to Bay Oaks Recreation Center that that's okay we just need consensus so Amy can let them know that we've reached a consensus that it moved down there on the 5th of May that way we don't have to reload November I said 29th uh days we're all and I'm the one that needed the nap today yes sir okay okay yes sir okay okay November so we need consensus yes does that mean that the Monday meeting stays the same or we're changing it that would correct we would stay as our regular schedule on Monday the 4th Monday the 4th and be here in and still have a still have a M&P on the seventh that is correct stick with our regular schedule thank you I'm good with that you good with it y I'm good with it good you have consensus perfect let them know thank you so much um so the way these public hearings go just for the new council members who haven't been through it yet it's kind of weird you have to do the millage rate before you have to approve the mill rate before you can approve the budget but the way we have to do it is we'll have to open um item a the the proposed millage rate table it then we're going to have to open the tenative budget talk about the tenative budget table it and then do you want us Nancy to go talk about the fees and go back so basically we're going to open and table everything and then go back to the beginning reopen it vote on it move down to the next one vote on it makes sense it's so clean so and mayor also before before the actual vote is taken on any of the resolutions we just need to ask for public comment even if there's nobody present one y yeah okay so you want to open it public comment then take take the vote to or do you want to do public comment when we actually do the vote um before you do the vote got it okay so we will open the first public res the first public hearing is resolution 24174 fiscal year 25 proposed millage rate it is a resolution of the Town Council of the town of Fort Meers Beach adopting the proposed aderan millage rate for the town of Fort Myers Beach Florida for fiscal year 24 2024 2025 commencing October 1st 2024 and ending September 30th 2025 for the purpose of providing sufficient funds for the general fund setting the second and final public hearing for Monday September 23rd 202024 at 50:1 p.m. to adopt the final operating Adera millage rate for fiscal year 2024 2025 and providing for providing an effective date I'll now open the public hearing is there a motion to table the millitary so moved second got a motion by councelor Woodson second in by councelor Safford any further discussion and I assume you want a roll call public coun councelor Woodson I councel Safford hi Vice May edal hi councelor King I may allers I we will table that open item B resolution 24- 175 fiscal year 2025 tentative budget it is a resolution of the Town Council of the town of Fort Meers Beach adopting the tentative budget for fisal year 2024 2025 commencing October 1st 2024 and ending on on September 30th 2025 setting the second and final budget adoption public hearing for Monday September 23rd 2024 at 5501 p.m and providing for an effective date we will now open the public hearing do you want to table that go to the next one got it okay is there a motion to table resolution 24- 175 second got a motion by councelor King seconded by councelor Safford any further discussion councelor King hi councelor Hafford hi counc Woodson hi and vice May hi and I'm an i as well that is tabled item C resolution 24- 176 fiscal year 25 tentative fee schedule a resolution of the Town Council the town of Fort Meers Beach adopting the tentative fee schedule for fiscal year 2024 2025 commencing October 1st 2024 and ending on September 30th 2025 and providing for an effective date we will now open the public hearing Joe good afternoon thank you I'm Joe ANUK Finance director have a a presentation on the Fe oh here we go okay actually um Jacob this is the um the tenative budget I need fee schedule one there we go okay so this is a relatively brief um there are only a few fee changes that are incorporated into the fee schedule schedule and if you're following along on the actual fee schedule um they would any changes are noted in the right hand column in Red so that should make it easier for you to find where they are um so basically we start out with um permits for business extension Sidewalk Cafe rideway permits um they're increasing 3% automatically per resolution 1846 it's going from 1288 per square foot to 1327 per square foot personal water craft vendor license um pwv will increase 3% from 375 to 38625 Paris sailing vendor license pvl will increase 3% from 375 to 386.3 beach Furniture vendor license for the first year will increase 3% from $120 to $123.6 and Beach Furniture vendor license renewal will increase 3% from 120 to 12360 so those are really the basic um automatic increases that we have um in addition to those or if you have any questions on those we could pause otherwise um we have fee increases um per Mount house that'll be presented by Adam and Jeff any questions for Joe at this time I not about your in the red but I do have other questions do you want me to save those let's let's do do the mount house and then after that we'll go back to because I'm guessing there's probably some other people that have some things they want to talk about specifically Jeff that you no okay oh hello Adam Knight Museum manager and services offered at Mount house uh Event Rentals Museum admissions programs uh special events uh or membership Museum Store um but overall the big major changes is um refocusing the overall uh structure of revenue for Mount house to focus on group programs uh Event Rentals and really targeting towards our membership and doing that in a way that encourages people to arrive by groups events as well as um purchase memberships so they'll be uh returning visitors returning uh users to the mounts property for programs so the biggest changes being actually changing from the museum emission changing from the museum emission from $15 to $10 uh for adults and then changing the uh kayak tour cost from $50 for an adult to $45 for an adult um we've had these Fe schedules for the last two fiscal Years starting in that they took effect in September 22 um um and it seems that increased price point for $5 from 10 to 15 in fiscal year 22 or EXC me fiscal year 23 um for both the KAG tours and the museum emission that increase of $5 just doesn't seem to make sense with the price point given um the attendance for the museum as well as the attendance for our kayak tours so we're suggesting that a price point that we had previously to revert back to that to better increase more visitation and thus more revenue for the museum but I can answer any more detailed questions you may have all right John any questions for Adam no uh questions just compliment that my wife and the vice mayor's wife took the K kayak tour and just loved it and loved the staff's presentation and thank you oh thank you vice mayor uh good afternoon or good evening I I just wanted to give you an opportunity to uh advise or coach the council here because we have this joint meeting on the 18th and I don't think have an opportunity to talk to you beforehand and while the accreditors are not here might be easier to give some advice and coaching as to what you're looking for from the council during that joint meeting so we can make sure we satisfy what the accreditation folks are looking for so if you just want to take a quick second to give some advice as to how you see that unfolding in a way that's most favorable to the mountainous oh absolutely uh thanks so much for agreeing to that joint meeting uh it would be very important for the museum Assessment program that the American Alliance of museums is hosting that joint meeting um basically the focus of the overall Museum Assessment program is in operations to better increase the uh efficiencies and interactions and helping to find those roles and responsibilities between the various stakeholders that make the mount house what it is today uh the mount house has a very interest interesting and complex history in how it came to be not only in its preservation but also in its operations uh we have of course the advisor boards Council staff as as well as a nonprofit the friends of Mount house which assist in funding and supporting and uh fundraising and advocating for the mount house so there's a lot of moving parts that we're hoping to help make sure everyone's on the same common page and make sure that we all have the same common vision for the museum in Mount housee and the overall Department as a whole so again the main uh goal of that joint meeting is to have Council uh cell cab The Advisory Board uh and the key staff in the same room to discuss the mount house and the mount housee future and really lay a groundwork or a road map towards the mount house in developing a strategic plan that makes sense for the museum as this unique entity within the town governance but also one that integrates within the town's larger strategic plan does that answer your question be a part of that as well or not uh no not a part of the governance meeting okay no sir but they will be a part of later sessions and meetings during the two-day visit okay thank you you're welcome thanks ad you're welcome anything else coun Woodson no I'm just reading on fine print here we'll come back C Safford I do not have any questions at this time I do not either you no I'm good you're good all right thanks Adam thank you thanks um mayor if I may um your agenda was um amended and the resolution um did have an additional clause in it I don't recall if that was um read but it's adopting a fee refund policy um and I think that's a attachment B and Joe can speak to that yeah so let's see if I so there is at the request of our town attorney we had um put together a fee refund policy um this was a compilation of the various refund policies that various departments have had put into practice whether um unofficially or I mean I should say formally or informally we don't necessarily have a townwide um policy in place that incorporates all these things so this is an effort to achieve that um in compiling everything it seemed that the common denominator um to whether refunds are issued or not was whether or not the service had already been rendered by the town um so that that's just one General policy and I tried to draft the wording that would apply um across the board but we did end up having to address various um situations so if you looked at the um the policy itself um it's it's attachment B um it starts out being fairly General um but then it does address like specific types of fees whether it be um let's see just for some examples like program or event tickets that had to do with with Bays for example or um no shows at events or programs or um return of merchandise um moing field reservations water refunds I I suppose it would be um the types of water refunds that are issued um and and there are some storm water refund policies also incorporated into this um that comes really from State statutes um but since it was nicely provided by the water department I Incorporated that into this as well so it may not address every single circumstance but it seemed like to be a good start for a policy if I can add a little bit more um this was not something we just decided that we would provide to you there was actually a request made from one of your residents for a refund of some fees and my in and my inquiry was what is the town's policy and I was told that we really don't have one um and different departments handled different issues so the intent was to formalize what is currently being done so we do have an official policy so when people come and request a refund from you that you'll have some guidance to to go back to so this would be the attempt to establish the policy and in the very near future you're going to get a request for a refund okay a question well I got I got a big question so the moing field 100% refund I that doesn't make any sense I mean it it most hotels if you if you have a cancellation you know within a certain time frame we we at least keep $50 not $5 and then if somebody decides to leave leave early I mean you've got that you've got that warning ball in your system already pegged I I I don't think they should get a refund if they leave early unless it's unless it's for a hurricane or extenda any circumstances but I you know if we're if if the morning field needs to break even correct yes but I I think we have to take a long hard look at that because when somebody cancels when when somebody makes a reservation you're you're taking time your staff's taking time when when when they make a cancellation it's taking time I mean I I've been living this in the hotel World for for 12 years it just you're you're losing money if you have that policy and I don't know if it's every morning field has that policy or that we're just being nice guys but it it's doesn't make fiscal fiscal sense to me if if we can change that I i' would highly suggest you know well and also it takes it out of commission and who knows if you'll rebook it yeah it's really tough to rebook that ball I mean it's it's you know are you saying within say like a 72-hour window or well typically what what we do in the hotel world is is if it's if if they cancel within 30 days it's it's just a $50 fee refund all the money if if it's within in inside 30 days and you're you have that expectation that they're going to show up um you know we used to refund half or or keep the entire entire um um and and certainly when people leave early unless it's an extenda circumstance it's their choice it's their choice I don't refund we don't refund the money it's just standard policy or you can you can also keep it as a credit for a future future stay or whatever that might be a good idea I mean so if we if somebody well the hurricane was a whole different deal but people in the past they made a reservation they canceled within 30 days I'd keep the money for a year and let them you know know rebook and and use those funds but it just makes F fiscal sense to not just oh you're not coming oh okay here's your money do I like that a lot because it's uh it's still a welcoming uh kind of thing it's not uh perative yes I have no issues with that I like that too I don't either so is the suggestion then if they cancel um less than 30-day notice any cancellation is a $50 fee okay um if if it's outside 30 days you refund their money Le less than $50 if it's inside 30 days there's no refund but they can use that a credit that that money is a credit for for calendar year if they leave early no way no how unless there's a there they don't get a refund unless there's a storm unless there's a storm or there's extenda circumstance es but it's a safe harbor so why why would you want to leave even if there's a storm I mean in rental things you don't refund money because you can't control the weapon yeah I mean well so with the hurricane and we we refunded the money um some people said hey just just keep it but you know if it's a storm or hurricane then absolutely refund the money that's just a good good policy and that there shouldn't be a fee involved with that but that's the extenda circumstances but otherwise I mean you you're taking so much staff time people book and cancel book and cancel and you know it just doesn't make sense I have a question for Joe just to clarify um because I'm not sure if it's in here or not but um the success or failure to U obtain a permit um would that be eligible for refunds I don't know and that might be some direction that we want to seek so if if I were to apply um for particular say a special exception and um I one um is that a basis to refund my fee no no and the reason for that is the policy is because our fees are intended to cover the administrative costs of processing them right okay I just wanted to clarify that and if they were denied they don't get refunded either because the work went in correct yeah okay that's what I feel anyway I'm answering so that probably should be reflected in there somehow specifically for for um what type of reviews reviews that occur reviews um administrative reviews that you know the fees that are charged are for the the cost of administrative cost of the administrative review and are not dependent on the success or failure on the merits to obtain the permit we just need guidance so I think you've given it to us if I may interject to councilor safford's comments you know we look at our daily rate weekly rate monthly rate we're going to do that we need to accommodate for those three categories um not just U you know somebody we do have people that do rent the morning field or they're at ball for a month or for the season and if they cancel you're out of a large chunk of change do you want to look at those rates or just a flat like well I guess I guess my question is what's what's your cancel what's our cancellation rate is it is it do we have a lot of cancellations currently it's not currently we're actually doing really well okay but part of season I mean for us um uh we're doing very well now that doesn't say that again things come up but if you're going to make this uniform should we No it should be across the board it's the same thing with you know in the hotel industry you get people that book for a a night you get people a book for a week a month a season so we have the same same policy it makes it easier okay and it makes it easier to you know for your staff to manage too and and I'm on the board with all that and is there any acknowledgement if someone calls to book that they acknowledge the cancellation policy does that have to go into any of the writing I mean if someone just calls into book it does and we're actually working with our Harbor Master right now to make sure that uh the document that daa uses uh for the reservations would have that language so we'll make sure that what you do tonight so that was that was my first question is is this just common practice with Moen fields that they just give 100% refund I I don't know I don't live in that space I don't know I just compiled this information from the various departments so I don't have any firsthand know so I apologize well it sounds to me it's pretty fair cancellation policy 30 days is most people know than 30 days if they're not coming or yeah it's the the ones that call you three days before and say I'm not coming decided to go somewhere else you you got to be able to recover your cost right because you probably won rent that again in three days no you're Lo you're losing out on you're losing out on the whole thing so you got your action there Joe I do thank you this was good to find out your your opinion on it so anything else Scott with the no fee refund concer concert Woodson no but at any time I'm ready to continue the talk about the morning field yeah let's get through the refund part of it okay k no okay I think we're good with the refund part of it so that is all I had other than if you're interested in the short-term rental analysis but um that's the only other part of this presentation I have left so proceed with that okay so this is just uh to update you on our research for short-term rental um we tried to delve into the cost of the program more than we had before um we we took um we we questioned the people who could be involved we asked from the town manager's office um so that would end was Frankie's time that he um allocates or suggested that be allocated a small portion of his time to short-term rental we um pulled um the town attorney and so they have their Legal Services um certain amounts per I think per week or per month at their rate and so we have that incorporated in we have software we found out that there's actually um two softwares involved one is granicus which is specific to short-term rental tracking and then the other is um Eyeworks um which is where the actual reservations are kept so we have have the software costs incorporated and then we have um the Personnel so we have the administrative person who actually takes the reservations um process or applications processes them and then we have um enforcement personnel and so I worked with Tomo on that and there's like the supervisor's time a little small portion of their time as well as the actual code enforcement person who would go out so based on all of that and then did an analysis of and the deeper analysis into trying to figure out how many short-term rental units we actually were dealing with it was I tried first of all to do it based on our revenu on the revenue side but that turned into an impossible exercise so I finally was able to do it um through um the system where the actual reservations are kept and get the names of the unit and addresses of the units so to actually come up with the actual number of units and what I found out um and this may not be 100% accurate but it's very close there was n 1,912 units um in 2022 so right before hurricane in Hit and now um we have type of Revenue we'd be bringing in in comparison to the cost because some of the cost is fixed cost the software the legal services um the variable cost would be the enforcement Personnel the administrator that's based on the number of units So based on the number of units of 950 units um roughly um well almost half 55% of the revenue is covering the cost the remaining Revenue would go into the Workforce Development program that's about 45% so that's my analysis and Incorporated this into the budget for next year to just have something in the budget for short-term rental what where do we have Workforce housing do I have Workforce housing oh no this is this is um do I Workforce housing oh no this is this is um do I did supposed to right go towards it dedicated it's still in there it's still part of the fee schedule that the portion of any remaining portion of the what of the fees collected that goes before but now that they're starting to increase and the revenue coming in is is surpassing the fixed cost side of things you know now now we're starting to generate more that's great thank you I have a question Workforce housing we probably have the same thing I mean there was a time that we were talking about that I mean I don't I don't think we're still talking about Workforce housing and do we even want that category and where should that where should those profit profits if you will or excess money go into that we can actually use it for something well I if I remember correctly it was 2022 when these rates changed from I think it was $50 then to $300 plus $1100 per bed which we did away with right after the storm but it stayed at 300 but then it was voted on I don't think you or I voted for it but I think it was voted on and passed 3 to two to do this percentage that you're looking at now to your point Workforce housing has kind of sailed we we've tried a couple times I don't know now after the storm that it's going to be reality so are we collecting money and storing money into a bucket that is never going to be used or could be used could be used for something else which makes more sense felt like last year when I brought this up that it was just a dollar or some three dolls or something out of that that was going because of the cost of Staff administering the short-term rentals that's true and that that was based on the volume at that time that was projected for 2024 so it was a barely break even at that point but now that the volume is increasing we it is going to be generating more Revenue than than the cost and plus with the software we'll be saving money that way too right with the new software that's been proposed um that's what I've heard I I've not seen it yet and that's not factored into this yeah no that's fine but I just want thank you and we can certainly change the allocation of where this excess revenue is going I think we just take a simple resolution as to where you would like to see it directed or temporarily directed until a decision is made is that something Nancy we can do outside of this meting meeting between now and the end of fiscal year well I think so yes because it would just be a budget amendment which we could do throughout the year sure because there may be things that come up over the next year pertaining to two short-term rentals that we don't know about that these fees could be moved into something else sure at one time uh former interim manager Wilkins and I discussed moving that into any obligation we might have to the school district for our interlocal agreement regarding that makes sense I think that's really interesting uh Nancy are there any issues when we were negotiating the interlocal agreement with the school district there were some constraints on what the school could accept from the town and not for profits and there's a just sort of a unique Dynamic about the town how the town can best help the school financially and this may come up again when we talk about impact as well um it gets to be a little bit of a Sticky Wicket but I I like the idea you might want to just think about that thank you um I'll look for that inter local and kind of see where we are are on those on those issues I think this would be a good discussion to put on an MMP and allow you time to be able to Y gather that information because that's pretty that's an intriguing thought yeah and are there any restrictions on what you can use short-term rental money for I mean I don't know if there if the state has any restrictions on what excess money and what buckets that can go into I don't know Joe is that the figure for FY 25 it is okay so there's some in the bucket now right there is how much do we know I it's not a lot it's not a lot well it may be about I have the the number 175,000 in my mind but somewhere close to that just give them something to think about just just as we bonuses as we as we as we as we chew on this uh well we can talk about the CP but as we chew on this issue the uh the interlocal agreement is a four-year agreement and so when that four years are up if the way the interlocal agreement reads if enrollment is not at the appropriate threshold Andor the cost per student is not at the appropriate threshold then one of two things could happen number one the school could close or the town could be asked in some capacity to offset that per pupil cost to make it uh uh more equal with other Barrier Island schools and so that would in essence be a subsidy of some sort so that might come in handy at some point I I think again the school's doing great we're up to 62 kids but uh it it's still you know it's still a struggle obviously we're still early in our recovery too so I'm hoping things continue to get better but that might be a a nice little bucket there in case push comes to shove uh you know when the four years is up I hope that doesn't happen but be nice to have some funds available assuming Nancy could make it legally work yeah right so far so good Joe yes thank you um the only other thing I have regarding this is I I noticed on there's a typo in the resolution itself but it's when it's saying that the next hearing that's mentioned in this home resolution is is going to be at Diamond at beach resort it has a correct address but that Diamond Head Beach Resort should be crossed out so okay you can fix that between now and the next year yes I will all right well let's start with the you ready for to go through the rest of it uh or is there were there more questions regarding um fees or I'm guessing there's probably going to be some questions about some other fee areas outside of what you just discussed yes I'm finished with the these from my presentation for we'll start down there with you Scott let you go first uh can you give me a second sure we come back start with John all right we'll start with you I'll pass uh vice mayor adhal uh thank you if if we could go to the water section and the storm water review fees um a few years back Joe long before your time uh in fact the mayor and I were just relatively new on the council I got involved in a little project with our then Town manager to make sure that our rates utility rates reflect the actual true costs of the utility u ility in other words the before then the town Town's General budget general fund budget was subsidizing the utilities so we did a rate study and the rate study uh called for an adjustment of the rates so the utilities could then be self-sufficient and not be subsidized um we we tried to create a firewall between the general fund and the utilities because a lot of municipalities will either subsidize utilities or the utilities will subsidize the general fund and a variety of different capacities um I just wanted to make sure a is that firewall still in place and B when are we up for an additional a new rate study to get a sense of where we're at in that process that's those are very good questions um in terms of a firewall I'm not sure what what you mean other than I can comment on there's no need to subsidize storm water and water at this moment but the rate study that had been um authorized or the study that was authorized and then the the rate schedule of increases that had been authorized that the last um year was 2024 so we're due for a new set of rates and a rate study we do have um a a consulting firm that's already been um hired several months ago now and they're they were in the process of collecting information and they're actually waiting on on me to give them further information for the plan and I think now now that we're kind of coming out of emergency mode and we have a clearer picture of of more so than what we had before I think I'm in a better place where I can provide them with that information and so we should be able to then update the rate study and see where we're at and then see what type of increases may be necessary going forward is this firm prepared to do a full cost of service study that is my understanding ending it would be similar it's they're going to do it on the same format but it's more like software related so that we have kind of control to plug in the variables and see the different scenarios that play out and and the goal from what I understand it's been a while since I've seen it is that it's to kind of stabilize the raid so that we're not having to do sudden increases but to to kind of plan it out over several years we to call eliminate rate shock yes yes so that's I mean that's what the if we follow that program that's how it should be we just need to to get it done I think that's great I I one of the things I would just say uh and and good that n's here just a little history one of the things that precipitated this effort was and it wasn't it was not there was no ill intent it was just it was just a reality uh with this various subsidization that was going on particularly in the storm waterer arena with General funds you bump up against there cities on this island that have their own storm water system and they fund it themselves they fund all the infrastructure the maintenance Etc and they take Umbridge when the their general fund monies are used to subsidize the storm water system and there was discussion if the town didn't course correct of having some litigation they didn't want to do that but fortunately we're able to work through it and uh so I would just as you talk to these various folks that are doing the cost of service study and as your thinking just policy-wise let's do our best to avoid that subsidization so we avoid any bumping heads with our sort of for lack of a better term quasi private uh utilities on the island yes does that Mak sense yes um I think um something that did help us because like water revenues did drop significantly as a result of um the damage from Hurricane but one of the things that helped us was the state revolving Loan Fund program they um deferred payments for two years and so that prevented us from having to do anything like subsidize the water fund during this you know loss and revenue period um so I think um we were protected from that happening in that respect okay great thank you very much that's all I've got Woodson so I wanted to go back to the moing fields um The Daily weekly monthly rate we had talked about or at least we had conversations a few months ago um is this breaking even is it still costing us money have we done any analysis on there I'm what I'm getting to are these are these fees too low do are we covered with everything should these be raised and kind of what is is there a standard for other moing fields that we're not equal with or I don't know how to answer that last part of your question I don't know we'll start with the part I don't have any experience there yet I've not been no information of that nature has been shared with me Jo can I can I just help on that because I just we just had a this this just came up at our Anchorage advisory and Kurt our new Harbor Master had did a sort of an informal survey of all the pricing throughout Southwest Florida and he said we're almost in that perfect sweet spot at this point okay yeah good was talking about raising the rates he was considering considering yeah if if if if the data comes forth to demonstrate the need to but at this point I think he was just exploring it at this point what's ready to do at this this cycle did you guys have a discussion that there's there's more there's M Mo balls that are are more favorable yes we did so there was quite a debate about that counselor's effort and and and and and I don't think anybody came to any particular conclusion but it was a good discussion and it's a valid point but I I don't think Kurt was or Kurt our Harbor Master was quite ready to take that step I don't know if that was out of uh just the fact that it it complicates matters or but there was there was a lot of discussion that was sympathetic to that concept but I just don't think Kurt was ready to take that step yet okay like I don't know I just don't know if Other M Fields have you know Prime spots and they charge a little bit more for those it's a great question I think that is indeed the casee in certain in and I think uh again I think the the committee was was pushing Kurt on that and I think he's he's he's still open to the concept that would seem like easy money if if you've got a spot that's people want to be you know where wherever closer to the prime spots and there's certain types of boats that are you charge more for based upon length and but but each time somebody had that made that train of thought go forward there was somebody else that had a counter thought and so there was not there was not an agreement reached but it was a good discussion and I think Kurt our Harbor Master once he kind of he's really starting to really get his feet on the ground here and he's very knowledgeable I think he certainly opened all those ideas I I just don't think he's prepared to do it this cycle but once he gets a little bit more data uh under a we haven't lived in a normal world for a while so soon as he gets some normal data I think he's open to those kind of suggestions but that's but it's a good point and it's a very valid point to answer your question um Curtis and I have had those discussions um I'm I'm proponent of upping it um even at at a $5 doll clip per per each um it allows us a little bit more freedom as far as the favorable spots you can imagine which ones they are they're the ones right either to the west of the bridge or the east of the bridge depending on how you want to look at it um that first grouping are the ones that are conducive to the downtown they're conducive to the where the dingy dock is that we going to be the the one we have now the one that we're proposing to to replace it with um that is where the the Upland services are located so yes those those would be the prime candidates going into any kind of discussion trying to figure out a way to get those in some type of uh a b or c status that's still an ongoing discussion with Curtis okay and we can always do an amendment once he gets the data yes yeah I'd be all for that if we we've got Prime real estate to yeah let's get Prime I think if the council at some point formally charges the Anchorage advisory committee to to to implement something like that or research it and implement it I think that that direction would be appreciated as well sounds like we sounds like we've got it I think we have I for there what is that cleaning lady CLE St that was mine cleaning staff that was yours that was mine for now okay oh that I was going to speak about that but I have one one other question about Newton Park fee schedule I mean half half the stuff isn't there anymore well and I think that's why they didn't change anything either they you just want to leave that so when when it when the park does come back we KN we know what the the fees were and the pool it's the same thing yeah and we can always revisit these by resolution throughout the year yes it's not set in stone I was just asking a question anything else nope I got just a couple and I don't know that if it's something that can be changed now or if we want to look at it later but you know as we've been going through this rebuild process when we were back in Diamond Head we had a lot of talk about the cost for someone that wanted to put a fence back that was there before we know it was there before but $2,000 that have to be spent by a homeowner that had to get the approval to get a special exception to put their fence back is there a way that we can look at this and maybe it can't happen now but I really want to look at some of these things under the public hearing Parts the the special exception and the variances I mean to be across the board a single feed that I mean for a small project it doesn't make sense for someone to have to pay $1,800 to replace a fence that was there before even though you have to go through the process I don't know if we can do that via the sides of the project or there's just to me a blanket you know a blanket fee for special exception there's not as much review time that goes into say setbacks or yeah I mean when when somebody has three setbacks it's that you need three pay three fees it doesn't make any sense well the the dollar amount I mean it's three different things the staff has to look at but if you're looking at a fence versus a house mean there's a whole no I'm talking yeah I'm talking more fence so it's something I don't necessarily think you need to change it by the next hearing but it's something that I would like to look at throughout the year maybe we bring it back back to an MMP to take a look at to what's a good way with with the planning staff how we can lay this out so smaller projects aren't paying what a a big developer would be paying for the same exact service I I believe um when we were reaching out to the various departments um my understanding is I think they're looking at those fees probably based on the comments that were made at previous meetings so but there is nothing ready there was nothing ready for us to incorporate into this so it's still it's still in the the radar as far as I understand it yes um the other two things kind of that's falling into this do we have any idea we getting any closer to the impact fee discussion um that we I believe we are um I think we have to I have to check with Jason Green on that but we should be wrapping that up very very quickly okay so that can come back to us fairly quickly we have a meeting with Jason and Sarah this week we do so we'll we'll bring that up and see where they are okay but we can bring it I I think we are getting close to rapping that and then the other thing that I have is just a suggestion and we'll see if it goes anywhere how many parking passes resident parking passes do we usually hand out a year I I honestly don't have that information sir I can get that for you I'm just wondering if we can you know we charge $25 I wonder if that would be something that we could maybe give to them for nothing but is that a huge loss of Revenue you know I mean to is it how much administrative time goes into giving those parking passes at least the cost of the actual $250 cents to to buy the sticker or bu you know whatever yeah I don't know how much administrative cost goes just something to try to provide a little bit of relief to I mean I don't again I don't know by the next meeting if you can look at it and if it's something that the council doesn't even want to entertain don't waste your time on it but it's what do you think John I'm always U willing to listen look at that wa you woke me up so I had to come that okay just at least bring it back for the next hearing to see how many what does that number look like we can get all that information for you right away I don't want it you to have to redo the whole your whole budget because of a parking pass not that I think it will but okay all right thank you I can do that all right that's all I have any other comments on the tentative fee schedule if not then we're going to table we're going to take a vote to table this one then work our way backwards is that I think you can go ahead and take a vote on it yes is there a motion to approve or deny the resolution 241 176 fiscal year 25 tenative fees schedule so Move Motion by councelor King second seconded by councelor Safford any further discussion uh councelor King hi counc Safford hi counc Woodson hi Vice May adle and I'm an i motion carries unanimously we didn't have Public public comment would you like to come and speak in public comment okay okay all right Ming on for dinner yes okay now we will is we're gonna reopen number a yep number a no B reopen B we got to reopen B number B uh you have to do the military first but if thought we have to talk about it then table it again and then go back up if you would like that would be fine as long as your vote on the mill rate is before the um tentative budget I don't have a concern if you want to close it or reopen it it's okay I just the way we've always done it in the past I understand is there a motion to reopen resolution 24175 school year 25 tentative budget so moved got a mo motion by councelor Woodson seconded by councelor Safford um any discussion councelor Woodson hi councelor Safford hi councelor King hi M hi and I'm an i as well the hearing is back open go ahead Joe okay no I don't know if this will confuse things but I do have within my presentation a section in the first part that does address the millit rate is is that okay to talk about it now sure you can discuss it but then we'll have to close this hearing again and open and then open yeah for some reason that's how we've always done it in the past just so that I think you have better understanding of um so next year we'll we'll try to give you some options yeah perfect love that idea okay all right goad so what I would like to just start with is just to kind of give you an idea what's all in the presentation so I've got guing principles how the budget was put together it does talk about the proposed millage rate and the roll back rate the general fund budget basic components the use of the bridge loan the changes in the Personnel position count there's a general fund um budget by department and category then there's a total budget by fund and category and then I talk about Deb service and then there's one correction that needs to be made to The Debt Service budget that I've discovered when I was um reviewing things in preparation for this um presentation so the guiding principles I just to give you and the public an idea of what we were doing and putting this together first of all we a we like to and need to achieve a structurally balanced zerob based budget I think that's important to understand um structurally balance means that you have recurring revenues matched up with recurring expenditures non-recurring revenues non-recurring expenditures we're in a kind of a a difficult situation with our loss of revenues fortunately we have a bridge alone there so that's really the one exception to a structurally balanced budget that we have that's just the nature of um recovering from a disaster and zerob based is that we don't just take what we had last year and maybe increase the 5% or whatever we actually look at every single line item we start with the Personnel budget and just look at that the actual cost the actual cost of benefits and that's the bulk of the budget and then from there we go through every single line item the department heads do that for us and then they make they determine what is needed for the specific year coming up um and we look at that very closely with them we're also based on um previous discussions with you all and comments at meetings um the intent was to maintain the courage current millage rate and not to um increase it we're limiting the use of the bridge loan to just cover the non-ed Borum Revenue loss um so it's we're not using the bridge loan just to to do extra things we're just trying to limit it to covering only the revenue loss um we wanted to stabilize the Personnel budget and from my perspective that's really already taken place in the stabilization of the organizational chart um but by stabilizing the budget too then we don't have have so many um variables of things changing it's really starting to solidify and because of that we've been able to narrow the budget down and we have it a more more restricted in that sense um and one of the things is we wanted to do is strengthen the reserves and then also um we're limiting Capital Improvement budget to Disaster Recovery because that's pretty much all we can handle right now um the organizational chart is under constant Joe on the capital Improvement budget just cons since we're at high 10,000 ft how do you manage that given that you get these little wonderful surprises from Andy and Frankie of $1 13 million coming in that don't obviously they're not budgeted for but obviously that helps your capital budget demonstrably how do you how do you how are you managing these infusions of help from our friends at the state federal level and county level well as they occur um we part of it is we don't just get it we have to authorize the acceptance um they had a a very elaborate actually when you look into it um replacement program where they had um they calculated the cost of every single piece of equipment down to the gym equipment in bayaks and then what it would cost to replace it over time so that we're always putting enough money in over time in order to replace these things when they almost like a reserve fund yeah so there is a reserve fund for that purpose so there is that amount there and because you know so much has been already destroyed and is being replaced um the only way what I've done to manage that is just to assume that we're going to spend maybe a quarter of it each year for various Replacements um but there's really nothing specific in mind it's just there it's available if we need more than that we could do a budget adjustment um but we have those small amounts available for each department and so that that's currently in the capital budget it's not um certainly a risk for a wish wish list um item and we honestly because of our Revenue shortfalls we just don't have any excess revenues coming in that would allow for that like we may have had in the past and so I think that's also why we're not doing that but then beyond that we're restricted by our Bridge Loan um terms where we if we do have excess Revenue coming in we are to use it to pay the bridge loan rather than capital projects so we're we're just in a tough spot in that respect so I mean it's wonderful that we're getting infusions of cash Grant forms of grant that we can do these projects with um but we we don't have anything extra yet we're not in that spot maybe you know soon we will be but not now all right thank you okay so um did I I think I must have backed up y okay so talking about the struct balance zerob based budget um the organizational chart is under constant review by the town manager and that's in order to achieve operational efficiency and improved performance so there have been many changes and improvements along the way and that's that's been um stabilizing we have very few vacancies now um the Personnel budget that is in the budget was set based on the current organizational chart um it's using the current salaries and wages that are in place now but it is incorporating the benefit rates um according to the renewal rates so I have that also in the budget is an amount that was set aside for a cola increase of 1.8% um this is based on the cost of living or um the CPA CPI index as of May and partly why I chose that is because that was what was available when we put together the preliminary budget but that was also what was in place when the Evergreen study was done and when they were doing the research and the comparisons so I thought that's kind of a good Baseline to measure from in terms of like then and I I'll use that going forward well we'll take it as of May to measure the cost of living so that's like the annual increase as of May um and then there's also a budget for What's called the annual step increases and this is within the salary grade levels for each of the individual positions where each year um of experience that a person has the town they um the schedule is set up so that they move up a notch in that salary get grade level so there'll be like two types of increases each person um employee will receive and that's the cola increase and then um the step increase um and both of those are really modest amounts so there's nothing um extraordinary there are those based on performances well the cola obviously is not but the Step increase is that based on performance that that's no no it's it is not sure that'll be part once we do the get the Strategic strategic plan in place that a lot of things will start tying into performance measures right the um so the the increases that will go year over-ear are not based on um performance they are just based on if you're going to come work for the town you're going to be here for 20 years this is what you in the same role this is what you can expect to as your as your base together uh in my experience in state government we had a very Innovative plan plan that not only rewarded performance but also uh disciplined lack of performance in other words you've got meets exceeds and then does not meet and then the does not meet gets put on a work Improvement plan right and if they're not satisfying that then they've got to go find something else to do yes we have um two uh metrics that are does not meet and needs Improvement and when those are applied it is required that the supervisor break out exactly what are we looking at what need to be improved and then what is the plan to do so so when that happens a performance Improvement plan would be put in place and then there will be a timeline as the performance Improvement plan would be put in place and then there will be a timeline established which they'll have to follow up with HR and to ensure are we moving in the right direction or do we have an issue here that needs to be addressed I think that's great because I think some sometimes an employee that's not performing can bring down the morale of those who are and it's it's quite it's it's a little bit of a cancer for lack of a better term absolutely absolutely um and that's why I also want to incorporate that the performance reviews are done um upon like within the first six months with which is our introductory period so that we're really opening up that line of communication between the supervisor and then the employee from the beginning and annually to say what's going right what's going wrong because we don't do that enough that then that's what we're finding um and then you know we we want to do a better job as the employer to say we've given you the tools that you need and the open line of communication that you need to be successful and so when that's not happening you know it's not it's never a surprise to the employee and we need to do a better job of that so I'm excited to get it implemented one last question and I'll be quiet but Andy we've talked about this in the past there is a little bit of a perception out there in the public because the Paradigm in the previous prean world we had a lot of employees who were not actually employees there were there were Consultants to the town and and then when you filled those spots with Town employees bringing things in house which I think there was a clear desire amongst folks to have you do uh it gave the appearance that somehow we've added headcount here and I I I don't think that's a fair characterization do you want to comment on that just give people a sense of that correct no we have not uh I don't think I have hired anybody in this room I know you didn't hire me this side of the table my point is they were all in place when I got here maybe we move the parts and put them different places and then assigned them but I believe we've actually reduced the stat Levels by I don't know the number but we we do I looked at it last time we had this conversation or when it came up when the millage rate was discussed back in the court of public opinion that we that I addressed I think Dan sorry the mayor and I spoke about it that we'd actually reduce reduce the budget about $2 million I believe we were operating on $2 million less this year than we did the previous years and and we also even reduced it even more as the year went along so the numbers are lower than they were and actually what you're right you are correct we we filled positions um I think uh I think you know both of these have a couple of of departments we didn't feel hired directors we just gave them extra responsibility because that's really I'm more about thinning at the top and getting more workers at the bottom so and one of the thing we do you know you can also go to you know a performance-based uh bonus system and that doesn't compound annually on your your budget either as you go forward I mean there's a lot of ways to look at how you know one time payment that we can we we will be looking at several options as we go forward and I know this is complicated but to simplify is it is it simplified is it fair to say that the headcount poan is lower than the headcount prean I believe that is correct yes I want to say the number is five it's not a lot trying to trying to find it in here but it I want to say it was a net of five something like that net growth or n less less less yes I I think that's is yeah I think that's important because I hear around town every once in a while that oh we're hiring all these people with head count big government no more government light so just for the record it's we currently have five less employees than we did prean want to say that's I think it's more than that I can give you the exact number but I'm quite certain it is lower and that sounds about right okay I just I just want to get that out there to for the public record it's in here I'm just trying to find it that's all and just to um support what Andy said what what we've been able to do is really take an assessment of organizationally where we're standing and for a smaller government enhance our where our strengths are and move people around and so because of that we actually you know are maybe hiring more of the support level role so that we have a higher output and the resident support um and really being strategic about where the in the executive level staff and and you don't you know and we really are trying to strengthen our middle management as well um so it's been I think we've done a really great job in the last year and a half that I've been here and we hope to continue to do that I I think you have too I just I just always encourage our town manager to tell his story because he has a very good story to tell yeah thank you so I think I already commented on how each non-personal operational line item is carefully adjusted by the department heads um so capital budget items are only Incorporated to the extent that cost funding sources are known and then we'll continue to add projects through budget adjustments um so re re revenues were estimated conservatively we're looking at um historical Trends and then adjusted for future expectations otherwise we incorporated specific Grant amounts um and or in a few cases we received some government forecast amounts that we used interest Revenue was actually calculated more um deliberately this time around using the cash flow projection that I was able to put together and then using morning Stars forecast that they're predicting that the federal funds rate will drop to 2.75% by the end of fiscal year 25 you know whether that happens or not I don't know but that's what I used to um calculate the interest um right now we're we're actually earning around 5% interest and that's just in our regular operating Accounts at the bank um which is very good um it was the budget was carefully compiled by the budget manager myself um we had input from directors from the town manager it was submitted and I'm saying this really for public um consumption it was submitted to the Town Council for review on July 15th as you know and it's undergone um continuous review and refinement and we've um provided a few updates along the way to you to try to keep you informed as to what's happening um so now we're into the actual millage rate portion of the presentation so we are proposing to keep the millage rate the same for FY 25 as it was for FY 24 and it's at 099 and so the reason why we're doing that is that in conjunction with the bridge loan and other revenues that the town is for um forecasting to collect there will be sufficient Revenue to sustain operations and to add to the emergency fund and that's at 4 $225,000 addition that I had recommended that we do so we're able to accomplish all that by leaving the mill rate at 099 now the roll back rate is calculated as 6561 that's the millage rate that's necessary to generate the same amount of tax revenue as was generated the prior year but using the current years appraised value before taking into account additions new construction deletions so that's the rate it would take to generate the same amount of tax revenue as generated the prior year and that's because the prior year I just I can pause here and explain that last year we lost 42% of the taxable value as well as 42% of our um tax and so because we lost that that is why by leaving the rate at 0.99% went to a roll back rate or somewhere in between doesn't that pretty much come directly out of the emergency fund that we're trying to establish or well it would I mean basically we're we're dropping back to the tax revenue that we had um when the taxable values dropped imped by 42% so if you were to continue with that rate that's we'd be generating the same amount of tax revenue and as well it it counts with into this where although we're still using the same millage rate in fy2 is what we had in FY 24 and 23 we're still only going to collect $600,000 of property tax than we had before less less less than um what collected at the right before hurricane Ian so I it looks like we're increasing and it is when you compare it to the rate but Revenue wise we're we're not where we were before Hurrican in and then this is just um an interesting fact just to show a comparison of where town of Fort Meers beaches um portion of the tax bill lies when someone is to receive a tax bill our the town's portion is only 6.2% and all of the other um taxing bodies have much higher percentages and some have lower Joe for those who can't see the chart who are watching this presentation would you just mind reading those top five and the number and then and then maybe a couple afterwards sure um so we have the public school um by state law their share of the tax rate is 26.6% Le County General Revenue is 23.4% public schools by the local board is 18.8% Fort Meers Beach fire district is 18.5% um and then we have town of Fort Meyers Beach only 6.2% Lee County Solid Waste assessment is 2.6% Fort Meyers Beach Library is 1.5% thank you um surrounding millage rates it's just another chge for comparison purposes you can see that where this is just going through 2024 um we're we're down in the lower end where we have on the city of Fort Meyers Cape Coral porda city of sanabel Marco Island Naples all having higher millage rates than we do um city of Bonita Springs and Village of Estero have slightly lower rates than we do um I apologize how hard this is to see it looked great on my computer screen I'm not even sure if I can read this um but what I was trying to do here is to give you just a sense of the basic components of the budget um what I'm calling base revenues is everything that's not listed below so base revenue does not include um the increase in Ador property tax it does not include the bridge loan it does not include um the amounts that we're using out of the reserve that we were given a few years back for estal Estero Boulevard um Landscaping it does not include um the transfer from arpa or um let's see the landscaping and then we also that reverse transfer that we we took back last year out of the capital fund for turtle lighting um so all of those things the use of reserves interest Revenue I'm pulling all of that out of Base Revenue just to give a year-to-year comparison so if you look at anything other than those items our revenues have actually starting to increase from 2024 to 2025 and and that's because we had a huge drop and like one one major component would be parking but now it's coming starting to come back so it's a modest increase of 332,000 um the increase of AD Balor tax revenue is 1.3 million um and then we're using the bridge loan of 2.8 million ion um we're pulling we're budgeting um the use of the reserve amount that we had for the estro boulevard Landscaping um and then we had a small use of reserves $50,000 it's just a carryover of savings from this year that we had budgeted for vehicles that was not is not going to be spent this year so it's carrying forward next year um and then we have the interest Revenue it's going down because of the projected decrease in interest rates um but we had a substantial amount of interest um 2024 and um again in 2025 but it'll be $75,000 less budget wise um our expenditures are actually it's a positive number there but that's because it's contributing a positive variance so our expenditures are actually down 643,000 overall and that's um that's also with the factoring in of the cola increases um the increases so even with those increases our overall expenses are going down 643,000 um and then those other items are just to indicate what that we are going to planning on spending on the Estero Boulevard landscaping and then um we're contributing 435,000 to the emergency fund the bridge loan calculation how I'm doing this and it can probably be done a variety of ways but I'm trying to be consistent where we take the fy22 actual revenue of the 10,11,12 217,000 so if you compare that 7,217 to 2022 we're still short overall almost 2.9 Million and so that's where I'm um calculating the amount to use um out of the bridge loan um so and this is interesting comparison since 2024 um our headcount is really stable in the sense that there's there's changes within departments but that where you see that that major change of 16.75 it's really Building Services and this is where we're switching over from employees that we had budgeted for to contractual services and it may not even account for all 16 positions or may not they may not all be filled by contractual positions so that's where the head count itself is actually going down um the tenative budget so we the total budget is 12, 72,000 for all funds is 67 million and this is um to look at Revenue by Source general fund Revenue by Source we've got taxes almost 30% the bridge loan 23% license permits and fees almost 18% other taxes 12% a use of reserves 65% the charges for services these are the fees that we collect 4.4% um this miscellaneous revenues coming in at 4.3% fines and assessments that's a low budget 2% um and then grants is only 2% into the general fund we have many more grants coming into to the special Revenue funds can you share a little more about miscellaneous what would fall into that that's a good question um thank well in insurance for one thing okay um that insurance proceeds would fall into that but I don't know sure do you call off the top of your head um yeah I'm sorry I should in my head but I don't um interest well oh that's don't I have that separate no okay so interest well actually that's the bulk of it so it's um interest interest okay thank you thank you Sher okay so general fund expense by category so wages is the largest um cost 36.5% our contracted Services um is next in line at 27% benefits 14% liability insurance 99.3% um the cost of our debt but this is um the payment that the general fund contributes every year to pay off that $10 million um well the potentially $10 million loan that we received um from to do the Bay Oaks improvements Time Square um and I have another slide regarding that that'll but we didn't use the entire time right and I'll tell you the amount we use in the future slide here and then capital in the general fund is only um a half a percent because most most of the capital expenditures are actually coming out of the capital fund itself Commodities only 2% contingencies um it's a slightly more than 2% because we we have a 2% contingency in the general department that's required by gfoa but there are a couple of other small departments when the town manager department is one that has a small contingency also for any that were that may come up during the year okay we have um the general fund expense by department so I don't need to actually go through this department by Department I just have it there for you so you can see um in comparison year-over-year um the total change again um expense wise is $349,000 plus this is all funds wasn't pardon can you go back to last slide wasn't it 347,000 more you went the other way there 349 there's two slides past there there you go right there 349 181 you're right so okay there might be oh you know what what it is okay if we go back to here where is it did I pass it I guess I passed it I scre you all I'm sorry no um it's not this it's not this it must be here is this what you were thinking of where the well your your your your revenue is going to go up 347,000 so your expenses to balance the budget are going to go up right it's just a way of How It's I think are you comparing it to base expenses no sir okay what what then what are you comparing it to can you get back to go forward okay slide 22 I think it is 22 or 23 next one there it is there it is okay yeah so to have a balanced budget we're going to have 3 you know our B our budget's $350,000 more than it was last year so our revenue and expenses are going to be more by 350 yes you said the opposite though okay that's on why I did this slide here I know this is maybe int this isn't intuitive but I was trying to break it out by components so that the base expenses are actually $643,000 less but what we were're adding into that is the Estero Boulevard Landscaping expense of $782,000 so that that's creating you know an increase in expenses and then there's also $210,000 more going into the emergency Reserve so if you add in you know add up the 643 savings against the additional landscape um expend of 782 and the additional um contribution to the emergency Reserve that's where you end up with the um total of 349,000 but okay yeah I just wanted to split out that um Landscaping cost and the contribution to the reserve is separate items because I don't consider those you know base expenses so that's that's why got it yeah I'm sorry if I confused it that way that's okay so I I have a qu I have a question with going way back to what uh the vice mayor mayor said it he had indicated that we we've lost five or five less people but budget wise it's 14 16 which which number is correct well it I found it's on page yeah I did too it's on page uh 32 the net is four but that's because the Contracting employees so if you're on on page 190 it's a history of the changes to the Personnel budget included in this 2025 budget and the the overall change is negative 20.5 but of that 20.5 16.5 is Contracting rather than employes what I'm saying so it we have five less but that's including contractors but our head count is is less we have more contractors I don't know that we have more contract I think overall we have four less in-house employees is the way I'm reading it it says well on page 32 of the presentation no no not this budget it's in the current Personnel control you've got last 20 fiscal year 24 you had 114 people now we have 98 so 16 people less 16 people less well those those were just changed out for contractors right okay but this is saying there's actually four or less employees overall if you if you include contract contractors okay gotcha good okay I'm okay we spun you around there okay I hope you're okay and what I was trying to do here is just limit the changes to what actually affected the budget because there's there were some um increases in headcount that occurred like if if you were just looking at those head count um the headcount presentation itself there were some increases like in Neighborhood Services where in previous years we counted them as half a half a um position but they were actually working three4 of of time in a week so they really if you want to convert to full-time equivalents we needed to convert them from half to 3/4 of a position so it didn't cost us anymore we were just correcting the presentation so it looks like we increased headcount but it we really just were trying to reflect what they were actually the hours they were actually working and being paid so um I didn't want to confuse this by making it look like we're um increasing the bud that the the budget increased because of that it didn't so I left that out of this presentation here yeah it looks like it gets confusing because there's a few employees in there that are covered by the T DC yes so it doesn't affect the budget yes the that's why those numbers look a little different than up there so I'm sorry that it's the budget is very confusing um so I think we went through this didn't we I think we're on page 24 thank you okay so this is just um by all funds I don't know if I I I wanted to make sure you're aware of all the funds we have for one thing um so the the total change um it in it increased in the general fund by 350,000 the bridge loan came down by 577 th000 so because we're needing to use less of it because of the increase in revenues um Deb service fund didn't change emergency fund this is a little bit hard to compare because we don't have all that much actually budgeted in the emergency fund for fi2 24 but that doesn't necessarily mean that we've not spent monies there and we'll probably be doing a budget adjustment for FY 24 to reflect what we actually spent but in this comparison it looks like there's $2 and A5 million dollar more budgeted um this FM hurricane Recovery Fund that's a $5 million loan that we received from um FM to be used on FEMA projects I have a separate slide on that um so that's new that's why that looks like a large increase um gas tax is actually because revenues are projected to be down slightly we adjusted um the whole budget down by 130,000 um the building fund um just we're expecting roughly the same thing but we just we brought it down to an even three and a half million um TDC um the reason why that's looks like such a huge increase is we're um also reflecting um for Beach rer or Beach nourishment they they give us a large amount from Beach nourishment that's most of what that 1 Point $3 million is and that was not in the budget um the formal budget last year um Capital fund I have more information on that um in total though it's going down $10 million um Community enhancement project that's that loan that we um had budgeted the remainder of for 2024 but we didn't use all that and of course there's nothing for 2025 um that was the $10 million Lo just that's left to 10 million um the the arpa fund um the 877,000 is all we have left um we had budget to the remainder to be used um previous this year in previous years cdb dgr no cdbg drr planning Grant that's brand new um if we at the point at which we have this an additional Grant we'll incorporate that as a budget amendment um they have the road and park impact fees basically we're just budgeting the use of the entire fund balance which um so that 50 and 250 is what is in the fund balance um it doesn't necessarily mean that we'll spend it but it's budgeted if we do and then we have the water and storm water that the water is higher because we're reflecting for the first time the expense to the water department um it wasn't of for tier one it's their portion as well as um budgeted loan payments those items were not included in the budget in previous years but it's so I think it distorted the budget so I'm adding them in this year just so you see the full um expense of water but it does make it look like we're the actual expense hasn't increase it's just what reflecting the budget is increased storm water is a little different because we had actually budgeted a $10 million grant for 2024 that did not come to fruition so that was already in last year's budget but we are budgeting um this tier one project in storm water this year and so the comparison of what's the tier one budget this in 2025 compared to that $10 million Grand is 800,000 less but but now both water and storm water have the tier one pro projects in there as well as The Debt Service payments so this is just um another comparison by category so most of it when you look at it all funds most of it's in capital 55% then you have Services you know fund wide is only 16% wages is only 9% um we've got transfers contingency benefits is only 3 and a half% when you look at it as a whole budget um and debt is only 1.6% % what is Commodities Commodities would be like office supplies it would um even I think utilities falls under that category fuel um anything like that so um pork bellies orange juice okay um and actually it's anything that you would buy even equipment that's non- capital so if it doesn't meet the capital of the threshold um it would be considered commodity and the capital threshold is anything $10,000 or more um it'll be software also well if you purchase the software so the capital budget item so I tried to put together um what we have because it's a huge budget 37 million so the storm water tier one is the 9 A5 million um the capital Beach R nourishment is almost 9 million the FM loan um this is for the various FEMA projects I have a separate slide on that that's 4.4 million um what we have left for the turtle lighting project that's um at almost 3.9 million we have the bay o Ballfield project this is where we got that $2 million Grant and we have a $1 million Ranch match that we're using um arpa funds for so that's in the budget for next year um and then we have the water portion of tier one that's the 2.1 we have um the town hall renovation project of the new building that's at 1.9 million um they you know as new new needs for that renovation are identified there'll be Bud further budget adjustments um The Parks and Rec infrastructure that's the impact fees that's the total of the fund balances at 1.1 million um then we're also budgeting to spend the rest of arpa um we've got that replacement program I talked about where we've got 682,000 in the capital reserve for anything that may need to be replaced over the next year um then water department has 500,000 for water meters and water lines um TDC Beach machinery and equipment 288,000 have a small budget for vehicles that's a carry over 50,000 um office furniture and Equipment it's very small 12,500 and curbs and sidewalks this is in the gas tax fund it's um any type of work that needs to be done there it's a very small budget this is f um FM FEMA loan for FEMA projects um there's a total left of 4.4 million we can only use this loan for FEMA projects that were preapproved by um FM to use this loan for and this allocation is just based off of the total cost of those projects but it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to use those dollar amounts for those specific projects you can mix and match them as long as the total um doesn't exceed the $4.4 million that's remaining um and that as long as you don't exceed the amount that FEMA approved for the project so this is just um a small portion of the the FEMA projects I mean that the projects are much larger they we only are allowing us a small portion of it to have cash up front to start the project to start the projects now well that the The Pump Station repairs is that the North Tower or the South Tower and then you got the pump station replacement those one of those two I would think would come out of that recent cdbg drr funding that is correct so that those numbers are going to change a little bit we'll probably have to reshuffle this but this is where where we have it at the moment um and I do have another slide about Fe I think um the loan um so this is all funds by Revenue source so again it's just the percentage like where where are all the revenues coming from in a broader perspective um 30% is coming out of the reserves those um 19% out of Grants 14% out of loan proceeds so I won't go through every single item um and this is none the use of reserves so I think here that the Top Line reserves is 30% which is 30 or $20 million this is how it's all broken out so we've got what's considered a reserve so the source of funding is the reserve the fom loan um that we received you know we received it this year so it's going it's sitting in the reserve it'll be carried forward next year to actually be allocated out um the balance of the turtle light Grant is at 3 8 million the bridge loan um proceeds it's coming out of the bridge loan Reserve 2.9 Million the balance up front of beach R nourishment we received a grant um for $8 million this year so this is the balance that's carrying forward for Beach R nourishment um and that Grant was an $8 million upfront payment we have some insurance proceeds that we have um for for the new town hall that are sitting in the emergency fund and so that's part of the reserves that'll be used the rad and park impact fees all of those fund balances are the reserves so that's that 1.1 million the capital fund for the ball field um the one our $1 million contribution that we moved into that um from arpa um the remainder of arpa to be spent is 877,000 then we got again that same Landscape Maintenance of 78 82,000 we've got um that's scheduled Replacements of 682,000 the vehicle replacement so this is just an accounting of everything that's coming out of the reserves so leaves nothing to the imagination so um Grant Revenue um so this is just the major Grant sources we have berri nourishment is coming from fep 6 and A5 million we've got the bay Oak Ballfield coming from fep also um TDC Beach maintenance 1.3 million TDC Beach rur 1.3 million that's cdb gdr comprehensive planning Grant 1.1 million and then we have smaller grants so for storm water tier one project um two 250,000 each and then we have that small Marine law enforcement Grant from WCI n d 25,000 um other revenues so what's falling into um I I just this is my own category for other Revenue details so we have loan proceeds of almost 10 million coming out of the state revolving fund um for tier one and then we've got transfers coming from the bridge loan from the general fund to the emergency fund that 435,000 and then transfers um for Debt Service that 581,000 to repay that um loan so here we have The Debt Service a little more detail I'm sorry it's so faint um this is that $10 million loan that we originally were approved for we only used three and a half million of it so 6.4 almost 6.5 million remained unspent but the um we have a the arrangement to repay that loan is just a fixed payment every year 581,000 so the fact that we use that much less of it means that it'll be paid off that much sooner and it's actually a very reasonable payment um and it was already Incorporated in the budget it's nothing new knew that we had to add to the budget um the Deo bridge loan we received it on June 30th um last year the original maturity date was June 30th of this year and I just received an email um I think on Friday with the new agreement and that um extends it to 233 so it's basically a 10-year term from 2023 to 2033 so we don't have to pay it back until then and then this is just an accounting we received 11.9 million we used three almost 3.1 million the first year we're expected to use three and a. half million this year and then next year we're projecting that almost 2.9 Million and then the interest rate begins in July of 2033 at 10% for anything that's not paid by that time repaid by that time and then this is just more information about that $5 million FEMA loan we received the full amount upfront so it's sitting in our bank account um in February it's an interest free loan but we must pay F them any interest that we earn on it and so we're paying them their share of that 5% interest that we're earning it may only be used for that preapproved pre-approved list and then it's automatically repaid out of any FEMA reimbursements we receive so um it's nothing that we have to worry about repaying it's just we be that's how it'll happen um and then this is just to give you a snapshot of the Florida State revolving the srf um fund loans um what our balances are so the total balances all the way across the board is 43.5 million um the annual payments once they all become due will be almost $3 million on the semian annual would be 1 and a half million but for they're very small payments to start with um in the sense that it's only 615,000 for the water repayment and 373 or almost 374,000 for the storm water repayments that have already started and are incorporated into the budget and the other payments don't start until 202 Joe maybe this is a question for you guys do we have any idea what that final number is going to be for the the tiered side street back before the storm I want to say it was somewhere in the $75 million range I think I got walked back down to about 63 um after all was said and done because there were some things that we weren't going to do some things that weren't vetted at that time um I think the net probably is closer to to 65 total number and depending on what you find from the discussion earlier correct that could okay just about nearing the end but I just wanted to touch on every aspect of the budget and of course all the detail is in in the packet um in my preparation of this presentation and trying and putting that last slide together I did realize then that I didn't have enough in the budget for storm water and water for Debt Service repayments so I needed to increase those payments or we need to increase those in the budget um it it doesn't increase the overall budget it just takes money out of like the storm water contingency to cover it or the water contingency to cover it but that is a correction I need to make and it'll be made um in on the version that'll be presented next hearing that concludes my presentation all right questions for it was very very well done I would have to say this is is probably the the most intuitive one since I've been involved that's for sure and the interesting thing is how many areas there weren't there I you were losing a lot of sleep yes I mean it's it's very very optimistic very thank you you both did and your staff did a great job yes wonderful thanks to Sherry she really put together all that detail raise your hand Sher said by sees you good job Sherry Vice Mar just just one last question on the utility space uh Joe we've talked about the firewall between the general fund and the utilities division within the utilities division are is water storm water and sewer siloed within the uh utility division in other words is one subsidizing another or they are they are they are their rates reflective of the actual costs of each individual division of the utility division well I probably don't know enough about the details to be able to give you the best answer but from what I understand of it in working with Le County um they we we pay them um for Source service I believe yeah it's bulk um the and of course the water um we pay we're paying water by bulk but we distribute it yeah right so we are paying them and and of course their rates are based on costs and then we we charge them administrative fees that are very carefully analyzed by them and we had rather lengthy meetings with them early on in the spring to just go over that and find tooth detail so I think we're at a point at least right now where they're in agreement with what we're charging them and they're comfortable with it um and we'll update them with the latest figures um it's only an annual um invoicing that we do for those services but I I I I think everything is reflective of cost and then any if there is excess Revenue it just goes back into the fund and then it would be available for um you know any any shortfalls for Capital Improvements would you mind just checking particularly on the storm water piece to see if that's that the the storm water fees reflect the actual cost of of the service provided in the in the sense that you think other words I want I'm just want to ensure that the somebody who has a pays a water bill or a sewer bill is not sub subsidizing the the storm water fee storm water fund no there's no money like being transferred out of the water fund into the storm water fund they're separate fund that was my question so they are they are silos oh yes I misunderstood just that that was my question yeah okay I'm sorry that's very simple answer yes all right thank you very good that's all I've got all right Council Woodson do you dream in numbers when did you ever decide that you wanted to do this for a living I don't understand I don't I just don't we're all glad you did love toad we're all extremely glad you did I just like oh my God who would ever want to do this for L but I'm so glad we have you to do it yes I don't until they make sense to me but I I'm sorry if they confuse you councelor Safford I'm great great job thank you great job and I don't have anything either good good job thanks Joe can Cher and the rest of your team that I know there's more people back in there that we that are not here but all right with that is there a motion to table resolution 24- 175 fiscal year 25 tentative budget so move second motion by councelor King seconded by councelor Woodson any further discussion uh councelor King hi councelor Woodson hi councelor Safford hi Vice May adol hi and I'm an i as well we will go back to item a resolution 24- 174 fiscal year 25 proposed millage rate is there a motion to open the do we need a motion to open the reopen the hearing yes yes go ahead and do a motion is there a motion to reopen the hearing got a motion by councelor King second seconded by councelor Woodson any further discussion councelor King hi councelor Woodson hi councelor Safford hi vice mayor adal hi and I'm an i as well the hearing is now open okay we don't need to rediscussed is there a motion to mayor I I would like for the record only um if Joe could stand and perhaps again publicly announce what the percentage increases of the millage and how it exceeds the the roll back rate that was in item number uh slide number 10 and 11 I believe of your presentation and it is also in the resolution um section two of the proposed resolution and then public comment and I think a vote would be appropriate section two of the resolution oh tropical Shores way and I just thought maybe we could nip that in the bud since it sounds like you have some updates on that or let's get through this and then we'll do it before I didn't know he was ready okay I thought I was just trying to kill some time in the middle while he was looking for stuff well because we open the public hearing it's probably best to fair enough okay so um the adelore millage rate for fiscal year 2024 2025 is proposed to be set at 9900 Ms which is 9900 for each $1,000 of assessed valuation the current year roll back rate is 6561 Mills the proposed operating millage rate is then 50 89% greater than the roll track rate okay and then that we'll open it up for public comment would you like to say something okay don't need to brag we just wondered if you wanted to say something all right seeing that we'll close public comment is there a motion to approve the proposed millage rate of 099 for the recommendation of the Town staff so moved second got a motion by Council Woodson seconded by Council Stafford any discussion I would just like to say um thank you to all the staff for their hard work on this uh I know the mayor the vice mayor and the others challenged the town to uh to to get by councelor Safford any discussion councel King hi councelor Safford hi councelor Woodson hi vice mayor adle and I'm an i as well the hearing is opened back up we will ask for public public comment still no public comment we will close public comment is there a motion to approve resolution 24175 fiscal year 2025 tentative budget so moved second motion by councelor Safford seconded by councelor King is there any further discussion councelor Safford I councelor King I councelor Woodson I vice mayor adhal I and I'm I as well motion carries unanimously and now remind me did we do C or we going to do c we still have to do c no you've done we've done so we've okay everything's been open and closed enough times we're good yes exactly so now that brings us to final public comment still no public comment she's still good still good show off telling me she's waiting for dinner all right we will close final public comment with that there is a motion could we just have them come oh yes sorry sorry before that yes let's talk about the the tropical sh we issue yeah so on our Backlot uh that we used to have where site work currently uh have equipment in that those lots we used to take um when Earth viw used to come and uh we're all intensive purposes clean out our storm drains it's just compaction of of slurry sand and mud um that's where they used to dump it and let it dry and then we would either haul it away or they would come and take care of it um we have a Sil fence set up in the back there and apparently a small amount of it had gone out underneath the sil fence it's since been addressed and there will be dumping back here now uh is all cleanable fill that we can use for our our ball field so no hazardous material was released uh nor did it harm the canal in any number Chad went out right away so to the C code enforcement people and they were confident that everything has been taken care of I appreciate the update thank you thank you all right councilor King any moreal words of Lawrence wel and his ban uh good night sleep tight pleasant dreams to you wonderful wonderful let's a journ yay got a motion by Council King second second by counc Safford all those in favor signify by saying I I we are we are adjured at 657 than you thank you everyone --------- ##VIDEO ID:kUsdVV-Qpgs## e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right good morning everyone we're going to call this meeting to order today is Monday September 9th it is 902 or nine depending on which clock you look at all members all council members are present Town attorney Town manager town clerk U just a quick couple things we're going to take every it's going to be a long meeting today it's going to be a long meeting day for everyone so we're going to try to take u a five minute break every two hours just so people can use the conversation if they need to um and then at around 12:00 depending on where we're at we're going to we're going to recess for a lunch um at about 12: or whatever whenever we get done with Whatever item we're on at that time um with that please rise for the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance accept our thanks for this day with all its blessings and opportunities thank you for every seat that has been filled here today for each mind and heart that fills the presence of this room as well as the lives of those we will encounter afterward we meet today today asking for guidance wisdom and support to engage in meaningful discussion for our leaders as they render service to our fellow citizens and Community ready us to make every moment count amen amen amen IED ALG 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 next is the approval of the final agenda there is item a under public hearings 51 Pearl Street has asked for a continuance I believe is what you said Madam attorney um and then Barbara Hill is here for mous seal cab to do that's not on here but she's going to be speaking under advisory committees are there any other changes to the agenda mayor I'd like to uh recommend that the uh 12 I believe it's 12d 11 11d be pulled and and set to a special meeting between the LPA a special voting meeting between the LPA and the Town Council and that the town cour contact the individuals to get that meeting set meeting correct between the two yes sir that was 11 uh d d public hearing d d the ordinance 2410 comprehensive plan adoption plan thank you is there any other changes go ahead Mr Town manager I mean we've had a lot of input on this issue and I'm I'm curious why we're delaying it further I'm just could you give just elaborate a little bit of what your strategic thinking is just some of the input and that I've received from um some of the staff and some of the council that I think that it's just going to be better if we have a a joint meeting to just qualify and and Define and have a better understanding of everything that's going to be voted on is just and I think it's more for staff than it is for councel but I that's just my recommendation is it is it your intention then to have some give some definitive guidance then at that meeting will we actually make decisions at that meeting absolutely it would be a voting meeting yes that it would be both both a council and LPA would LPA would vote to recommend something and then the council would vote immediately on that to make that it would be a special meeting that I feel like would take up a better use of time so people will have some certainty after that meeting that is correct all right thank you and there will be public comment allowed yes that cor that's correct well is there a date in mind for that I was going to ask the clerk to reach out and to to both uh board and counsel to see what's what's available as soon as possible though okay are there any other changes to the agenda if not is there a motion to approve the agenda as amended move to approve as amended second a motion by councelor King second in by councelor Stafford Stafford I had to do it I had to do it I had to do it sorry any other discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed hearing none the motion carries unanimously next is public comment CL yep first up is uh Ron Fleming followed by Steve John good morning good morning Council staff community members my name is Ron flaming I live where the Shamrock used to be that street U I ride my bicycle daily on the beach most days I've been watching the progression of the S the nourishment I'm glad to see it it looks good but for the first time about 10 days ago I was actually on the beach and we were told when this nourishment was going to start that a site was selected that was going to dredge and pump the sand onto our beach to what we were used to which is sugar white shelf basically shelford well it's not I dropped a box off here Monday or Friday morning for staff to see uh there was no one here but it was in the morning so for those of you who haven't seen there I bought a sample that for you to look at now I got this last late afternoon uh it's still a little bit wet but what you'll see is it is full of shell Rock and innumerable shards you can't see the shards now because it's wet but I am I ask you not today of course to go down the uh Pink Shell area take your shoes off and walk the beach it's not what we were told we were going to get it is not what it's not the sand that we've had it's nowhere near the sand that was trucked in there's a shell here and there I mean that happens but it's clean this is I'll call it spoil that's how bad it is uh it couple of days this should have been stopped and find out why we're using this sand well it wasn't but I implore you tomorrow to go down to the beach and see for yourself uh in the short term this will have no impact on our beach whatever projects you approve will continue the the houses most of which are being designed for rentals that will all continue but in 5 to 10 years when people start coming here and we become known as having the worst sand on the entire West Coast and panhandle of Florida then the people will stop coming I I don't want to be an alarmist but I believe you know and I you guys you know look at this I me there's it's it's terrible you just leave it here we'll take a look at it during the break can you pass it around yeah leave it we'll take a look at it between who wants it just just put it uh yeah on the ground there sorry I don't fill up Sarah's backpack thank you thanks Ron Steve Johnson Steve will be followed by Jennifer Rusk morning Council staff nice to see yall um my name is Steve Johnson I'm a resident U of of Fort Meers Beach I'm really here to talk about two things one is the um um agenda item I which is the F and understand that I'm speaking a public comment and this won't be read in for that particular agenda item as well as the agenda item you've just discussed with um Town manager hayatt uh which is the uh adoption of the new comprehensive plan uh they sort of go together in my mind um first of all I I implore the council not to to move forward with uh with the with the new F uh legislation that you're you're suggesting um I think to give uh uh developers rights that really belong to the the voting constituency of this island is incorrect I don't think that's that's a position that the council needs to to to um to include the community as well as in the comprehensive plan adoption um as you all remember back or certainly have historical knowledge of the Town becoming Incorporated in the in the issues that that sort of prompted that uh one of those being height uh typically with Comprehensive plan there are shetes there's Community involvement um there's u a debate there's opinions that are are are are banded about as to what the vision of this this town is going to be uh certainly after something as disastrous as hurricane Ian The Whole Town's going to be rebuilt uh we all know that and we're seeing it with our own eyes but at what point has the community really voiced their opinion on what direction uh this is is going to U um travel in uh I know there's been a couple of meetings uh concerning the LDC and and the comp plan but as you all know people are distracted I don't think everybody's back to where they need to be and um I'm uh again asking the the the the council to uh consider the voice of the community and exactly where this town heads with regards to density intensity height uh rezoning uh all those things that are listed right here um in that ad in in that agenda item so that's all I have for today and thank you for your time as always thanks Steve Jennifer Rusk after Jennifer that's all I have good morning hi good morning Town Council and town staff I'm going to try and not be so emotional but it's been a rough morning for me I came across a dead um female sea turtle this morning on our beach and and then as I was coming here I came across a big blue hose uh coming from a new development that is uh draining out of a pool uh right into our drain not only into our drain but they actually took um uh zip ties and zip tied it to our drain that is going to cause we we're already having issues with flooding on our street and um when you have development and they're actually taking hoses and taking sediment from a hole that is 10 ft deep and taking that water and putting it into our drain systems I do know there is a proper way of doing that this is a new development when I um approached them I videoed it they told me to go back up north and that I didn't have a say and that anyhow it's a rough morning um I'm going to make a formal complaint with compliance but um the nice lady told me that she has over 900 complaints and then basically I need to fill out the paperwork and get in line we need help on this island with code enforcement environmental issues we do we need help and uh I appreciate all of your hard work I know what you all are doing right now is incredible and I know it's a lot of work but as a resident as a full-time resident I need a hand a helping hand in making sure that my house doesn't flood and my neighbors don't flood and I have other comments in regards to in regards to the comp plan I really hope that you all keep to the comp plan I believe our um our public you know and our um our benefits to our public and to the residents our our beach accesses and parks and green spaces I think it's very important that we keep that comp plan and balance with the natural habitats um and I I believe that you all need to really keep that in mind when you're making decisions I've had so many emails from people residents that I don't even know coming to me um and letting me know that they stand behind me thank you thank you Jennifer that's all I have signed up is there anyone else that'd like to speak in public comment seeing none we will close public comment next is local achievements and recognitions Scott well I I I hope everybody comes out um on Saturday to revive the vibe I think it it was a great event last year and I'm looking forward to uh to what they have uh going on this this Saturday Karen um I just want to bring up the ribbon cutting that we had for the first brand new house was that is that a while ago or is it I can't even remember when that was but um we had a ribbon cutting for homebound with the first um newly built house and it's uh Andre Mah not Andre Mar it's on hibiscus uh Zay family and it was outstanding and it just shows you know they they have worked so hard and I know everybody else is working so hard to get um their homes back in order hopefully their businesses back in order and I think we just need to keep pushing and pushing and pushing and working as a team and getting all of your input out there and appreciate it I spent my weekend with over a 100 emails answering so um appreciate the input vice mayor if I could Mr Mayor I I wanted to recognize Our Town leadership and town staff uh this past week we made an announcement as a town that the of Fort Myers Beach was awarded over $13 million from Lee County cdb gdr funding and I'm a little afraid that it got lost in the news cycle and so normally I would wait till the end of the meeting but since this is such a long meeting and we have a lot of viewers in the front end of the meeting I wonder Mr Mayor if I could ask for unanimous consent to proceed out of order for just two minutes and let the town manager Andor Frankie uh discuss just a little bit about how that $13 million award will impact Fort Meers Beach because I I really think it's transformative sure I have no issues very good Mr Town manager thank you vice mayor um and time anytime you get an influx of uh $13 million you know it's not that you get it it's what you do with it um I think there's been a lot of U priorities that we've placed obviously storm water uh you know we just heard U Jennifer talk about that is a priority we're working on that um the the the street lighting you working on that project but then there's also the other things amenities things of that nature our Parks our our our U portable water uh which we all find near and de to our hearts obviously so as we move into the the round of funding with this and again I say round because I believe and we we're confident there'll be more rounds of funding coming this is just like the second part of several uh rounds and parts that'll be coming from that cdb gdr um the focus is going to be on the the North Tower uh a complete reconstruction of that um take a second and go a little more give a little more detail on what you mean by the North Tower just break that down just a little bit for people that's the one down by Times Square near Lyall Park and you're talking about the water storage Tower the water storage tank yes I'm sorry sorry my apologies um I'll let Frankie uh pipe in here and momentarily but we we'll be seeing a a total reconstruction of that and one thing that I think that I'll see there that I would see is that we want to not make it so industrial want to make it blend the community and blend the neighborhood so it would be a different kind of design it won't be a just a a standard Uh u 10 box 10 box yeah a good question an Institutional looking facility it'll be more of a a a a design that fits the neighborhood we think that's important to the island that and we talked about tourism and things like that I think that's something because that's in a very high-profile area this one on the south end is buried a little bit back so it's not as high-profile so we'll be working on that um the um other thing that that is near and dear to us or is our Park system and so Newton Park will be getting a facelift that you know when you get an influx of a four plus million dollars to do a small Park like that that's going to be a significant impact obviously it can't go back the way it was because of FEMA regulations but we're going to get you know work with borab we're going to work with uh you know uh uh the council to make sure that we get that you know right for the next you know generational I heard that term the other day generational uh decisions that we're making with some of this money and what we're going to see is as we move forward into this you know again and I've said this before we we don't want people to say oh they got $15 million oh my what did they do with that look what they did with that you know we want them to say oh they were thinking what look what they did with that so that's how we're kind of did with the town hall as well when we found the right location the right fit and then again the swimming pool um I don't want everybody to just think um and we talked to staff and and I've talked to some of you about just the generic type of pool we have it'll still have everything that that we need uh we want to expand it a little bit and make it a little more uh I'm going to use the term Resort style you know uh tourist friendly uh neighborhood friendly it's going to be a little different again not going to stick with institutional style commercial uh style pools we're going to try to get a little more creative again we'll work with borab we'll we'll do all those things to make sure that that that we are just changing even the park even here where we're sitting now as we get these trailers out you know maybe we want to reimagine a little bit and say what else can we do here what's the biggest need is is it necessarily a baseball field I don't know but I think we we got a chance to let's look at things Frankie I'm going to turn it to you and let you offer anything that that you'd like to yeah the the projects that we've looked at were projects that we couldn't get funding other places Without Really Trying to shave off what we our intent was so this allowed us the the freedom and uh uh the room to expand our projects the cdbg uh funding for these buckets that were available for infrastructure uh the minimum ask was $5 million so you had to expand your project if you had a small project um Jason Freeman was instrumental in in in getting this going for our staff along with Felicity and Ashley from Title Basin um those three deserve the line share of all the credit as far as uh getting this all together it's easy to sit here and come up with a concept it's a lot harder than that to come up and and actually get the project going and uh as uh Tom managers said the North Tower is going to be totally reimagined as will the pool our biggest hurdle in imagining so to speak was Newton Park and with the help of Jeff Hai our our parks and wreck um director director sorry stumbling for Words um it it really kind of hit home as far as what we could do we also took some a lot of suggestions from R2 P2 folks when they were in town um and some of the renderings that they had so again everything is still in the preliminary stages um the funding is there for us to use it has to be used on these projects whatever isn't used has to go back to the cdbg funds he can I add two two things before before you do Mr T just one more quick thing and I know we had a long meeting but this is so important would you just take another minute Frankie and discuss how this North Tower renovation will enhance the overall infrastructure for Fort Meers Beach just spend minute on explaining how that will enhance our our our our resiliency and and just capabilities on Fort Meers Beach yes sir it's a two-fold program and our project and with the help of uh Dave Harner and Glenn sier our partners with the county uh they took the Moss Marine booster station that was there um they're moving that to the other side as one of their projects uh to the other side of the bay um that's going to give us a brand new pumping facility of water portable water to the island that's going to increase the water pressure on this island expeditiously um especially uh in account for future growth uh that'll take us about 15 years out with uh future growth um when looking at the North Tower the North Tower was down prior to Ian uh coming and making landfall that the tank itself was down for repair um the infrastructure around it surrounding it the pumps uh the main piping and that the the regulatory Shack that we call it the the tower that was there with all the meters in it and whatnot was almost totally devastated um so in trying to get a project that we could Encompass a brand new tank and new infrastructure around it um this seemed to be the logical step forward for us uh we had a couple of preliminary discussions with Glenn sawer from Lee County um and and with Dave carner and um they were they've been great Partners throughout this whole thing what it's going to do when it's finished it's going to allow the town to have two functioning storage facilities one at the North one at the South um currently we take our water that comes through the booster station um we pump it to our South tank uh we use it during the day they fill at night um it it's it's a great little system but you also need that backup uh the new tower allows to keep both tanks fill keep the pressure up uh roughly around that 70 PSI throughout the system that doesn't mean that when you turn the tap on you're going to in the shower you're going to get blown away uh just means that it's going to have a lot better flow than what we've had historically here on the Island and with constant pressure in the line what that'll do is with ever development that comes forward in the next 5 to 10 years we'll be able to meet those demands so that's what we're looking for is just not future proofing it but future future proofing it if that makes sense I'm glad you said that part because that wasn't in the original release that 14 plus million dollar for that pump station being relocated even though it's not technically coming to the direct to the town of Fort M's Beach directly it Direct impacts our infrastructure close to $30 million in CGR funding that that came our way because of that say huge thing to to Lee County for for thinking of that and partnering with us on that one other thing Frank you mentioned one of the things the other thing is you know I was asked by another another uh city in in Fort in Lake County why didn't you go for more money why didn't you go we felt like there were projects that we could manage and we could accomplish get them completed we also are under the understand there'll be other opportunities so we need to to manage what we could manage not get so much that we just couldn't manage projects and get them accomplished in a reasonable amount of time we felt like that was important to us to the community to get projects we could Pro a couple of them we possibly could get accomplished in less than a year um you know you get too many big Pro it's like building a town hall if we were to build one I mean you know that's a three to five six year project and now you know in less than six eight months we're going to be in our facility so uh you know we're trying to be a little more um proactive in how we uh respond to the community and get it built I know it's coming up on two years but by the same token you I think we've got some Synergy and then this funding makes a big difference and I know Joe's happy uh just just great job to you and your team and to the everybody involved in this it's it's a huge huge uh lift so thank you thank you that's all I got Mr counc King um I'll recognize uh Town staff also in a different way um I drive from the complete south end up to here at least every day and it's been nice to watch the Public Works folks uh out uh doing uh their hard work in the Heat and the humidity uh cleaning up the area between the sidewalk and the curb so I appreciate that um one of the reasons I come up to this end is to work out of Bay Oaks every well most every day and uh it was nice one day I think it was last Thursday uh to see the uh special empix Florida of Lee County were using the facilities and to learn from Danielle deona and shanet Thomas that they'd been to a u workshop at FGCU and those folks needed a place uh to to U practice uh they've got a tournament coming up for pickle ball uh and it was just a real pleasure to watch and and thank you for staff for reaching out and accomplishing that and um also Jacob tril uh I know he's uh had a few issues with some sound in the last few days and the last few meetings but I will say that so thanks Jacob never a dull moment never a dull moment anything else do it all right I'll just very quickly reiterate the cdbg thing was on my list to bring up you know special thanks to Frankie and Jason uh Rebecca link she was very instrumental and helping title based and obviously Lee County for um you know they ranked of the projects we put in they were ranked in the top 10 so of over I believe it was a 100 or roughly 100 projects we our projects were ranked in the top 10 so uh that just goes to show you the the amount of time and energy and and um expertise that was put into to writing these things to make sure that we got the money that we needed to to rebuild our infrastructure at least part of it so good job to you guys if I got to add one thing while we're still on that subject I remember not too long ago we were all looking at each other talk we're not getting any of that money you know oh we're not going to fit the need we're not going to meet the the the federal requirements but uh we did and it's it you know gives me goosebumps to know that that that we you two collectively are you know getting back and and working to make it better than it ever was before so very good thank you for everything all right next is advisory committee's items reports and appointments Miss Barbara Hill is here for mous cell cab I'll let you choose okay or both only one today thank you good morning everyone members of council and staff my name is Barbara Hill I'm chair of The ccab Advisory Board and so I'm here to give you a report um and first I want to congratulate the Town Council Members and the staff for making that 13 million a reality it is a huge accomplishment and so I know our Town's going to benefit in many ways uh this is going to fund obviously among other key projects the Redevelopment of Newton Beach Park which you've just spoken about and I wanted you to know that over the summer after Ian had destroyed the gulf front facility uh in 2022 we've been working cellc Cap's been working with staff and with the planners that came in uh to redevelop this back into another passive recreation park but with improvements which is a A plus for the community and for the public uh but now with this funding I understand that we have uh $5 million that will be going into Newton beach park we look forward to having uh an additional conversation about just what that will look like and so cellc cap ST stand ready to um to uh facilitate that project uh with this additional funding um ccab also looks forward forward to a joint meeting with all of you next week to meet with a peer reviewer from the American Alliance for museums to discuss the mount House Museum Assessment program and that's the map program and the progress that we've uh made to date and how the Town Council and the staff and the vested community of volunteers can best work together as the peer reviewer had apparently mentioned um there are a lot of moving parts and a lot of people that have been involved in uh the mount house specifically and so we're looking to clarify not only the uh operations but also the governance so we are um looking at the um status of the uh inventory of our Mount house artifacts and to that end we are also reviewing the draft of the new collections management policy this is all in keeping with best museum practice practices that we hope to accomplish in the coming months if not years uh since the town is updating its strategic plan ccab requests uh that the Strategic plans for the mount house and for Newton Park both approved by Council years ago and also in need of updating be a part of that conversation so you know the town has its General strategic plan we devised our strategic plan which was reviewed and approved by Council years ago maybe we can dub tail those documents um so that it's more clear and that it has greater um uh Power in terms of um implementation uh the mount house is right now um uh newly refreshed with beautiful new landscaping and new wayf finding signs that were recently installed we are now ready for the new season to begin ccab appreciates council's support in budgeting funds for phase one currently underway to make the underground exhibit more resilient so we're thanking the budget department for making that funding happen we do have phase two that needs to happen and that calls for new exhibit components to make this core program of the museum truly operational once again as an interactive exhibit and frankly we don't have funding for that perhaps some of the funding from the 13 million could be used for um making that underground exhibit fully open operational as it was originally designed to do so um I believe that uh is all I have for this morning if you have any questions I'm happy to answer them questions for Barbara VI May Barbara just real quick just just a chance to toot the staff at the mount house horn a little bit would you just briefly touch on how this this joint meeting that we're having on the 19th with the council in cellc cap would you just discuss how rare this accreditation is that the mount house is seeking and what kind of an honor it is if we were to be successful on that question and I just have to thank the mount house staff and Jeff for and Council for supporting that initiative it is a very rigorous process um currently there's only one Museum in all of Southwest Florida that is Museum accredited and that's the shell Museum so if the shell Museum can do it we can do it um for example the Naples museum of art is not accredited and there are reasons why they don't want to pursue this process but we feel it's the appropriate thing to do given the fact that we have such an incredible Mission so um it's rare it's rigorous and it's uh a huge honor when we finally achieve that designation very good thank you thank any other questions for Barbara Jam Karen okay thank you all thank you Barbara thanks bar um the only other thing that's on there one of the LPA M we've already covered it I guess um they weren't able to be here but they wanted to formally ask for a joint meeting to discuss some of the things that have already been brought up but we've already covered that so I told them I would bring that up for them next is the approval of the minutes uh emergency Town council meeting from August 5th 2024 and the town council meeting from August 19th 2024 is there a motion to approve the minutes I'll move to approve those second okay okay motion by councelor Kings second by councelor Woodson any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed hearing none that motion carries unanimously next is the consent agenda there are three items on the consent agenda um all resolutions extending the state of a local emergency for the three Nam storms that we've gone through over the last two years um is there a motion to approve the consent agenda I I have one comment on those um page 3843 48 and 53 the date is August 9th it should be September 9th okay other than that great is that a motion I motion to approve okay motion by councelor Safford is there second by councelor Woodson any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed hearing none that motion carries unanimously next are our public hearings do you want me to read this first you want to do this yes for those okay the next one two items on our agenda are public hearings for review of various land use requests for the benefit of the public Please Please be aware these are it these items are Quasi judicial in nature our attorney will further explain thank you Mr Mayor um so with the changes that were made to your agenda today what is remaining in uh that are Quasi judicial are two rezonings so these resoning are Quasi judicial in nature and this requires that our public hearing comply with some procedural requirements that have been established in FLA law and in our Land Development code so our quasa judicial proceedings these are less formal than the proceedings before a circuit court but they are more formal than the remainder of our meeting and they must follow the basic standards of due process that requires certain notices to have been made the application of the corre standards and that your decisions are based on competent and substantial evidence that's presented to you either verbally in testimony or in written documents so once the testimony or the evidence is presented to you for each item you'll draw a conclusion regarding whether the criteria that is in your Land Development code your comprehensive plan or state law may be applicable and has been satisfied so pure spec ulation or just opinion that is not based on competent facts cannot legally be considered by the Town Council and evaluating whether these criteria have been satisfied testimony by professionals who are qualified as experts in a particular area has been viewed as competent evidence by the Florida courts as well as testimony by neighbors and residents who have fact-based information such as minutes surveys engineering reports or their testimony which is based on their current personal knowledge so members of the public if you intend to speak please keep this in mind when you come forward please state your name clearly for the record and whether or not you have been sworn in and your qualifications or your interest in the matter so for purposes of efficiency before we begin these public hearings we would like to go ahead and dispose of a few matters so I need to ask the town clerk if the agenda item that have been referenced have been properly advertised or noticed pursuant to Our Land Development code yes they have been thank you and at this time if any council members has a conflict of interest that would prohibit them from voting on any of these two rezonings this is the time to disclose it for the record so that we can ascertain that we do have a quorum present for the um deliberation Council Safford I do not Woodson I do not Vice mayoral none ccor King none I do have a conflict with the Margaritaville hearing I will fill out the proper forms with the town clerk okay and um with the mayor's exstension from that vote we still have a quorum presence so we can proceed um at this time we'd like to go ahead and swear in uh have the oath administered to anyone who would like to provide testimony today um which would be staff and any members of the public if you'll all raise your right hand do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you are about to give is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth t okay all parties have been swor so mayor at this time it's um would it be appropriate for you to request expart disclosures okay Scott any do you want to do that before we we should actually read the title yes sorry following the sheet come on the first item is the second reading and public hearing on proposed ordinance 24-18 entitled an ordinance of the town of Fort Myers Beach Florida approving approving with conditions or denying a request to rezone the property located at 1668 I Street generally generally identified as strap number 19- 46-24 dw4 d007 b. 0110 Fort Meers Beach from downtown to commercial plan development CPD zoning with deviations for a bar and residence providing for other clarifications as necessary providing for conflicts of law scrier errors severability and providing for an effective date if any Town council member has had any exart communication to disclose pleas please let us know the subject discussed and the identity of the person group or entity with whom the communication took place any correspondence that you received or observations made of the site councelor Safford uh I think I've been there a couple times since the last meeting and joined um some music and a Sunset and I've spoken to Greg the owner okay councilor Woodson I have not vice mayor uh nothing since the first hearing councelor King none uh since the first hearing I have been to the property I have spoken with the applicant um one time since the last meeting or since the last hearing are you going to be okay Sarah pro has been qualified as an expert already by the Town Council and based on her education and experience has been accepted as an expert in the field of land use planning and development in the town of Fort Meers Beach are there any other individuals who would like to be qualified as an expert witness on behalf of their of the applicant at this time Mr Inc I think they've already been qualified I've been qualified they've both been qualified so okay okay has a property owner applicant seen a copy of the agenda backup materials from staff they are nodding their head yes please proceed good morning Sarah propes uh for Community Development James Inc on behalf of BNB properties of Fort Meers Beach owner of 1668 I Street is requesting rezoning from downtown to commercial plan development for the Redevelopment of a bar and dwelling unit the residential use is allowed in the downtown zoning district and the bar use received approvals through Lee County Special Special permit case 9510 d173 and has been in operation since 1995 5 the proposed development will will contain a ground floor open use bar area with a retail area also it will be open to the beach where sand seating is located a residence is proposed on the second and third floor of the structure the applicant is requesting a CPD in order to allow and to increase the allowable floor area ratio from 1.0 to 1.4 to allow additional square footage of the proposed development parcel is located in a portion of the downtown zoning district with a 1.0 f um and the lot contains only 4,159 Square ft within the downtown zoning District the remainder of the lot is in the EC zoning District um an F of 1.0 would allow a maximum of 4,159 square ft the proposed gross gross floor area of the development is 5,822 uh this is the second public hearing for this request um I'm available for any question question you may have and the applicant is also here okay councelor King questions for Sarah not at this time Vice may atal not at this time counc Woodson not yet counc saff not right now I do not have any as well thank you James morning mayor councel for the record Jim ank uh have been deemed an expert in this matter and as Sarah has uh read into the record we agree with everything that was there with just one caveat note to the fact that this was an existing facility it had two residential units so a single family and a and an apartment and we are reducing that to one single family with the beach bar use underneath okay questions for for Mr Inc VI mayor is the owner of the establishment here today yes he is I I just think it's helpful we did this the first hearing but there's always new people watching and we have quite a few people watching this morning we're always trying to pre preserve the vibe of Fort Mars Beach and this is a very unique institution if the owner could come up and just talk about how the unique the institution is and how special it is to Fort Meers Beach I'd like to give you that opportunity again I didn't swear it raise your right hand do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you're about to give is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do all right thank you just move up a little bit so you can hear sometimes a little difficult to hear we are basically a small [Music] town spot for small Towners you know we are a local per local place we certainly get visitors but the heart of our business is the locals everybody knows it almost everybody knows me and uh we're going to continue that I've owned the place since 0 09 from what I understand it's been in business since 65 not 95 and we we've done the same type of we we cater to the same type of individual 99% of our people walk in from the beach lot of them come from the other establishments and we're happy to get everybody from two to five I was hoping you just also share again everybody knows your place but there are some who don't just the fact that you literally sit in in the sand and you have a unique form of Music booked on a regular Bas you want to just touch on that as well we mostly do a a a blues bluesy Rocky Jazzy thing you know we have we're just get a sample I'm not a music guy this is the new to me you know um and we're kind of going with it and people love it you know we we get introduced to bands from the bands you know we have a standing policy that if somebody can't makes an uh an ARR if they can't make their gig gig they provide someone else they they cover it and so far we've not been disappointed and if we love them we invite them back and so we've got a nice Core Group you know and again we're not even allowed to have chairs and benches inside it all has to be on the sand that's from a a deal that I inherited and everyone's thrilled with it that's great thank you very much pleasure don't run off yet you might have some more questions here is it sure you have a harmonica on your own microphone now imagine that can you imagine I told you last time I took it through day course and I'm horrible but but the the band guys are so accommodating that they make up for me and now I got my own Mone I practice every day I know you did well if you haven't had a chance to go down and watch Greg uh dance he he has mastered the art of putting out small grass fires one song at a time didn't bring up you did you got the moves my friend well I'd like to get I'd actually like to get the town attorney down it just just to see what you got all right all right councelor King questions for the applicant not at this time and you didn't think your could be out done councelor Woodson just how quickly are you going to get this back into play well we brought a sledgehammers today all right so if we get but it's all on Stevens and uh we're going to start to move stuff soon as we get this okay okay very good awesome all right thank you sir thank you thanks anything else James I just like to to answer that question is we have the development order almost done there's like one outstanding issue that's in staff review right now and the building permit's ready to go so this is an immediate start and and thank you I'd like to reserve the right to rebuttal if there's anything from the public and if approved James what's the time to completion roughly I would say the 18 months 18 month okay outside all right we will open it up for public comment is there anyone that would like to speak on this item seeing none we will close close public comment are there any rebuttal James in the last 30 seconds I don't think so Mr Inc no reval okay I will now close a public hearing and request a discussion or a motion from Town Council to approve approve with conditions or deny with reasons or a continuance to a Time certain I'd like to make a motion that we approve ordinance 24-8 dcii 20241 43668 I Street beach bar I'll second got a motion by councelor Safford second in by councelor Woodson any further discussion I would would suggest um Open Comedy mic night in after the band takes a break but I think that was a [Laughter] sure sounds like you might have to bring the town attorney but sure I'm there right give you a harmonica and a microphone too I I'll get one there you go concer Safford hi concer Woodson hi Vice May atal hi councelor King and I'm and I as well motion carries unanimously [Applause] congratulations all right next is the first reading and public hearing on a proposed ordinance entitled an ordinance an ordinance of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida amending town of Fort Meers Beach ordinance number 24-1 and approving deviations for the commercial plan development Zoning for the property located at 1170 1180 1192 1204 1206 Estero Boulevard 251 Crescent Street 1150 fth Street and unaddressed Parcels Parcels generally identified as strap numbers 24- 46- 23- w325 z70 mCP parcel number three 24462 3- W3 -6.00 MC parcel number one 244-4623 w3206 60 mCP parcel number one 2446 d23 dw300 9.00 mCP Parcels number two and number five 19- 46-24 dw4 0494 2609 mCP par number two 24462 3- W3 d205 0070 19- 46-24 dw4 0491 2610 mCP parcel number two 19- 46-24 dw4 d0140 b0070 mCP Parcels number two and number five 19- 46-24 dw4 0496 2608 mCP parcel number two and 19-4 6-24 dw4 d498 2607 mCP Parcels number two and number six Fort Meers Beach providing for other clarifications as necessary providing for conflicts of law scrier errors severability and providing for an effective date we'll now open the public hearing Jason SMY has been identified or has been qualified as an expert already by This Town Council and based on his education and experience has been accepted as an expert in the field of land use planning and development in the town of Fort Meers Beach are there any other individuals who would like to be qualified as an expert witness on behalf of the applicant at this time see no has the property owner seen has the property owner applicant seen a copy of the agenda backup materials from staff nodding his head yes go ahead Jason good morning my name my name is Jason SMY I'm with your planning and zoning department um one quick thing I I think I may have missed something in that can we go through all of those one more [Laughter] time guess who's not going is for the best I've got very good at the dunk I'm just saying um as as the mayor read into into the record this is is a request for a package of five deviations dealing with two signs on the on what is known as the margarita Bill property uh as was mentioned before the margarita Ville property encompasses many different strap numbers uh but we will generally refer to it as Margarita Ville uh the two signs in question one is at the corner of uh Crescent and Estero the other one is at Estero and the entrance to the aquatics lot uh or the Beachside lot for Margaritaville uh the two the two signs in question one is a monument sign uh that is a a groundbased sign uh the second one is a poll sign uh what is being requested today is a is a package of five deviations four individual asks one of those deviations affects both of them so that's how we come to five deviations uh being requested I will quickly go through what's being asked uh or what is being requested by Margaritaville um first and foremost they are asking to approve the use of a pole sign pole signs are generally disallowed on the island that type of poll sign in particular is called out as not being allowed so the first thing they're asking for is to allow for a pole designed sign uh the second uh deviation that they will be asking for is a um deviation to the ground sign or the monument sign uh there's a maximum height that is allowed by code of 5T 8T in width they're asking uh to keep a sign a ground sign that is taller than that 5et that is allowed at forign code uh deviations seven and eight are generally the same uh issue at hand and what had initiated the request both signs are less than the minimum three feet from the back of the sidewalk or the right of way um those sign that is what triggered them ini initially having to come in today is to ask for a deviation to have those signs closer than the minimum 3 ft behind the seat the sidewalk uh deviation the last deviation requested uh known as deviation 9 in this packet is to allow for um maximum Heights and uh maximum height of the pole sign the pole sign is roughly going to be about 7 and 1/2 ft tall and so that is obviously tall than the five ft that is allowed and that's what they're requesting today uh staff is here for any questions or concerns that you may have and the applicant is here as well all right counc Safford questions for Jason not this time councilor Woodson not yet Vice May none Conor King no all right thank you mayor did we do expart oh we didn't no we did I'm sorry let's go back before we move on if any Town council member has had any expart communication to disclose please let us know the subject discussed and the identity of the person group or entity with whom the communication took place any correspondence that you received or observations made of the site councelor King I've been there vice mayor none related to this matter councelor Woodson I had a conversation with Mr torgus and I knew this was coming councelor Safford I've been there and had a conversation with Mr torguson but not specifically about the signs and Madam mayor M Madam attorney I just I'm a stating so do I need to still give no I mean you don't need to make X parte you're not going to vote so you're good sound good okay would the applicant like to come up and morning everyone um probably Tom ton for record resident here for Mar spe um just kind of interesting and and Jason can can clarify things if I Mis State something but uh it sounds kind of honorous that we're requesting all these deviations but the fact of the matter is we had signed permits for for all of these approved sign plants the size that they were built the locations close to where they were installed and the the only reason this came about as Jason mentioned is because the locations they got installed moved a few inches this way and that way the one on the uh Beach side moved because uh Pico gas needed to run a new gas Main and burrow it under um a stero Boulevard and and that was occurring towards the end of our construction project which is when signs go in as well and uh they caught the the fact that there was going to be a conflict with this sign with the location that this new main was going to be run and they told us we had to move the sign a few inches this way or whichever way G moved and then the one on U the other side of Aero Boulevard Bayside I'll call it really is a similar type of situation where we had a Land Development order with uh Lee County do um to widen the left turn lane off of the sterile Boulevard on the Crescent Street and while that work was going on um Lee dot was on the job really watching that making sure that it met every every um detail that they wanted to and and Rob failen um moved this particular sign um for reasons I I think he declared for safety reasons or whatever reasons uh he relocated the the sign on the seaword or the landward side of EST sto Bou and so that's what triggered all this and then I think when staff came out at the time that we're requesting our certificate of occupancy they discovered boy these signs don't meet our code you know but they're permitted and approved and it's previous staff and I don't want to throw anybody under the bus it's got nothing to do with the the people here today but I just want you to know these signs weren't weren't constructed outside of what was permitted and and really weren't installed outside of what was permitted other than those two agencies pushing us to relocate them for safety reasons um did I say that right Jason I I believe that's generally a fair assessment of how it went down and I just want you to know that it's a long list of deviations and it looks like we're kind of Reckless or something when we really weren't so I just wanted to make that statement any questions councilor King none Vice mayal not at this time councilor Woodson none councelor Safford none right thank you thank you are there any members of the public who would wish to who would wish to comment on this matter if so please come forward to the podium and identify yourself provide your address and whether you were sworn in is there anyone that would like to speak in public comment come on come on up okay come on up and T clerk will swear you in all right do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you're about to give is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do have council members please say your name my name is Lind agazi and I'm happy to be here for the town of Fort Meers Beach and height is my thing everybody wants to make everything higher move it closer and not worry about the residential areas that are going to be affected by a lot of the new growth on this island I don't believe Margarita should be getting their signs to be moved they should be put where they're supposed to be as it is stated in our bylaws we have them for a reason we are Incorporated for a reason because of why we didn't want no big tall huge condos everywhere 45 ft to me is perfect it doesn't take away the sky view from anybody does everybody like looking at their Sky you from the condos that most of you probably have or houses because I surely would like to have my view not destructed by one of the properties not Margaritaville but Margaritaville signs and the height should all stay the way it's supposed to be as Town Council has it written in our policies is that good enough if you're done it's up to you've got three minutes to say whatever you like I have three minutes oh my God don't give me that much time I could talk for hourss hours hours and the guy with the sand is totally right the sand is terrible awful from what we used to have um I just believe that all of us moved here for a reason and the reason was the beauty not the highrises everywhere we already have highrises and then it's going to be the traffic issue and then it's going to be the storage issue and now we have the street issue that looks like well all going to need front end alignments by next year in our vehicles we got so many things that need to be taken care of yes I'm proud that they're going to do the parks and recreations that is good for the community and for the people that come to visit we want people to visit the island to enjoy the beauty of what we have not the over skyscrapers that are going to look into all of our backyards one property I'm talking about you all know Red Coconut 45 ft is what we incorporated for why do we incorporate or are we unincorporated is it money talking cuz I know my father always says money talks and walks you know point of order isn't this supposed to be Germaine to the topic oh sorry it is um however she's got two seconds left so well I'm really sorry if I wasn't on a topic but those are my topics that I hope you all really think about thank you everything stay class any other any other public comment on this matter seeing none we'll close public comment are there any additional comments rebuttal or closing statements from the applicant no Mr Mayor yes sir if I could have the applicant come up I'm sorry Tom to do this to you but I I uh it's really not speaking of gerus and I apologize councelor King but since we're talking about Margaritaville signage and just for the record I've there's pictures of the signs in the packet they're very modest the changes are very modest there really is no height issues it's just moving some signs that have already been approved as best as I can tell but while I've got you here Tom and I I'm sorry to put you on the spot but you have you have uh given the town a substantial public benefit with your pedestrian walkover and uh and I'm very thankful for it and I encourage everybody to use it and and to respect your fellow neighbors and their ability to get up and down the street but I'm wondering at some point Tom have you given some thought to some additional signage to let people know that that is a public walkover and that they're free to use that I mean it's certainly publicly known but I think a lot of our tourist friends I don't think they realize that it's something that they can utilize it's a beautiful view hopefully they'll stop at some of your shops while they're up there but at a minimum I just think I wonder if there's a way to do signage there that respects your property and the tastefulness that you've done but at the same time helps the public better understand that they can use that particularly those who are visiting our Island your question is is very timely um I believe September 15th those sign that signage will be started to be installed really um we ordered it um to be cre created and approved it about 4 months ago and going because of our affiliation with Margaritaville and their strict review of you know arst you know any artistic element that's that's viewed um by the public um which signage is one just requires quite a quite a rigorous process to go through and it it's a sign company that's producing them but really they're a production company they're artists up in Orlando that do prod uctions for for conventions big events I mean they just they create stages they they they're they're artists at they really are before they're even a sign company it just is quite a process to get it all done but I think you're going to be utterly amazed with a signage that gets installed here in the next few weeks that's going to be function it's functional it's it's all functional public elevators this that just directions to bathrooms you know public bathrooms um directions to the crossover just all of that is is taking place here in September well that that is great news I did not know that so I appreciate you sharing that this morning and I appreciate your efforts on that front because it is a pedestrian walkover if people utilize that supposed to hit that little stoplight button just go up those beautiful stairs beautiful view of the ocean stop and see all the activity in the shops and then just head over saves every it allows the traffic to flow smoothly and it's such a wonderful uh uh addition to our community so I appreciate that and I appreciate your efforts on the signage I didn't know you were doing all that so that's that's great news it's very confusing um that that area there there's just a lot going on you go right left up down in in all different directions and it's very confusing and it really warrants what your your suggesting I I appreciate your efforts on that I did not know that and I appreciate you sharing that thank you thank you that's all I've got okay I will now close the public hearing and request a discussion or a motion from Town Council to approve approve with conditions deny with reasons or a continuance to a Time certain Mr Mayor yes sir I would move approval of ordinance 24-20 second all right got a motion by vice mayor ederal seconded by councelor King any further discussion Vice may edal I councelor King I councelor Woodson I councelor Safford I and mayor allers is abstaining the motion carries four to zero next um item D was pulled item e this is the second reading and final public hearing of an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida amending section 2-9 4 qualifications and appointments of members in section 2- 96 removal of agency board committee or commission members of division two procedures for the establishment of boards committees and commissions of article four boards commissions committees and other agencies of chapter 2 Administration and section 34-13 composition appointment and compensation of members of division 3 local planning agency of Article 2 zoning procedures of chapter 34 zoning districts design standards and non-conformities of code of ordinances of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida removing property ownership as a qualification requirement for the members of the Town agencies boards committees or commissions including the town's local planning agency eliminate eliminating duplicative language adding a grandfather provision for current non-qualifying members of the town's boards agencies commissions and committees and adding a provision to section 34-13 regarding the mandatory annual Financial disclosure form as required by the Florida Commission of Ethics providing for codification severability scrier errors conflicts of Law and an effective date thank you U Mr Mayor um so your next item is a resolution that would actually Implement some of these proposed changes um regarding um your composition of the the various boards at your last at the first meeting um we haven't made any substantive changes to the agenda item um I did not mention the the grandfathering provision however that is in the title um between first and second reading a question did come up regarding um whether or not individuals who want to reapply who now would not be eligible based on your new changes if they would be covered under that grandfathering um provision we did not make any changes to the ordinance before you on second reading but that question came up and so I wanted you to um to get input if you want us to change to add a little bit more in there um so basically you have a a seven member board those that are not eligible right now um based on these changes would continue to be eligible to participate you do have a member who will be um their term will be expiring um and under the new rules they would no longer be eligible do you want to afford them that opportunity to fall under the grandfathering provision since they do have experience on the board or do you want your new code to apply to them as well Mr Mayor yes sir I I I was the one who had approached the town attorney on this matter I was approached by a an incumbent member of an advisory committee who served honorably thus far and has a unique uh uh uh experience and skill set that I don't want to lose I I think that the the gist of what we're trying to do today is great but I do think this grandfathering opportunity could be particularly helpful in this instance uh he's a he's a us uh Olympic swim coach he's on Bor cab we're getting ready to redo our pool he's got amazing contacts and experience all over the world and he has he has a home on Fort Meers Beach and uh he's just he's impacted by this change and if we could just grandfather that in assuming that the council chooses to reappoint him he would at least have the opportunity to serve and again if people have issues with with the residency they can always vote against that but my sense is his experience and and credentials would be very helpful to the town and said and eventually you know he would that would just fall off at some point when he retires from the advisory committee so it's just a grandfathering status for those who are already on boards and commissions who are serving the town admirably and want to reapply yes I don't have any objection to it John well this has been my issue because I'm I think I'm the one that brought it up um in the beginning to try and uh clarify some things and then put things U join them together between our policies and the ordinances and I apologize I think I must have been like one of my favorite Western swing bands as sleep at the wheel the first time this came up um I blame the town manager on that and uh you're not going to open mik night either is this thing on test um I've got some concerns I guess uh that that slid by and um we've currently and maybe I need to change my figures but it'd be about six folks that are non voters on committees right now and U three of those are non Fort Meers Beach residents and I have some concerns that were excluding folks that would like to serve and help the island um I I would like to see us do registered voters uh property owners and then open it up after that to the 33931 uh resident um because we with the exception of one committee lately I guess we we sometimes struggle to get folks to serve on these committees so I'd hate to exclude folks that are willing to serve and that's my thoughts I guess I'm little I'm not quite following so you want to expand who could to the 33931 ZIP code is that well I I think we currently do that with some of the non I mean we've got uh on the Anchorage advisory committee we've got somebody that's not on this side of the the bridge uh the Public Safety Committee has two folks on it um I'd hate to exclude those people that are willing to serve uh just to limit it to registered voters on the island I see so your concern is if they decide not to want to return there would be no other option but people that would be on the island based on the changes that are proposed today right and that could leave us short on some committees Council Woodson how do you feel about that I go back and forth I think the way that we do it now is we offer preference to anyone who currently lives on the Seven Mile Island um and then if there's no one um that has that has basically applied but someone in the 33931 zip code and you know I know the two people that John is referring to I mean one of them was actively employed on the island he's here every day um another person is you know he's a a boat captain with tons of experience who's on the Anchorage um committee so I I think that their input is invaluable but I think if we continue with we give preference to our people that live on the island and then go and I don't want to say second tier but then just say we can go outside of it if there's no one qualified or even applied from the island that we could continue with that process Concor Safford I I agree with uh councelor Woodson except for the AIT committee and LPA I think LPA and the audit committee they have to live they have to be voters on the island there's there's no no wiggle room at all those are two super important committees and um I think we need to have voter representation on those the other committees I'm fine with I mean there's some some some gentlemen and ladies that live off Island that you know they although they don't reside here they they consider this their home and and if they're willing to step up and and have input I I think it's fantastic yeah I actually like the addition of LPA and audit because those are two very unique um advisory committees that really are you know right armed to councel so I agree with that Vice Mar well I I don't really disagree with anything I heard it but poor Nancy I think I might as well just take this and put it in the trash which is which is fine because you know it it really wasn't all that broken before but isn't that isn't this kind of completely antithetical to what you've just presented today um um the the way that the ordinance is written right now your draft ordinance on second reading is that you must be a registered voter also included in that draft is a grandfathering provision if you are not a registered voter which would mean that you reside or possibly own property as well on the island because you're residing there um that if you're currently serving and you're you don't meet that criteria um you could still continue that term um but what is happening is the one individual who is um whose term expired wants to know if that he is still within that eligibility envelope that's the policy that's currently in the draft if you want to deviate from that policy then we do need to come back um I'm almost inclined to bring it back to you anyway just to make sure that everybody's comfortable with with what's being changed I'm comfortable with all the comments that I've heard today but I don't think it corresponds with your draft now and so maybe we probably do need to bring it back okay so let's the it's the town clerk who I have to work with um because she receives the applications and the way the ordinance is written was to kind of have it black and white are they um an eligible voter yes that means are eligible to serve on a Comm and you use the term eligible voter registered voter does that mean on Fort Meers Beach the island of Fort Meers Beach or just Florida in general no no in Fort Meers Beach okay that's how it's been applied yes just trying to understand y if we want to change that then I would like some clear Direction on on what you would want to do I mean if you are a registered voter you are going to have property you are going to uh reside on the island because of your your voter registration there is a situation where you could be you could have property on the island but actually vote somewhere else and live somewhere else and I think that was the policy that we were trying to address in order to expedite this I think I heard councelor King say that there needs to be a Proviso if somebody were to own Pro aside from the LPA and the audit committee if someone was to own property on Fort Meers Beach that in that that would also o be a qualification and then I think to to Scott's Point uh we would exclude the LPA and and audit committee from these provisos and I think everybody seemed okay with the grandfathering provision so I think that might get us there is that fair everybody I'm not sure you would need the grandfathering uh if we opened it up for property owners that's true that's true okay wrap your head around all that I I am I have um so what would request is U that perhaps a motion be made to continue to a date certain so we don't have to read vertise it um taking out the grandfathering provision is going to make the title a little bit smaller which is fine we can do that um and then I will bring it back to you okay can we do public comment first since absolutely and then we'll yes we are now in a legislative mode so we're not as formal as we were before okay but you still want public comment yes okay we'll open it up for public comment is there anyone here that would like to speak on this agenda item come on up hello good morning my name's Terry Kane some of you know who I am some of you don't um in regard to this topic historically I'm going to give you a little history lesson live on Fort Myers Beach 50 years used to sit where you sit was on a lot of committees before I was on counc I just want you to know that I don't know when I can't remember I'm sitting back there trying to remember when we changed to just having people on committee with 33931 um I do understand and agree completely with the LPA and the audit committee being residents when we began this town we had people on all of our committees we had FGCU professors we had D people we had all kinds of people from all walks of life that were on our committees that helped establish this town so I just wanted to give you that little insight that we have done this before okay okay and I do understand that there are certain committees and I agree with that completely but um we' had wonderful advice free we had free Engineers we had free everything it was great so thank you very much thank you is there anyone else that would like to speak seeing none we'll close public comment is there a motion to continue go ahead I've got one other thing um Nancy can you explain why the what I I guess it looks to me like the felony Clause was removed why was that that was just extraneous um uh language that we felt it would be difficult to enforce that okay all right thank you okay is there a motion to are now welcome well I was worried about one of the current ones yeah is is there a motion to continue this item to a Time certain uh so D second okay motion by councelor King second by councelor Safford and the time certain is is 9:23 meeting you want the October one the O the 23rd meeting I understand the agenda is pretty packed and it is an evening meeting at at the October excuse me at the October 7th meeting is when you're going to reappoint everybody right that's and that comes first right before we actually do this I think even though we have a a big agenda if we appoints I think we should do the 23rd I think we should do the 23rd because we basically have discussed it in full and if the changes are what we discussed it shouldn't be an issue okay thank you you okay with that date motion all right for certain all right any further discussion councelor King hi councelor Safford I councelor Woodson hi vice mayor edle hi and I'm an i as well motion carries unanimously thank you Nancy for all your hard work on this you're most welcome um so your next item is that resolution um if we can go ahead uh at least to read the title and acknowledge that we did make the one change that um council member uh Stafford um uh recom um regarding the reference to form one okay I might legally change my name it would be [Laughter] easier okay this is a resolution of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida amending section 2 and five of the town's policies and procedures manual to make it consistent with eligibility requirements for members of the town's agency boards committees and commissions and to upgrade reference to required Financial disclosure forms and providing for an effective date so we would make um just whatever needed changes we'll bring it back at the same time we bring the other item back for second reading okay well we will open it up for public comment is there anyone that would like to speak on this agenda item seeing none we'll close public comment is there a motion to you want want this contined then to the same date certain okay is there a motion to continue resolution 24178 to September 23rd the night meeting so move second motion by councelor King seconded by councelor Safford any further discussion councelor King I councelor Stafford hi counc Woodson I uh Vice May atle hi and I'm an i as well motion carries unanimously next is g g Okay g this is the first first reading and public hearing on proposed ordinance 24-19 an ordinance of the town of Fort Myers Beach Florida amending section 28-30 immobilization and impounding of illegally parked vehicles of division one generally of article two stopping standing and parking of chapter 28 traffic and vehicles of the code of ordinances of the town of Fort Meers Beach to include the accepted methods of payment and any fines and charges related to Illegal parking and immobilization of illegally parked vehicles providing for codification severability scrier errors conflicts of Law and an effective date will now open the public hearing Tom that come on up not perfect actually you don't need to be swed because we're legislative now so not as formal but we know that what you will testify to is the truth and nothing but the truth good morning Mr mayor council how are you my name is Thomas yazo I'm the compliance and security director or sorry aspirations manager Fort me Fort Meers Beach I'm here speaking about this amendment the idea behind this was not to change change anything with the new ordinance other than the fact of how people pay so we're not going to start booting people on a regular basis it's not a normal it's not a normal thing for us to do I've been here for about a year and a half now just a little bit over than that and we've done it three times and it has to do with people who have multiple summons that they've never dealt with in any manner and only thing we do is we boot the vehicle we have them stand by and we tell them they have to pay for their summons that they've ignored and then we release the vehicle we've not towed any vehicles at all except when they're are public Hazard on the roadway do you want to explain a little more why we're going to this extent yes so what happened is uh the last time we booted somebody they paid for it with a credit card and then they immediately after we released the vehicle we moved on from it they called and contested the charge and became a charge back which happens with a charge back is the town not only loses the fees for anything that was done as far as the summons but we also get charged by the credit for that charge back so in the best interest of the town we believe that it' be better to change how people can pay and there's no contest then afterwards and so what you're asking for is either by money order or cashier check yes so no personal checks no personal checks um and then if the car is booted and they have to go get a money order or a cashier check how does that work does the car stay there until they get back or you know what if it's evening time I'm just bringing up scenarios that the vehicle will stay there they're going to have to make some accommodation to make that happen have we considered using PayPal zil venmo we have considered some of that there's a different way to be charged for that the issue is you can also contest some of those things as well okay and again just to be clear because it was misreported before we are we are not Towing Vehicles whose beaters are expired no we're not we never have never have ever not once in the history of town of Fort Myers Beach all right just want to make that very clear okay any other questions for Tom all right thank you sir thank you we'll open it up for public comment is there anyone that would like to speak yep come on up good morning morning Council um I'm very nervous so please state your name I'm Danielle Martin I'm the owner of Angel Towing and he kind of has answered a couple of my questions um I don't understand how all this works but I think this is just about the way the payments are going to be made is that my understanding nothing else is going to change that would affect me and how I come down and who authorizes the toes and the signage nope nothing okay I just wanted to make sure and clarify that thank you for Mr Mayor if I may add um the only way we can tow a vehicle again uh right after Hurricane Ian we had a number of vehicles that were left and the rways uh that people had drug out of pools and whatnot uh they becoming public Hazard those we reached out to a towing company and had those removed from the island uh any other Towing that's done on this island goes through lcso we do not do that at all nor have we okay um and we just wanted to make sure that that is out um all of our town parking is labeled properly it's all explained properly um when certain people do videos and whatnot of the island parking system I think it would behoove them to do it in front of a town parking sign not in front of a private parking lot wink fair enough all right anyone else would like to speak on this agenda item seeing none we'll close public comment any further discussion from the council Mr Mayor I'll move ordinance 24-19 to a second reading on the 23rd okay got a motion by councelor King is there a second second second by councelor Woodson um no further discussion counc King hi councelor Woodson I councelor Safford hi Vice May edal hi and I'm an i as well motion carries unanimously next is the first reading in public hearing on proposed ordinance 24-25 entitled an an ordinance of the town of Fort Myers Beach Florida amending chapter 16 article one of the code of code of ordinances of the town of Fort Mars beach by creating section 16-1 public camping or sleeping on any public property public building or public RightWay proh uh RightWay prohibited and amending articles four of chapter 32 to remove sections 32-70 applicability 32-7 intent and 3272 prohibited providing for codification severability scrier erors conflicts of Law and effective date I'll now open the public hearing so this um proposed ordinance on first reading has been brought to you um there was a new Florida law that went into effect um on October 1st of 2024 that's regulating public sleeping and public camping on public property um there are some technical components to that new law basically the county can designate areas that are suitable for public camping and sleeping um but until the county does that should anyone uh engage in those activities on public property within the town's jurisdiction the town could have some potential liability so the purpose of this ordinance is to go ahead and put um amend your code to prohibit these activities and um that way you you're doing risk management against any type of future um litigation and uh should the county uh decide that would like to designate some areas it would come to you you would have to basically concur with the areas that the county is designating and then we would come back and amend this ordinance okay questions for Nancy counc K none vice mayor none counc Woodson none none not this time okay we'll open it up for public comment is there anyone that would like to speak a public comment on this agenda item seeing none we will close public comment bring it back to the council is there any further discussion or there motion I'll move ordinance 24-25 public Camping sleeping to the second reading and final adoption on September 23rd I'll second got a motion by councelor King seconded by councelor Safford any further discussion councelor King hi councelor Safford hi councelor Woodson hi vice mayor aderhold and I'm an i as well the motion carries unanimously uh let's take a quick five minute break I know it's a little bit early but something tells me the next one there might be a few more questions and discussion points we'll come back at uh 1045 e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right small back to order it is 10:45 we are still on the public hearings we are on item I this is ordinance 24-24 building coverage instead of fa this is the first reading and public hearing of an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida amending one table 34-3 titled dimensional regulations in conventional zoning districts in chapter 34 article 3 division 4 to create note 10 to provide that detached single family and two family homes without without a commercial use in any conventional zoning District where that you where that use is use is allowed may be evaluated by building coverage rather than F section two two section 34675 c in chapter 34 article 3 division 5 to provide that building intensity of commercial and mixed use building shall be evaluated using floor area ratio F and detached single family and two family single two family residents intensity shall be evaluated using building coverage not to exceed 40% in the downtown zoning District section 33 section 34- 683 in chapter 34 article 3 division 5 related to the creation of neighborhood centers in the Santini zoning District to provide that detached single family and two family residents building coverage shall not exceed 40% for section 34-6 93 in the village zoning District regul regulations to provide that commercial and mixed use residential intensity shall be evaluated using floor area ratio and detached single family and two family residents intensity shall be evaluated using building code coverage and shall not exceed 40% Five Section 34705 in the CB zoning District to provide that for commercial and mixed use developments floor area ratios shall not exceed 1.0 and building coverage for the detached single family and two Family Residence building coverages coverage shall not exceed 40% providing for severability codification scrier errors conflicts of Law and providing an effective date will now open the public hearing Sarah good morning Sarah Pro with Community Development um the ordinance before you um discusses uh the use of a different measure of building intensity for single family residential and two family residential detached um currently per the Land Development code in um Santini and well in all the zoning districts other than RS and RC um all building coverage coverage all intensity is measured using floor area ratio um this doesn't work very well in some of the districts especially where the um the lots are cut in half with an EC zoning District to the rear so the beach side properties they're particularly small uh the floor area ratio prevents um very much development so uh this was brought up at an M&P uh several months ago and uh it's been moving forward since then do you have any questions about this I have one question you you've got it uh at 40% where did that number come come from is that just standard across other municipalities or that's within our zoning ordinance as it is right now so that would be the same as the RS and the RC zoning dist okay so that's where that came from yes okay so this this change would only affect single family and two family homes not three family or more or commercial structures just single and detached single detached two okay because there's been some confusion in the public obviously that this was changing intensity and or and or potentially density to commercial but this is specifically for residential only and only single family not multif family residential so single family and two family detached it would not affect larger apartment or condominium developments think the Genesis of this Mr Mayor was those um Beach Bar Lots on on on I Street they're just you know the CCL is so far up there that they just don't have any room to build I think that was Cottage l the and the cottage Lots on the North yeah can you just reiterate why you you the staff recommended this change if I if I'm remember correct toine I think that it came up at an M andp meeting because this was being asked for a couple different Lots it was being asked in the downtown zoning district and the RM zoning District um so after a discussion at the M&P it was decided that it would be appropriate for single family detached and two family to um I mean because it's been working so far in the RS and the RC there haven't been any problems with that so to apply it to the remainder of zoning districts where single family and two family homes are allowed and can you do you know why there was a separation in the past from these zoning districts versus the other ones I would assume that it was just based on primarily residential versus more commercial or that that there was a thought that uh like for example the RM zoning District would be all residential multif family um but that that's not how it's worked out I mean we have residential single family residential and two family residential throughout the island and all the zoning districts and then just to maybe clarify a little bit more this change would not change setbacks it doesn't change height restrictions it doesn't change anything other than the calculation of the size of the home that can be built that's correct and and if you're looking at the down and potentially alleviate some deviations that people don't have to come in and and ask for yes and and if you're looking at things like the downtown zoning District um um you you probably are going to have less building coverage because you have a lesser setback in the front and the side so I mean you're going to have to have a little bit more setback in order to meet that 40% without going over it okay and do you believe that the 40% I know that it's already in there but do you believe that that's the right percentage or do you think that that's I do I think that that has worked very well on the island um I haven't heard heard any complaints about it and also it lines up with the 67% impervious surface that you're allowed so if you're allowed a building coverage of 40% and then you have an additional so that you can you know you don't exceed the 67% impervious for the entire lot um it seems to work fairly well and this if this change is approved or to go to the second hearing to be approved it wouldn't take away property right an owner's property rights to come in and ask if they have a small postage Style that this 40% won't allow them to build anything but a 500 foot house they still have an Avenue to be able to come in and ask for a special exception or a variance or deviation from the code to be able to maybe get more size than what they're asking for yes you would be able to ask for a variance for building coverage um and if you wanted to ask for well I mean variance would be the the most reasonable way to do that yes okay VI mle questions I'm still listening and learning here okay councelor King none at this time okay anything else Scott no sir all right we GNA ask for some public comment is there anyone that would like to speak during public comment on this agenda item seeing none we'll close public comment and bring it back to the council for discussion and or a motion any further discussion you look like you're deep in thought Vice I'm just trying to understand Mr Mayor that we've had a lot of uh constituent contact about keeping uh the floor area ratio and density at current levels does this give you pause no because this is that's why I asked the question this is specifically too residential not too commercial and and to Sarah's point I think this will actually kind of in some cases restrict the size of the intensity of the building versus letting it go bigger but it aligns with how we do it in other zoning districts of the 40% yep come on upstair and I and I do want to point out that there isn't anything that we're doing right now in including the comprehensive plan that would change density or intensity all of those things are staying the same as well as height so we're not affecting any of that in this change or in the comp plan change well I disagree with you on that part and we'll that's why we're going to talk about this later because I I I have a different perception of that for folks that are watching uh Mr Mayor when when does that come up well that was in the what she's referring to now is the comprehensive plan that the town manager has asked for the joint meeting that that's that discussion that's the commercial side of it so when you say we're going to talk about that later you don't necessarily mean today you mean at the Joint meeting at the Joint meeting that will be the the talk about the comprehensive okay just wanted to make sure that was clear a lot of folks are watching for that particular issue to be talked about and I agree and I agree with you when it when you're referring to Heights and totally get that but it's the intensity of the building that is giving me concern or giving people concern we'll say any other questions for Sarah so I just want to reiterate again that this entire ordinance that we are talking about has strictly to do with single and two family residential DET nothing else detach residential nothing else yes so Sarah I know we're going to talk about this at a joint meeting which is fine uh but just for folks that are watching we've got a lot of input from folks who believe that the the current draft of the comp plan uh does not keep floor area ratio and density level at its current levels what would you say to them I would say that I would have to know what they're talking about and I have yet to see any of the emails that I've heard discussed so I don't know I'm not aware of any changes we were not attempting to change anything so I think that's where well I just a quick the clarification was removing the multiplier and going to calculations specifically on F and we're not we're not requiring the removal of the multiplier we're simply allowing it to be in the Land Development code or not be in the Land Development code still in the Land Development code that's where that decision is actually made the comprehensive plan is not really the location that was just an advising tool saying at that time when they were building the comprehensive plan that when the Land Development code was done the multiplier should be included in there it is in our Land Development code so removing it from the comprehensive plan gives you the option to either keep it in there or take it out it does not affect it but it also it also gives a developer or development the opportunity to say that their project is in line with the comprehensive plan because it's not in there whereas now they could not say that they could not say if I can build I don't want to get too far in the weeds but if I can build a 500,000 foot building based on the way the suggestions are in the comp plan Amendment it's whatever you can fit in the Box still has to fall you still have to go through the Land Development code and you still got to do that but it's it's it's created a springboard to the talking points to say from staff's Level it is it is in line with the comp plan because the comp plan is no longer referring to the the multiplier it's specifically the f I disagree okay Sarah can I ask you this just to just reframe the question on Tuesday October 10th 2023 uh we had a joint meeting with the LPA and one of the items for discussion which we actually took a vote on was changing transient Hotel units from density to far we voted to have it remain the same is that indeed still the case with the current after the cop plan the comprehensive plan I don't believe covers that I think that that is contained in the Land Development code and and not to I think we need to stay on point with our agenda item which is specifically we're going to have a whole meeting dedicated to just this it's been a hot issue I just thought maybe we could get some clarity but that we could do that at the Joint meeting yeah I think we'll be able to have some time to ask staff a lot of questions that we don't have to ask under this agenda item fair enough this is specific to single family and detached two family homes yes nothing commercial no for the third time okay thank you s any uh further discussion or motion I'll move uh ordinance 24-24 to Second reading yes please okay thank you is there a second I'll second got a motion by councelor King seconded by councelor Woodson any further discussion councelor King I councelor Woodson I councelor Safford I Vice May UL I and I'm an i as well motion carries unanimously next is item J emergency ordinance 24-29 unsafe building appeals this is the first and final reading and public hearing on proposed emergency ordinance entitled an emergency ordinance of the town of Fort Myers Beach Florida amending One Division 3 unsafe building abatement code of article one property maintenance codes and two deviation to Lee Count's Boards of adjustment and appeals of Article 2 building codes of chapter 6 maintenance codes building codes and Coastal regulations of the Land Development code of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida to amend existing Provisions related to appeals of the building officials decisions divesting the Lee County Construction Board of adjustment and appeals of the responsibility for review of appeals of the Town building officials decisions including but not limited to determination of an unsafe building authorizing the town of Fort Meers Beach special magistrates to hear appeals of the town of Town's building official decisions providing for non- codification severability scrier errors conflicts of Law and an effective date thank you uh mayor so this ordinance is unlike the other ordinances that you have um been involved recently as at least as long as I have been here um this is an emergency ordinance and upon your action today this ordinance would become effective immediately um what this ordinance does is it creates a um process for appeal of any decisions by the building official concerning demolition of properties um under the unsafe building code So currently what your uh code of ordinances provides is that the building official can go out and deem a a building or a structure unsafe um there are uh timelines um the time for appeal is 30 days um upon notice and within that 30-day period a property owner has the right to appeal and challenge the decision by the building official that the structure or building is safe or unsafe um your code basically uh provided that the Lee County board of appeals would would be the body that would hear any type of appeal during that 30-day period um we unfortunately did have an appeal um rendered on one of the building officials decision uh they proceeded to the Lee County Board of adjustment and appeals and found that the interlocal agreement with the town had expired back in 2017 there seemed to be um somewhat of a gentleman's agreement agement that um in the absence of a a formal agreement that the administrators they would allow these appeals to go forward um and then come back and actually amend the inter local um but since 2017 no appeals had been filed so this issue kind of sat dormant um however we find ourselves going through our um unsafe building program and I think it's been pretty successful I don't have the numbers available um for voluntary compliance but we do need to afford our property owners an opportunity to appeal any of those decisions um we need to do this right away and for that reason this is before you as an emergency ordinance unlike the other ordinances which I'll speak to in a minute um the one option that you have to hear the appeals by the building official would be your special magistrates you have two special uh you have contracts with two um we have a special magistrate and we have a contract with DOA the division of um Administrative Hearings so we have um some options available and what this emergency ordinance would do would just basically substitute them in um as the Forum to hear any type of appeal that is that is filed um I do want to comment on your next three items because they these items are all interrelated the next item after the mayor reads the title will be a first reading and that is what you typically do for ordinances you have two readings of the title and the after the second reading you have an adoption so we are going to go in and change the code in the normal way that we do it but as of today we don't want to infringe upon anyone's private property and due process rights so that's why we need this emergency ordinance the latter two um agenda items that you have would be changes to our special magistrates contract and to the DOA contract to allow them to expand the scope of services to address um Decisions by the building official that may be on appeal so I I think that hopefully gives you a better perspective of why you have four agenda items that are interrelated questions for Nancy Council King I have none may not to digress Nancy but since we're on this topic when when the building official red tags a property and then it comes to your shop to do the search what's typically the length of time it takes to do that search so before he R tags we actually do the search to verify who the owner is so that way that individual has notice and we are um serving the the appropriate person so we expend that time on the front end um and there is contact uh with the building official and the property owner to try to resolve it so so that's helpful and so so the research is on the front end but so the building official obviously gives you heads up and then you begin that research before it gets red tagged correct what's the what's the average timeline for you to do that research before the building official can red tag it it it varies I mean most of these have been um Residential Properties and those are fairly straight forward however we do have a couple properties that are multif family we have some condominiums that would require us to do title searches basically on every owner in that condominium so those we have kind of put on a second tier um so we could try to uh get as many done and make the the town safer as quickly as possible okay thank you the the turnaround time again it can vary I I want to answer your question um two weeks 3 weeks it it's not a long period of time and hopefully you know the the end goal of this is really not to go around and demolish everybody's property it's to make the building safe make the town safe so there is the opportunity with more time to have that conversation um and we have found that some of them are in the um land land use um process trying to get properties rezoned and our communication with them is well just go ahead and demolish it now because if your rezoning is approved you're going to demolish it and if your resoning is denied you're probably going to end up demolishing it anyway because of this process so there is that dialogue going on okay thank you that's helpful okay Council Woodson I'm good I appreciate you going through that whole thing because it was confusing yeah reading it so thank you Council Safford uh no questions at this time I do not have any either uh we'll open up for public comment is there anyone that would like to speak in public comment on this agenda item seeing none we'll close public comment bring it back to the council for more discussion and or a motion any further discussion I'll move emergency ordinance 24-29 motion by councelor King a second seconded by councelor Safford any further discussion councelor King hi counc Safford hi councelor Woodson hi vice mayor adle hi and I'm and I as well motion carries your next is item K ordinance 24-30 unsafe building code appeals this is the first reading of public hearing on a proposed ordinance entitled an ordinance of the town of Fort Myers Beach Florida amending one division three unsafe building and unsafe building abatement code of article one property maintenance codes and two division two Lee County Boards of adjustment and appeals of article two maintenance codes building codes and Coastal regulations of the Land Development code of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida to amend existing Provisions related to appeals of the building officials decisions divesting the Lee County Lee County Construction Board of adjustment and appeals of the responsibility for review of appeals of the Town building officials decisions including but not limited to determination of an unsafe building authorizing the town of Fort Meers Beach special magistrates to hear appeals of the town's building officials decisions providing for conflict codification severability scri errors conflicts of Law and an effective date will now open the public hearing so um mayor council members this um is the typical ordinance this is our first reading of it this would codify um the changes that I discussed regarding your emergency uh ordinance okay any further questions councilor Kan questions for Nancy I have none Vice May councilor Woodson none counc Stafford none I have none as well we'll open it up for public comment is there anyone that would like to speak and public comment on this agenda item seeing none we will close public comment bring it back to council for further discussion Andor a motion I'll move ordinance 24-30 I'll second got a motion by councelor King seconded by councelor Safford any further discussion councelor King hi councilor Safford hi councelor Woodson I vice mayor Idaho I and I'm an i as well that motion carries unanimously next is resolution item L resolution 24-180 Schmucker special magistrate Second Amendment this is a resolution of the Town Council of the town of Fort Meers Beach Florida approving a Second Amendment to the agreement for special magistrate Services between the town and Monica Schmucker to provide scri to provide services for a pellet review of the Town building officials decisions as may be required under the town code adding required statutory Provisions related to coercion of labor or services to the agreement and providing for an effective date again this is to um allow our special magistrate Schmucker to um to review these decisions the last uh phrase that was read in the title um there are some new statutory Provisions related to corrsion of Labor or Services um that's going to be some typical language we're going to be putting in all our addendums um that was that's required by state law now so that's just a new a new thing um that's that's it okay councelor Safford questions not this time councilor Woodson no vice mayor no councelor King none I do not have any either is there anyone in the public that would like to speak in public comment on this agenda item seeing none we will close public comment bring it back to council for discussion and or a motion further discussion a motion I move to approve resolution 24-180 Schmucker special magistrate Second Amendment I'll second you got a motion by councelor Safford seconded by councelor Woodson any further discussion councelor Safford hi councelor Woodson hi Vice may adle I councelor King I I'm an i as well motion carries unanimously the last public hearing is item M it's resolution 24-1 181 the DOA doah First Amendment this is a resolution of the Town Council of the town of Fort Myers Beach Florida approving a First Amendment to the administrative law judge Services between the town and Department administrative hearings to provide services for a pellet review of the Town building officials decisions as may be required under the town code and providing for an effective date um this again is just a um an amendment to the U contract that we have with the state uh to provide these Services through their administrative hearing process CC Woodson hi I do have one so is this is this like a pecking order thing like it would go to our magistrate first and and if our magistrate was not available then it goes to DOA or does it go to both or how does that's a good question um so we have two available for the town for the review um it's really not a pecking order it it's really more in the event of the non-availability or a conflict of interests that are local uh special magistrate may have we would go to DOA um if her agenda is packed and we need to move things forward we would we would go to DOA as well they stand ready willing and able um and they have contracts in effect with other local governments around the state that have U the feedback is it's very successful and they're good to work with so it's just another resource for us yes based on whatever on at the time okay thank you okay Place hole I questions the questions no questions I was reading my sorry reading my material I what CER King I have no further question okay yeah we we will open it up for public comment is there anyone in the public out there that would like to comment on this agenda item Mr Mayor I would just like to thank our legal team for putting these suggestions together um a year ago when they were brought on and we started going through our process and what we had and what we didn't have Nancy brought this to our attention that this would be a good resource for us to have um since then we've brought on uh the magistrate that we currently have I think it's going to be a great asset to the town moving forward just wanted to thank Nancy for doing this okay we'll close public comment is there any further discussion by the council Andor a motion I move we approve resolution 24-11 DOA First Amendment second got a motion by councelor Safford seconded by councelor Woodson any further discussion coun Safford hi Council Woodson hi vice mayor adle yes coun King hi and I'm an i as well that motion carries unanimously all right all right now on to the administrative agenda our first is resolution 24177 sta 38 Carlos Circle this is a resolution of the Town Council the town of Fort Meers Beach authorizing the town manager or his designed to approve sta 38 in the amount of $45,900 with tetr under contract number 22-25 dad for tier one projects Carlos Circle and any Associated documents and providing for an effective date who's starting this Frankie um yeah basically what this is allowing tetr Tech um the ability to go and take a look at this area which has been added to the list of subsequent flooding concerns and poor Flowage rates in that area so they're going to draft an engineering plan and uh get it back to us okay date not certain um mayor if you're wondering what sta stands for it's supplemental task order so we already have a contract in effect with tetrach and this is just giving them one more thing to do right it's just adding to the list of things that they're they're doing for us this came to our attention um not only from the property owners in that area but also through our uh utilities team that were down there in that area so it's just a logical step forward for that okay so I I have a question so obviously there's there's an issue on caros Circle for for the other residents that have issues on on their streets what would be their process to to speed up their problems right if if they're not covered under the current tier one umbrella of the streets that we listed and when the project first got kicked off a year ago um they can reach out to our utilities team and we can get out there and take an assessment at that point um realistically every street on this island can be impacted in some way shape or form so it has to be looked at and evaluate it properly on what we can do how we can assess it and where it falls as far as the funding goes okay C this is actually one of my items under counselor items that I'm going to bring up so it may address um some of what I think you you're steering towards yeah I mean we're all getting especially when we have Heavy Rain events I mean we're all getting calls and you know I I my my and flooded and flooded I mean my I can't tell you how many times our street has issues but um I know there are other streets that are that are much worse but I I think people just want to have a a clear Avenue um to to get help yeah I like I said this is a a very big item under my council member items that I'm going to bring up and hopefully get consensus to give direction to staff to do something around what we're discussing anything else no sir counc wison I'm good Vice matter nothing con King nothing I have nothing at this time is there any other further discussion or a motion to approve or deny resolution 24- 177 I will move resolution 24177 okay second got motion by councelor Safford or motion by councelor King seconded by councelor Safford any further discussion would you like to roll call vote on these as well okay councelor King I councelor Safford I counc Woodson yeah Vice may adle I I as well the motion carries unanimously next is resolution 24- 179 Town Hall emergency elevator repairs this is a resolution of the Town Council of the town of Fort Myers Beach Florida approving the emergency acceptance and purchase by the town manager of service from General elevator Solutions in the amount of $139536 for the completion of a hydraulic elevator modernization for the new town hall building and providing for an effective date Mr Town manager yes thank you mayor um we knew we were going to have to address the elevator when we got to purchased the building uh it was purchased as is uh this is the the company that was already started doing the the diagnosis of the problem um the issue was that they were only supposed to be putting a mandate on it for the previous seller previous owner U this uh can be funded uh through the arpa funds Joe and I have already discussed that and we ask that you approve that amount we have a couple things on here that can come out of arpa which does not affect the general fund gotta like and have they given you a rough time frame if this is approved as to when they can complete this they're looking at right around the first of the year sir okay uh councilor King questions for Frank sooner if possible um I just want to make sure that we're not locked into some sort of exclusive contract uh where the situation where the library finds itself in is they're locked into exclusive contract and they have to buy everything from that company because it's proprietary and that's what's delayed them being able to use El that's the beauty councelor king of using this particular firm as they service all makes and models of elevators it's not like an Otis or paron the P or reading elevator you want to put Otis reading together um I wasn't sitting has been together for a long time but um yes we uh we we going with a company like this because of one they were already in the building and they already scoped it out to they provide services to all okay thank you the next time can you raise your hand and Shout I can't okay his day I believe we're CL we're sitting by The Dock Of The B so I have a question well we have to have the elevator functioning before we can open town hall is that correct that is not correct that's not correct okay or you can use a second third floor you have to have it open we can use the downstairs but the most the part is going to be ready first is the second and third floor so you have to have it yes okay in that bank correct all right we could use the downstairs with no elevators but that's going to take the longest so potentially we can get the second and third Floors open before we got the downstairs finished potentially let me let me let me get this straight so why wouldn't we start we are we are are we are going to be at all the same time okay but what the second and third will be finished before the first four will be and then once the elevator's ready we could go ahead but we really need to be able to move carpet and paint and stuff up and down the elevator so we've got to be working pretty quick to get that it's going to be boxes and boxes of carpet so we got to be able to to do that so we're going to try to get this as quick as possible going to work on everything simultaneously as we can so hopefully it'll all be open at the same time but gotcha all right thank you just real real quick I'm just curious Frankie given all the challenges that various condos have faced with elevators did you have any trouble finding an elevator company and expanding the scope of their work this company was already secured by the by the seller of the building um we found documentation when uh during that transaction we reached out to their broker um I made contact with them because they were familiar with the project um as the town manager stated they were just basically going to do a fix up to sell uh not a fix up to actually function for long term um after getting them pull asking them to meet Andy and I on the job site um along with Jeff we we had a nice meeting of the minds with the president of elevator company he explained to us that there was a lot of different things they could do um we needed functioning for the Long Haul uh not just a Band-Aid so with that he put together this proposal that we have before you today but yes to answer your question there's probably about four major elevator companies in this area uh the Preparatory ones are just booked to the gills um they're probably about a year to a year and a half out if you have one of those name brand elevators the two companies that work on all different types of elevators again uh this particular company has 18 Crews of the 18 Crews 11 of them are currently on this island doing condos and various elevators so they're they're they're out there just a lot of work that has to be done that's helpful thank you it just I mean this is a repair right basically $40,000 repair so ma'am the that well the whole pump room has to be totally gutted it was under sea water for a long time the hydraulic unit underneath the the cab itself has to be replaced and the cab being stainless steel was subjected to salt water so that started to pit and rot um and then all new cabling so to make it certified uh usable um that's what we're talking about here I think the original estimate they gave to the previous seller was right around $69,000 and that was basically just a hit the button for it to go up and down not for any of the safety concerns okay W business to get into there's a lot of ups and downs in that industry oh here we go wow wow also um another oh boy you sound like my wife I'm on this um one of the other issues for the U library is they're closed because of ADA guidelines but with servicing the first floor we can bring folks down that will not limit um that aspect of folks with uh needs special needs that's correct our first floor is going to be just like here it's going to be a a One-Stop shop where you can do everything on the one first floor if you need to okay thank you any other questions for staff go ahead is there a motion to resolution 4 24179 Mr Mayor I'll move approval of resolution 24- 179 I'll second got a motion by vice mayor aderholt seconded by councelor Safford mayor if I may can he revise that to include arpa funds as amended second second okay we have amended motion by vice mayor adal and amended second by councelor Safford any further discussion uh Vice May hi counc Safford hi counc Woodson hi councelor King I and I'm an i as well that motion carries unanimously next is item C is a special event revive the vibe Fest 2024 is requesting approval of a special event permit for the review revive the vibe Fest 2024 on Saturday September 14th 2024 requesting approval to close 1 through thir streets off of Old San Carlos Boulevard allowing for open containers and allowing Amplified m music Amplified sound contingent upon approval of the Lee County Sheriff's Office in FMB fire district uh Mr Mayor I'd like to also add that this should be passed on approval of conditions uh we have a few things that were brought to staff on Friday that they wanted to add some mechanical things like a climbing wall uh a water slide things like that that were not injected in time prior to this um so we've reached out to the other two bodies for just uh heads up on on what they need to to look at as well the District as well as the lcso um we understand that this is this is something that was put in motion advertised and that the community is is behind however we do have guidelines and and deadlines to meet um we are trying to accommodate but again it has to be done with conditions uh at best with the other two bodies well I guess you got to get a little bit more into the weeds conditions how do you want to condition it and so what should happen is um you have a special event permit before the Town Council um so you want to amend that permit to include some additional items um and it still is going to be um contingent upon approval of the Lee County Sheriffs and the Fort Myers Beach fire district but I think the question is what what additional items specifically um are they doing to their special event permit is I think you're on I'll just lean over to Frankie close um so the conditions that we we saw on Friday that was sent to us I think it was late last week uh where they want to add some mechanical rides uh mechanical Bowl uh that kind of thing uh to the to the permit which actually is is what the fire department asks uh on one of their questions on their on the permit so it need to go back to them and and and get approved um I believe we heard that the fire approved the original one um but we haven't got any clarification on that either uh or lcso we're still actually waiting on a few uh a few approvals that we have not received yet so um we're just waiting on that if if if everything goes well and fire says yes to the mechanic of our permit so Nancy can we just take whatever they want to add as a condition upon approval from the yes but the the uh request before you today is already contingent upon the approval of the Lee County sheriff and the fire um District but what needs to be amended is the special event permit to add the mechanical Bowl correct it it would have to be on our special event permit too right so is that because it was not advertised is that something that we can vote on to add now I think you can yes okay it's within the scope of the um of the application itself okay would the applicant like to come up and talk about the event how's your time I am super nervous standing here nothing to be nervous about just state your name and speak in the microphone my name is Zoe right and I'm the president of the FMB Revival nonprofit um we have the event on September 14th that we're asking for um a permit for we plan to close the street um old San Carlos from third to 1 Street and lift open container um we want to have music at Bayside Park so we'll need we'll need noise ordinance lifted um and then into MOS Marina we'll have um food trucks a second stage a VIP tent and a bar from the whale um the music there will run until 10: p.m. and the music at bide Park will run until 8:00 p.m. um the the games that we want to add so our company has offered to give us them for free um which is why it's a late edition I'm so nervous sorry it's okay don't be nervous I'm not a good public speaker we um you said the music will be done at 10: at bide Park it'll be done at 10: at 8 sorry and then in toos Marina it will be done at 10: okay so is there a need to do anything with the noise ordinance because no because it falls Falls within the time frames right okay so I don't think you so not noise ordinates I think I mean Amplified sound yeah we had to do the 500 ft of got it that's it for the permit so we're doing open open container right that's in the permit it's in the permit right yeah y any questions for Zoe Zoe just to give you an opportunity to kind of tout another unique aspect of the festival you want to talk a little bit about this uh The Wizard of Oz play that you have and how people can get tickets um so we have a performance by um Fort my Beach theater at 10:00 a.m. at Bayside Park um on our Facebook page people can get tickets um through a Google link and they're free tickets yeah um I believe the fire department has signed off our original permit application I have sent them a new one already with the addition so I'll let you know what they say we've paid their fees and everything um the lcso are looking over they haven't had any questions or concerns so far so I'm hopeful that today we'll get approval from them okay so I just have a question on the bull ride yes how do you get your tickets no when do you plan on want to end up watch thank you very much I'll buy yours I see this is a new dunk T thing yeah that's actually one of our ideas no I mean I I actually have written those um and know what they entail and I'm just wondering on liability what happens people can get H on that thing um is there liability coverage that releases us from any of that kind of thing or how does that how does the insurance play out with that so for every vendor including them we have a copy of their insurance with the town named if they're in town space so on the street um and Mos Marina named if they'll be placed inside MOS Marina so they'll have to provide that um we can also have them sign a liability release waiver which we have and they have like a lot of though the safety equipment so it's Max it's inflatable there's like a big Zone around that for safety because obviously most Marina is concrete so we're aware of that okay well as a a self-explained expert I think we should uh have our have councelor Woodson be the first one to give it a tryad I'm not in town that the too bad I'm not in town so already on my calendar you can take a look convenience all right any other questions for Zoe thanks Zoe thank you any further discussion or motion for the special event permit revive the vibe Fest 2024 I'll make a motion to approve special event revive the Vive Fest 2024 second got a motion by mayor Aller seconded by vice mayor aderholt any further discussion that's with the amendment with the with the amend condition conditioned upon the Amendments as amend second up second as amended all right any further discussion I and I Vice mayal hi councelor King hi councelor Woodson hi councelor Safford hi motion carries unanimously looking forward to it thanks next is item D fiscal year 2425 benefit renewal town of Fort Myers Beach insurance plan year 2425 renewal overview come on up hello council members how are you good how are you doing well thank you my name is tiis alera I am the Human Resources Director for the town of Fort Meers Beach I'm here today to request the renewal of our health insurance plans for the 2425 F school year we are requesting to maintain the same favorable plan design in carriers so in front of you I have provided um the executive summary is the first page which breaks down each plan and uh the total cost increase um in addition two behind that you will find each individual plan so just as a as an overview for our medical insurance the increase came in at a 7% uh increase with a to so that total cost amounting to 63,000 and for our dental plan um that increase came in at a 3.1% increase or a total cost of $1,500 uh roughly so we're looking at a total increase of $64,500 roughly um our vision insurance along with all of our supplemental insurances there were no uh no cost increase to those uh plans um we did estimate for a budgeted increase of 88.8% on the medical plan which was around $82,000 and our renewal came in um at $18,000 less than that so we are pleased to present the proposal that keeps our incre our increases below the expected Market ranges and Industry Trends um the industry Trends are currently 7 and a half to 8% and our insurance brokers have reported increases as high as 24% for their client bases so um if you do recall last year fmit came in at AG Nega -3% which was about a $25,000 cost savings to the town last year when we were facing a 15 a half% increase so we were anticipating to have somewhat of an increase and I um I'm pleased with the numbers that they came in at um again um our current benefit design is very favorable and it remains competitive um which is ESS essential as we aim to attract and retain top talent in the market uh against especially against our surrounding municipalities uh the proposed incre increases are necessary to continue offering a favorable plan design that supports both our employees and the town's goals for Workforce stability I'm happy to answer any questions that you have councilor King any questions what kind of feedback do you get from employees on this employees are huge fans of our plan design we have extremely low deductibles our deductible on our medical plan is $250 which is lower than most of the plans that you'll see out in the market um and even with our Dental our annual maximum is 2,000 typical is about 15500 so they get more use out of the plan uh we did listen we had some employees that weren't able to get uh Bridges or tooth Replacements last year because of a provision that we actually had removed um and so they're going to be able to do that now which we're excited uh to announce so but the the overall pulse is that it is very favorable I don't have uh very many complaints about the plan design so that's why we to keep that where it is and we measure at about 88% um performance against other plan designs in municipalities thank you Vice May three quick questions if I could uh does the town uh plan utilize a health savings account does it have a non-smoking uh discount and does it also have a Wellness Plan sure so the first question for um health savings account you have to offer a high deductible health plan which we do not however um I did into offering a health reimbursement account those can be tricky you have to make sure that they're you know that they're administered properly because of you know you have to go in and supply all of your receipts and it can become very cumbersome where I've seen that there's not very much participation or they're not really getting the the employees aren't getting the best use out of it because they're having so much trouble with submitting all their receipts so um I worked with our insurance brokers and I am currently working on um making a ship with a provider who provides an app where they would actually be able to take a picture of their receipt and it would automatically be uploaded into the portal so I don't have to wait for um you know our plan year to implement that so once that's done I would like to implement that so employees can start putting some money away through payroll deduction at a tax-free savings towards you know Health reimbursement and then perhaps next year we could talk about doing an employer match to that to that to you know incentivize employees to be you know good stewards of their money that's great M discount for non-smokers to inent Good Health disc we don't have that implemented as of yet um but we are looking at that um I wanted I'm going to implement our wellness program this year starting in starting in January so the first thing is being a he grading to kind of get a pulse of our overall Wellness of our group um and then I do know through Hometown Health they offer like a small reimbursement it's a small dollar value I I think it's a gift card or something if you are a smoker if you are a non-smoker but um I definitely would like to implement that more and and go through some a tobacc free workplace program to incentivize our employees that are you know smokers to quit um and essentially it will you know help the overall performance of our plan thank you one thing one thing I've had experience with is smokers would pay a higher rate versus non-smokers paying a lower rate which equals the same thing but you'd almost penalize the smoker the challenge with that is there's some legal issues that sometimes come into play it's sometimes legally it's easier to give a discount than it is to also work where we've done blood testing to see if there's nicotine in the system to a hire new hire you can do that with a swab too without doing blood testing yeah saliva yeah and you said you had three questions I think I was just asking the extent of your wellness program oh yes absolutely so again we'll be implementing that in January along with our Brokers great thank you Council Woodson um well I will will say that the reminders on this that go out like don't forget to sign up I mean they are daily sometimes twice a day so that's covered we got that covered um but I do want to make sure because I think I read in the very first one that came out if you are not changing anything it will automatically go and continue on so you have to you don't have to do anything right so this year we are having a passive enrollment last year we had a very Hands-On enrollment um being that the plan design is basically exactly the same uh if you are not making changes you do not have to go into the system to reenroll you just would let HR know I'm not making any changes we'll have you sign off and then there's nothing further to do but we do need to know if you're riding a mechanical bull this weekend yes as I said said she's a wild bull rider and she loves her already could we offer a discount for non- bull riders well and I lost all my caboy boots in Ian and everything else so now I can't I sure cannot write the B I don't have cboy books what size are you might have a Dusty pair of cowboy books for in the closet counc saff I'm not going um a great great job um I have a qu actually a question for Joe is are these new numbers reflected in our in our budget they are yes okay fantastic yeah plan is awesome thank you it's good great job toisa thank thank thank you toisa is is there any further discussion or a motion for uh the fiscal year 2024 25 benefit renewal so moved got a motion by councelor Woodson second counc seconded by councelor Safford any further discussion Council Woodson I Council Stafford I vice mayor aderhold I Council King I I'm an i as well motion carries unanimously next is item e authorize auditor and engagement letters authorize the town manager to execute the engagement letters with and Jenkins to provide independent external auditor services for fiscal year 2024 Joe Good morning Joe anzuk Finance director um we had spoken about this when the audit was presented to you um at a previous meeting so I don't think there's a lot that needs to be said but what this resolution does is it authorizes the town manager to sign the engagement letters which would effectively um ex I don't want I don't know the right word is renew their contract but it's a three-year contract so it'll allow them to um to perform to continue that's a good word to continue their services for their third and final year of the contract and there's two aspects of it there's the um the financial statement audit and there's an examination of compliance regarding investment of public funds um and the cost of the audit is 51,000 but there's also um an additional charge of $5,000 for each um special or sing it's called a single audit and that's of Grant funds so that would involve feema primarily okay Dr stford questions um just a comment I you know being the adviser to the audit committee I I I think this is fantastic molden and Jenkins does a wonderful job and I'm I'm really happy that we're going to continue our relationship with them okay nothing and did I remember I read in there that this would also allow them to engage quicker after the end of the fiscal year to be able to start the audit yes that's correct um this is probably the soonest um since I've been here that they'll be able to begin we much more closely um you know to being able to close the year that have been in the past perfect VI May nothing that's K I have no okay thank you if there's no further discussion is there a motion to approve or deny the so moved got a motion by councelor Safford second seconded by councelor Woodson any further discussion counc Safford hi counc Woodson hi vice mayor adal hi counc King hi and I'm an i as well that motion carries unanimously next is item F the town CM administrative updates the town comprehensive emergency management plan CM administrative updates and input Mr Tom man thank you mayor uh Jason's going to come talk a little bit about he's kind of been the the driving force behind this is the legislative aid but this is something we we just review it every year and do some housekeeping and make sure we've got titles and not names and things like that but Jason if you'll address some of it please sir yeah absolutely uh Jason Freeman for the record um just like Andy said you know we're continuing to do ongoing review efforts throughout the year um we're getting into Peak hurricane season now uh so just doing a couple administrative updates although they're not required to be approved by Town Council uh we thought it was in best interest to get your feedback on on the plan any areas that can change your update uh we did a couple administrative updates including just like Andy said organization uh just titles that sort of thing with it just as they update throughout as our organization updates uh we incorporated our participation in the frck program um and following their policies and procedures uh so we thought that was important to add on there and uh just a couple minor efforts so before you have uh a copy of the draft plan so just seeking any feedback that we can include and then we'll work with Andy and and you all on approving that for this upcoming year ccor counc King any questions I have none M Jason is this the document to look for the granular explanation as to the the town's re-entry plan after a storm so it it does mention hurricane re-entry uh that would be a supplement to the cemp the overall plan um working with with our internal departments here uh so we can always do that like as exhibit to it to that plan um just it keeps it at a very high level in this plan but but that that that exhibit does it exist in writing somewhere what our re-entry plan is we do have one but I don't believe it's it's attached to it but I can work with uh Andy and and Frankie and Tom and everybody on that one and and we can get something okay thank you absolutely yeah I think it's important to have that available to the public to be able to understand if there is an event this more goes to the state so they understand our 30,000 foot view of how we operate and that's a little more on the like you call granular and that can be something we attach and put on the our website send out as we get closer to really the heightened part of our King season absolutely con with you um I I do know that there were a lot of changes made to the re-entry and I'm just wondering if it would be helpful because you know we're we still are in hurricane season if that's something that could be posted on our website so that people have that before anything happens that they'll know what to expect yeah absolutely in supplemental policies like that um we like to reference them in the plan but we don't necessarily attach them to it just because then we'd have to if we want to change anything on those we'd be changing the plan constantly but that's something I'm happy to work with everybody on and we can we can get that going but just from a procedural just to have what the expectation is yeah AB absolutely just a reminder to everybody too in the public listening you know those passes are still available here at Town Hall so as we approach Peak hurricane season it's a good idea to make sure you got the correct one and um we have all the documentation everything with it so we're but we're continuously working with Andy and everybody with the Sheriff's Office Fire Department to to update those plans and kind of just make sure everything's coordinated too so never stops counc sff yeah I've got one granular question um on page 710 where it says chain of command for Town Emergency Operations it says that the incident commander of the town of Fort Mars Beach will be in control who exactly is that typically it's the town manager um or unless it's a designated by somebody else um depending if there's a unified command like I know we had with the in where you know the fire department or the sheriff's office um and town government might all work on a unified command too but typically it's goes to the town manager first and then if he designates any Authority if we had our own Police Department it' be the police chief during emergency but since we don't we have to designate me and then we work with right the other two and and just because the way we're set up okay kind of sure I was gonna ask to Scott's question or followup on that after Hurricane Ian who was in charge good I don't ask that not to be flipp it I mean who who strategically was in in charge so I I think depending on what the plan and and everybody working together but typically it would go with the the administration and then and then from there no but after Ian who was in charge who was help that one J yeah if you don't I think that was I think it was retor it like who own first thing it was not rhetorical I wasn't being flipping I just I just wondered according to our policy probably would have been the town manager the I mean that's why that's why I as question but you also have to realize this hadn't been addressed until I got here no no but that's that's why I asked the question because it it doesn't specify the town manager says incident right you typically don't put the title or a name or anything because it's a generic document that you send to well that's why I asked the question I'm with you because it could right after the storm it was the town manager but it very quickly went to a unified command meaning because of the reason I think at least my understanding is the reason you don't put a title in there is because if for some reason the town manager is incapacitated or can't fulfill the role then it can be whomever is the next person in you know the council and I think could make a policy decision to so but it went very quickly to a a a unified Command Center meaning the fire chief the Lee County Sheriff's Office Town manager the incident respond teamers that were here it was a table Round Table full of decision makers is there a formable uh document that explains how a unified command Works under these situations in other words was it a was it a democracy was there votes was it consensus what was the I think it was strongly suggested from the state's level to to go the unified command route no no no within the unified command if there was a if there was a dispute would they literally have a vote of that unified command would it was it always consensus that's a good question I I don't I don't know that answer I I usually there was at Le at least once things changed there was no disputes right it was pretty much let the let the experts do their job it's usually understood in a in a system under FEMA's guidelines in that the the chief um I'm sorry the the the police officer ranking police officer would be in charge that's typically The Way It Go law enforcement usually takes the lead however when it was your police chief then that is correct charge and other towns I've been in the the for instance when the building collapsed the police chief was was the not me I was on the his support but not command he was here a question I'm just trying to understand how it works so here it would be me at the initial because there's got to be that contact and we've got the the new radio systems that communicates better and things like that but um at some point it would probably be given to if there's an Incident Commander would probably be given off to I would imagine Lee County Sheriff's Office and I asked that question and follow up on Scott's question because it's some point someone's going to have to make a decision as to when re-entry of the residents can begin and when and how that would correct and and who is going to make that call under the current strategy I think at that point unfortunately there's a lot of players that come into F's going to come into play because of the bridge we have zero control over that Lee County Sheriff's Office and then me I don't think the fire department would have as much of at that point what because you won't make that decision till they finish what they're do doing so it probably come down to to to f dot would be the ultimate decision maker in that and then Lee County Sheriff's Office as far as the safety part and you say F dot but they control the North Bridge but the county controls the South Bridge so correct but I don't know who controls the bridge further down in Bonita Springs I don't know Beach so it's a county beach so and I can tell you that the usar teams that came in had a lot of pull when it came to search and rescue it depends on the situation yeah depending on the severity of the situation it was you know they had to do their job and they can't do their job if everybody's stomping over them so there was a at the beginning is they there was some push back from staff to get Publix open for instance and they're like we've got to find people and that's when it went to the United or the unified command thing and then decisions were made as a as a team versus um one person making decisions so it's at least in my opinion it's very difficult to set a specific time frame because the on the severity of a disaster will determine how much time it takes to find people I mean but you got to have some guidelines to your point is to what are some expectations and we didn't have that before we didn't have any and in one hand there was not a lot of agreement and communication as far as when people could come back on or who was making that ultimate decision I think we've corrected that yeah I think the biggest part of it is what we're doing now you're right exactly right is is communication before an event gets here and making sure that everybody's well got each other's numbers if I if I could say this is somebody who had a front row seat to all this mayor you were in the hot seat obviously after you you got elected but but I think one of the things that's changed dramatically is the relationship and the trust between the town the fire department the county the state uh feds I I I think that that relationship and that uh that collegiality the trust is is dramatically different uh in in in a positive sense and I think to your all credit that's a that's a big piece of the puzzle that we've we struggled with before yeah I think the biggest thing that I has come out of this in my opinion is the unified message after the storm there wasn't a unified message and as we saw there were there was no message it was it was it I think now everybody to your point is on the same page and it doesn't necessarily matter who's giving the message as long as it's a unified message between everybody that's going in the same direction yeah and I think as part of the plan I mean getting the Fe back so the plan's been to all the department directors as well as getting you know your input and we've kind of put in all of the best practices and Lessons Learned and everything from Ian um into that so I think that's the great part of it is it just keeps building forward um most agencies also participate in the uh FEMA provides that framework for unified command and and then uh it's the Nim system so we have all of our staff participate um and get the trainings in the one two 7 and 800 uh those are independent study courses uh through FEMA that you can take online so we encourage you know all of our staff to do that as well as um key officials as well so we that kind of gives a overall um overview I guess of the whole Nim system um and give some definitions and kind of practices with that and then we're also working on getting some higher level FEMA trainings for um some of our keystaff as well so it's an ongoing effort I know there's a couple people signed up for another FEMA course here in the next couple weeks so uh it's a ongoing continuous effort so well Jason thank you for all your hard work I know you've been working in the background really hard on a lot of this stuff and and uh appreciate all that effort absolutely yeah and it's it's a plan that was adopted I guess uh a little while before Ian so we've just kind of been taking that amending it and it's kind of just a very flexible fluid document that we keep keep reviewing so and we will forever I think up until then so appreciate all the feedback if there's anything else just let me know and we'll get it rolling thanks Jason thank you thanks Jason all right any more discussion or is there a motion for the town CM administrative updates plan so move motion by councelor Safford second seconded by councelor Woodson any further discussion councelor Safford I councelor Woodson hi vice mayor adhal hi councelor King hi and I am an i as well motion carries unanimously um our next item is item G Angela CHR Christ u USF Institute of government this is the Town Council strategic planning proposal input Town manager yep thank you mayor uh vice mayor councel what we have we have um before you is the proposal for a strategic planning process should you decide to move forward we started with the first phase and this was the second phase was them to provide us a document uh the cost is $225,400 it can be covered by arpa funds uh with the understanding bringing arpa funds into it is we have to have the arpa funds that we have committed or expended by the end of this year so this is a perfect uh fit for that should you decide to go forward there's several layers to this um it's it's a process that that is is a kind of laborious but it also includes public hearings uh excuse me public meetings involving the public in things interviewing uh strategic stakeholders interviewing you interviewing staff it's well encompassed in how we are going to start strategically planning the future of the island and it Encompass and it brings everything in comp plans everything into play this is to totally up to you if you want to move forward with this and that's that's kind of where we are I wanted to bring this back um since we were uh had already initiated it and see where you felt like we needed to be uh councelor King questions I have none mayor yeah I'm gonna I'm going to challenge you Mr Town manager only because you know this sounds great and obviously everybody's for strategic planning and it all sounds great but given your experience is this going to help you and is this is this the group that you want is this is this is this going to be an exercise where it goes on the Shelf after it's done or is this something is it a is it going to be a working document that will actually help you and your team I mean be candid with us because I mean it all sounds good but if it doesn't have any practical impact and it's not going to be easily utilized doesn't make a lot of sense first thing I did when I got here was look for your strategic plan to see where you wanted me to be um and you didn't have that so it's like right now but a hurricane you know you you hope that this is that 30,000 foot view that everything comes underneath it but but again that's the first thing I started asking you know where's our strategic plan when you got what we had it's like so I'm going to kind of answer this with that with with this statement this is going to help who comes after me and who comes after you and who comes after and it's going to help this team as they continue to move because this position will evolved these could evolve that leadership aspect could come out of it and then you have no document to lead you didn't have the community Emergency Management plan to lead all these things filter under here it's all parts of that the the what I call Golden Threads that come out of the the main and how we treat our employees as far as their goals and their accomplishments and and and how we set our standard for how we want to do things I believe that we have a very good unique opportunity in Fort Meers Beach is one of the reasons that you know I was attracted was because it's really was a blank SL late coming in I mean I know unfortunately the hurricane kind of created that big void if you will how we going to rebuild what are we going to do but we had a great chance to look at how we're going to set up our system you can see how I've hopefully strategically placed people Staffing wise that feed into I'm just using this as the example of the top you're the top right well the Public's the top need right below that but I think we've got to have something that that just ties everything together right now it's like plans over here uh cm's over here codes are over here we've got you know things and there's not hr's over here we're not all pulled together what are the five or six goals that we're trying to get to and they're they're pretty broad-based we don't get real specific is granular to use your word you kind of get way up at 30,000 ft and say okay if we could have the perfect Island the perfect Town what would it be you know where does storm water fit way down here you know under Jeff but still got to be part of it as we talked to the citizens res we're going to hear we heard things today you know about this is way it was way back and how and but that's that's what we need and that's not going to be here forever so how are we going to set our road mapap to help the future go is it going to help me yes but it's going to help whoever comes after me probably should help them even more than me because first thing they do when they come to inter before the interview is look for this document they can answer all your questions if this has been set up properly so I believe it's money well spent okay that you seemed a bit initially dispassionate about now you seem much more passionate so I feel better about it okay thank you I just wanted to leave it pretty generic I didn't want to force my opinion on you I want your I want your opinion all right thank you counc Woodson you know I am a 110% believer in strategic planning I mean I was involved in it in my corporate life every year inside and out quarterly basis you go back and you review where you are for that year threeyear 5year plans I think it's something that we would really be remiss if we didn't do it and as Andy said you know we almost have an open slate I mean people people ask about it well what are your goals what's your mission what is this what is that well we don't even have a strategic plan we had one but it wasn't even looked at since 2017 and you know when Ian hit it was 2022 so it was 5 years and nothing had been changed nothing had even been considered so I for one think this is money well spent we have the money we have the funds we have to use them or lose them um so I think this is a huge benefit to the town and going forward Council Stafford yeah I couldn't I couldn't agree more I think I think the biggest part of of this strategic plan though is the community community involvement involv yes Y and you know I I'm looking at the schedule here of phase one um I was going to say the exact same thing exact same thing I I would like to set a challenge all of us to set a goal to have this completed by January instead of March of of 27 um but I I think that when we do have when we do have the community involvement I think it's critical that we have that involvement when people are here not in September not in O October but I March or April March or a I think it's got to be January February March at the latest um but that's it's going to be crucial that we all rebuild together that we we all have a common goal I know you can't please a 100% of the people but I I think we you as we saw with the with the pier it got everybody in the community involved and we we figured out what we wanted and we figured out how to get it and get it paid for so I think if we can have the same enthusiasm that we had with the peer you know we we can have a vision of what this Island's going to look like in in 2040 y yeah I was going to say along the exact same lines looking at the schedule of phase one 1.5 1.6 and 1.7 to me should be moved up to when we have the majority of the people here if they're here they they will be engaged and you know people like to sit down at a table and have you know H hash things out so if you can move that around a little bit to make sure that the the community focus groups one and two are at the height of our season when we have the majority of people here I think that will go a long way and making some of those other steps much easier to go through to Scott's point you get community Direction it makes a lot of your decisions much easier than going backwards any other questions Noone okay is there a motion for item G Angela Chris us USF Institute of government the Town Council strategic planning proposal so moved I'll second got a motion by councelor Safford seconded by councelor Woodson no further discussion councelor Safford hi CC Woodson hi King hi Vice adol hi and I'm an i as well thank you all right our next two agenda items are new it's item H resolution 24182 implementing FEMA letter dated July 19th 20124 this is a resolution of the town of town of Fort Meers Beach Florida directing the town man manag to implement all requirements set forth in a letter dated July 19th 2024 from the Federal Emergency Management agency FEMA and providing for an effective date Town manager Frank so basically what this is dealing with is uh all the municipalities involved in the flp insurance uh program in this area the five municipalities in total uh were given separate set of directives by FEMA uh ours was basically because our island is considered a special flood zone area the entire Island so in doing such uh female Regulators came through at that time um All Temporary structures within two Lots North of Estero were deemed unsafe and un perable um through council's actions we had come back to you early in the spring and asked to give us uh a little bit more teeth in our use of a temporary use permit um that allowed code enforcement and other things at our disposal here in the town to go after some of these people that were trying to either apply for a temporary use permit or that have already received one and try to keep their feet to the fire so to speak uh this letter basically came in and and did away with all that and said gave us an end date and where a finite date of November 18th to be totally compliant with this um and those structures include anything that's considered a conx or a shipping container within two Lots North of Estero um anything that cannot be towed out of here by light duty truck under FEMA's classification not the towns so we had a meeting uh with the FEMA director from District 4 Robert San along with Kevin Guthrie the director of Florida's Emergency Management um at which time it was stated to the town that there would be no extensions no carryover no nothing it was not up for debate U these things had to be enforced um so this allows us to go ahead and reach out to these people people that are in and affected within this um and just tell them they have plans to be made by November 18th um if you don't already have a brick and mortar plan in place with the town I think there's a handful that have uh reached out already are in the Planning and Zoning process um the other ones are going to have to make different arrangements and cannot be on Fort Mars beach after the 18th of November yeah so obviously this is going to this is going to create some waves do you have any idea of roughly how many businesses and residential potential well more mostly commercial I would I would guess so are going to be affected by this yes sir Mr Mayor uh basically we're dealing with about uh six commercial properties um and on the residential side as far as temporary use trailers that are still being used I believe there's about an equal amount on the beach side um that are still in that zone and farther down towards Mid Island um and the caveat to this whole thing which was kind of a Twist at the end was all shipping containers for all condos and construction companies are also included in this and as consor King on the far south end all the way up to here every major construction company that's working on these condos has shipping containers or we call them conexes to store materials tools things like that to facilitate their work they all fall under this umbrella they all have to to be compliant by the 18th so and that'll that leads me to my next question yes sir if they're not compliant this is much different than our normal code process where you give them a violation they have 30 days to come into compliance if they don't then they start collecting fines what are the ramifications through this plan that has been told that we have to follow so if the town does not comply with all letters that they've written out from FEMA uh we we we basically go on probation we we lose for the national flood insurance we lose all recourse as far as all the stuff that we've done so far to make it right and to keep our head above water and and and do all the right things that F has asked of us it would negate all that and put us back to zero and my next question is for you Nancy yes sir what legal ramification or what what Avenues do we have in place to ensure that these actions are taken by the 18th of November well there's different types of structures that are out there um we would look at them on a case-by casee basis if it was a structure that we issued an emergency temporary placement permit that permit would be revoked um if it is a construction trailer that would have been a term and condition of our building permit and we would have to look further into that so it's my answer is it's a case-by casee assessment of what is left out there that appears um from FEMA's perspective as being non-compliant it's not a you know not everything who who makes the ultimate call that something's compliant or not is that so we we raised that question too so Kevin Guthrie the director of FM was sitting right next to Robert zuman who is the regional director for FEMA um in our Florida building code is adopted the FEMA of regulations or flood um director Guthrie basically reor to Andy and I that uh it would be ultimately enforced by the state that we we did not have a recourse and that the state would be backing up FEMA on all these requests so this does not just apply to Fort Mars Beach this applies to every municipality that is considered in a special flood zone area um we just happen to have an whole island worth of it um and ours varies in height and in severity from the vzone upwards to the back Lots where you can get into the AE zones things that get you a little bit more height they get you a little bit different clar classification as far as how things can be tied down what kind of structures you can have in those areas versus on the beach or closely there related that's why the the line of debarkation was written for Estero two Lots North because that's the area that that's basically affected at this time so just to clarify if if somebody has a you store trailer or pod or whatever you call them on their on their property and there's a bunch of them they're okay as long as they they've got plans and they're rebuilding their their house is that correct if they're rebuilding their house and those plans are with the town and we can verify that this in that stage of rebuilding we're good because we can cover it and we can explain it out it's the plans that are the the the properties that don't have plans you know again under FEMA's guidelines they give you 188 Days From The Storm we're we're past that um you know and and we will be pass that by that date so they're looking at okay what have you done as a town what have you done as an area to secure permitted work going further we've issued temporary permits based on the fact that these people could put it on a residential lot and and and while they're building their house back we've given people that had businesses the use of temporary means of getting their businesses back and up operating whether it be a restaurant a rental company whatever it would be um they've come in here now the state and thema both and said that as of the 18th of November if those aren't rectified that's it so we we passed a couple ordinances three four months ago that we did so this is going to supersede that because I I remember the the date was specifically right so we took that initiative on our own sir right but I I just I think the public is ask ask you know because people ask us all the time hey how long do I have and we've we've been saying September 28th 2025 that that no longer is the deal it's November 18th actually this doesn't apply to a majority of those people that have the the temporary use permits for residential on the other side of a stero two lots in this is basically dealing with the people that are right on the cusp of that and towards the beach okay so that that ordinance so it's a little bit of narrower um P scope but it's so it's just those lots it's not correct we're not going townwide with this at this point at this point uh we've just been directed to that specific area and and that's kind of what we've done um as far as uh uh trying to stay ahead of it uh We've uh initiated code to go out and start reaching out and taking photos of the condos that are under construction the construction company and reaching out are trying to reach out coming up here this week with the HOAs and those companies and letting them know that this is a directive and this has to be addressed uh we're trying to give them a median date of like mid October so that we have time to push that last little bit and not be caught with structur still not being acced for so we're we're actually going to go out and each and every one of these that are questionable we're we're we're going to we're going to reach out right yes sir we've already started that we've already started that in the far south end we're working back this way as far as the condos go um I've reached out to a few Property Owners um that have these temporary structures and tried to explain to them that hey it's not a town issue it's not a Lee County issue it's really not a state issue it's a federal law that this cannot exist in this area and the state is backing up the Federal Government on this law so nothing can supersede a federal law at this point so we are strictly talking about um containers if you will or something like that that are not portable so they're not on Wheels they can't be hooked up to a truck and moved off in evacuation light duty truck yeah they they specify light duty right but am I right in saying that it's it's things that are not on Wheels and are not capable of being moved within I don't know a day's notice or whatever it yes ma'am well I I think just because they're on Wheels doesn't mean they can be moved they can be moved correct because some some of those would require a large truck semi-trailer to pull dismantle and everything we're not in that zone yeah I mean these trailers came with double sets of Wheels each one of these you know there's four sections here each section had two sets of wheels on it um to tear these apart and put the wheels back on and get them ready to be towed out of here you're probably looking at about at at least four days guys working constantly to get it to happen so that's not going to happen if we got 48 hours to to bug out of here and I think that was FEMA's main concern it's not so much that these structures are there they don't want to have to pay twice for the same problem in other words we get a big storm surge coming again those containers are the ones that are going to be taking out houses down the street right and and that's their main concern Kevin Guth was director Guth was very emphatic about federal law Trump's local and state law yeah there no question there was no choice no question so my my question is got a couple of them actually you said You' started to reach out I would I would highly encourage us to expedite this Reach Out is I mean a lot of resources I think need to be put behind this to let these people know what's coming um so they can make plans to vacate by the 18th of November that's why we wanted to get it before you as quick as possible the other the other question I have is um now I just slipped my mind it it the list of people that are is this a because I'm guessing people are going to do a public information request is this something that is protected under femus guidelines that it's not a public it is okay so the people that are going to be notified it will not be a public record request correct the only ones that would be any kind of public record would be the condos because they weren't put on the list this is just this was a hey as we're walking out the door oh by the way you got about 1,500 conexes that you have to account for and they're over this way um so that's well I certainly this going to be again this is going to create a a very large wave no pun intended but it's sure Nancy I think we need to make sure that legally we we can provide people what because some people I'm quite certain are going to say I'm not moving it and what can we do as it is it it sounds to me like the the the federal government says we don't care what the reason is that it has to be done by the 18th we need to be able to legally say you can do it or we're going to do it so I I'm making my point is we need to have a we need to have that plan in place as soon as possible it's not already done we have been discussing that and as soon as we can get a few things ironed out we'll get that you all even if it's done specially so we we've had a lot of conversations um over the weekend um about this particular issue what wanted to point out was um Scott had asked some questions about um our existing Ordinance one of the requirements is that we issue no more permits um and also um the resolution that you have in your packet refers to the July 19th 2024 letter and there on page two it talks about what the town must do before September 16th and that report that um the town manager and Frankie will be putting together together will talk about their efforts to come into compliance by having your resolution adopted today it really shows unity and support that this is going to get done yeah okay because it looks like pretty much every everything was was stricken out in our temporary use permit for the most part everything's gone out of there yes and when we asked for it sir um in all due respect it was to to address an issue of people coming in and getting permits that really didn't apply to the chunk of land that they claimed that they had a specific business or used for um and at the beginning it seemed like everybody that uh knew somebody was getting a permit to use their lot and that was the whole reason it didn't affect the residential side it was more or less to give code the teeth to go ahead and address and building and Zoning as well uh to address that uh people just because you're a friend to somebody does not give you the right to open up your business on their property and so that's when we started doing a deeper dive and looking for the uses of that property and and and trying to issue permits a in accordance with that excuse me um that tightened up a great deal that that alleviated a lot but going forward um barring any type of catastrophe we are not allowed to to do that nor should I think we should vice mayor I just had a question Frankie for these various condos that are under repair and they have these use the term conx as or construction trailers what obviously we've we've got this issue here but what's what's what what advice would you give them to sort of continue their work have their tools nearby what's the solution I guess for a practical solution if there is one practical solution would be put them on a semi-trailer uh something that even though it's not considered like duty at least you could hook up a tractor trailer to or a tractor to it and get it out of here uh in a very reasonable amount of time time um a lot of these condos not so much uh you can see intermittent work being done uh some of the ones Mid Island don't seem to be inhabited so you could take a lot of that material and put it on that first floor perhaps uh use it hallway storage those type of things get it off the parking lot those those type of things um alleviate box trucks whatever it would be I think the town would be more than accommodating if you came up with the solution of saying hey we're going to bring in a couple of big box trucks and we're going to put all our stuff in there and that way they can be driven out at a moment's notice that goes a long way in setting a plan or helping us our plan uh rather than just having them stacked in in your parking lot I would if and I know we're not in the business of giving advice but as we do this if we do a press release on this it might be really helpful to have that kind of suggestive thoughts yeah that include those thoughts because I think people as frustrated as they may be by the decree they I think they'll appreciate your advice for Solutions we did have that planned after this discussion here today and then going forward like I said we already started with code uh doing those pictures of of the people what they had on their property and and not doing it to to harm anybody but at least get a working knowledge of who had what where so we could make that contact more viable thank you very good and is it possible to get out probably is any a map that exists but it could be kind of confusing when you say two Lots North of a stero Boulevard if we could come up with something just a general idea of if you're in this Zone it's going to affect and we honestly Mr Mayor yes we can do that by All rights we we will do that but we actually know what we're dealing with on this side of a stero it's mainly on well I understand you understand it but it it those that aren't watching right now it's going to come as a very large shock to them so any suggestions and or documentation we can provide them to help let them know if they're in the zone or they're not the Zone we may know it but they may not know it or understand it we we'll get that out with our with our release okay so you had mentioned too that this is I mean this is not just Fort Meers Beach it's Lee County it's wherever these zones exist but we are being looked at on an individual basis correct so it doesn't make any difference what a sterile does or what anybody else does looking at this has to be done by us I mean we are in great coordination as to manager and I are in weekly meetings with with the other municipalities in dealing with the flood insurance project if you want to call it that uh that we've all started with uh about a year ago but um this is this above and beyond that this supersedes any of the work that we've done with that um this is again uh I think we're the only municipality besides maybe santel that can be called a special flood zone area um and so this is something that they really really scrutinize and and hold in regard got your work cut off for you Nancy uh we do we as I said we did work really hard with um Becky and I and Frankie and Andy over the weekend trying to figure out what we needed to do and how we can do it as fast as soon as possible okay um yeah any other questions for staff I do yep town are we in compliance is it Town yes currently we are sir yes okay when we design these structures FEMA requires an 8ot augur to be sub secured in the subsoil uh we designed these to have 16t and we also doubl it up on each trailer so we're we we're definitely exceeding all the FEMA's requirements plus we put it up 3 feet above grade uh from that special flood zone area but we don't have any other shipping containers anywhere we do but they're also in a compliance Zone at the moment okay thank you any other questions for stff question first thing I asked ex exactly is there a motion to approve or deny resolution 24-12 implementing the female letter dated July 19th 2024 I will make a motion to approve second seconded by councelor Woodson any further discussion I am an i councelor Woodson I councelor Safford I Vice may adhal I councelor King hi motion carries unanimously I know we said 12:00 do we want to just finish it or do you want to finish I have okay then we will go to item I resolution 20 this is the last item on the administrative agenda item I 24183 a resolution authorizing the town manager to sign the FEMA CDL application a resolution to authorize the town manager of the town of Fort Meers Beach to request a loan under the Community disaster Loan program of the Federal Emergency Management agency FEMA for a maximum amount of$ 4,813 157 to draw upon if needed to fund essential government Serv services as a result of loss revenues to receive and manage these funds and for other purposes providing for severability and an effective date Joe okay Joe ANUK Finance director I put together um just a few slides because I just wanted to make sure I covered each of the points because this is just being thrown at you at the last minute um the town submitted a request to FEMA over a year ago to be considered for a community disaster loan at CDL for short Joe can I interrup it's been thrown at you at the last minute CU it thrown at us at the last minute this is not something we've been sitting on and all is this the original $5 million loan that we applied for yes yes yes I'm sorry if I didn't phrase that correctly so FEMA contacted the town on August 22nd so just really a few days ago with follow-up requests for information and clarifications so the finance department we worked with FEMA representatives to reconcile what their calculations were to what we had in our own Financial records um it was completed on Friday September 6th um as a result that same day then FEA determined that the Town qualifies for $ 4,813 57 Community disaster loan what this loan is it's a loan that may only be used to fund essential government operations if no other funds are available so how they described it to me over the phone was it's really to be used as a last resort to keep the lights on so it is it was designed for um truly disaster um towns undergoing a disaster the ironic thing was it's taken almost two years to get this so and they even admitted that so when I also then um explained to them let me see I don't want to skip over what this last point is so when when we do have such a circumstance as that where there we are running out of funds and we have some essential services to fund that's when we submit a request so we don't get this money as cash in our bank they hold on to it in a something that we request and draw down once if we were to um submit a request and the dispersement is received by the town then the town we must spend it within three days so it's not something we can even ask for way and Advance what's their timing to approve it well they're supposed to be able to approve it um shortly but I don't know what that means interest will begin uring on the total amount of the dispersements at a rate of approximately 3 and a half% but the actual interest rate will be determined at whatever Point fuma signs the official agreement if the town does not use the loan there is no interest charge to the town after 5 years the town must repay whatever balance of the loan whatever we actually borrowed needs to Bea Within 5 years unless we continue to experience lost Revenue if that's the case then fimale would consider forgiving the loan I did explain to FEA that we already have the $1.9 million bridge loan to cover our lost revenue and also that we have the state appropriation for $7.5 million for lost revenue and I just wanted to make sure that they knew that because this is these are new developments since we already originally applied for them because I did not want that to s suddenly become a revelation to them that would I didn't want to be accused of just not disclosing information or whatever negative implications there may be but they said that was okay they're still encouraging us to accept the loan that they recommend that we consider it like an insurance policy or as a safety net um so in order to accept this loan we have the town has to approve the application the state has to approve the application FEMA regional office has to approve the application and finally the headquarters all of this has to be done by September 30th so that is why we put it on today's agenda so that we could at least do our part as quickly as possible okay questions for Joe if I can add we really have no plans to use this money whatsoever that's true but it it does make sense that it would be there like the initial $7 million we got from that as an as an upfront this would our be in place and be able to get it in a matter of days versus a matter of months correct it's our emergency Reserve Fund in Ence there you go ecy another so this is for future use not for what has already happened well it's it's supposed to be for what has already happened in the impact on our revenues that just stuns me because of how they don't want you double dipping that we've already received money but they want us to possibly double dip well if it would well exactly I mean that's why I wanted to make sure they understood did you get that right Ang or no it's all over phone call but no I did submit it in writing in in emails as well that's good thank you any other questions for Joel thanks Joe is there a motion there's no other discussion is there a motion to approve or deny 24-13 re resolution authorizing the town manager to sign the FEMA CDL application Mr Mayor I'll move approval of 24-13 second a motion by vice mayor adalt seconded by councelor King any further discussion vice mayor adal hi councelor King hi councelor Woodson I councelor Safford I and N and I as well motion carries unanimously final public comment is there anyone here that would like to speak in final public comment come on up Terri Kane again I'd like to thank you all for all the work you're doing now and the work that's going to come to you in the future and there's going to be a lot of it you're going to have a lot of three binders um and thank you for your time for doing that just always remember that um when you're looking at things we have to think of the greater good of the entire Community I do want to say something about the incident command system um that you may not know and many people don't know unless you've had the training and I'm really thrilled to hear that we have staff that's going to go get incident command training um it takes away a lot of responsibility from everybody here when there is a disaster a fire a flood hurricanes um Florida is one of the best in the country in their incident command system and a person will be appointed right away before the event happens and there's many tears as your staff has found out you have people it it you have one head and whether it be the fire chief whether it be the police chief but they're trained in these in incidences and they will have staff well volunteer people underneath of them that take care of supplies safety security media because they want everything to go out and you know this because you had to experience it but I just want you to know we do have the State of Florida has one of the best incident command systems and um it's under um that would be the easiest at B yeah instead of moving all this over there moving it all back they don't need the microphones they don't need all that over there to me that makes the most sense if they're might be something that they have to publicly notice we'll reach out to them and ask because they just put the signs are out to just say where the precinct is and just points in here it doesn't say the location it's just pointed into this property right out front might be easier setup for them too and easier on staff that's what I think okay if you'll ask and then we've got another meeting we can talk about we can always bring it up at the next meting can um just campaign sign reminder to all people who run and I'm not talking about anybody just be mindful of the right away i' seen a lot that are out there and they're seem to be out of the RightWay but as we give them to Citizens and stuff all we'll do is move them into the RightWay out of the RightWay into public private property so just FYI that's progress from the last election is it yeah I wasn't here so I can't yeah mine were all taken out yeah oh well we'll take them out then okay I'm sorry equal opportunity yeah we I've always instructed my staff just to move them six inches or a foot into the out of the rideway and it's okay but it is what it is not going to make a big thing about it Jeff wanted to bring up something about ccab yes we have that joint session uh on the 19th apparently the peer riewer uh cannot make it on the 19th but can make it on the 18th so I'm wondering if the 18th from 9 to 11 would work for everyone next week 19th oh it is scheduled now on the 19th yeah it's scheduled for the 19th if we could move it to the 18th I don't know your schedule to accommodate that I'm fine it's fine with me actually works better for me um yeah it works better for me too not 18 yeah from 9 to 11 yes okay yep so the 18th from 9 to 11 right here in the chambers okay and Frankie had some information about the LPA yes uh staff has sat down with uh the head of the LPA as well as uh other people um town clerk attorney um trying to come up with a plan that best suits all parties involved uh we have so many important things addressing the town in the near future here uh with development we want to make sure that staff has adequate time to not only digest all the plans but make a qualified uh recommendation either way to LPA or to council um we had looked at the way things were done before our town clerk had brought up to the attention that in years pasted um it was always two weeks before any meeting everything was signed sealed and delivered to the town clerk um that would leave staff two weeks prior to that um there's a lot of scuttlebutt going around certain developments and why LPA meeting was canceled this last time it has nothing to do with the developments or their preparation um it has more to do with an internal process of making sure that we get it right the first time so in all due respect to staff we wanted to make sure they had adequate time to instead of being bombarded with multiple things take the time reflect get everything that they needed ask the questions that they needed gain back the information that they need from these people that are applying and uh make a logical and and proper request to either LPA or or councel at that time so effective or beginning September 1st the town uh has instituted a new policy to ensure all applications to the LPA can be th reviewed under this policy all materials uh for an application including project narrative site plans renderings and town staff reports will be submitted to the town clerk no less than 14 days in advance so that is the cutof date within two weeks if we don't have all the materials from anybody applying it's not going to be on that meeting um and and that's only in due fairness to the town clerk to our attorneys and to staff um so that means that people that are in the queue wishing to get into the queue uh you better when you or originally meet with staff adhere to what they're asking get the information in um when we send requests out for information from you please get that back to us in a timely manner and and we can we can all learn to exist properly I I guess I just didn't like the feeling uh since Andy and I have been here it's been you know at the broken end of a bottle every day and it seems like every week something is either getting added to or we're asking staff to jump through a hoop or the council yourselves are always being bombarded with different scenarios hey we need this because of this if we all follow the same schedule I think everything will be fine and we can all get it done in a timely manner um and that was my request um to the town clerk and to staff and we kind of agreed upon that so moving forward staff needs all the materials to be submitted to the town clerk if we don't have the materials it's not getting submitted plain and simple will this also then apply to the council meetings yes sir yes sir so the same schedule will be so the Tom clerk has the two weeks be prior to a meeting to get everything put into the packet to get it out to the LPA it would be the same for Council meetings as well the information so she get the LPA yes yes okay so and again this has no bearing on any projects that are currently being worth um all the applicants are are are totally compliant with everything that we've asked we're getting material sent back and forth the way it should be this was more of a an internal uh thing that we had to kind of put the brakes on really quickly and get our heads around so this way everything can progress the way it should okay well you're asking our our you made the policy wanted to make is Staff going forward yes well I I certainly think it'll be beneficial to allow the LPA and council members signific enough time to review things that have gone on for two years nobody likes 800 pages on a Friday when the meeting's on Monday well it's it's it's not fair to the residents either they don't have time to review it and answer questions and formulate it so um sounds like it's a that's it that's all you got yes sir okay attorney items no items no items okay what one real quick item okay how it goes2 sorry go ahead Frankie um under the uh the administrative thing um Margarita Bill had a covering for their stairways um and we're administratively accepting that change to put the thatch roof over their stairwells and so they granted the the administrative variance that they would need to receed with that Jason Jason is that going to be a drive-thru or the African is here but I hope not uh to sh so as Frankie has just brought it up uh this is going under the administrative amendment to an existing Master concept plan this has always been in our code uh the intent here is to try and streamline the process of making minor changes that are all within the setbacks Heights and other dimensional standards for the site so what's being asked for here is uh the extension of a thatch roof line over their existing uh two sets of stairs and this is all on the Aquatic side so this is on a stero as you enter the Aquatic uh lot over their restaurant they're asking for a um a covering and then on the two sets of stairs that access that building from the ground floor on a stero they're asking for um to uh construct the thatch roof it is approximately 600 square ft total that was would include the flat uh covering over the restaurant entrance and exit and then the actual stairway um the two sets of stairways that's collectively 600 square fet uh as I mentioned before the setbacks are within what was approved in the CPD uh it doesn't extend everything that they're asking for here would be within code and that was the intent of the administrative approval so that's what's being presented before you today okay so do you need anything from us if it's administrative no just this is just informative this is informative and they give you a chance to offer if you'd like to have it come back through the normal process if you disagree John what's the over and under when somebody will drive through that hopefully never thank you is there is everyone okay with that I'm fine with it okay you go excellent thank you very much are you done now I am done thank you sir sure I am all right uh member items and Report Scott well I I want to do another recognition I I want to recognize the Island Pancake House I think it is absolutely fantastic that they're open again and uh thank you guys I I know there's a lot of work behind the scenes to help them get get over the finish line and I'd just like to you know let ask everybody hey at least go in there have lunch have a breakfast but they're going to need our support especially it's really hard to open in September um so I I think we can do that as a community go go in and support them and as well as the the other other restaurants that are you know that are making a go of it right now in in tough times so I think the the more more we spend money supporting our local small businesses the better off our community is that's all I have all right counc Woodson um I have a signage request and I didn't bring it up doing Mark Reedville because it's not there respond responsibility um but now that we have the detour and we go down Crescent Street and then we now have the yield sign to take left to get over the bridge for people who are not familiar with the island and we'll have more and more coming in this season gets started people don't realize that in order to get back to North Aero they can go straight and go around and go old San Carlos and then take a right on North Estero so I think we need some signage at Crescent and Fifth Street that says straight to North Estero and then pointing them around and then a sign at Time Square that they turn right to north of stero these signs we just got in uh they're currently in the Public Works office and they going to be put up in the next few days so they're nice and big they're green perfect perfect thank you is that it that's it all right easy uh three quick things uh Andy and Frankie this sand issue that uh that uh Ron brought up this morning you know when we had the Quasi renourishment back in 17 or 18 they dredged sand over by the South Bridge and it was riddled with shells and we were assured this time that this this this this uh area that they had selected the sand would be pretty good and and so uh and I know it's not going to be like the truck sand the truck sand is spectacular and we know it's not going to be white initially because it takes a while to bleach out but if it is riddled with shells I think that's something that we ought to if that's if that's indeed the case that's something we probably ought to take a look at I don't know if you've had a chance to review it or talk to Chad about it or yes I mean Chad Chad's out there every day um and he has been looking at it from the last sample that came in um I did get an email during the meeting here that he did look at the other sample that came in um again from the location that is being pumped out and and over here you have a little bit of storm action mixing up with that sand from Ian um that was stored offshore um so I don't believe that's going to be he can address it further to your question I don't think that's going to be the case that's like that's like a Hollywood entrance he plans this you know come on up Chad Chad just just was commenting that you know Ron had brought this box of sand that's riddled with shells and we had some of these challenges in 18 or 17 when we did the dredging on you the South Bridge and we were kind of assured by the engineer that this is going to be a pretty good crop of sand just your comment on it thus far are you concerned uh morning everyone Chad Shoots for the record um no so our engineer is doing quality control testing um it is to be expected we're going to get sh shells out of the gulf um it's not going to be pure sand like the truck sand um but uh everything so far so good what to be expected and what we're getting is what to be expected so so at least the way it was described this morning and I don't know if you were here uh that it's riddled with shells you're saying that that that that may be an aberation or that's just normal or I I saw the box that the gentleman brought in um I mean there were shells in there it does not seem to be um a concern it's not a concern to me it's not a concern to our Coastal engineer okay all right what about the shards and things that he said he said there were shards of there's going to be broken off shells I mean they they can be sharp um but in that environment the sand does um kind of you know sanded away so to speak so there's no kind of extra sifting process or anything else that is being required no I mean this is in line with fdp Beach compatible sand and it's comparable to what was put on the beach out of the same burrow area back in 2011 so what was what's been on our beach um all this time is what's been pumped so what happens then does that change with raking and grooming and that kind of thing yeah it'll it'll work itself out and shells will migrate and it's been underwater for tens of thousands of years so it's going to take some conditioning sounds like you're on it yes sir trying there's nothing cons there's nothing concerning you with the shells that are it's it's in the normal scope of what's allowable or what's yeah there's been no issues with quality control today okay my next item is for Frankie but you may want to stick around because you may have a thought on it I was talking to a someone who's very knowledgeable and a builder on the island who lives on the island um and he was referencing the problem of Frankie and I don't expect you to know this off the top of your head but you generally seem to know things like the like this uh that that there's a Litany of Wells on the island that people use for watering their lawn and other for their pool and other things and after the hurricane there seems to be a proliferation of old Wells that aren't capped and sometimes they won't cap the old before they put a new one or if they don't decide not to use a well anymore they don't cap it and just leave it and apparently soil and debris and toxins are getting into these old Wells potentially polluting the aquifer that serves the island have you seen this issue is it when we permit a new well do we require them to Camp the old well I I know enough to be dangerous here but I just thought I'd ask yeah there there's certain rules and regulations that they have to follow not only in the county side but also the state side so are there contaminants getting into the aaer uh that's not for me to say um I'm not a scientist but to your point um this is something that is that is controlled so you're not just uh willy-nilly able to go and cap something off and and drill something new you have to be totally permitted and um so those people that are doing these things um they're regulated and they're watched so it's it's not like they're being able to get away with anything if we are having problems then please let code enforcement no and uh we can get after it that way yeah I think some of it's a public education process too because people may buy a property not knowing there's an old well there not knowing that they should cap it you just can't take a postle digger and dig your own well so this is no this is more capping the old ones yeah correct correct okay just just thought on that and then lastly I I see our director of Human Resources still here I just got to thinking the Strategic plan that we just got done talking about and approved are we linking our performance metrics to the Strategic plan will that be because that's one way to keep a strategic plan from sitting on a shelf is when you do performance metrics for employees and Link it to the Strategic plan that's why we're going to have you set some goals and then we'll also establish some lower tier goals that within the what I consider Golden Threads that will tie to every employee and what they have to do to to make sure that we're a success very good thank you that's all I've got counc k a couple things in lie of what happened the tragedy on u poo with the loss of two individuals uh folks came to me with concerns about uh third party inspections but it's my understanding after checking with Nancy and uh Becky that the town cannot do anything to limit uh third party inspections that's correct to prohibit prohibit yes that is correct because it's state law that allows that option the other question then is how are we able to remove an individual from utilizing a third- party inspection now so they're they have a third party right now engaged to do these inspections is that the scenario remove that right from them no just for one person yes but that person remove generally those issues would go to the construction licensing board that the county has that we would be fil a complaint um against the contractor I believe Joe acted as a building official because there he got complaints that the people that he said that the contractor said he used said they did not do those so he has a right to stop it because he was getting false information okay okay all right thank you the other issue is U going back to our previous public information officer U the town website was an issue and I still think it's an issue and I hear from Nicole um that it's not capable of doing some things trying to find something in a search engine is atrocious um are we sticking with what we have or we looking at changing we we can look at anything yeah I we haven't gotten to that point yet but I mean we can always explore we have I'm not sure what the contract is or what we have in place with the current provider but there's always ways to to explore and and a lot of it would be you know um some of our demands and what we need to put on them in order to be successful but we'll just have to to dig further into that and find out what what if what and if any contract is in place with them and how we can get out of we can always get out of contracts if we could do that I'd appreciate that it would yeah that thing needs to be looked at it's when you go through there and the more you dig sometimes you pull up the old website comes up when you're looking through things so I don't know if there's ever been a time maybe before we were on Council I don't but I don't know if there's ever been a time that it's actually thoroughly been gone through to make sure every link goes where it's supposed to to your point John you try to search for something that's literally impossible to find or you're going to spend a half hour trying to track I know since Nicole's been on here we we've looked at pages and tried to you know reform or conform to to better better way of doing things so this we can continue to dig deeper and you know bring in look at other options and see what we can do I know um with our sand dollars on the homepage we're limited to the number of sand dollars we're able to have so that's kind of frustrating so so thank you for looking into that that's all I have okay I just have a couple of things here I'll try to be as quick as I can um the lwh hanging fruit easy one is is had a conversation with the town manager and Chapel By the Sea is where is that at as far as that etched glass thing I know we had a conversation that it potentially could come to the town or not come to the town vice mayor has been in the in the middle of that I I have been working with the The Entity that's been design ated to uh utilize the funds and property from Chapa by the Sea and I have heard formally that they're still uh uh engaged in and and and interested in supporting that uh uh uh request but at the same time I I heard from someone else who we all know and respect uh that that that that that prospects for that uh glass have now diminished so I haven't heard anything formal yet but it's been an ongoing correspondence but at this point formally we're still under consideration but haven't seen anything definitive yet I just thought if it was something that was moving forward just a design idea for it would be really neat is you walk into the new town hall when that desk is going to be there to have that as the first thing you see when you walk in before you go into the chambers would be that just threw that out there if it ever goes anywhere um the other things lately obviously and helping people with their permitting and and what I've noticed and I've talked with the town clerk at some point the county did the permitting and then the town took it over I believe people just want to find the documentation and if they can't find it it's a back and forth thing and it it takes up a lot of resources okay to to your point Mr Mayor we've had several conversations uh myself and Matt Caldwell about trying to address some of these things uh we he's had uh we've done a a couple of teams meetings with his staff and our permitting staff uh going back on other issues but everything kind of does rope back into that uh we have ongoing discussions where we're going to be having Matt come out here and and discuss that with our team but is this a m calwell issue no it's just a systems issue so it it's it's our system their system and how things are approached together um we don't have the world's greatest software um I don't know if anybody really does but for well apparently needed as a county do correct correct and and unfortunately sometimes they don't play well together so those are the discussions that we're having to find a solution where we can have that unified talk back and forth between softwares if we could get that specific date out there as well as to when or as close as possible Right to when the town took back over the permitting because there's some discrepancies I've told people what you've told me and they're like no that's not true so I I wasn't involved in it so I don't know but if we can find that date so that people know where to go look for it and where to ask and as I get information from the county I'll obviously let staff know and we can update as we need to but as we're getting into things and it's all stemmed from your point John that the issue that we had people starting to look for things from the past and finding out that it appear to be permitted but we can't find any documentation on it which I'm not saying anything new to the staff I know that they' they've been dealing with this for a long time but it be it's something that we need to get cleaned up with the county to to to make it much easier for the end user and then the last thing I have is the infrastructure stuff that we talked about the tier side streets and what we're doing now we know we've got the new um the pump being moved and it's going to increase our water pressure which is great I have a concern I know I keep parking harping on it people are probably tired of hearing me say it but the system that we're designing and that we're putting in the ground now was designed pre- storm with what was in place then we haven't reassessed that design uh if any of my fellow council members are on board I would like to encourage staff to get a second opinion to get another firm outside of tetratech to be able to come in and say this is what you're going to need based on what these homes are going to look like now based on what potential future Dev development could look like now obviously you know a single family house that had 800 sare F feet in one bathroom now is going to be 4,000 feet four bathrooms that's going to have an impact on our infrastructure I'm not confident in speaking with some of the people doing our side streets I'll just be blunt that they're confident that what they're putting in the ground is going to be sufficient for us into the future and that's concerning so yeah if they're saying that to me who else are they saying it to so um if my fellow consors are on board with it I I would whatever the process we need to do to to implement looking at our critical infrastructure to make sure what we're putting in the ground is sufficient and we're not just spinning our Wheels as we go forward um and also if we could look into I've had some complaints of people are doing work without a permit within an easement adage easement on certain places on the island so um I don't know if there's anything more stringent that we can do uh Nancy when it comes to people who are working with an in easement especially drainage easement and putting in structures with without a permit obviously we're going through the process that we have but there's at least one person that's building something far outside the scope we're aware of it we've we violated them we're going through the code process but they're essentially just throwing their no nose up at us and telling us find me we'll pay the fine same to what we've kind of dealt with in the past with with certain people when it comes to easements is there any other teeth that put into what we have to look at our starting point is to figure out how did we get the easement in the first place um if there's a document itself then it would possibly be a violation of the terms and conditions of that and then that could be um you know resolved possibly through litigation but hopefully you know through some type of resolution before that if it was part of a permit um you know a land use approval then it would be a violation of the approval and that could go to um to code as well okay I so what happens in a scenario like that if this person's got it in his in his drainage easement that we have and we need to go in there because it hasn't been done yet one of the tears or it has been done but has been damaged and we got to fix it and there are structures in the way and we've got to take the structure down to be able to do work within that e well it's possible too that um if that property owner did not give us the easement if there's no agreement in place they could be um they're basically uh trespassing um creating a nuisance situation there's different ways we could go about it the bottom line is that it needs to be removed because it's obstructing our ability to deliver Services okay um did we get any any other people that if you want to bring it to an MMP and discuss it about the Mr Mayor if I could I think it's a very good idea what you suggested could we just so we have something to compare it to could whatever we charge this third-party firm with whatever specs we charge them with discovering for us can we also have the existing vendor do the same thing we have something to compare sure I mean apart from each other now when they come out with the reports we could kind of compare and contrast I I it's nothing against tetr it's just they've always been the ones that designed it my my concern is that I don't feel what we've designed is going to meet what we need going into the future it's concerning and I I I I'm happy to have somebody take a third look or take a second look at it I just think whatever we charge them with we ought to ask tetr to provide the same information then we can have something to compare and contrast is that something that we we would have to put on RP to do or is it something that we could use under ex the state of emergency existing contracts we would look to see what type of um ccma contracts we have in place that maybe we have another um uh vendor contractor who's already been uh vetted um that we could issue a task order to to do um I'd also want to look at tetratech agreement and see uh what the terms and conditions are there as far as the inspections um which staff member is going to be responsible for this well it came under before we used to have a project manager that when this whole thing was developed when Andy and I first got here uh that's since transferred to Jeff Andy and I and and and Jason and whoever else picked up the the Yan's work of it interpreting it and it is Jeff now moving forward um but uh to to your decree sir we do have a process in the works that could Garner us some new eyes um we just have to get to that and that's looking at new Professional Services that we have yet to vet and where since we're on the topic where are we as far as looking at the storm drains I know I went and looked at one that was just down the street from my house and that whole area they've been complaining about flooding and the storm dream even after three days of no rain is still Plum full of water which is obviously we've all gotten mosquito emails so I mean it's all leading to that where are we at in the process process of getting our vendor out to keep these storm drains clean so the vendor that we did use to use Earth Earth view um we have contacted them and they are active on the island as of today um they were out here a couple weeks ago looking at some troubled areas for us so it is one of those where we're re revisiting uh their services um and also trying at the same time trying to get it inhouse uh so we don't have to be beholden to these these vendors um they are looking at some of the most troubled areas um they're under contract so we could we could do a whole area uh search again like we did before after the storm when Andy and I first got here earthview was used they started at North Estero and worked their way methodically almost to the very south end of the island uh not only videotaping all the storm drains but also cleaning them out as they went and it was probably about a good six month uh so we have videotaped all the drains we know what's what's broken what's not broken yes to this point I believe we do I'm not going to go out on limit and say that for sure but I know that they did do videotaping on a lot of the system I I I would hope that would be part of what's in this scope that we're talking about that Ian if there's damaged storm drains out there we obviously got to get out and fix them and we don't if we don't know about it we should know about it yes just a second set of eyes I think would would go a long way to make sure we're doing it what we need to be doing for the future yep everybody okay with that absolutely okay that's all I have anything else really the John in the mor words sung by the Western swing group asleep the wheel I recommend we bump bounce Boogie on out of here and get ready for the second meeting move to ad journ yeah second okay just a reminder we'll be back at :01 tonight for the budget hearing the first budget hearing got a motion and a second all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed hearing number we are adjourned at 106