the regular meeting of the lake pla Town Council this 8th day of April 2024 in the government center of the great town of Lake plet I'd ask everybody to make sure your phones are either off or un vibrate and at this time I'll ask everybody to please rise we have the honor of having with us Reverend Drew severon from the First Presbyterian Church who's going to lead us in our invocation and pledge thank you for yall's service thank you for this privilege to uh to pray bow your heads father we thank you for this wonderful community that we live in we thank you for those that you have raised up to serve this community it's not an easy job tonight is a special night we have kind of a Changing of the Guard father we thank you for those that have rolled off we thank you for folks that are coming on new father help them to be by your grace and holy spirit help them to be servants help them to lead and serve well help them to be humble utterly dependent upon you and your wisdom help them to be unified and work together and work with others in our in our community and uh father above all that they would seek to do what's best for the people they serve and that they would seek to bring you glory and we pray these things in the matchless name of Jesus Christ amen amen amen pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all clerk would you please call the role mayor are we going to do the administration of the oath of office first okay want to do that first okay all right at this time we'll ask Reverend Norris from the Lutheran Church here in Lake pla to come forward he's going to Min administration of the oath of office for newly elected elected members of the Town Council joy eart and Colleen Charles put your hand on the Bible please repeat after me I state your name ien Charles do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support protect and defend that I will support protect and defend the Constitution and government of the United States the constition and government the United States the State of Florida and the town of Lake plid the State of Florida and the town of lakeid against all enemies domestic or foreign against all enemies domestic and foreign that I will bear true faith that I will bear true Faith loyalty and allegiance to the same loyalty and allegiance to the same and that I am entitled to hold office under the Constitution and I am entitled to hold office under the Constitution that I will Faithfully perform all duties as a council member of the town of lake plet that I will Faithfully perform all duties as a council member of the town of Lake which I am about to enter so help me God which I am about to enter so help me God [Applause] congratulations ready I Joy art to solemnly swear I will support protect and defend support prot and the Constitution and government of the United States consti and government of the United States the State of Florida and the town of lake plid flid and against all enemies domestic and foreign en domestic and for that I will bear true faith that I will bear true Faith loyalty and allegiance to the same and that I am entitled to hold office under the Constitution that I entitled to hold office that I will Faithfully perform all duties as a council member for the town of Lake classid which I am about to enter so help me God congratulations next one over okay now would you please call the role mayor Holbrook here council member Hayes here council member Worley here council member Charles here council member everheart here okay we'll move on to con consent agenda number one a through I I make a motion to approve consent Agenda One um items a through I second we got a motion and second any discussion from the podium hearing none we'll take it to the audience all right seeing none bring it back pull the council council member Hayes yes council member Worley yes council member Charles yes council member art yes okay under consent agenda number two I assume there are no items okay okay at this time presentations we have with us tonight William Bill trano Jr from the children's Aidy Center who would like to read a a proclamation for Child Abuse Prevention month in Florida thank you for this opportunity to uh read this Proclamation for the Town Council and to have you uh act on it Proclamation Child Abuse Prevention month in Florida whereas Florida is committed to improving the lives of all Floridians and securing a better future for the citizens of this state and whereas children who have adverse childhood experiences aces are at a higher risk of short and long-term physical psychological and behavioral challenges that can impact the individual child and the Greater Community and whereas parents and caregivers who have resources and support are better equipped to give their children safe and nurturing experiences and whereas children have better mental health and physical health and academic success when they are raised in a safe stable and nurturing environment and whereas the Florida Department of Children and Families secretary has a vision for holistic Services by integrating systems and services and whereas the State of Florida has established hope Florida a pathway to Prosperity a personalized approach to helping families overcome barriers to self-sufficiency through Community collaboration and whereas Flor Floridians can call 85300 Hope to speak with a care navigator for support to develop a plan to achieve economic self-sufficiency referrals to local partners and help identifying goals and barriers in their lives whereas during the month of April prevent child abuse Florida in collaboration with the governor's office of adoption and Child Protection the Florida Department of Children and Families the ounce of prevention fund of Florida implements pin wheels for prevention the Statewide coordinated campaign to raise awareness of Child Abuse Prevention efforts by teaching about healthy child development and positive parenting practices and establishing circle of parents peer support groups and whereas Child Abuse Prevention month PR provides everyone a chance to learn how they can play a role in preventing abuse and neglect including adverse childhood experiences and whereas Child Abuse Prevention month reminds Floridians of all ages that they can help children increase positive childhood EXP experiences which lead to happier healthier childhoods now therefore be it proclaimed that the City of Lake plet Florida does hereby extend my support to all observing April 2024 as Child Abuse Prevention month in Florida done and adopted this 8th day of April 2024 and I will be proud to sign this thank you sir you'd like to present the council with our pin Wheels thank you for being here thank you and I'll put this in front of my office also under this uh this was given to me tonight on Thursday April 18th at the Mid Florida Credit Union lobby at 611 East Interlake Boulevard here in Lake plid there'll be a joint legis legislative review uh with Senator Aaron Gro who has an office here in our building and representative tuck as well as o local other Town representatives for a post session legislation wrapup if anyone would like to uh attend that you may uh you need to RSVP by the 15th of April I have a phone number here where you can call and it starts at 8:00 in the morning I'll lay it up here so you can see it afterwards but uh but all are welcome okay where are we excuse me Mr Mayor my my computer hates me can someone help me please my my computer hates me all clerk there's no public hearings okay thank you thank you thank you I'm all sit now all right we'll go to the town attorney you got anything tonight okay no sir just on the agenda thank you you okay at T time any of my department heads planning's not here she had surgery oh no she is here oh welcome back okay glad to have you back with us okay Town attorney all right I guess we got nothing till we get down to uh you sir okay um so item number one is a resolution 2024 regarding Construction of the wastewater treatment facility improvements uh which is in your packet give me a second um and I do have Roger homman from penon here that has the bids uh if we want to go over the bids before the resolution or however the mayor and the council wants to address it so if we want to kind of walk through it I don't way you want yeah I'll go ahead and read I'll go ahead and read the title resolution number 20241 regarding construction of the wastewater treatment facility improvements so just as a background we had uh the bids were received um last Friday a week ago Friday and I guess made be best to have Roger come up Roger if you want to kind of go through the bids and it'll explain what's on the uh it'll kind of cover what's in the resolution good evening Roger homman with peny Associates with me is Jeff McKenna he's a engineer record on this project um penon was under contract with the town to design the Wastewater Plant and also to um assist with with the bidding and I'll go over the bids that were received there were three bids received um the first one which was the lowest bid was from a company pool and C company of Florida um their bid amount was $34 m417 th000 uh the next bid was Wharton Smith Incorporated bid was $38 m427 th000 and the last bid which was the highest PWC joint venture LLC for $1,285 we tabulated all the bids I believe you have them in your packets and we're here to answer any questions okay we have any questions of these two I'd like to make a motion that the Town Council approve resolution number I second all right we got a motion a second any comments from the podium I do uh first of all there are there are two things in this resolution I it should be split apart um is talking about the um uh contract signing it's also talking about an amendment to the grant um first of all we can't sign the contract until there's an amendment to the grant because the grant requires us to hook up X number of homes and um unless the grant is approved as with an amendment we're at risk of um putting the town finances in charge by signing the contract address um just a comment yes those are part of the grant agreement is is conditional upon the approval and so yes they have to approve the grant Amendment before the contract can be signed we're on a timeline very tight timeline because this has money has to be spent by June of 2026 we only have literally a 90-day window and so that's why you get we are requesting some leeway because if D takes another month to approve the fun Grant agreement and then we have come back for approval and we start negotiating the contract at that point we just wasted a 30-day window so now our 90-day window comes down to 60 um and so we are in a uh very tight window for construction so we don't want to lose any of this money and make sure we construct the the uh plant and get it done on time so that's why these are put in one one resolution uh also I reviewed the Grant and it's been under the assumption that there was a hard and fast deadline and the uh provisions of the grant does allow for amending dead deadlines that is not my understanding it hasn't I've got the grant right here um I have been told by the fla Department of Environmental Protection that the grant is a pass on of federal funds and that if not spent they will lapse okay this is item D on the first page disagreement may be amended through a formal Amendment or a change order a formal amendment to this agreement is required for changes which cause any of the following number three a change in the expiration date that implies to me if it's because it's listed here it is available I appreciate the point and I it does say that I'm not debating that I've been told the federal funds lapse I mean they can't go beyond the state can't expend extend the time period the federal fund deadline okay well we have a conundrum between what you were told and what I see in writing okay first of all I I agree with you the contract should not be signed until the grant is amended absolutely correct that is stated in the resolution a condition precondition to the mayor's signature on the contract is approved removal of the grant amendment to allow uh construction as listed in the resolution construction of the plant then the two connecting the other two plants to dis um decommission them as well no lines are included in that okay I I know no lines are included that's another problem um there are grants that are out and pending for the lines um but what if they're not approved we now we have a plan plant that goes the bridge to nowhere so the plant is not a the plant combines three plants number one it does the first very important thing it builds a advanced wastewater treatment plant which we will be required to do regardless as part of the permit requirements because we're in the Bap so we don't have a choice about whether we will build an advanced wastewater treatment plant size timing funding may be an issue but we have no choice about whether we will build an advanced Waste Water Treatment Plant um it closes the tamoka plant and the South plant and combines them so immediately when it comes into operation you will over have over 300,000 gallons in flow into that plant so it is a plant that will have without line extensions and conversions a lot of additional capacity but it will be a fully functional Advanced wastewater treatment plant and it will meet the permit requirements that we required to meet as part of the bmap okay it's my understanding that the Bap that we're exempt because we're a rural um Economic Opportunity Zone that is not correct okay um my other question with even signing this contract is this what the money thank you and thank you for doing the the summary here for us about what is left on the $440,000 um with past engineering and so forth um and without the cost of inspection yet there's only $800,000 left to build the plant that's with a only a 5% contingency I'm just very nervous very nervous that the town is going to get stuck with overrun I know there's a bond on here and they can't overrun but it's it's just scary to me to commit to building the plant without knowing the future grants so I'm having a hard time hearing I don't know about the rest of you so I don't know if we just need to get closer to the mic or what that would be you have to talk right into it real close very very I mean for all of us it's like even though I'm sitting up here I'm having a hard time I'm really concentrating on what's being said I think this paper that we have in front of us Kevin is trying to show how much is spent today because that's going to be my questions right more on the financials it's a $40 million Grant which was to build a plant and hook up 2800 homes originally and then of course as more information was known um it was amended down but how much have we spent to date of the 40 million that's in the uh highlighted in yellow 2,664 22142 is what we have spent to date we have contracts that will take that to3 mil 29,6 3774 those are signed contracts so that number is subtracted out if you go far further down on the sheet out of the 40 million you have engineering taken out of that you have the low bid which is not a negotiated amount that's the low bid that we're asking for you to approve and then give us authority to negotiate to um because we have some opportunities there to reduce that number I don't like the term value engineering but that's the term um we have a contingency of 5% which is $1.7 million um I don't believe we will need all of that contingency but it is there and then we have a total remaining of 832000 of which 100 or 200,000 I don't have that number yet will be construction inspections for the two-year period so um it doesn't leave us a lot of money depending on what we do with negotiating the contract down it doesn't leave us money for any line extensions so those are out of it but it does leave us enough to get either we have the projects not yet bid that we still have to do Main Street marata lift stations the South plant closing and the Force main to get the South Plant closed and then the tamoka plant closing and that Force main so that's the total goals of what we're trying to do and and get accomplished with the $40 million I will note it's a $34 million plant that leaves the town debt free with a brand new plant we are two years I think left to pay off the plant that we built um that we are paying The Debt Service on from 20 years ago so the 40 million basically all spent is what we're saying with with what we spent so far and then with the estimate for the new plant that takes up the whole 40 million and a lot of things that we wanted to do we're going to have to figure out separately if we can do them or how we do them all of the line extensions will be something on a future date with future grants and we've we've applied for Grants so far for the lines and what's the status of those so the is that another chart second page second page that I provided you was the uh gotcha questions that I had from councilwoman everheart and so it kind of addresses that so the grants that we have accepted anything that that to do with septic dwer conversion so I included the camping Conference Center because that is a septic dour conversion project so we have the 40 million we have the srf funding 1.8 79 million 600,000 so those are the grants that we have accepted the camping Conference Center under construction they are covering all of the debt we don't have any of that debt and the 40 million has no loan portion of it that is 100% Grant um we have applied for other grants we've applied for legislative Appropriations we did not receive any of those grants uh we have a federal earmark request that is in we will not know until the spring of 2025 whether we're going to get that or not that total request which covers through 2031 is $85 million um and that's an ear Mark so the D Grant cycle runs every year um so we have the opportunity to apply every year they have told us that they want to see us under construction building things before they're going to stack money was the term they used and uh so I fully expect that we will get additional grants they've been granting this stuff for 30 plus years it's not something new um but they will be much smaller unless something very significant like the infrastructure bill passes it sends several billion dollars into Florida I don't expect that we'll have another $40 million Grant but we will see $5 million grants coming through in the future so um one of the other questions grants being drafted but not yet submitted there's D grants there's another direct legislative approach a appropriation that can be done every year and the same thing Southwest Florida Water Management Grant uh they have grants for reuse lines and connections and other issues so we we will continue to look for other grants but the $40 million is allocated if you approve the bid tonight and Does it include land and our people costs I mean well all I'm seeing is the engine the cost spent so far the 3 million we're talking about all I'm seeing is the um the Consulting companies so aren't we able to the land that we've purchased the right aways that we purchase isn't that all um allocable to the grant so far we haven't we have not used that's not part of the Grant application to buy the land they we bought some rways multi-use pass which we used um our reserves to fund and we have two other small pieces 50 by 5050 50 ft by 50 ft for Lift stations that we still have to acquire and that will be a minor amount yeah I guess I'm thinking down tangerine and that's the multi-use path that purchase of that land the 30 feet wide that has no relevance this is that's a totally different fund well and that's I guess where so I'm new right and I need to get up to speed and I and there's a lot of different grants and it's important that we don't co-mingle funds I'm not saying we are but you know each of these is different because they bring a lot of audit right you've got Federal um audits you got State audits so each of these grants has a different type of um risk that it brings and we got to make sure with so many things that are going on right now that we are keeping them all in the right buckets but again I'm not in a position right now to to agree or disagree because I need to get up to speed and I I'd like you know to ask for at least a one month delay and I'd like to sit down Kevin I talked to you today I'd like to get myself up to speed um on the Grant I have reviewed the grant but it's quite a bit of pages and and you know councilwoman eberhart's bringing up some important points in the past I did look at the Grant I also looked at the federal treasury audit requirements because it's covid monies so I'm I'm starting to get a lot of questions that I just want to sit down and get the details so that I can satisfy myself from the oath I just took that when I do say yes or no um it's the right decision and so I know that we granted um uh the pool and Camp a one- month extension and I'm just asking for the same favor for myself and maybe some of the other Council uh members are new that they need to get brought up to speed on what what the grant is what we've done so far what are the risks that we're putting potentially the town if we go over the 40 million because I I I respect and I hope that we would get additional monies but if we go over 40 million is that have to come out of the town somewhere somehow be be because the costs are going to continue to escalate unfortunately right with the inflation uh taking place the way it is so that's kind of where I am is I really want to I mean this project is the largest dollar amount this town will ever take and so I don't take it lightly that we should just approve it without getting into the details and and I also believe that in that one month that I'm going to need to get myself up to speed that we schedule a special meeting with the public they've asked for it over and over um you know we'll open up to public comment they can I guess comment if they are satisfied or they would like further details like I would like further details so um I know that's not what people here want to want to hear people here want to hear um because of a timeline but the last thing we want to do on the sizable project like this is jeopardy qu jeopardize quality um versus doing the right thing for the town I will say that I don't have any problem with what we're doing with the 40 million um we as a council have discussed this over several months we've had many presentations and with the exception of one night we have not had the attendance like we have tonight and had we had the attendance that we have tonight maybe we wouldn't have some of these questions that we have right now I have full confidence in the staff that we have and Kevin and his abilities to do these things and there are many references in this contract that says that the Town Administrator has the opportunity to do this change this check this um and I'm fully confident with that I'm also very unsure about moving this to another month because we are on a timeline and to go over and over things that we have already been over I'm sorry we didn't actually come to you knock on your door and say you have to come but it's been publicly noticed and I don't see any reason why would have have to go over it again and again so my comment was in no way any lack of confidence in Kevin and the staff I just it's I don't have the knowledge being new and not into the details like others may have and I'm just asking for that delay as we gave the contract uh the the the bid company that bid so that I can get involved in some of the details I just make one comment on the did not delay the bid opening we delayed the B let me qualify we delayed the bid opening we did not delay the bid award so we originally had a bid opening date of March the 7th which we delayed till the 29th they requested another month which we denied them because we are working backwards on a very tight deadline and if we don't spend the money in my opinion we put the town at risk of having a plant that's not completed and a contract that then we have to pay for and fin finalized because once we sign the contract we start the countdown clock and that's where we risk having not spent the money and now we're now we're putting at risk the town's money because we've signed a contract so that's why the we denied the contractor who was the low bid the one requesting it was the low bid contractor he was the one that was requ um they were the ones that were requesting the delay and we did not delay this bid award night so we gave them additional time which reduced the time that penon had to review the bids to make sure they were all qu qualified bids they are all large companies that have done this multiple times so we're confident in the bid um and what we got and so um that's why we did not delay the bid award that was always been on this meeting and it's a working backwards the last the latest time that we felt comfortable awarding a bid is this month and that's why that's that's why that date's there so if the cost comes in at 45 million how do we make up the gap if we continue to delay that's a possibility I think it's important that we do not delay and we will figure out a way to to uh bridge that Gap and I'm sure that there will be grants out there to bridge it and once again um this Council has done a lot of research on this to get us to this point and I think we need to build on what we already have and move forward because this this um wastewater treatment plant only gets more expensive and that's a great way to end up with a $5 million overrun i' like to be clear I'm not saying I'm a against this but I have too many questions there are too many open items uh another one is okay we build the plant and let's say it just under 40 million but we have no additional customers added on to it and originally it was the customer base that was going to support the operation of the plant so then what happens well we've always said from the beginning we've said that we want to get grants for people to be able to hook up to the system when it actually is in place but we have to understand that we have this window of opportunity to build this wastewater treatment plant which we are going to need in the town of Lake plid whether it's today or down the road we have many residential um projects that are on on hold or maybe coming we have we're going to have to deal with the sewage at some point so we have this window of opportunity to build this plant we've done the research on it we've gotten to this point and I think at some point we have to move forward and you have to understand that not everything's going to be perfect but we have the many opportunities for Our Town Administrator to to take care of things that might be um not exactly clear to you right now the thing that bothers me is if we let this go and don't do it they know more about the the state funding than I do but I think it would be rather difficult for us to get more money if we if we don't spend the 40 million that they're been very gracious to give us to help protect our lakes and our property so that's something else to think about well I'd like to ask anybody in the room that's on our current system that is on sewer to raise their hand I I can't I I didn't understand I'm sorry everybody in the room that is on current the current utility system on sewer raise your hand anybody currently on sewer is that what you asked she is asking actually that you're on the sewer system right now any current Lake Placid sewer customers is what she's asking for looks like we have one and we have me three we have three okay who else okay oh Dre okay so I am saying that um you know I have been very outspoken about low pressure I think all of you know in this room know that because I am on the low pressure system um this gentleman is not um I don't believe that Drew is on low pressure I think he's yeah yes that's me okay so we have out of everybody I mean these are all the people making decisions everybody up here and this is what I'm going to tell you I think you also know about my passion about the Lakes how hard I've worked most of my life here in other areas to um try to preserve our Lakes I will tell you that $40 million for this presstine plant right now we do have a reuse plant it cleans the water to about 60% this will clean the water from 90 to 95 and I know you've never been to our wastewater treatment plant but it sits up there and it looks over the valley of late June and um it's in place and it's there and it's working fine but we are about to have to do it when it was designed it was designed in four sections 250 thou gallons each so we have maxed out basically now for our first what they call the in the utility business I think you call it a train I don't know why but in the first part of the train we have maxed out almost the especially taking in the conference center what a coup that is getting all of that sewage thank you Anthony Anthony here ky they cooperated with the town we're taking all of that um all of that sewage off the lake cleaning it to the standard we have now but that's putting a a maximum on the system we have at this current time the first part of the train which is a million gallons so we're at Max at 250,000 gallons now we're going to have to build another train now we that are on the system now have been paying for the first system we had to pay to build it because we were under moratorium so we built this first part of the system on the backs of the people that are on the sewer system now if you didn't know that you've been paying off the loan plus you paid impact fees if you've hooked in so the impact fees were towards the next part of this train which is another the next piece there's four pieces is the next 250,000 gallons okay we are at that point we're going to have to build it we have no grant money we have $500,000 because not that many people hooked in since we put in the other one we collectively right here these three people have been paying for the first loan to even build the first plant plus we've been paying for the next train but not that many people hooked in so we only have $500,000 to build the next train and we've got to build it we have no Grant to build that next train which will mean us three will be paying the cost of the next train now of course unfortunately Anthony and his group we're going to be help them pay for that but I'm just saying we have got we have no money to do that we have no money to build the next train we have $40 million to go go forward all right and I this is what I see and I told this when I came back on board all we can do right now is build this plant and we they're I you know and yes we're going to have to get their permission but let me tell you what we're going to do we're going to take massive contributors now if you ask anybody in uh Southwest Florida Management District they say everything you put in the ground on this side of the ridge uniquely we are unique in our on the other side of the ridge no on this side of the ridge everything you put in the ground goes straight into the aquafer what's probably one of one of the things that are wrong with our legs is what we're putting in the aquafer we don't know what's totally wrong with our legs but I will tell you this if we can get a plant that purifies the water it's going to be a million gallon plant which will last us just like this building will last us I think forever basically I know my lifetime but that's not much longer but I'm just saying a million gallon plant for basically free even if it went over a few million it's not going to be near the cost if we have to build the next train of what we have now we say no go away now we're going to have to build we're on us three because we're in a we're going to pay for that we're going to pay to build the next train because we will have no capacity left we will be back from square one when we started okay so now we have this money so even if we went overboard and I have really looked at this if say we wi over because you know I am single mom three kids I look at every dollar so I'm saying if we win over we're still not spending as much this new section of the plant could cost us six million it could cost us God Only Knows okay we have money sitting here ready to take and even and I felt like God I got to be good for you all all the people even if we went over it's still not going to cost us as much as just one little next 250,000 gallons but this is the real thing I want you to listen to I am saying forget hooking people in and after this I'm going to make a motion that nobody has to hook in force to be hook in I'm hoping everybody will vote with me but I'm just saying right now we need to go for and what we're going to do is we're going to take Mass contributors like uh tamoka I checked today I don't know the South Plant I found out we this is what I was told 363 homes in tamoka all of that waste all that sewage is going to come to this new plant we're going to try to fit it in this budget if we don't we can still do that but we're not hooking in individual homes we're taking 363 people 's waste and moving it to this plant that's going to clean it between 90 to 95% to put it back down into our oer which is in contributing to the problem of our Lakes so just that one contributor now we have another contributor at the South Plant we might have to take that one first depending on how much but we have all of that waste water forget individual hookups let's get these major contributors on onto this plant and clean the water I've identified a couple more that I think if we paid to get them hooked in that are you know um vacation sites that aren't hooked in and I mean if you went and looked at them you would just cry because their septic is right by the beach by the lake and there's 16 units time share four people per unit 52 weeks out of the year contributing to that one septic it's only a th000 ft from a gravity system we could concentrate on those things instead of hooking up individual people I think at that moment in time right now that's what we're focusing on and that's what I that's what I'm supporting and I am going to support going forward with this and and there's a few reasons again taking all that Wastewater off the aquifer and also not having to build on our own and me pay for it the three people in here paying for that to build a new um 250 gallon and then we still have another 250 gallon plant to build and another 250 gallon to plant on our own with no grant money so this million dooll plant will take care of our future and it will take care of it in a way that we can stand up and be proud of this and that's what that's and I'm very you know I'm like I said I also am concerned but I do know if we don't get this sprant we're still going to have to spend the money to build another section right now and then we're going to have to build two more so I'm I'm way over talking my friends always tell me a way over talk but I'm just saying and I'm pleading with you if we can get this plant to clean our water I have hope more hope for our legs and after this I'm going to make a motion that we don't force anybody to hook up okay one last one last question um you mentioned that the contract would not be signed until the grant was amended right I missed the line in here that states that in the resolution I didn't hear what she said councilwoman I didn't hear your question okay I you said that the Construction contract would not be signed until we had the uh approval to amend the grant and I missed I missed the line in this resolution that states that look at if I I'm having trouble hearing as well I try again try again well look at paragraph five okay where it says mayor Holbrook is authorized to execute and deliver the award of the bid and the Wastewater Plant Construction contract Po and Kent then the word after okay there it is okay after the amendment conditions okay after the amendment all right there it is okay thank you okay there any other questions of our Engineers okay thank you gentlemen I'll have you stand off to the side thank you uh this time I'll take it to the audience yes my name is Jack cley I live at 607 Sunset Point Drive uh my my question is uh as it stands right now we don't seem to have the money to connect any additional uh properties to the to the new uh sorage treatment plan except for maybe the uh the one from the what's it called Conference Center or whatever okay now have you done a study on how much it's going to cost to operate that plan you know on an ongoing basis it costs obviously it costs money there's electricity there's chemicals and I don't know what there's labor involved has a study been done to see how much that's going to cost i' say compared to what it's costing you to run the existing plant right now we don't have exact um dollar figures based on because it's based on Flow so the more pumps you're running the more cost you run so it's hard to say exactly so if I'm running if I'm running the 300,000 that I'm doing today I'm doing it in three separate plants I have three times the lab cost I'll have a third of the lab cost just in the lab I'll have vfds on all the pumps and motors so they're going to be much more efficient than the pumps and motors that I have today on the existing on so without adding any additional flow it's going to be significantly less than what we're spending today to operate one plant versus three plants so and then it increases as you add flow to the system then that increases okay I'm I'm a little confused as to why you're saying it's going to be less the the uh the tamoka plant is is that one of the ones that you're talking about adding initially I mean that has to be some money come from someplace to run that line from their plant to your treatment plant right if we if we've already spent most if not all of the $40 million so far we don't have a grant to to extend that line or doy someplace that I'm not aware of is part of the plan to to close the tamoka plant and run the force span so depending on where we reduce the current bid and we have a fixed bid so when they it's $34 million to build the new plant right so if we can reduce that through value engineering through direct purchase of which we think we can save over well over a million dollars on Direct purchase and save the taxes on that then that 34 million will come down and we think we can get the tamoka plant done in addition but those negotiations haven't taken place yet so that is part of it in order to close it we will either use this grant funds or we'll use Grant funds in the future but okay which your primary cost of running a Wastewater Plant is in pumping and ariation and it's based on the amount of volume that you're running through it so if I'm running 200,000 gallons versus 400,000 gallons versus 800,000 gallons those costs all increase because they're pumping an ariation so if I'm doing less gallons I'm saving money if I'm doing it with more efficient Motors and pumps I'm saving money and if I'm doing less lab tests for every plant we have to do the same we're tripling our lab costs because we have three separate plants and so we have triple the lab costs that we will have in doing just one plant instead of three okay but the the tamoka plant are you doing are you doing paying for the lab test there right now or is that they they pay for their own they're all part of our Wastewater system so they pay toot the plan is part of your system now even though it's not connected to it it's part of their monthly monthly fee as with every customer those are built into the rates okay now one just one more question the obviously the new plant is going to be uh more computer operated that say right yes is that a question okay now he wants to know computer operated is there a skate A system that operates the entire plant yes yeah okay and do do you have somebody on your staff right now who is uh capable of uh you know operating that system and and maintaining it or you have to hire somebody somebody else eventually to do that other words it's not just a laborer that's going to be uh we don't have laborers at our Wastewater plants today we have skada on our water plants okay don't have anybody specific that needs to operate that so I mean The Operators operate the skada system if you're talking about about somebody that comes and maintains it that's the contractor that if we have a problem they will come and maintain it but our licensed operators at the plants are the ones that will operate the system okay so the the water treatment uh plant operator who operates the skus system he he's also qualified to operate the uh the system at at the wastewater treatment plant both of our both of our operators are dual licensed water and waste water okay that's what I wanted to know thank you okay hello Pam 12373 Lost Lake Drive um I appreciate if the council votes tonight to move forward with the wastewater treatment plant um I do hear what you said tonight about getting up to speed I guess for me this is almost like ad nauseum because I attend the utilities meeting the local planning agency meeting in each of those meetings the Town Administrator and utilities directors gives a utility report months I mean it very detailed uh reports um and we've heard about it for I've heard about it for years as a audience member at Town Council meetings this has been going on for 20 years with the Lake Classic camping Conference Center I looked at the D website last Friday you have a current algae bloom on the lake Lake Placid um in the last 30 days you can check and see how many days the different lakes around us so I I appreciate the town for being proactive this is one piece of the puzzle you stated before Mrs Charles about septic tanks is just one one thing that we can do to help our Lakes it'll be multifaceted um and I appreciate you want to take a little bit time to get up to speed um but this is something if we delay I've seen it I've been here and year after year asking them to move forward move forward that came in Conference Center four years and they had their stuff their act together and they were trying to do it and we delayed and we delayed and it makes sense I'm not you know you get $40 million it slows down the cogs in the wheel but um this has been going on a long time so I'd like to see us come to resolution and I appre appreciate youall headed in that direction thank you thank you I'd like to I'd like to thank Miss pentress because she's been involved with me with all the lake projects and she's been an advocate for the legs for okay as long as me and probably longer thank you oh let's bring it back we got a motion in a second let's pull the council council member Hayes yes council member Worley yes counc member member Charles no I need more information council member eart well with the assurance that uh we'll wait until the uh amendment is signed and um I guess with your point that if we run over it's going to cost us anyway I will give a yes thank you and I want everybody to know when we first applied for this $40 million we really thought it would go a lot further than it did but it's taken so many years like Miss fter said to get to this point that it's just amazing how much the prices have gone up but I think by what step we took today we put Lake plaid in the the 22nd century and D will now know that we are serious about protecting our Leakes and our our property and I think the 95 million that we have applied for that we hope we get next year I I believe will be one of the the the first ones to get that money uh I really do because uh they they have been over backwards to help us every step of the way and I I just can't believe that uh they would give us the $40 million and then let us go down the tube so uh I I I just believe there's a lot bigger better things coming for leak Placid I want everybody to know I'm proud to be your mayor and I have been for the past 18 years and I'm just going to whatever I do it's going to be in the best interest of this town and I just want you all to know that so I I appreciate what council did tonight and again I think it's a step in the right direction for our great town and thank you I'd like to make a motion like I said I would I like a motion that um the people are not going to be forced to hook into the system I didn't hear any of that I make a motion that our citizens will not be forced to hook into the system on the sewer I'll second that okay we have a motion a second and discussion from the podium I agree in theory to what you're saying Miss warley but I think that the legislature will not allow us to do that doesn't the legislature Mr Harris say that once it's available and if your septic uh fails that you have to hook up if it's available right now it's not available so I'm I'm pretty sure that's in the legislature it is okay I'm not sure the exact wording but yeah it's something like it's something to that effect yes so I I agree I think that would be a wonderful thing to do but I don't think that the state legislature will allow us that opportunity I mean I don't think it would hurt to yeah I was thinking it said something that 12 months after we make the decision so it's probably worth looking into seeing exactly exact yeah I think some of the research we did earlier was because there was always this confusion right of when do you hook up and you have to hook up or 12 months and I thought it was somewhere 12 months after we made the decision you have to hook up but I thought it was 12 months after your system failed but that doesn't make sense either so no no that's probably not right because I know some some some towns have done where if your system fails yes you have to hook up second is um you can choose to hook up right away and then the third was if you sell your home could be a stipulation that the new owner needs to hook up so I thought those were options that would be available to us to make that decision but we're we're looking into and getting us exactly what we should be aware of if I may the statute I believe turns on availability can't in the microphone for yeah the statute turns on availability of the Sewer Service meaning when it is at the residence so after the line is put in then the 12-month period begins to run but at this point I don't recall any resolution where the council has addressed compelling hookups I will also tell you that my experience with the state and that particular law is it has zero teeth no agency of the state compels hookups the law is there I've not seen it enforced if that matters and this Council has not voted on enforcing or forcing hookups at all simply trying to get money well we've got a motion in a second so is there any other discussion from the podium saying none we'll take it to the audience hearing Nan pull the council council member Worley yes council member Charles yes council member Hayes no council member eart yes yes okay well okay okay so excuse me could you then read what the what the motion was that was just passed citizens not to be forced to connect to sewer system I'm I'm sorry I the citizens not to be forced to connect to the Wastewater system thank you I I just want an addendum that the reason I said no is I don't believe it is necessary I think the state law is going to cover that I just don't think it's a necessary motion and it might but at least the Council made a step towards okay towards it I'm still no okay okay my next number two number two is our um our financial software is by a company called G and we are moving that to a cloud service and uh as opposed right now it's on a sitting on a server here at the Town Hall and for better security reasons um safer remote access and to reduce some of our on-site vulnerability we would like to move that to we are moving that to the cloud service I bring it up because it is a budget it will end up being a budget amendment it's a $3,000 per per year um change it's within my spending Authority but we wanted to make sure um the uh Council saw that and was aware of it if they had any comments on that cloud service I'll just make the comment that I think that's a good move um based on what the sheriff's office went through recently we don't want to go there did they ever get that straightened out yes sir they did finally it's been a while in a long time wow and yes this this will definitely be a step in the right direction yes and there have been several counties several Sheriff's offices several school districts that have been subject to ransomware um I've sat on several presentations on that and talked to people that have been the subject of that so along with that another item is we have a new it provider we uh the person that retired after doing RIT for years retired we tried another local vendor he was not providing the the security and the backup that we needed and uh so we have gone with the second bidder um that was in our RFP that we put out for IT services it's a company called vc3 they do over 1500 municipalities um across the state and into Canada so they are experts at municipal prot in municipals um from hacking and ransomware so this is a uh approximately an $118,000 per year increase which will go the full amount this is we only have a partial amount this year but it will be an $188,000 per year increase and that'll go into next year's um on next year's budget line item but it will also be a uh budget change for this year again the partial year was within my spending Authority so it's an information item wanted to make sure you all aware of it and so that you're covered on that um and that go live date is actually on the 10th which is Wednesday with uh vc3 so we should be in a lot better shape they did discover in their we have a uh PC that's still on a Windows 7 unit that we need that's no longer supported that we need to change and we have a server that we will take offline and move that um it does our main domain controller whatever that means um and that'll move on to the server that is a much newer server that 8 the uh adg software is currently on so those two items I do have one other item oh I'm sorry let me go to the uh and that's it on vc3 we have the Lake Placid Police Department that is still on track um I think we're about 90 95% plans they're getting close to we're working through the uh plan development review that we have to do concurrency that we still have to be responsible for so that's gone out to all of the agencies including the county and um to make sure we're uh following our own rules as it were and so we're working through that process with uh with our planning department and the county and all the other agencies that are responsible for that so we're still on track we should be fine for a uh July bidding of that project and uh and if anybody has any questions on that thank you was there ever was there ever any consideration about buying an existing structure and remodeling it uh that was before my time so I couldn't answer that question one thing I wasn't going to bring up until next meeting I I think there is a way that we can all go with the Sunshine Law and look at all of our structures but um there there are there is another structure but I'm just saying I think I think we as a group I mean I did that but you have not looked at all of our buildings yeah I did see the police department I did see it that I acknowledge the police station is falling down okay well we have a new building which I've never seen over that we just bought with the park over there on Dow Hall um we have like facilities just the bathroom facility is around that I just think that we should all go see but we also have the existing fire station that we lease to the county um it's a big building we're going to have to do something they keep talking about building a new fire station when they're gone that's our building okay so there's a lot of facilities there's also a facility at Lake Jun point I haven't been in there in years um it's where the concession stand is for the ballpark and there's an upstate St where there's meeting rooms that we I don't know if you've all seen that but I'm saying maybe we should do find out how we can just go I'm sure we can't talk something with the sunshine law but we could all go maybe we could go I've heard you can do that as a group um I know uh swiftmud came here and did that and we went on the bus and they ate lunch together and we did that and there was no problem with the sunshine law but I think it would be good to see for all of us now you know welcome you're saying you're saying that there there could be Alternatives with remodeling an existing structure I think we should just know what we have I mean as a council I can I can add a little bit to that first of all that ship has sailed secondly that we have looked at other structures and it's very difficult to remodel a structure to the standards that are required for us to achieve accrediation for our Police Department the security alone for the evidence Department the evidence section would usually preclude any Remodeling and I can tell you that having had 20 years experience in the law enforcement sector and doing security surveys in this regard and the Sheriff's Office built their whole new building and if they spent that kind of money on the whole new building believe me they we looked at a number of sites in the town of Sebring to see if we could not have to build a whole new building and it did not work I was the one inste of putting this building has been voted on the design designs have the the basic designs have been seen have been approved we have uh Carl and co uh Co and Cobb that is doing the design they are the plans as I recall are completed I think Kevin has a set of plans if I understand that correctly and that they're in the process now of getting the permits and moving forward it's in permit so it it's in permitting so I I appreciate what you ladies are talking about but I'm afraid that that that number one that we've already made that decision been over those uh those opportunities over the past year and we are where we are you weren't on the council when I was when they wanted to move and the police chief wanted to move to over to town hall and the last meeting we had there the roof was still leaking on my head I need to bring an umbrella to the to the council meetings because the roof was still leaking on my head at on the Old Town Hall and they wanted to move over there and I am the one that said we don't need to move again into a a building that's substandard so I am the one but I am saying I just want to say I think that the Town Council needs to know and look at all the buildings we have look at all of our assets so we can make good decisions for the town that's it I would like we have already done that and that decision was made the decision has already been made we looked at that we've already done that is it fully funed believe we can do it if yes it is fully funded Kevin do we have all the money to build yes yes we do that was approved when they uh decided to go out to design the funding was approved the funding was approved you know it's just I don't know what it is with the microphones tonight I don't know I don't know worse there we go I'll get closer anyway yes all of the funding was approved when they went out for the design of the uh police station so that's it it is funded we have all the grants already all the grants are approved to build it it is a combination of um arpa Grant funds and infrastructure Reserve that we have of our own money so it's a combination and how much is the total um I believe it's about 13 million I think it was 1.3 it was 1.3 1.4 something like that yeah but we do have it but if we could save some money that would be a bonus for the town that ship has sailed the ship is sailed what does that mean that means that this has already been discussed and approved and moved forward okay is it out for bid you're saying it's already um no it's not out for bid but the designs the designs are coming and we expect to put it out for bid in July that's what Kevin was saying earlier so until it's out for bid it could be re discussed it can be there can be more bids but we have the the design is already here so I I don't we we can't do a redesign but we can we can do when it goes to bid anybody can bid yeah I just think councilwoman warley kind of piqu my interest there that if there's some else that might be available I think that that's worth taking a look at not to play it but just to take a look at that we've already been down that road well there's a lot of small Parks all around town and um I was thankfully shown some of the new structures we have at those Parks but we have a I mean I think that I don't know how many people in here know what the town owns and I don't think most of the council members that have sat out here have ever really taken a total tour of everything that town has assets even including um our South Plant um you know the tamoka where things are um what the possibility I mean we don't have to talk about that I'm just saying like if we took in um and I'm not so sure how feasible this is like the tamoka plant once it's if we do get this money and we can take that untreated I mean it's treated but not to the standard of of reuse um and bring that down here we might have some available land to sell you know that that will be abandoned so I mean there's possibilities all over the place and I just think we need to know what our assets are that's all I'm saying one of the one of the big items that we when we talked about this and we had looked at the sites that we have but one of the big items was that it was the it was the wish of the Town Council that everything be on one property that we have the police station and town hall and eventually a fire station all on at this one central location because I was one that wanted the police station downtown and I Was Defeated on that and I finally came along to approving the site for the police station here in an in an effort to move that project along so as you know Miss warley we've been looking at a new police station for 10 years I believe or more and I believe if there was a structure that could have been remodeled we would have found it by now okay um I've got one final item um we do need to the council needs to select a replacement um for the TDC tourist Development Council to replace Charlie Wilson um to fulfill the rest of his term so if uh if you'd like to have that discussion amongst yourselves and select a member that would like to uh be appointed to that the tourist Development Council board I was told that we're going to have a reorganization meeting next month and that will include also I didn't remember that one um I did remember that we need to point a liaison to the regional utility um we're going to need to elect a vice mayor um so there's I don't know what else we need to do but we will that's what I was told that our our normal organizational meeting because I did question that uh is AE so that's what I was told and just for clarification you are correct that's the reorganizational meeting this is a term that the town has the Charlie's filling at the end of his term I believe it goes to Avon Park I may be mistaken on that but I believe it goes that it rotates amongst the county so this is a this is a separate item that when you reorganize you can you can push it to me there's not an issue with that um I don't know when their next meeting is so they just may miss one meeting but uh just that this is an item that the council needs to do to select for this term because once it's done it's it goes it'll be several years before we're back on the TDC is there a job description not that I know of what what you attend you attend the you attend the tourist Development Council meetings and no skills are needed is that what we're saying I was on the TDC for three years and they said oh you just the visitors bureau was in effect then so they said Oh all you do is you pick up your you come every three months you stay an hour the visitors bureau does all the work and you just approve what they do the visitor when I as soon as I joined the visitors bureau went upside down we had to reorganize and redo everything for the TDC but typically it's not it's not that intense but I did it for three years and it's basically going and representing the town and um our tourist development areas our you know what we have down here promoting our town we worked on trying to um joy and her husband allowed us to come into their home when we wanted to try to get a movie down here because movies make tons of money and um we needed to we we went out and looked at a fish camp and then they were not nice enough to say they would move out of their home and let us have a movie there yeah so we I mean it's thank goodness we weren't selected thank goodness yeah she wasn't selected but I'm just saying there's um the TDC is to when you're on the on that you're there to say come to Lake Placid what can we do in Lake Placid can we have that tournament here can we have that softball tournament here that's what they do there Kevin could it wait till next meeting when we have to do the other uh appointments that way we can share the work certainly y'all can uh divide it up and and work on it um for next month is it is there a meeting or something that has to be done this month is that I said I think the worst cases you'll miss a meeting but that's the worst thing that'll happen so I think it's fine as long as they I've already told them yes we are interested in having our somebody will be appointed to fil fil fall term we didn't want to turn that over to Avon Park and give them the opportunity to vote early particularly when we have a pickle ball request coming up that will be supplemental to our grant that we re or $200,000 200,000 200,000 $200,000 Grant so we're going to need additional money for our pickle ball courts and we want to make sure our representatives there supporting it so and the final thing I have just real quickly for the new members and I'm just going to ask my directors to stand up as uh some of you have already met them but Rachel o born's the finance director okay Harry debano is facilities and Lake June Park Allan kefir does Public Works Dennis Murray is our new engineer uh Chief Mark Snider yes and our planner thank you very much Dana is here with us so that's all of our directors anyway I just wanted yall to put a name with a face so that's clerk oh and our clerk who you already all know he know so yes I knew you all know the clerk already I can't forget our clerk no and our clerk so that's all I have Mr okay all right this time I'll take it the audience any comments okay thank you excuse me excuse me there are a couple of things a couple things I'd like to have on the agenda I'm gonna bring it back now and I'm going to let you let you guys talk right now I just want to give the audience a chance first okay nobody there so at this time I'm going to go to the council members and let you go first okay a couple things I'd like to have on the agenda for next month is um to discuss the CRA Arrangement um previously it was composed of all council members and I would like to discuss having people who are trained in uh Urban Development urban planning as part of the CRA um and I'd like to discuss whether or not we can change the CRA right now everything is for infrastructure I'd like to have some of the funds diverted to um the business business facades like for example Sebring is doing a project not the httv one but there CRA is um helping with a business uh and um of course I think there should be a council leaz on for the CRA even though other people are involved i' also like to put on the agenda a discussion regarding this the status of the Tower and possibly get together a working group whatever Sunshine will allow so we can get that cleaned up um and I have a couple questions then about um the uh the pipe bursting now uh that the uh businesses affected should be notified as the impact and the time schedule and I'm concerned about uh that impacting the cadium festival I'm sorry I didn't understand what you said about cadium Festival okay as far as the pipe bursting project no I got that okay so that the business owners are informed of the schedule and what they know what impact they may it may have on them oh I see okay and then also tied with the scheduling um for the uh cladium Festival in July so we know that it's not going to affect that and then one other item is I'd like to know um what the uh I'm not sure what your titles exactly are but the schedule and the planning of what has will be done or what should be done to prep the town for the cadium festival you know cleaning the streets pressure washing and so forth so if you could have that ready for the next meeting I appreciate that it just make it make me rest easier to know you're doing something and I think that was that was it okay oh all the way over here um so first off I'd like to thank everybody um for their confidence in myself and I'm certain Joy feels the same uh voting us into um into Council um if you don't know my background is Finance and Accounting from a Fortune 500 Fortune 50 company so a lot of my questions are going to be related to cost budgets internal controls and audit um so going to be working with Rachel to get my up up to speed on that too um and then um I guess I'd like to put on the next agenda if you allow me a summary of the feedback that we got from the public so as you know joy and I ran a coalition campaign and we knocked on and I'll have the summary of that but there are 1,135 voters and I think we covered over 800 of them we knocked on a lot of doors and I think it would be of interest for the council to hear a lot of the feedback that was given to us and a lot of items that people are interested in so that we can determine as we go into um next year's budget if there's things that we should consider for the public so um I'll be glad to summarize that in a way Kevin work with you that you know I think it would be of great interest and and people are really looking forward to you know uh having their feedback uh be discussed and consider considered okay no well I'd like to welcome the two new Council people on the on the uh on our Council thank you for being here thank you for running and I apologize I always have my back to you col mean no no disrespect I can't hear if I don't see and I anyway today is not a good day with my ear anyway but um I think one of the things we we all have to keep in in mind as uh as Council people is we need to keep the best interests of all of the residents of Lake Placid as our primary focus and I think that summary of what you folks found when you were in the field would be very helpful sometimes we think we hear it all and we don't and we we don't knock on that door and we don't hear what people really want or what they have to say it's easy however to just focus on our own neighborhoods and and it's imperative that we think through the decisions that we made that are made by this Council and how they will affect everyone not just your own neighborhood but there are a lot of people who live in our town in the town limits especially around downtown area and they've lived there for a very long time and we never see them in Council and I think sometimes they feel they're not welcome but they certainly are um and we can't just service those that live in the particular subdivisions we have a whole town to consider and we need to think about everyone we also must keep in mind that we're planning for our future the the future of our town and that includes residential growth as much as my husband is probably turning over in his grave because he was not for that but we can't say it's not going to happen because it is going to happen and also uh we have to understand that with this residential growth we have to have the infrastructure and The Business business opportunities that are going to support that so um we have many more things on our plate on this Council and we have in addition to the Sewer we have a sign ordinance that we have to deal with and don't throw anything at me Dana um we have the new police station is coming along we have Rising costs to operate materials Insurance everything so we have a lot on our plate but I feel like we we have the council that can handle it thank you de happy to be here happy to serve you I want to welcome our new council members and um our existing council member so anyway I just you know I think we've got a good team all around with all our staff and everything so I'm looking forward to the future I feel very very positive thank you okay uh again I want to thank the two of you appreciate you stepping up and taking the position for years we've had a uh I think a rather nice family up here and I just hope we can continue to do that work as one and just make Lake PL it bigger and better so let's uh let's look to the Future and and and move on and I hope all of you out there uh kind of agree with me but uh we'll we'll hear from you in the future if not so Kevin you got anything else Mr attorney not a word is there anything else to come before Town Council if not meeting adjourned