him there yeah that's no problem yeah that's fine yeah then then you can just when it comes time you can just uh grab them and how you doing I'm Brian nice to meet you how are you bring your plant to work don't know where we'll find out I think so yeah elements that normally we normally we yeah well normally we do it when there's when there's a sale we we get we get our money when we sell it that one house yeah that one house and unfortunately it's not the house really it's the people in the house yeah the actually it still doesn't have work uh but it uh they actually did stuff to remedy a lot problem except for the yeah just a what is this for oh they that's yeah if I were them I wouldn't jump out I would wait for them let yeah let him be e e e e e Lisa sit down welcome to Avo city council if you all join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all and if you can join me moment of [Music] silence thank you like to call this meeting to order it is Monday May 6th 2024 at 6:30 all members of council are present first up we have two ceremonial items so we're going to go down so [Music] it's almost on there we go so we've got two proclamations today the first is for National Police Week whereas the Congress and President president of the United States have designated May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which May 15th Falls as police week and whereas the members of the Ovito Police Department play an essential role in safeguarding the rights and freedoms of the citizens of Ido and whereas it is important that all citizens know and understand the duties responsibilities hazards and sacrifices of law enforcement and that members of the Ovito Police Department recognize their duty to Serve the People by safeguarding life and property by protecting them against violence and disorder and by protecting the innocent against deception and the weak against oppression and whereas the men and women of the Ovito police dep Department unceasingly provide a vital public service now therefore I'm Megan sadeek by the virtue of authority vested in me as mayor of Ido do hereby Proclaim May 12th through 18th as National Police Week so if we've got the chief up here and everybody in uniform come on up Mr Barone come on in thank you again all right next up is it on now yeah it is next up we have a proclamation for the only employees who are required under our city Charter to be employees at least I'm pretty sure like we're a city manager is optional right no it's it's mandatory so the first employee to be designated as mandatory is the city clerk's office whereas the office of the professional municipal clerk a Tim honored and vital part of local government exists throughout the world and whereas the office of the professional municipal clerk is the oldest among public servants so I had that part right and whereas the office of the professional munici IAL clerk provides the professional link between the citizens the local governing bodies and agencies of government at other levels and whereas professional Municipal clerks have pledged to be ever mindful of their neutrality and impartiality rendering equal service to all and whereas the professional municipal clerk serves as the information center on functions of local government and community and whereas professional Municipal clerks continually strive to improve the administration of the the Affairs of the office of the professional municipal clerk through participation in education programs seminars workshops and the annual meetings of their state provincial County and international professional organizations and I got to add to this the laws change every year just about guys and they've got to keep up with all of the different public records laws to make sure that we are a fully transparent City and they do an amazing job of that and whereas it is most appropriate that we recognize the accomplishments of the office of the professional municipal clerk now therefore I Megan SLC mayor of Vito by power vested in me as such declare May 5th through 11th as professional Municipal Clerk's week and we want to introduce you guys to our clerks we've got our head clerk our official city clerk Elon Rivera come on up this is meline or and then we also have uh Annie isn't isn't here right now but she also is part of the clerk's office but we want to present this to you I wonder so got to explain this a little bit um so this plant it can survive on next to nothing and it's sort of there and people don't appreciate that it cleans the air and keeps things wonderful and I think a lot of times you your office goes a little bit unno noticed but you do so much so we hope that this will keep the air clean and if anybody comes and says it seems like an interesting plant you can break off a little piece and share the love [Applause] something in there so you guys can have like a [Music] two very good ceremonial items again thank you ladies for all you do uh next up I have approval of the minutes what is the favor of councel I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from March 25th 2024 second have a motion in a second any discussion oops April 1 um sorry second all right we have a motion and second any discussion okay what is a pleasure of council oh I'm sorry all those in favor say I I I opposed okay minutes pass next up I have a public comment I don't have any written requests from anyone uh do anybody in audience want to get up and discuss anything tonight okay seeing none we will close public comment oh if I could add a random thing I don't know that I vocalized yes to the last vote So for anybody who up here who is wondering like what does that count as under Florida law the default if you don't make any sounds is you voted yes just so you know okay next up I have the consent agenda what is the pleasure of councel make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented second all right I have a motion in a second any discussion the only thing I want want to make sure everybody knows is that uh we have permission from the insurance company to be reimbursed for putting up all the walls in the racketball courts um if anybody happened to look through that it was a $77,000 charge and and it looked to me like it may be a purely cosmetic thing but even so if we are being reimbursed from insurance it sounds like an all right deal so I just want to make sure everybody knows that that is not out of pocket okay so well to approving the consent agenda all those in favor say I I I opposed okay consent agenda passes up next we have public hearing ordinance number 1743 zoning map Amendment for 8264 Acres from a agricultural to I2 industrial M Ross you read the ordance by title only an ordinance of the city of obido Florida amending the zoning math of approximately 82 64 acres of land generally located approximately 601 ft east of East Broadway Street and approximately 1, 821 ft west of Lockwood Boulevard from agriculture a to Industrial I2 providing for legislative intent implementing administrative actions the savings provision scribers errors conflicts and separability and providing for an effective date thank you M Ross Mr C could you give us a brief introduction uh yes thank you deuty mayor the uh this is a request for the city council to adopt a zoning map Amendment and when you look at zoning map amendments the first thing you ask is the zoning uh consistent with the comprehensive plan uh in this case the comprehensive plan future land's designation is industrial the current zoning designation is agricultural the agricultural zoning district is not consistent with the uh future land use designation in the comprehensive plan the there are two zoning districts that are consistent with the comprehensive plan and that would be the i1 and I2 zoning districts so the applicant has requested the I2 zoning District so it is consistent with the comprehensive plan as far as what is proposed the second thing you look at is the compatibility of this of the proposed zoning with the surrounding zonings and if you can see up on the if we could go to the next one mine thank you if you look at the zonings you can see around this zoning M uh to the north is uh simal County M1 is what is to the north of the property uh to the east of the property is city city public lands and institutions which is primarily the uh Shane Kelly Park as well as the City Public Works yards uh to the South you've got I2 which is also partly City it's also some private development as well to also to the South you have C2 and to the South as well as you have some uh P public Lansing institution which is the cable company and the power company uh to the West you've got Obito sports complex which is also public and uh also to the West you have a simol county A1 zoning which is actually part of the original property when the city owned the property part of it was in the city and part of it was in the county and so there is a county the county portion of the property which is currently agriculture as well uh the current use of the property next thing you look at is the permissible uses within the two within the zoning districts uh our staff did an anal analysis of the zoning District as well as the permissible uses and they found through their analysis they found that the uh zoning District as well as the permissible uses are uh consistent and compatible with the surrounding area the uh current use is a concrete Cushing plant the applicant is proposing to also add to that a uh wet cement manufacturing with hauling off with the cement trucks both of those uses the existing use and the proposed use are allowed within either the i1 or the I2 zoning District uh based on their findings uh in their analysis the staff recommends approval uh adoption of the ordinance and the I2 zoning District the local planning agency uh conducted a public hearing on March the 27th and recommended adoption of ordinance number 1743 uh if you remember at the last meeting um during first reading it was asked that uh whether or not the proposed use could be allowed within the i1 zoning District it the staff did look at that and it can it it is permissible in both i1 and I2 uh so uh deputy mayor has recommended that you conduct a public hearing and adopt resolution number 17 or ordinance number 1743 great thank you sir is the applicant presid and would they like to make a few words or say a few words please state your name and your address sir Mark Stevens uh 20131 East Edgewood Drive in Lakeland Florida I'm a professional engineer ER license in the state of Florida and this is a resoning application I'll make this brief because you already heard all this uh plus or minus 83 Acres uh the parcel is owned by owned by sunflower Holdings agricultural it's located at 1451 Evans Street it's currently a closed CND landfill and there's a concrete CR crushing operation on top of that landfill even though the property is is a plus or minus 83 Acres only about half of that or a little less than half that is usable because of landfill slopes and because of the storm water systems that surround that um the future land use has already brought that uh property into industrial um there's been a traffic impact analysis is completed and there's no traffic impacts from projected traffic there's an environmental impact study that's been done and there's no adverse environmental impacts anticipated so we are requesting your approval of the zoning change and we're here to answer any questions if you have any thank you sir there any questions for the upcut I do have a question uh would you entertain i1 zoning instead of I2 since your use can be can be done in that as well in Consulting with my client they'd prefer to stay with I I2 what what reason would they want want to have a higher intensity they feel it gives them more flexibility it absolutely does it gives future owners rights all right thank you very much okay okay I this is a public hearing we do have public comment I do not have any written requests is there any body in the audience tonight that wishes to speak on this subject okay seeing none we will close public comment I will entertain a motion to adopt ordinance number 1743 so moved second all right motion on a second any discussion well I I've expressed my concerns last meeting and I I'll say it again this time I think it is imprudent it was impudent for us to sell the land in the first place instead of keeping a steady uh income stream from the rent that we were receiving that being said it is appropriate to reone to an industrial use um under the laws though we do not have to give the highest intensity possible under the comprehensive plan we're allowed to do something slightly lower and in this particular case we could Grant something that is slightly more restrictive uh and preserve the opportunity to revisit potential changes in use at a later time if somebody wants to do something more in intense uh my concern here is allowing the most intense industrial when it it's it's really close to Waverly Woods it's right in it's nestled right in between two of our Parks the Ovito sports complex and Shane Kelly Park and there are a lot of loud things or perhaps noxious things that could be done there and there are more possibilities if the more intense and requested zoning is granted so I really would prefer that we deny this and that the applicant come back being more okay with the lower intensity industrial zoning okay council member Britain I think it's okay the way it is we we've uh had the presentation at the last meeting so I'm I'm okay with it Council tuer um I hear what you're saying that being said the live local act that our state politicians put in kind of supersedes all of that so the most intense uses would be allowed in i1 and I too based on state legislation anyways so that being said either way I agree with what we're doing here and it matches the surrounding area so I I am in favor of this just to make sure that we don't have any Mis misunderstanding on what the live local act does that allows the most intense residential use not the most intense industrial use so there there's a little bit of a different thing there but but as far as what I would be concerned about that's what it would be so I'm good okay okay we had a motion in a second the motion on the table is to approve and adopt ordinance number 1743 all those in favor say I I I opposed I okay ordinance passed we have no first reading of ordinances we are now up to resolutions resolution number 4 Zoom Ty 44 56-24 Mr cob can you give us a brief introduction hi yes Deputy Mayor I actually Dr kah will have the staff's presentation good evening um mayor deputy mayor council members um we are very excited today to bring another project from the public art program I have um before I start my presentation I have several members of the public art board here I'll ask them to raise their hand to be recognized um and I also have the artists present here and they will be able to participate in the presentation as well so um this is the wings of Joy uh project at Solari Park uh if we can move forward so what is the project so it's a installation of five um huge butterfly um uh presented in their with their wings so it's going to be 10 wings um uh and each Wing is going to have a photography printed in the in a metal and you have U the metal panels back to back so we have a model over there and you know when we ask uh the artist to come here and uh and explain the project we'll try to bring the model closer but this is the the idea is to bring in know in an installation of five butterflies moving forward with the presentation so this is a project that started in 20122 so it's a long you know have has been a long process and 2022 we were in the middle of uh covid so um we wanted to bring um the board decided to bring a sculpture that the next step of uh of the project um um a main project to the city would be a sculpture in Solari Park that was decided so we started to look around and we invited Diane Boswell who a local artist here who has done um the three whisper project in Winter Park to propose something in Solari Park and she came with the idea of the butterflies and we thought at that time it was very um um good timing to bring something joyful and colorful and that could be interactive so this shows the different you know um dates that were important dates for us so when we started the project uh when the the concept was presented to the public art board um then on March 2023 U bizer Homes um hearing about the project listening to one of the uh public out board meetings decided to donate 25,000 dollars to the wings of Joy soon after we came to the CRA and you may remember the CRA uh approved resolution 15123 to allocate uh 7,00 57540 to the uh wings of joy and then uh last February the public art board uh recommended approval to city council knowing that we have secured the whole you know uh funds to to pay for the project and today of course we are here for city council consideration next slide Le so these are the um the butterflies so are all Butterflies from Florida um here you have the different you know Dimensions they will be cut out of U A A A baseboard of four um feet by 8 feet so they will have different um uh measurements different dimensions and the um model is in scale so you can see that they they are taller ones and smaller ones but they are all um being cut out of this base uh board that is this huge board next slide please so these will have to be structured because of course these are huge um and heavy structures they will have to be engineered they have to have u a footer and you know foundation and they will have to be uh permitted by the city uh through our building uh permit process next um slide please this is the cost of the of the project so so you see there is a portion that is designed in project management and the project management by the artist will come from will cover from the concept to the installation then you have the printing of the photography in the into the metal um which is done by one company then you have the fabrication of the structure and the permitting an installation but but done by another one and then we have the side preparation the landscape um um lighting signage and we put a contingency so the total cost is $130,000 and $200 and uh the estimated duration is between six and nine months we would like to have it you know for the next year since next year we are going to celebrate the 100y year anniversary of the city next slide please the funding you know the um more than half of the project is being funded by the public art fund um and just to clarify the Public Public artart fund is the dedicated account that comes doesn't come from taxpayers doesn't come from um general fund it comes from contributions from developers when they ask for deviations to the code one of the possible mitigation um um techniques is to either you know provide art in their own project or dedicate money to the public ad fund so um more than half of the project is coming from from that fund um that we have uh been collecting um through the years and funding all the projects that we have and the other portion is the contribution from the CRA next slide please so this is the suggestion of the site location um you have that flat area next to the visitor Pavilion um that is I think an area that is because it's flat it's it's easier to be installed but it's also very accessible and also has some social control so we thought that that would be an appropriate area I would invite the um the artist Diane Boswell to come here and talk a little bit about you know the concept and the installation the landscape and then I will continue okay okay and I don't know how better you know show the the model but you know I'll try to turn a little bit the model here I'm Diane Boswell and thank you for having me if you could give us your address too yes it's 535 Genius Drive in Winter Park Florida okay um well the process started for me to visit solary Park which is was a beautiful experience I didn't know what to expect but I walked around I spent a lot of time there um I appreciated all the architectural detailing of the boardwalks the seating it's beautifully done and so immersing myself in that environment made me think about what this should be and I'm known more for trees that's a subject that a lot of my work has been oriented around um but I didn't feel that that was what should be here I thought it should be something very colorful and joyous as uh Teresa has referenced you know it came at a time when when Co was around and Ukraine was was happening and everybody had very heavy hearts we all do it from time to time and it just came to me that it need to be an emotion of ajos of if if you experience it in a moment or if you experience in a few moments that you can have some sort of feeling of Joy so that's really where it came from and and as a child I always was looking at butterfly wings under a microscope that was one of my past times so I come from the micro look in a very contemporary abstract way of butter fly wings and then into the macro of of making an art form out of it and this is an interpretive contemporary uh style that I have it's realism it's photography but I I make a little twist to it in the history of my work it has it's not literal all together but um but the Hope here is that um it could be a meeting place meet me at the butterflies or it can serve a purpose of children getting together with their families maybe it could U be a catalyst for discussion of the biology of butterflies which I found fascinating and um the the thinking also is that um this site I just sort of focused on that because if you walk around soil Park and you sit in those Serpentine that Serpentine area and look straight across the pond it just made a very interesting vantage point and and really practical speaking it's where it can be installed easily but also close to people who are coming there and visiting it's a simple thing you can have a group butterfly party or you can just sit there and contemplate whatever you want to to but um but I I like that spot and it's near the built kind of environment of the park as the park matures and becomes um the canopy of the trees and all the plantings develop I kind of like the idea of sort of the built things to be clustered together over there um and um I sort of envisioned a a meadow grass type of of base for it that's that's a material that's already in the landscape land that I noticed um it would disguise some of the SC um structure because I'm showing it to scale these are 4x4 columns that support the wings um but but and also from a maintenance standpoint you're not mowing around it or nicking the structure but it just lends itself to that butterflies love being in the meadow and so as as I don't know if you've heard the book the wings of the meadow but it's a famous book about a butterfly but um so um what there's some questions maybe that could help me these are all native butterflies to this area uh they are they they are Florida well the the butterfly on the far left is the U long Wing zebra that's the state butterfly uh and then the uh Monarch you recognize and then the one on the far right is called an orange yellow sulfur um which we're familiar with and then the two in the middle that's that's where this little twist in the in the interpretive art comes in but the the in the center is is the top of the butterfly the one that you see to the left is the underneath of the butterfly but if you go to the opposite side they're reversed so it's the same butterfly but it's you're seeing it in two different B two different points of and that's called a red spotted purple although it's really kind of blue and it it's really seen probably more down in South Florida but I did see one the other day when I was out and about and the blue ones how tall are those the the center one it's about 9 ft about 9 ft and then the other ones then to the left the one on the left is about 8 feet like the height of a normal room would be uh the one on the left the zebra I think it's around 5 to six and then to the uh the Monarch I believe is around seven and then the orange sulfur is again it's about five or six and I wanted some smaller scale ones for children because people in my other um installation I didn't really I was hoping it would be interactive but it turned out to be a lot more interactive than I thought so I I think this could be that you know utilize that way so I wanted to scale down some of the butterflies and their wings proportion fit on the the 4x8 foot met panel which is a limitation for this material okay thank you any other questions for the Ys thank you did a good job next slide please so this is just showing it's a general um um slide showing the many benefits of public art um so more and more we see cities investing in public art right and there is you know the intangible um of benefits are kind of you know there's a long list of intangible it's hard oh that works intangible um benefits um you know it's a vital element in place making it you know it's it's huge in community engagement it provides a shared experience I like the fact that it's a free way for people to to be exposed to Art people that generally do not go to museums and uh um but the there is more and more now um research and literature on the Tang economic benefits of public art um and last week and that was a good timing I received this publication which is um the title is the economic power of public art and providing you know numbers and statistics on how the benefits the tangible benefits and they they split into three major elements one is tourism because it really um uh attracts you know um the the food fat the the the uh the traffic right of of people attract people to cities um it's major for urban renovation revitalization and of course that area is going to be subject to uh Redevelopment so that's going to be a nice way to to trigger that and then it's interesting that they are making now the connection with infrastructure so we see more you know airports um um Bridges you know um even highways investing in in public art because that has a huge impact on people and how people feel so you know the waiting time in an airport is different if you are surrounded by an area that you can you know distract yourself and it's beautiful uh and the other thing that I took from this publication is average the budget for public art because one of the things and and of course the the public art program in the city is uh an incipient one so we are learning right so the numbers kind of in a way you know um um shocked us you know these are the numbers and we have been working to bring the numbers down for this project um but this um um um uh table here shows the average cost of artwork by different times and if you see the sculpture figurative one which is the third one it they give an average of 128,00 ,000 and the cost of this project is 1254 for the whole you know for the five sculptures uh with um uh if if we consider each Wing sculpture then it will be 10 uh sculptures and with the contingency it goes to 130 so we are kind of you know there so that kind of these are numbers that help us navigate you know this new you know field for us which is to increase public hearts in the city next slide please um this is just to show examples of public art in in know different cities um and I try to to get you know uh projects that they say it's very inst instagrammable and and the wings that show um in the which I think it's in Dubai it's one of the most instagrammable you know um uh uh public art that that you know that is being uh describ so this is just to give different um um uh ideas of course these are all Visual Arts um that's not all all the the the different types of public art that we can bring and now in the uh public art board we have been discussing also temporary art like music you know providing you know so you may see those you know ideas in the future to bring you know concerts and Opera to the city because that is something you know we would also would like to stimulate um and this is just to give you a general picture of the many possibilities we we have now I will ask um Melissa C who is the chairperson for um the public art to bring uh to come here and give the recommendation of the board and then I'll finalize with staff's recommendation can I can I ask one more question sure um what's the maintenance on these if they're printed are they going to fade so the example we have is the one in Winter Park and it's been there for 10 years and it's hasn't faded so it's it's there and and we have asked you know and we I was discussing uh with M Boswell about something happens if someone sprayed something whatever what is if it's easy to remove right and and and apparently that's the case that there is a coding that is that protects you know the the printing okay okay and I've got a quick question for Mr Boop before we get too into like I think all of us like the idea but if I could ask him a question about the 30,000 or so from what's listed as fund balance there's 33160 the public Arts fund balance not but did did none of that come from property taxes and it all was donated by developers developers or private donations okay so none of it came from I I just want make sure nothing was transferred into that fund from the general fund or from property taxes okay so 100% of what is proposed to be used for this was designated from the get-go to be public art as far as to the best of my knowledge yes okay as long as answer is yes I just want to make sure that we all know that this is the community has essentially raised the money to put this in all right thank you very much mayor I asked the exactly same question and um and Kelly told me that it was account it's accounting is how it's shown in accounting and I have here the Excel that shows all the contributions from the public art so it is completely funded by the comp the public art plus the CRA thank you thank you Teresa and Diane and thank you city council um if you don't know I'm Melissa IO I have served on the public art board for about 7 years now can you stay your address to my address is 680 Neil Court um but I'm very proud to be the chair this year and that's oo Florida I'm very proud to be uh the chair this year especially with um the wings of Joy project that we're proposing tonight um this project has been going on for quite some time as you saw through Teresa's timeline it is now been supported by uh two board compositions um so we're really ready uh we're excited with the idea of bringing a major sculpture to solar park because solar is a beautiful new park that the city has we've done great projects in the past um most of them have been murals we have some water um color art and there's great projects in the work but we were really wanting something more Grand and we feel that solary Park is the perfect place for this project um citizens will be able to drive around the park and see the beautiful butterfly wings and then if they want they can get out and take pictures with the Butterflies I'm sure a lot of you have friends who post pictures on social media where they're standing maybe with a mural of butterfly wings behind them this is kind of a step up for oito where um the butterflies are bigger more beautiful and then we have our Park in the background instead of a wall um it's it's an interactive display as Diane and Teresa were talking about and it will definitely be um instagrammable for sure um and of course it will be a great way to celebrate the 100th Year celebration for the city next year so the timing of it is just perfect we would love to see some sort of event or activity go around with the reveal in the 100y year anniversary for the city uh we're committed to working with staff to bring the costs down and work with them to make sure everything works out efficiently um you know it's going to be installed on City projects so we're trying to navigate the installation to see how we can improve the numbers going forward but we do believe um you know it's it's a great project that we're ready for um so it's with great joy that I recommend for our current public art board the approval of the wings of Joy project great thank you okay so staff recommends that city council approve resolution number 4456 d24 and that concludes my presentation and I'm happy to answer any questions any questions no okay thank very good okay I do not have any written requests is there anybody in the audience that wish to address Council on this item okay saying none we will close public comment what is pleasure of council move move we adopt resolution 4456 d24 second I have a motion a second any discussion uh I had initially expressed some concerns and just about all of them have been addressed so thank you for working hard to find a way to make sure that 100% of the funding is people powered and not from tax dollar I think that is a really really critical first step for our first installation to show that people care about this concept so much that everybody stepped up to make it happen I love that they're all Native and moving it to all towards the built environment I think that's a little different from perhaps what the original discussion was U but it it makes a lot of sense so well done PA I'm good Mr BR good I just want to say thank you to our public Arts board um I see projects coming out of our board this is a volunteer-led board for those you don't know they're all volunteering their time and it's so good to see public are starting to actually move forward and and get put into the city so thank you yes I concur thank you you guys on the board so I know it's a it's big thing it takes a lot of time of your daily life so I appreciate you contributing and helping the the city out and also I think it's a it's a very interesting project that we have here so very good okay so we have a motion in a second um the motion on the table is to approve adopt ordinance number 174 no sorry resolution number 4456 d24 all those in favor say I I I opposed resolution passes okay next up we have discussion items we have the 100th year anniversary celebration well I thought that was going to be part of the 100 year guess they didn't want to stay from for all right I'll let them go Ahad and get out all right thank you deuty mayor you're welcome I appreciate you I appreciate the giving me the ability to relocate and get settled um couple years ago I was at the Florida City County Managers Association annual conference and saw a presentation by Mr will Ketchum of Northstar and representatives from the city of Johnson City Tennessee about uh how Northstar had helped them with their branding and their marketing and their their logos and they were on a they were wanting to they needed a refresh their their logos were quite old uh I remembered those logos from when I worked in the sister city in Kingsport Tennessee and it was same one uh 30 some years later and it was a very impressive project that they had done with Johnson City Tennessee and I started looking into other other clients that they had here based in Florida they are based out of Jacksonville so they are a Florida Corporation and Mr P Mr Beldon at shortly after we had a discussion about the 100th anniversary uh Mr Beldon asked me about you know hey you know I really would love to bring a fresh look something knew something while uh for the 100th anniversary and I P I actually had saved the information I collected at the at the conference and I said give these folks a call and so uh Mr Beldum reached out to Mr Ketchum and tonight we Mr katchman is here this is Mr will catchman he's standing up over there he's president of Northstar and we asked him if he would come tonight and present to you the type of services they can provide this is really not just about the 100th anniversary though having something for the 100 anniversary would be great to me the 100th anniversary is a great time for us to do a refresh I feel like that our seal has served us that the seal has served us quite well over time but I think it's time that we did something for the future and also with us this year updating our strategic plan this is another way of and one of the things that they do is they they actually teach you how to tell your story and one of the things that we don't do very often we don't brag about ourselves we do great things but we tend to to not go out and tell everyone about them and so they they actually will educate you on how to tell your story and to be able to put those great things out there and so we asked Mr Ketchum if he would come tonight and tell you about the services they provide uh we we did it as a discussion item so that you could tell us if this is something you're interested in or if you're not interested in so I'm going to turn it over to Mr Ketchum and let him uh tell you about Northstar thank you Mr C Council thank you it's good to be with you tonight I appreciate the time um I'm going to have some slides that I guess will um yeah show up over here for your eyes um branding and logos sound squishy doesn't it um at the end of the day though our company helps smaller communities compete for the future they want and to be sure communities are competing today uh for their share of Economic Development residence uh tourism and state funding and so a brand is a suit of clothing that first handshake if you're in business you know what that's all about that you've got to make that first impression that creates an expectation of what you're about what you stand for and so that's really what this is about I didn't share my address I'm will katum 1023 Kings Avenue Jacksonville Florida okay um you know and when we're branding people we'll tell you our business has a big problem and that is that most people think branding is about a logo and a slogan right um a logo and a slogan won't solve much um we certainly do logos and slogans and we're going to do a great one hopefully for AO But ultimately this is about telling your story driving actions and behaviors because people understand you and what you stand for so it's all about a positioning strategy again defining what you stand for and and sharing with the world where you're going giving Clarity inspiring confidence and in and celebrating your uniqueness the timing is excellent with the 100th next year uh but we want to propose that this is an idea a concept an asset for this community that lives well beyond the 100th so it's a great milestone but there's value beyond the 100th we work around the country we are Florida based and and we believe that our greatest advantage to you is that we're not local and that sounds ironic but in being not local there's a couple of advantages first of all we can come into your community and and bring a fresh set of eyes and see the things that you may take for granted each and every day and so that's a great Advantage but also we know what communities like yours are doing around the country so that we can be sure we create a brand for you that is distinct and different from them so we have eyes and ears around the country in terms of what communities are branding with uh Florida is our home and this is where we love to work so we'd love nothing more than uh being uh right here in aito just down the road from our headquarters in Jacksonville uh we have a integrated team of project leaders brand strategists research professionals creative people these are art directors copywriters public relations social media people um you can see we're a smaller Boutique firm because we work with smaller communities generally 30,000 to 300,000 in population um we take a very balanced approach to place branding I think this is a very important point you would think that what you're going for in a branding initiative is unique creativity and activation ideas for the community uh you are but it won't succeed without the first two things and and importantly resident engagement and research are the keys to success in community branding we have to hear from your residents we have to let them tell us the story of this community our job is just to bring it to the surface so we're not Reinventing the story of a veto we're bringing it to the surface and we're going to Define your unique DNA sort of what you're the center of the universe of and use that as a a guideline for building the brand but we also work very close very carefully to build consensus over and throughout the process uh this is not a tadal moment at the end of the process where we unveil a logo rather we work with your community all the way through the process and they're not at all surprised by the outcome because they had a hand in it um so those are the keys to reaching that creative product that gains traction and endorsement and serves this community as an asset you can see and I won't go through it in great detail the more uh detailed process process is is some is shaped something like an hourglass at the neck of that hourglass is that DNA and strategy formation I'll share a quick couple of examples of what that looks like but at the top of the hourglass where we're bringing in the community engaging listening doing focus groups depth interviews uh then into research we're going to talk to communities outside of aito and see how they understand you and how they perceive you you can choose those communities perhaps Metro Orlando uh perhaps Tona let's see how others from the outside understand this community then to that DNA strategy we distill all the inputs from your residents and from all those we spoke to into a DNA statement that crystallizes what you stand for then we move into creativity so it's not a logo design process it's uh digging deep to find the story of this community the compelling story that's going to move you forward and then importantly at the end of the process are brand action ideas so these are three thre dimensional ideas much like uh this sculpture where we bring the brand idea to life in your community in ways well beyond website and business cards uh and letterhead uh that's that's tip of the iceberg the real depth and meat of a brand is how does it live and breathe in the community dayt day um here we are working in the field I want to give you a sense of How Deeply we engage with residents uh we have a community website where people go and sign up to be a brand ambassador give their perspective and then hopefully come to these focus groups so we're going to work hard if we can work with you to make sure as many residents as we can get come to these uh events and we're after three things what is authentic about a veto what is distinct and what is ownable so authentic distinct and ownable those become sort of our our bar and if we can't hit that uh we keep going because if we don't do those three things the brand doesn't succeed part of the research gives us a community survey in which we ask essentially a net promoter score so we ask your residence we we ask them to put their reputations on the line and say would you recommend a veto to a friend or family member or colleague as a place to live visit or do business and so when we're asked that question we can then you know score it high medium or low so when we subtract we take out the mediums and we subtract the lows from the highs we get the the blue bars and this is a town in Minnesota just outside of Minneapolis not dissimilar from your community in size and you can see that their brand barometer their advocacy scores were a little negative um and so we now have a baseline from which to measure success and results are key here we want to run this study again in two years to see how the brand has created advocacy for the community this is a very nice Community they knew that they had a tourism opportunity they were missing and their their residents see it they also knew that Economic Development was Central to their future and their residents told them we're not doing well enough there so it was a great tool to hear from the residents and a key uh input to the process so your situation we're so impressed and and Blown Away by the charm of this community I know you're going through a lot of growth uh the key is to preserve what is so special uh in these images uh while maintaining economic viability and and strong tax base for the future uh there's a wonderful story here and we enjoyed reading your history uh your branding is um is very effective uh wonderful history in this historic seal we would tell you leave that right where it is never change it the brand will go to work more daytoday on the outside but that belongs in these Chambers because it's a great piece of History um and then you can see some of the other of course um departments and and groups um related to the city so you know what what it presents though is an opportunity to say what's our story uh embracing our history but where are we going and and that becomes the opportunity for uh this branding exercise wanted to quickly tell you how this process has worked for others don't know if you know Zephyr Hills over on the other side of the state in East Pasco so in the Tampa uh Metro broadly so here's that DNA statement so before we jump into that I'll tell you that Zephyr Hills has a long history just like yours they they were known for their tenan tourists you ever heard about that the first Middle America tourists that came to Winter in Florida went to Zephyr Hills because they had the springs and Lake Zephyr um and then they got into those uh sort of Airstream uh mobile home campers for for their retirement so it became tenan uh City and it's a Charming place also strong Citrus and agriculture roots and they made that change from Citrus and cattle uh and then also they're known who knew for skydiving so they have one of the top skydiving centers in the nation there and those were some of the things we knew about um but their DNA statement after the research process was that for those seeking new energy with the peace and ease of a Charming authentic Florida zepher Hills amidst the rolling Countryside of Pasco County just north of Tampa Embraces an invigorating Legacy of well-being that endures where opportunity Springs Eternal so well-being was the key to that retirement picture there and we we knew we had to sort of take that forward into the future and uh the springs and that led to this branding of zepher Hills Jump Right In and they've launched very successfully here's how that branding has come to life and is coming to life uh the tennis racket you see there's because they have a worldclass tennis Center uh that's uh emerging there a lot of kids go there that that want to become professional tennis players but they have a Charming downtown just like yours and that's how that's working up in oana Minnesota we we looked at their research but um a wonderful town known for the largest Free State Fair in the state of Minnesota they had some great old employers some beautiful uh natural areas just like you and some really neat architecture from Sullivan the Great Chicago architect in this small town did a bang 100 plus years ago looks like that statement got um chopped up in the transfer we'll keep going but there's how their branding came to life and we leverag that local architecture and sense of place into their branding and they're hardworking people and um they have a spirit of going the extra mile for each other and it's also a little further out from Minneapolis so that's where the extra mile takes you became their branding you can see some of the materials here Municipal vehicles sportsware and then the built environment uh way finding signage U The Branding is again well more than just a website logo and then we try to bring a sense of local culture to every Community Endeavor so you know the waffle is a big deal at the fair so we've got a a cast iron U model of the um mold of the of the waffle ice disc pucks Etc and then in Buffalo Grove Illinois you know there's a couple of hundred townships and Villages around Chicago you think you've got a lot around central Florida so it's hard to Stand Out Among those Villages and townships but I I wanted to share Buffalo Grove story because they're going through a Strate uh strategic planning process uh just like you are and the brand as you can see on the right side there uh they ran parallel with their strategic plan and comprehensive plan Community branding so we were in a very integrated process to make sure that the branding answered where they're going we see in your strategic plan two of the key Focus areas really U depend on or could be strengthened by strong branding economic V vitality and development we know that site selectors like to work with communities who know their story and know where they're going they're unified about what they stand for and then also your focus on community character uh and the brand can be a big contributor to community character so that moving BG forward was their strategic planning process their DNA statement uh turns out they're very focused on Great Schools there and they're very thoughtful planners but they're also heartfelt good people that take care of each other so smart with heart became their branding you can see how it's come to life for them and um they again in the built environment city flags public spaces and then lastly um Mr cob mentioned mentioned the Tri Cities area of Northeast Tennessee in Johnson City they were at the same place in 2018 their 150th anniversary was coming up and they thought this was the time to finally sort of get their story right and so they used their anniversary as um a pause to say let's get that story right here is the old branding they called it the Pac-Man logo um and but you can see I wanted you to see this image because it shows their outdoor assets just like you have in a very different way here in Florida it was all about the outdoors up up there and they also had an appalachin Spirit a real grit uh among their people and um people went after it and worked hard up there and so that led to this branding of Johnson City go all out and so that's a reference to going all out every day and doing your best but also enjoying the outdoor uh recreation in this beautiful area and so there is their 150th it actually came first and it sort of drove The Branding so that's not always the case but those were developed in concert but we again the point was that beyond the 150th this thing lived on and it's doing really great work for them um you can see how it it parlays into Department logos like parks and wreck downtown tourism and the library and then there's a a feel for how it has um come to life those are real social media posts that's a staff meeting the guy in the blue t-shirt those are their Public Works vehicles and uh they were lucky enough to win the brand of the Year through our trade Association the 3cma so it's been a great success real quick as we wrap up just wanted to show you other extensions of branding like Community entry and wayfinding signage you have some nice wayfinding signage we saw uh but if you add the element of branding it sort of ties That identity in here's Oola County there's Buffalo Grove some of that entryway signage uh Midlothian Texas that was an existing uh unit that we simply to save money just refaced with the new branding and then up in Marshall Minnesota this is how branding can connect to the W finding systems uh again for all that continuity and then department and partner logo families um we we saw a little of this with Johnson City but you can see how ultimately would' like to have all of your agencies and Department sort of be unified under your uh branding should you choose to do that and then here you can see how that's happened in Columbus Indiana um and there are some anniversary commemorations we've done in addition to Johnson City so Marshall Santi is just beside San Diego and Lista is just beside um Omaha so those are one older but a few younger communities U but we also bring a lot of ideas around public gifts like the butterflies um events to Mark the 100th uh so again it's not just a logo um ultimately we ask our clients what they want to achieve uh out of branding uh if they say we need a new refresh logo that's usually a a poor start we we say let's go deeper what do you really want to happen in this community that branding can affect along with all the human efforts in play and so these are some results of clients that had their own set of goals uh increased tour sales income growth in Residence you don't need that you've got that happening um increase in Resident advocacy to support policy increase in jobs and investment so should we work together we would love to sit down and talk about what are the business objectives for this community that branding can serve and in close wanted you to understand uh not only our interest uh in this project but also our qualification uh we're strategist first uh it's a creative Endeavor but strategy is what moves the needle hope you saw some compelling creative work tonight and then also the ability and this is sort of where the the hard part comes in it's weaving all the many ele elements of your story into a cohesive narrative and then a very inclusive deliberate process to hear your residents to hear your stakeholders uh to secure insights to make a better brand but also to create buyin um if um if you don't secure their inputs you won't get the buyin and uh that's an important aspect and these are just some of the groups we speak uh to and are members of around the country and that was all I had open it to questions any questions well we're going to discuss this right yeah you know I'm I'm just curious how we uh there's two questions in my mind one is timing can we get something done by this time next year we can yeah um we we spoke about that Mr cob and Paul and I that and you might have seen it's about an eight or nine month process um so it would need to begin this summer so that you're in good position by you know turn of the new year because I believe April is is the U official anniversary April 25 I don't know I think so uh the other thing is and it's timing too how can we integrate this with our strategic plan effort that we've got going on and that's that's already underway I think we've got some meetings coming up in the next month or so don't we Brian uh we we do have meetings we're get actually our kickoff is coming up in a couple of weeks yeah so so i' I'd like to somehow I think you had a chart up there or you've done it with other cities you've integrated The Branding with the Strategic plan and the plan should drive the branding you know whatever the objectives you outline in that plan The Branding should serve as well as the story your residents tell us so I think it's perfect timing to integrate and we would um we would welcome the opportunity to receive their attend any meetings or receive their um documents that allow us to know you know what's the compass setting they're shooting for yeah we're also working on our website too right so that would also timing wise I guess we'd have to fit that in there too if we that and would you be willing to decrease the price if we hand you on a silver platter what the community's goals are after the strategy session because $85,000 I I can't wrap my brain around that uh you can go to logo tournament and somebody will create for you all the logos and we can come up with our own little tagline from our strategy session that we're already investing in for $1,000 so I'm trying to figure out what the other $84,000 is for when we don't when our residents we already know our residents do not want more growth and we know because of the constraints of Our Land Development code and the real estate market that it is not possible or is not not not fiscally sensible for anyone to build businesses here uh what there what makes the most sense financially is to build apartment complexes and that is not what our residents want so anything that attracts attention to Ovito I think would draw the ire of residents I don't totally agree with what you just said okay throwing that out there there's five of us up here and I don't think we all agree with that okay I I think most people do not want additional residential growth um then Economic Development would not be a goal of the initiative so what why would we spend money we're not going to get any economic thing if it's if it truly is a feel-good thing I don't know I I just I'm not I'm not well I guess I would ask you what what would better object IV be if not Economic Development I don't see value in it at all I think we can get a new 100th anniversary logo for a thousand bucks that'll be magnificent so I'm I was surprised to see it on here that sounds good in theory can I speak to how that would be I have done it several times and it it works great but it does take a lot of you want to hear initiative from the from other people on staff so if our staff doesn't have the bandwidth I guess if it's a desire you do have a bandwidth the trick with throwing it out online is everybody gets online everybody's happy to be a judge and take a survey what you skip there is three to four months of good Community engagement talking to people listening to people and getting them to bring that story to the surface and then let that Inspire the brand they'll always vote on something for you but I think V this isn't crowd sourcing this is asking have you ever been to logo tournament.com it's it's worth going to because they're your competition and you tell them exactly what you want you say here is our goal these are the concepts we would like you to convey through the logo and they make adjustments based on your feedback and if you say you know it needs to look more oldtime it needs to look more modern then these artists change it and ultimately you as the creator of the contest you pick so it's not crowds ing but you you can of course get feedback from residents would you do a pump station that way or a library do a pump station would you ask them to design from a from afar another Community Asset I'm going to ask I I think the five of us can pick one and that we can work with an artist to do so yeah yeah you could I think my my answer to that would be it would not it would not stand the test of time um because it it did it wasn't backed by process process and insight um we stand on two decades of experience of communities like you saw on that results slide that saw an impact from these Brands because it represented what their people believe but also where they're going strategically and it sered their strategic goals I think it'd be hard to find that online you could get it online I don't think it would stand the test of time I've I've seen it stand the test of time before for other other businesses so I I just disagree but if they like it all you need is three we and you get $85,000 well and 450 hours of work so I I I think it's a I can't imagine how it could take that long if you're not wasting time I it takes one week crowdsourcing on Facebook to get all this information and most of it we're going to have through our strategic you discussions yeah it's a different path certainly more affordable um I don't think you'll stand the test of time um I think this um represents less than one tenth of 1% of your annual budget um it's important money though yeah it's your it's your resident money um but we don't waste money and um hopefully the record speaks to that but I I appreciate and understand the question that's why I started with branding sounds fluffy doesn't it but it's not it's very strategic as well as creative so I guess you never did answer the question would you lower the price if we hand you on a silver platter onethird of what you would do like if we say you know you don't need to go crowdsource it we've already had a strategic meeting and we know that this is the direction based on the input of residents and and all of us discussing the public meetings yeah we'd be open to a more um detailed negotiation but I can't say yes to that okay yeah okay we have a research process that would and could be strengthened by that but it may still not be complete so it's hard to know what the silver platter is that's why I can't say yes to that so any other discussion I think if you want to sit down we'll probably discuss amongst ourselves some yeah sure all right thanks very much for the time yeah uh Mr Cobb do we not have the bandwidth in house to do some of this because I have found Miss McDonald to be terrifically talented and if she were given a logo that a graphic designer created I think she could do some amazing stuff with it I agree that that she is super talented I agree with that uh however when I looked at the overall package of the services they can provide then I don't think that that's really her um her expertise uh yes I agree that she could take a logo and do fantastic things with it as far as social media and as far as U uh the different newsletters and all the things that she puts out and I think she could even take a tagline and run with it but when I look at the process that that they go through and the different they don't just touch the logo it's one thing you know that it's not just the logo it's all other things it's as far as telling the story that um I think they bring more is what I believe I guess what I heard from his presentation and the first thing he says is this is not about the logo so I think it's kind of funny we're talking about the logo um well I think you said too we weren't going to change the logo we keep the logo we were going to keep the logo but as I do see some benefit to doing this I don't know about the price tag right now but as far as what I'm getting at what we're trying to do here and what is brought to us right now is branding our city in a way that's communicating who we are um and we're always trying to communicate better we know our website's not great we're trying to make our website better more presentable and this is essentially doing that for our city at large um how do we communicate that we have the best parks and rec systems in the county how do we communicate that we're great Pace to live and do that through graphics and storytelling of a brand and that's what I got out of that so I do see a benefit to that and I absolutely see a benefit to doing that not on Facebook to people who just go on there to um rant but but making sure we're tapping into the people who live here and actually hearing what they want person to person face to face I value that a lot higher than I do of people just rifting on social media so I definitely see the benefit um I appreciate the presentation out here um as far as the cost I I do see where we could discuss that but that's that's what I took away from that Mr B I um no I think that you know we uh you know this you know veto is still growing and uh I mean in our comprehensive plan uh there there is a lot of residential growth proposed so when you were saying that no one wants growth well it's in our comprehensive plan um but we want to make sure we attract the right um businesses to our community um make it a place to to be able to hold business uh you know to do business in a friendly manner um it's a great place to live we want to tell that story and I think that an organization such as Northstar could do that for us and and kind of help us move along with our strategic plan so um you know I I think that if we you know I think we need more uh we need like a scope of work and uh um and then the costs kind of more itemized on it um but you know $85,000 for for this type of work and the amount of hours that that if it's truly done right that that are required for this um is not you know is not out of the realm of things Mr B I said my piece I think we got to have a little bit more discussion I don't think we we're planning on making a decision tonight on this uh because there is a cost component to this and we haven't even talked to Mr hoop about whether where that would come from so Mr Cobb I mean I guess the what is the direction you're looking for here tonight if we still don't have a lot of information I was just wanting to know if it was something you're interested in moving forward with uh if you are right if not then we we understand and uh so uh I Mr Briton you're right this isn't something that's currently in the budget and so we would need to do a budget amendment to to be able to do it uh so but uh but that was it I I just was we wanted knowing that if we want to try to get to April 25th of next year uh we um you know we needed to move quickly I would say from my end it too I'm intrigued by it um I think one of our challenges has been we've talked about before is getting the businesses not small businesses but large businesses to come into our town so people actually you know have that live work kind of environment um we haven't done a good job with it I mean we got a hospital which is great um we got some stuff at the mall um but we really haven't done a really good job of really drawing businesses into our town to establish themselves and hire workers that are in our city City uh kind of build it so I am intrigued by this but I think we do probably need more information um as we go forward and on the additional information I'd be grateful for uh alternative companies that do the same thing I I think it would not be prudent to move in this direction and only consider one company um and another thing to pull in for the future I don't know if it's discussion or an item that would be coming forward for a vote is the some input from a real estate person to give us some perspective on whether there's anything we can do to make people choose to buy extremely expensive land to put businesses that don't generate the same rent as apartments and and I think that is a both a positive and a negative of our scenario well we are highly desirable for residential and it just so Happ happens that what pays the very most in taxes is multif family residential so we need to and maybe this is part of the scope I I don't know if there is a way to get people to want to move into the bottom layer of a mixed use kind of a place I mean that is something that has a residential component that's all we're going to be able to offer and as I have talked to technology Industries people who have office type space or want to do like like an office condo our land prices just do not work with what they can afford if they go just a little bit outside of our city so we have to work within the reality of what the real estate is that's available in our area and accept what we what we are which is you know For Better or Worse kids in culde saacs has become our unofficial motto and we can try to change it but it's going to be extremely difficult to defy the real estate market so I I'm just hoping you can add in that perspective Mr cob for any future stuff is this a service that needs to be bid out it uh use we could do an RFP for it I'm sorry we could do an RFP but it's not required it's not required no okay you have enough Direction [Music] uh I I got enough for now okay and then our last discussion item is State lobbying Services Mr cop uh thank you Def mayor um our um our state lobbyist has been the topic of a number of Orlando Sentinel articles in recent history uh and it uh begs a question of U whether or not they can provide full advocacy uh toward uh legislative actions that the city is um as of concern to the city uh in those articles there was mention of having clients on both sides of an issue and uh so though they've been wonderful with uh bringing State dollars uh to to the city uh there is a question about whether or not there are competing interests on the other side that are also represented by them and so uh mayor was looking through those and said we need to have a discussion about this because it does impact the city and so we put it on the agenda tonight knowing that I have all five of you here tonight so we put it on the agenda tonight uh so that you could have a discussion about about the state lobbying Services okay so you obiously have have it you want to talk about well presumably you guys read everything in attachment six and I just kind of went through the lobby the the list of clients that that gray Robinson represents and there look to be some things where it would be very difficult to Lobby uh to Advocate very zealously for all clients at all times uh I did have a discussion with Mr Karm asked him to to send a note back and and you maybe address some of the concerns from from the list here I didn't get anything back yet um but he he did say that there are times when he simply doesn't get asked by other clients to Advocate because they know that it would conflict with too many of his municipal clients or County clients or you know various places so as long as that's accurate that any public SE or PR private sector client would simply be happy not to be represented and he will zealously advocate for us I I guess that addresses my concern but there is the issue between counties and cities because for for the issue of uh the mobility fee the they were not completely harmonious so simal count is okay with Mobility be but other counties that he represents are are not is not as okay with it uh so anyway I'd rather him speak to all these things I don't want to put words in his mouth or misrepresent but I I I do see some challenges and I would like to make sure that going forward if if it's the pleasure of council to continue the relationship that we clarify is he just going for appropriation is he doing policy and and it's not just Chris it's uh Katie and the whole the whole great Robinson team I I just think we need to make sure because there were was such extensive coverage in the paper I got questions uh and you know people kind of joking around oh that's not your your lawyer is it and yeah yeah is our lawyer and and people have asked well what what are you what steps are you taking to make sure that you don't have a situ like occurred in Orange County where he's doing things that directly conflict with what we have instructed him to lobby for so that's what the discussion is about so we can answer those questions to everybody in Ido okay oh please let this written go well I talked to Chris quite a bit at leue of City's functions and frankly I I have a hard time imagining any law firm or Lobby firm that doesn't have to talk out of both sides of the mouth I think it's the challenge is is on us we need to tell him what what uh we want him to advocate for and yes it is about getting approach Appropriations but uh there's other groups that we work with also that advocate for home rule and and those challenges and you know if uh it's up to them not to not to have those conflicts as far as I'm concerned we need to tell him what what we're advocating for and what what we're looking for as far as Appropriations and let them go to their jobs and from a performance standpoint I think they've done a pretty good job I mean I'm a little torn on this one so he didn't get in trouble for advocating for one client versus the other he got in trouble for advocating for someone who wasn't his client that hurt his client that's a big difference to me so it's it's it's not like he's trying to help both of his clients he went out of his way to hurt his own client um that is a problem with me um and the paper covered that extensively and and the fact that he still works at the firm really shocks me on any private company sleazy or not if you get caught in public doing something like that you're ruining your company's reputation and as far as far as someone who's representing us um how we have not got a response I guess you did write them a letter on how we would be ured that if they're advocating for oovo we're paying them to do that they're going to do it and they have not responded um not have we sent a city letter asking for insurances on that no we haven't seen anything um so I mean as far as what I would like to do and feel free to jump in is is ask how we are going to be insured and if there's any clause in the contract that says they can cannot do that um and then on top of that I would prefer we do not work with someone who has shown complete disregard for someone they're supposed to represent um I mean how how can you I get that they do a great job they get us money they've done their work but if they have been essentially caught fighting against someone who pays them by someone who does not that is a problem and I I do see that I'm torn on this one I um they they've done a lot for us um theyve they've you know we've we've seen a lot of benefit from from what they've done and um on the uh financial side and on policy side they have advocated for oito in the past um I mean Chris has has been very responsive and and has uh has done a good job for for us um I and I I do agree with that I just see the issue here yeah um I I don't know um I think we need to maybe you know at a at a work session um have him come in and let's discuss it and just see what assurances that we can get from him um that you know he's he you know that Ovito that he'll be able to hold oo's interests you know over you know conflicting you know conflicting parties and and not to try to hurt us with someone that isn't even his client so I I think we need to you know bring him in and him and Katie in for a work session and just have some discussion yeah the same thing I'm kind of torn on it too so but I mean he they have done a lot for us I mean the note we got tonight before the meeting um they listed out what you know what they have done in the last few years I mean a half a million dollars we got the uh the high water truck um for the fire department uh water sewer um I guess what is a survey um that was getting done so there's a lot of things there that they have done I do understand the concern about you know what has transpired with them outside of our city and another city neighboring city and county so probably I think what Mr poock said I mean if they come in and have a discussion with us I think that' be good understand they are coming in to give us an update in a couple weeks well they were supposed to come in they're scheduled to come in on the 20th but with not having all of you here I I would I would rather have them come in when you're all here so we'll we'll look we'll talk with to see if we can have them post yeah I don't know if it's best to do it then or is it best to do it in a work session yeah so we we'll talk to them about it and and see but yeah when with uh with the mayor and Mr poock and the graduations at the next meeting I I think it's best we have well five of you okay so all right so you have the direction and is there something in that contract with them that says they cannot advocate for clients or non-clients our our contract is really more oo it says you'll you'll advocate for these things it doesn't really say anything about not advocating for that would be one of the insurance I would I would like to discuss that if we do move forward with them that it is in our contract that they cannot go outside whether it be at work or outside of their clients and Advocate at something that would hurt us I do think if we got that in writing that would help a lot okay so we're get it on Direction yes sir wonderful while you're finishing your notes the city manager's report actually Mr Kelly has a request from you at Mr Kelly is going to be our Point person for the strategic planning process and he's been working with the East Central Florida Regional planning Council Miss Tera McHugh and he would like to get some uh get some direction from you good evening mayor Deputy Mayor counsel um as Mr cob said we've been working with East Central Florida Regional planning Council on uh some upcoming uh Retreat dates uh for the council uh and as you recall uh the direction was to have uh meetings in the evening rather than a couple of one all day or two all day uh um sitd Downs uh so what we come up with was three uh dates uh and I wanted to check your availability on uh September uh 10th uh 11th and 12th is that something you can send to us and we give back to you you need or do you need that tonight well it's something yes I I thought I would ask all five of you here while we have you at one time I'm good I'm looking at my calendar okay yeah yes that that was the uh first date and there are some backup dates um but that is preferred yes September evening time right yes for the evening okay three nights I'm okay as of now but yeah I'm the same thing I could say yes right now but I'm not sure okay I just would like to get it on the calendar as soon as possible I'll send out an email with that date uh those dates in mind and then a couple of backups uh but that is a preferred date if uh we can be available okay thank you that's all I have Deputy Mayor that's all you have M Ross thank you Mr deputy mayor uh I believe you've all reviewed the email that I sent you about the public nuisance occurring at 987 Orange Avenue and um as I let you know in the email I'm requesting the city council's approval to file a lawsuit against the property owner um under Florida statute section 6.05 the abatement of public nuisance statutes and um one thing I didn't mention in the email is that statute does provide for Recovery of costs for filing the law suit um so we could at least recover the filing fee summons um service of process at least the cost and I would of course do my best to recover fees as well um do you all have any questions for me about the situation or about the the the legal action that I'm requesting I do want to disclose that I have uh visited the site been inside the property been to the backyard spoken with the owner um and um it is a a very difficult situation and and I don't I don't love that this is this appears to be the only way to resolve it but I also am not sure that there is any better way to resolve it thank you mayor no I'm I'm good with going forward do we need to do an official vote on this or how does that how does that work I I know that in the past lawsuits have been filed by consensus and it did not sit well with the person against whom the lawsuit was filed so if there's a way that we can make it more formal I think that would be helpful yes I agree I think a motion and a vote would be best under the circumstances can we do that now does it need to be noticed I mean that that's my wondering um I I I think you can do it now I um you think or you know well I I looked into whether a formal resolution was necessary to move forward with the lawsuit and I don't and I found that one wasn't um so if we're really being technical consensus is all we need um uh but we could if if you feel more comfortable doing a vote or having a vote we could even wait until the next meeting because realistically I'm going to need some time to draft the lawsuit and put it all together meet with staff solidify what exactly we're going to request through the through the litigation um uh and that sounds better to me to make sure that the property owner absolutely sees it coming and if there's any last ditch opportunity to correct the situation that that that opportunity is extended yeah I think that would that would work well to do it that way and at least we've had the discussion you've all and then you'll have more time to reach out to me if you have questions about about the situation or what um or or even ideas on on what we could ask for in the from the from the court as far as far as how to um to address this unfortunate situation which fortunately is an unusual situation for the city so well I might like some information on what possible downsides might be what if we lose take them to court and then we lose what kind of downsides is that oh we won't lose well we've been told that before right this time I agree that we won't lose last time I thought we would and we did it's a good question council member Britton um worst case scenario if we brought a completely frivolous um suit under the statute and we lost then the property owner could um recover prevailing party fees that um if they have to hire a lawyer and and we lose then they could recover those costs and fees against the city well Sanford had a program that we adopted into ion they called it snap which wasn't my vision for ION but they had a program that went into neighborhoods that had this type of situation and they just bulldozed the House Down Under that program is there a way we can set establish a rule like that I mean they went into crack houses and and they weren't there the next day they were gone the the trouble here that I've run into and I I'll continue to research it and look for um a route that we could take that that direction trouble here is that the property is is Homestead so it's protected by Homestead um exemptions and Homestead protections so right now we have code enforcement findes run if it's if it's a rental property it's still protected by Homestead it it's not a rental it I heard he was running to people no he lives there right the home Homestead is defined as um the somewhere where the where the owners is residing their primary residence or it could even just be the the residence of their family they don't even have to live there I weird situation one time where I had to litigate Homestead where uh um the the person wasn't living there but his his EST stranged wife was still living there with the children and it was he had moved out years ago and it was still homestead under the Florida law um but uh so that's the problem here is that it's it's Homestead um Florida forfeiture Contraband Contraband act even protects Homestead FL Supreme Court said that the homestead exemption applies um condemnation um as I mentioned in the email the special magistrate has recommended that the city pursue condemnation all those the house um which um would be great but unfortunately I don't see that the elements are met um the elements of condemnation for the for our city code um but I'm I'm hoping through what I'd like to request in the in the in the lawsuit is um an injunction against the property being inhabited until the public nuisance is Abad and also make ask the court and of course we don't know if we can get this or not but um going one of the requests would be that the property owner um undergo treatment substance abuse treatment before being allowed to reoccupy the property um so but I'll continue to look for Avenues of of um demolishing the property and but I I don't as of right now I haven't found anything that that would let us do that okay so then you'll bring it back to us to the next meeting okay yes thank you all right anything else no sir thank you great thank you all right I'm up next um we had the Arbor Day tree giveaway here uh Saturday morning a great job by public works and parks and wreck you guys uh really knocked it out of the park again the pre-registering for the trees made it go very quickly I just felt bad for the uh the coffee donut person who I think only had nine sales for the day um for the what what four hours 3 hour hours that they were there so I know that parks and wreck was going to kind of look into that but you had 600 trees I don't know how many were left over I left probably about 20 minutes to 12 so um didn't look like there's many left mostly Elms and River Birches that can be planted around the city so and thanks to uh you guys having the tire truck out there and then also uh uh U what's her name the Chief What's um yes yeser yeah so completely slip my mind but it's great to see her out there and Parks and Rec to also had their uh their event on um on satday night bacon Bourbon and blues um smaller event for our city um it looked like it was well attended um so it was nice to see obviously people out and then they had a comedy show that went right after that so uh a nice tie in there for that so nice to have those events through the city and then obviously have both of them on uh back to back and then obviously for you guys uh you know again recognize you guys police for uh for the week you know for recognizing for police officers as well so appreciate all you guys do so especially you know stopping alligators out on the interstate you know making sure they're not hurting anybody so but anyway so good discussions tonight um so I think there's some definitely some interesting stuff that we had tonight so I thought it was overall pretty good so that's about all I got council member Britain uh I don't have much to add I just uh just that I'll be leaving in about 11 hours to go on the DC trip with the chamber folks uh they've got an agenda signed up uh our lobbyist up there has been very helpful they're going to attend uh all the meetings with me with uh any of the officials that we meet with and I think we've got meetings set up with both senators and our our congressmen so should be productive great counc want two here um I also want to thank our clerks they do an awesome job so it's good to recognize them for a week out of the year but I appreciate you all year um and thank you to our police officers too so um both good things uh this past week we had CNO actually in the city it was here so we had our C chair and Mr cob go over our downtown historic area and what we're doing there and it was actually pretty cool presentation and I thought it was a good summation of how many different moving Parts we've really brought together to get the projects you're seeing now get going so um I appreciate you guys coming out and doing that for CNO um Arbor Day great event my kids absolutely love their firefighter hat and their badge so totally confused all day on which one they were but um and the tattoos by Soil and Water Board I think my son still has half a fire truck on his hand so good stuff um let's see uh Lockwood are we still starting Paving that tonight mhm the signs are out so it's past 6:30 so that's a big one for us so it's good to see that going too um Geneva Drive I went down like a week ago so I don't know if we've talked about this but it's mostly open so you can actually go down the roundout take right off that so again with our downtown good things are happening um and the last thing I wanted to mention since it's May next month is June so I know we've done this in years past but I want to confirm or I guess ask um if we're doing we are doing a pride month I just wanted to ask if this year if we were a able to get it as a proclamation by the mayor um I think it's a great month to advocate for and say we're here for all of our citizens and I just wanted to clarify if we're going to be having this year or if we need to move forward with doing a declaration with the rest of council so we get it on the calendar for June if you guys are cool calling it dignity month I I think the words reflect the sentiment that everybody's if that's if your answer is no that's fine I wholeheartedly agree with that as you know um I think if we have a whole organization throughout the entire country call something pride month and they say this is what represents us to rename it something that doesn't represent them is insulting um but I would like to get consult consensus tonight from the other members that we would like to do a pride month so can I get that tonight yes I'm onine all right got it thank you and that's all I have tonight okay Madame mayor and I don't have any report other than to share that graduation is next two two Mondays from today so I will will be celebrating with my daughter then congratulations both your All Families council member Pollock no report well congratulations to your daughter future meeting dates uh Monday May 20th uh 6 PM CRA governing board tenative still tenative all right still tenative Monday May 20th 6:30 regular session and Monday June 3rd 6:30 regular session that is anything else with the good to the order we are adjourned