e e e e e e e e e e please rise for invocation by Pastor Nathan buer of Victorious Life Church followed by the Pledge of Allegiance mayor council people in the room can we pray for our uh leaders together and just join in with me father thank you for an incredible Lord City a credible State thank you for the leadership that has made themselves available to govern this region we bless them we speak favor over their families over their children Lord all all their doings God we thank you that Lord they answered the call Lord would you give them wisdom and guidance we pray God for your bless blessings upon them thank you for this meeting tonight God we're asking that you would give us Insight beyond our ability Lord that you would guide this city into the direction that pleases you in Jesus precious name amen amen amen I pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all will the clerk call the role councilman Foley here councilman grubs councilman Bastion here vice mayor sner here mayor Bernett we are here we have four out of five so we have a quorum with that Mr city manager it is time for the state of the city I believe you have a video ready to play and then I will have a few remarks in Council as is my tradition I like to share the state of the city and you all will follow with your marks as well and Scott this year you can't speak longer than me okay okay Tracy a 2023 and the accomplishments we've had as a city as we move into 2024 and Beyond we' had key infrastructure improvements storm water canal and we're going to take a look at all that our B of these accomplishments and how it defined our journey in 23 and set our expectations for 2024 and Beyond I give you now the state of the City Port Orange is known as a safe familyfriendly attractive Community with great Parks schools and reliable infrastructure the city continued to build on this reputation in 2023 Parks and Recreation quality Parks strong and growing athletic programs and a variety of community activities managed by the city's Parks and Recreation Department provide a great quality of life for our residents of all ages the Pinnacle of this was seen in the spring of 2023 when the newly renovated re Center opened with an additional 10,000 ft of space with a two-story indoor playground Esports Lounge meeting space pickle ball courts basketball courts and more that have welcome to More Than 42,000 visitors through its doors the city's athletic programs continue to excel attracting more participation every year and Port Orange continues to have the highest participation rate for field sports programs in the county the city's 28 parks and Facilities hosted more than 70 special events and two dozen City sponsored events events such as the 4th of July spectacular the Halloween fest and Christmas in the Park our city parks span more than 500 Acres which is roughly the size of Epcot the Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios combined through generous donations from our community more than $88,000 was raised at the mayor's golf tournament to support the youth scholarship fund the scholarship fund helps families cover the cost of participating in activities such as summer camp sport Sports and the wck pass this year also saw the launch of new programs such as the story stroll which brought families and their children to city center to walk and read the pages of a book posted around the lake staff introduced cookies with Santa which brought in the holiday cheer as dozens of children were able to decorate cookies read a story with Santa and even have a snowball fight during our festive Florida winter the Parks and Recreation program will continue to expand with the launch of Agents of Discovery and the QR fit Trail in 2024 these programs will allow citizens to engage and explore our Parks enjoying all our great city has to offer storm watera improvements in 2023 the city continued an aggressive approach to improve its storm water system through ongoing enhancements and increased maintenance focusing on areas impacted by recent hurricanes and heavy rain events a key component of this is the city's continuing eff efforts in developing an updated storm water master plan for the next 20 years the plan will analyze projects striving to improve the resiliency of some of the city's more established neighborhoods against flooding the plan is expected to be adopted in the spring of 2025 more immediate improvements include Crews cleaning nearly 19,000 ft of storm water pipe and removing any impediments that could affect the systems efficiency that's nearly eight times as much as was done in 2022 additionally crws cleared 31,000 ft of debris and vegetation from ditches and sailes an increase of approximately 2,000 ft from 2022 to address the Damage Done by Hurricane Nicole short-term repairs were completed at the Cambridge Canal Pump Station one of the city's main storm water defense systems these repairs worked effectively during both Heavy Rain events allowing water to effectively move from the canal system into Rose Bay and helped to protect the nearly 2,000 homes in the area in another important step the city purchased a property on meline Avenue where it plans to begin construction on a retention pond in 2025 this Pond is anticipated to help handle some of the stormwater runoff around the meline Avenue and Jackson Street neighborhoods which are impacted by the Nova Canal's limitations additionally Crews repaired damage from Hurricane Ian throughout the city and are working on making storm water improvements to fogs for road which are nearly finished improvements along Jackson and Oak streets are anticipated to begin this spring and be completed in 2025 the city is taking steps to improve the resiliency of homes and neighborhoods and applied for FEMA grants to assist 48 properties including elevating 33 homes and helping rebuild five the other 10 properties will be preserved As Natural spaces for the potential for some to be used for storm water management enhancements the city is lineing in 2500 ft of storm water pipe this will limit water intrusion and sediment and improve the pipe's longevity and resiliency which will reduce the potential of damaged roads due to Broken pipes underground water and sewer a reliable Water and Wastewater system is of vital importance the quality of the city's drinking water system was evident when it received its second 20-year extension for its consumptive use permit from the state's Water Management District allowing us to continue drawing or drinking water from the aquafer for the next two decades the consumed use permit or cup is normally granted in 5-year intervals the city received more than $15 million from the state to help upgrade the filters and generators at its wastewater treatment plant to make them more resilient during a storm Additionally the city is also upgrading water mains to enhance the water and sewer systems efficiency and resiliency the city is lining 21,000 ft of sanitary sore pipe this will limit water intrusion and improve the pipe's longevity and resiliency and will reduce the impacts on the lift stations and treatment plan there are more than 100 sanitary sewer lift stations throughout the city that pump Wastewater to be treated the city is systematically upgrading critical lift stations and making them more resilient these include the locations at Herbert and Nova near the center of town the town west lift station near Clyde Morris and the East Master lift station by the city's Wastewater Plant on Oak Street sidewalks additional infrastructure upgrades were made to improve sidewalks throughout the city the city increased the number of sidewalk contractors it uses from one contractor to three in 2023 which has optimized the efficiency of the repairs this allows Crews to replace 10,000 ft of sidewalk and 104 ft of curbing throughout the City compared to roughly 700 ft of repairs done in 2022 many sidewalk improvements have been done with more coming including improvements around the city center to improve safety and accessibility for pedestrians the city will continue its focus on sidewalk improvements in the upcoming year roads well-maintained roads are critical to the interests of our residents and businesses and the city initiated some key Paving projects Crews paved 3 and a half miles of Road and are expected to pave an additional 2 and a/4 miles of road before the end of this year this includes clud Paving projects scheduled for mateline Avenue Town West Boulevard and Willow Run Boulevard in addition to Paving Crews have striped 1.2 miles of Road Public Safety the safety of our residents is a top priority for the city and is achieved through the success of its police and fire Services 2023 marked the 20th year the police department received its accredited agency designation through the commission on accreditation for law enforcement agencies the department continues finding new ways in the use of technology to improve safety for our citizens and solve Crimes by installing automatic license plate readers throughout the city our officers continue to give back to the community Through donations and their volunteer efforts by collecting food for the Valia basket Brigade to deliver to families during Thanksgiving along with clothing bicycles and toys for 390 children as part of cops for Christmas the department has recruited and hired 19 new officers as the city continues to focus on Recruitment and Retention the motors unit was awarded a bicycle and pedestrian safety grant for the second consecutive year and three of its officers placed in the Matt Miller motorcycle challenge the coastal crisis negotiations team grew to 25 active members and now includes officers from Seven agencies fire and rescue continues to improve and add new ways that it can help our residents it purchased a new ambulance that was put into service last year fire also bought two 16t tracker Grizzly boats which can be used to help rescue people in flooded areas during storm events the fire department's drone has a highdef thermal imaging camera that can be used by firefighters to find hot spots and other issues such as those that occur during a natural disaster firefighters have begun using battery operated cordless extrication tools that can cut through materials allowing First Responders to rescue someone trapped inside a vehicle these cordless battery operated tools are similar to the jaws of life and provide our crews with more mobility and flexibility to respond and Aid people during an emergency fire rescue is a leader in our area when it comes to training and education more than 1500 Healthcare and EMS professionals have been trained by our team on certifications from BB life support pediatric Advanced life support and more the Training Division offers 13 State of Florida certified classes annually in 2023 it trained over 140 firefighters from surrounding fire agencies and Fire and Rescue continues to reach our goal of becoming a Regional training facility for area firefighters the department has conducted numerous Regional training opportunities for area firefighters and recently held a technical rescue class at our training facility the technical training course rope rescue were taught to over 25 fire Personnel from Seven fire agencies in Belia County Economic Development and job creation through strong economic initiatives and strategic planning the city's Waterfront will undergo a transformation with the Downunder district and Riverwalk projects these projects aim to improve the dining and entertainment options for our residents and create a destination our residents will want to visit regularly city council adopted the Down Under District project plans in 2023 the project aims to bring improvements to the 11 acres of land underneath the east side of the dun Lon bridge that the city leases from the state the plan will increase the amount of available public parking and improve drainage along with access it will also upgrade Aesthetics through lighting murals and decorative signs the plans include a fishing pier a dock and a plaza where people can meet before and after meals in this growing Entertainment District across the river is the site of the future Riverwalk project this project is anticipated to transform the city's Riverfront with 450 multif family units and about 35,000 square ft of restaurant and retail space along with a public parking along the River Construction is expected to begin by the end of 2025 this project is also expected to be a catalyst for further economic Vitality along the city's Waterfront and the River District area in addition to these projects construction of the 6,44 squ Ft catfish Commons multi-tenant commercial building on Ridgewood Avenue is expected to be completed by the Fall the Eastport Business and Technology Park economic progress continues to be Amplified with projects like beong USA spec contractor Services contributing to the area's job growth the city also welcomed more than a dozen new businesses from restaurants and dining options such as Miller's Ale housee Lola's Cantina and Burger Bar and non's Italian to National retailers such as Bath and Body Works and Carters more businesses are expected to open in 2024 including Del Taco and the milk tea store the city implemented smartgov a new electronic permitting system that enhanced our city services by streamlining the permitting process and reducing review times up to 70% in some some cases looking ahead to 2024 and Beyond the city will line 42,000 lineal feet of sewer pipe doubling the amount of pipelined in 2023 Crews will also repair and replace the covers of 165 manholes to prevent leaks almost 100 more than the years prior as the city continues to make strides and emphasize infrastructure improvements future city improvements through Grant opportunity are expected to occur with the day dock design at Riverwalk Park and cyber security upgrades along with funding for Vital equipment for firefighters later this year residents will have the opportunity to support a Parks bond that will fund the design construction renovation expansion and Improvement of public parks and recreation facilities to ensure we meet the needs of our current and future Generations it's good to take a look back and see where we've been in 2020 three but I look forward to carrying the momentum and the progress that we've made in all these areas forward so that we can continue to service you our citizens in the way that we have and in the community spirit that we've held let's have a great 2024 everybody thank you 2 three I tell you what that was a a nice look backwards uh and I can't help but think as I Look Backwards not just at 2023 I'm kind of looking back the last seven and a half years because this is my last state of the city as mayor of the city of Port Orange so I'm feeling you know a little modeling tonight I guess you could say um but as we look back it's also about what have we done the last seven years to make the future bright and you see that there's an awful lot there I first before I do and and before I forget of course I want to thank Mike and Mick and Alexis and the rest of the team for their work on the video I appreciate that that was a lot of hard work and uh appreciate uh the their work to tell the story and I kind of wanted to just say uh to Mick the soundtrack you wrote we will not have any problems with con um any any kind of uh infringement on copyright laws that was an original track so uh Mick actually is kind of hoping we could have heard more of that but that's okay I appreciate apprciate the uh the extra effort that was put into the state of the city that you do every year and that's a a terrific terrific uh Talent it's it's amazing how many people that work in this city that have talents that go well beyond what you see every day and that's it says something for our residents as well you saw the highlights of Riverwalk you know I'm looking forward to being able to attend that groundbreaking uh the Civic water the restaurant retail that'll be there the ability for our residents to go down there and enjoy themselves and enjoy the water and all that it has involved that's something it's 30 years into the making and we're finally turning a corner there and I look forward to uh uh what Bristol development has in store for us with that uh I also know that I'm going to tease a little bit that they're probably going to have an an announcement later this summer about some of the things that they're going to do down there to uh make the Waterfront enjoyable as they work to develop it as well so it's you don't have to necessarily wait till they're finished building they're going to be doing some things down there uh with the land that they acquire uh to make sure that our residents can enjoy themselves so kind of looking forward to that uh I tell you what on the other side of the bridge Port Orange down under area there was uh we covered this recently the council approved the uh the master plan for redevelopment down there uh s significant improvements in parking there's almost 60% more parking spaces are going to be down there but the Aesthetics the underlighting uh for the bridge uh The Pedestrian walkways all the other parts of it to to make it more enjoyable and More Beautiful uh looking forward to seeing all those things as they come forward as well we didn't talk about it in the video but I'm going to bring it to everybody's attention right now tonight you saw in the video our parks and Rec Center at the wreck we've expanded that building it's not just a basketball gymnasium anymore we've spent a few million dollars we had some help with eeko to do that uh to expand that to a full service facility they've got all sorts of things in there and I've always said I don't care whether you're age eight or age 80 I want something for uh everybody to have something to do in Port Orange and in that building they they've got a terrific e-gaming room uh to see our kids enjoying that so it's not just about Athletics Recreation entertainment uh aerobics uh all sorts of things that going on in there day and night and it is a fabulous success we talk about Field Sports in Port Orange we've got over 5,000 people playing field sports in Port Orange there's 16 cities in Valia County and that's twice as much as our closest neighbor that's incredible so we're talking about where we are now we only need we need more space in August you're going to hear more about it but there's going to be a Parks Bond initiative on that ballot you're going to have the choice to invest further in the city of Port Orange in Parkland and space and buildings and all sorts of things for the next 50 years it's going to survive all of us up here and in this room uh we're talking about the quality of life that makes up our city even if you're not once directly using those facilities when you improve quality of life you improve safety in a city helps keep crime down uh it helps keep property values up there's a lot of things that you gain from that investment other than just being able to go see that Park those parks and of course if we buy land we're preserving that land it's not being developed that's another side benefit of that so think about it when you see in August on the ballot the parks and wreck initiative you'll be learning more about it as we go because we're we're still working on it ourselves a little bit but uh that is something where you guys can make make the choice and the decision what kind of city do we want to be and what kind of investment do we want to make towards our future and let's invest in ourselves I'm looking forward to I I hope that that has a very uh positive uh Outlook I know that in the past such things have done well here when citizens have voted to invest in ourselves Doris leaper in the 90s was a terrific example of something that the citizens of Port Orange decided to invest in and there it is it's preserved perpetuity so there's certain examples like that in the video you saw the lot on meline Avenue we talked about we've got almost $30 million Investments planned in in storm water uh improvements over the next few years but that lot I've also asked the city manager to see what we can do to make sure that we can in the meantime and in the future see some kind of dual use uh that should be known as sugar Forest Park at Pepper Hill from now on and I'm looking forward to the um the dedication of that so Wayne tomorrow you're going to make that happen right close close to tomorrow okay that's you know sooner is always better than later when it comes to being able to uh observe and preserve the lands in our neighborhoods especially when it we can uh U improve storm water at the same time having a passive neighborhood park is a great secondary use I know he's probably uh texting as Parks and Rec director right now but uh uh I just look forward to being able to bring bring of Frisbees and lawn chairs and being able to enjoy that you also heard in the video something called consumptive use permit every five years every city that produces drinking water has to go before the state and justify a permit well we haven't had to do it for 20 years because our management plan was uh has generally been graded as Superior the capacity for drinking water is more than sufficient we've got 32 of our 40 water well Fields out in 10,000 acres of land preserved in perpetuity west of the city west of tamoka Farms Road that will never be developed that is a legacy that was put in place before us up here it's a legacy this Council up here has helped preserve and in the future will continue to and because of that we have no concerns in the city of Port Orange over water consumption the state has renewed our permit for another 20 years and we've got well enough capacity to where it's not concern with from both capacity and quality standpoint and I I can't ask for better and Wayne that is probably uh one of the most underp published undersold accomplishments of your staff uh drinking water is something that we should never have to think about we should just be able to turn the tap on and comes out we want water to go away you shouldn't have to think about whether it's getting treated or not the things that you don't have to think about uh that's what we work hard to make sure are there the city services they will be there for you and that that's our commitment when we talk about customer service that's what it's all about and of course we have to reinvent ourselves constantly and we talked about the Ridgewood Avenue Corridor uh we talked about the east side of the city and how uh not just Riverwalk but you know you've heard the expression of rising tide lifts all boats well by proclamation when High open Riverwalk Park with this Council up here on the hard works of of the people that came before us and and the people up here now people ahead of us are going to be working hard too because their legacy is to take care of what is going to be known forever now as the River District of Port Orange so you'll start see these signs on the east side of our city this is a message that not only is this uh an important part of our city but this is a part of our city we're going to continue to invest and reinvest in as we work to redevelop it uh a lot of older neighborhoods down there that have needed our help they've been getting it uh the Monroe Avenue flood project was uh one example of that you're going to be see more of this but the River District we're going to continue to make sure this is a very very important part of our city moving forward whether you live there or whether you go there to enjoy it so I'm looking forward to seeing these signs go up to remind everybody what that stands for so Wayne I appreciate you getting this done for tonight and this is technically the unveiling of this sign so nice there you go Scott you can hold it you can hold it which brings me to page three none of this happens without an active engaged citizenry so we have you to thank for all of that we've been able to do if we didn't have an active engaged citizenry we would not have what's been consistently ranked one of the top 20 safest cities in Florida the last 10 years we wouldn't have the quality of life we have here because at the end of the day and Wayne I'm going to say this until the day I leave office we are a customer service organization first and foremost and we are here for you and with that I'm going to end my comments and ask Council uh what they'd like to add let's start at this side this year I'm going to ask the brand new father what two days now three days now three days old toight three days old congratulations to Hudson yeah thank you U very excited can you open your eyes all the way up so we can see yeah right very excited I I tell everybody what I what was my line today Wayne at lunch I said I'm I'm enjoying it three hours at a time you know in or whatever between naps no very excited at the fley household um great job on the video um staff I know you guys put a lot of work in Mick you and I will have to work on a duet or something eventually right we'll do something together man but uh you know there's been a uh I don't make a lot of remarks I don't write down a lot for things like this because I've I've I've watched a lot of history I like history I've watched a lot of state of the unions and I've yet to see anybody get there and not toot their own horn and but sometimes uh when it comes to Port Orange um what I what I think about when we do this is how it passes the eye test um whether I I get to travel a lot I get to go all over the county and when people talk about Port Orange from other cities they say man yeah that's that's where I want to raise my family uh this new samna it's a fun town right they have Flagler Avenue it's a great place to go and hang out and this that and the other people really want to live in Port Orange um you know we have an amazing Parks program that's been here that I I was a benefactor of growing up that I got to play all the sports in and and be involved in the community uh which was awesome as a kid still awesome today and you know we we have a extremely low crime rate compared to all the cities in Florida and we've been again fortunate for for several several years to have that um there's been a lot of planning I remember hearing when I first got on Council it was it was a mantra for years is that we they were different by choice not by chance and Port Orange and um I I think about the mayor this being his last state of the city you know he's been a part of this Don correct me here 12 12 years in total service right that's right 2010 eight as mayor eight as mayor eight as mayor when this is concluded and and four years as a city councilman for district six years don't short me man sorry man well I said correct me I that's a lot of Tuesdays not at home that's my wife that's right absolutely but um so so a lot of those decisions you had a part in a lot of decisions were made before you ever came along and um when I think about my position as the district one representative uh going forward it's it's about what Vision I want to see for Port Orange in the future you know I think about where I want us to go and and I want to make sure we we stay on track with that a big part of that I believe is have has been getting the right people in the right places and staff and I I think hiring Wayne is was been a fantastic decision that we made I think him promoting Robin has been a great decision I think John has done a great job with Finance since he's gotten here uh publ Public Works our fire chief our police chief all of these changes have made progress I believe and I think we have one of the best staffs and you left out you go to leave out it you I'm not going to leave out anybody you start that list you go forget somebody you gota be careful well absolutely but the point being you're you are right mayor that we are a customer service first place you know that's that's something I've actually shared with you since day one and I think that our department heads and our staff continue to show that I think they do an awesome job I think Wayne's done a good job of getting the right people in the right places and I think that the effort that staff puts in every day that's where we really get the benefits is residents it's from that they actually they really care I believe that I believe that the people coming in here to work genuinely care about our residents about our programs and about the quality of life living in Port Orange which has been one of our five goals again since I've gotten here so for me I think about the future I think about the vision for Port Orange I want to see us continue to expand our Park programs and and our our ability you know the mayor touched on we do have a park Bond that's going to be on the ballot which you guys will be able to learn more about um that's part of my vision for Port Orange to continue to keep us safe you know um I think we're it all the time that uh our First Responders it's it's a it is a dangerous job and it is a job that every day they get up they don't know what they're going to encounter and so to anyone who serves on our First Responders albeit fire or police or our medical staff that we have with the ambulance um my thoughts and things are with you and prayers with you all the time because I know the risk that you take and I know that you encounter things none of us want to but it's also why again us residents reap the benefits but but I like I said I don't make a lot of comments I speak from the heart on things like that and that's all I'm going to say I know there's a lot of people here for a lot of things and to hear me go on and on is not one of them so thank you guys for being attendance thank you mayor and staff for putting on the state of city and thanks for all the hard work um I appreciate all of you appreciate all the hats you wear including your newest title of dad that's right proudest one yet Amen to that Drew well like you mayor this is my last state of the city I'm in my 12th year up here so uh two of us will you know this council is going to change this year two of us will be gone um so it it Reed covered it the mayor covered it and that thanks goes out to the staff everybody involved in everything you do every day and the stuff behind the scenes that we don't see the big accomplishments that we can see and and see results of and to every body involved in the production of the state of the city getting it put together and presented well done um so uh you know it it's been an eventful 12 years i' like to feel like we've accomplished a lot um you know we have eight or nine months left on our term and then you know the new Council come in and do their thing um but the city's in good hands I mean the citizenry the people people the the staff Wayne Matt everybody involved um you know we'll just keep this train rolling and you know still be that shining star and that example that we've been doing and leaders and so uh I feel like uh you know we've all contributed something and uh we're in exceptional hands moving forward Scott Mr vice mayor what you got for us tonight I don't know much more that could be said um you got have covered a lot of it you know when when you when you get a chance to look back for us it seems like we are frequently challenged and tasked with always looking okay what's the next thing that needs to be worked on what's the next thing that needs to get done and there is no Finish Line in municipal government our our good friend mayor diesel Dew is here tonight from Edgewater welcome mayor and and and and he knows that and and so do we we know you you never get to a Finish Line in municipal government there's always another thing that needs to be be improved upon and worked on and identified and but it is so nice to take a moment and look and see what all has gotten accomplished and what all has been going on in our community and there's a lot and that's a a very brief short video to illustrate that I I was speaking with some residents recently from one of our HOAs and I knew because they had reached out to me that they had some concerns they wanted to talk about and and I jokingly said to him I said hang on a second before you tell me what you're upset about what needs to be worked on I want you to tell me what you love about living in the city of Port Orange and they kind of looked at me and I said just tell me a couple of things well man they just went on and on and on and on and on I almost had to stop them to say okay now let's get to the part what what can I do for you right and and and I thought what a better place if we would all be like that just a little bit and and that's not to say that we don't have things to work on we do um we the mayor highlighted a lot of the things that we've got to work on and one of the challenges in municipal government unlike our federal government is we can't print money so we have the planning and the execution process as many of you sitting in this room tonight know it is long and there are hurdles and it takes time and just as you put your plan and you get on Pace you have a catastrophic event it changes things and it and it sets things to the side and and so it it's always challenging it is never ending but to look at this kind of video and look at the state of the city and see what all does get accomplished despite some of those things that come up unexpectedly is it feels good it's impressive to see and and I got to be honest with you when I think about the city of Port Orange I could never put my finger on one single thing and say this is the reason we have a great City or this department or this organization or whatever it is truly I tell I I I liken it to the analogy of a good bowl of soup there's a lot L going in there to make it before it all tastes good right and and that's kind of what it is and and our residents the residents that choose to live in Port Orange they are equally as big of a part of what our success why we are a successful City and why we have great communities our city staff and our employees they truly work here because they care about this city they want to be part of a city that they care for and that the city cares about for them and our business Community is the same you know businesses take a lot of risk any of you that are business owners and I'm looking and there's several in here tonight you know what I'm talking about you know and I've never been a business owner like that and it's very easy to sit at home and or go ride around the city and go oh we should do this and build that and do this and build that and that's great but you're not the one putting up hundreds of thousands in some case millions of dollars to take that huge risk to make sure it doesn't fail because that's their livelihoods as well and our business owners by and large who come to Port Orange they work well with our staff they they do a lot of things to mitigate a lot of the impacts that we're all concerned about um and and they also work very hard to try to make sure that their business will be a success and they're not all going to be a success but that but that is in the Forefront of what they're trying to do and I think all of that the city staff our residents the folks FKS that choose to be part of our business Community truly come together to make what is really good about Port Orange I I so look forward you know nothing I I think we all share collectively nothing happens fast enough for us up here we we want things to happen once we've decided this is our path this is what we want in our community this is a good idea we want to execute it and to nobody's fault we those things get executed as quickly as they can but it still takes time to do a lot of those things and but they're worth it in the long run and we and we look at those things and we we consider the longterm return on investment and rewards for our community and that is so important and you know the mayor touched on some stuff tonight the video touches on some stuff folks there are some really good things coming that we've been working on for years and it seems like they're they're they're getting there they're getting there they're getting there they're getting there I know some people hear us they get tired of us saying oh well this is coming this is coming this is going to happen we're going to do this but but really the entire time that I've been on city council I don't know of a moment in time where I could sit here and say there are a lot of things in the next couple of years the next two to three to four years that the residents in Port Orange are going to be extremely happy with there's going to be a great return on investments and value in some of the older areas of our city that are going to change the tide for those areas to make them valuable for decades and decades and decades to come to keep our city from going into blight to keep crime low to keep businesses prosperous to keep good jobs in the city to keep our residents who want things to do able to do them in our city they don't have to leave to go to Orlando or St Augustine which those are great places but they also want to be able to do those things here in the Parks and bond initiative and recck initiative I was this past this past weekend we had opening day it's it's almost overwhelming when you show up out there and you see hundreds in some some cases thousands of these kids showing up to play these Field Sports and you see their faces and you see how what it means to the family to have places to do that and we're going to work hard and we're we're going to ask the taxpayers to really consider that as a long-term investment um because it's been a it's been an Achilles heal for us for a long time where we we're proud of it we have great stuff just don't have enough of it we need to finally cross that hurdle once and for all to be able to say we're going to make this decision we're going to make this investment and it's going to stand the test of a lot of time our kids our grandkids and then some hopefully so um anyhow it's wonderful to see everybody here tonight great job by staff putting that together and we'll just keep getting back to work and keep working towards all these great things that we've been talking about let me just summarize by saying amen MH all right that was the state of the city we're going to hit the uh see if we can't mash the gas a little bit here and move things forward uh we're going to uh recess and uh and reconvene as the Eastport CRA I believe Mr Bas you are the chair of that if you would mash the gas through that all righty so I'm going to I call the annual meeting of the Eastport business center community redevelopment agency to order G can you call a ro please chairman jasan here Don Bernett present Scott sner here Reed Foley here Tracy grubs no Tracy okay we have one absent but we have a quorum so we're good there uh election of chairman do I have a a you have a nomination for Mr Tracy grubs to chair this one I'll second perfect and he's not he's not here here to defend yourself okay we have a proper motion and a second for Tracy grubs to be the chairman could we call the role please Sher Bastian yes Don berett yes Scott sner yes Reed Foley yes all right motion passes uh do we have a nomination move to nominate Mr Reed Foley a second for the chairman okay we have VI for vice chairman I'm sorry uh we have a motion in a proper second can we call the role on that one please chairman Bastion yes Don brette yes Scott sner yes read hly yes and Trac is not here that motion carries and passes okay uh like we have a new chairman and a new Vice chairman we do we do indeed so I think the vice chairman has to chair the rest of the meeting right I not to he has the g g yeah he should have one oh the G okay all right Mr Vice chair oh thank you for this new appointed Duty um all right is there any objection to the notice of the meeting hearing no objective the notice is accepted do I have a motion to approve the minutes move to approve second all right cler please call the roll Drew Bastian yes Don berett yes Scott sner yes chairman Foley yes all right item five is the Eastport Business Center CRA annual report for fiscal year 2022 through 23 do I have a motion to accept the fiscal year 2022 2023 annual report for the Eastport business center community redevelopment agency I will make that fine motion have a second all right you got it do we have any discussion questions no I review I mean everything's in order good okay anyone from the public like to speak to this all right final comments back to us anyone all right clerk please call the rooll de Bastion yes Tom Bernett yes Scott sner yes chairman Foley yes all right 40 any further business to be brought before the members of the Eastport business center community redevelopment agency there being none this meeting is adjourned and we will now reconvene as the Port Orange town center community redevelopment agency which conveni I'm the chair of didn't that work out nicely Perfect all right so I call the annual meeting of the Port Orange town center community redevelopment agency to order please call the roll momentarily hold on oh we're getting I thought you were going to come sit next to me they want me down there this time no you're okay she already put your name I don't know everybody's getting elected down [Laughter] that that way all right will you please call call the rooll chairman Foley here Don Bernett here Drew Bastion here Scott sner here Tracy grubs Michael benedi here all right first order of business is the election of a chairman do I have a motion to nominate chove the reappointment of Reed Foley's chair I'll second all right must be efficient on my end all right uh can we please uh call the role shman fing yes Don Bernett yes Drew Bastion yes Scott sner yes Michael benedi yes all right 5 on that one we need to elect a vice chair do I have a motion approve um the appointment of Michael Benedict as Vice chair there we go all second all right perfect any objection let's call a roll chairman Foley yes Don Bernett yes Drew Bastion yes Scott sner yes Michael Benedict yep thank you no Escape you're in that's right wait till you see the pay and benefits is the matter sense all right so is there any objection to the notice of this meeting hearing no objection the notice is accepted do I have a motion to approve the minutes of the December 12th second someone all right you got it call the role please J bully yes Donette yes ban yes Scott sner yes Michael Benedict yes all right 0 on that one all right item five is the Port Orange Town Center CRA annual report for fiscal year 2022 2023 do I have a motion to accept the report for the Port Orange yes you do I have a motion to accept second I have a proper motion I think in a second call the roll please I'm sorry whoa whoa whoa whoa getting ahead of myself is there any discussion on this item none anyone from the public like to speak on this item seeing none back to us one more time nothing all right call the role please chairman buy yes John Bernett yes Drew Bastion yes Scott sner yes Michael Benedict yes all right 5 any further business to be brought before the members of Port Orangetown center community redevelopment agency seeing none this meeting is adjourned and we will reconvene as our regular city council meeting it's not as easy as it looks huh I think it would be easier if you weren't reading a script it's actually harder with a script than without with that recognition and Proclamation so police officer and firefighter of the year were recognized recently at the uh Chamber of Commerce mayor's breakfast I appreciate that uh they are unavailable so we will reschedule that so that we can recognize them at a future council meeting so that brings us to item six government Finance professionals week uh Mr mckin you want to come up here please you going to come up here alone or you going to drag somebody up there with you that's what I thought whereas the for of government Finance Officers Association is a professional association founded in 1937 and serves more than 3,300 professionals from State County city government school districts colleges and universities Special Districts and private firms and whereas the FG foa is dedicated being a professional resource by providing opportunities through education networking leadership and information and whereas this government Finance this is government profession Finance professionals week it's another mouthful again thought I had troubles this afternoon reading it sponsored by the fgfoa and all of its member government organizations and it is a week-long series of activities aimed at recognizing government Finance Professionals in the vital Services they provide to our state and our community and the final whereas during this week government Finance professionals throughout the State of Florida will be acknowledged for their hard work their dedication and their leadership now therefore I Donald O Bernett mayor of the city of Port Orange Florida proclaim the week of March 18 to 22nd as Government Finance professionals week in the city of Port Orange and extend our appreciation to all our government Finance professionals throughout the state and here of course most importantly the city of Port Orange and with the Seal of the city and my signature it is so declared on this day and in this place congratulations and I'm sure Mike probably wants a picture right hope if he doesn't the pictures this afternoon we have to do I'm going to come down here and present this to you thank you mayor thank you sir keep us straight keep us out of trouble and keep us spinning wisely we'll do okay and as the immediate past president of this organization I appreciate it sir item seven consent agenda public comments on consent agenda items come on up Robert yeah I was looking your way what you got for us mayor council members Robert rehagen 1425 text to Drive Port Orange um item number 13 resolution number 244 authorizing the sale of the city-owned real estate on the south side of ranal road um in in looking at the uh staff report they mentioned that they were going the staff requests to bring forward a rezoning change or zoning change consistent with the adjacent site um so I'm not sure why you would want to put it on the list for sale until you've made a determination of what you want to do with it and personally I uh would recommend that you uh look at this and consider I would like to see you consider making it available for affordable housing and uh I think that would help you meet your commitment to the comprehensive plan with this claim for diversity in housing thank you thank you anybody else just consent AG items I'll call you up for the uh normal I got your card I will forget you anything else on consent agend items there being none uh item 8 agenda approval Scott you have a request mayor I'd like to uh ask that we move item number 19 up on the agenda to be heard right after the uh consent vote and approve the rest of the agenda and approve the rest of the agenda as is May I have a second sure you got it that was a definitive second yes all in favor signify by saying I I with that may have a motion for approval of the consent agenda so moved I'll second all in favor signify by saying I wait a second wait a second do we have any Y no we have resolutions on there we need to call the RO on the consent agenda councilman poy yes councilman grubs oh sorry councilman Bastion yes vice mayor sner yes mayor Bernett yes 40 consent agend is approved with that item 19 is on the uh is on Deck now we're moving that forward the public hearing portion of the meeting is now open item 19 the recommended motion is to approve the extension Christ of King Church conditional use through July of 2020 subject uh 27 subject to conditions in the staff report may have such a motion move to approve so moved there a second we have a motion uh to approve the recommended motion and a proper second the items open on the floor for discussion this went before the Planning Commission on February 22nd and was approved 70 uh Wayne who do we have here before us this evening dely crw planning so everyone's pretty familiar with this site it's on the Southeast corner of Central Park and Spruce Creek Road um back in March of 2022 the council approved the last extension to the conditional use um for the property to be able to use the property as for Outdoor Services um the church had all intentions of being able to start construction by then and being done but um due to finances and the construction industry delays it's it's taking a bit longer time they have made good use of that time um they've recently submitted a site plan modification to not only address their initial phase of needs but also to to plan out the site for um the future as well for phase two so you can kind of see the concept of that here on the screen that shows the the full buildout with phase two and everything um so that's under review and so they just need a little bit more time the Planning Commission actually recommended at their meeting that this request be approved for three years not two years and and they were okay pay with that just to give a buffer so they don't have to come back here again just in case something happens you never know um they like I said their site PL under review right now their modification to address the whole full buildout um and they intend on getting their their building permits in pretty soon too so um the the conditions haven't changed since the last time so with a three-year request it would give them to July of 2027 but like I said they're hoping to get everything in pretty soon and be under construction by this summer um so with that staff's recommending approv approval and the applicants here to answer any questions you might have Penny if I'm not mistaken we did something similar to this in the past for Thrive Church and now that they' with their extension in time they've Broken Ground last week so this is uh similar not exactly the same but similar in the nature yeah they um so yeah Thrive started their off-site improvements because of an issue with the permit with the county they're um they're still wrapping up their site they're doing a site plan modification they're kind of they've always tracked kind of around the same time yeah um but yeah they they'll be moving forward pretty soon too so you'll see both this is consistent with something policy wise we've already taken taken sir okay any questions of Staff me there are no questions for Penny you got off easy I don't know is the applicant here he is you know this this only says something about your your popularity as you tell us who you are in the microphone because nobody clapped for the state City hey we are grateful for the state of our city I'm Scott kersner uh get the privilege of leading Christ the King Community Church at 6015 Spruce Creek Road thank you for your time and your consideration it's good to see all of you and uh you're you're my new favorite Scott nice moving things up on the agenda I appreciate that I do appreciate all that you do and thank you for keeping our city as beautiful and wonderful is as it is we appreciate your service and many years and you and I started around the same time we planted this church 2010 we're in our 14th year um had a lot of great things happen a lot of challenges but we're at a place where uh we're finally getting to see ground being broken soon I look forward to having you out for our groundbreaking and uh we're really excited about this so we humbly ask for your approval of this conditional usage extension and look forward to seeing our um groundbreaking soon would anyone up here like to grill the applicant no need to I just I just do want to make one quick comment because uh and and and I support I support this wholeheartedly but it's also worth noting that projects take time we and I talked about that a moment ago and sometimes we see projects of all kinds throughout the city of Port Orange that get delayed they have changes and things like that and the one thing that I want to commend not only uh the folks at Christ the King Community Church but also at the Thrive Church out on Williamson is that through the the course of your projects you guys have been exemplary in being good neighbors in the community that is so important to us taking care of the property cutting the grass being cognizant of what's going on in the community it's the model of how to do it you know and I and I really wish and and and we'll use this as a as something to point to when other groups and businesses and organizations want to do things in Port Orange that will take some time is this is the message is do it like that we get sometimes things take time sometimes there's setbacks but take care of the property take care of the community have value and pride in that because that means a lot to us when organizations need to come to us and ask for these kind of extensions because it makes it easy in my opinion because we're like these are good neighbors these are these are these are this is a good asset to have in our community so so thank you for for you and and everybody at ctk what they do and this is how to do it so I appreciate you saying that and it is of utmost importance to us that we are good neighbors and we do take care of our property we love our city we love our community and and uh we so appreciate you recognizing that and it is more about more than just the property it is stewards of our community as well we appreciate that uh with that uh would anyone from the public care to speak to us or try to talk us out of it there being none back to council final comments notice how the pastor looked at his flock and gave that Spacey I am grateful that they've all showed up and I am grateful to your staff as well Tim and susette and Penny they're they're amazing all of them Robin as well don't want to miss you but others that help out so we we're grateful you know I noticed it had nothing to do with the way I phrased it was absolutely the the stink eye you had [Laughter] there final comments there being done call the role cman fley yes councilman Bastion yes vice mayor sner yes mayor let me think about this yes 40 you are approved thank you so much I really appreciate y'all thank you everybody that showed up tonight as well with that the public hearing portion of the meeting is closed we will skip back to item 14 uh you know what I'm going to take a three minute recess because I think we'll see the room clear out and uh can't believe nobody else wants to stay for all this exhilarating stuff set timer for 3 minutes time e e e e e and we are back with that that brings us to item 14 item 14 is the Port Orange property development joint annual meeting of the members directors and design review board I call the annual meeting of the members directors and design review board Port Orange property development Incorporated to order call the role please Don brette here SC sner here Reed fley here grubs Drew Bastion here do I have a notice uh do I have an objection to the notice of meeting hearing none the notice is accepted do I have a motion to approve the minutes of the March 21st 2023 meeting so moved second we have a motion proper second uh call uh I'm sorry um we have a motion call you don't have to call the RO in favor signify by saying I I I ton it's easier when you don't have to read it that's right any further business to be brought before the members there being none we will move to the business of the board of directors election of the officers of the corporation do we have a nomination for the position of chairman I'm going to nominate vice mayor Scott ster I'll second there have a motion proper second any other nominations any other nominations any other nominations I said it three times Robert's Rule of orders happy there being none nominations are closed all in favor appointing vice mayor sner signify by saying I I do I have a motion for the position of Vice chairman I make I'll make a motion to appoint councilman Reed Foley a second we have a motion proper second are there any other nominations other nominations other nominations nominations are now closed Mr Foley is for consideration as Vice chairman do I have um all in favor signify by saying i i i any opposed do I have a nomination for the position of President I nominate Mayor Don Bernett as the president second have a motion proper second any other nominations other nominations no other nominations nominations are now closed all in favor signify by saying I I I running out of any opposed oh Tracy's not here do have a nomination for the position of Vice President I nominate councilman Dreer Bastion I second okay any other nominations other nominations no other nominations nominations are now closed all in favor signify by saying I I any opposed he has the job do I have a nomination for the position of secretary I nominate Tracy grubs I'll second any other nominations other nominations no other nominations nominations are now closed all in favor of Tracy grubs for secretary signify by saying I I I I sorry the eyes have it no any opposed there being none Tracy is hired for that position do I have a nomination for the position of Treasurer the recommended choices our finance director Mr Jonathan C McKenna move to approve the nomination of Finance director Jonathan C mckenny second we have a motion proper second any other nominations other nominations no other nominations nominations are now closed all in favor sign by saying I I I any opposed John is rehired in that position any other F business to be brought before the board of directors there being none we will move to the business the design review board I need to elect a chairman and a vice chairman of the uh design review board may I have a nomination for a chairman Tracy grov second we have a nomination for Mr Tracy grubs as uh chairman of the design review board any other nomination other nominations no other nominations nominations are now closed all in favor signify by saying I I any opposed there being none he has the position I need somebody to uh serve as Vice chair may I have a nomination I nominate Scott stillner I'll second gee they're gonna think we're in caho any other nominations other nominations no other nominations the nominations are now closed all signify by saying I hi hi going to nominate Bobby ball uh is there any other further business to be brought for the design review board there being none the annual meeting of the members directors and the design review board is adjourned those three meetings all at once I like that right that brings us to public participation non-agenda let's start with uh Tracy Keller seeing as she was awful anxious sorry the line I usually go to the uh the Shores city council meeting so mayor council members um my name is Tracy Keller I serve on the board of directors for the Porto and South Tona chamber and I'm thrilled to be here like I said I normally go to the Shores Council meetings so I love being here and learning what's going on in my own town um on behalf of the board of directors and our wonderful CEO and president barberan hegan who was here but she left um um i' like to thank you for your continued support we have a list of events coming up that I'd like to invite you all to the easiest way to see that is to go to PS chamber.com you can see that we've got a business after hours planned this Thursday at Masterpiece Jewelers um we've got coffee and connections next Thursday we have a very important power networking luncheon coming up on April 11th on Thursday it's a luncheon at the Riverside Pavilion you may log in and reserve your ticket today um it is a topic on opioid epidemic and our sheriff is going to be the keynote speaker but I thank you for letting me speak appreciate you thank you thank you thank you TR and uh something about Port Orange Railway what's this Larry Powers guy you got something going on this weekend don't you we do come on up Larry I just wanted to come and thank you all for having me uh this evening and I wanted to give you a little update on what's going on with the depot um this is the 130th anniversary of the building of the railroad Depot here in Port Orange it is the oldest surviving uh railroad Depot from the Florida East Coast Railway in fact it was built the year before the railroad was form and just to give you an update what we are doing right now is we're still trying to get the Boost moved up here I've asked the FC to provide us with some track we are making inquiries with other contractors here in the area to get tracked um we have gone down and worked on the Caboose itself we have um renewed the insurance and we've put it in the umler system and that's basically like a tag for the automobile that's a tag for a railroad car and we're getting it ready to roll in the main system and we did do some break work on it when we were down there we probably have about two to three weeks weekends of work on that um as part of our organizations work the Port Orange Railway Society continues to uh collect hundreds of uh documents and artifacts and receive donations um from the railroad history here um we are networking with several railroad preservation groups here in this uh part of the country we're hoping to form an umbrella group where we are able to network and do as many joint ventures as possible and as you all know the depot is being painted this uh weekend so go out and get your pictures now because it's never going to look like that again um J&B painting plus uh a local company here in Port Orange is leading that with a couple of their friends Florida painting pros and color Masters and Sherman Williams is donating the paint for that and one other thing that has come up um one of of the the Thrills that we have in with the history here sometimes we find things that we didn't know would exist and what we found was the um speeder Shed from mtown Depot and for those of you who don't know what a speeder is it's the small gas powered vehicles that go along the rail for inspecting the rail and this is probably the only part of that mtown Depot that's left in fact much of May Town's not even left and it was part of the CMI line that went out to Lake oovi and back intoa so that's where they ran a lot of the freight trains and we would like um to develop um we'd like to get a hold of it it's been promised to us by the owner it's in bad shape but we would like to develop it as an eagle scout U project I've already talked to the local Scout Troop uh 88 here they are interested in doing it and it may become a districtwide uh scouting project here so that's something we'll probably be coming back and seeking approval and one last thing I'll just say we're willing to help in any way we can get that bond issue passed thank you lks appreciate you and Scott petett yes hi my name is Scott I am a member of the board for Canal View Place Condominiums in Port Orange which is off NOA Road just south of Herbert Street between Sams and Canal thank you for your service the reason I'm here tonight is when you're driving north on Nova Road from dun lton there's 11 street lights that are out from the Dollar Tree all the way up to uh Herbert Street it's very dangerous it's unsafe there's been car accidents there was a fatal car accident at night after the lights were out and as at a regular meetings I speak on behalf of the association the members and neighbors what comes up is we haven't been able to get these things fixed for 2 years now I spoke into the Department of Transportation they say that Port they pay the city of Port Orange to maintain the lights this is the information I get I got an email from Robert Bryant who worked for the city of Port Orange at that time and he said that they pay us to maintain the lights but a company called wcom a subcontractor to put in fiber optics at the line and they report this is this information I got they were trying to get them to pay for the line unsuccessful the bottom line is it's two years now it's very unsafe it's a 50 mph Road there's a sidewalk there we're 50 ft there's 28 units that are 50 ft from the road and after meeting after meeting and and and this coming up and being an ongoing issue I thought I'd come out to the meeting and just bring your attention and see if there's any poll or any the I got an update tonight that Robin talked to the doot in December and they haven't gotten back to us um to to Port Arms regarding this something needs to be done there's there's already been multiple accidents out here out there and if you walk any if you drive up Nova Road next time you go up there at night once there's no businesses across the street from the back of our unit so it's dark there's no light that transmits down into that area once you get to Waffle House to Herbert Street it's pitch T you can't see 20 ft in front of you unless there's a uh a headlight coming from the car to let up the sidewalk a little but I have a couple pictures I took you know last night on the sidewalk out there you can't even see the sidewalk in front of you so um thanks again for your service I'm a proud member of the accomplishments we've achieved in our community of 88 units and also a proud citizen of Port Orange for many years now it's it's a great place to live appreciate it Scott hang out because I had asked uh staff about that a couple weeks ago at a meeting and I'm sure that we'll be hearing back from them and Council comments here shortly so okay just hang out and'll be able hear an update thanks for serving on your HOA board by the way thanks thank which brings us to uh Council comments why don't we start with councilman Foley yeah actually uh we'll start so Scott just brought that up um we've had issues with the street lights not just there we had issues on the bridge there's actually a stretch that was out from on Nova Road from basically the railroad tracks East where it was you know out from Moss turned out that was a sensor but I know staff has been working on this and and Robin's right we haven't heard from him something I didn't think of until just now uh which I'll do because I'm a member of the TPO and we have a pretty close relation with relationship with fot that way um I'll see also if I can reach out to the F do side of that and get with Wayne and Robin because it's not a city maintained thing it it is FPL and fot and there there's a joint connection there and probably the best thing we need to do is get three people on the side all at the same time uh maybe someone from F dot someone from FPL and maybe you know someone from staff uh and even myself perhaps and let's let's look into it because I agree with you it's a huge safety concern and I know they've improved on it the mayor's been bringing it up for months uh actually at our Council meetings I don't live far from you I see it every day yeah I multiple times the mayor has brought this up myself I brought up the the other side of it like I said we had the same issue or a similar issue uh east of the railroad track so um absolutely Scott but thank you for being here in your service to your your ho absolutely um what else you got I wanted to say that if you guys have small kids um well children in general uh the city and the library replace the story book Walk uh recently they do it every quarter I guess and it's really cool um I I think that was a fantastic idea after said I want to see that at more of our Parks uh but they changed out the story and so uh we took Noah for a walk and he very much enjoyed that so you know it's a great little activity and also speaking of parks I was excited to see in the city manager report about Memorial Park I remember when I first brought that forward feels like that was quite some time ago that um those that boards were getting worse and worse and in danger so I'm glad to see that we're going to be able to start replacing those soon um I know we don't we don't have an exact timeline on that yet we just know just the plans currently but I appreciate the hard work on that because I think it's a great Park I love that you can actually walk across the water on that one and um looking forward to that being back to normal so but that's everything for me thanks guys Scott what you got I just wanted to again compliment our uh parks and wreck uh staff for a great opening day for uh baseball this past weekend Miss U it was a really nice event very well attended very well put together uh I left there went over to carassi watched some baseball over there for a little while and um man I tell you parks and wreck earns their earns their keep for sure when baseball season starts cu mhm as soon as we were done over there doing our thing they were they were all off going different places and saw some of the same Folks at at multiple complexes so uh that's one of the things I miss about having my kids grown is baseball season I miss it and there's nothing better than watching looking at a bunch of four or five six-year-olds running around that with uniforms that would fit an 8-year-old and it looks great but it was good time so lots of smiles it was a great day Dre what you got nothing tonight mayor okay uh just wanted to mention one thing attended the groundbreaking for the Halifax Emergency Room uh uh that's going to be uh opening at the uh South End of Williamson uh near Airport Road anytime that we can get service closer to where people are uh particularly when they need it most in an emergency that that's that's a good thing but that uh one more way that infrastructure planning helps alleviate traffic concerns so looking forward to seeing them online I talked to J uh CEO Jeff feasel and uh Mr fizel said that they're aggressively uh pursuing a construction time lab timetable that'll have them online probably by the end of this year so hopefully the uh the sooner the better for something like that did you go to the Aldi ground Bing because there's a lot of hype going on there if you look at Facebook and next door that you can tell very very anticipated uh with that uh special reports fiscal year 20 2324 first quarter financial report Mr John mckenny has a very brief report to give us hint my brevity will be breathtaken we about some I can't see thank you that was Dess thank you mayor councel I know this was sent out the other day so I'm just going to going to hit on a couple of um key slides um first um you know you have your general fund and all the revenue um various fund report so I just want to report in total our overall amended budget as approved by council is 292 mil 667,000 in total revenues received Citywide and our expenses are at 19% or a little under 56 million of our overall budget so um what that you know relays to you is simply that you know when you are in the first quarter of your financial you know year you most we haven't received our tax income from advm um sell um advm taxes from property um and also the first month of October we have to pay all of the debt service for you know majority of our principal and interest so that's why our revenues and expenditures are offset um this slide just relays um we didn't really mention this last time because it had just been approved but we brought on the new um fire Tru so we had an additional um Debt Service added to the books of a little little under 1.1 million but the total outstanding debt service for the city is a little over $35 million that's a principal and interest annual payment for all funds of just under 4.4 million uh the other thing that I want to uh point out is our cash and Investments again this is as of December 31st but at December 31st we had just under $160 million I meet with pfm regularly the financial advisor that advises the city on how to you know invest the money appropriately uh so um members of my staff and I have been meeting with them over the last couple of um U months or I'm sorry weeks um we just received the draft financials from the Auditors this past Friday and so this is where we're going to be going in and we've taken a look at just how much money that we need on a daily basis which goes into you know the monthly basis on cash on hand when within our operating truest banking account so as you can see we average we have an average monthly balance of just under $118 million between our bank account and Investments so taking a look at our current allocation and our same allocation or where we need to take it as we're wrapping up this year's um audit we have roughly $146 million as of two weeks ago uh that we could invest so taking a look at the fact that the city council has set aside what our required reserves are our daily liquidity Etc then as we finalize the audit report as of 93023 we're looking at just over under $61 million in core reserves that we want to set aside That Rainy Day then we have you know that intermediate funding that we need that you know we have staff you know back there completing projects we have you know payment schedules that we have to adhere to that we have roughly 65 million that we need to make sure is available within a day or two then we need to make sure that we have on hand at all times to satisfy the roughly 45 day um cash expenditure of of 20 million so we're looking at you know as you can see here on the right of your screens where will we we will be looking to invest the money you can see between truest Florida Palm Florida Prime and our core portfolios that we're looking at an average 4.83% return again uh we are the city of Port Orange our investment strategy is safety liquidity yield I'm I'm supposed to make sure that money is there tomorrow I'm not looking to um you know make huge Returns on you know retirements Etc that's the pension plans um um on our core financials just as a um reminder that's in you know you us treasuries you know very safe Investments then the final thing that I want to point out is the fact that we just received within the last two weeks our three U Pension funds valuations so I've updated the slide the bottom right just that it shows the employer required contributions uh we have as was stated at our last um council meeting meeting by members of Council on the various boards U we did see a reduction in our overall required contribution for um police and fire General has gone up slightly so if you look at that the 20.1% general employee required contribution is roughly $700,000 annually that is a closed plan so there's not a whole lot of new people coming on board so that's why it's kind of high for the actual number of um current employees uh the police pension plan actually had a nice decrease it's down to 35.99% that's roughly 1.9 million this year that will be paid by the city for the employer contribution and fire is at 78.2 that's roughly a 3.9 million um contribution on behalf of the city um at that time we go through this every quarter I know we meet quite regularly regarding various Financial items I will take any questions you might have Council any questions John appreciate it you certainly have U looking forward to the next report knowing that we have un uneven income streams and uh we'll be seeing a big chunk come in next time so want to see make sure that we're on track and appreciate we'll do mayor thank you thank you that brings us to Citizens advisory committee for the TP uh I'm going to give Mr ball a break on that one since he had a work conflict and was unable to attend the meeting so he only have to stand up here to say he has no report so Bobby you're off the hook item 18 selection of Al member to serve on the river to Sea Transportation Planning organization board Wayne what are we trying to do here what's our goal yeah I can do that um so if you recall at my uh during my report at the last council meeting when TPO was on the agenda I told you that we ended up not having a quorum and um that started a lot of conversation on both the regular t board as well as the executive TPO board um when Co what allowed people to have virtual meetings uh when when the state determined that was okay um it became something a lot of people were doing and using not not only because of you know health reasons but just for convenience right um for myself I've had to use it when I'm out of time out of town for travel sure you know uh but it's a way for me to still attend the meeting be involved be informed and and that that works so long as there's a physical Quorum um for the first time since Co there was not a physical Quorum at the last meeting and so they're now doing two things number one uh they want to start scrutinizing the frequency with which people attend virtually and um that just being need needing a certain reason uh and and wanting to be more um you know more more diligent about why someone is attending virtually as to whether or not they're allowed to participate even to the point there seemed to be some suggestion that each person would have to explain themselves individually instead of doing it as a group as it's been done since I've been on the board and uh I do have a a work schedule that causes me to travel you know um I always plan City Council meetings around it to the best of my ability um and usually the TPO follows but sometimes the TPO is off by week um and if if they really do start getting you know um more if they start really taking an investment as to you know why you are not why are you attending virtually then um they're asking all of us to have an alternate instead um they've asked and they're asking every member to go through and and find an alternate in case that they're not able to participate and so the reason I asked for the city manager to put this on the agenda is because we need to elect one amongst ourselves so I can submit that to say this is going to be the alternate in case I can't attend physically or if they're not willing to accept my reason for virtually so um I don't know who wants that position or who'd be willing to do so um but I wanted to discuss it amongst ourselves but that's sort of the situation that's where we lie with it now um I Heard Tracy was really interested in it yeah well so so so does does that board require that the that the person we appoint be an elected official because it seems to me like that board does yes way Wayne say Wayne says it does I should say that gets to be some of the problems obviously because there's so many boards that have been created that you know with an elected body of only five of us where you know this is we have day jobs well and let me also remind that they just recently added flag you know more cities more counties and this was a rare event the every single County councilman was out because there was an event for their staff that's a super rare occurrence but uh I totally agree with where you're going on this you know that we had no County councilman and they were too short of a quorum so are you required to have an answer the next time you meet or can you wait one more series because i' I'd certainly like this is important enough to where I don't just want to throw Tracy under the bus I want to make sure he can actually be there for it and if not if there's somebody else can be uh but with that on the that out there and knowing that uh maybe we can uh put that uh on the next agenda and uh uh with with full consideration knowing what all this is about well and it is important you know these agendas are are pretty thick and and there's a lot going on you're talking there are millions of dollars at at stake and it's a lot of technical stuff so the amount of time it takes to be informed and prepared you know I can't just reach out and say I can't tell you guys on Tuesday night I can't be there Wednesday you're not going to be able to go in and do the city and the board uh and and the residents the just what they really deserve um so I totally agree that we probably need all five of us before we put Tracy on that um if he's willing to accept it then that would be great but um they've asked us all to come back with an alternative so just want to put it out there day uh they meet yeah our meetings for the regular board um are usually the fourth Wednesday of okay every month 9:00 a.m. and um it's either right now they're being held at the Daytona you know Beach airport but soon hopefully will be under contract it'll be uh just off LPGA right there at the exit so okay and with that in mind let me ask for a motion to uh table the uh item to uh date certain of April 2nd can I have that motion so moved second all in favor signify by saying I I the item is table to date certain of April 2nd which brings us additional item City attorney report nothing tonight excellent report City manag your report I just wanted to say oh dang it so three years ago today you guys hired me in this job so iow so three years ago I was standing down there doing the interview process so thank you for keeping me uh this time I do want to thank the staff because it that's how how I've been able to stay here uh a lot of you have already done that tonight you saw that in the state of the city we have made a very strong effort in three years to to go deep all the way through the organization to to bring back that pride in in working for PTT orange and we have some outstanding people throughout the organization the sign you saw came up one question I just said can we do something now do we need to wait day later they showed up and handed me that you've seen like 50 tons of Leaves we just picked up out a city center with the street sweepers um we we have long range plans to help with storm water but we don't just wait 10 20 years to fix storm water they're out there working on it right now finding daily Solutions and smaller scale Solutions our utilities Crews have have gotten so strong that stuff we used to go out to outside people to do repairs they're now doing repairs in house so throughout the organization you know the stories of our fire and police department the safety in the city and all the support functions that we have we wouldn't be here without them but I thank you for the three years that I've had and I thank them for for helping me stay here and also just a credit to our neighbors and our communities that that I know it's frustrating to to have street lights not work and the the quality and the professionalism and the patience you have shown and and your your your tactic of speaking so fairly despite the frustration it's frustrating to us that we can't get those lights on it's got to be frustrating to somebody that lives there and represents an entire neighborhood of people uh FPL and Dot are big organizations and trying to find the right people uh we we what I found is when you can't get those Solutions quick it's better to put everybody together in one spot because you can't go well whoever's not here you know is is who has to do it so Our intention is to put city of Port Orange staff FPL staff and do staff standing out there next to the lights touching them so nobody can say does it have power does it not have power where's the power cut so that that is our objective trying to find the right people at those three organizations so that we don't have to keep saying to our residents they're not working we we need to put together on by all means Council authorizes you to bring a hammer but I I do want to thank our residents for their patience and and their professionalism and how they speak to us because you could easily be mad enough to yell more than than they do and so I appreciate the way it's handled and we we want we do want to make sure we get this taken care of Mayor I just want to interject real quick I we don't we don't get to say it enough and and the city manager just mentioned something and we have a lot of our our department directors here tonight and is Su theal over there in the corner I can never tell okay but um you know I I just want to say to all you guys that he just brought something up that he he frequently does say that to us and he he brags on you guys about the the mindset of when some things need to be done let's just find a way to get it done let's not spend so much energy on why it can't be done or how long it's going to take to be done and and and and find the lwh hanging fruit and check it off the list and get it done and you I just want to say thank you because he has brought that to our attention many many times recently in in the past year and in in private yeah with and not a knock on on on past directors and and department heads and things like that but I don't know that it's always been that way as much as it is now and so for that please pass that on to your folks who I know go out there and they see that and they're like I can fix that I just need to run back to the shop and grab X Y and Z and I can get that done today or whatever right that stuff means the world to our residents they see it we hear it we appreciate it and and that's a that's a mindset we need to continue to push encourage more of and drive that forward so we are customer service organization first and foremost I really appreciate Wayne bringing that up tonight and touching on that and and I just want to say I don't know that we say thank you enough to you folks uh because obviously you don't work for us you work for Wayne but nonetheless we do seriously appreciate that so please keep that mind set up Wayne you got anything else no sir city council committee reports we heard from the portar in South Daytona Chamber of Commerce they do have an after hours Thursday evening I might have to duck out early because I've got an AAG Advisory board at Atlantic high school that evening as well so if anybody else from Council wants to attend that'd be a good event to attend Round Table of elected officials uh we had a couple issues got the legislative update from John Booker we heard from Bob became the transit division director on the new vde program that's going on in West Valia and we heard from the summer food and summer camp programs that the county is running and uh Transportation infrastructure subcommittee which uh I'm in charge of we will be meeting next week and Reporting back to the round table of elected officials and we've been meeting B monthly I uh requested that we consider meeting quarterly as uh I think it's important we all get together but there's not a lot going on so hopefully we'll be going to quarterly meeting soon um art housee oh that's councilman Tracy grebs who's not here with with that there's not only one one thing I wanted to recognize would the students of the law and government Academy Atlantic High School come up here for just a second please these students wait what sat here without falling asleep I might add somebody give me a phone but the law government academy uh is going to be doing a um uh a mo mock city council meeting which they do every year and these representatives were here to see how it works tonight and what I'd like to do is after Scott takes your picture just uh tell us in the microphone who you are and what role you'll be having so step first you go first you're the mayor Hannah you're you're gonna be the mayor hi I'm Hannah mail and I will be the mayor okay nice hi I'm Alexander and I will be the clerk all right hello I'm faith and I will be doing utilities all right hi I'm jayen and I'm supposed to be wait I forgot parks and wreck okay all right you need more baseball fields Amen to that appreciate you all being here tonight I hope you learned a thing or two I hope we didn't uh I think if nothing else that you learned there's a lot that goes on in city government it might not be exciting but it all the time but it is very important because this is the government closest to the people and it affects the lives of our citizens here more than anything else every day so thank you very much I appreciate youall thank you you're off the hook with that we will be back here again uh the SEC the first Tuesday in April what's that the 6th the second and we so we'll see you all then have a good night everybody