please rise for invocation by Pastor Ken sharp of High Point Pentecostal followed by the Pledge of Allegiance let's pray Lord I love you today thank you for this beautiful opportunity to come together thank you for health and strength of all our community we ask that you would give us wisdom and understanding as we make tough choices let us make the best choice possible and give us peace in our community God give us protection from all the evil that's trying to destroy us and we thank you and we praise you in Jesus name and everybody said amen amen amen 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 with liy Justice for All now we can play ball thanks the clerk call the rooll councilman Foley councilman grubs here councilman Bastion here vice mayor sner here mayor Bernett here we've got four out of five of us here so we have a sufficient quorum to conduct business with that we're going to begin with a proclamation for parts and wck uh really cool that J uh July's parks and wck month is particularly considering uh what we uh went through on July 4th with it was just us and a few thousand of our friends here at City Center on July 4th and what a wonderful job it was great to be able to uh uh see everybody here for that and enjoy that as we celebrated our nation's birthday and we celebrated our community and uh parks and W gets a lot of uh the credit a whole lot of departments helped and worked to make that possible but we're going to start with them right here and now Susan you know you got to stand I know you hide in the background but no you know and I know you you get that corner seat where I can't see on purpose but right now your front and center because whereas Parks and Recreations programs are an integral part of communities throughout the country including the city of Port Orange and whereas our Parks and Recreation are virtually important to establishing Main and maintaining the quality of life in our communities ensuring the health of all our clients or all of our citizens and encourages physical activities by providing space for popular sports hiking trails swimming pools and many other activities designed to promote active Lifestyles and whereas parks Recreation programs build healthy active communities that Aid in the prevention of chronic disease provide therapeutic recreation services for those who are mentally or physically disabled and also improve the mental and emotional health for all citizens and is a leading Pro provider of healthy meals nutrition services and education that was a pretty good whereas there whereas Parks and Recreation programs increase a community's economic Prosperity through increased proper prop values expansion of the local tax base increased tourism and the and the attraction and retention of businesses and crime reduction and whereas our parks and natural Recreation areas ensure the ecological beauty of our community and providing place for children and adults to connect with nature and recreate outdoors and is a and is a fundamental to the environmental well-being of our community I think that there's a little extra letter in there now therefore I Donald obett mayor of the city of Port AR Florida do declare the month of July as Parks and Recreation month and I encourage everybody in the city to celebrate it and we'll be hearing more about it uh when it comes to a certain bond issue about parks and re on August 20th Susan why don't you make a comment or two while I walk down here Susan Val parks recreation director first of all thank you very much for reading that I will tell you in celebration of parks and wreck month on this Thursday at the Lakeside Community Center we will will be having an event with food trucks and some activities for the children starting at noon so if you're in the area and are available we'd love to see you there so all right you get to take this wonderful picture there is an extra letter in there and an extra comma that didn't need to be but public comments on consent agenda items yeah Robert I was looking your way come on up what you got for us mayor council members Robert rehagen 1425 Dexter Drive North Port Orange um item eight with the the approval of the Jackson and Oak Street drainage Improvement M ments um it it says under article three the engineer the part of the project that pertains to the work has been that has been designed by the project engineer Robert E ball PE of Zev Cohen and Associates Incorporated and shall act as the owner's representative assuming all duties and responsibilities and have the rights and Authority assigned to engineer in the contract document and what I'm concerned about is the fact that this engineer has a lot of authority in terms of equals and substitutes and so you are delegating to a contractor Authority that I think you should be keeping inhouse and uh I read through the next the part B with the approval of the task Authority and I didn't see anything that would would attempt to uh put any restrictions on an engineer making those determinations thank you than you Robert any other uh anybody else wish to comment anything that's on consent there being none uh agenda approval can I have a motion for agenda approval for the evening so moved second we have a motion proper second all in favor signify by saying I I uh the consent agenda items 7 through 12 which includes resolutions may have a motion for approval move to approve move to approve consent agenda items 7 through 12 I'll second we have a motion proper second all um and we need to call the roll on this one councilman grbs yes councilman Bastion yes vice mayor sner yes mayor Bernett yes 40 public participation agenda Spruce Creek presentation by Mr Derek Lamont a uh just want to make sure that uh uh before you begin that uh you you know I've seen your presentation but just want to make sure you're still Bound by this agreement just as a reminder of the legal agreement that you signed in elat County uh at the end of that lawsuit being withdrawn so um with that I don't know what you have there but uh your signature from 2018 don't know what that is the first time seeing that that you're talking about today but uh no you you saw it in 2018 when you sued the city and uh dismissed with prejudice and agreed to that and you signed it I'm just reminding you the one with the city yes sir just reminding you of your of your o obligation with that uh before you proceed so I and the reason why I'm doing that is I just want to remind you that so you don't overstep I don't want you get getting in any trouble or anything like that that's you may proceed all right I'll continue so good evening Council and mayor uh my name is Derek L can you hear me okay my name is Derek lontine and I with the Spruce Creek riverworks Inc a 501c3 and I'm here to talk about Spruce Creek but I have a question for everyone the question is what would you do if you knew that permitting by state agencies was broken in this state they just didn't do their job would that change how you guys make decisions here would it change what kind of developments you approve if you knew you didn't have that back stop and state agencies just weren't doing their job well I have news for you today and that is that state agencies permitting systems are broken and but I I have a possible solution and things that we can do to pay more attention to that and one is to create a BAP for Spruce Creek so I would like to start by saying what a BAP is uh and what Spruce Creek uh how it will benefit benit from this so first of all I think we all know that Spruce Creek is uh an outstanding Florida water body what that means is it has special protections and it's considered very important for our state uh however it's also impaired for various nutrients and it's basically polluted uh and it has been found to be that way since 2008 and what that means is that our state was supposed to conduct and create a BAP uh based on that study within a year of 2008 meaning 2009 and so it's been 15 years since that study was required by law to be created to protect Spruce Creek and clean it up and it has not yet been created and part of what I'm asking here today is for the city to help with that because part of the the thing that local governments can do is be proactive you as a stakeholder and having citizens who utilize and live near Spruce Creek can ask for that it will help with our local economy local tourism and we can't really uh start it ourselves we can do studies of course I encourage that but it's up to the state to do it but they're just not hearing our voice so I want us to have that voice and to do that and again just looking at a map it's actually very unusual to not have a b map when you have a polluted Waterway you might have heard recently about uh a lawsuit where the people uh from the Springs Institute sued the state to make sure uh the Springs we have including in this County are protected by stronger B maps and they won and the state's relooking into that however ever we don't even have a BAP to strengthen in our area we don't have one for Spruce Creek also for tamoka River but it's a problem and has been for 15 years and that's why I have presented on this a few different times over the years and just I really would like the city's help and assistance to kind of be that voice and help us ask for a BAP because what can it do it can of course help with planning future developments and so forth so again we are stuck kind of in the middle step here and it just has been that way for 15 years and therefore you know we're losing a lot in Spruce Creek in the Watershed and what's important is that we think about the future of course I know we all do that but without a BAP in plan in place we will you know just be in the wild west essentially and that's where we are and these agencies kind of aren't doing their job and one example of that is a recent um case uh that I was part of where we were uh looking at the proposed Pioneer interchange at I95 and as you can see uh from this map the purple which is not all inclusive of Spruce Creek is kind of that waterway that is protected uh or at least should be protected through these uh things and where the The Interchange is slated to go so we had concerns about that and I read up on what the state agencies were doing and when I found and went through their their data I found that they were ignoring that there was even the Spruce Creek preserve nearby shown here in purple and that actually part of the parcel where they're planning to build the interchange is on what's called an essential parcel to complete the uh The Interchange or Sor to complete The Preserve and really provide a Corridor to other parts of the state and I'm just we're really worried about the design of it it's it's really poorly done it's done like it's straight out of the 1950s and you can do it better we could ask for it to be done better as a state we can ask for it to have more Corridor so we don't have to come back you know in 20 30 50 years and say like wow we're seeing issues so um another thing that's really important to know and what I want to share here because you as elected officials I trust that you guys are doing the best you can with the information you have however it's important to know that the fdot has lied to you guys has lied to all of us everyone in the city and other government agencies there was a presentation uh to the TPO which is transportation planning organization in January 2023 where the uh the director of our regional office not just a lowly person but the head honcho presented faulty slides to you guys one of them said that the project is not in an OFW and it is we we actually proved it in court that it was they they denied putting it at the bottom here it said is it in an OFW they said no and part of the reason they said no well I think was to hide it from the public and to get the funding which they got approval from the TPO because they voted yes because it was uh they saw you know oh it wasn't that bad but these maps and the map that they showed was it says even on the bottom yeah 2020 and what that means is uh it actually changed since then they've added additional elements to it that cut into even more Wetlands Little Road Stouts uh roundabout and really just made it bigger compared to when they ever presented to the public which they they did earlier so again that's where my concerns are coming from for anyone who's followed that you know I'm not just complaining for no reason it's because they have lied and they were caught doing it and we actually beat them uh in court we we had a ruling by a judge that said this project is clearly not in the public interest that's what a judge found that's not what I'm saying and then we were just arbitrarily overruled by the very agency we were fighting the Water Management District district and that's wrong to me and I think it really uh is disheartening to people who read and do their due diligence and care about their communities and the flooding that they're going to see so again how can the city help well just Please be aware that we can make comments we can try to to slow this down and have them do these reviews and say how can we uh you know have these corridors protected or we really building it in the right spot and for instance they didn't even see that when you actually look at the OFW map which is the icial one there's a tributary right there in the middle that runs straight down to where that interchange would be on Pioneer Trail uh the at the southern edge of Port Orange and this is just an actual picture that uh that was taken and uh we had just a few years ago work done on I95 by the fdot and this is how that particular tributary looked afterwards it is super turbid for those of you who can't see which means cloudy killed a bunch of living things in there and that's what what we were seeing so again we can't trust that that these agencies are going to do the right thing or at least that they won't make many mistakes so we really need to air on the side of of of caution when when proceeding because things like you know the Pioneer interchange potentially could be an albatross around the neck of the city for for generations to come and we're just going to be paying for it in more than just cost so again the the actual project itself would result in at least 50 acres of direct habitat loss and Wetland loss besides all the secondary effects of course increased noise pollution quality of life flooding concerns are very big as we all know uh plus the $120 million tax uh uh payer cost which a lot of it comes from now Federal funding um and just we don't know the effect it's going to have on cutting off those Corridor preserves to Door sleeper Spruce Creek preserve and you know eliminating important biodiversity that we have there so again you can actually visit we have a website save don't pav Spruce creek.com for um to learn more about what we found and why we're fighting that um so again I appreciate anyone's uh reaching out and asking more about that um a couple other little things that came up that is important to know because a lot of times the push back is oh well we need it for some reason um that's that's never the case we always have a choice and in particular we've had experts look at how it will affect Port Orange and it will not in uh improve our traffic situation one bit it will actually duplicate our problems that we see on dun Lon which are kind of a result of just where other side roads are and everything it will duplicate that on uh on uh the p ER Trail area and and the Turnbull Bay Road quadrupling the traffic that they get there again that's a very sensitive area so we don't want to see that experts also said it would be to the detriment of hurricane evacuation that that's not my words that is a a traffic expert um so I I just encourage you guys to please keep that in mind um but there's I guess another couple things I want to talk about and one is that we actually have um again we've had this misinformation and we've had these project changes so I do want to make sure the city's aware actually on their own web page they have a a slide that that is uh it's it's inaccurate and I would just like the city to update that we actually um you know I looked into it and it might just entirely be because the fdot provided that inaccurate and an outdated map to you can see right on there they don't even have the uh the roundabout and the stub out so um I actually have a letter from our attorney which came in you know after my presentation was created and we're just asking for you guys to change that and to update that to correct it that seems like a simple thing make sure the links are correct it also says like construction begins early 2024 we already in July so you know please make sure the public has that information correct so I'll provide that after but uh overall um again we're really concerned about the corridor and there's some other things I want to talk about how how on Spruce Creek itself there's a lot of uh possibly uh illegal things going on there's not much uh patrolling by anyone you know County or otherwise we have a lot of damage there there's docks this used to be public uh spaces and and really we we really want to see more care for Spruce Creek so I appreciate your time today uh and thank you very much uh for your time okay public participation on agenda do I have any cards should have at least one I would think John Baker good evening John Baker nine Cunningham Lane DeBerry uh from a multigeneration uh Florida resident uh some people call us crackers anyway I've been recreating on Spruce Creek and enjoying it ever since I was a little kid 38 years ago I came here I don't know if this was the same building but uh get Gathering uh uh Endor ments for the petition to make Spruce Creek an outstanding Florida water way and of course we were successful it took a while had uh multi- governments endorse our efforts uh but it's sad to say that more than 50 years since the Clean Water Act was passed and over 30 years since Spruce Creek was made an OFW it's in worse shape now than it was and uh we had the opportunity with this uh inter change if we if the right uh metrics had been applied maybe we would had a better sight plan we had a terrible site plan it it affected will affect the most uh environmentally sensitive quadrant out there all all four quadrants are are vacant undeveloped they could go in the Southeast and the Southwest the Northeast quadrant where the uh unnamed Waterway that's part of the OFW is was described by Dr Dr Peter burel one of the expert Witnesses is the kidneys of Spruce Creek so we feel it was very poor sight plan they could have done it a whole lot better they could have used the proper metrics to protect the water they used outdated uh metrics that we know won't work and uh we were opposed to it and hopefully get the word out because Spruce Creek is a wonderful place there've been several world record F taken out of there we we cited that in this and then after one of the big freezes there was a large snook found floating that if it had been caught live on on rod and reel it would have been a state record and there's a big snail down around turnbill Bay and Strickland Bay it's about 8 Ines long it eats oysters and we documented through newspaper reports that back in the 80s there was some bad runoff from it development killed a large portion of those snails so you got a great treasure there the Public's invested a whole lot in it public care is a lot I care a lot and uh just want to make you aware thank you thank you John Derek you got another one different topic right sure just in my individual capacity if I me I was trying to separate that uh and I appreciate your time today again my name is Derek lontine and I'm also running for mayor of Port Orange I think many of you know that uh now I just want to say kind of a little bit about myself and why I'm running so I grew up here went to Spruce Creek High School I graduated valid dictorian and played varsity baseball there and just really enjoyed my time serving my community and uh it was just wonderful to grow up here and I founded Spruce Creek river works and and some other uh groups uh that I work with here because uh I've seen a lot of change that's that really I think uh we need to have a voice of of control and reason uh against all this overdevelopment that we're seeing and I just want to talk about well I want to say one thing that you guys might uh find uh a little surprising but I am not actually an environmentalist I just care about my city and I care about things being done the right way I really wish I didn't have to spend my time looking at you know Wetland maps and stuff like that that's not what I want to be doing I'm doing it because I I care about my community and I think we all care and I just want to say that what I've found is that yeah there's just so many issues that again not this not the city's fault not blaming anyone the C but but things that are happening forces that are coming our way that we can say no to and as a council you can say no to but I also want to talk about the consequences if we just keep approving development after development we will you know have more pollution which will lead to things like higher cancer rates in our city if we clear more trees we'll have more heat which will lead to Stronger hurricanes and more flooding in our city if we have more cars from all these developments we will see more deaths from traffic I don't want to see all those things I want our community to stay uh you know within its limits and to to feel like a small Hometown again and that's how it was when I grew up here and what I hope it can be again and also for anyone who wants to learn more about me you can come uh see my website safeport orange.com uh and I just talk about other things I want to do like you know be very transparent in government uh be very respectful to people who come up to talk I think that's very important uh to make sure that we are spending our money wisely uh for instance you know the the bond that's being talked about for the wreck department uh we wouldn't have to do that uh if we weren't expanding so quickly that's my understanding and so people who've lived here a long time are paying for for that and and the last request I'll make of the city is that I would like us to perhaps revisit some of our election rules uh this is maybe a multi-year thing but I don't think we should be deciding uh two person races is in in August I really think we should move it to November like many other cities and the county if there's just two people in you don't need a primary I I think it will give voters more of a say I think that's something we should look into there's some other things that are possibly uh outside groups uh really affecting our voters and provideing misinformation I would like us to support the supervisor of election and investigate some of those allegations as well so thank you for your time Derek before you leave I got a question sure I understand you're a chemist I have many uh titles I I like to say I'm a man of many trades but yeah I have a master's degree in chemistry yes and where are you employed I am employed uh partially through the university system of the state thank you in Gainesville correct I I do have to commute yeah and I am trying to finish up my PhD there which because you know we don't have great I wish we had better jobs in Port Orange but I'm trying to to better myself and I always have and I'm proud of what I do I actually have a blue collar just picking up waste I have to commute and I have to it it's really not not glorious uh but I I work that because I want to contribute to Florida I want to contribute to our future and I really care about you know doing the Dirty Work that that a lot of people don't want to do yeah okay I I the you commute five days a week no I I it's actually it's a it's a long story that's a good question if I'm allowed more time i' would like to explain but I I don't want to go over my time because yeah it's it's important to know that that we we as a community have a lot of uh of issues here and people who want to that's not what I asked you okay yeah I mean it's a am I allowed to answer it's up to you I asked him a totally different question you done yeah I'm done yeah I I'm proud of where I live and what I do thank you all right here's somebody that I've never heard of before Barbara an heagan how's chamber world all right awesome well good evening mayor council city manager and City attorney on behalf of the port AR South Daytona Chamber of Commerce we're here to encourage and support that on August 20th we're asking voters to consider the issuance of bonds to allow for the renovation and expansion of various city parks and the development of new parks and Facilities that will offer active recreational opportunities for residents of all ages across the city we are a chamber of commerce that promotes quality of life and we consistently hear about the beauty of our Parks specifically we're very excited about the Ki Park expansion with six new Fields additional parking Scenic 5K Trail and much more the Depo Park Renovations home to the oldest surviving Florida East Coast Railway Freight Depot which is listed on the National Registry of historic places and we are so proud we use this for our leadership program last year we attended and just to see their phenomenal growth it's a key hold and Staple in our community the new W West 12,000 square foot chinesium built to accommodate numerous recreational activities the white Place Park renovation another exciting opportunity for walking paths around the pond that will will assist with storm water control in the area newly constructed playground and Pavilion with improvements of the existing pickle bow cours and last the Willow Run Park expansion two lighted multi-purpose Fields a new parking facility encouraging easy access for our visitors along with Trail improvements and Pathways throughout the city we are very excited for this these benefits enhance the quality of life in our community and the fact that land preserved for Parks also cannot be developed thank you so much thank you thank you Barbara Barbara Ann is our also the uh I want to say the the queen Pumba Queen Pumba of the of the Port Orange South Daytona chamber but she actually has a title of President so with that and we've got a special guest in the house that signed up to speak he's got three minutes what's his name Sheldon Sheldon I known you for so long and you've never never been a person of many words so I'm going to see how you feel these three minutes unfortunately I speak for him I know what was that he says hello um my name is Claire and we're with the Daytona Tortugas and we just wanted to let y'all know that Friday is our city of Port Orange night so we have the mayor and the vice mayor throwing out the first pitch um game starts at 6:30 the gates open at 5:30 if you come to the box office we'll give you a discounted ticket if you show your ID um that you live in Port Orange um and we just kind of wanted to come out and say hello awesome I am looking forward to it and I'm definitely going to have Dad with me he yes one thing that I have enjoyed dad took me to the ball games there when I was small and now it's come full circle now I get to bring him yeah so CH will be there Shel will be there'll be a good time still trying to figure out how you escaped it without Shelly noticing yeah I won't tell her sneak back in all right we'll see you Friday night yeah we hope to see a lot of you guys there all right thank you so much for your time see thanks for coming nobody's ever taken a picture with Sheldon before and that was the last card so we will go on to council comments uh we don't have read so this should go really fast tonight Tracy what do you got for those of y'all that happen to be out of town during fourth of July you miss a fantastic event held by not one Departments of parks recreation but everybody that was involved so bottom of my heart I got to watch it see it and realize that wow what a fantastic night we got blessed with beautiful weather uh thankfully rain came in and pushed in and to keep people safe with the fireworks that was going on so that was a fantastic thing um I do have uh some stuff that came in the mail today that uh we were just talking D Wayne about uh it's addressed from the city of Port Orange and it says current residents to all the addresses that are out there and it's a flood informational sheet from vucha County um this is a fantastically done by vucha County Emergency uh Services uh from staying informed flood uh preventions what to do how to take care and things of that nature not that we want to work worry about this but when a time comes and we're in peak of hurricane season starting up it's good to have information passed along to the citizens so when that comes in the mail just take a look at it it's got local government flood numbers and important uh uh management information numbers and FEMA that's in there also for everybody so good piece of information um as are driving around town uh after this past weekend you know we had some uh un unique times in government and uh um it's hard to believe that we have these type of times that happen but I have to reflect and say that I think everybody knows what I'm talking about and I look back as I was driving this past Sunday and I got to look and see in Port Orange that yeah we do have growth and we have some beautiful growth that's going on uh it's nice to know that the community is coming together and that we have two churches being built this year it's a beautiful thing Thrive Church is one and then Christ the King I got to be there for the groundbreaking event this past weekend it's nice to know that there is still Glory that is out there for the city to be part of and that us as a community can have an understanding that there is greater good so even in the trials and tribulations that we have that goes on and our events there is a ton of good that's around us you just have to look and seek it so that's my saying for tonight right I'm just going to go ahead and play off of what you're talking about uh with the information about flood insurance my parents have a house in Daytona Beach they've had since 1964 not in a flood zone it was an X zone least amount of risk it flooded they had flood insurance and if you live in a lowrisk Zone like that it really only cost you about a133 a day to have flood insurance and thank goodness they had that the it was a couple months that they stayed with us while they recovered but because they had flood insurance uh they were able to buy it at a significantly lower rate because of it was a lowrisk Zone uh that's what insurance is and certainly the uh uh Federal flood insurance program is there uh it and if you have it you can't count on FEMA you can't and of course there are a lot of people we saw that had difficulties with their own insurance companies uh but this was a direct policy that paid them and and and uh and did them right so uh it's it's very important and I ask everybody out there consider it particularly as we go through all the changes that we have we as a city are working very hard to uh mitigate those risks and we've identified uh a lot of things that we do procedurally we've also uh targeted $36 million and projects upcoming in the next few years uh but at the same time uh no matter what we do you also have to take a look what you can do for yourselves it it it goes handin hand so I'm glad that you mentioned that Tracy Scott what you got for us tonight just a couple of brief things I also want to congratulate and and give praise to everybody that was involved in the Fourth of July Events I know uh that happens with all of the the city departments involved to pull off something like that it was a great great event great job by everybody involved including the uh Port Orange Community Trust and all of our city Department Personnel um also wanted to mention this is kind of a a sad note uh the passing of Michael Booker who was was the Daytona Beach Shores city manager for over 22 years and and has succumbed to his battle with cancer there has of yesterday around 1:00 great man uh a great Regional partner somebody who worked very effective and collectively with a lot of different cities especially in southeast Lucha County uh had just retired a couple of years ago and um definitely a man um in a resident of Port Orange by the way um I used to tease him about that a little bit but uh he knew right so uh but Michael will be uh will be missed and and my condolences to his family for sure good I don't have anything there you're easy all right got I did want to mention a couple other things uh as we mentioned before Friday night Daytona Tortugas night Port Orange night at the Daytona Tortugas game uh we'll be throwing out some first pitches around 6:15 but should be a fun night at the Jack Friday night hope to see everybody there the other thing I want to mention Wayne I did have this question um when it comes to solicitation permits particularly something that uh has been in the news uh what I've always told people is when you have somebody knock on the door that you should ask to see their solicitation permit if they don't have one well it it it's it's the law they're supposed to have a solicitation permit is it possible that solicitation permits that we issue that we can publicly post post those somewhere uh on our web page Uh current uh permits so that people can actually look at that themselves we can do that I would I'd very much like to be able to do that and I know that one that was uh featured on the news last night uh somebody from lumio solar there people that are knocking doors in our city here in Port Orange constantly you showed one house where they came back several times within a few days uh they asked to see a solicitation permit and they couldn't present one but that that is our first line of defense I'd like people to be able to look on our website whatever is be able to see prominently who has solicitation permits because it's really not that many people that way you can protect yourselves the second thing is is that if there's somebody in your neighborhood that you feel does not belong our police department will check them out we'll do our job that's what we're here we're here to we're to protect you guys uh as best we possibly can and now most people knocking doors are just doing just that you you have the tree guy who's I'm down the road doing it doing this and I can trim up your tree and and it's up to you to accept whether to do that or not but they shouldn't be they should have solicitation permits that's that's that's the way that it's structured that's the law in our city and it's here to protect you and we'll help you do that so just wanted to make sure everybody is aware of that and that uh law enforcement will play their a part in that to help enforce that as well so uh wanted to make sure that we knew that and that uh I think being able to post that where people can see active solicitation permits if we can do that would be very helpful uh with that parks and recre Advisory board report drop Mr Robert ball good evening uh Bobby ball with the the parks Rec board I almost said the other word the other side I know right um we had our uh quarterly meeting and um I think the really the highlights are the things that you're aware of um the bond process is is moving along so we're excited to have that uh uh put out to the voters and and I know staff's doing a great job of educating and hopefully us on the board can do a good job advocating so um a few things that we talked about uh in the ctor report and um we've had uh averaging 6,000 um people a month come through the rec center which is just phenomenal and um way higher than than ever you know we ever thought budgeted um we've got lots of uh uh kids programs for the summertime um they're all full I think we've got 240 kids in summer camp um staff did a interesting thing this year they switched the indoor and outdoor sport over the summertime to make uh Prov some relief for the Heat and so they're inside during the during the hottest weather and um that's been a pretty big success for them and um they're full no programs we have any room um which is just indicative of you know what we have here in Port Orange um they are starting uh a Special Olympics program which is pretty interesting and new for them um and it's a it's an eight-week program from Kids 2 to 7 um and then there's also I mean Jennifer went through it and there was another two or three dozen activities and event things that the programs are being run out of the out of the park and wreck uh they're all available on the website um and then last uh I guess not but not least you guys have talked about it before but the golf tournament had its uh annual golf tournament and I think they raised over $7,000 for the the kids for the programs and scholarship programs that that the parks and rec does use um to help the kids so and the golf course was in great shape so I appreciate it that's all I got I would just say that just to expand on something Bobby was talking talking to our resident about this actually earlier this week or uh last week when you when you do something like that wreck Expansion Project and you make that kind of an investment you you kind of look for that return on investment the numbers are staggeringly in favor for what you know the community has shown as as a investment that was incredibly needed and very well worth the expense and just to think you know what those numbers are today what they're going to continue to be in the demand and the use as well as with the the parks all the parks and wck Facilities it's the same thing when you go down to Riverwalk Park you you can ride by some of the nicest Parks all over vucha County and you'll see a few here and there not to knock them at all they're all great but you look at that Park on Beach Street in Daytona you ride by there on a Saturday or Sunday morning and there's a handful of folks out there using that facility and it's a beautiful Park but then you get up here and you ride by Riverwalk Park and there's dozens and dozens of people out there using that facility you know it's maybe half the size if not a third the size but it just kind of goes to show that in this community Port Orange how active our residents want to be how much those parks and wrecks mean to them and the value that they give back in the quality life overall in the city so and the parks and rec board deserves a tremendous amount of credit for always looking for ways to improve that and you know if we had endless funding it would it would be great that doesn't exist but the parks re you know kind of whittles down where we can get and and continue to increase that quality of life so thanks for you mentioned the wreck and and it's a it's also the location is very very good it's in the kind of the north central side of of the city and and it's surrounded by school you know and it's got just next to a community park and you know the city center here it's it's in a good spot I think you know one of the bond items is is a West Rec Center similarly situated bu a school in an area surrounded by residential and I think um you can drive by that Park any day of the week and you will see kids out there there's a need they're going to they're going to go there and um it'll be I I think it'll be just as successful it's it's an exciting and and adults too I mean we see the we think a lot about the kids obviously we should but it's you know the amount adults that are out there I mean why I say I don't care either age eight or age 80 you I'll make you feel old right now but if you were if you're if you're at least 40 50 years old you know what a hacky sack is Right remember that explosion back in the 80s and early 90s I saw two guys kicking a hacky sack around the other day at Airport Road Park and they were they had to be in their 40s you know and I was like I haven't seen anybody kick they're all know they all know what a hacky sck is I hadn't seen that in forever so there's a few people that to go home later yeah I'm not sure I would have remember what it was called right yeah thanks Bobby yeah appreciate you thank you thank you public hearing portion of the meeting is now open we have item 16 second reading of ordinance 202 24-11 the First Amendment to the restated Master development agreement for catfish Commons Mr attorney could you read the ordinance into the record please sure uh ordinance of the city of Port Orange B County Florida approving the First Amendment to the restated Master development agreement for the catfish Commons plan commercial development providing for repeal of conflicting ordinances providing for severability and providing an effective date move to approve ordinance number 202 24-11 I'll second the motion in second are made the item is open and on the floor for discussion we have second reading do we have any comments or questions councel would anyone here care to speak to the item you want to try to talk us out of it Brandon okay anyone else with that back to council final comments there being none call the rooll councilman grubs yes councilman Bastion yes vice mayor sner yes mayor Bernette yes or0 easy easy peasy item 17 second reading of ordinance 20 24-1 which is chapter 74 utilities Article 5 storm water Mr attorney could you read that into the record please sure an ordinance of the city of Port Orange BL County Florida amending chapter 74 Article 5 storm water utility amending section 74156 to add a definition for equivalent dwelling unit and delete unused terms amending section 7459 to describe the assignment of equ equivalent dwelling unit to developed residential and non non-residential property amending section 74161 to eliminate the requirement to designate by resolution the percentage of the storm water drainage utility fee intended for Capital Improvements streamline the provisions by which non-residential developed properties may receive credits against the amount of the storm water drainage utility fee as a result of on-site storm water retention facilities and describe the authoriz authorized uses of storm water fee proceeds providing for codification providing for repeal of conflicting ordinances providing for scribers errors providing for separability and providing an effective date move to approve ordinance number 202 24-1 I'll second the item is open on the floor for discussion second reading now you know why I'm letting Matt read those yeah he had to take a breath and a drink of water uh Council comments there being none would anyone here to speak to the item there being none back to us Council final comments there being none call the rooll councilman grubs yes councilman Bastion yes vice mayor sner yes mayor Bernett yes 40 the public hearing portion of the meeting is closed regular agenda item 18 first reading of ordinance number 202 24-10 amendment to chap chapter 54 Article 5 police pension fund of the code of ordinances Mr attorney please read the ordinance into the record uh in ordinance of the city of PT orang Lu County Florida amending chapter 54 Article 5 police pension fund amend 54122 definitions amending the definition of average final compensation amending section 54126 pension benefits amending the normal retirement age amending section 54227 form of benefit payments providing drop eligibility for certain members providing for codification providing for repeal of conflicting ordinances provided for severability and providing an effective date move to approve ordinance number 2024 d10 I'll second we have a motion proper second the item is open and on the floor for discussion when do we have who do we have recapping this for us John can if you'd like I don't know it's it's fairly straight forward from our discussions last fall but if you'd like a recap we can it's just well it is first reading so I would feel good if we just uh and I know it's mostly clean up and everything out of that but I would like I might be able to save him a trip if you want well then I'll take that I'll take I'll take the 60c version from you as opposed to the oh man well we probably 12 second from John got we got 20% just in the title but we the definition of uh average final compensation will mean now three highest years of the last 5 years of service uh these well let me let me start by saying these are all contractually agreed to already so these are implementing what you've already agreed to Via the cvas that you've approved um so that's the first change second change is pension benefit um amending the the language to allow for uh normal retirement uh 48 years and 10 investing credits or 20 years and out um and then the last one is drop uh it's reducing the eligibility uh to to be in line with the normal retirement age now so so you can enter drop uh once you've re achieved the normal retirement age those are the three changes I appreciate that if we're going to codify what we've agreed to I think it's important that people know what we're codifying Council comments or questions should make sense okay would anyone here care to speak to it I'm going to try talk is out of it I'm pretty sure read right there you go anyone else good poker player no I'm playing poker with him back to us Council final comments or questions there being none call the rooll councilman grubs yes councilman Bastion yes vice mayor sner yes mayor Bernette yes 40 thank you appreciate you item 19 is removal of two historic live oak trees at 50005 South Ridgewood Avenue the recommended motion is if I can blow it up right the recommended motion is to approve the after the fact tree removal permit for two historic live oak trees along with a mitigation payment of $1 16,640 th000 penalty fee for remov of two historic trees without a permit as required by the LDC can I have the motion so moved I'll second we have a motion proper second the item is open on the floor for discussion Wayne who do we have presenting on this Tim bman commment um as indicated the request is a historic tree removal permit um basically on the subject of sub property the uh the P flea market site on rwood Avenue as indicated in the report staff was notified of trees being removed back in APR or March um once staff arrived on site there was no permit pull the trees were in the process of being removed and one was already removed um the city Forester looked at this the trees that were on site there and determine that they were historic live oak trees um the way the code reads is basically that if you remove a tree without a permit it is required based that you submit the after fact pre removal permit which has to come back for city council since they're historic you also have to pay a mitigation payment as determined recommended by the EAB there is also a $5,000 fine per historic tree removed and payment of double payment of the permit fee uh the code also specifies that if the staff are not able to see the tree prior to it being removed it is deemed healthy in determining the mitigation and the fee are the fine then um therefore based on the code requirements in the Land Development code uh the permit can be approved subject to payment of the $6,000 6,000 or $1 6,641 fine for the removal of two historic trees and the after the fact tree removal permit fee which will be assessed um at the time the permits picked up again these are basically requirements in the land code um and basically we're just applying the requirements to the code as part of the permit conditions okay and the applicant are the property owner is also here to you have questions okay questions of Staff councel no I don't was the report was written up cut and dry yeah yeah would anyone care to speak to it hey Andy hi Andy Clark owner of the flea market uh I just want to give you a little background on what happened there um I thought the tree company was getting the permit and it turns out they weren't even registered you know in the city of Port Orange and um so and any my manager you know referred them the manager at the flea market so I just want to tell you I'm you know I'm sorry about what happened and um you know I've had the flea market for 30 years almost and uh you know we want to be good neighbor and everything and um so I just want to give you some background and and uh I'm in agreement with the U the $116,000 fine but if there's anything you can do I don't know if it's allowed but to mitigate any of the the fine Parks it wasn't meant I didn't mean to do it I guess so I just wanted to uh give you some information on it and see if there's anything you could do with the fine portion so okay thank you any questions any how how did it come about that somebody was called there and just start I mean any tree guy knows and at in Port Orange you got to have a permit to take a tree exactly I know I know I um I I thought they were a good tree company they did some work at my house and they did good work there just some trimming that was the only time I used them before this and um but I mean the I I took some pictures of the tree they the trees did have holes in the in the trunk at least one of them was more than the others I I had some pictures of them and U um my the manager of the flea market really thought that they were a hazard and she was worried about them falling down on you know all the people that go there on the weekends it gets pretty crowded with um you know pedestrians and stuff so they so some of the trunks were definitely you know damaged in my opinion but you know like like the staff said it that didn't matter because I didn't they been permanent pulled so the arborist didn't have a chance to look at them but um I have pictures in the report of the trees so I mean it's a matter of opinion whether they were disease they look pretty pretty disease to me at least certain parts of the tree yeah you know so um there's there's flooding there on the property and I guess you know maybe the flooding has been affecting the the Live Oaks or or something there but um anyway um yeah that's kind of the background of it and everything um wow any other questions from Mr Clark thanks Andy anyone care to speak to the item yeah I just had I guess a few thoughts for you guys to ponder and I think you're uh going to do the right thing uh and follow what the EAB recommended I just want to say what you know the money could be used for uh we really can use it to plant more trees around the city and and we need that I know uh in the past sometimes uh you know the city has has waved uh mitigation fees uh for trees uh including at at the BJ shopping center this was way back in the day but this is still it's what got me into politics so to speak is that in 2011 and most of you you know you weren't you know voting then so uh in 2011 the city waved over a quarter million dollar of tree mitigation fees uh for the BJ shopping center and to this day that's why I don't shop at BJs just so you know because they should have paid the city that money we should have had that money and then we could be more you know uh we could you know help out U smaller people and but in this case I think the the message and the answer is clear um just follow the rules follow the you know the code uh it says to charge that amount and that gentleman um I'm sure he he is well within his right to sue the company that did it and have them you know ultimately give him money back so I'm not worried at all I just don't want us to lose out on the city I don't think you guys want to so just you know maintain the the recommendation from the environmental Advisory Board and remember we we can we can use that money uh for for trees and if it comes now in then uh we don't have to you know as the city sue the the tree company but I curious too about you know these arborist reports and I think maybe we should look into that and figure out if uh you know the the people I mean I don't know if if that's something what we're doing regularly if we're you know these companies I appreciate what the mayor was saying earlier about the solicitation and so forth so this is a perfect example about uh maybe the city can can fight and actually you know help our residents but again right now I think you just have to maintain collecting the money Mak making sure we can use it for trees I know a few years ago I actually helped voluntarily plant some trees around the city and I I work with our rec department about that and and I also know that in the past I've seen sometimes when we plant trees other people you know pull them out or mow them over actually we had some trees a couple dozen planted around a retention Pond a few years back and uh the former police chief I'm sure you all remember uh wonderful Mr Ford uh yeah he wanted us to to replant them as a city he he asked at a city council meeting at public meeting he said we need to replant the these trees that that were pulled out mistakenly that were planted by volunteers and we just never had the money to do that or the city never came back and helped uh us replanted after we did that so I think I've said my say and I I know you'll do the right thing so I just want to thank you for your time and look forward to to working with you to uh plant more trees around the city thank you thank you anyone else uh Gord 5501 St Regis way and uh you know this is a terrible thing that we as uh business owners and homeowners we we rely on uh professionals to come out and provide us with the information that that we're expecting them to give us in this case he hired a tree company instead of trying to have his staff do it and someone get hurt uh or just ignore the opportunity that the tree might be failing as Oaks do as they as they age out uh being a prior insurance agent one of those trees falling down on a pedestrian uh visiting his uh flea market uh that closes that flea market uh I particularly know Andy Clark I know what he's done for this community his family's done for this community over the years I know he wouldn't cut a corner anywhere to save money um uh the the last speaker mentioned something about uh losing the city's not losing out when you're finding somebody they never had the money what he's asking you to do is be um you know understand that he he's willing to pay the fine but I think there's some double fines going on in here and I think he's asking from for some mercy on that trying to do the right thing and we hear about we hear about all the time where um people who come out and provide a service uh they tell you they have a license it's on the side of their truck and you find out don't have a license or they don't have the insurance and they didn't pull the permit and uh you know we're we're asked to make sure we use Professionals in our community and that's what this business owner did and he did it for the protection of his employees and the and the people that visit that that facility he's improved that facility for years and and everything around that if you look anywhere in this city and has the Clark property name on it it's first class so he's not asking uh I don't think he's asking something unreasonable and I want to make sure everyone understands he's we're not we're not losing money here we're just maybe looking at a consideration and not double fine him you know and and if he is fine he's fine that's that's that's in the ordinance and and we've got to support what our rules are but at the same time I don't want anyone to think that if you make a decision tonight um based on his reputation and what he's done in the city and what they do over there today and this weekend when people are visiting there I don't want people to I want people to understand that you're we're not losing money by not double finding him so I just wanted to to make that that clear thank you thank you anyone else you probably want to clarify it's not a double fine the 16,000 mitigation is what you if you followed every Rule and removed the trees and couldn't replant them you'd pay mitigation the fine is the 10,000 for doing it without a permit so it's two completely separate things it's not a double fine it's a payment for not reping the trees and a penalty for doing it without a permit so there are there are two sep29 for the one and the 9275 for the other tree correct so so you Council you you could make the decision I just want to make sure you were doing it with that now appreciate that and I would with that in mind uh uh knowing that uh this is not entirely on him this is not somebody that did something uh you know uh you go through a contractor you do have certain expect ations and if somebody wanted to amend the motion to reduce the fine to F uh reduce you know we've got 10,000 in fines for each tree I would entertain a motion to reduce it by 5,000 if Council has the pleasure but of course that's up to you guys since you have the motion ability making that motion to reduce it by 5,000 make the motion to make it to 5,000 not 10,000 with the mitigation staying at the 16 C okay I I'll second that but I've got a a question for the city manager so one one of the things that's important is I think some consistency and while historically we do try to look at other mitigating factors and circumstances and and as the mayor pointed out and and Sean gier is that uh this particular person has made an incredible amount of positive investment in this entire area that was very much on the on the edge of blight and a lot of rundown areas and so for that and yeah and he is and he's making Contin to making more Investments and and I'm not trying to give anybody a a pass and I appreciate Mr Clark and his willingness to actually come and stand before us because I know it's not easy and and some to some degree you're right I mean you feel like as a property owner or a business owner you got scammed you thought you were doing the right thing and it's tough when you need to get stuff done or your employees need to get stuff done you know I mean lot of very most people don't take the time to do a background check on the company that you hire that you believe has got everything that they need and everything's in in in the way it should be so what my thing with that Wayne is is that what have we done historically so that we're staying consistent with this can we give us any feedback on that we we followed the ordinance consistently if people cut down trees without a permit they get the penalty for it and the the mitigation issue is that you can plant the trees back and not pay you can lower that money by your choice sometimes you're constrained by the property and and you can't plant as many back so that's out there as an option to give you a way to to recover but we have consistently applied the the penalty fee uh per tree if I mean usually you get one at a time it's it's it's a one tree by a house or one tree in a shopping center so so but it it it has been consistently applied and I would I would add that we we reviewed the the current code with with the Community Development staff and that is currently the interpretation under the code we we agree with the interpretation and the recommendation of staff from a legal standpoint as well okay okay I anything else that's it any other on the amended motion to reduce the uh total payment by $5,000 call the role councilman GRS yes councilman Bastion yes vice mayor sner no mayette yes 31 primary motion you have to call the rooll on the primary motion councilman grubs yes councilman Bastion the primary motion would be for the oh oh yes as amended yes so you say yes yes mayor still there no mayor Bernette yes 31 thank you everybody City attorney report nothing in report excellent report wow city manager report no report even better report city council committee report just wanted to point out uh get statistics from First Step shelter uh we are uh the safe zone is uh actively being used by many of the municipalities in the area as well as admittance and uh Edgewater and oakill are looking to join the first step shelter organization as well so we may uh see some continued expansion of that for orang South Daytona Chamber of Commerce you know what why would I do that when I got barbaran here good evening again I would like to uh recognize I have two board members here in the audience uh Sean geord as well as Chris Kane and every month we make it a priority to go to all the City Council meetings whether it's myself or our board and we have a very engaged board and we report out on it at every board meeting it's the top of my agenda so we want you to know we appreciate the partnership very very much the other piece that I'm here to update you on is our leadership program uh your city manager has been a stark supporter of the program and mayor you have come to present as well as your great uh fire chief wolfing and police chief Marino we are kicking off the program September 11th it runs for 10 weeks it will go from September to November and we cover everything from city government to healthc care to working with our nonprofits it's a wonderful program that brings emerging leaders in our community up to 24 leaders you can download the application on our website at PS chamber.com and we look forward to the city of Port Orange sending some participants thank you so much city manager thank you Art House Tracy what you got so they have been very very busy uh so from summer school letting go and having the kids kick off we've had over 250 families served by Art House uh one of the beauties of that is it's 60 campers every week wow uh they are touring City Center Monday uh while we were in our meeting with Wayne Monday morning 60 kids outside walking and and I went after our meeting I was like I got to ask her what she doing so Art House does the storyboards that is going around city center and then she takes them over to Veterans Park and she actually has a veterans talk about the Memorial Park and the importance of it with these 60 kids every every week so it's kind of a a unique thing the art house is not just doing the art there she's teaching them everything inside the Civic of the city center at the same time so over 250 kids so far as of uh date um she has four art designers collaborating for the Down Under project for the columns um hopefully have something soon on that they'll be coming to council for everybody to see uh and then a a shout out for saving a date for September 20th they have a low fun and funky night event that is going to be debuting all the kids artwork uh for that evening uh with a Gala being held outside of the art house so it's paid event um they'll be up on their website here shortly as far as all the information on it but that's September 20th but uh just amazing what they've been doing and it's it just keep keeps getting better and better love having them in that new facility any other business coming for us this evening if not we'll see you all next week for the budget Workshop have a good night everybody