e okay got to start the meeting welcome everyone last roll call mayor Bruner here vice mayor Rich here commissioner Clark here commissioner Collins here commissioner McDonald here okay we're going to have the invocation by uh our police chaplain Mr skba SK thank you sir will you go right into the Pledge of Allegiance after I certainly will thank you Madame mayor City Council Members most importantly citizens of Stewart It's a good thing that we do invoking the the presence of the Lord into these meetings let's go before him our God and our father great creator of the universe you raise up leaders amongst us to guide us and direct us we ask you to guide and direct them to give them the understanding the intelligence the knowledge the perception to be able to lead us in a righteous Direction Lord with the world going the way it is right now righteousness has become a thing of the past but we know that through your divine intervention and through the wonderful people the leaders that you raise up righteousness will come back to this great nation one nation under God and we claim that Lord we claim it through the grace and the mercy that you give us father we know that you can restore this nation your word says if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their Wicked Ways then will you hear from Heaven Lord and you'll heal our land we ask you for that healing right now and we thank you that you allow us to be an instrument of your peace and instruments of your healing bless this meeting and all the things that will be discussed that are important to your people we invite your presence and we thank you for it in your precious name we do pray amen amen please join me now in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance 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 thank you okay do we have any comments from any of our commissioners would like to go first okay Mr Clark Mr Morel wants me to go first yes I'm just kidding I didn't see yes I didn't see him look inside said let me get his attention no um so I was away this weekend doing a family event and I ran into uh Dennis Armstrong who used to be one of our City and County Commissioners and he says to tell everybody hello I don't know how many people know him but um he live right there behind me one of the first homes well probably before the homes were taken for the airport air way uh Runway space there but um Dennis has always active in our city and in our community and it was a joy just seeing him and catching up with him again after our last meeting we had a town hall on June the 13th and other than lots of other things that may have happened it was one of the the best Town Halls not because it was my town hall that I was trying to work with the staff was just exemplary in their preparation for this everybody was welcome Mr Redstone and his staff at the 10th Street um the community came out it was very good and then the CR staff and uh the the our community services staff like like I said but everybody was just um really well prepared and I was very um appreciative and and proud of of what we did the main reason for the town hall they had sent out cards and flyers and I think it was on our board here and we had talked about um introducing the East Stewart historic advisory committee updating them on the neighborhood for National Historic register places and the consultant was there and they looked at the website and then we talked about the future of the 10 Street Community Center programs especially for adults and also the transition we had somebody from the Boys and Girls Club there because there's a youth program and after school program that that will go over to the Boys and Girls Club and there was just a lot of questions and a lot of interest from the community and um I know that Mr mortell has been Fielding questions especially uh about the community programs at the 10 Street rec center but um I think it was very well received on the information that we gave to people and the information that we're asking people for with regard to especially the history of East Stewart and the progress on the the historic um register application so was it really um a great milestone I think in our city with all the information and the way that it was presented and for people to understand what we're trying to achieve and what the future of our 10 Street Community Center uh will look like with uh additional programming and other things and I just think that it was a it was a great Town Hall at least for me like I said we had some citizens were not happy with certain things and they had questions and we thought that we allayed most of their questions and those who want questions of the city or of the Boys and Girls Club they had a chance to ask questions had a chance to go to uh some uh open houses that the boys and girls club has had and I think Mr Mortel has helped uh provide a lot of information to Residents and uh I think that that was particularly relev received Madame mayor I'd like to pull item numbers four and five under the consent agenda um and I think that's it I there yes back okay so I just wanted to uh at the last no meeting uh the no approved the transportation Improvement plan which is the called the tip which is the next fiveyear funding cycle and going through this there's approximately $40 million over the next five years spent on Transportation projects in the city uh including uh improvements uh to US1 and Joan Jefferson repaving uh multimodal Pathways intersection Improvement at Baker Road um US1 repaving uh redo of the intersection at caner Highway those are just to name a few uh so uh me and commissioner Collins are the mpo representatives and we've been working hard to get the uh to get as much funding as we can for transportation within the city and we're working on it so that's all I have today thank you I have no comments thank you we'll move on does our manager have any comments um as a follow follow up to commissioner Clark's uh town hall meeting there was um a lot of misinformation and a lot of I think fear for lack of the future because uh there were some parents that were under the impression that uh the after school program was terminating and that there wouldn't be an after school program when in fact it's been a longstanding position of the city that it didn't have a boys and girls club in the community and that's why it was provided and then ultimately um that when they started the construction it was the intention to merge it back together following the uh open house that uh commissioner Clark pointed with referenced uh Mr Fletcher uh the director of the Boys and Girls Club had open houses last Wednesday and Thursday afternoon for any of the parents or anybody that wanted a tour of the boys and girls club and one of the uh parents that was the probably most outspoken or concerned um actually withdrew her her kids from the program the day after uh doing the tour of boys and girls club and was so impressed that she enrolled them in the Palm City and boys and girls club the next day rather than even waiting until October because the facilities and had so much and so now that we're getting the word out and letting people see what the Boys and Girls Club looks like inside it's um really been pretty I haven't had any complaints at all last week and this week as they've people have actually seen it and and the complaints weren't real complaints they were more like who's going to pay and who's going to how do I know my child is going to be accepted and what's going to happen if it you know my child doesn't get in and you know things like that and so uh providing the information that made it so that they know that all of their children are going to be accepted and that they all are going to go in and it's going to be there and the facility itself um if you haven't had a chance to to see it it's worth the tour they've got an incredible program The Vocational programs and vocational training they have is beyond description and um they have two commercial kitchens that are as nice as any restaurant in Martin County plus the new gymnasium that's uh built and finished is absolutely stunning so we're very excited about that um also this is the last meeting before the 4th of July so everybody is invited to come down to uh Flagler Park Mr trollsky on behalf of the community services will be putting on a fire and ice Fourth of July which is exactly as it describes there is going to be Fire in the Sky and snow and ice on the ground um it should be fun for the kids I think it was 20 tons of ice is that the right 16 tons of snow will be in Flagler Park Jim striving to have it on the hottest day of the hottest year um hopefully it'll work out if not it's going to be fire and water but anyway it should be very exciting and as you know we have a huge turnout for the Fourth of July every year um it ends up being a you know thousands of people come to the riverfront which is great and we're looking forward to it this again this year that's all I've got thank you can I get approval of the agenda move to approval bullet items four and five second this is the uh approval for the agenda consent calendar we're going to pull it now right the approval of the agenda would I got it mixed up all right we got a um um all in favor I I okay now the comments from the public Alan Murphy Miss Murphy probably remember me this bright line and I was wondering if there were any updates on either the new bridge the station um any anything bright Line new we can I can get back with you we can get back with you okay thank you very much I remember to do that Miss cartright welcome you good afternoon Commissioners and thank you for allowing me to speak this is a gentle reminder to everyone here and at home to make sure that your voter registration is current and updated and that means making sure that your address is correct and that your signature on file is correct so if you vote by mail your signature doesn't need to be cured later I know my penmanship has gotten a little interesting as I've gotten older I'd also like to advise everyone that if you are a registered Democrat NPA independent libertarian basically anybody who's not a registered Republican you are being excluded from from voting in the primary election for the board of County Commissioners District One race due to a legal albeit Shady loophole allowing a declared writing candidate in advance of the primary and because of this that primary is closed this is by Design so that a number of us voters who could change the outcome of the race or disenfranchised by excluding us from the process so the only race that will carry forward from the county will be the primary district one seat with the winner of the primary going against the seemingly ubiquitous district one rden candidate and then any regardless of party affiliation can vote in the general election for that district one seat the last three elections have had this exact situation where the sitting County Commissioner from district one miraculously has a writing candidate join the race and interesting that none of the other four commission seats ever seem to have a writing candidate or scenario so for those who are not registered Republican I encourage you to visit Martin votes.gov go to voter information and then update your registration or you can physically visit the supervisor of elections office and you can change your party affiliation and you have until July 22nd to do so I did this last week online and changed my party affiliation to Republican so I will not be excluded from the process and I can have a say in the important District One race after the August 20th primary I as anybody else who does this can change their party affiliation back to their original party know who's running know who supports the candidates especially financially vote to make your voice heard because this is the only way we can change what's happening in the city and in the county as well as who sits on the dis thank [Applause] you we don't have any more com so I do I get approval for the who who approve the consent calendar minus items four and five second second I have an approval and I have a second all in favor roll call but let me ask if there's any comments from the public see none okay roll call vice mayor Rich yes mayor Bruno yes commissioner McDonald yes commissioner Clark yes and commissioner Collins yes thank you commissioner Clark yes items four and five are related with regard to this roofing for the um metal building at the Public Works garage and my only question was if we're planning to move the building and we know that roofs last 15 years or whatever uh and we know when this building was built and whether the roof is you know it's not safe there I just wanted to make sure that our city manager explained to us and to the public why we are doing this at this point even though people may say that um if they're going to move why they putting money into it um if we could have the agenda item called and let the attorney call uh read the um resolution yes thank you Lee all right resolution number 58-22 a resolution of the city Commission of the city of Stewart Florida to approve the award of work order number one to RFQ number to advance Roofing Inc of Fort Lauderdale Florida providing an effective date in for other purposes um so just so you understand uh this resolution is Award of work order number one to RFQ 20234 um and obviously this is resolution 58 2024 well the um RFQ is where the our uh the city goes out to contract and get it's um preapproval for different things whether it's Architects engineers and in this case roofers that were pre-approved to be qualified to provide Roofing services for the city um in this instance they were pre-approved and then now this is work order number one and we do it so that in the event we run into a problem if a tree falls on a roof or if you have an emergency circumstance you have to do a work order you go out need to get a bid in this particular instance the reason that we had to go out and get a roof Ro is because the big building as they call it at the City Garage site the roof is has dramatically leaking and so when you talk about as commissioner Clark said are we moving the building we are not physically moving the garage itself we are moving the people to a new loc new location where a new building would be built one of the reasons that we even got into the discussion of moving the garage was because of the condition of the facilities on the site and the fact that they needed to be torn down and if we were going to tear them down and start reconstructing them was it more efficient to do it on site or on another location we were delayed by about a year in uh first of all there was covid delays but then when we were discussing whether or not to relocate them and with the bids came in we Revisited it The Following fall and decided to relocate them to the um water treatment plant unfortunately when we get heavy rains the employees are actually subjected to a dangerous environment because the amount of water leaking in the roof could cause them to be electrocuted causes water on the floor can cause uh equipment to be damaged and quite frankly the building is deteriorating the more you the longer you'll cause the delays the worse it gets and it could be subject to be torn to shreds in a hurricane um kind of like the way the roof was ripped off the public safety building in 2004 um so when the Hurricanes came through so in this particular instance I've been working with uh Mr leot and originally we were hoping to get it patched for about half the cost of what this roof is but unfortunately everybody that's looked at it and everybody that's um examined it has said the only way to do it is to replace the roof now the reality reality of it is is the new roof was probably going to last 15 or 20 years but it only needs to last three to five because if we started construction today of the new building at the um water treatment plant it'd be roughly two and a half to three years from now that we would be taking occupancy we're not starting today hopefully we'll get to it um within the next 12 months and start construction move forward but once it's finished we'll be relocating um Everybody in the building unfortunately the only remedy we have is to either abandon the facility Al together which we don't then wouldn't have a place for the guys to work or for the equipment or to put a new roof in it and so with left with no alternative um we have pursued the new roof which is why um the next agenda item and both four and five were um pulled the next agenda item is a budget amendment and that's because putting a new roof on this building was not in the budget because we didn't foresee having to put a new roof on the building when we did the budget last summer and as a result we need to do a budget amendment to find the money and put it on the building so that's where we are and uh I'm sure Mr leg's available if you have any questions of him as well okay thank you commissioner McDonald uh move for approval second he we have a motion in a second before the vote I have um Mr Reed would like to speak on this item I didn't hear you it was pulled for discussion but it's not pulled from the [Music] agenda welcome Sean Reed so this is more with Ula as well so I did I looked over the bid and typically for a roof like this it's 52 squares it's about 7 8,000 total to do it and when I was looking through the bid it talked about adding additional per LS to meet the uplift requirements but I didn't see it mentioned in the bid or the scope of work on how much they were going to replace so there was a discrepancy of like4 46,000 or so and I know they did send the last building out for bidding and I don't know if we got a price back on the new building to see if it was worth spending $16 on a roof or not thank you sir thank you okay can we have a vote we have a motion in a second Mike did you have any um further I didn't Insight on that I I I don't know if it's 52 squares or 72 squares I mean I have no idea um I know that when we are in procurement that we have a design and we put it out to public bid and that law prohibits us from going back after the fact and negotiating under the rates and that by law we have to take the lowest bid responsive and as a result that's what we did and if we were to go back and try to negotiate with somebody after the opening of the sealed bids we would be violating Florida statutes thank you Madame mayor yes so um Mr may I just address Mr leet for a minute I know that this is in front of us so as a department head you're recommending that we go ahead with this proposed um agreement which would lead us to have this budget amendment and how is how much is is in the budget now Mr Mortel the roof zero zero so that's why we're doing the one that's right that's I was wondering if there was just a little bit of money I thought there was not $1 for a new Ro Bud we do that so you're in agreement with it's your full recommendation Mr Leed uh yes Milton Le Public Work Director uh yes just building last Mr marel said it's beyond uh equipment everything is uh getting wet right now we're trying to get repaired as quickly as possible yes I agree thank you okay thank you sir thank you okay now may we have a roll call commissioner Collins yes commissioner Clark yes vice mayor Rich yes commissioner McDonald yes mayor Bruner yes commissioner Clark you want to speak on the budget amendment or I I I I pull there together so I'll make a motion that we approve resolution number 59 2024 if Mr bagot would read it yes I'll second that motion resolution number 59-22 a resolution of the city Commission of the city of Stewart Florida authorizing budget amendment number 12 to the 2023 2024 budget appropriating and authorizing the expenditure of funds for roof replacement of existing metal building located at the Public Works complex providing an effective date and for other purposes okay we have a motion is second we can have a vote call commissioner Collins yes commissioner McDonald yes commissioner Clark yes and I just wanted for the to make sure that the vote is good Mr bagot we didn't ask for any public comment but is that okay uh we can now yeah why don't we ask that now then I'll I'll back up do we have any public comment on amendment five budget amendment number 12 five item five no public comment yes oh sorry I was just listening and I I heard for other purposes and I didn't get the context to that is there any way we could understand what other purposes are providing effective date and for other purposes by the way I don't know if they're going to have you we'll get back with you and explain that to you thank you sir and fill out a green please thank you I know I know it's just a boiler plate right roll call please should I start over or finish what we have roll call okay vice mayor Rich yes and mayor Bruner yes that completes the roll call thank you now we're going to do a discussion deliberation with six Amendment Three to the Florida Constitution legalizing recreational marijuana Madam mayor I I put place this on the agenda um um the city manager and I had a conversation about the upcoming uh Florida amendment number three uh which is on the ballot in November and uh it's called the marijuana legalization initiative um it needs a 60% super majority vote to pass um I'm not trying to predict that it'll pass but I wouldn't be surprised if it does pass um this this initiative will illegalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 years and older and they will be allowed to possess up to three ounces of marijuana uh with up to five grams in the form of concentrate existing medical treatment centers would be authorized under the initiative to sell marijuana to adults for personal use and um it it does say that the Florida State Legislature could provide state law for the lure of entities other than the existing medical marijuana treatment centers to cultivate and sell marijuana products um I thought it probably would be best to start discussing this now versus later um I as as a result of this I kind of did my own uh research and I looked at some other states that already legalized uh recreational marijuana I kind of looked at Oregon and Colorado um and I looked at some of the Cities some of the cities and counties their ordinances that and Land Development codes that deal with it and I saw a lot of zoning um uh ordinances uh you know it would regulate the size of parcels which you could sell or um cultivate marijuana I saw you know you don't think of these things but I guess there's can I don't know much about marijuana growing but canopy size consumption um I saw I saw like uh even even regulations on odors some of the things you're not thinking about but odors lighting because they they require so much lighting uh noise I I wouldn't guessed that but I saw even noise ordinances on it uh I also saw some regulations on you know distances from schools from Parks and other retails that do the other retail establishments um we have similar laws like that on alcohol even in downtown we we limit you know u in downtown how many store how many stores or restaurants can serve liquor so I just thought maybe we got to start thinking about this so that if something you want to do that we could bring something back more formal to be voted on but we would look for some discussion and I don't know if any of you had a chance to research it yourself and I don't know if Mike has anything else you just say the other it's it's an all-encompassing law and so the bigger problem is the financial um impact that we study that we have to do now based upon the state statutes if we regulate this issue prior to November there is nobody that has the right to sell retail marijuana now but if we enter zoning after November we will have to do a financial impact evaluation and study as it relates to who may or may not impact depending on what the commission's uh directions would be so it' be better for the city if we're going to regulate it to regulate it in advance the other side of the coin that also needs to be considered is like in the states like Oregon and other places where they legalized it and they didn't have a uh year round growing season and even where they did they found that most people do this hydroponically and a lot of the industrial warehouse space was consumed for agricultural purposes that then just caused two people one to turn turn on and off the lights and one to turn on and off the sprinkler basically and as a result you lose a lot of that uh valuable space for enterprising and other types of employers so the regulation um can come into play on that end of it as well and in addition to Mr baggett's comments there's also um in States that had no regulations they found that the economy for it has fluctuated wildly because some states have had so many people open up retail stores that then they start failing because they there's so many so much competition and unfortunately for us in a small downtown area for example if we had three stores open up as a dispensary and then they all three drove each other out of business and we had the vacant space it really impacts us more in those in those uh minor spaces so again uh it's up to you guys to give us direction if you are inclined yeah so I actually brought this up a few months ago and uh uh one of the things is I I do think we should enter in the into the ordinances uh and legislate this in advance um because for a couple reasons one is for the economic impact study uh but also because it may create a grandfathering because the legislature is going to do something with this if it passes I will say at the last year at the state capital on the third floor her uh because of the med the medical marijuana Lobby was there and the whole Capital spelled like marijuana because they had plants everywhere on the third floor and um and it was like what's that smell and finally someone told me it was it was it was uh cannabis so um so there's that uh the other thing is I don't think that uh in the historic downtown Colorado Avenue area the creek uh pot Stam is where these um these uh dispensaries belong I think that uh we should we should look at our zoning overlays and where we should be look at them and and really quite honestly force them out on to like US1 and and those those areas um rather than getting them into the downtown because uh not that I think there's going to be crime or anything but I think there's like Mike said there's a potential of seeing multiple competition and we have a we currently we have rules that restrict the amount of alcohol can be in downtown because we don't want alcohol bars to take over the downtown the same I would be afraid that um there's the potential that we could see multiple cannabis dispensaries opening up in downtown so my wish is that we that we uh one is that we legislate this with ordinances that in advance that we restrict it from the uh downtown area uh and I would be looking at the historic downtown Colorado pot Stam um probably East Stewart uh the creek District um and whether it's the exact all-encompassing or it's adjusted but um but keeping it from the core center of the community kind of pushed this out onto US1 and if there's any way to tax it ourselves that'd be good that'll probably be in the first sentence of preemption but yeah yeah yeah but because um and I think that we need to and if we can um and I think that the way we've done uh uh and I don't know if we'll be able to do this before but maybe if we do before preemption just like the um pain Mills pain the pain pill Mills uh pain centers or whatever uh clinics yeah whatever we call them nowadays um where we have to actually have a conditional use for them to get approved so that we can make sure that we're that we're controlling the size and we can probably limit the the size and that through zoning until the legislature preempts us but in the meantime it I think that we should get ahead of this so that we're not uh falling behind later and unable to do anything so that's just my thoughts other comments yes I will direct staff to to work on this and bring something back to us yes do we have consensus on that so to Echo your points exactly and um for me so I have family that moved out to Colorado because of cannabis and one of the unintended consequences is exactly what you're saying where uh or that Mr mortell said where your industrial space very quickly can be consumed by uh this by growing cannabis so limiting the size of the facilities that can both dispense and you know grow pushing it out to US1 even and this may be a bit of an overreach I don't know how you do it but a signage to where your city is not full of like pot leaf signs and right that's why the conditional use I think I just to me I think it's it's trashy when it gets to that point but you know anything we can do on the front end I appreciate you bringing this up and and you guys doing the research to get in front of it so those are my thoughts well then we'll have guys know what to do we'll have staff bring I don't know is there any other comments or okay yes I have any comments from the public you can fill out M rugs fill out a yes K 1701 Southwest Palm City Road thank you for your service I just um agree with this but I just I I don't know if it's hypocritical but why weren't we more like with the hotel we're going to put the Hilton Hotel basically downtown but you're all worried about having some weed stores so I don't know I just think we should I think we would be more even you know let's not have a a hotel a Hilton hotel downtown so you know we got to pick and choose right thank you ma'am okay okay we'll have staff bring this back to us miss Helen I apologize getting welcome by Flamingo Avenue uh I was out in Colorado visiting Robin when and let me tell you we don't want that in our little downtown because like you said the smell I mean you could walk down any Street the restaurant I mean this you know if we can nip this in the bud with and I mean fre a speech don't for sure but I mean we don't want and want it but if the law says we have to have it let's have our rules and regulations already on the books thank you I I have to admit I kind of thought that pot Stam might be there but uh but I I've since backed off of that that's I think we're all so Mr mcdonal commissioner McDonald you don't want it anywhere in the city basically except on us one I mean I'm surprised you're saying East stward I mean M is quite a Commercial Avenue well you know I you have a school there in the I think that's US1 Monteray Road uh uh caner highway is more appropriate than in the in the neighborhoods and in the core downtown the historic downtown so that's that's my thought how about where Peter's Hardware is that's okay cuz that's one there it's on us one yeah so and and there's already multiple medical dispensaries on us one now and on East and far as that goes on East Ocean as you push out towards uh mod road so are there current currently any dispensaries located where you would not want to see a pH not that I can think of right now I think that they probably they what I've noticed is uh uh the old Bank buildings have become cannabis dispensaries drive because they have to take cash when we bring it back we'll obviously have a map and Zoning maps with it and um we can identify the current dispensaries or at least those that have business tax receipts in the city currently dispensaries are authorized where pharmacies are allowed because the commission described it as such because you had to have a medical card in order to to obtain the marijuana when it goes retail in theory at least you won't have to I mean I don't know what the state's going to do or not do if it if it passes um I know that when the medical issue was up for election across the state that the city of Stewart's residents voted 86% in favor of it so it was not a group of haters let's just say that the Boomers want their smoke so M if I could so commissioner McDonald would you want a hard cap a hard uh I don't you know I don't know I know we have a hard cap in downtown for alcohol yeah you know so uh and I think that it's something that I'd like to bring it back and see uh uh but I definitely think I'm more interested in the location and and how we and we have to be careful because people with signage and so forth but I think also if we can put put it under the conditional use uh so that we can better vet The Operators um you know there's there is uh there's you know to be honest it's big business now so I think the successful operators are going to be big corporations oh yeah Florida Tren I I grabbed my Florida Tren it's right under cover and and again they had they had cannabis plants all through the third floor of the capital when I was up in Tallahassee this year or so it's you know the Tallahassee is preparing for it the Cannabis um distribution companies uh are hiring their they have their lobbyists and they're working towards developing if when this passes and I believe it probably will pass I mean we don't know but based on just based on what I can tell um there seems to be Universal support for this uh this uh uh Constitutional Amendment and you look throughout the country it's passing pretty historically so I so I think that it's better to have the discussion um do I know exactly what we should do no but well we have some time this can evolve right no rush right now we can of keep working on it or it needs to November before November I would like to say that this is this is really a big deal and every County and state across Florida is going to be trying to figure out how they're going to run their city and counties with all this so yes this is good to have this conversation and continue to have a few more conversations well currently it's a good time to make a decision because currently the industry is in a bust because prices have plunged and I know Colorado and Denver are really struggling with just what Mr Martell said is you having these businesses go out of businesses when you think all the money consolidation yeah just like any other business you know just like back if you look at the history of the car business back in the early 20th century there was you know there was 200 car manufacturers and they ended up with three so that's what will happen I think with this is we're going to see a consolidation and so they can consolidate prices and and maintain their price structure uh because the customers aren't going anywhere they now they have the customers they just have a glut of Sal retailers and and so and I don't know if it's good bad or indifferent but I just do think that we should get ahead of it uh before before we uh before it passes one more thing I'd like to say and then we'll adjourn is that there is this is big deal I said it once again and it's all the money that's involved with all this it's um uh the lobbyist like you said yeah anyway but um thanks everyone this meeting is a Jour thank you