##VIDEO ID:iUhNKBn7fCQ## e e e e e of the city of Tarpon Springs on Tuesday December 17th 2024 at 630 p.m. city clerk roll call please mayor here Vice Mayas here commissioner eer here commissioner dado here Mr Panther here tonight's invocation will be given by Pastor Cody C of New Spring Church please stand and remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance let's pray God we thank you for this holiday season that it reminds us of Your Love Of Your Grace we think you that these holidays also provide a much needed rest for most of us as the last few months have been hard challenging strained God we pray that the people in this room the people of this city get a chance to be with loved ones be reminded of Your Love be reminded of their fam's love God thank you for this city thank you for the Neighbors the businesses the churches the First Responders and the city workers that make this city so great we give you thanks and we give you the glory tonight we offer ourselves to you to build with us and to do with us as you will relieve us of the Rel relieve us of the lure of self that we may better do your will take away our difficulties that victory over them may bear witness to those that we would help of your power your love and your way of life may we do your will always in your name we pray amen amen to the black United States of America to The Republic which stand indivisible we have a couple announcements item 21 ordinance 2024 d01 Land Development code Amendment amending article 7 Heritage preservation and providing for creation of neighborhood conservation overlay districts application 22112 second reading uh second reading has been deferred to a date certain of January 21st 2025 and item 24 resolution 20246 authorizing the issuance of a non-ad berum revenue note series 2024 and the amount not to exceed $5.3 million was deferred but now has been updated and brought back onto tonight's agenda we will now go to public comments on items that will not be discussed on tonight's agenda please state your name and address for the record we will be given four minutes to speak and two minutes to speak if you are on Zoom are there any public comments good evening pacis 514 ashin Avenue um going to give a little reading from Proverbs 12 whoever loves discipline loves knowledge but he who hates correction is stupid a good man obtains favor from the Lord but the Lord condemns a crafty man a man cannot be established through wickedness but the righteous cannot be uprooted the plans of the righteous are just but the advice of the wicked is deceitful the words of the wicked lie in wait for blood but the speech of the upright rescue them wicked men are overthrown and are no more but the house of the righteous stands firm man is praised according to his wisdom but men with warp minds or despised better to be a nobody and yet have a servant that and have a servant than pretend to be somebody and have no food so uh couple of things uh the city's really looking good everybody who's worked hard uh you drive around I you drive by the landfill on mir's Mango and that stuff is almost all gone I was there last week within two days they mulched I couldn't tell you how many tons of wood and big four 18 wheel trailers with open tops they were just pouring the mulch in there pouring it in so it comes back to me again of a vision I have and I've shared it and I'm going to share it again buy the staer property on the water side you put your boat access you put your parking for trailers on the North side there's two not only on the north side of the main parcel but on the north side of anot road there's also another parcel we go into private partnership with a company that handles Lumber mulching Wood Products paper products we lease them a portion of the land for them to set up an operation we move the landfill all that stuff out there and we process the wood when I was there last week I spoke to the gentleman there and he said everybody around the county loves us cuz we're taking it we're processing it like crazy last year if I remember correctly we spent over $350,000 to pay someone to take the mulch away the wood away that is a resource a natural resource Tarpon Springs grows we can make money off of it we partnership with somebody who will process that wood some of those trees that were out there you could get 10 15 2x4s 8 ft long paper products mulch they sell it we get a percentage back on the on what they make and the lease payments plus we have our Waterfront to do a Marina Boat Launch that's what Vision looks like and I've said it before it can be done just takes the will and determination lastly about what's been happening over the last month or so with the cleanup such we have to give credit we're credit it is due and I'm going to say it now thank you Mark lurus because over the years he has prepared us and he has trained his people and they work like a machine nothing personal Mr red I'm sure you got a a learning of what happened but it would have worked without a city manager because they know what to do thank you for your comment sir efficient in doing it thank you guys thank you good evening how y'all doing I'm P Leon Maran I have a church on 535 East Martin Luther King Drive and I'm going to see I'm asking the question any a way possible that speed bumps can be put on both side of the road of either red light by the consci Light because it's kind of dangerous trying to cross the street they got people next door let us Park in the lock but when we got kids and children trying to cross that Street no cars want to slow down the only cars want to stop to let you cross the street so it's kind of dangerous trying to cross that street and get to the building of the church so I just want to know anything can be done about that sir I'll have the city manager reach out to you if you can grab your C if you can grab his card that's sitting right there in the hallway or my card as well uh make sure we'll have staff reach out to you speed bumps are a delicate situation because of uh EMT services and and other situations but we understand the Dynamics of that neighborhood and try to look out for it as well so thank you sir speak actually um Chief can give us an update on that we are addressing that intersection we've actually been working on that I think uh Corporal Boon tried reaching out to you and left you a message to call you uh but we've been working and looking at getting uh pedestrian crosswalk signalization in there uh for to help with that area right there and also down a little further near the Cap Center so we're going to be putting in in two different locations on MLK there just like the one over at Levis where you compress it and it'll be flashing so we're working with Tom function and the crew on that are there any other public comments it are there any Zoom comments we will now go to the consent agenda item one uh item 1 a attorney fees Johnson Jackson PC invoice 13936 item 1B Unice salsman Jensen PA invoices 8398 83989 and 83990 item 1 C Dickman Law Firm invoice 6569 through 6589 item two 2A Special Events first Friday Tarpon Springs 2B second Saturday market 2025 item three satisfaction release of leans item four approve election contract with pelis County Supervisor of Elections item five drug Rec drug recognition expert Dr callout agreement project number m5t -225 d230 do contract number G 3357 item six approve f. subgrant for Highway Traffic Safety project cpg-2 25- city of ta- 00186 item seven award award file number 2500 67- C- as fire hydrant and valve testing maintenance and services utilizing town of Davy contract resolution number r223 d225 ITB number R s-23 69 item 8 increase file number 2529 dn- JL single Source purchase of rental of 20 bypass pumps item nine renew War renew file number 22001 q- JL maintenance of public restrooms at the sponge exchange item 10 increase and extend file number 1 19139 dc- CM utility call center Support Services Utility Billing Florida Municipal Power agency RFP number 208-214 to enco Utility Services item 11 increase file number 250013 n-ph geographic information systems GIS esri small Municipal and County government Enterprise license agreement sgea item 12 award renewal of file number 2201 31- C- JL automotive parts and supplies utilizing Omnia Partners contract number r211 1201 item 13 award file number award renewal of file number 23155 c-p H HVAC equipment installation service building control systems and related products and services utilizing National Cooperative purchasing Alliance now Omnia Partners contract number 02123 and item 14 renew file number 2223 q- Mangrove tree trimming Commissioners are there any agenda items that you would like to pull uh commissioner banther yes could you pull um number 2B please second Saturday Commissioners are there any other agenda items okay are there any public comments on consent and agenda items 1 a through 2A and then three through 14 are there any public comments evening pacas uh couple of things first with 1B and 1 C uh on the 1B the union salsman if you look at page three uh down at the bottom expenses there was a process server for $103 and then when you look at Mr Dickman's invoice under Hinton I'm not sure which number it is but at the bottom there's a process server for $33 so I'm wondering should Mr Dickman contact Mr salsman to get the same process server as to why that's three times as much now secondly uh with number five and six uh I applaud our grant writer for getting these grants these are useful uh the only other thing I didn't notice but these grants are going to require a lot of administrative time followup so are those costs reimbursable through the grants as far as uh you know the cost of administrating uh those grants and if so uh in the future as we take grants I would like to see that we kind of look at that as a factor so when we're evaluating grants we can actually evaluate whether the grant is fully worthwhile so you don't want to get a grant for 33,000 and it cost you you know I don't know how much more but it's a it's a way to look at your grants in another fashion uh other than that uh I thank you for your time thank you sir are there any other public comments it are there any Zoom comments if anyone online has any public comments please raise your hand and you'll be allowed into tle and we do not have any raised hands at this time thank you the chair will entertain a motion to approve consent agenda items 1 a through 2A and 3 through 14 move second there are no further comments or discussion roll call please commission B yes de yes eer yes kis yes mayor coas yes item 2B second Saturday market 2025 commissioner banther yes um obviously I'm I'm in support of this but I I did speak to Jean from the chamber at the parade and she mentioned there might be some conflict with the Arts and Crafts show for that time in March um I don't really have a dog in this fight but I told her that I would pull it so we can discuss it and make sure we can do whatever we can to make sure both events can be can be succcessful Mr rud do you have any knowledge of this or any you know uh information yeah I was made aware that um the regular schedule Market is occurring the same weekend as the art festival and that uh there a need for that parking for the art festival okay um I assume you ladies are with the mer Merchant Association mayor do you mind if I call them up and they can just uh talk about what they do to help with the parking with that situation is that fine or uh yeah that's fine good evening I'm Carol Rodriguez I'm the event coordinator um second Saturday in the past several times has been the same week that the Arts um Fine Arts Festival has been and it really hasn't been a problem last year we cancelled it and we had a lot of unhappy merchants on Tarpon Avenue customers if we can do snow place and people find a place to park then the market should be able to be in mother mir's and I think it's a win-win it gives people early to come to the market and then they go down to the Fine Arts Festival okay thank you I would just encourage the I know it's a it's a tall order but the chamber and the merchant um you know um um Association to work together as as much as possible especially as it relates to to this weekend or to or to or to that weekend that's obviously a major event for the and hopefully between you two I'm sure we can sort out whatever whatever what whatever whatever need needs to be done so thank you m I'm good mayor thank you okay are there um vice mayor kianis you know this is a perfect example of uh I don't know how many of you attended um the city manager um uh Main Street presentation but this is a perfect perfect example of why uh we need to um probably consider proceeding with that because we need to start bringing these are our community together in in a as a whole there should be communication um and uh the you know all these events when they're held uh again he can elaborate more on that uh I don't I don't know how in depth you don't want to go into in depth on it today but this is isn't this part of what you were talking about was having this master Mark uh downtown or a Main Street group and that all these different uh entities could come together uh come to agreements on when their their events are held uh and have a and we would have uh not as much uh intentions yeah they would they would serve on the same board um I don't know necessarily they would agree I guess there's there's been a disagreement whether I guess the Art Festival feels a need that parking because the market takes not only mother mirors but then all those vendors Park in another parking lot so uh the chamber feels they need the parking and the merer association feels that the the two events can coexist so I think it would in this case it probably would still come back to the commission to to U think they would have a chance make the decision they would have a chance to communicate they would be regly instead of you know the way it's being done now yeah anyways so okay uh we will now go to public comments are there any public comments on this item it are there any Zoom comments if anyone online would like to make public comments on this item please raise your hand and you'll be allowed into talk and we do not have any raised hands at this time okay U commissioner Eisner how I love speaking about these things um so I support you know the merchants on every event that you do I volunteer my time at the um Art Festival not just one day but every day and all day I I think this is a big event excuse me um for the chamber and um I do believe that I I don't believe that you should cancel it they don't want it canceled um but I think that there could possibly be other ways that you can get it to um have a successful second Saturday at the same time to be gracious and to be able to give um the chamber um a parking for the art festival um it's very difficult to have somebody change you know where where where we have a second Saturday and meanwhile the people are trying to set up um for the art festival I know that's early in the morning um so I I would like to see you um try to come up with something different I know you do the second Saturday every single week um every single month rather sorry um and and I show up at all of those too because I I support it but I honestly cannot support it on this particular case cuz this is their once a year um deal while you have 12 of these so I mean I don't know whether you can work out a deal where you um go to another location um but that's at least if I have to play sir you know King Solomon that's the way I would like to go um and yes I will still be there for the three days at the gate taking money for you and helping out any taking well be taking out money for them but I help you too you know so it's I just think you have to have a little bit of give and take and I need you to do some give for this particular item that's up not at this point so that's that's commissioner banther yes um again I don't I I don't I I don't I don't I don't want to Bel labor this our last meeting of the year but this is a prime example how we have to do whatever is POS possible and hopefully the city manager initiative of this Main Street idea we have to get you two to to start to come together um you you both do great things I mean the chamber's been around forever and and and the merchant Association has done absolutely phenomenal events for the town but um I I I I I don't feel comfortable also when it comes to the city commission yes we have to approve as to location and um imp permitting but it should not be under our purview as far as if one if one organization is doing an event that that that that that that that particular weekend then this one can't or should or should move it so I mean I would imagine with with the with the with the with the precedent we have that both can be on the same day as it's happened in the past but I would encourage both organizations to work together outside of these Chambers and start working together so you can do these things um together and be more successful and not have to have it come up here but um I don't have any opposition to approving that day in March I would just ask that you know you all start start start to work together and see how maybe there's things compromises on you know both ends that could help you all out thank you okay um I I'd like to support every event but that second Saturday in March for the sole reason that it is the weekend for the Fine Arts Festival it's the 50th anniversary it's the chamber's biggest event all year long we need to recognize that as a board um you know I we have all these events put in in underneath the year right away so we look at it all could it easily um been approved by way but I'm not going to support the second Saturday for I will support a third Saturday I'll support a fourth Saturday in March to help supplement that difference but I want the center of attention in Tarpon Springs that weekend to be in fact the Fine Arts Festival all three days so um there are no further comments I'll the chair will entertain a motion to [Music] approve consent agenda item 2B amending that the second Saturday in March be allowed to happen on either the third or fourth Saturday in March mov second there are no further comments or discussion point of order just point of information so um so what we're voting on is not they're not going to have the second Saturday they're not going to have that date they're going to have an option to have it on a third or a fourth of the third or fourth Saturday of March they're allowed to absolutely okay thank you point I have a point of order as well go ahead commissioner is it possible that they can have their second Saturday at another location just asking yeah frankly with me I said it last year I didn't want a second Saturday on the same weekend as the Fine Arts Festival I made it very clear I want it to be the creme delic creme that weekend focused on the Fine Arts Festival and nothing else and so you I'm only supporting that and it gives them two other options I have second Saturday on that third or fourth week in March to to supplement it um there are no further comments roll call please Mr banther yes Mr yes yes Vice May fan yes mayor K yes we are now going to business items uh item 15 increase file number 2455 db- as util utility Rehabilitation and Construction Services then we have Tom Kyer with public services director thank you um M kulas members of the board uh to we have a short item for you uh regarding water main construction uh we're requesting a one-time increase to our annual utility Rehabilitation and Construction Services contract to uh provide us ample capacity to execute a planned project for the replacement of the uh aerial Crossing which is a a water main attached to the Alt 19 Bridge uh just north of downtown over the enk river this was was a scheduled project it's included in our 20-year CIP um it's going to be primarily funded with water impact fees already upsizing the line the line's also in age condition and requires replacement and uh the purpose of this is to execute the project under the existing utility rehab contract uh which was found to be the most uh cost-effective method of executing and procuring the project and with that I'll answer any questions thank you Mr Kyer are there any public comments on this item it are there any Zoom comments anyone online would like to make a public comment on this item please raise your hand and you'll be allowed into [Music] talk and we do not have any raised hands at this time hearing none the chair will entertain a motion to approve item 15 increase file number 2455 db- so move second there are no further comments or discussion roll call please M banther yes M dado yes M eer yes ianis yes yast yes item 16 award invitation award invitation to bid ITB file number 2532 db- JL Tarpon Springs Fire station number 70 construction and we have procurement director Miss Janina Lewis thank you mayor um good evening honorable mayor Commissioners um what you have before you is the staff recommendation to award the bid for the new Fire Station construction fire station 70 um we're recommending the award go to Ericson and Lindstrom construction company for the amount that you see in the in the board memo um this also includes the four alternates that we bed out along with the project and a contingency amount of $300,000 so back in October we brought to you a qualifications request that you had approved so we could send this bid out to three selected vendors we heard back from the two vendors and the result was Eric and Lindstrom was the best value for the city on this construction project the proposed facility will be um constructed on the vacant lot near fire station 70 the existing fire station will also stay open at the same time during construction so hopefully it will not interfere with construction activities the new facility will consist of three vehicle bays and fully functional operations facility designed for a 24 hour 24-hour operation including storage the bunks dining meeting recreational and administrative spaces and with that I will turn it over for any questions thank you Miss Lewis are there any public comments on this item pck 514 Ashlin Avenue um good to finally see this coming because I know the city's been wanting to do this for a while uh and from what I read in the backup uh the old fire station will be kept basically as is so I would hope that the board and their consideration if not tonight at some point uh maybe reaches out to the community in that area to see if that building could be repurposed for some kind of a remote recreational facility or some other way to use that building instead of just sitting there and dilapidating thank you thank you are there any other public comments it are there any Zoom comments if anyone online would like to make a public comment on this item please raise your hand and you'll be allowed in to talk and we do not have any raised hands at this time thank you uh hearing none the chair will entertain a motion to approve item 16 award invitation to bid ITB file number 232-b djl move commissioner Eiser is your light on yeah go ahead sir mine was too I didn't it wasn't a crucial thing yeah I just wanted to say that um this couldn't come fast enough for me um when I first was a commissioner I did take a tour of the facility um it was probably a uh um a good build at the time I remember them telling me I think there was some of the fireman actually did most of the um the keeping up to actually keep it working that's and uh you know the time has come uh these SE are our First Responders and uh I I saw the sleeping facilities and the you know the kitchen was okay a little bit but everything else really was in in real desperation need you know back in the day we didn't have um men and women sleeping in the same location we didn't have women in the fire department at all so I'm hoping that uh this Improvement really um gives them a a feeling that they're um they're looked upon from the city as a you know a value which they are but you you have to give them the supplies in order to do the things so I thank you much I'm glad it came in under six I'm hoping it doesn't go over six but you know what could you do so thank you for what you have done so far and and thank Chief Scott you let them know I I was behind this from the beginning I saw it with my own eyes and um they they need this they really do so thank you thank you commissioner banther yes thank you I'm just I just I just had a quick a quick question I had a builder um uh that was going to bid on this uh reach out to me and obviously I didn't I I didn't I I didn't do anything with this but they asked if they they felt the response time required was shorter for this project than others was there was there a different time required for bids on this or any anything unique no there was not we did the pre-qualification that went out for 30 days um we down selected to the short list of three and then we send it out to the three and originally it was a 3-week span which is in our procurement guidelines 21 days um at that time we have questions so whenever there's a lot of questions that may affect the bid I give an additional 10 days okay so they had well a month okay thank you very much yes sir thank you vice mayor panus I have a Ron hearing question Ron can Ron come up good evening mayor Commissioners Ron Herring Finance director Ron is the uh is this fully funded yes and the funds have been set aside uh yes we've been reserving money off for the last two years and then we budgeted some more this year um part of it is 720,000 that's in the general fund we reserved off and the balance just a little under 600,000 the county contributes for the fire station okay that's it thank you okay there are no further comments uh roll call please commission banther yes dado yes eer yes yes M yes yes item 7 consideration of 7:30 p.m. rule for public hearings uh City attorney Andrew Dickman will take it from here thank you mayor uh Commissioners you'll recall that um under the charter you're you're required to establish your own rules of procedure you have uh adopted every uh a resolution that has an exhibit attached to it that has a pretty extensive list of um different types of rules regarding various things um you're required you're supposed to be looking at it once a year during in the middle of the summer however obviously things uh came up during the summer that made it um not appropriate probably to to review all of these my office has gone through and done an initial review and provided um some feedback to uh the clerk and to the manager to look at however um one of the things that we think that you can handle uh the way that you need to handle it first of all is because it is a resolution it's adopted by resolution so it needs to be amended by resolution um so I think what you need to do one is decide do when do you want to bring this forward as a full package and talk about it and and go through it it's a very lengthy one but there's one item in particular that I think you should probably handle and can handle tonight um since you have the authority to um pause or wave any particular rule it's under article two uh section two which is the seven the quote unquote 730 rule uh it's come into effect a couple times while I've been here where um you you've hit that uh you finished with the agenda and then you have plenty of time and you have to adjourn the meeting and wait till 7:30 to start it again um I think that you can uh suspend that particular rule until um the time that you want to take this up you know as a whole I don't suggest that you take it up as a whole tonight it's a big it's a big chore um there's lots of stuff in here um I just saw one thing that uh just changed on the agenda you now have instead of special consent you have business items that needs to change as well so uh I'll just leave it at that and kick it off with for a discussion thank you City attorney are there any public comments on this item and U while while eater's coming up let me just mention on with regard to the 730 rule you all have the power to um request a Time certain on things like if there's something really important that you feel that it's important to have a Time certain so the public can be here because I I imagine that that's why that was set up for that but globally it may not be a good idea but on individual B caseby case basis you have the ability to to establish something as a Time certain in the agenda go ahead sir thank you no problem actually sorry Mr Dickman kind of covered a couple things that I was going to say on page 10 where it lists the items of how the meeting should be done I have noticed that instead of saying special consent agenda it says business items I'm assuming they're the same so I thought you were going to change change it tonight you could change that too but if you're planning on bringing it back that's fine uh but also uh as Mr Dickman just mentioned uh as time certain because you do have the option to move items around on the agenda so if you have something that's scheduled for later and you know maybe you have experts or other professionals that people are paying time for you may want to move it up however if you know it's an issue that would be something the community would be wanting to respond on then you would maybe want to have a Time certain so let's say you have it on number 18 on the agenda but you come and you do it right after the consent agenda and people are assuming oh I can come at 7 or 7:30 and you know so I appreciate Mr Dickman's uh comments and I would agree with those and thank you for your time thank you are there any other public comments it are there any Zoom comments if anyone online would like to make a public comment please raise your hand and you'll be allowed to talk and we do not have any raised hands at this time thank you so uh since this is a consideration we're going to get some discussion and see how this commission wants to proceed forward um commissioner Donado your light was on first yeah seem as I been the one that complained the most about this um I just I just see us losing time and I don't know why we have to do that at this current current time and I would reiterate what former commissioner dakus just said in the past we've always if someone wanted or for whatever reason to go earlier or if they didn't come we even would hold them to so that they could go at the bottom we we've done all of that at the request usually of the petitioner and I I just don't see a reason why um we like what was it last week I think we we had a break for like 30 something minutes uh so I would like us to to at least direct that portion of this tonight if we could um and then certainly take our time on the rest of it but it's just something that it's just frustrating to me I don't know why I I you're on a rooll you got to you got to keep moving and um time certain it's it's not really fair when you when you when you stop what you're doing at 7:30 and then have to go back to a business item and somebody may be here waiting on that so I mean I just think we should take take it in progression if somebody wants to request earlier or later it certainly I'll yield to the attorney but we've done it in the past without any difficult uh difficulties at all so thank you commissioner dado uh commissioner banther yes thank you mayor I agree with the city attorney with Peter and Frank yeah I I I don't see a reason for this it was put in by somebody who who's not here with us on on this board and uh I think it hamstrings us and hamstrings the public I agree that if we can suspend this we have the ability if we have a Hot Topic item I've always said if people want to stay here to to you know speak we'll stay here all night but um you know we can always move that up and we will always do that I'm sure but I see no reason to keep this rule in place and I'm in full support of suspending it and later on doing it on on a more Global level thank you thank you commissioner banther commissioner Eisner thank you mayor um this is not a hill I want to die on so I did agree with everything that's been said but my question is um is it not and I and I have this for you Mr dman was this not placed um to make sure that if attorneys were present um that they knew what time to come in was that not what it was for I I don't know the history of this um okay I generally I don't know a lot of cities that accommodate attorneys there really usually something like that is set up for folks that um they're getting off work and they may not be able to get here by six and and you know agendas can get turned you know get switched around and maybe an important topic it's taken up by six and someone can't get here I'm just guessing I don't have the history of this I understand doubt it's to accommodate private attorneys usually no no but you know we do have people that come here and they have um you know people on on payroll so um that was one thing the other thing is would we be able to and I'm just throwing this out there make this a 7:00 thing so we don't have a half hour wait and if you know we need to extend it we can extend it but this way most of the delays that we've had where we had to uh have a break was had half an hour 20 minutes so we could change it to 7:00 and uh you know and then we can handle that um resolutions and ordinances at that time and then go back so you know that's without getting rid of so I mean it's just an idea but I'm I'm okay with either side I'm not going to I'm okay with removing it and uh you know moving it as need be or moving it to 7 o'clock thank thank you commissioner Eisner City attorney I just have a we the way our our hearings are are set up I thought we're supposed to have these times certain so the public has a time to get here on that certain time to start the hearing for the application so that that's why I'm I'm hesitant in understanding how we can change our rules and procedures to I guess pick and choose on S times so I haven't I don't see this type of rule very often around the state in fact as a practicing lawyer if I'm representing somebody I have to tell my client I've got to be there at 6 when it starts because the L the body can change the agenda at any time I know you're number 28 on the agenda but you're going to have to pay me to be at that that meeting be in in case they change the agenda so I don't really see this very often unless it's in a kind of a situation um like where it's just Case by case but I have seen others I have seen it before it's not unusual where they say we're not taking up any like quasi judicial issues until you know such and such a time you know I have seen rules like that but it's not frequent because you like I said you always have that power to um for something that's a hot issue or an important issue or someone just requests it and says I've got a I'm jammed up with my schedule and I need to be here can can we get a Time certain for whatever and it might be also for an employee or as you said in an attorney that you hire a special attorney that you don't want sitting around in the audience um but I I believe as far as this particular one I believe you do I I'm of the opinion that you have the power since they are your rules to suspend it temporarily um until you take this whole package up as a resolution and advertise it as a resolution okay I thank you for explaining it um with that said since uh I could go either way with this uh the chair will entertain a motion or is there enough direction there's enough direction for you to be able to move forward and come back in the future well I think you do need to vote on suspending this rule this particular rule so it's um rule 28 under Article 2 and I think I think you need to vote since it is your they're your rules I think you do need to vote that you're going to suspend the 7:30 call it the 7:30 Rule and that way it's not it's not going to be enforced and you won't have to stop your meetings um until you know I'm hoping that we can get this back to you as in the form of a resolution in a month or two so it's not going to be that that long so move second well we didn't make it didn't well I appreciate it cuz I was trying to write it down just suspend the 7:30 rule I guess is the motion are you saying would be a temporary suspension yes sir okay so you want me to make that motion temporary suspension the 7:30 the motion's been second on the floor so yeah but we don't know what it what it said I didn't make I'm not allowed to make motions nobody made the motion they just was a person uh well in this situation when then somebody will have to draw the motion didn't you say so I'll withraw the second okay Frank do you want do you want to amend your motion I didn't catch why I should withdraw it if if you could explain that to me so I would the motion would be I move to suspend the 7:30 p.m. rule in the board of County Board of City commissioners rules temporar that's very similar but I'll I'll I'll accept that as a motion okay that's still second there are no further comments or discussion roll call please Mr banther yes Comm dado yes Eiser yes kis yes may K yes item 18 is discussion of Mayor commission salaries and this was the item I brought forward with the city manager and asked here in the near future to collect some data and bring forward uh we have some uh similar comparisons to other local municipalities in the area as well as uh a document a chart that was given to us by the Florida Li of cities that has uh uh all the data relating to commissioner salaries and and City budgets and Etc and so I first want to be clear this is this isn't uh uh I wasn't expecting a motion in any way whatsoever for us to increase our own salaries especially during this three-year term I was looking towards the future and as a commission we we've there there's a lot of experience up here you've you've seen past commissions for for many years plus currently as well um we're just looking to try to change the political landscape hopefully in the future and and somehow make it a little bit more interesting one way and another and so um I wouldn't even approve us uh raising our own salaries during this three-year term coming up for us um as well as the other two commissioners but I am interested in hopefully in the future us coming back together as a commission for a consideration of a salary increase for all five board members to potentially even start um three years from what would be April 20128 so um that's where I was going with this and and so U with that said we'll go to commissioner dado um I have I don't I'm not concerned as you said uh either way but I will just for uh Jiggles I I'll tell you that the mayor salary today is the same as it was 20 years ago uh you know I I me I don't care I don't do this for money I do this because I love the community but uh I think what you said has Merit and I I I think um sometimes you can spend a lot of time doing this job um so I I think it should be looked at that's all I'm trying to say but when you're' been the same for about 20 years I I think it's time to to maybe consider it but you don't have to do that for me I'm just throwing that information out there thank you commissioner Donado a commissioner banther yes mayor thank you um you know we've in my and I'm sure like you know Frank as well in the pass boards I've been on we always discuss this usually it's discussed at like the final meeting of a board and the outgoing commissioner proposes it as a olive branch and everyone says no thank you but appreciate the thought um and we're always compared to SAR and dedan and I see we're a little bit below Oldsmar in Pay but we get benefits and they don't Duneden we're a little bit well we're you know Commissioners about 3500 bucks below they do get insurance maybe look to Duneden as our next example as we're bigger than Safety Harbor and we're bigger than Oldsmar um and for me personally obviously the money is not the issue I will say the access to the health insurance plan is a huge benefit especially for me who I'm self-employed and my health insurance bills as far as the private plan I have is very expensive so having the option to buy into the city plan for me is is more than I could ever ask for as far as compensation for what I do um so I think we need to look at not only the pay but also the benefits because if you just get you know there's some here that get paid a lot but they don't not I shouldn't say a lot they might might make a little bit more but they they don't have the benefits we have so I mean as far as my position you know I'm I'm obviously good with what we make and our benefits but I think if we're going to mirror somebody and we have to raise it eventually you know like like you know Frank said it's been the same for 20 years you adjust for inflation and it's it's just laughable but I think um looking towards dun Eden and just being a little bit below them is probably our sweet spot um they're the next city closest to us that's a little bit bigger they also get insurance provided I'm not sure what the breakdown is I I I I believe here we are free insurance and our family we pay half or something like that so we have to make sure we're comparing Apples to Apples and benefits and pay but I would uh down the road when when when when when when when when when when we make a decision I would look to denan as I'm as kind of our guiding post and you know you're never going to have a salary here to people always say well if you had a true salary you would attract more more people that's just not reasonable obviously we're not going to be making $60,000 here on this board right but um I think for the uh board that's going to be seated in three years from this April you know if if there's going to be a move made again I would look to den as as kind of the like you know barometer thank you thank you commissioner banther vice mayor kulanis yeah um you know this is the uh this is the I've been working for the city in some capacity either at on the pension boards or um and zoning and this this is the first uh position I've had where I actually got money which is uh so I'm I'm I think I I'm looking at these numbers here and uh unless I'm wrong we are uh fifth on this list uh if if you exclude St Pete because that's a whole another game there so when you look at we're we're fifth so we're we're below Clearwater dened and Largo and in panel Park and and they are they have more population than us so being fifth it looks like we're right in line with where we should be um so I I don't think this is this nobody's doing this for money and and when you think about you're getting um I mean I don't take the the uh City Insurance because I don't need it but if you had a mayor who took the city Insurance he's getting and the City Insurance costs the city $ 122,123 and it would be much more expensive if like uh commissioner banther said it'd be much more expensive on the outside so that's 12,000 plus they're getting 13 so the mayor's getting $25,000 in benefits uh Commissioners are getting $20,000 in benefits I think that's pretty good so I don't I I don't want to move anything up I I think this is fine so thank you vice mayor uh commissioner Eisner here I came here today thinking I was getting a raise but uh no all joking aside um I look through this as well um and I do agree that it's something that we should decide for three years down the road nobody up here will be on that board um so it's it's a fair way to U move ahead um I did also look at dun Eden and yes dun Eden has a couple of more um people than us and larger income but if you look at um you know pelis Park which is double us you kind of have to look at this formula as how many people um are in the town versus what their um total uh GDP is as well um yes as it was said none of us are doing this for the money um but there is a lot of time and effort that goes into it um I also worked for 6 and a half years on the board of adjustments and got no money um I got just you know um satisfaction of doing you know give back to the town as I feel this is as well at $8,000 a year um but I do think um it it does help people who it it helps younger people that may just need that couple extra dollars um you know if this was $10,000 or $1,000 I don't think it'll break the bank and I don't think it's going to change whether we're going to have more people coming in for this um I don't know if the mayor the mayor can go to maybe $115,000 something like that that's that's where I would be interested in changing because as commissioner dinaro said um it's been like this for 20 years um and things have gone up not that we need this to you know go shopping but um it's still you need to be somewhat rewarded um for the time and effort that you put in so I'd be happy approaching this down the road um to maybe move it up to I don't know uh just a couple thousand dollars more um for whoever's in the board you know three years from now thank you commissioner eer vice mayor kianus well you know I I just wanted to bring this forward I'm trying to think of oh excuse me uh are there any public comments on this item thank you Mr Doos here acts 514 Ashlin Avenue as commissioner banther mentioned this has been brought up before and it's the same old BS oh I don't want to look like I'm raising my salary no no no three years from now there's no no reason that we haven't seen that raising at two grand or $1,000 is going to make a difference well if it's been 20 years we haven't had any chance to see that and let me give you an example this past election season we had four seats open four seats to be honest with you I'm embarrassed that there's only one seat that's got an election you want to incentivize younger people other people I would say be honest we right off the bat 1,000 bucks a month for a commissioner 15,000 or 17 somewhere in that range for the mayor and not three years from now by the time the next election because you're going to have two seats open Where's the incentive you all know it takes a lot more time to do what you do between the meetings with the city manager Jane nin Renee the city clerk chief chief Bob a lot of time a lot of time so I would say th000 a month for a commissioner 1,500 a month for the mayor yeah the benefits are nice but one other thing I would kind of a down the road thing that you might consider how you're helping your employees in a sense when Social Security time comes and they look at your quarterly incomes instead of having that 8,000 you're going to have 12 or 15 or something so in the long run you will be getting more money back from your Social Security just a side note thank you thank you Mr Loos good evening Katie Taylor 1991 Douglas Lane to Springs I commend all y'all for not wanting to take that increase um earlier during the year uh I heard of employee salaries you know um Mr funin was trying to get an increase on one of his one of his employees salary to re to be increased and it was denied and um I'm I think we've been back and forth about some increas in some of the other employees salaries during the course of the year if you gentlemen didn't take your increase could those funds be redirected toward helping employees get increases next year um is that possible for a pool of money that can help the employees if yall don't want to really take the increase I commend you for not to help the employees is that possible uh Miss Taylor I'd have our finance director get back with you on that because there's really the set amount so it it have to I'm not sure exactly CU all I'm asking if you if you decline to take your increase can the money be diverted to the employees where they can take where you can help them get increase during the course of the year because they were denied during the course of year without having to get into a question answer staff is always trying to balance the budget when it comes thank you ma'am there any other public comments it are there any Zoom comments if anyone online would like to make a public comment on this item please raise your hand and you'll be allowed into talk and we do not have any raised hands at this time okay thank you well um as I stated I wanted to bring this forward as uh you know even Commissioners have stated this has been something that hasn't been changed in in 20 plus years um I know we're looking at that one document with the annual salary from 2019 for a lot of those local mun IP alties but we did have that uh data and excile spreadsheet that was provided to us from the fora Liga cities so I would encourage everyone I'm sure you have looked at it but just to look at it too and um in the future for decisions and yes we do have health insurance and and I'd like for us to advertise it in the future when uh we're letting people know that hey these positions are up for office and um we really don't advertise that as much so I'm someone who takes advantage of it too and so I would uh it's a very it's a big benefit actually to anybody running for office um but at the same time there's uh you know there's part-time pay for part-time work and you know when you get you get so involved with it and you're moving around and and you're uh wanting to make a difference for your community um you know there there are people who love this community who aren't going to get involved because the juice isn't worth the squeeze and no I don't think you know $4,000 four $5,000 added to each salary is going to make a difference uh right away but you know you got to get people you got to get more people involved and I think there are people out there who can do this job better than us if they're actually compensated just a little bit better you know because they have that same love for town as we do so it's something to consider in the future um you know the goal is to just try to change things incentivize more people you know I've spoken to some staff here and there and so uh they understand that you know incentivizing a different landscape of people in the future is is what my ultimate goal is and so um you know and as Mr Doo said we had we had three walk-ins and it shouldn't be like that it shouldn't be like that for office here in Tarpon Springs either the people trust us or they're just not interested in running so um I'd like for us to consider you know 3 years from now possible increases to between 12 to $133,000 per commissioner and to 17 to $18,000 for the mayor including whatever current benefits are already there so uh just something to consider from me in the future uh potentially as an agenda item he brought up but with that said I guess you know this was the discussion and in the future we'll there is something to be made we'll bring it forward to you city manager okay thank you okay we are now going to our 7:35 so we're going to our ordinances resolutions which uh public hearings begin at 7:30 and uh we are now going to item 21 was deferred did we just suspend the well I guess it was these were advertised oh yeah it's different a lot of improv going on right now but can we we're going to take we're going to take a 10-minute break and we're going to come back at 7:45 meeting in recess till 7:45 too much we had e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good ordinance 20 uh 202 24-11 ordinance of the city of Tarpon Springs Florida vacating and abandoning a utility easement of uh 2334 Square ft more or less lying within Lots 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 and 20 of blocks two of Revo Alto subdivision and located at 705 East live O Street providing for conditions providing for findings providing for coordination in the public records of pelis County and providing for an effective date thank you uh right now this is a quasi judicial hearing as City attorney can you go over the Quasi judicial yes sir I'd be happy to um first and foremost you're quasi judges so um so what your job is is basically to uh apply any competent substantial evidence that you hear tonight from experts um including your professional planners apply it to the criteria that's in your code um as a pro as a procedure Le you also have to disclose you have to swear in all the witnesses and you have to disclose all any all in any uh X party Communications before you get started so and at the end again you weigh the evidence that you hear against the criteria and that's how you make your vote thank you uh we will now swear in anyone that would be speaking on uh the application tonight City attorney do you swear and firm to tell the truth all truth nothing but the truth all right thank you now we're going to go have any ex party disclosures or have there been any ex party Communications from any of the board members with the applicant none okay so now we will now go to the city staff president ation by Renee Vincent planning director ma'am uh good evening uh mayor vice mayor and Commissioners this is application 26 2462 ordinance 202 24-11 this is second reading um this is a just very simply vacation of a utility easement um on that's uh two buildings straddling the property um there's been no uh you did review and approve this on first reading there's no new information to be entered into the record uh for second reading and uh staff recommendation is to approve as presented in the staff report the presentation um and the agenda back up thank you thank you Miss Vincent does uh do the board have any questions for staff okay does the applicant have any questions want to cross-examine uh the um staff thank you uh we are now going to the applicants presentation sir would you like to present or say anything Paul W um 705 East Live Oak Street Tarpon Springs Florida I'm the owner I'm here to answer any questions you might have thank you uh this uh does the commission have any questions for the applicant okay um Miss finson are you um acting your presentation into the record yes and all the agenda materials thank you thank you ma'am uh we will now go to public comments on this item are there any public comments on this application okay and since uh the applicant has the opportunity to rebuttal but there's nothing to be said at this moment so with that said uh the chair will entertain a motion to approve ordinance 224-1 pjw Properties LLC second second there are no further comments or discussion roll call please commission banther yes Comm D denado yes M eer yes Vice May colus yes mayor yes yes item 23 resolution 2024-25 calling for March election and ballot language uh City attorney can you please read the title yes sir This Is Res resolution 202 24-55 a resolution of the board of Comm commissioners of the city of Tarpon Springs Florida calling for the municipal General referendum election to be held on March 11 2025 for the purpose of electing a mayor and two Commissioners to serve a term of three years each and one commissioner to serve an unexpired term of one year providing for establishment of the ballot title and substance for 23 referendum questions sponsored by the charter review commission amending the city Charter and one charter question sponsored by the Board of Commissioners amending the city Charter providing for said election submitting said referendum questions to the voters providing for notice to the supervisor of election and providing for the effective date hereof thank you City attorney are there any public comments on this item it are there any Zoom comments mine has a comment on this item please raise your hand and you'll be allowed in talk and we do not have any raised hands at this time thank you uh hearing none the chair will entertain a motion to approve item 23 resolution yes um item 24 resolution 20246 authorizing the issuance of a non-ad valum revenue note series 2024 in the amount not to exceed 5.3 million and we have uh first our City attorney will read the title yes sir resolution 20246 a resolution of the Board of Commissioners of the city of Tarpon Springs Florida authorizing the issuance of a non-ad valorum Revenue note series 2024 in the principal amount of not to exceed $5,300 to finance the purchase of property for use as a permanent dredge spoil site expand water utility facilities recreational trail parking and access and other Municipal uses and to pay Associated transactional costs providing that such a note shall be a limited obligation of the city payable from a non adorm Revenue budgeted and appropriated as provided herein providing for the rights Securities and remedies for the owner of such note making certain covenants and agreements in connection there with and providing for an effective date thank you City attorney uh our finance director Ron Herring can you just give us a little backup please uh yeah without the repeat with the what the City attorney said but I just going to provide a little history on how this got about and ordinance 20245 was approved by the Board of Commissioners on July 30th 2024 uh to submit to the electors of the city of Taren Springs a referendum question and ballot title for the purchase of the property that the City attorney mentioned also in that ordinance was gave city manager a Direction with the board of directors and he negotiated a price of 5.25 million it also stipulated the funding for the land purchase would come from a 10-year debt obligation from General government funds uh the ref referendum question went to the voters on November 5th 2024 there were 13,068 votes cast uh 8,637 for the purchase of the land 66% of the voters per approve voted yes on November 6 um the city with our financial advisor went out for bid on financing for the land purchase uh the city re received proposals from five banks uh TD Bank was selected due to the combination of providing one of the lower interest rates at 4.39% but also the ability to repay the loan in 18 months which would be after July 1st 2026 uh most of the other Banks offered they wouldn't we couldn't prepay until after four years um just to add on I just want to thank um Dwayne Draper with Bryant Miller for all his help with the with the bond councel and Jay Glover with pfm for his help with a financial advisor and any other questions I'm here thank you Mr Herring are there any public comments on this item it are there any Zoom comments if anyone online would like to make a comment on this item please raise your hand and you'll be allowed in to talk and we do not have any raised hands at this time commissioner banther I see your lights on you want to ask a question to staff um yes thank you Ron um when was the last time the city took out this amount of debt can you answer that please uh the last debt would be the water plant bond issue about 30 million about you know 10 years ago and then before that do you recall what was before that we we haven't had much debt we're one of the lowest uh cities with the lowest amount of debt in the county and is the note for the the full amount of the 5,300,000 or is it going to be for for for for just a portion of that uh the 5.3 million is 5.25 million to cover the purchase of the land and then 53,000 50,000 for the um Bond issuance cost okay so essentially it's it's almost 100% financing correct we're not correct okay all right thank you I I have other comments but this was just directly to Ron right okay thank you okay okay um we've gone to public comments now um the chair will entertain a motion to approve item 24 resolution 2024 D60 moved the motion dies so now what City attorney all right so the motion was to approve it it didn't get a seconded so it it I think probably you should have asked for a motion to deny it hold on one second record unless you have some other way but I mean I'm GNA pass the gavl over to vice mayor I make a motion to approve item 24 resolution 20246 second okay now we're going to go into discussion I got yeah go but I have no script here so all right so um it's been seconded uh we have any public comment on this motion Taylor 1991 Douglas Lane I'm just I'm just a little confused on what just happened by the mayor giving up the gavel to the vice mayor and then approving a $5.3 million purchase without boat died so why did you move why did you why did you do ma'am without getting into discussion as part of the Roberts rules of procedure if I the only ability for me to make a motion is to hand over the gavel to the second in charge and so that's that's what I was trying to do so what would happen what would have happened if it would have died well would have gone nowhere but he the mayor has the mayor has the P the privilege to be able to hand the gavl over to the vice mayor so that he can make a motion we talking about5 million we're going to have discussion on this okay thank you all right winon 327 manity Lane and maybe I'll see as this plays out but I am a bit confused we voted for this 8,000 to whatever it was 6,000 5,000 and we've have the loan um or the bond so what are we doing now or maybe this will play out just thank you little bit sorry okay so um is there any further comment Mr jump is there any remote comments if anyone online would like to make a public comment on this item please raise your hand and you'll be allowed him to talk and we do have a raised hand I'll allow the first person in go ahead Juliana da 413 e Oakwood Street to Springs Florida my question is if the first vat died um why was not it completed it was just uh left there so there was a motion made that's sitting there that died and it wasn't toen back or change or anything so what's the procedure on that well we have an A a motion was made there was no second the mayor handed the gavl over to the vice mayor and then another motion was made and it was seconded so that's where we are right now so thank you did that the motion died right I don't I don't want to in all due respect I don't want to debate you on this so thank you um so now is there any other further remote comments and we do not have any other raised hands at this time okay so let's go to commissioner comments commissioner banther yes thank you um City attorney when this is voted on as it as it was and it passed is it the public or or the voters authorized the board to do it or they say we shall do it it's an authorization um you're not I mean you're here individually with your own opinions and your own vote so there's five votes up here thank you I thought that that that was important that's important to clarify for for the public is often times they think when it's voted yes that we then must purchase it it means that you will authorize us to purchase it doesn't mean that that we shall purchase it me personally I I was not part of the commission that put this to the ballot so I was not involved and all that led up to this um I could talk a lot about this but I'll keep it short um you know it's it's very surprising to me this is my I guess seventh year in office uh total and you know the things that the public will come to us on about wasteful spending what's the city doing with these dollars we just had a whole conversation about not raising our salaries and then here we are talking about authoriz authoriz or authorizing this board to accept to $5 million mortgage and there's lots of things behind that I personally just cannot support this I I battled with it I I thought to myself well the public authorized us to and you know I that's the will of the voters I know we have the right not to but me personally I I just cannot support going into this much debt um for this project I I just can't do that um I I just do not I I just do not see where that makes sense I'm open to listen to my colleag Coles that were part of um putting this on the ballot they might have more information than me but I can't in good conscious sit up here and and put the city and $5 million worth of debt for that for that property thank you any other uh any other comments get my dado um I was part of the group that voted for it I did it because they've talked for 30 years about doing it I at that time stated and I'm going stay again tonight I've never liked the price and I like it even less now than I did back then a month ago two months ago because of where we are financially uh the storms in particular and the increase that we may have the uncertainties that that we're I think we're going to talk about here in a little bit but as far as what our income is going to be the property tax wise for the next year the year after that so I personally want to see a spoil site I definitely feel long term is the thing to do I think it would actually even expedite in the future uh dredgings because that's always a hold up we we always have to wait till we find a an authoriz a property of which we pay um between per uh the lease rate and the cleanup rate almost a million dollars every time we do that so I'm definitely for a swo site but I'm not for this site at this time uh the circumstances weren't that way when I supported it before and I cannot support it now uh commissioner Eiser thank you Eiser thank you uh you're vice mayor now okay so I have to answer a couple of questions that I was just listening to um we're put up here not I I know we make the decision but we're put up here to represent the people of Tarpon Springs and uh I expected going in from the things that I picked up on the the feedback on the street was this was not going to fly I thought we would have 4,000 yeses and 8,000 NOS those were the numbers you were looking for give or take they were little bit more than 4,000 a little bit more than 8,000 instead it was 8,000 yeses plus and 4,000 NOS so I was in for a shock so first of all that's why I did my motion and that's why I did my second because I'm not up here for my opinion even though I will give my opinion in a minute so I'm up here to represent the people that put me in office so I am going to go with the 8,000 um and the majority that said yes that's a B I did a great deal of before um I agree with commissioner D denado um paying this was not something I wanted to do um but it has to be done at certain point you know um when I was in the uh electronic business everyone said when should I buy my new stereo and I go you can never just purchase it at the right time you just got to get in throw your feet in there and just do it this has been going on for a long time we do need to um dredge um endlessly it's not just now um we're not buying it for now we're buying it for the next dredge which could be 15 years out down the road um so far there has been no other site that has has this value um this size um this ability to regenerate the water that gets placed in there the water has to carry the sand over there and the water uh filters itself and goes back into the anlo river um there are smaller little areas that would be very difficult to get um this type of results that's why we used it in the first place so if we do not buy this um I I think the opportunity will be gone by the wayside and we will not have another opportunity to get something like this I do realize that it came in in an appraisal of 34 and 35 or 36 um I personally had a conversation with Mr stamis he was gracious enough to lower the price a little bit it was originally 5'5 um we kind of exhausted every which way to try to buy this he would make if he didn't sell it to us he was never let let me rephrase that he was never wanting to sell this to us he was happy to develop it and he could make that much more money it was at the time um mayor votus um Mark lorus and uh that were always trying to pick this up um and in the end um I asked Mr lorus if I could try to help out and I spoke with uh Mr stamis and it was you know he lowered it by a quarter of a million dollars so um do I want to pay that kind of money no I really don't I would like it to be the 3.4 the 3.6 but I don't want 15 years from now someone to look back at this board and say why didn't they buy it then we don't know what to do with it you know years ago I um we would dredge and put it on those little sandb bars that on the on the sides of the uh anoat River and they grew into trees and whatnot can't do it anymore rules have changed there is zero place to put it other than there um everything else would be a just shot a shot in the dock so for me I am going to vote for this not because of the price but I'm voting on it because 8,000 um residents overrode 4,000 residents so they're asking me to do it and at the same time um this is an opportunity that if we pass it by he will build on it and we won't have a second bite to the Apple so that's the way I'm going to go mayor kulas yes please um I understand where we were at prior to when you know even at my stance I knew the the money was a lot but I I sat there and stated it's up to the residents to to decide uh when it ties into the charter and what we are as a community um I said ultimately let the residents decide and I wasn't sure what the climate was going to be or the outcome of uh that item and so when I saw the election results I was really um I was surprised surprised a lot and so and that could be a couple different factors either people are really paying attention or they're not and they're voting yes on whatever comes in front of them so uh to that degree I'm not sure what it was but um I know the city manager supported it the prior city manager at the time because it knew the importance of trying to secure a site and the citizens did vote on it now um I I have to decide you know I'd like to understand why because I thought we had this financing in place and I remember you know vice mayor we talked about if we did purchase this property and this was before the hurricane and the state of emergency uh we would come up with this plan this you know this financing plan for a certain amount of years and um you know this is the way I look at it and we're at this point the river is the lifeline to our community the residents have overwhelmingly supported and I believe to purchase it now you know the semantics of words I don't know how we go from here City attorney but you know to me it seems like we need to move forward in purchasing this property now if the semantics of words you know St otherwise I I'd like for you to uh openly say that just in case the record so I'm looking at your Charter and you have a limitation in your Charter of uh purchasing anything over real property or entering into a lease Etc this is section three limitations of power over 300 $350,000 so it does say the terms for the purchase of real property um and then goes on to say shall be ratified by a majority of the elector at voting at a referendum thereof before such shall be of effective so what I believe happened and again this is before my time is it came before you um saying to enter into the contract right to buy the property and the vote was to ratify that purchase but what's before you right now is the financing of it what's so it's different so the it does say ratification so what that's ratification signifies after the fact so basically it came before you at some point and said let's enter into this uh contract for these terms um and then we have to put it because it's over $350,000 we have to put it in front of the electorate for ratification now I am not willing to say that um as T that that somehow commits individual Commission commers to how they're going to vote on the financing in advance I I just I just think that you would be contracting away um at some other point a prior commission that did something cannot really dictate how you individually act on the financing part so I think you're still in line with the charter because you per you entered into a contract to purchase the real property I don't know if there are any penalties if you don't go forward with it um we'll get to that yeah we'll get to that there may there's been a lot of time and money and attorneys working on this not Mr salsman especially um but it has been ratified by the electorate and that's where you are and so right now where you are is this is the strategy for paying for it to commence the the the contract okay um mayor are you still you still going yeah and I I just want to get it out we'll have our discussion you know that as we talked about we hear that this this River here and we talked about the lifeline we also have the bayus and in waterways those all need to be dredged ASAP they need to be dredged as soon as possible we are behind on that and I don't know probably a decade if not or so and we already have if this all goes through we have the site available to do that and we need to do it we don't see you know kids even playing in the bayos anymore on you know on their tubes and stuff not it's not the point but that'll has get done soon also with this these storms that came through recently um I've been told by captains of ships and stuff that uh the channel That was once recently dredged some of it may be messed up already because of these hurricanes they powerful storms came through obviously and so uh I've listened to that as well and I know it's $5 million and how we all feel about it but this is a river that brings $290 million to the region annually every year and so when I think about potentially securing its future for this community and for the region for $5 million or what it helps bring in annually uh it helps ease my mind a a little bit and for the future as well as well as how how it's currently going to uh be utilized and so we talk about the charter the charter talks about you know our responsibilities of taking care of the river and you know no it doesn't say we have to purchase a property to take care of the river and to Drudge it and take care of it but what's the closest way to do that secure a property that can help us operate and do all those things to support the charter and so uh City attorney and finance director this doesn't go through I got a couple questions we still have to either find another financing route and what are the penalties with this potential delay in in a a contract that we you know we have in place could you both help me out well the agreement did say that the closing would be by December 31st 2024 if the financing is not approved that's it's like it's basically it on the financing until we try to go out the bid again for some more financing unless uh TD Bank would extend the financing um another just something else um we have paid the required deposits $525,000 I've heard the agreement I'm trying to read it right now but it sounds like maybe I could show it the the city attorney but we might it might be if we're in default as the buyer we might have to Forfeit that deposit of $525,000 but I'd like to probably the City attorney to read that and okay um Ron seriously you don't run across this situation a lot we let them talk for a second well let me mayor let me um Let me let me say a few things I'll come back yes all right so um I I spoke to Mr salsman about it and he did say that we would have we would lose whatever has been put in escrow so would be the 525,000 um look I fiscally I'd be happy to this to not buy this property right uh given what we went through with the storms um the uh and we're going to go and when we get to item uh number 20 um you you know we're going to discuss uh you know some of the variables and uncertainties we have in in the um in the next in the coming months um you know I didn't I didn't second this item because I wanted to hear from everybody I didn't know you were going to give me this which was kind of cool though it's kind of giv me some you know test driving this thing it works yeah so um but no but seriously I you know I would I would be happy if this went away and we didn't have to spend five million bucks um I think that the issue is the is really the price um I think and that's what I've heard from the people in the community and I was surprised that it passed but but you know what it teaches us a lesson that um if we send something to the residents they assume it's something we want um because especially when it's going to a November election with a presidential election involved um that's you you've got a lot of people going to vote that probably really aren't fully educated on City matters as much but regardless it's not our job to try to figure out you know the intent of the voters we we we did get a a vote um my concern again was has always been on the fiscal but if we're looking at the um it you know it appraised at 3.6 we end up buying it for 5.2 we understand again the motivation of the seller uh he you know he Incorporated some opportunity money in there and I I get exactly why he's doing it U because he could make money on the three .6 uh probably and in to him it was worth 5.2 so really we're talking about a difference of 1.6 million the difference between the apprais value and what we're paying that's the sore spot I think for most of the what I heard for most of the residents it it wasn't not buying the property it was just the the the price was you know sour on people but we get it's 1.6 million we're going to Forfeit 525,000 uh let me ask you Ron the 525 that we've put up in escrow now we get that back because we're going to fully Finance it right yes okay so the 525 that's in escrow really in essence pays almost the first Year's Debt Service on it right correct you get the money back and that pays the debt service for the year pretty much the average debt service is 670,000 okay but it pays the majority of the debt service for one year so we know and and again my biggest concern given the storms is really this coming up year um so given that given the the um you know the overwhelming uh vote of the people given that I think you know 5 10 years from now um you know we're going to forget how much we paid for it and we're going to probably be happy we have it so and also uh commissioner banther when you know I did I I you I don't know if you had watched that meeting but I did a little um study on our debt service Debt Service I I compared us with all the other um municipalities um like uh Ron Herring says we we have we're really really low uh even with this debt we're still way be beneath what all the other uh municipalities have and Ron when when when are we paid up on the on the the big Debt Service that we're paying now we have don't we have a few things maturing soon are you talking about the water plant Bond or yeah what do we have that's maturing I think because we went over some things like we had some whether it was equipment Deb we got a we got a we got a couple fire Tru leases yeah that are coming up yeah so we one's got one more year on it yeah and that was how much went on those leases how much I I know we went through that together so we had some things that matured so it's it's not going to hit as quite as hard um so despite I I mean trust me I would there's a part of me that would love to kill this tonight but I don't think that would be the right thing to do so um I think I'm going to go ahead and vote to proceed so I don't know if we need to have more discussion because it appears we have three votes I have a quick comment okay I have a comment also all right um but um that's that's where I'm at right now and and again um you know it's our job to make the tough decisions and this is a tough one but I'm going to I'm going to go that way tonight so go ahead uh commissioner who I don't know which one of you had your thing up and ban both of commissioner ban I can't see the the lights um yes and when I when I when I when I say up here that I want my colleagues input I'm serious about that it's especially for matters like like like you know this when I wasn't part of the original conversation you all know me I'll dig my heels in the sand all day but if there's things I wasn't a part of I like to listen and learn from what I've heard tonight my personal opinion has not changed I'll leave that private I'm sure you can you can you can guess what that opinion is but um I'm willing to vote for this tonight based off what I what I've heard here still have some great great concerns about it but in light of learning that we would lose half a million dollars in escrow I'm not saying you only go through a deal based off that but in light of that and the other things we have heard as well um you know I'm I'm I am I'm willing to to support this tonight uh to kind of help the cause if you will um The Dredge um the the the dredge was recently I don't want to say completed cuz it's it's never truly completed was was it was it was recently performed and I believe that we leased the site last time with help from uh then speaker Chris sprawls and and and the and the County Commission um I do know it's a site that's right for development and I'm sure if we passed on it indeed make money and and and and surely develop it so um I'm going I'm going to give it my my my my my my support tonight based off what I've learned my personal opinion does does does does does not change and I just urge the public to always never if you don't I'd rather you not vote on something than just vote how you think it should be like if you see a referendum item do your best to learn each side but I'm also careful not to make assumptions of why folks vote certain ways so I I I will end up supporting this this this this this this tonight based off what I've heard thank you commissioner Eiser thank you vice mayor um I think we have a little bit of a and I'm a little bit shocked to hear all of what we're hearing I'm glad it's moving forward but first of all we made a ruling that we were buying the this up here we turned that over to um the residents for a referendum um if we're to put referendums out for the public to buy something and then we decide to not buy it so that kind of removes the public from the decision making so then we're kind of sitting up here saying that we're the decision maker not the public and I believe it to be wrong I believe that the public is the ones who have to make that decision about spending the money in addition I've read through this whole resolution and this resolution has nothing to do with purchasing or not purchasing um the uh the the property what it has to do with is do we accept Ron herring's uh U Deliverance of uh is it TD Bank yes TD Bank TD Bank giving us a 4% 4.39 4.3 and also giving us the ability to pay off um prematurely versus the other um offers which were four years correct yeah the ear you don't have to be exact four years October 1st 2029 I don't understand why we're up here talking about whether we should purchase it or not when that's not what's up before us what's up before us is is how do we want to finance this period do we want to pay it off do we want to do the 4.3 with the uh quicker with the prepay no prepa penalty versus prepay penalty that's what I came up here to do I did not come up here to dis to rehash whether we should have board it shouldn't have board it we should have done that all before we went and put that up as a referendum so again I'm going to go and agree with the 8,000 plus people that put me here to make that decision for them that's all I got to say commission D um just a few things that have been said here first of all I respect each each every everyone's opinion there's some things that are a little bit sliding that I want to reiterate that we we need to look at for example you said roughly 12,000 voted eight yay and and four no uh I believe we have close to what 15 16,000 voters registered voters um I think it was n closer to 19 closer to 19,000 registered voters of which only 12 voted 12 12,000 so I'm just saying there are a lot of people that didn't vote for it number one number number two is we weren't hit by those or hadn't anticipated at the time because mail ballots went out I believe in July or early August and people were already voting I'm just saying not everybody was aware of the financial circumstances that we're under if you ask me the same question in two years I might be if I were here but I probably I don't know where I'm going to be but the my my point is there's a lot of variables uh that we have to look at um I I still feel that had the voters known our financial situation they they may not have supported it I don't know that's conjecture on my part but I just just for purposes I want to I want everyone to know that there's 18 to 19,000 registered voters in Tarpon Springs of which 12,000 chose to vote on that issue uh they could have swung either way so that's just wanted to bring those facts out and I also want to reiterate as I've said all along I'm definitely for spoil site um but given the circumstances today in this particular price I I have hard time supporting it I'm going to go ahead and entertain a motion to approve resolution 20246 authorizing the issuance of an ad uh non adorm Revenue note series 2024 in the amount not to exceed uh $5,300,000 Vice may there's already a vote there's already a motion on the floor to approve it I did I did first I got you I'm sorry it's my first shot here so yeah let's give him a break can I just have a couple comments sir I just I want to thank this commission just for looking into this I know it's an high price item I understand but uh ultimately I I trust this guy and his staff you know to look over everything I know we we we put them in the we and the residents put them in a a spot and looking over everything and and how they were going to balance the budget and move forward and uh Ron's confident you know with how it all got set up with the staff um yeah it might cause us to be um more conservative on some other items in in the future but um I'm just happy to see this move forward because tell you the truth it'd be hard to look at the pressure of all those residents and um just thank this commission thank you all let's have a vote Mr banther yes Mr D denado no Mr Eiser yes Vice May kulanis yes mayor kolas yes it passes okay so I will back soon enough okay we are we are now going to uh item 25 resolution 2024-25 orders Springs due to Hurricane Helen City attorney can you please read the title resolution 2024 61 resolution of the board of Board of Commissioners of the city of Tarpon Springs Florida ratifying executive order 2024-25 extending the Declaration of local state of emergency to December 24th 2024 and providing for an effective date hereof thank you are there any public comments on this item it are there any Zoom comments if anyone online has a public comment on this item please raise your hand and you'll be allowed in talk and we do not have any raised hands at this time thank you hearing none the chair will entertain a motion to approve resolution Please Mr banther yes Mr dado yes Mr iser yes Vice Kus yes Mayas yes item 26 resolution 202462 ratification of executive orders 2024-25 and extending a declaration of state of emergency for Tarpon Springs due to Hurricane Milton City attorney can you please read the title yes sir resolution 202462 resolution of the Board of Commissioners of the city of Tarpon Springs Florida r ifying executive order 2024-25 extending the the Declaration of local state of emergency to December 24th 2024 and providing for an effective date hereof thank you sir are there any public comments on this item it are there any Zoom comments if anyone online would like to make a public comment on this item please raise your hand and you'll be allowed in to talk and we do not have any raised hands at this time thank you the chair will entertain a motion to approve item 26 resolution 202462 so move second there are no further comments or discussion roll call please Mr banther yes Mr dado yes Mr Eis yes Vice May yes Mayas yes uh we are now going to um item 19 business items uh shuttle service discussion and Direction and we have a city manager Charles rud to um present for us thank you mayor uh we have provided you with some more information in your packet uh both on working with freebie service and for purchasing as one of our neighboring communities did um I was the staff ad procurement advised me not to have freebie coming present in the event you choose to do an RFP uh we couldn't have a potential responder already presenting so if that's the direction tonight if you want to go with uh in order to try it out uh work with someone like freebie we can arrange to have some uh uh draft an RFP for your approval to um go that direction or we could bring back more information uh buying um uh trams ourself and the cost to do it internally uh for your decision on that as well so we're just looking for some more Direction tonight on and which way the commission would like to go thank you city manager U are there any public comments on this item it are there any Zoom comments if anyone online would like to make public comment on the S please raise your hand and you'll be allowed into talk and we do not have any raised hands this time thank you so this is a discussion direction we're going to go to the commission uh commissioner Eisner your light was on yes thank you mayor so when I brought this up um it was to be a trial era trial and you know and to see if it was something that we like so I did have a conversation with our city manager because when I got the initial report um you know there was a little bit vague with Den Eden and we got more information afterwards to clarify but we're trying to clarify um they have three vehicles we wouldn't be using three vehicles we maybe used to they are they are Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday we would probably in the onset just try to do it maybe Friday Saturday and I'm I'm just throwing this out there um so um I don't think it would cost us the 219,000 that was there um there was a second item in there about St Pete not um keeping it going that they canceled it but I did follow up they did they did not cancel it they still have it um both Duneden and St Pete love it um all good feedback St Pete Beach I'm sorry not not St Pete St Pete Beach um thanks for the clarification um and at the same time um we got a comparison for Newport Richie which bought I believe two golf carts and they have full-time employees um if we were to go with purchasing um two golf carts and also then getting involved with hiring two full-time people um the costs involved where we would be leaping in with both feet and being not to be able to test the water um as my my comment that I made to the city manager is I want to put a toe in the water see the temperature before we jump in 12 feet I don't want be purchasing things and then having to go sell it so I'd like to do this this is my own opinion um what I'd like to do is go in and have just a couple of vehicles maybe do it Friday Saturday as a test run six months see what it is um again I also don't know on these other towns whether they have tips involved I don't know if they have um you know the advertising is 50/50 are those numbers with the 50% that the city gets and gives back towards the payment you know again I there's just too many variables that I I couldn't make a decision so I would prefer to have um somebody come in whether it be a number of of of organizations coming in and want to give us a presentation for an RFP fine if um um if we just want to have freebie come in and just do a trial error you know trial and error and see how it is get feedback definitely from the people to see if it's something that they like see if it stimulates business I know for sure it you know people want to um celebrate go out and have drinking Friday Saturday night I'm sure the chief will be very happy that there'll be no drunk driving going home so um you know I I don't know also if dun Edens is a root or do they go per call um because if they're on a route they're driving constantly um if they're on it per call they could be sitting still until the next call comes in so I don't know again these are the questions that I would like to ask there's so many questions to ask about this um but I would like to try it at least for six months um and see how it is we can add to it we could subtract you know from it um I everyone that I've spoken to in town all feel it is a uh you know advantageous to you know to people in town they all like it they they'd be able to you know make a call and go from the Sponge Docks to the to downtown or vice versa um you know we don't have any way to do that it's it's a decent walk it's you know if you are drinking it's a good way to walk it off but you know um it just gives you that freedom to go back and forth I also will tell you when we do the Wine Walk they have the trolley that brings you back and forth between the uh sponge dos and the the uh downtown so this this could be this we don't have to have them going to pick up people and drop people off in town either you know we could set up a a uh like a a guideline of how far they can go so there's a lot of different which ways and I'm willing to listen to what the other Commissioners uh want um but I I just think we should get our own proposal because every one of these towns have their own lay of the land so you know we have you know um I know Newport Richie has one location it's Main Street and that's where they come and go we don't we have more so different areas to go to so I I just would I'm dying to have it come into play um as I said a number of the residents always um they don't want to go to the Sponge Docks and pay they go that is for tourists and I I do want to try to alleviate that and get more of our uh residents to um be at the Sponge Docks and you know eat and drink and be able to go home safely that's my take thank you thank you commissioner vice mayor kulanis yeah this is this is good information I mean I uh yeah I too um think you know having one of these or two of these things going around town it' be nice uh I think we're a little bit ahead of ourselves even did you know I I'm hesitant to increase the budget right now on anything it's not this isn't budgeted so um you know given and you'll hear my my comments on item number 20 um but I think this you know this should be uh incorporated into a a overall strategy you know with parking and moving people and all those kind of things uh I don't want to do this ad hoc uh yeah we should look at all the other options whether we have our own vehicle you know man it with u you know people that that are on our payroll and all those kinds of things but I think this all needs to be part of a strategy um I think you know this could be included uh hopefully in the budget for our next fiscal year um to do something like this but right now um given the uncertainty you know we just again we you know we uh have incurred the extra debt which is something you know the residents wanted uh you also hear in number 20 that we got a $3 million possible um uh more than a possible an expenditure on the uh Becka Bridge uh situation so I think this is great information uh we you know the city manager can can get further uh data on on other options but um I'm not prepared tonight to vote for anything regarding this but anyways that's that's where I'm at on this thank you okay thank you vice mayor uh City manager's light just came on and then we'll go to commissioner banther right after then D Donado I just wanted to add in um because of your comments um this uh type of thing is and has been in the Redevelopment plan so it can be funded through the CRA at least um initially typically when uh like for policing for instance you can if you were to put officers on Segways in the CRA you could pay for the Segways but when it came time to buy new Segways you couldn't pay for it out of the CRA so the CRA could could get this going uh I know there is quite a bit of undesignated funds there U but then a renewal we'd have to talk we'd have to look deeper to see if the CRA could actually renew it but it is in the plan so you you're authorized to do it um but is sponge dos in the CRA the Spong dox is not in the CRA so but the the rides would have to start or end in the CRA would be the stipulation okay they can go outside the CRA yes and still be paid by the CRA okay uh commissioner banther yes thank you I mean I assume tonight we're just looking for direction obviously not I have I have some of the same concerns that that vice mayor has but I'm more than willing to see um some more details as to far though as far as um I'm not sure if it was would be are you are you are you going to put this out to bid or we just looking at the one in dun Eden I guess not that many vendors probably I mean yeah there aren't that many what my recommendation would be to we would draft an RFP where we would Define the days and times and the and the those parameters and then they would say we'll do it for this much I mean you know I don't know what what my final vote will be but I'm very open to you know having it come back to us with with with with more details for sure thank you thank you uh commissioner need an AO um I too need more more information more definite cost or or definite approach um in order in order for me to authorize another several $100,000 thing expense if that's what it's going to be I don't we don't know at this point um but until I get more information I I would I would hesitate to vote on it tonight for sure but I'm not against it either so I just need more information thank you commissioner commissioner Eisner thank you I'm glad the city manager spoke about what I was got to speak about I was trying to also add to it that um the CRA can pay for this I did speak to Ron about that um earlier today and uh you know there's no harm in asking the people at the Docks whether they want to have somewhat of a contribution now again if you're you're talking about about denen that has um 218 or 219,000 I forgot which one it was but they have three vehicles and it's time they're running from 1100 a.m. to 11:00 at night and on the weekends they're working till 12 I think it was what I remember so you're talking about a lot of hours we don't have to have a lot of hours we can make this you know just the evening hours just test the water two vehicles um and and see if that works for us um we also don't know whether they did took the plan of with tipping or without we don't know if they're kicking back their advertising because the city does get 50% of the advertising that goes onto the vehicles so again we don't know whether that was a kick in or not um so again how do you talk about what it's going to cost us without even getting a proposal um so I mean nobody's saying that we need to go ahead with this but we should get at least a price and a proposal for something to see how that you know then we could go into a decision to either alter it we may want it to be more we may may want it to be less but I would like to at least um entertain it that's all thank you thank you commissioner Eisner uh I'm just looking to see some get some more numbers bring them back and and entertain the situation um don't mind if we do a fre uh like a trial run uh my only concern is yeah even with the RFP route we're starting to come on to the busy season and that's ideally when I wanted to see these uh these freebies in action you know sometime between November and April you know it's what's it's our tourist season so um I don't know if there was a way to even get that possible as soon as possible but that that's my goal if it comes around where we get this trial run to start after Mother's Day which is typically known as the you know when the season ends here in the area then uh we're not we're not it's not worth it so that would be something we would have to look into for the following year so if it's something that we could have enough direction or information to bring forward to possibly have that trial run even start this year I'd be open to to looking at it but if it's something to start a trial run in like I said May and after I I I don't want to support it because I know how the the season is and we'd have to Circle back again and and uh revisit all the different Avenues but yeah show us the the bid from the rfps and then if that's a lot then I guess we'll try to lick inhouse but thank you um do we we need a a motion I think he was just looking for direction yeah I think I've got a I've got a good feel for what we'll bring back an RFP and see if you like the scope of it all right thank you city manager okay on to the final item of the night item 20 discussion of budgeted unfilled positions and we have vice mayor quanus will be presenting the item yep um I apologize that it's not on an attachment but everyone uh the Commissioners all have a um a list of all the vacant positions uh so there currently there are 25 uh unfilled budgeted positions uh they add up to with benefits of 1.1 m779 261 um just just make I'll make it real short um I've had conversations with the finance director and and the city manager um they the city manager has uh is going to be very conservative in the billing of these positions he's going to fill only those that are uh he deems essential and uh that would you know be we would leave it up to his prerogative to do that um and then uh the we are going to uh the city uh Finance director is going to monitor you know again like we discussed uh several meetings ago you know we have our three forms of Revenue in the city we have the uh we have city services Water and Sewer uh and we have sales tax and those two he will be monitoring over the next uh which would be about six months um to see that um and to monitor the trends uh right now sales tax is down but not significantly I think you had said it about 5% um but he's going to but again it's very early in the in the game given the storm forward right so he's going to monitor those two and then in April we will get the numbers from the county on our assess values um once we get those and we see that the Trends are not uh are are are are okay and we're not uh going to be in any serious deficit there and then once we get the apprais values and we know that um you know we're out of the woods on on that number um then we can we can have a sigh of relief um move forward as as we normally do if not then I'm going to bring if we've see numbers that are are not in that positive nature then uh I will bring forward a a a motion to um to maybe possibly do some kind of hiring freeze um to try to um uh secure some of this extra funds for uh a relief in the budget so but for right now there's really I don't I'm not recommending any action we're just going to kind of watch it again the city manager is going to do uh his do his best to keep uh only hiring those that he feels essential to uh maintain uh services in the in the city so that's really the extent of my presentation thank you vice mayor are there any public comments on this item it are there any Zoom comments anyone online would like to make a public comment on this item please raise your hand and you be allowed in to talk and we do not have any raised hands at this time thank you as a discussion item or any other commissioner comments okay I'd like to say one uh vice mayor I know exactly what you're saying it it goes into just looking out for the finances as this year comes on and um what I will say is I've talked to a couple Department department has at times different times and I've asked hey what happens to these unfilled positions and they're not filled for the year so forth well those budgets the money gets used to help facilitate within the budget of the department sometimes you know so um it somewhat goes to that effect but yes if you see that you know if we come together we see things aren't going right um I should see no reason why we'd want to support that to help uh bring some extra income to but yeah they it's actually a Unwritten they they you know sometimes some positions aren't filled not on purpose but the the excess money is used to help balance within the department so go ahead sir but I'm I'm at a um maybe a serious mental disadvantage because I I've been in this world right I I you know I I started out in my career as a as auditing municipalities so the um you know that's something we don't want to have happen we don't want um uh that circumvents us when we have a when we've budgeted let's say a Department's been budgeted for a million doll and let's say 500,000 of it has is for salary right but they're only filling 400 um you know and and the the finance director he actually you we had this conversation he watches it so he doesn't let them play that game because that's a game that's a game that that's played that's a game that's played uh you know through all kinds of nonprofits and municipalities right they they they have these extra positions and they use those with really the the intent they never end up filling them all and then they use it to to push over to to other areas in the budget and we don't we don't want that because we've approved a budget and we've approved their use of that budget so we want them if they if they go over let's say an equipment or something they need to come back to us for that uh approval we don't want them uh using and and using or and and it doesn't happen here that's what I'm saying okay Finance director Herring is way smarter than that he doesn't let that game play um so uh but we don't in in all in all difference you we don't really we don't want that okay we want them to uh you know have we want them to when they create a budget and they say they need 10 people we want them to have need 10 people not that they need eight people and they throw two they throw two extra so they have some kind of extra play money that we don't we don't want that so anyways this this here again is I don't this may be normal to have 25 we have 300 91 employees in the in the city so having 21 25 open spots probably is an unusual and actually I was I was I was actually happy that it was 25 and not 55 okay so it it tells me that they're really not playing that game that you're you're talking about if these are and again when you look at them by departments there's only like one in each department um you know the you know fire department and the police are there're totally different they're first of all they're Union and and we don't even we wouldn't even mess with them anyways one way or the other and and there's really not that much here um so again he's going to just watch it and again because we don't know what's coming around the B I hope that uh you know like I said uh we have either ostriches we have a head in the sand or we have chicken littles um lately I've been at Chicken Little so and hopefully the sky is not falling everything's going to be cool and come April we get good numbers from the county and all as well and we move forward but up until that H happens I just think we should be a little um conservative and and responsible and I think that's what the city manager has agreed to do and uh so that's where we are here so perfect thank you vice mayor no that makes all the sense to us so I appreciate it any other comments on this on this item okay that that's the end of uh item 20 and with that said this is the close yeah this is the end of the agenda we are now going to board and staff comments um first we have chief police chief Jeff young now thank you sir first off I just wanted to say what a great job the city did putting on a Christmas parade this past Saturday beautiful weather and everybody out there enjoyed the day I think it was a a great great day uh for everybody want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas happy Hanukkah happy holidays and a happy and safe New Year this Saturday is a going to be a hard day for our department and our city and our family it's a 10e End of Watch for officer Charlie condac who was shot murdered in line of duty here serving the city of Tarpon Springs 10 years ago December 21st 2014 everybody remembers d where they were when things happened and stuff that's one of those days that for me and my brothers and sisters in the department as well as the cond family and quite frankly everybody in the city will remember where they were uh when that that occurred everybody said it well it won't happen here it won't happen here well it did and uh you know we we go every day remember in Charlie but this day this Saturday at 6 PM we'll be honoring Charley's uh tenure End of Watch and we want to invite everybody out there uh to the service and um we'll never forget Charlie love you brother thank you Chief uh City attorney Mr Dickman nothing report just have a very happy holiday everyone thank you sir um city clerk uh Miss manusos just want to wish everyone a happy holiday bu be safe thank you and city manager uh I do want to ask the ward we the last CRA meeting we had at 5:00 and that seemed to work for everyone I need to bring all those items back to you in January so I want to see if if that 5:00 works again for CRA meeting I think it's the 7th January 7th what's the date I think it's January 7th I personally don't like it but if I get over written by the commission it is what it is I got to go to the gym at like 2 o'clock but it's fine you know I'll be okay okay we have we have a number of items we're going to we're going to bring back to you so we can use the time rather than go later into the evening so other than that just merry Christmas happy Hanukkah and happy safe New Year absolutely and then we're now going to board comments commissioner banther yes thank you uh we had we all had a great time in the parade my girls blew all the candy out before we got like a block to Old City Hall I'm like preserve your candy and beats we bought so much and I'll buy double next year I guess but it was great I want to thank the chamber they did a great job getting us all golf carts that were just decked out like nobody's business so it was but the star of the show I I think was now former city manager Mark lurus being what was it buddy the Elf there wasn't that that was just Priceless I hope he still is part of the parades even though he's going to be enjoying his retirement soon biggest self you for sure yeah it was a it was a sight to behold I think I think that would have won the award um I've know for their comments I'll be there Saturday for the for the remembrance I remember that very well I was in office then and I did my ride along the night before so it was just very eerie um so we don't want to forget that and I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a happy Hanukkah thank you thank you uh commissioner Donado um want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and happy New Year and happy holidays to all um just grateful for our town and for our staff that do such a wonderful job and for the commission that's working hard for the city that's all I have thank you sir uh commissioner Eisner thank you mayor um I too will be there for the Charles conduct um thing i' I've been there pretty much every year since um there's nothing like um giving up your line your your life in the line of duty so um I salute that um I would also like to say that I enjoyed the Christmas parade as well I probably was the only one that didn't throw candy uh I'm lucky I was sitting in the golf cart I didn't want to get out of it my foot still hurts so it was good that I was just sitting still but it you know the to see the people's faces I I I I wasn't like the mayor who was throwing two two handfuls of candy you know and just shredding people with candy I never saw so much I got to watch all the candy being thrown but um so but I got to watch the kids faces and uh it was something to really behold um they had a blast um it was just amazing um as we got down at Tarpon Avenue there was just so many so many people um and you know I hear my name being yelled at from all over the place I I couldn't even acknowledge so I do want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas Happy Hanukkah um and uh a a happy and healthy new year and I still have a full schedule between now and the 30th I don't know how that happened but uh I hope to see everybody around town and I wish everybody some good health for the new year as well and I I want to also commend this board um it's gelled it's actually doing well um we're we don't have to agree with everything each and of each of us don't have to agree but you know we do get a good consensus and I think um we're moving this city in the right direction and I'm just proud and happy to be here so thank you thank you commissioner eer vice mayor panus I to want to uh wish everyone a Happy uh uh Merry Christmas Happy Hanukkah and um uh yeah you you know we're lucky one of our benefits isn't workers C because I would have put a claim in for how many times the mayor hit me with candy um when he was just shoveling it out but everyone had fun and um I'm not sure who's a bigger kid you or Mark lorus um but speaking of Mark lorus you know um you know this the next time we have a a regular bocc meeting he will no longer be with uh the city um and you know he would have been Charlie condet before Charlie conduct he was shot twice um if it wasn't for uh an officer who what was the officer saved his life I don't recall exactly I was not working back then with the mark but I believe it might have been allenan or Dan Beck no it was a Greek guy um yeah anyways who um you know if again you know um and we'll have our time to tell Mark how much we love him but um you know that he he has given so much for this city and you know even till the end he's putting on on costumes and wanting to entertain people and entertain the kids and you know we're going to have an opportunity um you know we have rules on naming things and he'll have unfortunately he would have to pass before we could name um you know the cops and kids building after him but we definitely um we should be putting a plaque up there for him um and um but anyways um I would just thank about him a lot on uh this on this last meeting we have for the of of the year so but I want to wish everybody well thank you thank you vice mayor I just uh very thankful for this year it's a lot has happened with this commission and right now we we are all together moving in a great Direction um I've asked the city manager to possibly look into an ordinance for new businesses to be able to be able to advertise in right ways or you know closer to the roads for about 60 to 90 days just to let people know that there is a new business there so something to consider just short term temporarily uh but with that said uh we had um absolutely we'll be there for the memorial of Officer conduct he was great Guide to the community and I can't believe we're coming on 10 years um Christmas parade was amazing it was so much fun uh I bought a lot of candy and I still ran out at the end so we got to figure out something I just need to buy more but you like like commissioner Eiser said the the the look on the young kids faces and just the amount of people there was just amazing we really are one of the best small towns in this country um the Safford house we got the Safford house the decorations will be up display up until after Epiphany I will encourage everyone to go visit it it's a very historical piece to our community oldest house here in Tarpon Springs and it is so well put together uh just to see all the furniture and just everything that uh house has to offer it's truly special um thanks all staff for the Christmas and holiday decorations this year we keep getting a lot of uh compliments on it and can't thank staff enough want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas a happy New Year happy Hanukkah and enjoy a wonderful holiday season with your family friends and loved ones it's truly one of the best times of the year and um we also have Epiphany that's coming up January 6 uh the holiday season doesn't end uh until January 6th here in Tarpon Springs and what we're known as Epiphany City so I'm looking forward to it all all the festivities leaving up to it and as a reminder do not take down your Christmas or holiday decorations until after Epiphany that's the rule here in Tarpon Springs so I want to thank this commission we've done such a great job I've really uh it's been a blessing uh to be part of this and to be chair during this holiday season I'm not it's been one of the Great greatest moments of my life I'll will tell you that it's been awesome and so uh just thank you all and thank this board for working together and we got a lot of good things toe so uh with that said this concludes the regular session me uh session meeting adjourned at 9:08 p.m. before everybody leaves have you signed the ordinances and resolutions yeah we need some oh yeah I'm not going any e e e e e e e e e e e for