##VIDEO ID:Vhu-PTEVS9o## On would be the only one that is for you. Let me put all these things away. Kind of reminded me. And then I still haven't really figured out how to do this, but I'll get there. Well, you asked to know if we wouldn't be here. Here we are. So that must mean 6010 might be here. 601 calling to order the Sustainability Committee of the City of Tarpon Springs on Thursday, September 19th, at 601. And can we have a roll call, please? We can. Taylor. Mandolin Present Denise Menino here. Robin Sanger here. Carol McInnes here. Siobhan Meehan, absent. And that concludes our roll call. And our next item is the approval of August 2024 minutes. As well. I have a thing about the minutes. Okay. But I'm trying to let me get them up here. Okay. So my request in the body of the minutes, so we're all called, like, Denise Masino doctor Carol McKay, blah, blah, blah. But when we get to the stormwater thing, it says Tony. I'm like, Who's Tony? Well, that's. And then down here it says Holly and I'm. It was Tony. Yeah, I know who it is. Yeah, but my point i, I think we should at least say people's last names or say Mr. So-and-so. If it doesn't say that, that's an oversight. I believe typically in or Miss Langdon, you're in the. You know, I guess, colloquial use of, you know, you can introduce someone by their full name and then continue by just using their, their first name or their last name. So I will just make sure there's some consistency. But in the yeah, you always call me doctor Carol McKay throughout the whole thing. And I think we need to respect our visitors and our manager. Okay. We can definitely and maybe even Tommy. I second that. Okay I don't know that it requires a formal motion. I think we can just take note of, consistency with name usage and move forward that way. So do we want to change that in the record? And then I'll sign it next month. Or if we have a next month meeting. And this is kind of to the discretion of the committee. I mean, sure, we do have a requirement that minutes are posted timely. If this is sort of like a, a form of address type of thing, and it's not related. We do have a requirement in Florida statutes to try and be timely with the minutes. Okay. So maybe it would be best to just accept these and we'll make that change. I'll make a motion to accept the minutes and to amend them for future meetings. Okay. Second. I would second that. All in favor? Aye. Okay Thank you. And we have no members of the public here. And no access to speaking to them online. So I think we can move forward. With our report on Eco Fest and how that went. Holly. Thank you. Okay, so Eco Fest was on Saturday this past Saturday. It was a great setup. Lots of city departments were there. Water slides, the whole nine yards. Unfortunately, the weather had other plans for us, so we had it all set up about ten by 11:00. We were shutting it down because there was a thunderstorm. There was lightning in the area and obviously that was unsafe for everyone to continue. So while we were set up, there was a constant flow of people. There were people, you know, engaging, a lots of, you know, families, younger kids, a variety of people. And everyone was very interested. So I was just going to show you a quick little overview of some of the things that the sustainability department, that was me. So we had a few, you know, brochures available for saving information on saving water indoors and outdoors. We had a lot of publications that I was able to get from the Southwest Florida Water Management District, some bookmarks, again, lots of just educational stuff. We had outdoor water conservation kits available for people to take home. So you'll also notice that I prepared a little a little swag bag for everyone here, just so you could see. And, the items that are in the bag represent what we were able to procure and give away to the city residents so that they can start learning how they can, you know, make switches in their own homes to just be a little bit more efficient, a little bit more aware of what they can do to save water, save energy, a little rain drop that is seed paper. So people could take it home, plant it, wildflowers will grow from it and there's wording on the card about, again, outdoor water conservation strategies. I had a little energy kit for kids, so they learn to turn off their lights when they leave the rooms. All kinds of little goodies, also just interactive teaching. Kids just interact with nature, right? So we had little scavenger hunt cards, the reusable bags that you guys already saw, dog poop pickup bags to highlight the importance of keeping the waterways clean. And everyone's I think the most popular item, an eco dishcloth so probably gave away. Gosh, even in that short time, just people were really into these. So I think I probably handed out, I don't know, somewhere in the 50 to 70 range, but one of these is very absorbent. It says it replaces about 15 rolls of paper towels. You can wash it in your dishwasher, your washing machine, and these lasts for months. So until it essentially starts falling apart, you can keep reusing it. And when it does start falling apart, it's compostable. So biodegradable. So it's made from some natural fibers. And anyway, just some small swaps that people can make. So that was kind of the my goal with Eco Fest was just some functional items. Nothing to, you know, don't want to give away a bunch of plastic or a bunch of things that are just going to end up not being used. So we're trying to do a little bit of education, a little bit of usable swaps. And so I think it went well, and I will look forward to the next opportunity that I get to go out and do an event. Now we're all stocked up and supplied, and if you don't need any items, obviously use that as an opportunity to share them with your neighbors and let them know what the sustainability department is doing in the city. That's excellent. How long were you actually going before the. It was about an hour. It was really just one hour. So we tried to pack as much in as we could in that time. Yeah. You know, I had visitors, so we were on our way to Saint Pete, and our visitors called us in the car and said, there is a horrible storm. And we were in it, but it was really it was quite dramatic. It was, I will say that the parks and Rec department, everybody that was there setting up got quite, you know, inundated by the rain while they were taking it down. But everyone was doing it with, you know, a good attitude and smiles and we all just realized you can't. There's some things you can't control. But everybody made the most of the time we had. Yeah, there were a few years when we first moved to this area that two twins, can't remember their names. It was Kara, and I can't remember the other sister's name, but they were very involved in sustainability, and they were producing a very big eco fest up in New Port Richey. Did you ever go to that? I know who you're talking about. She moved away. Kara and I can't remember her twin sister's name, but they, they literally planned an entire day, and there was there was always a stage with music, but they had workshops with gardeners, local gardeners and different people that might talk about edible landscapes. I mean, it was a big it was a very big event and people split off and went to different areas for whatever their area of interest was, whether it was recycling and how the how that works in reality, or whether it was really getting garden tips. And Jim Kovalevsky spoke there a number of times. I mean, there were a lot of very, you know, kind of prominent people in the gardening community that would participate. And I think that we could consider expanding it, you know, so that we're able to, pull in people that are interested in things. Besides, I mean, really expand the range of sustainability to talk about. So there were some other vendors there. There was I mean, I say vendors, there were city departments, there was a representative from Brooker Creek Preserve there. Shannon Brewer, our city arborist, they were giving away trees. Awesome, Clearwater Marine Aquarium was there doing, you know, educational and sharing about their programs. So there were some other entities other than just the, you know, city departments. There every year. This is the first year we weren't there. And I kind of feel better about it now that I hear it got rained out. Yes, yes. And I think, you know, there's always, I think, potential like you said, maybe, you know, I'm not sure exactly on how expand expanded it can be, but we can definitely have you know, ongoing discussions. And we have other obviously when we're talking about 2025 and any events that are going to happen, we can kind of have strategic discussions about it. You know, as we approach that time, I would say, yeah, yeah, the reason I love the idea of diversity and the presentations because then people that have a variety of different interests will say, oh, I think I'm going to go just for that, or, you know, for an experience where you learn how to garden in Florida or whatever the topic might be. Sure. And that would be be good, but it sounds like it was excellent, if I may well planned next Tuesday. The library is hosting a Florida gardening seminar at the library 630 to 730 okay, so we're definitely hitting some points on the gardening in the outdoors. Excellent. Well, what time, 630 to 730 on Tuesday the 24th. Okay Okay. All right, next item is, Tommy, thank you for presenting on the PFAS issues. Yeah thank you very much, chairman Eno and members of the committee, I think we're going to have a quick update on one new emerging issue, which is PFAS regulations, as I talked about previously, and we also discussed in the, in a little bit different manner at the, the board meeting on Tuesday. You know, there's a lot of different challenges facing utilities nowadays, we talked a little bit about our strengths last time, about our alternative water supply, having an Ro water plant that provides a high level of drinking water treatment. The fact that we've been able to achieve a lot of our water supply goals as part of the region, addressing regional water shortages in Tampa Bay is, you know, our piece of the puzzle through developing alternative water supply, and 80% reclaimed water reuse, but we do have some challenges. And, you know, some of those that we've talked about in the past are, you know, funding for aging infrastructure. These are things that all utilities are dealing with, you know, staffing and workforce in a competitive environment and emerging regulations. And so one of those emerging regulations is what we're going to be talking about a little bit today, which is PFAS. So, big question that we always get what is PFAS. So PFAS is per and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which doesn't mean a whole lot to most folks, but it's a group of chemicals that have been around since about the 1940s. And they were used in a dramatically wide range of products. You know, including, water resistant clothing, I believe, you know, the shirt that I'm wearing now, when I got it, it had a stain resistant coating. It's probably there was PFAS, probably related to the manufacturer of that shirt, microwave popcorn bags, Teflon? Nonstick cookware, fast food packaging. Scotchgard is another popular thing that most people might know, you know, helps protect your sofa and your sneakers and stuff like that, and even cosmetics. So one of the big ones was firefighting foams. As well, so it's been in a lot of different things, and it's used to make products that either resist heat, oil stains or water. And, the one downside is that they're very persistent in the environment. They do not break down. Well, that's why they're used for fire retardants, because they don't degrade in extreme heat, common for this reason, they're commonly turned for, forever chemicals because they don't naturally biodegrade very rapidly, why are we talking about this? So these this group of chemicals was previously unregulated by the US EPA from a water quality standpoint, but regulations are currently being adopted by the EPA and passed down to the states and utilities. So, what does this what does this mean? What are some of the health concerns about PFAS? Many people might have oh, too far too fast, many folks might have seen documentaries on Netflix or they might have heard about this on the news. And they've heard about, you know, some stuff that seems kind of scary, so there's there is research that's ongoing into potential health effects of PFAS, like many chemicals that the EPA is regulating. And EPA is currently taking action to reduce PFAS levels, not just in our water supplies throughout the nation, but also in the environment. The fact of the matter is, is most Americans have had some degree of contact with PFAS throughout their lifetimes through various products and the environment, and there's really no way around that, the good news is, is that some of the most problematic chemicals, PFOs and PFOA and PFOs and PFOA, production of those ceased in the year 2000. They were replaced by, you know, alternative chemicals that, do similar things, but have a little bit less of the negative, consequences. And the good news also is that since then, PFOs and PFOA, PFOA and PFOs and PFOA blood levels in the Americans has dropped 60 to 80% since that ban went into place. From 1999 to 2014. So we are seeing positive health outcomes. Is there evidence that you can detox from it? Yes, I've heard of chemicals like this in Mother's Milk and. Yes. Yeah, yeah. That that's that's I think probably the, the key takeaway on that statistic is that, you know, over time as you reduce your exposure, you, you reduce, you know, the, the level of PFAS that you have in you, so there are some negative health consequences of this long term. These are still being developed and explored. It's an emerging area of research, it's a probable human, I believe, a likely human carcinogen, there's it's an endocrine disruptor. So it can have effects on your immune system. And they like one kind of odd side effect. Is it might make vaccines slightly less effective. But, so why are we talking about this relation to water, this is actually interesting. So, most Americans and people in developed countries, diet actually accounts for the majority of people's exposure to PFAS, oddly enough, depending on where you're at, dust and things like that can be another source because it is out in the ambient environment. But water does tend to get a lot of attention because a, you know, it's regulated in utilities. Test for this on a periodic basis now, and it's easy to test for. And, because the regulations, the nature of public records and for water testing, it, you know, it's easy to find and it gets a lot of play in the news, so there are two real current developments going on on PFAS, as we jump into the next slide, PFAS in, in the water world, in the drinking water industry. So one is the EPA rule development, right? So they're developing those standards. Those were published in 20th March 2023. Draft drinking water standards. And, since and before that and continuing after that, utilities have been requiring to provide some preliminary testing and sampling and things like that for informational purposes at the EPA to help them develop their regulations. What does that mean for utilities? So, like any new chemical that's being regulated, if a utility has this in their source water, like a river or a well or things like that, some utilities might require new treatment technologies over time to address these concerns. And some other utilities in certain extreme circumstances might require a new water sources altogether, so that's how utilities are responding. The other, segment, kind of subclass of this issue, it's about litigation. So this has been in the news a lot, there's a class action lawsuit filed by a group of public water utilities against two of the largest PFAS manufacturers, three and DuPont, this litigation has resulted in a very large settlement, as a class for nationwide water utilities totaling over $11 billion to help kind of make things right and address the emerging regulatory costs and treatment costs for this. Yes. So what are three M and DuPont do that they deserve this lawsuit. They were the they were the manufacturers, so they they created the products that were that caused that were caused these chemicals to be released in the environment and have to be addressed, yeah. What what sort of products did they, a variety of products. I mean, some of the things that we discussed previously, I'm not sure exactly individual brand names and things like that, but I know, like three M is well known for like, Teflon. Right, Teflon is a is A3M chemical manufacturers to. So yeah, they probably made like the PFAS. And then it got put in a bunch of products. But they it's man made when you think of buying a can of like Tommy said Scotchgard or something of that nature. That's they they are the producers of those. And DuPont makes it's pretty much embedded in a lot of or was I don't know what the status is now, but it was embedded pretty much in every, couch or mattress or pillow. I mean, people really like stain resistant anything with stain. Yeah, yeah. So it was pretty ubiquitous are a real problem. Yeah. So yeah, that's that's pretty much the gist of that because utilities have had to respond to this and there's going to be a financial burden to some utilities to address this concern. They got to those classes that you guys made this problem by manufacturing these chemicals and putting them out in the environment without really a plan for disposal. And so that's you have to make these utilities whole. So it's the burden isn't borne by the ratepayers. So starting with the rules. So here's a quick timeline of the rule adoption. It keeps doing that of the rule adoption procedure. So back in 2022 EPA announced some like preliminary standards, you know, general guidance, lifetime health advisories for these different groups of chemicals. They required some preliminary sampling and things like that. They started announcing proposed regulations getting through the, the regulatory and rulemaking process, soliciting public feedback and all those sorts of things. And then they announced the rules in March 2023. And, from that point forward, utilities will have in 2024, they went into the formal adoption process, and from there, utilities will have five years to comply with these new regulations, so what does this mean, for tarpon, the good news is, is that Tarpon Springs reverse osmosis facility provides treatment for PFAS chemicals. We have tested our finished water from the Ro plant, there was no PFAS chemicals detected, which is really good. It means the plant's operating as designed. This is the exact type of facility that some utilities that have been impacted by these chemicals in their source water would likely be looking to implement, to address and provide additional level of treatment to meet the new regulations, in a we do want to be very clear and we want to be very transparent. We did show in some preliminary sampling in 2023, some very low levels of PFAS, in the parts per trillion range in two of the city's legacy freshwater wells, so over time, the city those are offline. Now, we've we've in an abundance of caution as we meet the new science. We respond and we're working on plans with our engineering and, engineering consultants, to develop plans to provide treatment and things like that as, as might be needed. So we're exploring our options for projects for those, those legacy wells, so it says here that you're listed, Tarpon Springs is listed as a member to get some of the settlement. Yes. So what damages has tarpon had that makes us part of this list? Okay, let me I'll get to that in just a minute. Let me, like, lead in a little bit here with some some of the background on the, on the litigation. Right. So, we were listed as a member of the class, right. And that was based solely on preliminary sampling that was collected through EPA, you know, we report our preliminary sampling out to EPA, including some of our wells. They took the class council took that and included us in the class. And, then to for us to kind of participate more fully and make sure we got all of our settlement documents turned in on time, we proceeded with class council. So we or we wanted to not just be with the big group of classes representing all the nationwide utilities. We needed kind of our own lawyers to help us navigate this process. So, we retained this was a big value opportunity for us, we're a member of the Florida Rural Water Association. Just last year, they launched their first ever, league, basically low cost legal assistance program for small and rural utilities. And we decided to try it out and take advantage. So, we knew we were going to be involved in this. We sought out legal assistance through this, through that program. The attorneys we have are duly Kambala, McLaughlin, Pecora, they are part of the Florida Rural Water program. And our goal was to maximize the city settlement. So the way we've already submitted our settlement documents, we're waiting for review by the class counsel, and that's when we'll find out what our award is, we're anticipating that our award will be at least several hundred thousand dollars, and that should cover any capital costs that will be borne by the city. And the way to get back to your question, you know, how are we listed and how are we impacted, basically, if you have source water that has had PFAS detections in it at a certain level and at certain production rates in the past, you're automatically included. And the good news is for us, because we have ro, the way the settlements are structured, you're not penalized for already having built a treatment facility for removal. And the thought behind that was, you know, hypothetically, in the future, if not for these chemicals, you might be able to go to a lower level of treatment, but now you're stuck with that forever. So you're going to have to maintain that level of treatment moving forward. And additionally, they want to make people whole for you know, there's testing and compliance costs. There'll be additional annual reporting. You've got to pay the labs to go collect and run the samples and things like that. So, okay, that's good. Yeah. Because I was wondering, since we had the Ro and we don't have it, what you just said explains that that you had to have it at a certain level in order to work. So that's really cool. That's great. Yeah. And the good news was it was based solely on your source water, not the finished water. So just because like I said, our Ro plant is no, no. Non-detect on PFAS going into the drinking water system. But because we have those had those low level detections, you know, we have a lot of other things that we need to treat a little bit more like salt. We can't pull water out of the wells with salt and put that in the pipes. So because we need that for Ro, that doesn't affect us as much. But it, but we are able to participate in the settlement, we also what are you going to use the money for, water quality projects? The, and water water supply and water quality, so we also want to provide a little bit of context for folks that might be watching you know, what's what's the part per trillion? Because, you know, these things can sound a little scary, so the regulations for PFOA, you can see there, that's one of those chemicals that's listed is four parts per trillion, which is quite low, these are much lower than some of the historic standards that we've seen adopted by EPA. They're very aggressive and extremely conservative from a public health standpoint, so to give an idea of what a part per trillion is. So if you have 20 Olympic swimming pools, one part per trillion is a single drop of water in 20 pools. Wow it's roughly it's one penny in $10 billion. If you looked at the entire surface area of the Eart, one part per trillion is about 5500ft■!S. So roughly the size f our auditorium for the boardroom is one part per trillion of the entire surface of the Earth, which, you know, so it gives you an idea of how discreet and how small these were required to, to test down to, to protect public health. And, as you can see here, we've had a four part per trillion standard, imposed upon drinking water utilities. Our finished water is undetectable, to give a sense of scale for what we've seen in wells in the surrounding area are for this particular contaminant. We've seen samples in this 1 to 10 part per trillion range, initially we were very, we weren't very concerned about this because the preliminary health guidance from EPA from 2022 was 70. And so we said, oh, well, we're well below that. No concerns. And then they came out with a little bit more aggressive standards, saying, oh, well, we might need to respond to this a little bit. You know, some of the wells are just above, some are just below, but we should be aware and monitoring this, to give a sense of scale as to how this might relate to what you've seen in the news or on documentaries or something like that, an Air Force base that has published some of its groundwater concentrations for this particular chemical, PFOA, over 17,000 parts per trillion. We've seen over 100,000 parts per trillion in other sampling events in places where they have lots of like firefighting practices and things like that. And that's not what we have here. So for folks that might have been outside the city limits and might have had a private, well, if you were consuming this water for a considerable amount of time over your, you know, from your private well, and you were in this sort of 1 to 10 part per trillion range. That's kind of rough. The difference between you and someone who lives on one of these highly contaminated sites, maybe like an Air Force base or a military base, your level of exposure is roughly equivalent to maybe the difference between smoking ten cigarettes in your lifetime versus smoking ten cigarettes daily for 50 years. Like that's the relative like level of exposure between ten parts per trillion and 17, thousand parts per trillion. So it gives a little bit of sense of perspective. Yes. So what about, having a well that you use for irrigation so that water has this in it. And I mean, you do walk in it and dogs drink it sometimes. Yeah. And you get it, you know, on your hands and yeah, we're getting to what you can do for you in just a minute. But yeah, but you know, I actually read this, but yeah, if you have potable water from your house and you have an irrigation well, you should drink the potable water well, of course, and not drink the water from the well, it's treated for you and you still get it on you and track it in your house and. Yeah Yeah, we're we're starting down this process and we're trying to. Yeah. At nationwide, EPA is making efforts to protect public health. It keeps doing that. So what can you do to limit your PFAS exposure. So this is research that we pulled from the US EPA and the Water Research Foundation, which is a big national organization that focuses on these sort of emerging water quality issues, so again, really want to reiterate for anyone who's listening out there, on on line again, City of Tarpon Springs drinking water from the reverse osmosis has been plant has been tested. There is no PFAS compounds detected in our finished water. So you are doing good. Similarly, if you are just outside the city limits and you are getting your water from Pinellas County, they have also not detected any PFAS in their finished water. So that's really good news for our neighbors, again, if you get drinking water from a private well, you may want to consider an in-home treatment option. And those are available, we've actually provided a link there. That little QR code takes you to the National, formerly the National Science Foundation. Now it's NSF international, and they have a list of products that have been, you know, tested to provide in-home treatment for your house, if you live, you know, just outside the city limits, but have your own. Well, and also PFAS central org, which we've also linked out to their maintains a list of or a list of PFAS free products and things like that. If there's particular things that you saw that you might be concerned about and want to look into, if you want to avoid products that contain this sort of chemical, you might want to look for ingredients that say things like fluoro or perfluoro on the ingredients list. And again, you know, diet being the number one, potential exposure pathway, avoid things like nonstick cookware that might contain PFAS, you know, avoid limiting, you know, of eating foods that might be packed in these sort of nonstick or grease resistant like packaging and things like that, and avoiding personal care products that might contain these sorts of compounds, or would it all be good general best practices? So moving forward as a utility, and a drinking water supplier, we're going to be participating in those three DuPont settlements. And there's actually a couple more settlements that are pending, probably later this year, that will also be pursuing their a little bit lower value in the dollars, we're going to be trying to maximize our financial award to make the utility whole. And we're also might be implementing some new CIP projects on some of these wells to bring them back online long term, with a proper level of treatment and just continue to protect public health with our existing Ro treatment to remove PFAS and, you know, keep monitoring meeting the EP, EPA regulations and putting out information in our consumer confidence report that we're meeting all the regulations. How about rainwater? Does rainwater have this in it, I'd have to get back to you on that. There are some, studies about, like, atmospheric deposition and things like that so that that can be a source. They've talked a little bit about dust. I'd have to look into rainwater, Sophie. Suppose rainwater did have it. And we use it to water, you know, vegetables. And this. Well, does it get transferred into the vegetables through the roots, I'd really have to look into that. That's that's not something I've we've we've researched in detail what sounds like it could. It sounds like it could. Right. I guess the BBC said there can be levels that greatly exceed safety levels in rainwater. But cursory Google search, you know, so I haven't looked too deep into rainwater. I mean, you were mentioning a, potential remediation for sites that tested positive for. Is that how is that? How are the wells cleaned up that, it depends, you know, if you're looking at, like, places, like military bases, it wouldn't be uncommon to do things like pump and treat where you pump the water out of the ground, you put it through some sort of treatment system, reinject it and put it back in, and you eventually just keep cycling it through until and keep pumping water until it's below standards, it is very difficult to remove and, yeah. So that's that's definitely an emerging area. So yeah, but they're, they're, they're working on that. And right now I think their biggest priority is getting, making sure, especially in these areas that might have like around military bases, making sure that the drinking water supply is shored up as a first step. And, then working on groundwater remediation, it would likely be a second step in those sorts of circumstances. It's such a good reminder about thinking carefully about the consequences of what we do. And one of the things that happened happens in the world of climate change is that people have these grand ideas of how to capture CO2, you know, not by mangroves and things, but, you know, they make these big things and they want and, you know, the whole, you know, they want an umbrella to put up in the sky to block the sun. And that's something people are really working on. And, and you know, I said, because we do projects about this, please think of what the consequences. I mean, they sound neat, but like all of this sounds great. Let's make a spray that will protect our furniture. But you know, what are the consequences of that? And the one question would be, what did DuPont and three M know about the consequences of this? You know, like cigarette companies had lots of research to show what cigarettes did. But didn't pay attention. One wonders if I mean probably in this lawsuit, three M and DuPont had research about these things. So you know, this I mean, it's a life on the planet, right? But I hear what you're saying is that, you know, there are places like the European Union has consistently exercised what they call the precautionary principle. It's if you don't know what kind of widespread long term effect and that was their reaction when GMO, you know, genetically modified organisms were being pushed, to the public. And there wheat is a lot cleaner, way cleaner than. That's right. It is on this continent. And I think that that says a lot. It does. One thing I would say is it's easy to get, to be a little bit like doom and gloom about this stuff and get like, you know, a little bit worried and freaked out. But like, you know, we do have a good body of science. I mean, obviously back in the 40s and 50s, we don't have the same body of science that we have now. And we try and get better every year and kind of in spite of like finding all these new things, it can seem like, oh, man, there's this new chemical and everyone has to be worried about it. And we are addressing that. And like I said, our drinking water, it's safe and it gets safer every year. And but if you look nationwide, if you look at like public health data, you know, there's challenges with public health, but, you know, the average lifespan in America has continued to grow pretty much continuously over the last 100 years. So we are making progress on public health as a as a whole. And there are emerging issues, and we keep trying to get better with the one exception, we had a little dip in in life expectancy during Covid, but that's a once a century pandemic. And we hope. Yeah. And so but overall we are making progress on public health. You know we don't have lead in our gasoline anymore and things like that where we don't have people dying of cholera for lack of water disinfection. So, you know, we're we're addressing over, over the last hundred years, especially in the water sector, we have addressed public health concerns based on the highest priority ones. And we are working further and further as things emerge and we learn more to get those, new things in the emerge and the things that we haven't yet addressed. And we're making progress. And the public health outcomes bear that out. But we also do things that are not so good. As I say, life on the planet. That's quite fair. I'm sure there's plenty of utilities in the future that would prefer not to have to install an Ro plant or something like that, but that's what they're going to be doing. Well, yeah. I think, that it's wise to exercise the precautionary principle and be proactive with our health rather than to be reactive or retroactively correcting the things that we've messed up and the environment. I mean, I think that if there wasn't so much corporate pressure at times, we would take a little bit more time to do the investigative work and even, even the lab work to see what kind of effect it has. And I'm not into testing on animals, but I'm just saying that there there are ways to look at that. And one hopes that when they do, people do do the research that they don't hide this stuff. Hide the truth doesn't serve their purposes. But we should say, Bravo to the city of Tarpon for having that oral plan. And I have visited it. And it's incredibly impressive. Yeah, that that's really a testament to, you know, previous, previous boards, previous, you know, Paul Smith and the Bob Robertson who helped implement that project. And, you know, we're building on the backs of very successful foundation. Absolutely. Thank you Tommy. Thank you. That was excellent. Thank you. This is a really nice report. I do have one thing for you on this page. Yeah. I need to show you, is, Holly presenting on the communication plan synopsis. So, full screen for some reason, this computer doesn't match. Oh, that's the print I see on the. Oh, you need to get to the presentation mode. I was just going to. Yeah, expand it fully. If you go to the arrows on the right there. Oh yeah. Yep. And then go to present. Oh there we go. Thank you. That's up up up up. Sorry. There we go. Got it. Okay. Here we are. Thank you. The computer doesn't. It was. Anyway the screen is on the city seal. So that's looking at the TVs okay. So we are revisiting our theme of developing a communications plan for sustainability in Tarpon Spring. So while the whole plan is certainly not created yet, I kind of did some research and wanted to present a conceptual, you know, overview, a synopsis essentially of what a communication plan for sustainability going forward could include. So just kind of focusing on the sharing of information and outreach in an effective and consistent way. And that doesn't mean, you know, every day. So we definitely want to think about this. As, you know, when we have communications that we think are going to be effective and appropriate, so kind of obviously there would be some public channels that we would want to communicate through social media again, as appropriate. Sustainability does not have our own social media. You know, presence. So we can use city channels as appropriate. And when we need to, email list, we also have the Connect Tarpon platform that we can send out communications through. So when we need to utilize that, it is there for u, we are going to bring back a newsletter. It's probably not more than 2 or 3 times a year, or kind of depending on, you know, when we have something of, of value, of importance to share, you know, in my mind, I think a newsletter could be effective for drawing people in. Right. Creating interest and curiosity around what we're doing, less of the how to's and less of the, you know, talking. I think at or about a certain sustainability topic just because I don't know that a newsletter is the right venue for that. But I would like to turn it into an opportunity for people to develop curiosity about what we're doing and then use maybe some special events as a way to teach, learn, you know, and kind of do more of a demonstration. So, you know, an example of an event or a workshop would be something that we've discussed in the past. Maybe a rain barrel workshop. So getting something like that going where we would have a few of those over the course of a year where we could highlight a topic. And, you know, now we know the library is having a gardening workshop. So one of the points of this communications plan is to coordinate with other city departments. Right. What are other departments doing that we can turn into a shared event. Right. Where will people already be that we can, kind of share resources and, and attract maybe a bigger crowd? The library does have an email blast. Recreation has some great, you know, public outreach that they do. And of course, they coordinate the eco fest event that we just did. So just kind of working with those other departments and hopefully doing a good, update of the website, just content kind of starting out with some of the basics, just making sure things are up to date and then, you know, eventually moving into what, what can we add? There are a lot of other cities, you know, that have great examples of interfaces for their sustainability departments that we could use as an example, going forward. You know, again, running it through all the appropriate channels for approvals and things of that nature. But I have a lot of ideas and hope that we'll come up with something that's interactive. Our plan is certainly that way. Our plan, I think, draws people in. It's very visual. It's very, you know, detailed and so kind of using that to share, you know, what is our next plan that we're coming up with? It's the climate action plan. So how are we going to share that. And draw people in and make them interested in what we are, you know, doing with that and how the policies are going to inform city decisions? You know, moving forward. So that's kind of the outward facing aspect. And then internally, as far as communicating, I think it's important, you know, for myself as the sustainability coordinator, and possibly for the committee as well, to you know, continually educate ourselves, I found out about a really interesting training that is offered through the National Network for Climate or Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation. It's essentially a self-paced you read, you know, 5 or 6 blog posts, but it does explain the importance of communicating effectively about some of the climate issues that we face and how they are publicly received. A little more, openly when we, you know, use terminology that people that resonates with people and, you know, we don't want to obviously scare people. We want people to feel, that it's an approachable topic that we can discuss even if we have differences and disagreements. So, I'll be sharing more about that. And then we also have a goal to reboot to re initiate a workgroup. It's a sustainability staff team that has met in the past. And so we kind of want to get that going again and again, create more synergy between some of the departments that especially when we're looking forward into our fiscal year 2025 well, and calendar year, our implementation actions from the sustainability plan that we want to be creating a lot of close, working relationships so that we can be focused on our effective implementation. So those are kind of the internal or rather external and internal methods that, I think are the starting point and then responsible parties, obviously, I will be responsible largely for some of this. We are going to be hiring a sustainability intern. So I would really lean heavily on that resource to help create some of the plan, to help do some of the outreach and again, work with the appropriate departments to make sure that everything that we're trying to do outward facing, is, you know, kind of the right, the right messaging. And the plan would also need to address, of course, how and when communications would be going out, the, you know, would the information be something that we just talk about once? Is it an ongoing seasonal versus annual? And, hopefully have a timeline to address? Obviously, when we're planning events and how far ahead, you know, to address that, to publish those and, just to make sure everything is, is clear and available. So those are just kind of an overview of, of what a communications plan could possibly hold for us. Excellent How would we be sending the newsletter out? So I think that we would. So we have yes, we have copies, I probably don't I mean we could obviously have some hard copies available, but I think it would be an electronic newsletter for sure. We would have a list that would get a blast. You know, again, people who have signed up to be kept in the loop on sustainability through the Connect Tarpon, portal and any other. You know, we have some people that signed up for emails via Earth Day events. I didn't get any new signature or no new people saying they wanted to be included on an email on Saturday, even though I did have a sign up sheet at the table at Eco Fest. So just kind of keeping that open and, maybe creating a, you know, a form where people can enter their information on the sustainability web page just to make sure that they can get that, I have talked with Karen Lemons in the economic development about, you know, she said we can always insert, you know, a little blurb into her newsletter that she sends out. I did speak with the library about that. So I think we can, you know, again, in addition to maybe the newsletter that we would have specific to sustainability, just a couple of times a year, we would still look for other ways to be messaging outwardly. I think that's great. That's a perfect start. Great. So how, for example, was Eco Fest? Advertised. So the recreation department takes the lead on Eco Fest. The recreation department has a really big following on Facebook. They're very active, so it was blasted on. I know it was advertised on the city website through their social media. Through, I'm just again, there there were obviously city departments, all the city departments were sent the flier to then share through their channels. So, so how do is Parks and Rec have its own Facebook page? Yeah What is their what is their, when you think about their program. Yeah. When you think about their programing, yeah. Tommy can definitely speak to that more as they are also in our department because this has happened in the past. I didn't get anything about Eco Fest. It was advertised on the city. You know, when you drive into the city and there's that big electronic billboard, I mean, I pass it every day. And it was, yeah, showing on that, you know, Eco Fest and Back to School, splash bash 914 Farmers Market. You know, there was a lot I saw quite a bit, in terms of electronically, I didn't get any notification, I think, for we, you know, from recreation like and particularly for community events, we have a pretty that's where we really rely on our recreation folks. And they're very heavily focused on social media. That's what people engage most with. How do I sign up? If you're on Facebook and this is for the public to Tarpon Springs Recreation Division, and I just hit following Springs Recreation Division, and that's all. It's not city. It's just Tarpon Springs recreation. And it's Facebook. It's Facebook. Yeah. Okay. Let me they're probably probably Instagram too. I would assume. Are they doing that or we don't do much Instagram. We mostly do the Facebook. So I should just follow them. Yeah. And that's been very successful. We've got about 8000 followers on there. It's how a lot of the folks that are, you know, participating in community events and sports leagues and things like that, they stay abreast. And then we also have but it doesn't have a place to say follow or like them. You like it. So who maintains that page? I mean, recreation you're going to be you're going to be connecting with them. Yeah. In order to get things up. Yeah. Yes. If it if it is something. Right. If it is an event or an activity or something that sustainability is linking into, we will be. Yes, I will work closely with them. For instance, the what's happening at the library this weekend is that on their page. So I so these are these are, these are questions that are out there which I appreciate being asked, being as how new I am in this role, I'm still learning how the city departments, you know, coordinate and plan events and so, that is a goal of mine for sure, is, again, to create that closer working relationship. So that if, say, the library is doing and the library does have on their website, if you've, you know, gone specifically to the libraries, they have a whole section on sustainability. Their seed sharing, you know, they have a lot of stuff that they put on their own website. So just kind of there's obviously an, interest there. And so, you know, that's just something that we have to work on is, is the action of interfacing with them. And obviously there's no problem. Departments can have whatever events they, you know, have been having and would like to have. And if we can possibly piggyback and get involved, we're we're definitely, you know, aiming to do that to create that library has a newsletter because I get their news on email. Yeah. Thank you. This is great. I think it's very hopeful. And I can see you just rolling right into this. I'd like to share with you that the Garden Club of Tarpon Springs is a great group to connect with. You would also be able to I can do an introduction to the president if you'd like. Oh, that'd be wonderful. And let her know that you'd like to come and introduce yourself to the group. That'd be. That would also be a good place to let get the word out of looking for new members. Oh, that would be very active, very active group. And usually there's 50 or 60 people at each meeting. Okay. So I'll, I'll make a note and connect your names. Roxy Gribble. So I'll connect you with her. Excellent Thank you. And also I mentioned before that, and it still seems applicable that some of the local, there's a local moms meetup group out of, I think. What's it called? Moon berry. Oh, Berry. Okay. And to connect with small groups of residents who are interested in this, that are doing their own whatever growing and canning and having natural babies and things like that. Okay Let's hope they're having natural babies. You know what I mean? I love that, no, I think those suggestions are great, honestly, any you know, thing. And as we get into our next topic, you know, we'll kind of talk about how we've been doing some outreach to try to expand our membership. So I mean, that's that's a great idea, though. Another facet of the Garden Club is that they have a newsletter that comes out every month. So if you have something that you want to put in there, I know I'm sure that they would be happy to put in promote what what you're doing here. Awesome. I love that. So I think this is wonderful. And I think the more information that can get out the better, one thing that I read today, and this is certainly about vast sustainability, namely the whole economic sustainability of Florida, and it was about it was a I think it may have been the governor of Rhode Island. And they were had a big meeting. And I know that the mayor of Saint Petersburg was there, and they referenced Florida, and they basically said that Florida is going is the first that's going to be a major housing plummet because of the House insurance, namely that it's going to get so expensive that people aren't going to be able to buy houses or maintain them. And so it's going to basically there'll be a mass exodus or people not coming in. So this is becoming a national, issue. And they're looking at Florida as the prime where it's going to happen. And of course, the main reason is climate change and the answer was the only way to solve this whole insurance and everything problem is to mitigate climate change, because the reason insurance companies, well, different reasons. One, they want to make a lot of money, but the other one is climate changing rising tides, which of course, tarpon definitely has. And so it does seem to me important for I mean, it's nice to give all these examples, but I think it also sometimes is important to, you know, ring the bell and say, hello. You know, if we really don't do things, I mean, simple things, we can do, we're not going to have Florida. I mean, we're all going to have to I mean, leave if we can't afford our homes, right? I know my property insurance is sure, and they cancel it and then, you know, so, I mean, I think what I'm basically saying is sometimes we do have to put out, information that's maybe not, as you know, nice. But that's let's face reality. That's part of it has to be done. You know, that's part of why we have the sustainability plan. And now that's the main reason why we're doing the climate action plan to say, this is where the rubber meets the road. Okay These are the things that the city can do and must do in order to make our city sustainable for the citizens, right? For the people who live here, people who work here. Citizens have to do it as well. That is true. And you kno, part of, I think the idea or the goal behind, you know, getting people to be curious about sustainability is just building that interest and that care. Thankfully, a lot of people already have that, but some don't. So we have to kind of make sure that we're messaging to all of those groups. Right So drawing people that maybe haven't learned a lot yet and then also hopefully have some specific programing and how tos for people that are well on their way. So, you know, it's going to be very multifaceted. And it's definitely not something that we're going to be successful at overnight. It's not going to be one, you know, message that's just going to resonate with everyone. But you know, I think the thing that we just have to find the middle ground on is not under messaging, not over messaging. We don't want people to become disinterested. We want people to stay concerned and interested in in acting. Right. So and especially hopeful and hopeful that in the possibility of changing this. But we're in we're in like set in stone. Yet we're in a crisis and one of the things I think has to be said is that we have to be willing to face that we can't keep doing things the same way that we really like, like having fire pits and having gas cars. And, you know, so many people, oh, I love your car. It's so wonderful. Yeah, it's electric. Oh, that, you know, I don't know. That'd be so hard. It's not hard. But, you know, I have a I have a friend who doesn't want an electric car because it doesn't sound. Vroom vroom vroom. I'm like, you know, my point is, is that we have to move out of our comfort zone because we need to save our grandchildren. Yeah. Fortunately I think the role of the city, though, is, again, to provide the information, to provide a platform, you know, to lead by example. So I really think that our policies are plans that that the city is you know, really working diligently and steadfastly to create. Those are going to be that's that's the city's way to anchor this discussion. And individuals who are incredibly passionate. You go out and you share that message as an advocate of, hey, I live here and I want this protected. Right. So it's it is I do yeah, I have no doubt that you do that. So it is very multifaceted. And that's why we're grateful to have a committee of people that want to partner with us and help spread the message in ways that, you know, are passionate and, and, and pleading. And we're going to again anchor it here with, with what we can do as a city leading by example. And I think that we're doing great. I mean, when you talk about the little, you know, it seems like small incremental things, but Tarpon Springs for the size of the city is ahead of many other cities and counties. As far as you know, the number of EVs we have in our fleets, we've got our amazing solar array for the row plant. We've got, you know, solar panels planned for other buildings. We're going to be doing a solar feasibility study. You know, we are continuing to explore ways that we can use our resources in the best way to, again, benefit the citizens, to help the environment, to again maintain the economy. All of it, as you know, comes together as the sustainability plan clearly, establishes. So I do feel hopeful and I do feel like, you know, stay the course and just consistency being intentional. And you guys going out and doing and doing what you do as well to help is it's amazing. And we will, you know, do our best to when there are opportunities and, and the time and place to make a bigger, you know, production hopefully that you know that that may present itself. I just can't speak to that in a synopsis of a communication plan. But one thing I do want to point out on these climate issues, these are tough things to talk about. And Holly's done a great job of finding these guidances. And, you know, there's national standards. They've done focus groups and, you know, communication experts. You know, not like having the engineer tell people how to talk about things. That's usually, you know, dangerous territory. But she's found some really good national guidance that's got best practices on how best to effectively communicate about these, you know, very sensitive but also very pressing issues. And that's going to be one of our, you know, focuses moving forward is to, you know, focus on what's the best practice, what's effective, what can we get from the national experts about how to talk about these sensitive issues, but also put our tarpon spin on it? I have to say, from the time I moved here in 2012, when really sustainability was not being discussed very much, you know, it's so encouraging that you know, the plan got written. Yeah, yeah, the plan got written. And, you know, in the time that we've been at this, but not only that, it was entirely integrated. It was entirely integrated into the comp plan, which was is so satisfying. If you go through the comp plan, it's it just almost reads like a very large version or expanded version of the sustainability plan because consciousness is changing and consciousness is evolving to a higher level because people know we want our children to have a world that we remember and that we loved all the things that we treasured growing up. And everyone has this connection. And I feel like it's becoming with with the way, the way that storms might happen every time something like that happens, it seems to just like shake someone into realizing, wait, we've got to take this seriously. And it doesn't just mean that the city is going to do it. I have to do it. Well, yes, I have to do. Oh, I do have one more point of information. Do not want to interrupt you at all, chair Menino so please finish your thought. But I just did want to point out one more proactive thing that we are doing is, the building department has created a welcome box for new residents to the city who are building. So if they've pulled a permit, they will receive a welcome to the city box. And they have created a brochure. We included some, sustainability actions in there, water conservation topics, obviously pertinent links to city websites, and I included some of the giveaways, the eco dishcloth, the seed paper, the brochures on saving water. So you know, again, just ever evolving on how we can communicate with people, reach them, you know, where they are. So hopefully we'll just keep doing, you know, every little thing comes together eventually. So while there's while there is urgency and I will not deny that there is also a place for just being, you know, just being diligent, just steady. Yes. So let's let's do both of those. Amen All right. So we will move on, into the creation of the communications plan that will give you another update on that, maybe in a couple of months. Once we've made a little headway. And I think, we're at item four. Okay, and I don't know whether Tom is going to address this or are you going to address it on the community committee membership? Yes, yes. So we quickly just do you want me to do it from here or. Yeah, you can go for it. Okay So just a, review of where we are with our membership. So we have several members, several a few members whose terms all are ending on September 30th of 2024. So that is a mere just two weeks away. So Denise Menino, our chair, she has served for five years. She did indicate that she would like to continue on to maximize her ability to serve for a sixth year so that, action item already happened at the board of Commissioners meeting on this past Tuesday the 17th. They approved it. So she will remain on our committee for another year. So thank you, Denise, for that. Robin Sanger also, her term is ending, and she has indicated to us that it is time for her to, in fact, take a step away from the committee. So we obviously are sad to see her go, but understand that other duties are calling and so much appreciate the time that you have given and the energy that you have put towards everything that the Committee has done. So thank you so much for that. Robin. I read that you were on the Comp Plan steering committee was that it's in the comp plan. Yeah, yeah. So I'm impressed. Not a lot of meetings a lot of service. Thank you a lot of service. And that's that's a wonderful thing. She was here since the in the beginning of this committee and really helped plow through all of the nitty gritty details that we all, you know, everything the details and did so much when she was a commissioner and deputy mayor, you have served in so many capacities. Policy. Yeah. Thank you. It's been a it's been wonderful and service is rewarding. And I'm saying this to anyone who's watching. That's right. That's right. Releases endorphins. But that plan was wonderful to work on that plan. I mean, that was really. Yeah. And then to see how it how it has been woven into other things. That was really and you've been here since the beginning too. Yes. Remember you were. I remember the first day I met you. Yeah. Yeah, I remember we were all those years ago. Which room was it? I think I remember it was up here somewhere. It was over that way. Conference Yeah. Yeah. So that brings me to Taylor Mandela, who also has a term ending on September 30th and has also served five years since the beginning. So Taylor, had indicated some thoughts on this in the past. So I'm just going to let you speak on that. So it was kind of weighing it out. I emailed Holly a couple days ago saying that I was thinking of stepping down as well, and I think that's what I need to do, I just I don't necessarily have the I feel like I'm not as active as I used to be. And things have gotten busy for me, and I'm not sure if I can continue to volunteer my time. But I was thinking maybe, like I might be able to. I could probably like, do like a LinkedIn post or like just kind of reach out and see if anybody is interested. Kind of like pass the torch, like have, you know, give somebody else the opportunity and allow it to kind of help them the way it's helped me. So. Excellent. Yeah. Thank you. Yes. Taylor thank you so much for your service as well. Five years is quite a commitment. So anyone who has done a committee stint for that many years and that many terms, huge thanks for that. So Taylor is going to be stepping down. So what that means is that beginning in October for our next meeting, we will be down to three members on this committee, which we all know. Yes, with Siobhan, which we all know, three is the minimum for a quorum to hold a meeting. So we're just going to have to, take an attendance poll, which I would tonight if Siobhan were here. Discuss if we were going to be able to have October. I will reach out to her. So we will obviously be be we will tentatively be planning on having our meetings. However, it's going to be a little bit a little bit tenuous as we, until we add or fill the board with a few more members. But just to update you all on what we have done, we have, of course, worked with the city clerk. There are no applications on file, there are multiple other committees seeking members at this time. The clerk's office has put out a press release. They have made announcements during BoCC meetings. There have been there was a Facebook post, a little blast that, you know, these five or however many committees were seeking members. Actually, you you guys were the photo for that. I don't know if you saw that, but it was a little snapshot of the sustainability committee, I did reach out to Karen Lemons. She has been doing outreach through the business community through her economic development. Contacts. We have sent a flier over to the, Saint Peter Saint Pete College Tarpon campus to try to get some, some younger people interested in, you know, some civic experience, some leadership. So we have reached out there. We have also been talking to, you know, every other staff member we can think of that might have suggestions. So we do have a couple to follow up on a couple of leads. But that's really where things stand on membership. So it's we're working on it and it's going to be a continual process to try to continue to encourage and get people interested and come in and fill in your spot. So thank you all again for your service, and we will be we will be in touch, obviously, about the timing of any of our meetings, any changes and all of that. I may not be able to come because the next one is on the 17th. That's correct. October 17th. So if you know that you cannot come, I don't know quite yet. Okay. But I should know by the end of the week. And that's a tricky day for me. Okay. Well, I hear that and it's no, it's, you know, if we need to plan to not have the October meeting because we already know that someone more than likely cannot be there, the sooner the better. As far as planning to not have that meeting. So Yeah. And again, maybe this will be the month of drumming up new members. I know I'm participating in the Citizens Academy and that's a message that's going out every single week. Okay Yeah, I think I posted I've been on here six years. That was not true. It was five years. It seems like six years. Yes Every bit of six years. In a good way. I think it was August of 2019. It will be sure we're going to have a few more, public services Department events for Public Citizen's Academy. So we're going to continue to be recruiting there as well. So we'll be putting the hard sell on that. So I there is somebody there that you might have known that, well, I don't want to say her name. Okay But, she said that you encouraged her to, submit an application and she would be perfect. I think I know who you mean. Yes She's got a lot of passion for the planet. So items for the next meeting. Even though we don't know exactly whether it will be in October. Sure So kind of October. November So November. Thanksgiving. So it is the 21st. It's the prior Thanksgiving is it feels later this year. Thanksgiving is the 27th. The eighth. It's a week from our meeting. Okay. It's the week prior to Thanksgiving. So that would be our next meeting 21st. Yeah, I do want to address something like just logistically here, so yeah, we are working on recruiting, but, we're running up against a deadline for like the next board meeting. So we've got to have everything. If we were to have an applicant to help fill out the quorum for October, we would have to have that in by, like, Wednesday of next week, which is only, like, really a few more business days. If you're not sure if you're going to be or if it's looking like you might not be able to make it, it might be best to take a motion to, to defer the October meeting and just plan to have it in November. Yeah. Yes. Do we have a motion to defer the next meeting to November? So moved second all in favor? Aye. So you're still a member till the 30th? No. Yes. Until the 715 tonight. She's still an active member during this meeting? Yes. Okay This is just her last meeting as a member of the sustainability. Make sure you can make a motion. She can. I can make a motion, please. Okay okay. But we should talk about items for next the November meeting. Sure. Yes. So we have a couple of, suggestions as far as staff, what we would plan on updating you all on. So we have a couple of energy efficiency related projects that are that should see a little bit of progress that we can update you on. At that time, we will have moved the Climate Action Plan into the next phase at that point, which will be discussing some strategy and policy topics. And we also can, discuss sort of a loose plan or thoughts on approaching some of our 2025 implementation actions from the sustainability plan. So those are kind of, you know, some baseline things that we can come back and do just updates and, and, share information on. And I don't have anything else that we have previously discussed, as I know we've talked about revisiting some other topics, but I don't know that we have anything else ready for the next meeting. So that's the starting point. And, and one of the public comments that the BoCC meeting recently, I think I heard someone asking if there's any update on the Whitcomb Bayou project. Okay, oh, do you remember that? No, I don't remember that either. Was it some meeting? I don't know whether it was P and Z or, but I'll ask about that. I believe that one's very much in the looking for funding options mode. Right now. So, well, it's, it's not an inexpensive project. So that one's going to take a little bit of planning. So I don't know that we'd have a really substantive plan. You guys saw most at the most recent presentation, sort of the general of where that's going. But right now we're in kind of in the hunting for dollars mode right now. So, I will say to the for items for next meeting, the climate action Plan is going to be a little bit meatier policy discussion kind of like more what you might have been used to with the, developing the action, the sustainability plan. So we might want to reserve more time for that. Okay. Okay. That sounds good. Yep. That will be. Yes. That will consume a good bit of discussion time I think. Right, right. Great. Okay. Staff comments, staff comments. Yes Okay. So, Robin brought up last time about the West Klosterman preserve. So I just wanted to share that we did we did do a little bit of you know, research and you some of you may have seen if you've been following it, that the deadline was extended for donations to that. So it sounds like the county is, allowing that fundraising effort to continue, and they expect it to maybe keep going even towards the close of the year. So that is very cool for anyone who might be watching and doesn't know what the West Klosterman preserve is, it does touch the city limits, and so it's an opportunity to preserve a piece of land that is very valuable for wildlife, habitats and all kinds of just important, important reasons to not allow development on it. So just kind of wanted to make sure that everyone knew that update. And I think it's just important that, you know, people who live in the city know that it's something they can take action on. Absolutely. And there's only, $250,000 left to raise, right? They've really closed the gap just in the last few weeks, raised over 200,000. It was a nice it was a matching thing. It's a nice push. Is it is the city going to contribute any money to this? That's what the fellow from the West Classroom Preserve said. He said that they they went to the city a few months ago to ask about financial support and they said the city said all they could do is kind of cheer them on. And wish them well. Yeah. So we're so we're doing what we can. We're cheering. Yes. We're saying keep keep going, keep pushing. Yeah I think it's I am that's confident to raise for that. And but you know it's in our planning area. It's not it's not part of tarpon exactly. But it's in our planning area. It's a high hazard coastal area. It adjoins that 60 whatever acres next door to make 90 acres preserve. Exactly. Yeah. 74 I think 70 or 76 or something. So it's good to be close to 100 acres of everything comes together. Contiguous. Yeah. Contiguous. And if everybody even gave $25, we could. We could make it. If everyone gave $100, that would, you know, and even if you've given money in the past, you can give it again. And if anyone listening on the Facebook page, West Klosterman Preserve has a great Facebook page with videos of the preserve and lots of information. So TikTok as well. Oh, TikTok, yes, yes. And I think Tommy has one more Stafford comment or 1 or 2 more staff comments to close it out. Sure, no discussion, all right. So just to keep everyone abreast of what's coming on City events Saturday, 230 2:00 check out the library's calendar. They've got a presentation by Clearwater Marine Aquarium on life cycle of sea turtles and nesting habitats. That'll be very interesting. As I mentione, there'll be the Florida gardening seminar coming up next Tuesday at 630. This is all on the library's website and for recreation led events. Again, if anyone's looking at city events and we do have a lot of sustainability oriented stuff, but we put it out to where the people go and that's the library. And recreation. And so we'll be having a beach cleanup coming up in November. That's true, since we won't have our October meeting. That's actually a really good point to announce. Yep that I believe is the second and 2nd of October. And November. What November, yeah. And there's a few other interesting events coming up with the, recreation programing as well, and I did want to close the loop on one item from last meeting about future events, about energy independence and things like that. We did have a follow up with the city manager and talk about that. And, that's something, Clearwater is proceeding with their feasibility study, potentially. That's about a half $1 million effort, we've the city has looked into this in the past under a previous city manager, and it was determined that sort of starting our own electric was probably more than we could. The city could really buy it off. So, you know, we'll continue to monitor what Clearwater is doing and sort of see, you know, what this half million dollars turns into as far as feasibility goes. But this is like a big thing. There hasn't been a utility that's I don't know what you're talking about, came up at the last. It came up at the last meeting, I don't remember. Could you explain just what we're. Yeah. There was a discussion about, clearwater's beginning of their exploratory phase about potentially having their own electric utility. Oh yes. Okay. And so, yes, I do, like I said, we've looked the city has looked in the past. It was really determined to be feasible at our scale, you know, we'll monitor what Clearwater is doing and the good news is Duke Energy's a pretty good rate reductions too, which is nice. So, you know, that's that's something we looked into it, but probably we'll just continue to monitor, and one other interesting thing we talked about lead and copper last time. We just got word yesterday, we've cleared up all our regulatory stuff, and we're going to be submitting. We have no lead, and we're going to be submitting as a non-lead utility in October. So hopefully, you know, at this point, it's looking like most citizens will not be getting any notices. No one's going to be letters. We're not going to have to replace any service lines. We've terrific. We're lucky that we've had no lead service lines in the city. And that's we're going to continue to operate on that premise. Terrific Very good. That is good to hear. It was amazing that this got done. This inventory before when a lot of other cities are still lagging on it. But Pinellas County is expecting to send out tens of thousands of notices about unknown materials for lead service lines. So we are we're in the top 10% for completing our our service line inventory. And it's really a testament to the dedication of our staff. Yeah you have a really good staff committee comments. Taylor, do you have anything I will have a comment or two. I just wanted to say that it's been a pleasure serving with you guys, I've learned a lot being on this committee, and I hope that I've helped a lot, too. You know, I feel like we've all grown since, you know, it's inception, and, I don't know, it's just been a really good experience, and I'm glad to have been able to help as much as I could have. Great. Bring your friends in. I was just a question is for recruiting. You know, like I said, we're reaching out to some young folks and young environmental professionals. And, would you say that your participation on this has been, you know, helpful not just for civic duty, but also like for your career as well as an environmental professional, right? Absolutely. That's great to hear because I, I didn't when I started working at HDR, you know, I kind of wore a bunch of hats, but one of them was sustainability oriented. So I've worked on a few things. So even though that wasn't my main job title, it still came up and I was still able to. But now I feel like it definitely opened up a lot of doors. And I'm very grateful. That's awesome. We'd love to share that. But also for the West Klosterman preserve, the new deadline is December 10th, so I guess they did hear about that. So yeah, I've been keeping up with it for the past couple weeks. I've been calling up Fdep or whoever I could try to get Ahold of. You got any money? Excellent. Yeah And they're a really good example of communicating. They send out emails and with great detail about what's going on, what their place is, what they've accomplished, how the fundraising is going. And it's it really draws you in and makes you want to support. I know I've sent several times, you know, small amounts just because you want to. You want all the stuff they do. You just want them to win. You know, get over that line. They will. I think they just put final parting words. Well, I'm so glad we had this time together. You don't remember that, do you? Anyway, this is a wonderful committee to serve on and it's just been, I've learned a lot. It, it did my heart and soul. Good to actually go go through this plan and see it through to fruition and all that. That was so satisfying to be a part of that. And I appreciate everybody up here and all your hard work. Also, our former members, I mean, it was really a wonderful. Absolutely. It was a wonderful effort. Yeah. And that's it. Goodbye for now. Yes The end. So I was, really pleased when I heard and I don't remember her name. The woman who, reported to the commission about the charter. The charter committee? Yeah. And one of the things that she recommended was that the sustainability plan be included with the other plans, that it be kept on that level. And I thought that was really great. And and I've mentioned to Robin that it was reported inaccurately in the beacon. It said something like the sustainability committee there, that there should be a budget item to create a sustainability, just as a point of order. We're kind of wandering into a policy discussion here because we're talking about other committees, so that that might be something if we want to talk about it in the future. It's when we start to get to policy things like that. We got to be careful with that. We have that on the agenda, not just in committee comments, because we're talking about city policies and comp plans and things like that. Okay okay. Then Never mind, I just like to say that this month has been super busy and it was a wonderful opportunity that the city provided for us to go to, the Florida Planning Conference for a day. And that was a real education. And if you get a chance to watch the last P and Z meeting, it was a wonderful education just in how, city planning came about. I mean, the whole history of that, you know, that was, our attorney, Dickman, who has worked in that area for a long time, just explained it all. So that was an education, you know, and then the Citizens Academy began, and I think that everything is coming together, you know, right now at a perfect time because our new city manager is going to be starting pretty soon. And, and it feels to me like there's more connection between a lot of the groups that that are volunteering. That's a positive thing. But thank you all very much. We'll miss you. Yes Miss Robin, we'll miss you, Taylor. Thank you. I guess just that I make a motion. We adjourn this meeting. Yeah. Before I start crying. Yeah I second it second. And all in favor? Aye, aye. Thank you. Oh, it was it really was. So, Tommy, on this page I'm like oh there's a typo. I forgot a movie.