some of [Music] these just a little treat I bought treats and put them in those little bags for you guys oh you brought you did this I did yeah yes everything is maple syrup she lik yeah I bought everything separate and I just bought the little bags and just a little treat from me here from Dorothy who [Music] [Applause] who she live I pass her street every single day when I go home you know I see your MLK Boulevard I mean MLK uh parade yeah and sometimes she waves other times she totally ignores me it's the weirdest thing the really no I I I saw her one day I was coming to work and I didn't know who was in front of me and these two people I saw this car crash into this other car like a fender vender not like something super major but a fender vendor and um the lady in one car gets out and other lady gets out it was Dorthy her and the lady were having work you know I hit the lady when she retired I gave her a couple of really nice gifts gift card I never heard another word from her and I don't know whether she when she left if she was angry about something or I know you never knew no I I I I spoke to her maybe like once after she retired like one like maybe like the first month and I've never he just walked away and said I'm done yeah I never like I said I saw her that one time and I think I saw her like I think I saw her at one of the parades too but in 10 years I've maybe seen her twice right well she re her at parade yeah really nice she see to office and use it all the time for like big documents we have that's where it went that's funny good afternoon I'd like to call the city commission meeting to order this the 28th day of May 2024 we will have a roll call by Vanessa Castillo invocation by Apostle Willie meny and a pledge of allegiance would you please stand if able oh roll call roll call I did it again okay commissioner dollison here commissioner Mercer here commissioner dancer here mayor proem Yates here and mayor BT song Here shall we bow our heads kind father in Jesus name we thank you for the gift of this another wonderful day thank you oh God for Life health and strength thank you for the many blessings that you have already bestowed upon us thank you for this city wonder Haven the commission and all of the people that have gathered here this evening for the meeting we ask oh God that you would be with us God that you would open eyes that we might see and understand and do the things that is right and just for our city we thank you oh God for the mayor and all of the Commissioners we ask that you would bless oh God and encourag and upli be with us tonight Lord Jesus Christ and I pray that whatever be done it will bring glory honor and praise to your wonderful name and we would tell you thank you for it all we ask it in the wonderful name of our Lord Jesus Christ we pray Amen to flag the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all all right Commissioners would you join me Dr evening honorable mayor and Commissioners uh we have bear with me one second as my computer does its thing here um we have two presentations this evening first is a proclamation and then we'll have a presentation on our Actuarial valuations for our pension plans that uh C our CFO will present um your Proclamation this evening is in recognition of lgbtq plus pride month reads as follows whereas Winter Haven Florida is part of a global community in which people of diverse cultures races Creeds genders and sexual identities must work together toward peace and understanding and whereas the lesbian gay bisexual transgender queer questioning other or lgbtq plus residents students city employees and business owners within Winter Haven contribute to this vibrant Innovative culturally inclusive worldclass community and to its diversity and whereas advancements have been made with respect to equal rights and protections for All Peoples including the lgbtq plus Community throughout the State of Florida and the United States and whereas members of the lgbtq plus Community still face ongoing discrimination based on their innate status resulting in immeasurable human tragedy loss of life Community isolation and abuse and whereas P flag parent families and friends of lesbians and gays of P County envisions a world where diversity is celebrated in all people are respected valued and affirmed inclusive of their sexual orientation gender identity and gender expression and whereas the Lakeland youth Alliance provides a safe space for lgbtq plus Youth and their straight allies of P County and whereas to celebrate the richness and diversity of Winter Haven pulk Pride P flag of pul County and the Lakeland youth Alliance conduct various cultural educational and entertainment activities to focus attention on the importance of acceptance and respect for diversity Among Us now therefore Nathaniel J Birdsong Jr mayor of the City of Winter Haven Florida does hereby Proclaim June 2024 AS lgbtq Plus pride month in the City of Winter Haven Florida in honor of freedom from Prejudice and bias in any form and in recognition and praise of those members of our community who constantly fight the battle battle for equal treatment of all citizens regardless of sexual orientation gender identity gender expression race color creed ethnic origin or religion in witness whereof he has here un to set his hand and caus the Seal of the city of Winterhaven Florida to be affixed this 28th day of May 2024 sign Nathaniel J Birdsong Jr attest latan Harris Deputy City Clerk good evening thank you on behalf of P Pride we just want to say thank you for recognition of inclusion for all and uh we also would like to invite the the staff and everyone else to participate in the P pride in the Park in Lakeland on June 15th from 10: to 3 I have a good time thank you like come forward for a picture the commission you thank you Commissioners if you want to um return to the Das I think your next presentation does not involve any um photos or your presentations other than what CFO has to present this evening good evening mayor mayor protem Commissioners it is my pleasure to proun to uh present the Actuarial valuations for the city's pension plans so and I hope to keep this as short and as interesting as possible the city has three pension plans the general employees pension plan which was closed to new members in November of 20 November 20th 2017 but it is still active the police officer Pension Plan and the firefighters Pension Plan um so on April 24th Doug loen he's an actuary with Foster and Foster he provided the valuations for each Pension Plan he did a fantastic job he um he was the presentation was interesting it was understandable it was comprehensive and in your the fact sheet the second page There's a summary of each Pension Plan and the factors but the most important thing that Mr loen said was per Foster and Foster our Pension Plan contributions meet the reasonable determined contribution for Actuarial standards s so our pensions are sound the not so good news is uh each of our pension plans the expectations didn't meet assumptions so we're going to have to contribute more this year uh those assumptions were the average salary increase exceeded assumption so we the actuaries uh I think the Assumption was 4% and it came in salaries at 11% the investment returns the assumptions were over 6% for the rate of return it was 4% and keep in mind these pensions are over an average of five years so our investments are doing great right now but this is an average and then police and fire inactive mortality experience um people are living longer than expected so that impacted the pension what are the contributions that the increase so General employees it went up about 5% to 37.94 police officers it went up about 3% to 15.79% to 34.68826 [Music] and that helps pay for future pensioners so the funded ratio currently General employees 79% police officers over 85% firefighters 83% and we ask Mr loen what is the good what is a good funded ratio well you don't want it at 100% because this is an estimate of a point in time and if you put in 100% that's resources that you could be using for other uses so our Target is 80% and that is a really wise um decision on our part and that really summarizes the pension plans so any questions Commissioners any question yes a couple of questions um I've I've always I've always had angst between the police and the fire and the and the uh and the seemingly advantage that the fire has over the police but I know that there's more turnover in the police and I know that what that does to the um when the when the dollar amount goes back in my question is if you get a person at 20 years old that works for our fire department and they work 30 years and you get a person that's 20 years old that works for the police for 30 years are they going to retire with the same pension or is there going to be something will it be different so it's based on their years of service and 30 and 30 all things being equal levels of service same pay for example is there any way to calculate or any way to postulate that that because in my mind I still feel like the the the fire department has a little bit of an advantage on their retirement over the police and I and but I intuitively I know that's not true but I'm trying to get comfortable with that well actually um the pension plan on firefighters they get a 3.8% and police officers it's 3.5% so that's their multiplier commissioner dancer so if you get if both employees start at the same time and both stay 30 years when they leave the multiplier for the police officer is 3.5% for each year of service um and for each firefight for the firefighter is 3.8% so it's a difference of of 3/10 of a percent and that's just based upon how the pension is was built and structured over time are their salaries the same I mean do they start at the same will they retire at the same dollar amount no they the salaries are going to be different between those two um the hours they work is different between the two the number of hours they work within a year there's very uh significant differences between um a 30-year police officer 30-year uh firefighter um you know you're talking about firefighters are working 20 600 hours a year is what that 2448 on shift rotation looks like the Kelly day um multiplier comes into into play there the amount of overtime all that weighs into the annual earnings of a firefighter on a on how their pension is calculated so I'm looking at it correctly that the police the firemen do get a little bit more of a BM 3/10 of 1% if they both work 30 years mhm all things being equal and you're saying it was because that's the way it was set up from the very beginning or and I would I would venture to say that um that given the way that given the way that we staff in the demands of those jobs um you know there's incentives within fire that aren't necessarily there within police so when you have um the uh like paramedic pay that's an incentive that is paid in addition to the regular pay of a of a firefighter it's an additional certification that they have um and just the me the sheer way that their their schedules are run the demand for overtime is significant within there as well so the the earning potential on a annual pay tends to be higher within um there's greater opportunity for it let me say that within within fire okay and CJ the the the fact that we are having to contribute more you said that's based primarily on the fact that salaries have been going up so dramatically yeah salaries um investment income you know the rate of return um weren't what they expected I'd also suggest commissioner dancer that the fact the general pension being closed to new new folks coming in also adds to that that you know longer mortality you know longer life expectancy of the people that are in there and no no new money coming in to that right so that was my next question in regards to the general pension is it is it a realistic expectation that we're going to consistent I mean obviously the math works so we're going to have to consistently put more in assuming we don't have a bunch of people die right um right now we're at a 79% funding ratio that's pretty good we'll take that but like 10 years from now are we going to be are we still be at 7 9% for our general employees or will that unless are we just going to have to keep putting more and more money in until they finally this thing runs its course or you will but keep in mind these are assumptions and those assumptions change every year they're updating it every year so in 10 years we might investment income might be super great um but the theory is we will have to keep contributing money as those people retire but the people that are still in that plan and are still working working they're still contributing to the plan yes it's just the new employees are not so theoretically people are still working or still paying for the people that are have retired they drop off it's probably going to be 20 years before that's becomes a real issue I would think or 15 years 20 years I'm thinking out loud which is dangerous but well and keep in mind the employee their rate is fixed the city's rate will vary to keep it full yeah know I know we okay yeah okay I think overall commissioner dancer and and members of the commission it the report from Doug loen is that that things are good um you know there's yes there is uh the issue of the assumptions you know coming in lower than the assumptions um that's driven by you know economic factors as much as anything it's over a 5-year period uh it also contributes to that um you are absolutely correct that the cost for the general employee pension that number will likely continue to increase as people live longer and there's fewer people within the pension still working that are contributing to it the last person out you know that's when hopefully um well you you'll have less people that are receiving the benefit at that point but there's going to be a point where the number the amount that the city has to contribute continues to rise to some degree but that funded level you want to always try and maintain that at a 80% Target that's a very good point T theoretically this is aeric question but let's say everybody in the whole Pension Plan died at once who gets that where does that money go to the beneficiaries or beneficiaries yeah so the last person on the last day if they die and there's a million dollars left in there who gets that no it wouldn't be so um your benefits are based on your year of service and your average salary so let's say you get 100,000 every year um till you die yeah and then it would go to your beneficiary but if there's money left over all that money doesn't go to you it would go I believe back to the city I mean at some point the plan's going to run its course though right right right so let's say 30 years from now after MJ dies and he's the last one he's the last manand standing but there's still a million dollars in the pool there's still a million dollarss in the pool and MJ is the last man standing will that go to where it wouldn't go to him because no it wouldn't go to him but it would go City manager's office obviously that's where he works I mean I mean normally it folds back into the plan but since the plan is going to be dead through that but that's what I would assume it goes back into we can get clarification on that commissioned answer but I believe that that would come back to the city is the it don't matter I'm just thinking out and the last question is you mentioned the um there was a higher mortality risk of the retirees uh so the fire and police I I hate to sound morbid but I think they expected a certain um percentage to pass away and that did not occur that's happening everywhere and that's you know that's great God bless them we our medical is keeping people a lot longer that's why these pension plans are so are so difficult now but you know it was it had to do with retirees not our current people it had to do with the police and fire pensions so that was one of their assumptions that people there would be a higher mortality rate amongst the retirees than what is actually shown to be the case okay that our police and firefighters upon retirement um are living longer healthier lives right than what may have been the case in the past okay good just clarify something on the the rate of return discussion so we're looking over that 5year period which of course encompasses 2020 2021 2022 at this point which were not great years in the market so averaging that out you're at a 4% return do you know where we're at in the last two years so um I can get it to you it's that's okay and then if if I'm assuming that the last two years were far greater than 4% would would be a pretty safe assumption so over as those bad years roll off assuming you know things continue to roll forward and we have higher gains does that potentially put us in the the position of contributing having to contribute less as those previous years roll off so we we're paying up now but that n that that's going to go into the equation going forward you know next year and the year after and the year after we hopefully we start to pay less because the gains are are higher than that is exactly right and we do a um evaluation every year so they're always trowing it up and this year on the police and fire we prepaid a little bit too much so that's a benefit to us and then the general fund was like 24,000 short so we just treed that up okay thanks U mayor Pates on that point if you go back to the global financial crisis 2008 and the impact that had on pensions that's actually the precursor to what led to the closing of the city's General employee pension was bad years that drove those costs so high so you're right it's a fiveyear rolling average and as those bad years fall off then your assumption rate of return or your actual rate of return tends to more align with what your assumption was 2022 was the bad year that was the year when the bond market had the worst year we've had since 1980 and the stock market went down 20 % so we got a few more years before the smoothing technique kicks in well 20 and 21 weren't awesome they weren't awesome but 2022 was when the bottom fell out as far as the bond market that was the worst year we've had in a long time and if you look back 2022 was when the pinion really took a hit so we got a couple more years of that before the smoothing technique kicks in but it will eventually so okay anyone else be checking MJ's Health every day now I just want you guys to know that thank you oh he's the last man standing developments of note we have none Commissioners you have the minutes Mr Mayor yes motion approv minutes of May 8th 2024 City commission meeting agenda review meeting excuse me thank you I will close the uh City commission meeting open the public hearing anyone wishing to speak to the minutes may do so at this time seeing none Out close the uh public hearing we open the commission meeting is there any discussion all those in favor of the motion let it be known by saying I I I oppos this by the same sign here n the minutes are adopted okay we have uh four people uh that would like to uh address the commission and they're all want to talk about pickleball so uh we'll start with uh Steve tab you come forward state your name and address for the record and you have five minutes Steve tab 105 Sugar Creek Road Winter Haven Florida 33880 so yeah we're here to represent the pickle ball community and our goal is to see how we can be involved with the city people and to be able to take advantage of all the growth that's going on in the pickle ball Community we want to be a part of being able to expand along with the expansion of the number of people that are playing and we found that the benefits of pickle ball are tremendous I mean even statistically three of you guys have played at least one time and four of you has played at least eight times so I don't know I don't I don't know how many pickleball players there are up there and from not never attending a meeting I don't know the exact protoc call of what it is that I would want to explain as far as are you're interested in hearing what the benefits of pickle ball are are you're interested maybe in seeing what the benefits could be for the community but I do have a short list of all of those things and it's all what we consider good stuff it's about Fellowship it's about playing together it's real easy for people to play good for your mental health I care about that the ease of play the low cost of Entry the fact that it's just such a sociable event it's an outlet for many people to make new friends it is great exercise it is fun and the other thing is it's turned out that it's become a very popular fundraiser for all these organizations that are taking place in the community so by note my son is actually the uh the owner of Florida pickle ball and he's also the state ambassador of Florida and he runs tournaments throughout the cities so recently he ran a tournament for the Children's Home Society out of Lakeland they raised $15,000 for the organization and he also did one for the First Responders out of Tampa so there's a lot of good opportunities so our goal is to see how we could work with the city to be able to expand along because the issue that we have now because of the growth is we don't have the facilities now to be able to accommodate everybody that's playing we have limited places to play in Winter Haven we have the Winter Haven Tennis complex they actually have four courts out there but the Overflow there is causing a huge backlog of all the people that are wanting to play there's an extreme weight time so a lot of people are choosing to leave and go play BTO built 12 brand new courts out there for people to play Lakeland put eight more over at Kelly wck so we have facilities around the town but we're actually trying to see how we could maybe be able to get some facilities here you know in Winter Haven so I was told I guess protocol to send a letter and I do have some copies of it I have a letter that I sent and the response if you folks would like to be able to see what what I wrote and what was written back so you could get an idea of where where in the process let me key points I remember what it says so back in October I wrote a letter telling that the pickle bow Courts at the Winter Haven Tennis Center is am I running out of time yeah oh it's oh okay all right so the response was the parks recreation and culture team are beginning the process of a Parks master plan to look at facilities Citywide and pickle ball courts have definitely been a part of the conversation there are few locations under consideration this is a priority of Mayor danler please stay tuned to the website so this was back in October so we're just trying to see you know at what point where might where might be be we be and what is it that we can do to work with the city to be able to uh to help out with this okay any questions I think T what I would prefer to do is hear all of the comments and then if you want to make yes okay thank you Margaret uh guas person I'm Margaret gasperson I live at 32 St kit Circle Winter Haven 33884 uh I've been living in Winter Haven since 2009 I'm here to ask the City of Winter Haven to move forward in securing pickle ball Courts for our community outdoor courts would be nice indoor courts would be fantastic uh in North Carolina I began as a softball player in my teens and 20s I began to play tennis in my 30s and 40s I'm now 67 and two years ago began playing pickleball I absolutely love it despite paying the injury price from time to time yes I've continued to play through my torn MCL um the need for courts is great I have watched this pickle ball community in Winter Haven grow and grow children teens young adults middle-aged adults and older adults are playing regularly courts are filled up Monday I played at St John's MC there were three Courts at St John's with four people on a court 12 were playing 28 were waiting for their turn this is a regular occurrence in 2023 the Sports and Fitness Fitness industry Association deemed pickle ball the fastest growing sport in America for the third consecutive year they and and the AP tours participation report says that there are 36.5 million pickle ball players in the us alone why is it love so much because on your first try you can have a great time unlike tennis which I played for many years I was a 35 player in North Carolina playing in leaves and going leagues and going to State tournaments it took me over a year before I was good enough to play on a team and really have fun with pickle ball short courts a whiffle ball and hard paddles make pickle ball excess to everyone on Monday I played with every age men and women one guy in his 80s put so much spin on the ball my usually agile self could barely return his serves and that's the way it always is everyone all ages all levels men and women boys and girls having fun so here's a few problems we're having there's not enough Court waage times are long because of the shortage of Courts a wide range of skill levels play together which is frustrating for both beginners and for very skilled players we need to have enough courts to separate skill levels so everyone can enjoy it we need League Play We need more tournaments outside it's hot especially in the late spring summer and early fall it's almost prohibitive if you struggle with the heat at all indoor courts are usually preferred so what can be done there are some options for me this is my suggestions number one get a team of people together to pursue this include people from the city and people from the Community who are invested in this get outside help Steve was talking about his son that's a good option uh get investors I know one person who told me he would love to invest and he doesn't even play number two take an existing structure for example Macy's and I don't know anything about Macy's other than it's sitting there empty which has been empty for the last few years turn it into a fabulous pickle ball facility with low member fees restaurant concessions and a bar hire a pro give lessons create leagues have tournaments create kids programs pickle ball is an inexpensive sport to play and run there are tons of these facilities going up all over the country all over Florida the Orlando Sentinel highlighted three new facilities being built in Orlando just a month ago this this one's my preference number three use the Advent Fieldhouse as a pickle ball facility for a few times a week during the day and in the evenings it's here it's built it means taping lines and pulling out the temporary Nets but that doesn't take long we saw what can happen when the American pickle ball tour was played there pickle ball could defer to other sports tournaments when they come into town if you want to see what converting your facility can do just look at the indoor courts at the auale community center they are filled up with many people waiting to play number four take another tennis court or two and turn them into more Courts at the Winter Haven tennis facility you can get four pickle ball courts on one One tennis court take the shuffle ball courts and turn them into pickle ball courts there are a ton of elderly people including me that play pickle ball this can be done let's make Winter Haven a pickle ball destination which is what a lot of cities are doing now let's teach pickle ball to the kids at our community centers during the summer Nets and paddles are very affordable let's make Winter Haven the coolest small town in Florida with more pickle ball cours s thank you thank you this next name is this Marie living at 180 1880 26 Street I can't it's yeah not Marie for the record although name um sorry thank you good afternoon actually when I put my name on the list there I didn't realize it was me signing up to make comments so I don't have uh I was really just here to show my support for okay uh for those who have have already uh made comments and very well uh prepared uh remarks I'm not sure what the process is that you all describe that you need to go through for you know these types of projects um all I would say is that we're late uh you know given our uh neighbors you know with Barto and auale both being smaller communities and already having these you know facilities whatever their process was to go through uh you know they' they' they've gotten it done Lakeland obviously you know bigger uh bigger uh City but also you know providing this it it is a it's the fastest growing Sport and it has been for several years um you know as has already been said you know it crosses multiple spectrums in our community Community age you know we've got teenagers playing against 80y olds uh over there uh you know genders and uh you know all different races ethn ethnicities uh you know enjoying uh Fellowship together so it really is you know a community um uh Pastime and Sport U you know we've already talked about the great benefits obviously uh for for the individuals but um I'm sure you can research what the benefits to uh communities across our state and Nation have been um uh you know for those who have adopted pickle ball and I think that if if Winter Haven were to embrace it you it could re uh reap those uh similar benefits as well so I'll uh go on record as the shortest uh speaker appreciate any uh you but if there is if there's any information that we can you know Assist and provide you with to either a convince you or be speed along the process uh you know we would gladly do that if uh if you would like for us to more than fill up this room uh we certainly can bring a lot of people to show you the support um uh you I'm just I myself am in a text chat of 35 people the reason why we have to do that is because we have to coordinate efforts on to reserve the Four Courts that we have uh you know on the days that that they can be reserved uh the only way to make sure that you get a court on the days where you have to reserve it is to you know coordinate your efforts with with your friends uh in in that regard so hopefully we get to the place where we don't have to do that it is creating some tension uh you know over there um because obviously more people want to play than can play uh so I know it puts a lot of pressure on Bonnie and the staff there um I'm sure the tennis players don't want to give more courts but I will say we definitely outnumber the tennis players uh over there and I think our membership actually costs more as well so uh with that I'll leave it to you for any questions comments and again thank you for your support thank you Mark Claude uh lry yeah my name Claude Landry at 1116 Shoreline Lane wi Haven and I've been playing pick ball for four five years uh I went to the meetings when they would build the uh new Tennis complex and I went to the meetings there for pickleball and we kept telling him over and over again Four Courts were not going to sufficed and they did not listen to that they just built the Four Courts and ever since we've been waiting for more I keep hearing we're going to have more and more courts and I don't see anything happening and again I would prefer that the courts would be in side because they people of different levels and then you have wind to deal with and for health reasons when it gets too hot in summer and I myself have had two heart surgeries one last July and8 weeks later I was back on the court and so I find it's really helping me to keep keep on going and stay healthy and so I'd encourage the board especially like ad help I can't see why that complex can't be utilized a little bit more and po courts inside of there thank you thank you all right T so um great compliments and uh comments on pickle ball it's great to see uh The Advocates here Margaret has been bending my ear for as long as she's been playing um you know this is not a new phenomenon on as I've shared with Commissioners and and others before the first pickle ball courts I built were in 199 2 um when the villages was just getting started um The Parks and Recreation team is aware of that need and uh director Adams and members of her team uh through their the master planning process that's going on right now our exploring opportunities mayor dancer or commissioner dancer and I have had number of conversations on this as well as potential locations where we we think something could occur it's a question of negotiating um engagements with property owners where we might be able to collocate something on property that is not owned by the city um there is a a significant cost to building outdoor facility even more so to building a indoor facility I think in uh the Parks and Recreation budget one of the things that they have forecasted out um for when we can can fold this into our c Capital plan is estimating probably between a million and a half and $2 million just for an outdoor facility um and that's certainly not something that we have just about that uh we've got to figure out how do you fund that long term I do um support the the thoughts that uh were shared by the group this evening about how can you accommodate that when possible within the Fieldhouse and I think that's something for us to explore and I I think Julie may have already looked at that to some extent um but we'll take that under advisement and report back to the commission and share that certainly with our pickle ball enthusiasts as we look a little further into that okay have a couple questions yes first of all whoever the second speaker was what was your name Margaret Margaret that was beautiful what you said that was one of the best talks up there you really made yourself you know you expressed yourself very well so compliments to you my problem with pickle ball is the score I still don't know how to keep score with pickle so somebody please give us a pickle ball scoring 101 um this coming from a guy who plays tennis yeah I'm it makes no sense and I will just a little bit of a historical perspective when we were building the tennis courts at the time clay tennis courts was the fastest growing sport in America so when we built that place over there and we put in those clay courts that was at the time the fastest growing sport um in the country and now since that we've been usurped by pickle ball we get it um the the issue you know I know that t and I we talked a little bit about using some of the one of the ideas was possibly using some of the U shuffle board courts I still think we can explore that and you know I was buying plants this weekend at a new place and they had shade covers over the top of their plants and it and I was talking to the guy that owned it and it blocks about 35% of the Heat and the sun just with these shade structures so maybe that's an Al alternative we do something outside I don't know how we buy Macy's but maybe there is some did you ever look at the fact of of possibly using some of the land where the shuffle board courts are and we we we have looked at that there's some challenges with that and what you gain based upon the cost the return on investment may not be sufficient to to do such um and I need to get a further update from Julie and and uh Andy on that but we are exploring a another location as we had talked about previously that I'd prefer not to comment further on at this point no I I appreciate that I'm just the issue that I see is if we're going to have it in a place where it's going to be manned it need you know having it down kind of near the existing facility we already have Staffing there we already have bathrooms there have people that are just parking down there um if there's any way you can con connect it with an already existing facility it sure is a lot cheaper long term than having to build something brand new because you're right if you build a brand new facility make it really big and nice you're going to have to have Staffing and you're going to have to have all kinds of people to work there is so we can tie it in and fold it in with some existing um program that much better um and I'm glad to see that you guys are reserving courts and making you know in tennis the the the situation is when we play tennis we make we reserve courts and we play for two hours and we come off and somebody else takes our place I'm glad that y'all are starting to do that now sounds like that's kind of we instead of all just showing up up at once you you actually space it out during the day is that sort of the way is that kind of the way it goes now or is it still just Saturday morning Sunday morning depends on the day yeah depends on the day okay there are open Play days and there are Reserve days okay well see that's a little foreign to me because as a tennis player we never just show up and play we always have a match we always have called people we've gotten everybody together because we're kind of the same level and I know you guys have more fun than we do cuz you laugh more and you and you carry on and you bring that happens Monday Wednesday but now the tennis center starting to push back a little bit because grps want to reserve but other people show play and they can't play Reserve not well the nature of pickle ball is you just kind of show up and play right and the whole thing of trying to reserve courts and get your own game sort of new or is that because it seems like whenever you there's people out there playing more people show up it just sort of seems to attract so Mr Excuse me excuse me excuse me excuse me we just can't have a back and forth with people in the audience I yield my I yield my microphone all right can I ask a question though yes you need to ask it to are you asking it's going that direction oh this direction okay all right so yeah so common sense right and and and the the path the easiest solution is always missed in government and so I I definitely feel their their frustration like a this simple it's right just put a net up give me a ball and a stick and I'll hit it and I don't play pickle ball so I know it's not a stick but it's a rack simple right just put a net up and hit it back and forth so I know you mentioned that you had spoke with with Julie about it you know I mean the the magic have left the facility at the the South portion of the Fieldhouse and then another idea is could you do like we close at 2:00 Saturdays and Sundays at the tennis center could we not reopen and go from like 4: to 8 in the evenings to at least provide some some pressure relief to the people that want to play to you know that that's an immediate Solution that's not a million five Solution that's not a let's map this out and get 52 different bids Solution that's a put the that's up start Play solutions that is correct and that is something that our team is already exploring with what that looks like with our current slate of teammates that we have now um some of the part-time employees or the at the tennis center um have other jobs and so we're trying to work on the schedule once school gets out so there should be a reflection of change of hours hopefully within the next month to accommodate that shortterm flexibility and can you make that that like if so is is like 4 to8 a realistic possibility on Saturdays and Sundays we're looking to see what the realm of possibilities is now so that we don't overcommit with the the team that we have currently we would like to be able to lengthen the hours of operation during the week nights as well as weekends and so we're trying now to come up with a schedule that would be feasible and could that be pickle ball only hours or do you have so like you could have more pickle ball courts than you do now so currently the the facility is only feasible for pickle ball on the courts that we have the pickle ball on the one that is the Four Courts but in addition to the tennis center we're also looking at options to be able to open up some pickle ball play in the Fieldhouse as well um we have summer camp coming and summer is is a very busy time for another population that utilizes the Fieldhouse with evening open Play Etc but we are looking to carve out some space at the Fieldhouse as well to provide some additional space for play okay I I appreciate staff's responses and and I I know you and I don't mean to be critical of government I'm I'm part of it um so I guess that makes me part of the problem um but uh it just it's it's a simple problem and it seems like there's Simple Solution so just the sooner we can get get them some relief would be great so I appreciate that Abs if I could respond um mayor pmates I think it's a multitude of of solutions okay the easi solution is go build a new facility make it as big as you possibly can make it as accommodating as it can be um and and find the dollars to do it that's a lot harder than it may sound um I think that there's likely some some options to explore that whether that's conversion of a a practice court at the tennis courts to allow for expanded play of pickle ball on that particular surface when it's not being used for instructional purposes um and and designating that as such the uh potential for housing or scheduling in time for designated play Within the Fieldhouse certainly is something that comes down to what's the scheduled availability if you're a member of the field house you would know you will know as I know many of you are that that gets interrupted major basketball tournament there this weekend that will take over the entire Fieldhouse that happens routinely on the weekends um the other thing to keep in mind is that we're in the process of building uh and you have it on your agenda this evening for the the complete reconstruction and renovation of the um facilities at the Winter Haven Recreation and Cultural Center and again an indoor dual gymnasium space that during the week outside of the summer period is ideal for this type of activity because you you don't have anybody else using it um that's not always the case with the Fieldhouse that there's routinely activity that's taking place in there um what we have seen historically with the cultural center is the availability of that gym space particularly Monday through Friday during the non-summer when kids are out of school um that there's a lot of availability that that gives us so that that creates a multitude of opportunities to spread the solution around to different places versus trying to put it all in one um I'll tell you that the benefit of indoor versus outdoor um other than doing more outdoor if there's a way to do that where we sit today the noise issue is already there and so having to mitigate that is not as big of an issue um going indoor the noise issue is contained and that's the number one complaint from your residents when it comes to pickle ball not necessarily in Winter Haven because we don't have it in residential areas but around the nation that's the biggest challenge of the sport is the amount of noise that it contributes to adjacent population so where we've looked to do it in certain fac in certain facilities such as Rotary Park the proximity to adjacent houses is problematic that solves the problem for one demographic that you have before you tonight only to have it replaced by by another demographic of citizens who live adjacent to it so we've got to be mindful of that so those are some of the things that we work through um got a lot of good notes this evening and Julie and I and her team will continue to evaluate that and hopefully be able to provide some responses back to you and the members of the the pickle ball uh Nation here before too awful long okay that's it all right thank you all right uh audin is second reading 02 2425 would you read by time Lon City attorney thank you Mr Mayor ordinance number 0- 24-25 an ordinance extending the corporate limits of the city of wner Haven Florida so as to include therein additional territory lying contiguous and adjacent to the present boundaries of the city W Raven Florida describing set additional territory repealing all ordinances in Conflict here with providing for the administrative correction of scriveners errors and providing an effective date General location a parcel generally located north of Highway 540 West East of King Road and south of cross Tower Drive the area covered by this request is 1.19 plus or minus Acres thank you thank you city manager mayor and Commissioners nothing has changed on this item since first reading staff recommend City commission approve ordinance 0 24-25 on second and final reading all right thank you Commissioners Mr Mayor yes move to approve ordinance 0- 24-25 on second reading thank you I will not close to see the commission meeting open the public hearing anyone wishing to speak to this ordinance may do so at at this time seeing none close the public hearing we open the commission meeting is there any discussion all those in favor of the motion let it be known by saying I I I opposes by the same sign hearing none the ordinance passes 02 2426 would you read about title on C the attorney thank you Mr Mayor ordinance number 0-24 d26 an ordinance of the city R from Florida amending ordinance number 0-24 D21 regarding appropriation of funds for defraying expens of the municipal government of the city Winter Haven for the fiscal year commencing October 1 2023 providing for severability and providing for an effective date thank you thank you city manager mayor and Commissioners as I mentioned earlier in my comments we are in the process of finalizing the funding for the Winter Haven Recreation and Cultural Center on April 8th of this year ordinance 02421 was passed which transferred 5.36 million of the city's general fund 2023 Surplus to the 2021 Construction fund um this effort that is coming for you in ordinance 0426 amends that and appropriates those surplus funds from the 2021 construction fund to the 2015 construction fund which is where the Winter Haven Recreation and Cultural Center project is housed uh nothing has changed since first reading and staff recommends the commission approve ordinance 24-26 as presented on second and final reading thank you Commissioners Mr Mayor yes uh motion to approve 02 2426 uh in public hearing thank you I will now close to see the commission meeting open the public hearing anyone wishing to speak to this ordinance may do so at this time seeing none close the public hearing reopen the C commission meeting is there any discussion all those in favor of the motion let it be known by saying I I opposes by the same sign hearing done the ordinance passes ordinance 02428 would you read by title on the City attorney thank you Mr Mayor ordinance number 0-24 D28 an ordinance of the city Commission of the city W Haven Florida authorizing the city manager or his designity to opt in or out of any declared Poke County Fire Department burn banss within the municipal limits of the City of Winter Haven Florida and as and as more particularly set forth in this ordinance repealing all ordinances and resolutions in Conflict here with providing for severability the administrative correction of scor's errors and providing for an effective date thank you thank you city manager mayor Commissioners the P County uh ordinance specific to burn bands allows for municipalities within the county to opt in or opt out if they have put in place such uh an ordinance or bestowed Authority upon either the city manager or in some cases the fire chief Winter Haven does not have or has not taken such action in the past um it is our recommendation that we that you as a commission approve an ordinance which is brought to you as 24-28 this will authorize the city manager or my design that when the county is in the process of issuing a burn band they will reach out to uh again myself or the design to determine if we are so inclined to opt into that ordinance or to stay out if we stay out of their ordinance it does not preclude us from issuing our own however if we choose to participate in their ordinance uh and burn band notice it allows us to do so much more expeditiously and in the case of emergencies um that could be uh could be significant so we are recommending City commission adopt and pass ordinance O2 24-28 on second and final reading thank you Commissioners Mr Mayor yes motion to approve 02428 uh on and second and public hearing all right thank you I will close the city Commission meeting open the public hearing anyone wishing to speak to this audience may do so at this time seeing none close the public hearing we open the city commission meeting is there any discussion will this will this immediately put us into a burn band at this point that's a great question commissioner y so um the county has actually issued a burn ban as I understand it I'm going to look to I see um our operations Chief Mike Waters in the back if he could confirm for me that the county did Issue their burn ban today yes and it includes Winter Haven in their burn ban um it is my take that that is an errant inclusion because we have no authority to opt in and prior to the passing of this however by us passing this we will notify them tomorrow of our intent to opt in and they can um amend their ordinance or further ratify it as need be so we will go into the burn band um the uh the index drought index is Charlie I'm looking to you 507 right now and the threshold for issuance at the county level is at 450 so we need to uh to do some rain dances and and hope and pray for a lot of rain to get that down um not just because of a burn band but because of the the dangers that we have locally all right thank you and now the discussion all those in favor of the motion let it be known by saying I I I opposes by the same sign hearing done the uh burn ban well opt in opt out is approved opt in opt out so we're in all right consent agenda Commissioners we we didn't have an agenda review session and that's normally where we go over these items would would there be any objection to doing just a quick rundown of what we're looking at here be happy to provide that if the commission desires go ahead okay P County Library Cooperative agreement we've been with the uh Cooperative since 1997 um 13 municipalities within P County of course Lakeland has a couple libraries within that Winter Haven will soon have two libraries within the Cooperative as well once the Winter Haven Recreation Cultural Center is built um this is the Cooperative is funded via um an Municipal service taxing unit or mstu that's issued by the county and then that money is divvied out to the participating libraries based upon 10% of our operating costs and then our proportionate share of the uh circulation of materials uh last year or current year the city's Revenue off of that is about $653,000 that comes to us from P County I expect that number is going to go up in the future because one our operational costs associated with libraries will increase and at 10% of whatever that higher number is um and I would also expect that our circulation will increase the 10B is the lake Elbert Trail it's a change order um as you know we're working on Lake Elbert trail from um Avenue G back to Avenue a Northwest and um we in the process of removing some of the old utility infrastructure that's there the intent was to remove a um gravity sewer pipe or to to actually the intent initially was to grout that in place but it is in such poor condition that it is impossible to grout that so it must be removed so this is a change order tied to that work um and the cost associated with that change order if you'll bear with me is um $239,700 the item 10 C is the agreement for purchase and sale of property adjacent to wastewater treatment plan three this is a 13.39 acre parcel of land that is owned by Gary Bennett um the city is proposing to purchased this site and we we coordinated with manuso appraisal to do a market value appraisal in two in February of this year the market value of the property was estimated to be $645,000 for the 13.39 Acres uh we are purchasing it for significantly less than that at $500,000 uh we we have agreed to a uh due diligence and property investigation period of 7 months which will basically bring us to close that property sometime after the first of the year 2025 that also accommodates the present owner's desire to relocate off of the site so this will add to our land acquisition and and uh Holdings there next to the water wastewater treatment plant also allows us to to pursue expansion of Fourth Street Southeast at the top of that red box which gives us this a another entry point into the wastewater treatment plant that doesn't exist today um item 10d you may remember last year we had some issues with our clarifiers at wastewater treatment plan three we were scheduled to do improvements on uh clarifier number one I'm sorry clarifier number am I saying that right number one which is the northern most I'm looking at David back there as well um clarifier 2 went down and we had to go in and repair that well we SCA we scab Parts off of number one to repair number two and now we got to go back and fix number one so we've got to put some more dollars to that this is a change order of $298,000 for that project and that is allocated in the current budget for the project um 10e several months back we did a land swap with saaw properties whereby we took a piece of property from them on I believe it was Avenue P in exchange for a property that the city owned on MLK Boulevard um they have built a house on MLK Boulevard and have asked for a release of um our uh rights of Entry there and uh related to any subsurface phosphate minerals Metals Petroleum in the property in favor of the city so we are this is pretty straightforward and um no sign no significant impact back to the city right and then 10f uh is simply the acceptance of the Actuarial valuations for the city's winter City of Winter Haven's General employees pension plan police officers retirement system plan and firefighters retirement system plan which was presented previously by our CFO CJ Scott this is simply the acceptance of that report so that is your consent agenda for this evening okay thank you all right Mr Mayor yes motion to approve the consent agenda as a whole all right thank you I will now close the uh City the commission meeting meeting open the public hearing anyone wishing to speak to the consent agenda may do so at this time seeing none close the public hearing reopen the city commission meeting is there any discussion all those in favor of the motion let it be known by saying I I opposes by the same sign hearing none the consent agenda is adopted in its entirety resolution R2 2426 would you read by tyon City attorney thank you Mr Mayor resolution r- 24-26 a resolution approving that certain plat entitled Sunset Hills for filing and acceptance of dedications in accordance with chapter 177 Florida Statutes with specific conditions providing for the administrative correction of scor's errors and establishing an effective date the general location subdivision subdivision is generally located south of Old lern Park Road South of linta Boulevard thank you thank you C uh manager mayor and Commissioners Economic Opportunity Comm investment director Eric Labby will present this item this evening for your consideration all right Eric yes sir mayor Commissioners uh CW Sunset LC is requesting final plat approval for Sunset Hill subdivision it is a 45.4 acre subdivision containing 162 building lots and 12 common lots for storm water retention Wetland lift station and open space areas the internal roadways uh are within 50ft rights of way and will be dedicated to the City of Winter Haven all water and utilities will be owned and maintained by the city while drainage conveyances and storm Water Management areas will be maintained by the HOA a performance bond has been issued in the amount of 2,341 uh I'm I'm sorry 2,351 14108 to the uh City to cover the cost of remaining infrastructure uh that includes Earth Works sanitary sewer portable water storm water management engineering certification approximately 71% of the required infrastructure has been installed this is consistent with future land use and Zoning uh using an estimated value of $250,000 per lot the subdivision will have an estimated taxable value of $4.5 million and generate approximately $266,800 thank you Commissioners Mr Mayor motion to approve resolution r- 24-26 thank you I will now close the commission meeting open the public hearing anyone wishing to speak to this resolution may do so at this time seeing n to close the uh public hearing we open the city commission meeting is there any discussion yes Eric it this a failing Road I thought we had problems out on the 544 and there was there was capacity it's getting close sir this is uh this subdivision got in um under the concurrence current concurrency and level of service standards for lucern Park um but it is getting close this has been a road that's been on our radar for quite some time um so I remember we approved I think two subdivisions or three and there was a race to see who was going to get in first was this one of those this is one of the ones that came in first yes sir okay so they got in first okay I remember now thank you anyone else I Clos the public hearing but I will back up okay I'm sorry all right um hold on hold on Commissioners I will reopen the public hearing you may come to the podium state your name and address for the record my address just make statement no no those are our rules state your name and your address for the record if you want to speak okay Jeffrey Miller your address 1582 Marshall Road Southwest wi Haven Florida 3380 all right you have five minutes on 544 on L Park Road will be getting a um a traffic light there soon with so much traffic and so much building going there and it's so much it's so much traffic going down there all the time only asking well I I can answer that for you the City of Winter Haven does not uh dictate whether or not there will be a traffic signal there that's depart State of Florida Department of Transportation yes sir so where would I go from there on to find out if I if we will be able to get one on at 544 cuz that's a lot of track on there and a lot of homes in built and a lot of a lot of businesses on that road can for cl especially where where exactly sorry talking about Avenue uh why and uh is said why UE why is that where you no no I'm talking about no no I'm talking about on L par Road like coming from if you got autoone going on down towards um loose C Park Road yes yes sir all way all the way down there it's just one big road but it's just so much traffic and so it's just crazy especially when you come around like by The Rock Church and you keep coming oh okay I thought you were specifically referring to the intersection of uh cuz that's the only intersection that you really have that you could put a traffic light but at any rate I was just asking they they told me that you know if you like to have a question and they told you know if I like to have a question and get the community involved they said well why don't you start coming to the meetings and I said you know what I will and I had like 12 that said we was going to come but they bagged out so I said you know what I said I'll come and we we said we'll all start coming so make we'll see what happen all right well question though there are some improvements for 544 and I'll just allow the yeah so um the the do has um in work program I'm going to ask Eric to to correct me where I may be wrong on this the first two sections or first one section of the State Road 544 Improvement project which goes from MLK Boulevard back through Avenue y if I'm not mistaken yes sir um and they're they're looking at potentially different Traffic Solutions for the Avenue y State Road 544 intersection potentially to include a roundabout um Eric do you know are there are there additional improvements for signalization or discussion of signalization at the old lucern park tie-in yes as my understand at the old lucern park and 544 tiin there there's a consideration for a lighted intersection at that point at the e at the Western intersection of that um across from the Village Lake smart yes I believe is that the location or is on the Eastern side we'll verify we'll verify one of those one of those sides understand where you coming from right by apartments right past some condos so we'll get your information and we'll get a a clear update from the Department of Transportation on what their intents are with that and share that with you so would you need my phone number to share with me uh staff will get the information for me okay okay thank you thank you Mr Mayor all right is there anyone else all right I will close the public hearing and reopen the city commission meeting is there any discussion all those in favor of the motion let it be known by saying I I opposes by the same sign hearing none resolution uh is passed R2 2426 resolution uh R2 2427 would read by title on uh City attorney thank you Mr Mayor resolution number r- 24-27 a resolution of the city Commission of the city of Winterhaven Florida proving that certain public transportation Grant agreement between the city of Winterhaven and the Florida Department of Transportation fdot under contract number G2 w26 and Financial project number 43788 D1 94-1 for funding for the installation of emergency generators at the Winter Haven Regional Airport Gilbert Field and authorizing the city manager and appropriate City officials to execute and to take all other necessary actions regarding the said Grant agreement providing for severability the administrative correction of scor's Errors complex and providing for an effective date thank you thank you C manager Mr Mayor our airport director Troy heidle will give you a brief overview of this project uh good evening mayor commissioner City management uh yeah this generator program will see the installation of three emergency generators at Airfield one for our lighting Vault one for our fuel farm and one for our terminal uh this is an 8020 Grant with the city shares being $73,000 uh this is in our proposed budget for the 2425 fysical year so commissioner just uh to elaborate on something that um Mr heidle shared it's a 8020 with DOT so dot is going to contribute um 292,000 towards the project to match the city 73,000 so again 20 cents on the dollar for the installation purchase and installation of these three generators it's pretty good all right thank you Commissioners Mr Mayor yes motion to approve resolution R 2427 thank you I will now close the city commission meeting and open the publicar hearing anyone wishing to speak to resolution R2 2427 may do so at this time seeing none I'll close the public hearing we open the city commission meeting is there any discussion all those in favor of the motion let it be known by saying I I I opposes by the same sign hearing none resolution R2 2427 is adopted ordinance is our first reading we have none new business 138 city manager mayor and Commissioners I'm going to present this item and certainly Julie Adams our director of parks recreation and culture is on hand to answer any more technical questions you may have um but as I mentioned earlier multiple times we are in the process of moving forward with the renovation of the Winter Haven Recreation and Cultural Center City commission had awarded collage design and construction group a semar contract for this project back in 2021 via RFQ 2110 this project will feature a new building with a double gymnasium Fitness Center Library technology area offices fitness center as I mentioned um and other support spaces new Zer depth entry swimming pool Splash Pad playground pavilion Park space outdoor basketball court parking and other support amenities um major items related to the GMP P that has been submitted by collage include uh them providing Full Construction oversight services for a GMP of $19,995 749 GMP includes all services including construction oversight building materials labor associated with building the project the only items that are excluded such as uh are items such as certain furniture and other items which the city will budget for separately typically we budget for loose items and and FF and items within or I'm sorry with the yeah FF and within our own budget rather than the construction budget if the final construction price comes in less than that GMP the city and collage will split the savings with 75% of the savings going to the city 25% going to the contractor the GMP does contain a 5% construction manager fee and a contractor's contingency that contractor's contingency can only be used if authorized by the city and that is to allow for uh any escalation in materials or uh construction labor things that can happen over the course of a a construction project of this size city also has within our own budget our own contingency um so we've got a little double protection within this if that contingency is not used by the contractor um as authorized by the city uh that comes back as part of the savings on the project collage construction is expected to start construction early this summer and the project is expected to take approximately 17 months so we expect to see the building coming down late June early July and then be done probably no later than December 2025 is Our Hope um I shared with uh the Commission in some briefings some imagery of that project and shared with you our hope is that the first major event we do in there it's not opening that building was a big Christmas gift to the community it's celebrating Dr MLK weekend with the first major event in there um there's a table within your fact sheet that spells out all the cost for the project it is 19.95 995 million is the GMP there is um some money that's been encumbered to collage for preconstruction services the FFN finish furnish finish furnishings and equipment is 500 $100,000 set aside I mentioned a city contingency of $500,000 um and there is some incumbrance still out to our Architects St trout Architects bringing the total project to 2.34 to million current budget for the project reflects a balance of 18.72% million the ordinance that was passed earlier this evening 24-2 6 which amended the city's budget to include the transfer of $150,000 in Impact Library impact fees and $3,122 se0 from surplus funds in the 2021 construction fund to the Winter Haven recreational and Cultural Center project between the current balance of funds allocated by 2426 the project is fully funded at 2,342 3 $3 staff recommends City commission approved the GMP uh design and const for the design and construction and overall project budget is outlined within this fact sheet for the Winter Haven Recreation and Cultural Center project and authorizes the city manager to sign all documents and take all necessary actions related there too as I um elaborate within that presentation we do expect construction to commence in probably the next four to six weeks uh that will be a lot of demolition work very similar to what we saw with the Winter Haven or with the chaina Lakes Park project um estimations are probably somewhere between five and 8 weeks to demo out that site and get it uh ready to go forward with some um site work to get it leveled out and balanced so that the construction can get underway we have displaced or will be displacing all of our services there to include our summer camp um and are uh factoring into our budget for fiscal year 2425 the next budget that you will approve what the Staffing levels will need to be for that facility um we will budget those at probably about 25% of the operating year next year in the anticipation that that building comes online any sooner and also that we can have staff on board to understand the Final close out of that construction and how the systems work so we are ready to move forward great questions what is the timeline 17 months for construction so um start in late June early July 2024 like I said in about next six weeks or so and then um to be complete with construction knock on wood no hurricanes no major setbacks um by December of 2025 we will have a public meeting I believe it's on June 6th yes um to we'll take all the images and renderings that the commission has seen and share those with the the public we've had an extremely engaged um community group uh commissioner dollson has been a part of that since day one and um we have have valued their feedback and they've helped guide a lot of the decisions that we made all right thank you commissioners Mr Mayor yes move approval of the guaranteed maximum price Amendment for the Winter Haven Recreation and culture center all right thank you I will close the city commission meeting and open the public hearing anyone wishing to speak to this item may do so at this time seeing none I will close the public hearing reopen the city commission meeting is there any discussion all those in favor of the motion let it be known by saying I I poses by the same sign hearing none hallelujah we're going to build something great long time exciting exciting yes all right commissioner Leon reports commissioner danler kind of a slow couple weeks from me we had a uh I was at the uh she knows where she's going lunching with several of our commit Commissioners were there also at the um graduation ceremony handing out diplomas very proud of uh what was his name our valedictorian 4.87 Lopez Chris Lopez's son the doctor 4.87 six GPA and the young lady that came in second was like a 4.8 26 or something it was neck and neck but I don't know how you get that kind of scores any more but that's what they did and I was going to the Fieldhouse and Conference Center to uh work out which I go all the time and got pulled in by Katrina to do a quick new employee uh greetings meeting greet so I got to see all the new employees there and I was in my workout gear so that was kind of interesting um two other quick little things um in regards to the pickle ball thing you know if we the Temptation might be to put courts in the Fieldhouse and Conference Center but let me tell you I'm down there a lot and those courts are used by the basketball kids all the time so if we just start displacing the basketball kids and the basketball players are going to be coming down here at standing at this at this Podium going why are you making us you got to build us a new basketball facility so we got our hands full with the pickle ball and um it's a good problem to have it's just it's a factor of all these people moving to Winter Haven and everybody wanting to to uh do some of the same stuff it's good problem to have we'll solve it but um and it makes me makes me feel really good when I go down to the Fieldhouse and Conference Center to see all those kids down there playing basketball and and then coming on the weekends and you have the volleyball and you have the gymnastics and it's a good it's a good that place has far exceeded any expectations that I ever thought uh that we would get out of that so and my last question T in regards to the Chain of Lakes has the demolition completely been done and when are we going to start with um construction down there on with the new new stuff that we've kind of got on the agenda they're finishing the demo right now we're awaiting final bids on from our our semar to get moving on the construction part what's happening right now is they're working on balancing the site and so that has to be done using some of the Hill that was the previous stadium so that's the final piece of the demolition uh to finish hopefully within the next week or so and then and then we await those those bids and then we'll get going hopefully within the next I would say um 3 to 4 weeks that was the latest estimation I got from Andy Palmer and you know I was on the Chain this week in and I just noticed all those lily pads and weeds and stuff are we going to be able to clean that out where we can activate that lake is that I used to always be afraid of Mike Brit whenever I talked about that but he's not here anymore he's listening can we can we pick those weeds to where we can at least have docks and boat ramps down there and AC have you met MJ oh MJ okay 30 years you just wait 30 years yeah that's right but are we going to be able to act I know we keep talking about activating Lake Lulu but there's a lot of weeds and a lot of vegetation on that Lake that we're going to have to get rid of to activate that Lake how do we do that that's a great question we're we're still discussing how that's going to end up happening in the final plans for the balance of the site when that when that construction moves through we're focusing on baseball operations in this first phase yeah and and then that will be a discussion that we continue to have as we focus on phase two when when that opportunity comes okay all right thank you the um commissioner dancer one thing I I seem to recall through a recent discussion is you know the balancing of that site um the I think it has to do more so with the permit aspect of it that once we start balancing and moving dirt around it triggers a different segment of the permitting that is part of the process we go through so that's why all that vertical demolition is taking place Julie is right that the um you know we've got to get in and start Excavating where those lower Fields were because that's going to be a wet Pond ultimately and all of that requires the the finalization of all the Swift Mud permitting within there so it's all part of the process but I think um we're see we're seeing good progress thus far okay good deal okay anything else Mr Mercer okay um I attended the public safety Leadership Council graduation um the graduated attendees now have a better uh Outlook and understanding of what it means to be a public safety officer um they had a lot of positive comments on the training and also um um the introduction to various aspects of training and the ride alongs so they had a lot of uh positive things to say about those um also attended Winter Haven graduation um I was certainly Amazed by about half of the 600 and almost 90 some students are somewhere in there someone told me how many they were but um almost half of them had sashes of either all A's or all B's and um so half of that class I mean I was just amazed that that many of them had that good Gres in academics you know um also attended the Girl Scout Inc and she knows where she's going lunching um and they not always um I guess uh recognize or um three other coaches or leaders for the year and uh some of those are amazing volunteers um the new employee uh luncheon I met some of the new employees and um also I did um the chamber they showcased uh Cruise Bank um but then I had another meeting to go to after that and I had to go to the TPO Community Forum advisor Network um Pope County tourism and auale mainly this was a a community Forum on Resident uh resiliency and carbon reduction um they talked a lot about Bridges and where the failure of those bridges are due to flooding and and um things like that um and it's not the bridge It's usually the embankments and things that often fail um they talked about Paving um widening intersections or more roads and then they did a survey to ask you to um relate on which of these you thought was the most important so um that was um my two weeks I guess for the meetings all right well I forgot one thing I want to say one quick more thing when I was at when I was at the at the graduation I've never seen this before but three of the young ladies complimented commissioner Mercer on her dress three people came up you never seen anybody do that before I've never seen them I've never wor a dress up and the last thing is I have been handing out those diplomas for 10 years and I've always been next to Nancy Bachman and I'm always impressed with how many kids come up and hug her and love on her and stuff but I think Nancy has finally found her match and it's this guy right here every kid that came up there hugged on him and knew him and he knew them and they were you know he was giving them words of wisdom and I'm sitting here watching all this and so rev congrats because you've made a difference in a lot of kids' lives because a lot of kids wanted to hug him and tell him something so congrats I just wanted to say that publicly because I was proud of you appreci all right well thank you very much appreciate to uh mayor uh B song um I it was busy uh last uh week or two and uh I was able to attend the uh Lake conine project uh for the the community open house uh was very informative and I enjoyed that also was able to attend the 100y year birthday of Miss Annie Davis and uh that was exciting and um they uh at the senior center and uh you know I was there and uh they asked me to offer a prayer and uh but then one of the residents you know came up and she gave her a card and put $100 in it and I think they did another $100 from the center and uh I said Well everybody's giving $100 I guess I'm about to come up with $100 so I was able to uh share that with Miss Annie and uh she likes to shop at Publix and uh goes every week in fact and so I ran into it Publix there it's just wonderful to see uh you know uh just being know share with someone they wonderful things they shared about her as well also I was honored to uh the attend the funeral services for uh the late uh uh Reverend gay Dr Gay Henry uh who was a retired major in our uh police department here in Winter Haven I worked with gay through the years he was just an amazing uh officer but also a gentleman Pastor uh preacher and uh was great celebration of his life and it was an honor just to be able to be there and share with that and also to see uh law enforcement our law enforcement show up in great numbers to honor him as well also uh uh attended the graduation and uh one of the things that the graduation uh is quite I guess to me uh one mother said to me as she was passing by with her son and she said uh she said all started uh at our church you know we we had a daycare center and uh so here this child started you know at 3 years old at our daycare now he's walked across the stage and graduating and uh so it made me feel real good just to uh to see that and some of those kids I've known uh all their lives so that that was really impressive to say the least also attended the Girls Inc annual she knows where she's going that was always is always amazing just to see how people you know uh give in in the in the community and make a difference um and just giving that getting that recognition I think is really very special so I was happy to be there and sharing that I've been going for a few years also uh was impressed with the A&E uh new Auto Body uh ribbon cutting there uh phenomenal facility um I was trying to find a car I need to have worked on just to bring it in there so it was uh it's very nice I mean it's uh they're very proud of it and we should be as well all of us because it's uh from where they were and where they are now it's just 23,000 squ ft uh two brand new paint boots you know uh I'm I'm scared to ask how much they cost but uh was very very impressive place also was able to attend the new employee uh luncheon and uh just enjoy sitting there and talking with uh employees amazing you we have conversation with some of them they do know who we are so you know that's kind of impressive you know I was and one of them specifically asked through you know as we were conversating uh also uh we was able to uh share uh at our church the uh DPA for the uh firsttime home buyers and and owners and uh and for the owner owner occupied uh rehab program chip ship money as we as we know it to be in CRA uh our employees Cedric and those who came uh did an outstanding job Full House a lot of people had a lot of questions uh were very much engaged and involved in that process at the same time uh we did a welcome for the new residents of Florence Place I believe about 80% uh are actually in uh now in in their apartments and uh so we had a uh picnic for them and many of them came over and had a great time and just shared and got a chance to meet many of the community in fact on Sunday morning several of them showed up to church so that was uh very exciting finally I would like to say that I do appreciate our city for being inclusive of all residents and uh I think that's important for many reasons uh I think to exclude people or to not owledge who they are and and and what they bring to this city and how we make this a very unique Place uh we all have our differences we all uh but I think our differences is really what brings us together and makes us a one F community in which to live and grow and I hope that we always keep that because I I feel that in some communities that's that's being that's put under attack where you know people are trying to exclude and trying to keep people back and uh I think that that's wrongheaded I think it's not in in in in the best interest of our city and I pray and hope that uh Winter Haven will be the example uh and not go along uh with some of those who are trying to I think take us in a Direction I think it's not Progressive and not helpful and certainly hurting to a lot of people in our community so I appreciate that tonight so it's just great to know that to see that all right thank you may have Pro Tim so I had the honor and privilege of representing the City of Winter Haven at the Florida League of cities fast Flyin last week um Gary Hubbert had to step out but I was going to really impress him as I became the lead in discussions of round posos um wow in in Washington DC so um was able to really tie in to what the City of Winter Haven has experienced and gone through thus far relative to posos and that is the testing of our water um recently the EPA came out and actually made a final determination on you know how what what's the what's the appropriate level of of posos and our drinking water and that came in at four parts per trillion so it's going to take some dollar bills to to continue testing of our water and making sure that it's at a at a safe level which this point of my understanding is completely is um and ultimately you know what we asked for up there is the same thing that we asked for in in our trip um recently as as a commission up there and that is liability protection there are a lot of attorneys in this state sorry John ours um thank you sir and they love litigation and and uh and so we as a as a municipality did not put the posos into the system but now we've got to deal with it so it's important that we take our funds that we can allocate towards solving the problem rather than um uh getting John Morgan a bigger house or whoever wants to try to litigate it so hopefully that will um come to fruition uh with the with that liability protection there the other items that we spoke about one was the flood insurance and that is um it appears like we're going to have a a um five-year reauthorization of the nfip which is a national but fortunately that's still kicking they can down the road and we're going to have to Circle back and and ensure that that continues um lots of different things that I don't want to take up too much time on here but I'd like to eventually get with staff on some of the things that we talked about up there and that's the OSHA certification Federal mandates which is coming through through nfip as well and it got a little bit cloudy for me so I'm I'm sure that you guys can help me get that straightened out in my head um and then finally the last itent that we spoke about was streamlining the grant process um Senator Rubio of course you know LED that legislation a few years back and uh Congressman Franklin as well um so there's a Senate bill there's a house bill a companion house bill um there to move that forward the problem is when they started talking about streamlining the grant process process four or five years ago the State of Florida had not experienced the growth that it has experienced today and so the number that they were talking about in in Resident number was 50,000 and so I made the point with Congressman Franklin's office and and many others that 50,000 might have been okay four or five years ago but now the municipalities across the state have grown exponentially over these last four or five years while Washington has continued to just talk about this and now it's coming to fruition but now a lot of them you know are going to be kicked out to help streamline that Grant process which those dollars can go help with a lot of the growth that we've experienced throughout the state so hopefully we we kind of went back on some numbers in a couple of the offices and I started at 75 and they started at 60 and we ended up at 625 in one office and 65 in another so that won't that won't get us all the way there for long but hopefully the um the grant process can get streamlined up there in Washington and hopefully it'll be in a level where the City of Winter Haven can um secure a few grants before we uh exceed that level of um of limits so with that I appreciate the the commission's confidence in sending me up there a lot of great discussions in every meeting whether the the Congressional or Senate leader was from our area or not I was able to tie Winter Haven back to to the story and so I think that gave us a lot of value and everybody knows up there that Winter Haven has a lot going on so that's something to be proud of that's it that's it all right well I had a few things and a lot of them have already been mentioned um the girls ink lunching the uh off clar at Cruz Bank um w a hayen high school graduation uh attended a rivon cutting for the new Watson Clinic I'm the uh chairman of the Central Florida Regional planning Council and we had a finance committee meeting um attendant the uh funeral services for gay Henry uh and one of the most Pleasant things I had for Annie Davis I went to the senior center and gave her appr Proclamation and then I had the privilege of going to her birthday party that she had at the Arendale uh Civic Center give her $100 she didn't ask for it but you know the thing that really is impressive about her is her family takes her to Publix every day and what they do cuz I observed it they let her out in the parking lot and she gets her walker and walks into public and do her shopping I also witness her getting a catfish dinner when she got to the counter the lady said Miss anel Le you want the catfish she said yes I said Miss anel Le how did she know she said because I get this every Friday so I mean this 100 year old lady is sharp is attack and is still mobile which is really really really a blessing only from God and so I thoroughly enjoyed that also attended the U little outing that we had for Florence Place and with Rin dollison and uh you know the firsttime home buyers class and it we it really was well attend it attended the prwc meeting and uh that's pretty much it all right C attorney thank you Mr Mayor commission um I don't have anything this evening other than to um just publicly note that my mother-in-law just passed away uh last Saturday recently and although she was from BTO she was very active in the uh the Water Community uh she served on the Peace River Basin board and helped develop some of the important water policy matters that are being implemented certainly in Central Florida today that we all are well aware of so just a just a mention of her um she was very devoted to our my children and her grandchildren and her family so uh we'll we'll we'll miss her our cond condolences our condolences city manager I see you have an item I do have an item sir um so I want to give the commission just a quick update on where things stand with the grant Nate advisory committee that you have um I continue year over year to be so impressed by this group um they do tremendous work on your behalf and I think mayor pmates I think you did you attend both meetings with them so you got to see firsthand uh the deliberations they go through uh I'll tell you they they draw a bigger audience than the city Commission uh the chamber was filled for both of their meetings by um by those that applied so just a quick recap Grant n trainings were held February 8th 12th and 24th those were required to attend one of those if you were going to apply for funds um there were 64 agencies that attended train at least one of those trainings um the grant aid application Review Committee met on May 9th and for about two hours and then came back for another 2H hour plus meeting on May 16th to do their work so definitely taking the work seriously we had dispersed to them um giving them a budget of $35,000 which is consistent with what we have in the current year budget to do their work uh that 305,000 doeses not include funds that are set aside for the Winter Haven EDC the Chamber of Commerce Main Street pulk Vision Ridge Art Association the marching Wolverines or keep Winter Haven clean and beautiful that money is housed else where either within my budget as city manager or within the respective departments total applications received was 50 five of those were for large single initiatives big dollar items um traditional grants uh totaled 45 applications uh the committee did not recommend funding any of those large initiatives recognizing that doing so would jeopardize the ability to impact several of the smaller applications received the number of agencies that they have recommended for next year to be funded beginning October 1st is 32 um the value of the recommendation uh of the awards that they're recommending is $271,000 that means that they did not expend $344,000 kind of unique you given a group a pot of money and they don't distribute it all um so they are returning to you $34,000 now I will say that that came about out after a long discussion concerning eight applications that were disqualified these were applications that were disqualified either because an individual did not represent the agency at one of the three trainings that we offered or there was some anomaly within their application something was changed or not submitted correctly and therefore it was removed from consideration um I will tell you that the that uh staff is working to will meet with the grant application Review Committee in November or October maybe uh to review the process one of the things that we are uh recommending be folded in is a um a period for a sufficiency review on applications so that we can negate some of that disqualification going forward we've never done a sufficiency review period before uh but we feel that you know we can do that and give a one-time resubmittal of information to those folks folks that maybe got something wrong or didn't know what they had to do there despite the fact that we put that in all of our training materials and everything else I will say that what was discussed amongst that committee and this will come back to you in the form of a fact sheet I believe for your June 10th meeting um is uh really you have I think three options that you can can go forward with one is to approve the final recommendation of the grant nade Review Committee with no changes uh second option would be to consider the those disqualified applications and fund them proportionately uh in consideration of the $34,000 balance that we have available in that account and the third would be to consider those disqualified applications and fund them based on the amounts they were awarded in the most recent year of award which would either be 23 or 24 fiscal year um to do that would require an additional funding level of about $11,000 so and those are some big agencies that's Meals on Wheels that's uh First Missionary Baptist Church that's um the mission some folks that we have historically funded that um the commission may choose to to make a a different decision on those being disqualified um there is as I said $34,000 with which to work on that so I just want to give you that update um very proud of that group and and certainly you know who you appointed if you have a chance to reach out and extend your appreciation to them I'm sure they would um they would appreciate that and uh we are uh waiting for confirmation from them I believe Katrina to who's going who's willing to serve again I don't know if we've gotten that fully laid out yet but they have that's a three-year term and other than um uh Melinda calaga she just this was her first year the others have all served for um for three years now on that so we're hopeful that they will return they know the process well and they do a great job so stand for any questions you may have in that regard so T do we need to uh make a determination nothing this evening we're I just wanted to give you the update so that when the fact sheet comes to you for your next meeting it's you've got a little insight going into it it won't be as as um uh challenging to get through and um certainly we'll discuss that at your Workshop okay the other thing I'll mention is that tomorrow uh myself along with the deputy city manager and our director public affairs and communication will be uh out of town tomorrow through uh I believe Saturday morning for all of us attending the Florida City County Management Association conference in Orlando uh assistant city manager Charlie bird will run point for my office and my absence and able to respond to any emergencies that come forward certainly I'll be available via phone and and email as need be okay thank you all right got a quick question about the grant n what you know this is very similar to what we do with the PDC and we're always refining the process so I'm glad to hear that you're constantly doing that but what Provisions I know we've talked about this do we have to make sure people are using the money like they say they're going to use it do we have like a a u mechanism in place to go and kind of follow up or is it all just honor System or what so I'm going to ask krina to speak to that we do require them to report back to us and she that's one of the things that we do review yes sir they werei two reports back to us one at six months in which corresponds with when they're applying for the next year's Grant so we can see what they've done with the funding in the first half of the year and then again at 12 months and then we include their last two years of reports in with their application so that the committee can see how they're using the funds alongside considering the what funds they're asking for in the future but it's clearly honor System we just believe what they say on there cuz and that's what we have to do with the TDC really with there's no way to really go out visit these people but you just believe we did have one Committee Member called them all this year yeah so that's that's kind of the unique thing your committee members last year made it they took a kind of a an oath that they were going to go out and visit these sites that they weren't familiar with and they did um and they were very you know they don't hold back at all in discussing what's important to them they did select agencies that really address those items within the United Way um local needs assessment uh so you're dealing with uh education you're dealing with Workforce skill development you're dealing with housing uh Food Ministries those types of things um but the uh it is it is based upon honesty and and good faith the difference between this and I believe the TDC I believe the TDC is a reimbursement grant program where they have to show they've spent the dollars in order to get that back ours is not set up that way ours is a grant on the front end to go accomplish your mission and the you know the verification is done through some level of of reporting back it's it may not be beyond the realm in the future if the commission so decides to switch to a a reimbursement program that certainly gives you a much greater control over how were the funds used and and did they go for the right thing but I I don't know that we're at that point just yet we might want to consider that and the other thing that we do with the tdcs we don't allow it for things like Vans or you know you know physical stuff could be potentially be sold or something is that what we do here or do we preclude them from buying a van or we don't in fact we actually funded um a van for a food Ministry and a a youth transport program a few years back and I'm trying to think krina this year if there was any of them that were tied to to that type of I believe one of the feeding Ministries is tied to a van vehicle again um you know we we fund stuff with um you know that supplies and materials Habitat for Humanity to do emergency repairs obviously that's going towards um raw material and tools um a lot of it's just Outreach Services and food Ministry um the count just always had problems with with uh funding things that could potentially be sold turn around and put it back up in the market and sell it for something you know like a car but anyway that's just the county no sa the safety advisory committee is that still uh the safety advisory that we still have we're working on a resolution to bring to the commission at the uh one of the I get the second meeting in June uh to address that by way of a resolution that will then allow us to comport with the the new state law okay they are not meeting um anymore until all that has been addressed so anything else no sir thank you Deputy C manager nothing this evening thank you city clerk for me all right emergency matters not receive for the agenda motion to adjourn