##VIDEO ID:y8t-BiC28uE## e good afternoon I'd like to call to order this uh special City Commission meeting can I have a roll call please commissioner dollson here commissioner Mercer here commissioner danler here mayor proat here and mayor berong here so we have one resolution uh R 2447 would you read by title only or it or do you read it in its entirety title only is fine Mr Mayor unless you wish for me to read it in its entirety k l thank you very much resolution number r- 2447 a resolution of the city Winter Haven Florida declaring a state of local emergency with respect to Hurricane Milton invoking emergency powers and authorizing Municipal officers to take necessary measures provided for conflict severability and an effective date thank you this will also confirm that the notice of this special meeting was given as uh strictly provided in our Charter section 14 uh with the requirements of personal service and Delivery at least six hours prior to this meeting thank you all right thank you city manager thank you uh mayor and Commissioners so as you're aware we've got quite a weather situation approaching us on Saturday October 5th and then amended on Sunday October 6th the governor issued executive orders 24 214 and 215 declaring a state of emergency in the in 51 individual counties within the State of Florida uh pulk is included in that declaration earlier today the board of County Commissioners issued Declaration of state of local emergency 42- 01 so that put the county into a state of local emergency as well uh what we typically do in these scenarios is is a somewhat of a we call it a belt suspenders approach we go ahead and issue a local or recommend the issuance of a local state of emergency um I worked with my team this morning and City man and City attorney attorney to uh make sure this was prepared for you this afternoon uh this allows us to expedite preparations response and Recovery efforts needed in response to Hurricane Milton so uh entering into contracts um waving certain procurement requirements that we have so that we can we need to purchase things to help prepare facilities and citizens uh in that are going to be impacted by public facilities and infrastructure that we can do that as well as all the response and Recovery effort no Financial impact associated with this um we will track everything that we expend we have a a very uh specific procurement and and accounting tracking program uh designation that we use so that we can identify all these expenses that we may incur uh our intent is that uh to seek as much reimbursement through the state and federal agencies were eligible FEMA being the most obvious this is part of our strategic plan and in alignment with Community safety so we're recommending resol approval of resolution R 2447 and um following action by the commission I would like to give you an update on where we are on anything else okay thank you Commissioners entertain a motion Mr chairman Mr Mayor motion to approve R 2447 a declaration of local state emergency thank you I will now close the city Commission meeting open the public hearing and one wishing to speak to this declaration may do so at this time we got one little young man out there he may want to [Laughter] speak okay seeing none I Clos the public hearing reopen the city commission meeting is there any discussion all those in favor of the motion Let It Be know by saying I I opposes by the same same sign hearing none the Declaration of local state of emergency is passed did you say was going to be good for T Michaels you have some other comments yes sir uh City attorney just reminded me one thing on that declaration that by state law we can only issue those for seven days okay um and so we will at this point we still expect to have a city commission meeting Monday evening yes at which point uh it will be appropriate to renew it at that time um we can do so at that point and then uh address that going forward as we need to give you just a couple updates and certainly happy to answer any questions you may have first off um we are engaging with P County um in their their Emergency Management countywide uh conference calls um those began last evening at 6:00 pm and we have uh had one today at noon we'll have another tomorrow at noon uh Charlie myself and MJ have been working through the weekend to to put things into play um for this effort Charlie is here um the most recent P County flash report that was issued this afternoon at 3:00 you this may be you know old news to you at this point but hurricane Milton is moving East at about 9 miles per hour right now sustained winds not gusts but sustained winds are 175 milph um it is a very dangerous C atory five primary threat will be heavy rainfall um in our area these are P County impacts of 5 to 10 Ines of rainfall um along with hurricane force winds so keep in mind that any wind that that is sustained when they talk winds they're talking about a sustained wind when they say hurricane Force we're talking anything over 75 milph um impacts we expect to begin uh late Tuesday night through the day Wednesday into Wednesday night tropical storm winds will begin around 800 a.m. Wednesday and strengthen throughout the day and last through Thursday so we expect to have pretty strong winds um all day Wednesday the better part of Thursday the most significant impact on wind and is expected to be in the early evening of Wednesday into Thursday morning early hours always seems to happen at night um Peak winds are forecasted for our area at 75 to 95 miles hour sustained within P County um gusts up to 110 miles hour and that is the uh uh again Wednesday morning and clearing our area Thursday afternoon on all the all the weather related there um from a historical perspective I would say the most significant storms that we've faced in in my ten year with the city would certainly be Hurricane Charlie in 2004 and hurricane Irma 2017 um those were not of that magnitude um those both of those storms had a much greater land mass to travel before they got to Winter Haven in P County this track that hurricane Milton is taking has the shortest possible path of land before it enters P County particularly if it comes in through the bay because you're only talking short distance to get across Eastern Hillsboro County before it's into P County the shelters are going to begin opening tomorrow um Sheltering is going to be you know a bit of a challenge here in P County certainly we need to take care of all of our own folks but there's an awful lot of people within the coastal communities that are going to need to evacuate Inland um a lot of those folks have not been able to return to homes following hurricane Helen particularly along the barrier islands and so we expect a significant influx of coastal counties and Hillsboro County as well coming into P County and even further into Oola and orang and Lake County for Sheltering needs um special need shelters will open at 700 a.m. tomorrow probably there's three of those and that would be closest to serve our residents would be the Flor the Florida Department of Health uh Specialty Care Unit in Barto and the Ridge Community High School in Davenport would be the two closest to us pet friendly shelters will open at noon tomorrow there are three of those and the closest one for Winter Haven is going to be at Lake Region High School there are I believe 13 general population shelters that will open at noon tomorrow two of them are within Winter Haven one being Chain of Lakes Elementary School the other being Winter Haven High School so um those are they're preparing to to do the openings um they're preparing those facilities uh today and tomorrow um so the general population ones can open at noon uh schools are closed beginning tomorrow definitively through Thursday I don't know that um superintendent Hyde has made an announcement as of yet for Friday um his his comments to us earlier were that any efforts to open schools on Friday will hinge upon how quickly they can assess damage what the availability is of power and uh water sewer utilities for those schools as well as the uh the shelter occupancy that we have there so I expect possibly by the end of today at the earliest he may make a uh decision on what happens on Friday um sandbags at the county sites they have uh seven sites that they are operating um they will remain open until noon tomorrow the closest one to Winter Haven being in dunde uh the county has given out just shy of 36,000 sandbags so far we opened up a sandbag station for Winter Haven residents to to help supplement the effort that is at the Ruben Williams sports complex that opened at 8:00 a.m. this morning we're able to get that stood up a little bit faster than we had anticipated uh as of right now I've given staff the directive to keep that open until 1M tomorrow unless weather dictates otherwise um once it's shut down you know when weather starts to turn and we've got to start shifting our work towards uh really securing the final pieces of our city facilities we have met with our city team um at length this morning and some uh I think I've communicated with you yesterday through email just an update on some of the things that we have in play um I have uh in speaking with the mayor um issued notice to our staff that we will close City operations for the day on Wednesday um and I would like to get the blessing of the commission at this point in time to do the same thing for Thursday uh my concern is um just don't know what that weather is still going to be in our area and the ability to get people in on Thursday is going to be highly suspect so right now we're we're down on Wednesday I'd like if everyone is in consensus to to do the same thing for Thursday should I get a consensus I'm good good I am okay all right um we will bring in um certainly on Wednesday uh despite being closed we will have our Emergency Operations assigned staff uh for the most part that's going to be um assistant city manager bird acting as our EOC command uh Deputy city manager myself will be a part of that I've requested that Katrina Hill be a part of that is to help us communicate messages out as we need to to the public um we have other staff that are assigned to that uh primarily roles within police and fire as well as in utilities um we will have our police and fire Personnel or First Responders emergency Personnel shifting to I believe it would be a 36-hour rotation within fire and a two shift or two Squad process within the police department to make sure we have coverage there um we have begun the process of uh getting equipment ready to be staged for our first push efforts that is to clear roads that are critical for emergency response that will involve staging equipment at the motorpool facility as well as Winter Haven water gives us two pretty Central locations to clear major roads and get to critical facilities such as the uh Winter Haven Hospital our fire department's major roads and the light um we have we have given directives to staff to do all of their fueling uh through the day today we expect to get one more shipment of fuel I will tell you I have a concern about fuel um just what we're seeing around town in in massive lines that began this morning at uh the various fueling stations that we have if this storm stays on the track that it is and comes up into the Bay Port of Tampa is where the bulk of our fuel is coming from and that will be significantly impacted in terms of not just getting fuel to our operations but getting fuel to the general public as well so we're watching that closely um and and making sure that we've got plans to how do we mitigate that best we can so we can get all of our our uh regular Fleet fuels and Diesel um topped off as much as we can going into to Wednesday's event um all the facilities are being secured uh staff is working on that since yesterday um we will shutter this building and in the annex where we we have those uh that equipment to do so um turning off you know all of our computers and safeguarding All Electronics within spaces um have some concerns about the Winter Haven Police Department building that is going through a roof replacement right now so that contractor is working to secure that facility to the best of their abilities right now um one of the things that we did last night um that you probably may not be aware of is there was a beautiful giant oak tree at the fire station one that stood between the two buildings there it no longer exists we had to make a decision last yesterday afternoon to remove that tree calling Hurrican Helen it began to lean Charlie you think about 10 in in lean and um based upon its location if that tree were and that was in Helen that we had minimal winds with if that tree were to topple In This Storm we would probably lose that entire building so we brought in a contractor last night and they began working uh late into the evening took out probably 50 plus% of it last night uh the last photo I saw a couple hours ago that maybe four feet of the stump is still there thank you sorry I didn't realize my microphone was off um we are uh prepared to do debris cleanup um the county has the two contractors that under a contract that we use past couple years Ash Brit and tetratech we will have a um a debris management site at the motorpool road similar to what we did during Hurricane in the county will also have one at simmers young will be the next closest one to us um Charlie anything I'm leaving out that you want to touch on we will do everything we can to keep you informed and up to dat through mostly through email is going to be the easiest way to do that um like I said we will be on site throughout the day tomorrow we'll release our staff at the end of the day if conditions deteriorate to a level where I feel it's necessary to get our staff out of here earlier sometimes that will happen if we get any tornadic activity late afternoon Tuesday I may push to release staff early but I will notify you um provided I have your blessing to make that call to get our staff into a safe situation um and then Wednesday my expectation is that uh the administration will be housed at fire station one t I do have one thing just so y'all are aware um we will be responding to calls for service during the storm up until the point that it gets too dangerous for our Personnel if we have to take the fire engines off of offline because they're so big uh they'll be teaming up in lowprofile vehicles with the police department and still responding to calls medical calls and everything so just wanted you to be aware of that Tio is going to mobilized to on Thursday um one question about the police is there a miles per hour when you take those cars off or not no we kind of gauge that based upon U as best we can as far as the cars are concerned and generally speaking they can sometimes be out for the whole storm there'll be a point that they'll come in and go out uh we'll prioritize the calls for service and then they'll respond from wherever they're they're assigned whether they're assigned at a station or or a fire station or the police station but um not a mil per hour on that particular thing right now if the eye goes directly over us and that's when we generally pay attention and pull them off the street for that period of time because that's when it's the most intense fire trucks at 30 to 35 is when we start having problems running fire trucks and it's not just because of the high-profile nature but the the potential for damage to those Vehicles during that from either debris that's down or blowing debris that could render those you know unusable when we we are able to go back out um as I was mentioning too is expected to mobilize at the Fieldhouse on Thursday uh when it's safe to do so that that may get put later now um I I have a sense that you know we are the farthest west or sorry the farthest East Boundary for too in their service area so I expect that with what they're going to need to respond to in the Tampa area um they'll probably be staging a lot of equipment over this way not just for response in our area but to also deploy back into Hillsboro County to to assist there um we will run a a special shelter tomorrow uh kids out program uh kid or schools out program at Rotary Park uh that's tomorrow is probably the only day we're going to be able to do that at this point if there's a if there is a school closure on Friday and there's opportunity to do that we'll we'll make a decision on that at that time um storm drains have been inspected as much debris cleared as we possibly can from everything that was down from Helen and um again just trying to secure all the facilities and make sure everything is is working the best that it can garbage garbage will run um tomorrow as normal the landfill is going to stay open as long as they possibly can we do not have any garbage services on Wednesday so that that's to our benefit uh any collections later in the week will'll make that decision based upon what the weather is certainly um not going to be looking to run garbage on Thursday mornings and we will uh vet that further with our Public Works team tomorrow and put out information on that we do have a banner at the top of the city's web page that gives uh a link to emergency um information storm related information we continually update that and add information to it uh so if you get questions from citizens about you know where can I find find information you can just direct them to the city's website and it will be at the top uh there's also a link in there for them to subscribe into our text alert program and we're pushing the same information out through that so t uh you think the winds are going to be coming directly from the West I I I would say that winds will come from every direction um the you know hurricane rotate in a counterclockwise motion so it depends upon what the timing is um You probably will feel them coming from the south initially is that is is churning up uh getting closer pulling in some of those outer bands as it passes through that's going to shift all the way around so it's you know it on the entry you'll feel them from the south on the exit you'll feel them from the north and in between we could feel them you every way possible uh don't forget that we also within those bands you will have circulation associated with toric activity um that is probably for me I think the bigger concern because you just don't see that coming I'm just wondering because if the all my trees are on the east side of my house and if they're blowing West that'll blow them away from my house but yeah hard to hard to say mayor um I think we're going to have a whole lot of stuff blowing around um and and it's it's it's nothing to take lightly this is a massive massive storm it's it's a point of a landfall is unlike anything we've ever seen in Florida um for this area I'm very confident in our staff we met for uh everybody's been doing what they need to be doing we met for two hours this morning to go over that we will meet again today at 5:00 to view any concerns they've identified as of uh throughout the day today you know construction sites we've got several of those that are our own those are being uh tightened up and secured with our project managers and the contractors our Building Division has also been out uh assessing construction sites within the Greater Community to make sure that those are secured and tightened up as well um and we are we're ready to respond um you know we don't know what kind of challenges we're going to face U but we're not shying away from any of those those in U in MO um modular or mobile homes um certainly the most vulnerable because of just the nature of that construction uh there is no mandatory or required um I mean with regards we have because we have several of those within the city I'm sure and uh so I'm just wondering you know what what are we saying to them or how are we uh encouraging them to uh seek other shelter besides uh that form of uh housing um commissioner doson I would say that anybody that isn't a we we don't have a mandate um and I'm not aware of any mandate that has been issued within P County for evacuations at this point I know within our Coastal communities based upon the various zones that people are in based upon sea level rise and and surge uh impacts that they've called for those evacuations already beginning at noon today mandatory evacuations uh in our mobile home parks which there's a number of them along lucern Park Road and in the Northeast section there are a handful of them that are um down off of Eloise Loop Road um and and also the we' mentioned the one earlier on off of uh Lake Daisy Road in the woodpoint area um Le Street um 11th Street yeah those folks you know my recommendation would be I would not I would not remain in those structures it's not a mandatory evacuation but that's why we have shelters that are set up for people to evacuate and not just them but anybody that's in a a uh what they feel is a vulnerable home um older construction you know poor roofs those types of things a lot of trees around a property we have shelters that are opening tomorrow if you feel that you are uh in a in a vulnerable situation I tell everybody you are better to air on the side of absolute caution than to to stay in those in those structures what alert does the hospital uh maintain during these types of uh hospital will remain open they have generator power um they have a you know their power grid is is within the downtown uh they are fed as I understand it from the substation that is located at Second Street Southwest um kind of between here and City Center by the Church of the Nazarene um and they're they have generator power and and I know that they they practice this regularly uh but my expectation is that they are going to remain open and um and care for their their patients accordingly I know in 2017 the generator went out they had a fueling issue and we were able to uh to assist them and I'll be reaching out to Tom gwe president of the hospital um just to get an update from them uh before close of business today he's on my my call list yet um just so we know what their situation is we did get a call from I believe it was Department of Emergency Management for the airport um that they were are going to house some fuel tankers um at the at our airport on the south apron uh to help with response and Recovery efforts and you know fueling of of essential equipment that needs to be a part of that if I could kind of follow up on to to commissioner doon's question should a an evacuation go out from the county they'll utilize the forgive me I've got old terminology but the reverse 911 the calling yes to to notify everyone uh to where they're to evacuate out of those areas and go they go to shelters so that's the County's responsibility to issue that that's correct yeah we take the lead um we give the lead to the county you they're coordinating with um all the power companies all the utility providers uh all the the emergency response efforts and collectively all of our resources we coordinate so we're all on the same page um and that's that's proven extremely successful you know if the sandbags are just for Winter Haven residents or can anybody I mean if they you have to check their addresses or we ask for an ID when they come out there I'm going to tell you if somebody comes out there and they needs sandbags and we have them we're not going to turn them away they're and they're still open today until dusk the today until dusk tomorrow um we hope to have them open I believe it's 7: a.m. and as of right now it's still 1 unless weather conditions dictate otherwise but and and the County's going to keep theirs open till um till uh noon tomorrow is their plan but in in our area commissioner dancor you know so many residents right around where we're doing sandbag station are in unincorporated P County if they need sandbags we're not going to tell them no just as a point of information I heard from one of the Schoolboard attorneys that they're expecting 500,000 people to be leaving pelis County alone to come this way which Schoolboard attorney told you that I'm not going to tell you okay tell me privately okay but there are 500,000 in the evacu uation zone of pelis County only so yeah that's just pellis County and they're coming this way so that's what they're concerned about with our schools they're saying if our schools are that full they're going to be closed for a while the that conversation has already occurred and the superintendent has made it very clear that the schools have to open at a certain point yeah and so there's going to have to be other arrangements made and those I'm sure Arrangements will be yeah in the works as we speak and we are in in conversations um trying to identify what what types of facilities may be out there for that certainly um you know we're public facilities that we own are not not in that mix at this point I mean certainly the biggest one we have being the U Advent Health Fieldhouse and and Tio's occupancy of that site needs to take a a precedent to to try and get things back up and operational nor Hall will be our kind of our our care facility for our city employees throughout this as well AJ is it safe to say that everything on our calendar for this week is gone just everything's been canceled yeah everything's on there okay because we had a big busy week so you did you all had busy calendars this it's all gone being moved okay we're just trying to slot things back in as as we can but all the FLC Stu Rich link stuff the various committees the aack thing that you had that's all going to be is the process of being moved yes okay and the last thing T I was just going to throw it out there for the future you know I know that too and everybody likes to stage down at chain Lakes but as we develop that site that's probably not going to be available so we may want to start thinking about developing something out of the bradshow property maybe get everybody to pitch in and build a road or something where you know where Gary's going to have his operation maybe we can set up an area back there for the staging and get it off Chain of Lakes CU that's going to be harder and harder as we develop that site well and and certainly trying to find secondary sites for that um I will say that you know Chain of Lakes one of the nice things is that once that site gets finished and come early spring um the hard surface there will be greater than it was before for for putting equipment um the nice thing about that site is the Ingress egress is one of the the benefits of it um the other place that that I'm I'm trying to chase down today just to see what the availability might be for a variety of of post storm needs whether that's for uh Red Cross employee work you know for shelter you know they're bringing in upwards of a 100 employees into P County employees and volunteers to respond and trying to find some Sheltering for them we think that that has been um handled for at this point but just looking long term uh for a need like that for potentially uh longer term Sheltering uh outside of the schools for FEMA assistance centers those types of things um one of the the most viable sites for that is uh the former State Farm regional headquarters and we're trying to to see if there might be some option for that have made contact this afternoon with uh uh somebody associated with that property but have not heard back just to see if there's any even capacity for that aren't we doing five acres of development for Gary about 10 acres out there that will be be uh hardened up for our water operations yes sir I'm just thinking too and some of the other made one another five acres if we while we're doing it it would be cheaper to do it there and we we could use it maybe just worth of thought that's what I'm throwing yeah we also have them um as a secondary site at the airport um for for staging uh we are trying to know Troy today was identifying as many open hangers as we have or vacant hangers or hangers that had the capacity to store more planes to get those out of the elements and into some type of storage have a couple questions sir try to get through it half my face is numb so I went to the dentist earlier today so bear with me if I start you're just a a glutton for punishment this week yeah it is it's been a bad week and it's not looking to be any better unfortunately um you mentioned Helen's debris pickup um do you have any idea of where we stand with the the just the miscellaneous Furniture debris pickup that's that's so that was the um the big push uh through it'll be the same through tomorrow is we have asked residents and fortunately it's been kind of of a crummy couple days so hopefully people haven't been out as they typically are before a storm comes and they decide okay it's a perfect time to do a bunch of landscape work and put it all roadside um our Focus over uh the day today and into tomorrow is getting up what is down so that that does not become airborne debris um do I think we'll get 100% of it no do I think people will put more stuff out even though we've put that notice out I'm sure they will but is we is we're we've got those that have been called in and scheduled through tomorrow we're getting all of that up it's just keeping an eye out for the additional stuff um I know last time around the the shades didn't get remove like in MLK Park or have we been able to address removing the removable Shades that's uh again that's something that Parks and Recreation staff uh we're working on today and will continue tomorrow not all of those are remote removable so like the the ones at the at MLK on the amphitheater and on the um above the concession stand they're not ones that you remove uh same with the tennis courts um ones that uh we worry the most about there's a huge one at the pool um that is removable through the turnbuckles uh the ones that Trailhead Park some of the smaller playground sites that have those Davis Park um looking to see what we can do to get all those down as quickly as we can and as far as our infrastructure redundancy systems we we've double checked generators and I I assume we're as prepared as we we physically can be at this point yes sir um you know we're we're testing and running generators you throughout the prep time of hurricane season and then routinely those are exercised uh we have a number of bypass pumps and uh portable gener generators we also have a number of our lift stations that are on permanent generators as we have been able to acquire those over the years we try and place those at the most vulnerable sites um those that are low and those that are you know likely to have problems um we have repositioned over the course of the summer um some of those smart covers that we have for our utility Wastewater system into areas that are prone to being challenges um you know as much rain as we've had as of late and as much rain as we expect to get I suspect we're going to have you know some some minor flooding in some areas probably down around Lake Howard as we did during Hurricane Ian um and we'll you know those systems keep up with it as much as they can but if it's inundated you know there's only so much we can do there but the it should not be as a result of equipment failure and I'm more concerned about the way making sure that flows the right direction that's what I'm speaking of specifically um that was all I had I just wanted to also extend you know from the entire commission you know our appreciation to the staff I mean you guys started working over the weekend on this saw emails started flying so I just I think everybody probably agrees with me that uh we want to thank you all for your hard work and efforts um and this is a time where we all kind of get pulled away from from our families uh and they're they're left holding the bags a lot of times but um you know that's that's why we're here in these positions and we're here to serve so thank you all for your work and efforts and uh please extend that on to the rest of the rest of the team we certainly will I uh I guess to Charlie uh as much as the potential of um many people coming for temporary shelter and uh I have not been in one of the shelter situations but I'm curious how are they managing in terms of security and that kind of thing because you have you know we have a significant uh homeless or houseless population as well some of them you know do have mental health challenges and um and really have issues about being within certain spaces and that kind of thing but you know bringing people from very diverse and different backgrounds and situations ations you know how is that or how do you all uh police that or provide some type of security so that people do feel you know that they are safe in those environments so previously the ones in the city the the city team uh did the security there um now that the safe schools is doing it the sheriff's office will be doing it we'll support them when we when they need if they ask us to do it um they also um they check uh backgrounds and stuff so that we don't end up with predators and stuff like that that's around kids um so they're very careful about that they always helped us with that in the past so we've kind of shifted more to a support role uh as needed uh but there will be security at all of those at all those locations generally speaking as the school resource officer uh and then supported by anybody else that needs I will encourage everybody between now and tomorrow to go around your house and videotape everything all your contents your roof you're Outdoors your indoors your cars because if you have an insurance claim it's really helpful to have done that prior to so just a board just do that sometime just one thing I want to say is that I know that there's a lot of work ahead and for those employees who are on call uh such as fir police utilities storm water they have to go out and clean those drains so the water still can flow through um and so it doesn't take too much before they're built back up and will keep the water from flowing um it you know thank all of them who have taken on that responsibility because it's a big one and we don't often see them and we don't often see their work that they do have to do and what they have to go through um to see that the water you still have water and that you still have uh Wastewater services and you still have sanitation services and you still have all of those things because it has to be picked up and it has to go away so I know the job that faces them I've been through it many times and uh so and you guys thank you for everything that you do because without you you you remind us of things you keep us on track you keep everything moving so thank you very much I appreciate it one final thing is is is are the floodgates open is all the water going down the river that we can get rid of and is is chain being drained and all that so we have some capacity do you guys know about that yep talk to Roger Griff with the Lake Region Lake Management District this morning uh that structure is at its fixed level so there's only just a little bit of water flowing over it because the the Lakes aren't actually high enough for it to flow any faster so as it comes up it'll flow faster but it's at a it's at a fixed level right now so all the water that's moving out of it can okay and Swift mut usually uh the ones that they have they they calculate every how many inches and they lower it so it will take more water structures on the Northern chain and Lake Henry that whole system are all opened up and water's moving out of them so all the water that can be moving for the most part is okay the um we are trying to do a lot of Citizen education through this process um we've got certainly a lot more Tools in our in our toolbx than we've ever had just reminding thing people of the simple things and into the extent that you come in contact with uh your constituents you know seems simple but people seem to forget it first of all have a ton of patience and a ton of Grace for those around you because everybody's dealing with the same thing and we're going to be responding as fast as we can tree all stops it's four-way stops when signals are out assume every Power Line that's down is a hotline don't drive through water when you can't see the road um don't run generators in your house or in your garage these are calls that we will respond to this week I have no doubt um so we are going to continue to push those things out um and make sure that our staff is taken care of as well um but commissioner Mercer I appreciate your comments and we'll certainly share that with with staff we like I said Wednesday this building will be shut down um I will be at the EOC assistance C manager bird will be running the EOC MJ will be with me uh feel free with questions or concerns you have to to to contact uh to me by by cell phone is going to be the best way um if we get any issues um that you know bring the press in mayor I'll be reaching out to you and we will uh help you prepare for those should that need to be the case um we will do Mass feeding for our employees once we get into a recovery mode and I know that you can tell by the comments you are making this evening that you are gratefully appreciative for them and if you want to extend your appreciation and come be a part of those Mass feedings that we're doing we'll certainly make sure you have a an awareness of those time frames we're doing that I think that would mean a lot to the staff as well all right anyone else Mr Mayor I um I think moments like this you know remind us of our humanity and our Frailty and um there is a song that is sung in our tradition and the song Simply says there's a storm out on the ocean and it's moving this old way and if your soul is not Anchored In Jesus you will surely drift away and I think you know when we uh think about those who've already perished and those still uh not accounted for in this last storm helina that U has claimed so many lives disrupted so many lives and I think it's a time as a country and as a community as a people that we uh turn to each other not on each other because we need each other particularly in times like these so we did not open tonight uh this afternoon in a word of prayer so I would like to close with one if I be so honored to do so have every heart gracious God we thank you and we honor and bless your name today we acknowledge you are The Sovereign God and you are the God of all humankind we pray your mercy oh God for truly Mercy suits all of our case forgive us of our many sins and our trespasses for we've sinned and we've trespassed against you we' come short of your glory and your honor father we pray for our community called Winter Haven we pray for the entire State of Florida and all those who perhaps May in this path of this great horrific storm called Milton father we know that you ride above every storm all you have to do is speak a word and there will be peace so we pray oh God your peace that your peace that surpasses all understanding will incline our hearts look unto you the author and the finisher of our very Faith be with every resident be with every citizen be with all of your people oh God but we ask these blessings in the powerful name of our Lord and savior the Christ amen amen motion to ajin We Stand join all righty then