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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=e-_9aJ2QC6s
Video-2: youtube.com/watch?v=1x8pCx4PQNg

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--------- like to call to order the special city commission meeting uh setting the tentative millage rate for uh July 15th, 2026 at 5:15. Uh we will start out with uh public comment actually and then go into the presentation from there. Do I have anybody from the public that wishes to speak right now?

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>> I just got a card from Pansy. >> Oh, okay. them. Dr. O will be up first. >> Thank you. >> Patunia today. I have a lot of concerns about preparation for the possible. And there

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are people on both sides of the road that say it's not going to the referendum for the state is not going to pass. and a lot of other people saying, "Oh, yeah, it's easy. It's easy." Um, we have to be prepared. And to me, the

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the furthest you could put it out and then be able to claw it back is important that if we can get it out there at a reasonable level and start financing and deciding what we can do within the law. But there are some other

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methods of financing that some people haven't investigated and most cities haven't. And I think that we need to investigate those modes of accomplishing things for individual departments

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and using those extra modalities to and be a permanent structure in the city whether it goes or not. have those methods of deliating the needs. And um I will talk to um Mayor Neesa tomorrow

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about it or later today um to explain one of the methods that will help a lot and um the counties use them, other jurisdictions use them, and there's no reason why we cannot. >> Okay, >> thank you Dr. Mstead.

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>> Anybody else? Anybody else from public wish this week? We will close public comment. Mr. Sherman, please uh present our proposed militaries. Thank you, mayor, vice mayor, commissioners.

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The item before you, of course, is the proposed millage rate setting for FY 2627. This slide is the one that I shared with you at the July 9th meeting showing basically where we started and where we are today in regards to each fund.

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And the purpose of the meeting tonight is again to set the proposed millage rate, the roll back rate, and make a motion for the first tenative budget hearing on September 3rd. This charge here indicates the additional revenue

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that we can receive by adding the 75 to the current millage rate to make it um 5.1876 versus the 4.4376 is an additional $6.6 million. So very simply the roll back millage

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rate that we're proposing or is that is calculated is the 4.2510 2510 and the proposed millage rate of 5.1876. >> That's it. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Any questions from the commissioners? >> Well, we've talked about this before. My

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concern. So, I'm not in support of the proposed mil millage rate. I feel that the budget that's presented is not physically sound or responsible. um in the light of kind of what's going on right now, not sharing what's going to happen in November. I think right now a lot of the items that's proposed in the

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budget is something that is not essential. So at this time I cannot actually support the proposed acknowledge rate >> and as discussed during our meeting on July 9th um for the rate that we're proposing, we do need a unanimous vote.

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>> Okay. So, Commissioner Anderson, have you met with department heads to go over your concerns for >> I did. I talked about some of my concerns already >> and provided your feedback to them. >> I I provide in my hearing to them. Yes. >> On Monday, >> not not Yeah.

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>> And Okay. So, you met with each one to >> I did not meet with each one, but I did meet with the on Monday. I expressed my concerns and I also expressed my concerns in the previous meetings as well that I don't feel like the city as a city we're preparing for the potential impact that what could possibly happen in November with the tax reform. I just

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think right now uh if we look at all the cities around us, a lot of cities are embracing themselves, are preparing for the possible reduce in uh potential uh property taxes and a lot of cities are have hiring freezes. Uh and we're we're

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just not we're not I just think right now we just have it all wrong and we need to go back to the drawing board and really re really look at what's essential. What is it that we have on the budget that is you don't feel that is not? >> So I guess the question is to to you guys. So you guys 100% support

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everything that's in the budget. >> Well, what is it in the budget that you don't support? >> What is it in the budget that you guys don't support or did you guys support everything in the budget? >> I support absolutely everything in the budget staff. Yeah. to bring what >> because they haven't

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>> the departments provided already have cut back some of the have cut back immensely of some of the things that they feel that can wait until the next budget year but definitely some of the things that they have here with the staff that's been understaffed and uh

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some of the projects that they are finally going to bring forward to start working on this year. But uh in specific I have reviewed it. I agree with it. I feel like if we um vote for this millage rate the

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way we have it, it still allows the departments to go back and keep cutting, keep doing. But if we get to the point where we lower the millillage and now they realize was these are the some important things that

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we we feel we should have but we're not going to have them with it's like we're still kicking some of the projects down the the road. So I'm asking what specifically do you feel that we are not

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that we are budgeting for that is shouldn't be on the budget. So let me give you let me give you example because it's an example. So we'll go through if you want to go line by the budget go line by the budget but we'll I'll pull it up and go line by the budget. >> So

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and let me just preface it with this. If staff is able to go back and cut items that mean that the the initial proposed budget was not an actual budget that was essential. So if anything can be cut from the budget, it should have been cut before it was presented to to council. >> Uh so I'll disagree with you on that

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pretty aggressively because this was for you. We were walking not only the commissioners but also the public step by step. So every single time we've gone through this, we've said this is not final. This is not final. This is not final. >> Even the last budget, we got feedback from commissioners. Hey, we still need

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to to chop this down. No problem. An email went out earlier this week that stated that I want to say it was about 10% per department. We were looking for the department heads to go through and see what operational uh efficiencies they can create or capital projects they

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may can uh maybe push off or phase out. Uh so >> including personnel. >> Including personnel. Yeah. Exactly. And then internally as well on the executive level, we're looking at, okay, how can we get more strategic with still providing the staff with what they need to properly serve our residents, but

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also not uh increasing those rates to an unnecessary amount. But at the same time, we our departments have not grown the way that they should have as our city has grown. Uh but again, to go back to it, we have not said that this is a final budget, nor does this vote tonight mean a final budget. It specifically

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says it's a proposed operating millage uh rate that we will be again my goal is to reduce it by another 0.25 mills by the end of this if we can get there. Uh there's a lot in this and there's a lot that we have to catch up on and it's hard conversations. I mean there's there will be more hard conversations even

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after tonight. There's going to be more hard conversations with us as commissioners to say here's some major things that we may enjoy right now that we may need to cut. And that could be from events to assets that we own right now to uh not doing projects that we wanted to do. So this is not final. It

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never was final. It was never presented as a final budget, but it is starting to get more and more and more uh close to final, but this is not final at all. And nor was it presented as that. >> No. And I've been following some other cities where I see that they're cutting events.

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>> They're cutting a lot of what they normally would have >> Yes. for the as entertainment for the cities and that's something that I know we still have here but that's a possibility that we may be doing the same thing. >> Yes. >> And these cities too are adding uh new

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fire fees is kind of the new one right now that you're seeing across a couple different municipalities and there's going to be more fees along that line too. And I'm not this is not a scare tactic. This is not to sway one way or the other. It's just the way that some municipalities are are >> in preparation of the tax reform. >> Correct. So there's different ways to do it. How I see it is it's it's the same

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thing just moved around. You either increase your military rate to a certain amount to make your balance your budget balance or you're adding fees as nonadalorum uh which is what other municipalities are doing. Maybe they're keeping their military the same but they're just bringing it down to a nonadalorum fee. So >> yeah,

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>> it's being switched around one way or the other. >> It's just it's this kind of behavior that's got us in the mess. >> So it's it's not about a behavior. This is called being physically responsible. >> When you're not being responsible, when you're bringing the city up to the standards it needs to be. >> I don't see anything >> and we got behavior like this. This is

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the reason a popup will always be a a bedroom community because nobody the people that have said at this dis before is let the infrastructure get in such a shape that nobody can come here and backfill the services that we need to build the city up. You got to be able to

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build the city up before the people come that can support a community we want to live in. That's the reason we have to go to Winter Garden. That's the reason we have to go to Mount Dor. Um, there's a a certain little cabal that lives here. They want to control the narrative. They use little slings and errors and they

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throw it in in in mischievous ways. Uh, until we get rid of this kind of behavior, we're never going to be able to go forward. I'm I'm for the vision that you have and until we can get a collective as a group here and we can uh

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fill the holes that we currently have in our infrastructure, we're not going to be able to do it. >> Okay. So, let me be very clear, okay? This budget that's proposed does not have a lot of things in regards to infrastructure, potholes. I don't have any issue with anything. If we're repaving roads, if re redoing pipes, I

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don't have an issue with that. So, let me be clear on some of the things I have a they have a issue with. Not only do I have a issue with where I received dozens of calls in regards to a large increase in in in new positions and salary costs that are not essential. And if they are essential, can someone please explain to me how these are

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essential right now at this time? So, I'm going to give you examples. So, I'm going to go through these new positions. M received this email. Let's see it. I'm sorry because I 11:15 said he sent his email out. So, we'll go through some of the positions and maybe you guys can enlighten me on

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how this is essential right now. >> I excuse me. I'm check. We have an interim city administrator. >> We we don't have a clear vision on the direction we want to have. Sir, >> we're trying to we're trying to backfill holes that we currently have on staff.

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>> You didn't let me speak on which positions that I think that I'm speaking in regards to. You just interrupted me. >> I too like you only got this two hours ago. This is not the this is this this is not the one we saw last week. >> So, let me just interrupt and and I apologize.

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>> It was in their initial book for the new positions. The only thing that you got is the proposed so far through the first filter. >> Exactly. Correct. So, and again, these are none of this. Again, that's why >> I just don't want this paper being used as a weapon. >> No, not a weapon. >> No, absolutely. And and I'll let you go through this by by and again, this is

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proposed cuts gone through the first filter of of cuts. Um, and there's more to it, too. And then we're trying to decide uh where we come in at some um >> what level, >> correct? what level we're coming in at for for each and every position here because at the same time we have to

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remain competitive salary-wise for those that are here and those that we're trying to hire. Uh because as our city grows, if you look at other similar similar size municipalities and bigger uh they're heading this trajectory with how they're building out their teams. Um so please sorry go ahead Anderson. So,

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as I was trying to >> go ahead >> articulate is that so for example the chief of staff position can someone please explain to me the chief of staff position. What does that entail? >> Um the chief of staff under the mayor's office. >> What would what would the role of chief

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of staff? >> That would be one that it's similar to what is going on in city of Orlando and Orange County as well and other large municipalities. And really if you you try to run a city like a business, one that can be focused on making sure that every dollar does count, you need to have the right staff members in place.

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And this individual or this department would help to it wouldn't be a department be under my office, but this individual would help to uh ensure that our messaging is out properly that we are uh coordinating coordinating with uh other municipalities properly because that's one of our big issues right now is that our other local municipalities

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are uh don't see us as a friend. Um and so they're going to be part of that liaison to make sure that other municipalities are creating efficiencies there that there's some overlap of um savings that we can create through uh some of our infrastructure that has been discussed. So some of those opportunities there, some government

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affairs leaison, some budgeting help. Um there's a lot that can go into what that would do uh large as a large scale for >> you would you would be running the operation of the city. The chief of staff would be doing uh everything else

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which would be like we don't have a lobbyist. Our previous mayor was the lobbyists. He was the chief of staff. He was everything. But we're a growing city and we had one person kind of controlling everything. So if you look at the three cities that are strong

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mayors, [clears throat] they all have a ste chief of staff except us. >> They're $323,000 plus benefits. >> No, that's not plus benefits. >> No, no, it it includes benefits. >> $323,000 is very I mean >> and that's not and we corrected that salary

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would be at all probably minus 60 grand off of that. So and again that's with benefit. So all of these are with benefits because we needed we need to see what worst case scenario numbers are. So all of these are with benefits >> and then a communication officer. I I just think for me right now when we're talking about budget cuts right now and

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not knowing what's going on. I think adding a chief of staff adding communication officer. I mean adding another executive a senior executive assist at 141,000 and another senior executive at 141 and another I just think right now ad administrative special at 114. I just think right now it's just wasteful spending. I just

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don't think it's conservative physical spending. And I think that in order for us to prepare and brace ourselves now for what's going to happen, the impact, it can have the less impact on the residents to throw all these, you know, over, you know, $2 million increase in salaries right now to the residents right now. I just don't think right now is the time to do that. And I think we

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should phase it in. And I am I am able and if nothing is used as a weapon, I am I was first of all, when I campaigned, I campaigned on making sure that we been physically responsible. when I'm receiving calls for residents, my job is not to be the most popular, to be favored and go along with the, you know, with the group. My job is to make

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decision to say things even if I'm popular, but to make sure that I am representing the residents that call my phone and have it have issues with this with this proposed budget. I'm not here to just to get along to get along with everybody. I am here to represent the community and that who's reached out to me and called me. Even if it's me by myself staying on this diet, if the

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residents is calling me and saying that we cannot afford a military increase, then my job is to represent the residence. Even if I'm the only one up here representing the residents, they cannot afford this this major increase at 75. And me saying to that if I agree today to vote yes on potentially the

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1.75 that is saying I agree with it and I'll agree with it. >> So what military are you comfortable with? I'll have to think about that because this right when I just saw this and I start receiving these calls and when I saw the comparison that I received at 11 something today um you know it's just it really really

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initially you know I I thought about it I went and kind of researched some other cities and kind of see what other cities are doing and they are bracing themselves for it and I don't think I don't think we're properly preparing for it. >> Well I need a mill rate though that's the point of this meeting so we need to be prepared for a mill rate to be set. So I I hear well received on on hey we

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need to make cuts and we're going to continue to do that. We need to set a military rate. So what's that military? >> And remember we can always come back down >> because I I'm okay with uh feedback of hey we need to cut this, we need to cut that, but I need now specific feedback

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of I want this military because I can we can cut all day but does it get us to where we need to be at the end of the day? Residents want two different things. They want us to be as fiscally sound as possible, but they also want an incredible city that they can be proud of. >> And those there's a balance to that.

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>> I agree. >> And and with that, there are a lot of uh positions here. We're going to start losing a lot of quality employees if we don't provide uh support to them on all levels. Uh and I've been doing meetings daily with our one-on- ones with our

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public services uh team. First of all, we have we have employees that are in positions that that's they were not hired to do, >> but during the last administration with some changes, we have a lot of intrums.

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>> We don't have a transportation person. >> The engineer, I mean, he's he works till sometimes 11:00 at night. That's not what we should be putting on his back. One engineer, that would be val. >> We have Bradley who was our recreation.

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We moved him from there. We have him as the interim uh uh city manager, but he wasn't hired to do that. His specialty was recreation. >> That's not in the budget that we talk we that's not on the in the budget. We're talking about what's in the proposed budget.

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>> Yeah, we're talking about what's in this. >> So this the public >> the new positions that are being added, >> but >> it's not popular, but it's the true. I mean, we we we we we we get these we we we campaign on we're going to make sure that we're not cutting rates and then we we get in I mean I mean increase interest rates and then we get in rates

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sorry mortgage broker increase millage rates and we get in and then we do the exact opposite and then we add all these positions and with really no you know just >> we we've been we've been using the same number of staff as our city is growing

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providing the same services with new developments with the same amount I don't know how a chief of staff will help with the infrastructure. I just don't think if we're saying that we if we're able to take and I'm just saying just in general because I'm looking at this for 300 and some thousand dollars. But

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you know how much road we can actually what one every one mile of a road we can page like two 200 and some thousand dollars or something. It's just like we can pave the whole mile of road. We can put in you know new pipes. >> That's not completely accurate. But I'm just saying I'm just giving we we we

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could do more than I mean I'm pretty sure that I I personally have not had anyone call me and say that they're concerned they're going to have a chief of staff. Maybe everyone's getting the calls. I never had a call on it. I just think right now with everything that is going on, I just don't think hiring new positions. We should be trying to figure out how we could not cut positions for

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our current staff. Well, and and I I'll tell you very specifically too, our >> not only do we need not cuts positions, we need to increase >> what we're paying our employees right now. >> Absolutely. >> So, and they need support. So, there there's

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a lot more to this and uh we need to military. If everyone's talking to staff and and understanding department heads what their needs are, um your your concerns are well received. I hear you. I I only receive I've only received one call um

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regarding the military, but it's from someone that I know is not happy with the military ever in all the years that I've been here. But um most of the texts that I've gotten, they're like thanking us and saying finally you're kind of not going to kick things down the road

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anymore. Kicking the can down the road. >> Well, I don't think I don't have any issues. No, we'll we're going to sit here and say what's the proposal in. >> So, everyone is okay. I just want to make sure on record. So, everyone is okay on the >> only one getting negative.7. >> You said well I guess every I guess no

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everyone's okay with a 75%. >> All the are very supportive. >> Well, I can 100% tell you that everybody that I'm speaking to is not supportive of 75%. >> This is not permanent. This is not permanent. This is still going to allow >> We have the opportunity to take it down with me. you. We just want to give them

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that little leeway. >> Well, and and to the point too, so I mean we can beat this up one way or the other. >> We left the last meeting with does 75 work >> and we all got some head nods that yes, this works. Again, not finalized, not guaranteed, but we can bring it down and

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the budget's still going to be massaged and made very comfortable at the end of the day and made sure that the commissioners are updated every step of the way on what it looks like. Uh at this point, I'm not going to go back to staff and say, "Hey, try again. and let's see if we can get to some random spot. I need to know what mill rate you're comfortable with and then we'll

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we'll work to get there if we all agree. >> But does okay with a 0.25 increase in millillage? >> Uh what when's it the >> I have to have this by the end of the month to the property appraisals office. Just a reminder the mill rate last year was lowered. It wasn't 4.6. We lowered

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we lowered it last year. >> It was the problem is that that put us in a worse position now. >> So that with the 0.25 that's putting us back where we were at 4.687. 6876. Not really generating any too much revenue. And again, cost is going up. We're

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losing that recurring revenue. As I explained in the presentation on July 9th, the growth is slowing down. So, the building permits and those planning fees can no longer cover some of that recurring cost. And with some of those cities that I had

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the privilege of talking to the finance directors with, they are considering increasing millage rates, >> they going to have to, especially with the property freezing as well. >> Oh, I understand. And that's something that that can be discussed. >> It's not essential. >> And but there's some the other

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municipalities, too, and I don't want to we just need to kind of wrap this up in one way or the other. There's other municipalities that are not growing the way that we are or that they've grown properly. Some to our our water rates. We never properly increased those small amounts year-over-year to make sure there was never a huge jump and that we had to all at once.

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>> Exactly. >> This is that same scenario. We are at that that tipping point to where >> it's got to be done and this is only going to get worse the more we push this off. So >> and next year if that passes it will be worse. >> Correct. And not it's not a scare tactic. It's going to be more difficult

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for us. But we're going to take care of it how we need to. So, I need to figure out where where we need to be next. I'm not going to have staff waste time to kind of keep drilling down on a number that may change. And telling you, department heads and employees are

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begging for new staff members. >> So, if I may, mayor, um you know, we got to pay. Either we're going to pay on the front end or we're going to pay on the back end. >> Yes, ma'am. >> We've already paid on the back end. We

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we've been pushing this along. Our millages have gone up and down and we have nothing to show for the up and down that we've had in the past. Do I propose? Do I agree with the 7.75?

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Yes. However, however, there's a contingency to that and that's with these proposed positions with benefits >> that we received. Those need to be

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looked at. Those need to be kind of narrowed down. Is that a necessity? And you need to justify that director of that position or that department needs to justify why that position is necessary. We need to start looking at

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the things that are essential and the things that are not essential. >> We have to really start looking at the budget, kind of skimming the things that we haven't skimmed in the past. However, we need to make sure that we are implementing the necessary funds into

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our infrastructure into Golden Gem, >> Golden Gem Pond, the pump station. That is a necessity. We can no longer kick that down the can down the road, if you will. That is why I approve it >> because that's my focus right now

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because I know that that's our biggest need that we have in the city and we can no longer ignore it. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Like I said at the at the beginning, either we're going to pay for it at the end at the beginning or we're going to pay for it in the back end. But either way, we're going to pay we're gonna have

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to decide. >> What we haven't done with our public is is really tell them what the cost is for this golden gem. I mean, I was shocked. >> $11 million. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Just for the >> pump station. >> The pump station. >> Yes, ma'am.

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>> And that's a mess. >> And that's $11 million. >> Well, that's going to be 12.7. >> Yeah. 12.7 with the contingency. >> Is the real number with the contingency. >> And then um and we still haven't even addressed some of the other major problems that we >> Well, keep in mind what I presented. We

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did put the $10 million in there for the large liner repair. for replacement and we're covering the small one with the 2 million that we have in the current year budget. So they're already working on that one. So those things are factored.

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This is general fund where we have to set the millillage. >> Yeah. So as as I expressed is that my concern my major concern is actually infrastructure and I don't see how these added positions for one are essential positions and for two how assist with infrastructure. So that is my concern.

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So, if I can tie all these new positions to infrastructure in some way, you'll approve this. >> If you can tie it to B to repaving roads where we're going to say we're going to repave these road, we're going to put this in the budget, repave roads, we're going to put this to replace this pipe. Absolutely. Not them going out and talking to other cities about how they came up with, you

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know, funds for it. >> I hope we're not repaving them. I hope we're making them bigger. >> Whatever infrastructure, whatever needs to happen. We have roads that need to be repaved as well. So proposing I would we need I need direction then from the commission on because I need this to either be a 50

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vote or what do we need to reduce it to to not be 50 >> and then we'll come back and I can tell you what the vote needs to be. >> So then we're going to have to have a special meeting uh before the end of this month uh to come set this if we're not all in agreement to this tonight. >> I'm not in agreement. >> We're not.

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>> So >> but it only needs to be unanimous if it's 10% correct. I don't know. This one needs to be unanimous. It's over the >> 1.2. >> And I didn't know 100% of the residents agreed to a 75% tax increase to a mill rate increase. That was >> the 1.2. >> You understand?

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>> Yeah. >> Well, then this was a colossal waste of time. >> I don't think it's waste of time at all. I think it's it's it's >> from last week where we asked, "Hey, are we good with this?" to now. Um, >> no. I voiced my concerns last week as well. >> I voiced my concerns last week as well. >> Nobody heard them. So, I guess we'll go

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back. You guys hear now to do this again? Excuse me. >> Well, did we vote 50 for the 75? >> No. >> No. That's what the purpose of this meeting is. What I asked at the previous meeting was to gain a consensus that you're going to be comfortable with that. Keep in mind what we proposed was

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1 mil and so we talked about going down to the 75 and the mayor mentioned that that time that his goal was 0.5 but we know that the process allows us to set it at a higher level and then as we continue to refine the budget we can

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bring it down if it's deemed necessary and let I'm sorry this that we got today is this in here I don't believe it was in here >> it's in your purple your red book >> in the red Yeah, what I initially gave it to you, but the cuts were factored.

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>> The cuts >> too. Let's say that we take away every single one of the added uh positions here. >> There's still 75. >> Well, I still need to find another $7 million this budget approximately. Something along this line. Take less than that.

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>> Yeah, if the 3.5 still in the positions. I I guess my concern is is that if if department heads is able to go back and massage it some more, I think present us the massage budget with your bare essentials. >> And that's what we're working on. >> So that's the thing. Yeah. We we can't

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we're not going to be giving a final budget and then doing a proposed military. >> No, we have not the route that this goes. >> Yeah. We have to follow the process >> and then we cut cut. So even if you say yes to this tonight, you can still absolutely vote no uh >> September 3rd.

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>> September 3rd on the budget meeting. >> Correct. >> You can take it down >> and we have to go through the process, but this is just setting it here. It'll go out in the trim notice of course, but we can also come down. We did this before. Last year it went out at 4.68

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and at the end we ended up with the 4.4376. >> I understand that. Unfortunately, you know, the the residents that called my phone, they were concerned about it. And I did give them my word that I would voice their concerns and I would be advocate a voice for them even because I was the only voice up here, which it

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sounds like I am, but we weren't all elected for it to to be of one voice. >> So, again, what what's the military that you're going to be voting on that you're comfortable with? >> Uh, can you put it back? You put it back up there, please. Got

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to start somewhere. The highest I was willing to actually set it at, you know, to come down is the 0.5. Oh, it's not on here though. It's not. You don't have it on here. >> What What are you looking for? Let me >> The 0.5. So, right now your proposed the 75.

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>> So, 4.9376. >> So, just go up a half. I mean five half a mill. >> So, the mill the rate that I'm already working towards. >> So, we only Yeah. The one that what what his goal is >> to set it there. >> Yes. proposed, >> but keep in mind if we set it high now and you see the numbers, we can bring it

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down to the 4.5. >> I won't be comfortable. That's me saying that I'm okay with that proposed weight and I'm not okay with it. >> Okay. We got to come back to another meeting. >> Okay. >> What happens if we don't set the rate? >> Oh, you got [laughter] >> I know what happens. >> If we want the property taxes, we got to go. We got to complete the trim process.

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>> Well, I I hear the the sentiments being echoed here, but at the same time, again, there's massive projects we've pushed off. Um, we spend I don't know there's two $2 or $3 million to put in the streets every every year, whatever that number is. Now, uh, >> we're looking down the barrel of the project up here.

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>> There's many. So, yeah, I mean, I I we can cut and slice. I think this is a very very bad idea to do though uh to to reduce this because if we get to next year, there's no coming back from this. We're we need to be setting high right now and get the

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services the residents need this year because after that it's wild west. So >> true. >> This is a bad idea to reduce this at this time. >> So if we at at 0.5 do you know what the

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>> that's at a reduction of another 2.2. So every 25 does. >> Yeah. In the property tax revenue. >> But what is that on the voting? How many people need to approve? >> That's the part where I got to go back. It's probably over the 1.10 probably. And that is in the system. I don't I

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don't calculate at the podium. That's why I wanted to gain a consensus. >> I'm not comfortable with that. >> 10. That way we didn't need it. >> Yeah. I I'm just not comfortable with that because this is this is a very sensitive process. >> Yeah. No, I understand. you can miss

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>> and that's why we've done this process the way that we have to make sure it's as transparent as possible. Information is getting out there and if there's questions or concerns that that is brought up well before these meetings. >> Yeah. >> So, this just puts us in a tough position though. >> And keep in mind this is just setting

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it. This is not finalizing it. >> So, >> so we just set another date >> another time. Another date. Set another date. Mhm. >> And then what are your expectations at that meeting then? >> A reduction of staff can go back and department heads can go back and reduce the budget to assist >> not have time to do that in a week.

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>> They do not have time to find mayor. So mayor mayor preise >> I'm not going to just like at we need to reset it. I mean I'm just I'm not agreeing to the point. I know that. But where in this budget are you having a problem with?

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>> Not this, >> not the salaries or the positions. Where in this is you have is there a problem? >> At the next meeting, I I'll I'll have a line item the next meeting. >> We're not going line item at any of these meetings.

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>> Well, as a commissioner, I'm allowed to go line item at the >> I'm telling you, we will not be going line item. If I want to go light item and voice my concerns light item, I think I should have a right as a commissioner to >> discuss the issue that I have with the proposed budget. >> It's not a proposed budget. We're not

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proposing a budget right now. >> The proposed millage rate increase. We are >> correct. >> Which is tied to the budget. >> The staff is not going through this line by line and knocking off probably $8 million in the next two weeks. That's not happening. So your expectations to

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be set properly. If if.5 is what you're looking for, we may be able to get there. Otherwise, um we'll we'll search whatever we can do, but we're not we're not I'm not having staff over >> the mayor. This is your your budget. So, whatever you guys got to do to get it down to 2.25. That's what I'm in agreeance with.

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>> I couldn't understand that. Could you >> Well, I'm not committing to that. So, we'll we'll see what we can make happen. I'm not putting that strain on staff when they're already still having to do their day-to-day jobs and we've already asked for cuts that are appropriate. So, we'll get it as lean as possible. Right. Because you did ask each of us to look

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at this and see what we >> Correct. I've sent that >> early on for feedback and reviews for over a month now, I think. >> Yeah. I >> think we started back in May. >> Yeah. >> Uh for feedback and and if that was a concern, >> if a resident call my phone when I'm walking in at two at five minutes before

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it start and have a concern, I'm going to bring the concern up. >> But that's not how business is done with this. >> They can advocate anytime they want to advocate. >> Well, this it puts in position. It puts uh it puts us all in a bad position now. We're going to be pushing a lot of things down and this is it's setting our

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city up for failure. So, uh what what I guess >> we just got to set another meeting before the end of July. >> I'm on vacation. >> I am too. >> I'm on vacation next year. >> I had to reschedle a lot of my vacations for special meetings as well.

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>> I missed a lot of vacations for special meetings. >> I don't know. Have we had that many? >> Yeah. Well, we had enough. I had to reschedule my I mean, we've I had to reschedule. >> Uh, we won't discuss it. We'll figure it out. >> Okay. >> Oh, we're not in the Senate right now. >> Okay. >> I'll let I'll let everyone know.

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>> Um, I'm not sending the uh proposed date either right now. >> Yeah, we can table all of this until the next meeting. >> Okay. But it needs to be in this month of July. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Thank you.

Part: 2

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like to call to order the Apopka City Commission meeting for July 15th, 2026 at 6 p.m. Uh before we head into the invocation, I just want to acknowledge that uh today is the 4-year anniversary of losing one of our own, um Mr. Austin Duran. Uh his impact on our community is

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uh very long lasting and and we will be feeling it well after today and beyond. So, um, I just want to acknowledge that that we've come a long way, but a long way still to go. So, I just want to acknowledge that and I will turn it over to Commissioner Ruth for education.

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>> This is Pastor Caleb Hill with Papka Presbyterian Church here in Apakka. Uh, it would be my honor if you would u bring in the invocation. He does have an emergency he has to go to. So, right after the invocation, he's going to be leaving. So, I appreciate you setting us

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uh setting us up for greatness. Please, everyone stand. >> Heavenly Father, we come before you this day with both gratitude and humility, acknowledging that every good and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom there is

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no variableness, neither shadow of turning. We thank you for your hand that is on this place and on this people. Thank you for this city, for those who have taken up the torch and accepted the responsibility of serving this great community. And we pray tonight that you

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would grant each of our leaders wisdom and clarity, integrity, and a genuine desire to seek the welfare of all whom they seek to serve. Bless our city, oh God. Protect our first responders. Strengthen our families. prosper our

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places of business and let your divine favor rest on all those who call this place home. Let your will be done in Apakka as it is in heaven. We pray it all in your mighty and in your matchless name that is Jesus Christ. Amen.

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>> Amen. >> I'm truly honored. >> Thank you, sir. >> Appreciate this. >> Thank you for that. Commissioner Ruth, if you can lead us in the pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God,

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indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you so much, pastor. I appreciate it. Have a great evening. >> Byebye. >> Please have a seat. [clears throat] >> I'm going to give you back this chair. Keeps going up and down, up and down. [laughter] >> Thank you for that.

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>> Thank you, Commissioner Ruth. No, that was great. Thank you. Uh, we will now move on to the public comment section of our agenda. Uh, Commissioner or excuse me, Mrs. Bone, do you have any public comments for us? >> So, Dr.

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Good evening. My name My name's Dr. Jim Moyer. from the elected orange water conservation district to supervisor and this presentation is mine and mine alone. Mayor Nesta in the city of Apakka were

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nice enough to allow me to Whoops. allow me to have office hours here in city hall uh starting tomorrow, June I mean July 16th from 11:00 a.m. to 100 p.m. in

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the Edbass city administration conference room um here in city hall. Uh as a reminder uh the orange soil and water conservation district and all Florida so weather contra

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conservation districts are some of Florida's nearly 2100 special districts. A special district according to law means a unit of local government created for a special purpose as opposed to a

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general purpose like the POPKA commission here. um which has jurisdiction to operate within a limited geographic boundary which in our case is Orange County and is created by general law specific act

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local ordinance or by the rule of governor and cabinet. In our case it's was created by general law. Uh the purpose of the soil and water conservation districts is to provide assistance guided education land owners,

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land occupiers, the agricultural industry, general public and implement land and water resource protection practices. The legislature intends for soil water conservations to work in conjunction

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with federal, state, and local agencies and all matters that implement the provision of this chapter. That's why I'm here and have been for some time to work with uh local agencies.

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This is a more specific uh definition that includes all the exact words from the law. um the UN report that I previously mentioned chronic groundwater depletion, water overallocation, land and soil

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degragation and water pollution. They're with all in my view with all within the scope of uh Orange and Water Conservation District. Thank you for your time and God bless you all. >> Thank you Dr. Moore.

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>> Dr. Good evening. >> Good evening. >> Um, we've had a little rain and that's helped a lot. Um, we've had some beautiful days, too. I have a something I brought up years ago and then repeated

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a couple years ago um is and I've worked with many many many nonprofits both locally and internationally. Um we have rules we need to abide by and one is that you need to be registered.

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You need to have a 501c something or register with the state as just a general nonprofit. You need to have a business license to do that. But you also have to have in the state of Florida to receive one penny donate to solicit one penny of

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donation or to apply for a grant. You have to have register with FDAX, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services as a nonprofit soliciting donations. Some do not solicit donations nonprofits, but if you want to solicit a

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penny or apply for a grant in the state of Florida, you have to register with the state and then you need to file annually. The proper way to file annually to make the report proper on FDAX check a charity is to submit your

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annuals electronically and then it puts the right numbers in there. A lot of people are not even doing their report at all. And I filled out those reports. They're very simple. It represents it's a way for the citizen

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and governments to go in and look at how much you spent on services which should be 80 90% 95% how much you spent on administration and how much you spent on advertising.

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And when we see very little in one category and a lot in administration, rent, those kind of things, then the business is not doing any good for the services that they're supposed to be providing.

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Um, running events, when you run an event, it should make a fundraiser. It should make money. It's supposed to make money to do your services. And if it's not making money having an event, you're just out there

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playing ball or kicking a golf club around or whatever, eating food, you're not making money for your con your people you're supposed to be serving and the product you're supposed to be producing for them. So, it's

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imperative and and people were coming before this board that had neither a state license nor registered with FDAX and were getting money. They were going and onto parks, public our public's parks and

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soliciting funds at events. >> Thank you, Dr. Olmstead. >> Thank you. Albert McKime 360 Golden Gem Road. Appears the consensive opinion the city is that transparency

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transparency is improving. However, the jury on accountability is out. Social media is often criticized for giving false information. Please be feel free to hold me accountable if you think I do. So bullying and harassment is being

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reported all over social media and we see incidents of it happening regularly. However, it's also been reported that it's happening within city hall within staff and more so there was a report of

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an incident this week allegedly which included a commissioner which I find apparent. Uh no commissioner should be coming in here and putting pressure on a member of staff to change a decision. Whether or not that's true, I don't know at this particular moment in time, but I will be

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making some public record requests to try and identify what happened and why it happened, if it did happen. Accountability. If I don't get accountability, there's only one thing I can do, and that's start to write ethics complaints. It's not something I want to do. But

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yesterday, I downloaded paperwork for ethics complaints, and I have a problem with the city. I have a problem with commissioners whose tenure over overlapped things that happened in this city and I can't get answers to. Primarily, we're going to speak about what was dumped into the hole at Golden

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Gem Road. I put up videos. So, commissioners, during your tenure, you are aware of what into that hole. At some point or other, we have to decide whether it's MD legally accountable or what we can do in terms of recovering any money. If you're not going to do

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that, I'm going to be making ethics complaints. If you're not going to answer questions, I'm going to be making ethics complaints. I don't want to do it. But I've asked you nicely. I've sent you emails. I don't even get the courtesy of responses half the time. Not good enough, commissioners. So, we need

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to know why the rights of way on Kelly Park Road has been lying since November. We were or December. We were told that you would proceed with eminent domain. That happened. I've asked why. I've asked for information regarding the amount of money that's lying in escrow.

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Not been told. I've asked about impact fees. Not been told. You expect us to come here and oversee your budget calculations. How can I possibly do that when you won't give them information? It's not good enough. Commissioners, if you don't

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want me to start sending ethics complaints, you're going to need to do something because it's not a threat. It's a promise. I'm going to hold you accountable. You took an oath for office. You promised me transparency and accountability. I've seen the transparency. Now I want to see

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accountability. >> Thank you, Mr. McKimmy. So that's Sylvester Hall, Rock Springs Ridge. Uh, I had the honor Saturday of participating in the 2650 Foundation and uh, it was a great event and the weather

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was beautiful and I didn't know I was that out of shape till I start trying to run. [laughter] But, uh, it's one thing to support our firefighters. Uh, you guys are going to have that contract coming to you soon. We can take photos. We can go over there

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and have uh bring food and all this, but that contract is going to tell me what you feel and how you feel about my firefighters, our firefighters who risk their life on a daily basis. So, I'm just standing by. There's nothing more important than the fire department, the

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police department, and I'm going to throw our teachers and our educators of our communities for our communities to to thrive the way they should thrive. So, please take that in consideration when you see that contract. I was there. Everything that they're asking for, I think it's legit and it should be it

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should be approved. So, we'll wait and see uh what your thoughts are. And I'm going to keep saying this in the city of Apakka, the state of Florida, and in our country, too many good people standing by watching bad things happen and not doing anything about it. Being

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completely silent, sometime being complacent. So I say to you, we have to stand united against racism. We have to stand united against corruption. We have to stand united against greed. We have to stand united

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against hate. And we have to stand united against white privilege. And I know a lot of people frown on me when I say those words, but just understand what's going on in our country today. And you should understand why I say those words. When we normalize the abnormal, we desensitize the truth to the point the truth doesn't even matter

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anymore. And then we try to have an intellect conversation on the abnormacy that's going on in the country. So please take that in consideration. And just as a reminder, if you are elected official, appointed official, you are

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there to serve the people. And you must understand, and this why I keep repeating this, you must understand that the truth matters. Laws matter. Morals matter. Ethics matter. Leadership matters. Lord knows

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we need more of that. Character matters. Integrity matters. Principles matter. Rules matter. Facts matter. Procedures matter. Honesty matters. Accountability matters. Responsibility matters. Justice

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matters. Content matters. Wisdom matters. and all God's people matter. When we start governing by those values, we will have a country that we all sit up here and say,

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"One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." We will truly have that. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Holmes. >> Thank you, sir. >> Nikki McGuire. >> [clears throat] >> Nikki Maguire, Naomi Kids. Good

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afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, commissioners, and everyone in the rightful place. First of all, I want to thank you to City of Apka and everyone who has helped Naomi kids over the past wow 14 years now. Um, we appreciate you

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and I just want to everyone just take a minute to just breathe. Lately, we all in a rush. Everything's just happening and we're not remembering to just do the one thing that we have

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control over to just take a deep breath. So with that being said, I am here before you to ask for help regarding our back to school drive for Naomi kids. We appreciate everyone who has given so

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far. And um in the spirit of transparency later on in this agenda you will hear that there was there is a grant being given to Naomi kids. We appreciate that if it's approved however that money is already accounted and

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spent already. So right now we are in need. We're doing because everybody do back to school just the basic backpack and supplies. So this year is our second annual back to school closed shopping at Ross. Vice Mayor, I hope you will be

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joining us again. Um we are still in need of a total to raise $1,278.3. The breakdown is we still need nine Ross gift cards, which is so that would be at

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$100 per child. That's $900. We need 16 backpacks which will come to $320. We need 14 packs of markers which will come and this is Walmart priceless $13.58.

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10 bottles of glue which will be $5, 10 pencil cases which is $9.70 and 85 spiral notebooks which is $29.75. You can reach me directly at 407883-5585

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to let us know how you can help. We will prefer the actual items so it can go directly to the families. But we understand time. So if you are unable to do the shopping, yes, we will accept the cash to go do the shopping. If during

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business hours, you can drop off at 7:43 South Central, the back building where we located. after hours. Domino's Pizza on Main Street and Central. There will be a box to collect supplies there, but we do ask to avoid too much of one and

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nothing of the other. Is that you check with us before buying the items to put in. Thank you everyone. Have a great evening. >> Thank you, Mr. McGuire. >> Okay. Leroy Bell. M Helen. I wasn't I wasn't going to I didn't have anything to talk

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about until the millillage. And I commend Commissioner Anderson for standing on her beliefs. We just went through this about a chief

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of staff. When she went through the budget, somebody I think the amount was $300 and some thousand for this position. This more money than the mayor make. Then we turn around. We had a commissioner saying that this chief of

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staff would do different type of work and do all this lobbying and stuff. But then we already have a lobby from the old administration. His name is Gray Robinson. Yes. >> No. No. This my time right now.

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>> Yeah. >> Thank you. And when Commissioner Anderson came up with what she disliked about this, it don't take a rocket science to figure it out. Commissioner Baron kind of kind

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of got on to it. If he had a mention about taking this out, maybe we could have got where we needed to be to move it on. And I understand that we need to raise the millillage. We really do. It's things that need to be paid for.

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But then Commissioner Ruth, you know, I think they tell me that you catch more flies with honey than you do manurea. When Commissioner Anderson had her disagreement about what she

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disagreed with it, you know, I I don't I don't think you should shut her down like that. I think you should show her respect and listen to her and she needs to do the same to you. I think we can get there. We going to get there.

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But how do we get there with we don't know what's going to happen in Tallahass with the vote? We don't know how the property taxing thing going to roll. But then at the same time,

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while you're trying to lift a burden, you're putting more burdens on the resident's back by putting in these big time positions with these big time salary. When if you look at Apopka's

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salary right now, we are salary heavy. Look at the money that we're paying. It got to be some cut somewhere. And if we residents, if we got to tighten our belts up, guess what? Y'all need to lace

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up your boots. >> Thank you, Mr. Bell. >> Scott. >> Thank you, sir. >> Uh Scott Belaloo, founder and CEO of Matthew Soap Ministries. Uh first off, I want to thank you, [clears throat] city of Apopka, for working with us and

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hearing us. We have had the pleasure so far of meeting with uh three of the five commissioners with the mayor, vice mayor, and Miss Baron, uh Miss Anderson, and Mr. Ruth. We are coming. Uh we just haven't gotten there yet. Wanted to kind

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of update you real quick. Uh we've been talking about this for a long time. Let you know that the sleeper bus is coming to Apakka probably somewhere in September. Um it is expected to be showcased at uh be on September 18th, so it has to be finished by then. an event

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that we're going to. Um, but I want to let you know that we're working on it and we're working on it hard and Apakka is probably going to benefit the most out of this thing because the truth is now that we've had them running in Breard and we've learned the ins and outs of it and we have built three other buses that are in in the move on the

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move um what I was told by our bus manufacturer the other day, the person who's doing the renovation for us is that this will be the showcase bus. So, I'm not sure what that fully means other than the fact that we've learned with each bus uh where we wanted to do things a little bit better the next time

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around. Not that you'd ever noticed on any of them because Matthew's Hope doesn't do anything without excellence or we just don't bother to do it at all. Also, the reason is some of you know that we met with you. Our intention is to make our place here in Apakka. We are looking for a way to put a a uh

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substation for lack of a better term over in this area just because quite honestly the largest population we serve is coming out of Apakka. Um you know and we're serving right now uh all of West Orange County slightly into Lake County

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and Claremont and but over the years this is where we've invested the most amount of money. This is where we spend the bulk of our time is right here in Apakka. So, we started to look at the way things are going economically and realized that it would be smarter if we

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could get closer somehow and then bust the folks off like we do a couple times a week back to our location when it came to mental health, medical assistance and things like that. But there's a lot of things that we think with cooperation with the city come putting our heads together. I've said for a long time, we

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just finished our podcast today, so I dressed up for you. Um we um we said it today, we got to bring the public and private sector together. Without doing that, you're you can make dents, but you can't create a storm. And we're looking to create a storm and find ways to get

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these folks off the streets, get them the medications they need. You have a I'm going to put it plainly as a pastor and put it. You got one hell of a mental health issue over here. Uh and no, let me rephrase that. Mental illness. There's a big difference between the two. And we have been very blessed to be

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able to have the right folks on staff and that work with us to be able to address those issues. So come let us talk to you. Let us put our heads together and watch what we can do. We waited 12 years to get to this point. Let's make it happen. Thank you all. >> So when are you bringing the bus here?

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>> We're looking at midepptember. >> Midseptember. >> I'm pushing them faster because quite honestly with this heat right now >> um it's miserable. >> It's miserable. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Pass. >> Is there anybody else that maybe didn't

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submit a card that would like to speak right now? >> All right. We will close public comment period. Move on to the approval of minutes. Everyone review those. Any questions? Any comments? If not, I will look for a motion to approve the meeting

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minutes for July 1st, 2026. >> So moved. >> Moved by Commissioner >> M. >> Baron. Yes. Thank you. A second by Commissioner Ruth. All those in favor say I. >> All opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Uh agenda review. Mr. Williams. Welcome

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back. >> Thank you. Thank you. Uh back and and back and at it in office. Uh no changes tonight. >> Okay. Awesome. Thank you, sir. Uh we'll move on to consent agenda. Is there any questions on the consent agenda? Any items going to be pulled for discussion? >> Three.

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>> Number three. >> Metro plan. All right. Perfect. Uh other than that one, I'm looking for approval for consent agenda items one, two, and four. So moved. >> Moved by Vice Mayor. >> Second by uh Commissioner Ruth. All those in favor say I.

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>> I. All opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Metro plan. Who's going over that agreement? Mr. Williams. Do you want to >> Good afternoon, mayor, commissioners. Rather Williams, interim city administrator. Uh the metrop plan uh

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funding agreement is uh our annual amount uh to be part of the metrop plan program. Uh this year we do have funds budgeted in the amount of I believe it's a little shy,000 >> 32,000. Uh it did come in a little higher this year from metrop plan. We

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are able to absorb that in the current budget. Um but this are is our annual membership um required from the city to participate in metrop plan >> and that's for the total residents live in the city. >> Correct. >> Metro plan is it covers the whole city. Yes. >> Okay. Uh one of the things that I wanted

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to you know their primary source of advocacy is for the transportation. >> Yeah. Transportation and planning. Yeah. >> Okay. and I've been doing a lot of back learning on that. That's one of the

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that's one of the the things that I think that uh we need to really have a strong leadership on that team to where we can get some of those federal monies back to this way. So, you know, I'm for this. I'm for, you know, for for supporting it. I just want to make sure

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that we put the best people at the best job. So, we really need to make sure that we're getting some of those federal buck dollars back because with all the warehouses that we have here in Apakka, one of the problems we have is we got all these warehouses, we got the heavy equipment, but we can't get them in and

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out. So, they they lie empty u until we can get and we can advocate for some of those funds to do the road improvements to where we can get in and out of them. I just want to make sure that that uh moving forward that this is not just another $33,290

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going without having advocacy behind it. So understood. Okay. Any additional questions from commission? Anyone from the public wish to make a comment on this? If not, I will look for a motion to approve the annual funding agreement between the city of Aaka and

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Metro Plan Orlando. Uh moved by Commissioner Anderson, second by Commissioner Ruth. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Uh business item number one, award contract for the Golden Gem Reclaim Water Pump Station.

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Mr. Sherman. >> Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Commissioners. The item before you is to award the ITB 2026A308 for the Golden Gym Reclaimed water pump station to car and carer Inc. in the

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amount of 11,545700 with contingency of 10% it comes to 12,7270. Any questions? >> Any questions for Miss Sherman? >> No. >> Well, I'm surprised. That's great.

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>> Just for the public, this is the uh >> Golden Gem reuse pond pump that has been delayed for some time. This will finally be able We're able to pump water into the reuse pond. We've never been able to pump it out. So, this will help to initiate and and start that project going. Uh I believe right now, too,

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we're working on the west pond or we did the design for the west pond. Um which is approximately 50 million gallons. >> Correct. The uh preliminary design is completed and our consultant is finalizing the design targeting end of August. And then we'll put that out for a bid for construction. Okay. >> A small pot.

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>> Perfect. And so that'll give us 50 million gallons of capacity not only to be able to pump in, but with this being completed be able to pump out as well. Is there a timeline associated with when this project will be done? >> It's a little over >> a little over two years. >> Isn't it a little over a year plan? >> We have 18 months.

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>> 18 months. >> 18 months. >> 18 months from beginning. >> Beginning of September. >> Okay. To get this online. Um Okay. Any additional questions from commissioners at all? >> Remember that's behind the rainy season. >> Yes,

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>> it's uh it's well overdue and it it's a it's one of those things that we're back filling because it got kicked down the road. >> I've been pushing this one as quick as possible and it's been needed for a very very long time. >> I'm happy to see it. >> Yes. >> Probably became 3603 Golden Gem Road.

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Just one little bit of concern. The pump station itself won't have any head of water above it. Originally, the city was given a grant of $1.5 million to put a tank in there. Uh I think it was a 3

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million gallon tank of water was in there. Obviously, it's a little bit late to change the specifications for a pump house now, but the fact of the matter is if you've got a head of water, the pump doesn't need to run all the time. You got a head that can actually displace the the water

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without the pump. Why was that station, that tank changed? Where did the 1.5 million go? You may say there were tanks put for in another uh facility, but that tank, the money that was handed over in the newspaper,

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it had specifically said the grant of $1.5 million was for Golden Gem Road. >> Thank you, Mr. Kimmy. Any other public wish to speak at this time? I will close the public comment period. Do we have answers to that? I I don't remember specifically that um

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>> we no longer have that 1.5 million in grant. It was taken back. >> So, okay. So, we don't have that. It was >> received at one point. Yes. >> And was taken back? >> Yes. >> Is there a reason why? >> I can provide that information to you. Okay. From what was shared and there you

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have some information? >> Yes. I believe the 1.5 million uh there's some confusion with that. That was for the Northwest water treatment plant for the ground storage tank that we just completed and that was [clears throat] through that

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was a federal grant that was given about four years ago through U Congresswoman Demings. >> Yes. >> So >> So that was one. Is there another one at all? >> Yes, there was there was another one and that was about 2.25 25 million to my

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recollection and that was a combination of funding between St. John's and uh D and I think St. John's was 33.3% and D was 16.7%. >> I can get you the information. Yes. And that that's the one that was taken back

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to them. >> Yes sir. >> And that was for that tank this >> 3 million gallon tank. >> Golden gem. It was something related to Golden Gem. >> Yeah. that was relate that was related to the Golden Gem overall project for the reclin water facility. It was going to be used either for the ground storage

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tank or some piping or the pump station that we're getting into it right now. >> Okay. And then did we did we remove that tank from the plan? >> The tank the ground storage tank has been removed from the original plan. >> Okay. Is there a reason for that?

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>> I don't know. I wasn't here at the time. Yes. >> Understood. >> I think it was a letter. I'll see if I can find when the grant was taken back. >> Okay, gotcha. >> We did close public comment, please. No, that's okay.

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When I get up here and I uh Sylvester Hall, when I get up here and I speak and I speak in general because I speak in general hoping that you you all will understand and you all would take responsibility and give answers.

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This is the reason why we need an audit. This is the one of the main reason we need an audit. We're getting ready to go into We got a we got a a fresh crew here. And we had a lot of turmoil with the

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last administration. Now we're getting ready to go into it's like you got a checkbook. You wrote a lot of checks. You don't know how much money you got here or there. And nothing is balanced. And you're going to move on in that state of mind.

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That's that's nothing but disaster. And so I I don't want to be pointing everything out. And that's why I say in general, but you all are on a time clock. Just know that because when the lights are turned on on everything that's done

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in the dark, there will be no room to hide and then it'll be too late when you facing your family cuz sometimes this put your family and other loved ones in harm way. So I'm asking you to do the right thing by the people.

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Do the right thing please. Moving forward, you have a chance to make Apakka what it's supposed to be and that's a great safe haven for everyone who live here. You guys are directly responsible

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for that. Please take that seriously because I am. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Holmes. >> Thank you. >> Please. >> Moving forward, if when we ask for public comment, please come up during public comment, please.

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Well, when you get new information, >> it's >> I understand, but there's a process to this too. >> Thank you. A lot of citizens are of North Pankan are very upset and I know that I've had discussions with um the director and

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there's nothing they can do as long as you know Lust Road ponds are empty, Golden Gym isn't pumpable or working and the ones at the Northwest don't have pumps out of them. Um, we're looking at

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a situation where they can't even have irrigation companies will not even go into Rock Springs Ridge to run there to test or fix their irrigation because during the day there has been no water

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pressure because the tanks are being filled. Um there is a project being worked on now to try and resolve that, but the rest of the night and the time in which irrigation can happen outside of business hours,

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um they're not getting any pressure either a lot. So they get out there and their irrigation systems aren't working even when um daylight the non hot time of the day is allowed. So it's imperative that we get this fixed and

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get it soon. um when you bring water up from the south from Cleveland and it runs out after a period of time and it doesn't get to Punk and it doesn't get to Rock Springs Ridge and it didn't doesn't get to the people up by Northwest. So, it's imperative that it get fixed because people's equipment's

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being ruined, they're missing work, uh irrigation companies won't come work except during business hours and that's when the tank tanks are down. So, I'm glad that he's going to be working uh Glenn is going to be working on a resolution for that with his men.

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>> Thank you, Dr. Mstead. Anybody else? All right. Uh I will look for a motion to approve uh the awarding of a contract for ITB 2022-8-308 Golden Gym Reclaim Water Pump Station to

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Cart and Collier. >> So, uh moved by Commissioner R, second by Commissioner Baron. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. >> Uh motion carries unanimously. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Next up, the nonprofit grant program selection

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committee recommended awards for the uh for fiscal year 2026 grant application window. Mrs. Lewis. >> Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners. >> Good evening. >> Precious Lewis, grant administrator. The next item on the agenda is the nonprofit

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grant program selection committee recommended awards for fiscal year 26 grant application window that ran from April 1st through April 30th of 2026. So the city of Apakka's nonprofit grant program was developed to provide assistance to school organizations,

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booster clubs, and nonprofit organizations committed to supporting youth at risk individuals and senior focused initiatives here in Apaca for the Apaka community. The program's second grant window for fiscal year 26 opened on April 1st and closed on April

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30th at 4 p.m. A total of 19 applications were received from the organizations and the groups that are shown on the screen and also included in the staff report. Of the 19 applicants, a total of five

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organization applications, which are now being shown on the screen and also included in the staff report, were ineligible or withdrew due to incomplete applications or the inability to meet programmatic requirements. So, the nonprofit grant selection

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committee met at the Papa City Hall on Wednesday, June 10th, 2026 at 1 p.m. for a public meeting to score all received applications. The selection committee committee members were Lorena Potter, she's the chair, Dr. Loretta Furlow,

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Martha McCrae, Marbel Brinkle, and Sylvester Hall. The results of the scoring are on the screen and also provided in the staff report. And the selection committee has recommended awards for all of the eligible applicants.

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The recommended awards total $70,000 with remaining funding for the nonprofit grant program approved in the fiscal year 26 approved budget at $73,000. If all the grants are awarded, the remaining funding for fiscal year 26 will be $3,000.

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So, in addition to providing the award recommendations, the the selection committee did provide um some feedback and recommendations. And so, we wanted to give an update on those. One of the previous requests from the October cycle was to have a city staff member do a

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compliance review of all of the documentation that was sent in. So this year when all of the applications came in, we reviewed everything to make sure all of the required documents were included in the package. If they were not included in the package, we reached

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out to those um organizations to allow them explain what was missing, allow them the opportunity to submit in. Um the feedback uh given to us was that it was very helpful for the committee before they even got the packages. they were all complete full and there was

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also an inclusion of the email with the items that were missing um and and the process that we went through to get that. So one of the new requests that we had were some of the selection committee members wanted to have the printed packages um prior to the selection committee meeting. So this year

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everything was sent electronically via SharePoint. Um so they did have all of that about three and a half weeks prior to the meeting so that they could review all the documentation. But moving forward next cycle, we will have the the printed documents ready. At the same time, the electronic ones are for pickup for those who would prefer the hard

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copy. There is one item on the slide that was not in the staff report that was added after afterwards. Um there was a previous request after last cycle during last cycle to do a workshop uh for the potential applicants [clears throat] and that did occur in April uh of this

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year prior to the cycle closing. We did do a workshop where applicants or potential applicants were able to come in. We pro provided examples of the documentation that we were looking for. So unfortunately our committee chair um

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Miss Lorena Potter was unable to be here today. So in her in her spot we do have a a couple of selection committee members Mayor Bill Brinkle and Sylvester Hall that if they have any um feedback or are available to ask answer any questions in regards to

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Excellent. Thank you, Miss Lewis. Team, good evening everyone, mayor, commissioners. This has been a wonderful program because it showcas how our community and the nonprofits are doing terrific job

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here. Um, I'm very pleased with the process. Precious has done a tremendous job streamlining the process. The nonprofits come in, they give a

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little overview of what they doing. It's wonderful to see how our community and these nonprofits are doing terrific work here, which is the main point of it. [snorts] Yes, sometimes they missing a paper, but we have workshops and they

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have provide those papers. I also want to say I had an emergency so I couldn't be to the end of that meeting but our vice mayor commissioner Diane she was here and she's been here great supporter and I want to thank her for her support.

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Diane, if you want to say a few words about the program and how you >> Well, you know, I went to both uh the first grant that you did >> um was kind of a lot of the uh the applicants did not show up for the first

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one. Yes. But that wasn't a requirement. >> The second one, the requirement was that they had to come and make a presentation. And uh so I sat through the whole thing and it right I was there probably till six o'clock precious >> because then after everyone made their

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presentation everyone left and then it was the committee that kind of talked among each other and they talked about how they awarded and um and they agreed on the awards. So it it wasn't interesting. I and I thanked Precious because I sat with her and told her that

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I was very impressed with how they had streamlined the whole program. um especially the one requirement was if you're asking for a grant, you should be making a

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presentation to the committee. So that was a a big thing and and everyone did show up. >> Yes. and you had a list of all the documents that they did have to have and before that uh Precious did do all the research and each of you had a book

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which was um >> yeah it was a wonderful um and actually I want to say this nonprofits are working with very little but they doing a lot in our community and I wanted to bring that point up because sometimes we feel that when we give

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money to certain nonprofits is something is wrong. But they are proving we have a system where they are proving where the money is going and what they doing in the community. And >> the only thing I had when after we did

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this, are we following up with that organization? I wasn't sure about that. >> Precious, >> as far as after the the grants, >> after we award them. >> Yes, ma'am. They have to do quarterly reporting. >> They have to do >> quarterly reporting.

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>> Okay, that's good. >> Yeah. So, I want to commend Precious and I want to commend you and all the council for uh supporting this program. Anybody have a question for me? >> So, let me just say this. This is was actually I'm really excited about this program. This is a program that I

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championed for and I advocated for when I first got on council and I'm glad to see that the council came around because I know some council members was not sure about this program. So, I'm really glad that we're that it's it's very successful. Um, I get a lot of feedback for some a lot of the participants that have actually received funding. So, I'm

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excited and my goal is to, like I said before, to actually grow this funding to more more than $100,000 eventually with some private matches. And I have been speaking with other uh local uh companies that are interested in matching this and hopefully by next year they'll match it at another 100,000.

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It'll be up to 200,000. So, I'm really excited about this. This is definitely was one of my babies and something that I advocated for and I'm glad to see it's actually successful and happening. So, thank you guys for participating and my goal is to get you guys some more funding. So, that's >> Yeah. And the the funds are actually

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when the nonprofits come in. One of my biggest concerns was the percentage to the to the community and to the administrative field of the nonprofit. There is no such a scale but 3070 2080

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is what is a custom and they are showing that. So I want to make that clear and about the agricultural um designation and letters the agricultural department send if you want to solicit a penny. They send those letters to the

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nonprofits and we know that the nonprofits have gotten this letters. Uh maybe Precious can follow up with that. But that is if you have a 501c3 or any fire one, the agricultural department send this letter and they get to um fill

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it up and send it. >> Well, you pretty much covered everything. [laughter] I want to say [clears throat] I Excuse me. I want to say thank you to all the nonprofits. Just imagine the last three or four weeks, the heat and the humidity that we have had and you are homeless. I

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don't say unhoused. I just say it like it is homeless because we try to sugarcoat the word so it don't emotionally disturb us. But you got homeless people out there on the streets and the streets are actually on fire. So, thank you for what you do. and all the other ones I was happy to see each

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had their own little spices that they was doing in the city and that helps the city as a whole. It's not a one-sizefitit all. Everybody got their specials and that's what make this city great. So, thank you again for what you guys do. And Precious,

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we had to sit through 15 and the way she had everything laid out, all the requirements, every requirement was there. They had the documents to show it was there. Same thing we should do when these developers come in. Just lay it

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out just like that. It just made it so easy to go through and do the grading criteria. And some of us still got it wrong. So, but but thank you so much. Thank you so much for your hard work. And again, to all you nonprofits out there, thank you for what you do because

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some people need to get and go walk in your shoes for a day or two and they'll just realize that that $5,000 is BS when it comes to what you're doing out there. So, thank you again. >> Thank you, Mr. Hall. >> Thank you, Mr. Sprinkle. >> Thank you, >> and Miss Lewis, for that as well. Thank

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you for bringing this all together in a great way. What I really appreciate is that the uh thank you to all the committee members that they provided feedback each year to really kind of see how we can refine this and make it better. Not only for the city and the commission to understand what we're going through, but also for those that are applying that that process was more

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streamlined and more efficient. So, um obviously as we navigate budgets and things like that, we got to see how this uh shakes out. So, we just got to be mindful of that. But for now, it's exciting to be able to help this community in the way that we are. So, any other comments or questions from uh the commission level? Well, today we did

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get an email, you know, where there was some questions regarding and you did get the email because I did forward it to you >> from, you know, from a constituent that was saying that there was some criteria that each one had to meet, but we did

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not have it as a as a go as a requirement on our uh package for the for the uh >> Yes, ma'am. not for the 501c3. So, if you could just talk a little bit about that. >> So, it was the registration to check of

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charity and because that's fallen under Florida statute, I'd like to defer to our legal counsel to interpret the statute there. >> The answer to the question is yes. Under 496.44 404 and 405. There is no requirement to

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[laughter] that a charity or a nonprofit be registered with the state of Florida under the program mentioned by Dr. O uh in order to apply for a grant. The reason is because grants are specifically exempted under 404 and it's

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the actual section is defined as >> Attorney Shepard, can you make sure your mic is on? >> Oh, sorry about that. [snorts] uh the the uh it's in the definition section of what constitutes a contribution. And so specifically, grants are not contributions. And therefore, she's right about everything

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she said except that there's this exception for grants based on the definition of what is a contribution. >> Understood. >> And what was that under? >> For 496.44 uh five subsection 5. The term

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contribution does not include funds obtained by charitable organization or sponsor pursuant to government grants or contracts. >> Okay, >> thank you for that clarity. Any additional questions? >> All right, I will open up to the

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>> I just statement. It's nice to meet you, Mr. President. I [laughter] haven't officially met you so nice to meet you. You will. >> I'll open up to uh the public. Any public wish to speak? K3603 Golden Gem Road. In order to to

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work out how successful this program has been, is there any indication of how many people have been applying for the grants every time it's been opened up? And it's great to know that we don't necessarily need to be uh registered

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with the the agricultural department because with small nonprofits every time you've got to do paperwork, it's a nightmare. So just that one question, how many people are actually applying for these grants and how many are being accepted and are we looking more

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favorably on local charities rather than ones that are spread wide? >> Thank you, Mr. McKim. Any other public comments? >> And then Miss Lewis, I if we can get that answer uh ready for what he just

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asked as well. Thank you. >> I believe that we should make sure that the charities and I appreciate this program. Um I think it's very worthwhile. I've I'm in and been with many many charities, but the concern is

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for a state license and registering with FDAX because there they solicit funds. And according to my call to Wilton Simpson's office today, they said

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that it needed that a grant needed to be registered. Now whether it's in the statute or not or whether it was in a case law or something is not what was informed to me today from Wilton Simpson's

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office. Uh because I went back and said, "Okay, have I forgotten something or have they changed the law to allow them not to have a nonprofit period not register?"

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And we need to look at that. We also need to look at the finances a little more that the screeners, the the readers are excellent. They did a great job. they did a lot of work, but they may not know how to read um a 990

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and not all of them may be making a profit and that profit being used on services. So those were my concerns and I saw holes and in order not to give funds out to organizations that are not

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statelicicensed, not registered with FDAX, as they are required to do, whether it's for a grant or not, they're required to be registered um or give money to an organization that is losing money and not using their

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money on fundraisers and not using their money towards services. I feel this needs to be uh tabled until um it can be reviewed that everyone is checked for state license, everyone is

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checked for u FDAX registration and that their finances are reviewed to under again with a clarity of what that document meant. Yes, they produced it, but that document doesn't necessarily mean they used any money towards

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services. >> Thank you, Dr. Homestead. >> Okay. When we started this program, it was to help this nonprofit. As we go with this program, we have changed many things as the advice of the commissioners, the community, the

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nonprofits. Nonprofits don't have big budgets unless they nationwide nonprofits. We're talking local nonprofits with tiny little budgets doing great thing in our community and we're focusing on the

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nonprofits that are here. Yes, sometimes there is this questions but as we awarding this grant to the nonprofits, they already waiting. We having the school backpack program coming up. So, they need this funds. This isn't like

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we're going to table it and the kids are just going to wait. It doesn't work that way. There's kids waiting for these funds to be applied and this nonprofits, they need the money. Yes, there's questions. Um,

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attorney Shepard can't uh look into the legal ramifications of this, but I don't think it's fair that we're going to table when they have complied with everything that we have told them to comply so far. >> Thank you, Mr. Ble.

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>> Mr. Hall echoes the same sentiment. Any other public comment? All right, we will close public comment. Uh any final comments from the commission or I did want the uh if we can answer the question to the uh amount of applicants versus those that are

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>> this is the third round. On the first round there were six applicants. On the second there were seven and this time there was 19. >> Excellent. Okay good. We're growing in that capacity and I think it comes with marketing and obviously it's something we can do better as a city overall just market what we do have available. So >> awesome. Thank you for that. Any final

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questions or comments? All right. Well, I will look for a motion to approve the nonprofit grant program selection committee recommended awards for the fiscal year 2026 grant application window. >> Uh moved by Commissioner Anderson. >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Baron. All those

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in favor say I. >> I. All opposed. >> Motion carries unanimously. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Thank you guys. >> Thank you guys. >> Appreciate it. Appreciate you. >> All right. Next up and I'll um read it from up here. But um actually

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and Dr. Patton, I'm gonna be coming down there and read some stuff as well. So >> did you want to introduce and then I can skip my part? >> That'd be great. [laughter] Yes, I will. But moving on to ratification of Mr. Steven Montier for the public information director. So I will come

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down read a little stats about him and and welcome him up as well. Well, good evening, madame vice mayor, commissioners, and public, both in person and watching online. I just want to thank everyone for being here tonight. Uh, want to go back a little bit and explain kind of how we got here,

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why we got here. Um, one of my major promises to the residents in Apakka during my campaign, uh, was that we were going to make, uh, city hall more transparent, more accessible, and more responsive to those that we serve. Uh, since taking office as mayor, I've had countless meetings both with staff,

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department heads, business owners, and many residents throughout our community. Uh, a common thing that theme that emerged was was twofold. One, our employees are doing absolutely incredible jobs uh daily, but we as leaders are not doing great at making sure that their jobs are communicated

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effectively out to the public. And two, our residents, which connects to the first one, are not seeing where their tax dollars are going. And hence why sometimes the budget process can be a little frustrating. Uh this is why one of my first priorities uh as uh mayor was to create a public information and communications department. This

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department is about service to the residents through accurate information being conveyed during emergencies about major city projects. Obviously, one of the biggest ones obviously Bill and Jim we're talking about and many other infrastructure pro uh projects we're going through right now and it's to celebrate the accomplishments that our employees have done through their very

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hard work. Uh this department also serves to build confidence that city hall is open, accessible, and accountable. I think we've done a really great job at that so far, especially since I've taken the seat as mayor to make sure that residents feel comfortable coming in. Um, and that they feel that city hall truly is their building. Um, over the last month or so,

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a competitive recruitment process has occurred through our HR department. Um, from reviewing applications to in-person interviews. From those interviews, one candidate truly uh fit above others uh for what the city of Popka truly needs moving forward and kind of the mandate that was set out uh through this most

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recent election that we've experienced. Uh this evening is my privilege to present Mr. Steven Montiero known to many throughout Central Florida as Trooper Steve for your consideration and respect respectfully ask for your confirmation as the city of Papaka's director of public information and communications. Uh Mr. Montierro has

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served as a morning anchor and traffic safety expert at a local news station as a public affairs officer with the Florida Highway Patrol and proudly served our nation um in the United States Air Force. Uh one of the things I will say this that I was most impressed with with uh Mr. Montierro is his hair.

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I'm I meant Oh, sorry. Heart. His heart for public service. That's what I meant. I'm sorry. Uh he understands that communication is one of the most important services a government can provide. And I'm excited about the future of PAP and confident Mr. Montier's experience, leadership, collaborative spirit, and dedication to

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public service will help us build a more connected, informed uh productive business environment and transparent city government. So, with that, I would like to introduce Mr. Montiero and invite him to the podium to say a few words, answer some questions that either uh our commission may have or the

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public. So, you're up. >> Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> You guys are a little bit more intense than the morning news. I can tell you that right now. So, if you do not know, I am I'm going to take just a few minutes to kind of glide over that just a little bit. Um, first,

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good evening, Mayor Nesa, members of the city council, city administrator, city staff, and to everyone who took the time to be here today. I want to personally thank you guys for being here. My name is Steven Montier, but although many people throughout Central Florida have come to know me as Trooper Steve, and

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it's truly an honor to get the opportunity to stand in front of you guys tonight. Before I say anything, I'd like to recognize a few people who have helped me throughout my career and my public life. First and foremost, my incredible wife, Camila, thank you for

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your constant love, patience, and encouragement. And to my mom, thank you for everything, sacrifice that you have made and teaching me the value of hard work, humility, and being there for others. And to my dad, who is no longer here with us. I thank him for being the

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best man I've ever known. I'd also like to thank a few other people that have allowed my career to absolutely thrive. First and foremost, Captain Kim Montes that is here, my former news director, Allison McInley, and my family, my friends and former colleagues and

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present colleagues that are present in this room, and he everyone who was online who have chosen to be here with us tonight. I thank you. I was born in this great state, raised here in Central Florida. And when I look back in my career, I realize something. I've gotten

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the opportunity to wear three different uniforms. One for my country, one for the state of Florida, and one for television. I tell you, the television one is probably the most comfortable out of all the other ones. But all shared one exact mission,

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and that was serving people. That mission began in the United States Air Force, where I had the honor of representing our nation both here at home and overseas, including a combat deployment in Iraq. The military taught me a few things: discipline,

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accountability, and teamwork. and that true leadership is never about yourself. It's about the people who count on you. When my military career service ended, I came home and continued that mission with what I find to be one of the best law enforcement agencies around to

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include APKA. But the Florida Highway Patrol. For years, I had the privilege of serving the people of Florida, responding to crashes, helping families through tragedy, educating motorists, and working beside some of the finest public servants I've ever known,

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including some of the ones in this room tonight. Those years taught me that public trust is earned one interaction at a time. Nearly 10 years ago, I was given another opportunity to serve. this time through communication as a news

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anchor. From new a patrol PIO to a news anchor. Talk about a blessing. As Trooper Steve, I had the privilege of building relationships with people through every community in Central Florida. Every morning, I had one simple responsibility.

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One, provide information that was accurate transparent understandable and most importantly, relatable. It didn't matter where someone lived, what mattered, or didn't matter what they believed, or what background they came

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from. My job was never to divide people. It was to [snorts] help them. Over time, I learned that people may not always like the information that they are given, but they will almost always appreciate honesty, consistency, and transparency. That philosophy exactly

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what brings me here in front of you guys tonight. I believe communication is one of the most important services a government can provide. It shouldn't begin when there's an emergency or after misinformation has already spread. It should happen every single day. It

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should be proactive instead of reactive, accessible instead of complicated and focused on building trust long before the trust is ever tested. Aka is a city with incredible momentum. It's growing. It's evolving and filled with dedicated

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employees who quietly work every single day to make this community better. Now, my responsibility isn't to become the story. It never has been. My responsibility is to help tell their story, to shine a light on the people serving this city, to celebrate what's

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actually working, to explain difficult decisions with honesty, and to make sure residents feel connected to the government that represents them. I also believe innovation matters. Communication has changed dramatically over the past decade and government must

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evolve with it. An old school mentality just doesn't cut it anymore. My goal is to meet people where they are, embrace new technology responsibly, strengthen relationships with our community, and continue finding better ways to keep residents informed, engaged, and

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connected. Most importantly, I don't expect trust to be given because of where I've been or what I've accomplished. I expect to earn it from you guys through the work I'll do here through my actions, through my accessessibility, and through my commitment to serving every resident in

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this city with professionalism, integrity, and respect. If you place your confidence in me this evening, I'll approach this opportunity with the same way I've approached every chapter of my life. humility, transparency, innovation, and a servant's heart. I

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work every day to earn your trust. Most importantly, serving the people of Apakka, supporting the mayor, and supporting our city employees. Listen, I thank you for your time here tonight, your consideration, and for allowing me the opportunity to continue

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to serve. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Montiero. I feel like we discussed 90 seconds, though. That was a little Just kidding. Truly appreciate. I have a tendency to run. >> Commissioners, any um any comments, questions to Mr. Montierro? >> I do. I wanted to have one question. And

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and is this a part-time job or a full-time job? >> Full-time. >> Okay. >> I'd be leaving the news. >> Okay. >> And I've to be honest, I've already resigned. >> Well, I'm I'm you know, I'm I've already had my discussion with you over the

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weekend, and I appreciate you taking the time to, you know, and I was really tough. I was really hard-hitten because I, you know, one of the things that I've always as many problems as the city had, um, you know, I didn't need to be sold on

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your your job because I think in the past your job has been the the hardest thing to digest in the city because a small select group of people had the narrative and it

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was always spun in such a vicious uh vindictive way and it you know years later we come to find out that everything that was said was untrue. Um you know and I shared some of those events with you and and and and one of

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the one of the u the toughest questions I asked you who do you serve and he told me the city. So um I was I want I want I want it to be transparent. I want it to be fulltime. >> Absolutely. And I think the goal too with this too, and thank you for those comments, too. And obviously feel free

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to jump in at any point, is is that, you know, we're moving this city forward obviously with this election that just happened. It really was a mandate that we're ready to be done with the past and move forward to the future. Really bring positive light to our city and not in a uh distracting or uh untrue way, but just an accurate way and show what we're

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doing really well. Show what we're spending time and money on and and show that what truly makes Apaka incredible and why there's so many people still moving here. It's not because of anything other than we have something so unique that other municipalities don't and crafting that properly and getting that message out there is truly key. So,

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thank you for that. >> So, I have a question also ma'am. So, in addition to your your duties for our city, will you be supporting our chief of police along with our fire department? >> I happen to know the chief personally. Uh we've known each other since her days at the Orlando Police Department along

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with I served full-time at the Florida Highway Patrol. Uh we've had the opportunity to have a few discussions. Uh my job is to really elevate both the fire department and the police department and uh we've had the opportunity to discuss some of that and uh this is this is me fully jumping into

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the water here. I'm not just tipping my toe. >> No. And I appreciate that. And the reason why I asked that is because I want to make sure that when we have a very high level investigation that happens in our city, it doesn't go mute. Absolutely. that our police department

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supported, that our fire department supported, and that our city is aware of what's happening in our city. Um, it's that's important. Our residents deserve to know that as well. So, I want to make sure that I have your word that when we have a high level investigation within

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our city that I'm going to see you up in front in front of those cameras. >> Absolutely. I think crisis communication is vital to anything. and one of my mentors are in this room and I was taught very early on fall on your sword. Whether you're right or you're wrong,

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you need to get the information out in front of the people and uh I think the community appreciates that a little bit more than hush. >> Yeah, we've done that too long and we can't do that anymore. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, um, we had our

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meeting this past week and we talked about social media and one of my concerns was, um, and and I discussed it throughout my time in office. I have depended on social media. I there was no one in

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the city really kind of defining our issues, our challenges. I constantly was not depending on social media but realizing the messaging that was going on in social media and it was very difficult because I always felt like we

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were behind the eight-ball for every challenge that we had going on in the city. it was already out there all the negativity, everything that was wrong and how did we come back from that cuz it it felt like all the time you had

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excuses and um so that was one of the challenges that you know I felt we had and and we used to there was a a a time that we did have a PIO and at that time I felt that we were moving in a

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good direction because that uh PIO was always ahead head of whatever the problem may have been that we were facing or any crime statistic, whatever, he was always out there to say, "Okay, we know about it. This is what we're

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doing." And it sort of gave some ease to our public that we were aware of what's going on in our city. Um the last few years it's it's been social media has been um really determining that for our

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city. And so we're now in a in a position where this last election the the public spoke. They wanted to go in a new in a new direction. They wanted a new leadership and um and that's where I want to go. I don't want to keep going

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back. I actually haven't been to church in a while, but I actually went to church on Sunday and I felt like that sermon spoke to me and it reminded me because you can be very stressful when you're kind of reading all the social media and it is stressful for me because

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I'm saying, "Wow, they just the messaging for our city is is so negative. It's like like we're in chaos and we don't know what we're doing." And then when I went to this and I heard the sermon, it was about we can't change the

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past. I can't change what has been going on. Um I can take it and just say let's just move forward and let's just plan for the future and let's let's start doing things that people can see the change rather than kind of staying

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stuck. And that was the word just staying stuck in something that wasn't working and we're trying to figure out well how do we get out of there? We do have the resources to get out of there and if we don't have the resource then we have to figure out how to get out of

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there. So having someone being able to tell our story that way I'm really appreciative and I told you then that I supported that. I have been following you and we were able to talk about our own public service beside what we do now

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and of course you know your service to the um to our country and maybe I didn't serve in in military but you know what I served as a wife and as a mom. >> Amen. >> And it's the same way when you serve

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your family serves. >> May I respond? it is um there there is a lot of things that I've learned in 10 years on the news and first I didn't the news found me like as a law enforcement

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officer when the news comes in and goes hey we want you to join our team I was like uh but it ended up working and what I learned through that is if you do not write your own information right >> the news is going to do it for you and we as a community whether you live here

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in Popka or anywhere else. You should not go to your page of Facebook, social media, any any platform that the people are actually watching and not see anything but see something on a rants and rave page and then people are

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getting that information out. If you're seeing something else on social media, you should be able to divert directly to your government's page and actually have information coming out. you should not wait hours if not days for the city to respond to something. And uh seeing that

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I've learned which cities work, which cities currently work do not within our community. And uh I'd like a popka to work. >> Yep. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, >> ma'am. Push Anderson. >> So, I just want to say that I think you I mean your your resume speaks for

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itself. I think you definitely will be a great asset to the city of a pop and the residents. Um so, my question is not actually geared towards you. I think you would definitely be a great asset. I just want to kind of understand kind of like the process with this I guess the the position the budget kind of understanding that that part of it. So I guess I maybe maybe Joe or someone could

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kind of explain that to me. So, uh, the process was that, uh, the position was created, uh, from the mayor's office. >> Uh, from that point on, it went through the budget process to find the funds,

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uh, for this position. Uh, at that point, uh, we advertised it, I think it was May 20th for two weeks. uh it was advertised we had about we had exactly 54 applicants from all over the United

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States that applied. Some of those applicants uh which we which we discussed a few days ago some of those applicants were not you know qualified for the position. Um through that uh the process those screenings were between

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myself and the city administrator Bradley Williams. We went through all 54 applications uh vetting all those individuals. Uh at that point I believe we had uh we came

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down to 12 we had to go back uh and then out of that 12 we selected five to interview. Uh out of those five uh Mr. Montierro was included in that. Obviously, out of those five, we had two

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uh applicants that went forward to another set of interviews with uh uh Mr. Williams and the mayor. And out of that, they selected uh Mr. Montierro as the candidate for this position. >> Okay. So, in particular, I was

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discussing in regards to the budgeted the this position. So, this position was a reclassification from the transition transaction. What was it? The transition coordinator. Trans transportation coordinator. Was that was a reclassification? >> I don't believe it was a transportation.

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>> It was I'm sorry. >> So, >> lots of positions. [laughter] >> So, it So, that position is no longer needed. Is Is that accurate? That's why we reclassified it. Any >> That's why it was reclassified, right? >> Okay. So, we don't need So, we're So, in the new budget there was a And you

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probably That's probably a question for Lynch. I'm sorry. >> That's probably a question for Vlad. >> Yeah. >> Vladuss. >> This was a reclassification of the transportation coordinator and um in the

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new budget, I think we're it in the new positions that are still being evaluated. There's a request for a transportation planner. So, is there I guess what I'm trying to understand the difference between the transportation coordinator position and transportation

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the what the difference between the two. >> I'll let Vlad come up. >> And I think the planner is on the body. >> Yeah. Good evening. Uh the transportation planner is within the community development and it usually addresses the long range uh

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transportation planning [snorts] and the transportation coordinator was an existing position that at some point was with community development then it was moved to public works. So we had a person that was spilling in that position until sometime I believe the

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end of the year of 2025 and uh we tried to to change that. We reclassified another position into a transportation and traffic senior engineer that will cover to basically

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have an engineering position instead of a transportation coordinator because our belief was that we need an engineering position to address some of the technical issues and not really a planner coordinator position. >> So we reclassified it as a

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>> that that position was not reclassified. We reclassified another position which made kind of this position being in a transition, right? They can be used for different classific classification into another position. So we still have the transportation and

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traffic engineering position open as of today. Uh >> so we just combined the position into one position. So we no longer need that position anymore. We combined it into one position. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Any other questions? No.

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>> All right. Uh, thank you staff. Uh, anybody from the public wish would wish to speak? >> Albert Mckame 360 Golden Gem Road. When I first learned that Trooper State was going to be uh available for this, I thought perhaps it was a bit of an

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overkill. And then I thought, no, it's not. It's not a cost, it's an opportunity. Because when you look at the face of a popka, you never look at the face of a popka is anyone sitting on the dis. You

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know, we love to hate you guys. So with Trooper Steve, we have a new face for Apopka. If I go on social media, as much as you know, he's going to be my nemesis on social media. If I look at what I see,

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[laughter] if I look at what I see, I see Grady Jud and I see there's a man there's a man who's fighting for a city. Now, when we see Trooper Steve, whether it's on news, on on the podcast,

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we're going to understand that's the face of Apopka. It's not just the information he's going to give us. It's who he's going to influence to come to Apopka. And the fact of the matter is somebody who has credibility will bring people to

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Apopka. And that's what we need more than anything just now. It's credibility and I thanks I I thank you guys for bringing him here. I see a great opportunity and I hope he puts me out of a job. I doubt it because I dig and I f [clears throat]

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it and I dig up information before you guys get it. So, you know, hopefully that's not going to happen in the future. Thank you, Mr. McKini. >> I'd just like to say uh you just mentioned that if you don't write your story, the news is writing

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for you. And you know, I I really truly believe that uh you know, uh the Florida Supreme Court just pushed back on this legislation that uh Ronda Santz had as

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woke Florida is where woke come to die. They pushed back on that. And just to push back on just a little what one of the commissioners said that let's forget about the past and let's move forward. No, we can't do that. It's a lot of ugly stuff in the past that if you don't

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address it, it'll pop right back up at you. Uh I I believe you qualify for this and I hope that the dasis all agree to bring you aboard because this city is built up especially in here. There's a

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lot of people that serve u I know Hitler Hitler [laughter] It's a it's a it's a bunch of veterans in here. I'm a retired Navy. We got retired Navy and um it's just I

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understand that you was in Air Force. We ain't going to hold that against you. So I I just hope that uh we just don't forget the past and make sure that when

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we moving forward that no matter how ugly things it is, it's just the way that you shape and I hope that you be. >> Thank you, Mr. Bell. >> Any other public comment? >> Thank you, sir. I don't doubt your qualifications and we

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appreciate your service. Um, my interest has to do with the budget too in that I hope that this consolidates the public information officers into one and we get a consistent message then that it's done

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in a professional way as opposed to having multiple messages from m multiple pios across the city departments and we get the same consistent put out there and you said something that I have

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spoken to people about and it's ironic that you said it. Um it social media is getting when something comes out there and people are going crazy over it, it needs to be addressed

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then. You don't wait 5 days or the commission meeting to address it. You go on right then and come up with a response. And we don't need to be paying for a whole bunch of Facebook ads when all you have to do is share it. You

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know, you go on, you put a post, and then you share it into groups. And you can get three million views just by doing that and never paying a penny to Facebook or any of those other programs for advertising. And I know I get three million views on

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a couple of my pages and a million on several of the others. and that's just by sharing. So, I hope we're welcoming you and I appreciate the work you do and you've done and I think that you will represent a pupa well.

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>> Thank you, Dr. Olmstead. >> I'm not gonna hold that against you either man. uh Sylvester Hall. You know, pe people see when I come up here, they kind of see one side of me. Uh and they don't [clears throat] see they don't see the

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other. But I'm reminded here uh with my my military brother here, I like his character. I like his charm. I like his appeal. I like I like the package. And it it it brings something in me. And

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I like the position. I like everything about it. But here's here's what here's what I'm looking at. And this is how I look at things as a whole. And I wear so many hats. And that's why I tell you guys, you know, when we talk about forgetting about the past, no, we learn from the past. We forget about it. And

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we don't let it hold us hostage. But we learn from the past. That's how we bring about change. Now, when you talking about bringing public information, I remember hearing that's what I love about coming to these meeting because everything is is is is documented. It's on film and all you got to do is go back

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and roll the tape. I remember commissioner uh Velasquez is where you made the motion to let the mayor manipulate the minutes to put what he want to put on it. And it was second and it was passed. So when people come in and say, "We're gonna do this, we're gonna do that." And they give you this

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lovely speech, I'mma hold you accountable for it. And I I give you the chance to earn my respect. And I I give you respect until you take it away from me. And so I love everything about you. And this is not about you. I will be

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honored to have you represent the pot because I'm gonna make sure you represent it well and do what you supposed to do. But I like everything about you. Now, other thing I I look at We went and had the job posted. We did the interviews and did all that good

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stuff. The city administration seat has been open for over a year, if not more. If I'm not mistaken, we haven't had time to post that job, do any interviews of anything. But coming on board our first B and city manager, city administrator is supposed

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to be our our bread and butter to run our city. We haven't had time to do that, but we got time to go and and do the public information. You see what I'm saying? So, when y'all looking at people in the audience, you don't know their background. You don't know where they come. And they looking at y'all like,

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"What what what is going on here? What is going on here?" So, that's why I ask you to do what you supposed to do. And everything that I that I that I've heard here about this gentleman, I'm happy with and I'm okay moving forward. I just don't

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like the way y'all prioritizing things. And then uh what I just said about the minutes, I got a letter from uh Susan Bone, Miss Bone. It said that letter that you had that you gave to the mayor

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and the commissioners, we need a copy of that for public records. Now, >> just finish your thought. >> Yeah. Yeah. Now, I didn't respond to that email yet. I want to address it here and I have that information for

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you. But when I go and pull up the the minutes, what it read, what it read, Sylvester Hall, he talked about leadership and spoke about anonymous letter that he received. That's not that's not correct information. That's not giving the public what I said. It's just putting

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out what you wanted the public to hear. Now, if this if Steve is going to do that, he gonna have a long day with me. And this is what you guys have the opportunity to go back and change that. the public records, whatever anybody

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from the community, if you v value their opinion, that should be in its total uh wording whatever they said. We have the technology to do that. And they only up here three minutes. And here's another thing. From the past, it

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was four minutes. Nobody has made the motion to bring it back to four minutes. We need to have that motion to let these public comments be as as they are spoken. >> Mr. Hul, please. and and and and and do that. But for this for this,

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I'm I'm I'm I'm happy with what I see. But everybody talk about transparency. Let's say I missed it in the agenda. I I I never saw a complete job description uh that for us to see. Uh I I never

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thought nothing about salary. Uh Commissioner Anderson brought up budget. We don't know his salary and his complete job description. And so all those things need to be transparent when we talking about moving forward. So just keep that in mind. And if you if if if

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my brother do get welcome aboard. >> Thank you Mr. Hall. Any other public comment? All right. I will close public comments. Any final words uh from the commission? >> Good luck. [laughter]

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>> I'll reserve that com. No, [laughter] this this is going to be a blessing. So, no. >> Well, then I'll wrap it up. Um I really do think and I'm excited about Mr. Montier. We've we've had a few conversations and super excited about just his passion. He's got a really unique special passion for people and

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public service. Obviously, just being around people and talking to people. So, that was something that was really cool. I know I made the hair comment, but he really does care about people and that's something that really um drew me to him and I see just as a value ad to our city. And to look at it more pragmatically as well, his department should be adding value in a very

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tangible way to our city. He's going to be working very closely with our economic development department to make sure that they have the marketing uh materials they need. Every department will be able to tap into Mr. Moniro and uh those that will be underneath him to make sure that uh they have marketing materials that are consistent, echoing a

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consistent message, that there's nothing going out that doesn't match what uh another department is doing. It's going to have a very consistent theme and commissioners are going to know information before the public does. That's his job. And he also works for you guys as well. That's the point. It's not just me. It's not just the employees. He works for you guys as

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well. If you guys are out in the event or hosting the event, uh he's there for that or his team is there for that to to help and assist. It's not just about one thing or another. This is truly a marketing package for the city that's going to add so much more value. I I kind of I wrote down a note of of kind

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of a multiplier department that it may cost X, but what he should be producing and we're going to see it uh should be X times something. Um and and I I I I'm excited for what he will be bringing on. Um I told him he has no time to day one. You better be doing something. No, I'm

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kidding. But no, we're excited. So, um I guess from there, I will look for a motion to ratify Mr. Steven Montier for the public information director. So move >> moved by uh Vice Mayor. >> Second by Commissioner Ruth. All those in favor say I.

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>> I. All opposed. >> Motion carries unanimously. [applause] >> Thank you. >> So >> you can feel free. [laughter] Trooper Steve, there's a saying in Spanish.

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There's a saying in Spanish. [laughter] >> Although I may look like I'm from Oklahoma, my mother is Puerto Rican and my father is gonna be a good >> congratulations. >> Thank you.

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>> Looking forward to it. Awesome. [laughter] Well, then we will move on to ordinance number 3158. It is my understanding that >> the um actually I'll let them their team filter

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out real quick. Sorry. I'll still go ahead and read the ordinance. Feel free. >> Yes. >> Ordinance number 3158. An ordinance of the city of Apopka, Florida, amending the future land use element of the Apopka comprehensive plan

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of the city of Apakka changing the future land use designation from residential very low suburban to office for properties located at 4410 Chandler Road and 4420 Chandler Road owned by Richard Chandler comprising of 5.12

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acres more or less providing for severability conflicts and an effective date. >> Dr. Z. >> Good evening. This is Junzone Planner, the community development department. Um the applicant has request a continuous of the item. The recommended motion is

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continue the item to the um August 5th city city commission meeting. >> Thank you. All right. Uh I will so we're trying to continue to August 5th. So not much discussion there. Is anybody from public want to discuss Leroy Bell? M Helen on this on this uh

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first reading and the next one and I'll be through for the night. It's the first reading that coming to you guys. I'm just hoping that that this come out the DRC over this way that everything have been

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satisfied with all with with environmentally everything all eyes dotted te cross it's nothing well I get back with you with this I'll get back with you with that

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everything need to be upfront if they if it come to you guys in the first reading the second reading or whatever. If it's if everything is not kosher out of the DRC or the six thing that you asking for, it need to not be a second reading.

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It need to go back to the DRC. And even if they find something wrong, it don't mean that you guys can't allow the develop to go on. What they need to do is go back and fix the problem. If they need to go back and mitigate something, go back and do it. Once they

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do it, come back and give it back to the DRC. And once it pass the DRC, then the first reading come to you guys. Stop putting the c ahead of the horse. >> Thank you, Mr. Bell. Any other public comment on this one? All right. I'll look for a motion to continue this one

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until August 5th. >> So moved by Commissioner Ruth. >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Anderson. All those in favor say I. >> I. All opposed. >> I No, I don't oppose. I was saying I to the approve. >> Okay. I don't >> to continue. Are you sure? >> Yes. If I'm going too fast, let me know.

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>> I hit the button before I could. >> Okay. No problem. No problem. >> I'm in agreement. [laughter] >> Yes, ma'am. All right. Then uh that one uh is approved unanimously. Uh moving on to ordinance number 3159. >> Okay. Ordinance number 3159. An ordinance of the city of Papka, Florida,

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changing the zoning from RSF1A residential single family estate 20 office for certain real properties generally located at 4410 Jland Road and 4420 Chandler Road owned by Richard Chandler comprising of 5.12 acres more or less providing for severability

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conflicts and an effect. >> The applicant The applicant has requested a continuence. >> Perfect. Thank you. Any public comment on this one? No public comment. We'll close it and look for a motion to continue ordinance number 3159. >> So moved. >> Moved by Commissioner Baron.

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>> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Anderson. All those in favor say I. >> I. All opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Ordinance number 3167. Okay. >> Ordinance number 3167. An ordinance of the city commission of

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the city of Apopa, Florida, creating community redevelopment agency board appointments of the city's code of ordinances establishing a policy and procedure for the appointment of me members to the city of Apopka community redevelopment agency board. Setting

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forth eligibility requirements, establishing a vacancy and appointment process, providing for terms of appointment, oath of office, ethics training and financial disclosure requirements. providing for conflicts severability scrier's errors comp

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codification and an effective date. Good evening board's economic development director. The ordinance before you is to address a process in order to appoint a uh a vacancy in the CRA board. So as background, the current ordinance

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needs to, as I specified, establish how we go about appointing board members to ensure that the process is transparent, consistent, and compliant not only with Florida statutes, the city charter, and the municipal code. It also assists in the recruitment of qualified candidates when vacancies become available.

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In terms of qualifications, this was discussed and recommended by the CRA board as well as staff that they need to reside within the city. Provide a resume and preference will be given to applicants that contain the listed experience including real estate development, urban planning,

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architectural engineering, construction, project management, environmental sciences, business ownership or management within the city or community or nonprofit leadership. In terms of the recruitment and selection process, it is publicly it will be publicly uh noticed

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when there is a vacancy as it already has been. There will be the acceptance of applications and supporting documents. It will be reviewed for eligibility which includes residency um as well as the um documentation such as the application and resume. In addition,

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we will have uh further review by staff in order to provide um a screening of their professional and technical um qualifications. At that point, if interviews are necessary, they will be done so through the city administrator. Um this position will be appointed by

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city commission. Staff will provide a recommendation in terms of ranking of number one and number two which in no way requires the city commission to go by that recommendation. It's simply to provide another um opportunity for review.

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As I mentioned appoint the appointment will be by the city commission. It will be a 4-year term or to fill a vacancy. um performance and attendance would be a consideration for reappointment as well as a maximum of two consecutive full terms. Um so following the appointment,

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the requirements that are in the ordinance include the oath of office as well as annual ethics training, the form one financial disclosure as well as maintaining compliance with Florida ethics laws. So, our recommended motion is to approve the first reading of

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ordinance number 3167 establishing the procedures for the appointment of members to the um city of Apaka CRA board and schedule the ordinance for a second reading and public hearing. >> Thank you, Mrs. Forbes. Commissioners, any questions on this? >> How many vacance vacancies do we have

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right now on the board? >> There's currently one vacancy. So, through our interlocal agreement with the county, the city has uh one appointment and the county has one appointment. >> Okay. Thank you. >> How many total >> members of the CRA? >> Seven.

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>> There's seven. >> So, five of them are um the city commission and then there are two um volunteer appointed positions. One being um appointed by the county and one being um appointed by the city commission. >> Okay.

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>> And when will this application process begin? >> The application process has um completed. It was done in February. It was posted. We received applications and they have been on hold until we have a process in place um in order to select a member. >> Thank you.

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>> Any other questions? >> Right. Thank you, Miss Forbes. Uh anybody from the public wish to speak on this? >> M 3603 Golden Gem Road. No question, just an observation. It would appear to become a CRA board member, you've got to jump through more hoops than you have to

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to become a city commissioner. Are we going to make some changes in that as well? Thank you, Mr. McKim. Any other public comment? All right, we'll close public comment comment, excuse me. Uh, commissioners, any final comments at all on your end? If not,

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I'll look for a motion to approve ordinance number 3167 at first reading and holder for second reading. So move >> moved by Commissioner Anderson. >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Baron. All those in favor say I. >> I. All opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, Mr. >> Thank you.

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>> Uh, next up, ordinance number 3169, uh, first reading for the general employees pension trust opt out clause. >> Okay, >> Dr. Patton. Ordinance number 3169, an ordinance of the city commission of the city of Aapka, Florida, amending chapter 54, retirement systems, article

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2, general employees retirement system by amending section 54-9 definitions by amending section 54-20 membership and amending section 54-21 board of trustees providing for codification providing for severability

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providing for conflicts and setting an effective Dr. Ben. >> Good evening everybody. Um, this is a request to uh approve an opt out the first reading. And a little bit

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of background, I have uh Frank Mega on the line as well. He is from HYN Consulting. He helps us with our uh pinion boards. Um, but a little bit of information. This was uh designed to

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uh help those individuals that may have um restrictions as far as term limits such as the mayor's position. Uh individuals in higher positions that are volatile uh such as directors once a new

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mayor comes in. No telling what may happen historically that those positions haven't changed but that doesn't mean they won't. Uh so this was designed to help uh those individuals that feel that their term limits are limited and to

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help them choose an another option uh for retirement. So they would opt out of our retirement which requires you know 10 years of vesting depending on which plan you are uh and uh other aspects.

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know uh Frank if you have any questions Frank is here to ask uh answer those and myself >> excellent thank you for that commissioners any questions >> I telling you how I'm voting >> thank you for that any other comments questions

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>> so I just I have a just a few questions so in regards to so I'm looking at say general employee city to permit the mayor the senior executive assistant so what about the other assistant is it just the mayor's executive assistance or this actually qualify to all the executive assistants across the board. >> So, as of right now, it's just the

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mayor's executive assistant. Uh, as we spoke before, that is is determined to be the most volatile at this point. Uh, usually historically, uh, when you look at the city itself and

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the transition of, you know, mayor to compared to fire chief or police chief, uh, that position does not usually change. uh except for the mayor's position, that position under the mayor, the mayor may

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have an option to bring in someone, you know, that they feel close with and that comfortable, trustworthy. Not to say that the other person isn't, but that is the mayor's um uh preview. >> Okay. And how many other cities actually

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have the same type of opt out for these the for the exe the senior executive assistants? I I can't answer that. I'm not sure of how many >> pension that you forced into [laughter] >> like this one. >> Okay. I'm just ask I'm just I'm asking for historic

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>> country. I'm not sure how many I really can't answer how many cities have that. >> So, he did there are a few. >> So, there was a I'm pretty sure that he probably can tell us because he did the study. Correct. The the the person that's currently on I'm sorry. Who is this that's currently on the Frank?

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>> Frank Mayor. So, he's the one. Okay. So what's the question? >> The question is how many other cities has the same opt out clause for executive assistance for the for the mayor's executive assistant? >> Uh so this is Frank Mega. I I don't have a number. I didn't do any study

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specifically on this. Um it's not uncommon to have this happen uh in general pension plans across the state. We do have uh some we manage several plans across the state and it's um not uncommon to have executive leadership managerial roles uh have the ability to

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opt out based upon um what Mr. Patton said uh uh you know if there's term limits or things like that those members uh like the mayor for specifically will never vest in this plan therefore uh given another option for a different retirement. So um I I hope that helps

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clarify from my standpoint. So based off of the study, what data did you use >> to derive to this conclusion? You said you not you didn't have any in particular, you know, cities or anything. So how do we derive I mean I'm just trying to understand it because someone asked that's why I'm asking.

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Yeah. >> And I said I'll answer. So >> yeah, >> we did. Yeah. So this this was brought up um in front of the last pension board uh as a request. Um uh the plan attorney uh consulted on this and and and the plan attorney has no issues with this at

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all. This is just amending the plan. Um there's no state requirement uh for the general employees for your city that requires um based upon my understanding from the plan attorney uh to participate in the pension plan. So this is common uh no study needed to be done as this is

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a common practice across the state >> for executive. So can you point to any city that executive assistant that there's a opt- out clause in a city >> that a city has? >> I cannot. >> We cannot. No, >> I just I just want because someone brought it.

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>> It's strictly It's strictly uh at the city's determination. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Any other questions? >> No. So, it's just uncommon. So, that was So, so it is uncom. Okay. Thank you. That's all. No questions. No other questions.

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>> Uh we'll open up public comment. I guess I told a lot of that last time. Uh help me help me understand th this about uh the mayor's assistant. What is that? >> Correct. So what this is and why I had

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this is that because term limits are now in place. my assistant that works directly for me to help do the business as a CEO is now also limited and will never be able to invest in this retirement system, but it's required to put money into it. So, it's a disincentive almost to have to do that

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and not ever be able to vest. >> Okay. So, my next question, who is the assistant to you? >> Why do you ask? >> I I I'm I'm pay I pay taxes. >> I know. I'm kidding. Uh it's uh Miss Jessica Lumis is her name. Mrs. Jessica Lumis.

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>> Oh. Oh, no. No problem because my >> But you met her. >> I know. But but when you get 66 years old, you get kind of cloudy. Listen, but here here's the thing with with the mayor assistant going back to and I I I

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don't want to get in the weed, but going back to Commissioner Anderson uh point about the chief of staff. If you got an assistant of the chief of staff, that about the same thing. >> I highly disagree with you, but that's

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okay. Thank you for your comment, Mr. Bell. Any other public comment? >> All right, I will close public comment. Um, any other final comments from the commission? >> Then I will look for a motion to approve ordinance number 3169 at first reading and hold over for second. Moved by

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Commissioner Ruth. >> Second. >> Second by Vice Mayor. All those in favor say I. >> I. All opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, Dr. Patton. Next up, resolution number 2026-28, amending the budget for the fiscal year

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uh starting October 1, 2025 and ending September 30, 2026. >> Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners. The item before you is resolution number 2026 amending the budget for in the

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amount of 730 let me go to that $30,000. This amendment is pertaining to implementing a credit process for the residents that we have back bill due to

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some malfunctions with their meter the flex net or and other items associated with that. Our code allows us to do the bike billing and that's indicated here before you and we do it also allows us to true that up once we get that actual

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consumption. However, in order to minimize that impact on some of the city residents and customers who are under a special agreement due to the back billing. This policy establishes funding from the general fund to issue credits

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for the back build amount. So, this will work in as a transfer from the general fund to cover that credit amount. >> Thank you, Mr. Shard. Any questions from the commissioners? >> Um, I I'd like to and at least I'd like

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to put it record. I asked u the questions I asked the other day, I've still yet to get an answer, but >> if you don't mind, I'd like to at least >> I do what I can to answer them now. >> Throw out those an those questions. I wanted, you know,

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in order to be fair to the the citizens that got the the charges and and the recovery plan, but it's also to be fair to the people that are that are being asked of to fund that until it's uh the forgiveness is is, you know, brought up

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to standards. I was curious why wasn't the fund recovered from the utility fund? Again, as I shared with you during our brief discussion, the utility fund is has some bond covenants that is subjected to and therefore as my I

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discussed this with the auditor to make sure that we stay in compliance with those bond covenants. So, they have to recognize that revenue. That's why we're requesting the general fund to cover that credit. Uh the the other thing is um the $365,000

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liability, was that due to defective meters or was that something that we did as the city? I mean, I'm trying to navigate how we got here. >> Well, typically when we don't get the readings, it's either defective meter or either the flex net is not working.

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>> But in any regard, we're not getting the readings for the billing purposes. And so to those items are fixed and we start getting those readings again. That's why >> that so a large part of this was equipment failure. Was that a sign to

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lack of maintenance or the type of >> I think it was >> meter we were using >> supply as well at one point. We did not have the flexet supplies at some point in time but is is meter being defective draw. >> It was a combination. Yeah. The biggest

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issues I think was that you know meters have a certain useful life. Yeah. >> I think we let a substantial amount of those go well beyond that and it tracked them properly. And so that is what happened to where once we finally caught up and then we also had uh >> COVID put a a wrench in being able to

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get those uh meters in time now once the city actually decided to >> start to replace the bad ones that created this big massive issue. This goes back to the the PIO, the the reason we need this, you know, this has been going on for a long time and people

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don't know. So, what I'm trying to say is outside of my general knowledge, I I mean, I get this on the agenda. Um, to be a good steward of the seat that I'm sitting in, I don't know how we got here, but then again, I do every

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opportunity I get when I get the agenda, I like to ask the questions. I'm just trying to be a good steward and let everybody know that when I come here and I I act like I don't know, I truly don't because I'm, you know, I ask this information and they're they're kind of

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general, but it it's information that everybody else, you know, asked me, but the information is coming slowly. I appreciate all the stuff you're doing. You you know, I am getting information now. It's starting to pick up and the speed is getting a lot faster. I

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appreciate what you're doing. >> Thank you, sir. >> Any other questions from the commission? >> Just a general where we at with the water beers as of today. >> Yeah, as of our last report, which I apologize I would have given at the last commission meeting. Um >> Oh, did you have a baby or something?

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>> Something like that. Um uh we are we have hit our 5% goal uh for the July uh end of June number, start of July. That means we're at down to 1,521 estimated billings out of our 29,941 reads.

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>> And we came from >> And we came from back in October 2024, just to remember or just to uh refresh that picture, we're up at 8,420 estimated buildings, which was 31% of our our billing structure. So >> uh over that time, we have made a sign

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significant progress and dent. And again, uh, appreciation to Blanch's team, uh, Glenn's team over in utilities and and all the people out in the field that have really chipped away at this at a very high rate to get us to where we are now. >> Correct. Yeah. How many do we have total

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billing? 29. >> Oh, about Yeah. >> Yeah. 29,941. >> Yes. And and the amount being transferred is only the 365. Let me clarify. But because it is a transfer between funds, I have to recognize that transfer in this amendment.

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Any other questions? >> Just uh just a comment. Uh well, I guess it is a question. Um so this is the these are these are credits are going back to back to those that are being that have been

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>> that are on a special agreement for back building for this purposes. We it's a process that we have to go through. We have >> money is coming back to our residents. >> Yes, that's yes, that's what we're going to do. >> Okay, very good. I just wanted to make sure >> it won't be automatic. Now, it's a process, but it's happening

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>> for sure. Money's coming. All right. Sounds good. I'm glad that somebody's going to give us a surprise check. And I pray that it's needed. >> Yes. >> We're not getting a check, though. >> There's getting a credit. >> It's a credit. Then I pray that it's needed. >> Yeah. Money they do not have to pay once

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we implement this. >> Any other comments from the commission? So just one I just want to ask one question because I know I I've been giving you some of the residents that have contacted me especially one that had a huge bill. So if this passes

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today, will that person with that big bill from that village >> only if it's only >> this is customers who have been back build because of the meters or the flex malfunction, >> right?

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>> Um in his particular case, I'm still looking at that >> in his particular case. Okay. >> Yeah. And they need to be on a special agreement, but let me look at that. And I think he is, but let me look I'm still looking into that. >> I think the point too, just to kind of reiterate that as well, is that we're not just doing if if you're um late on

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your bill or something like that or it's passed due. It's a it's specifically to compensate for what we should have been ahead of in the first place of these water meters. >> And it's residential, please. >> Correct. Exclusively residential. So, it's sending tax dollars back to the residents. It's their money back to them. Now, are we building safeguards in

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there to where this stuff, you know, this is not going to be a reoccurring problem next year or? >> Yeah. [snorts] >> Yes. Our our utilities operations team um because as mayor mentioned, these all have a lifespan. Uh the uh census meters

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have batteries and battery lifespan. So, uh, our team has built out that runway of what we have ahead of us over the next several years to not only ensure that we're, um, tracking that properly, but also how we budget the needs for those supplies as we move forward. We have had to spend a lot more money over

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the last two years to get caught up because we are so far behind in the whole. Um, but the team has uh, put together that information and is uh, is going to execute that as we move forward. Yeah, thank you for the >> any other comments or questions from commission.

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All right, I'll open public comment. Anybody from public wish to speak up 3603 Golden Gem Road. One thing that we can't address today, but when we had to estimate bills for people who did get

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in their rears, can we be sure that we estimated them correctly and that there was nobody overcharged? What I'm asking is at some point or other, can we discuss how those charges were attributed? Because if it was specifically there was no data but

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we took how many weeks the meter wasn't working for and we made an estimate that that's what they might have used in that particular period. It could be seasonally adjusted. It could be adjusted because there was another resident came in and residency changed.

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So we have to make sure that the people who were charged for water actually are get are [clears throat] getting charged for what they got. >> Absolutely. And that's wellreceived. In this new uh policy, we do dictate kind of how far you go back so that it's not

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like my family where my girls love to use lots of that water. It goes back to the most recent of you using it uh for certain cases for your account >> if it exists. Yes, you're correct. >> So, it's not it to your point, there are checks and balances in some uh >> yes,

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>> oversight to make sure that we we are doing it right. Correct. On that front, any other public comment? >> All right, I'll close public comment. I will look for a motion to approve resolution number 2026-28. >> So move. >> Moved by vice mayor. >> Second. >> Second by commissioner Ruth. All those

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in favor say I. I. All opposed. >> Motion carries unanimously. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Sherman. >> All right, we will move on to commissioner reports. Uh, Commissioner Ruth, you are first. >> Uh, it was a fantastic uh event we did

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this weekend. Um, Mr. Hall and I were really uh leading the charge. I mean uh our H was uh definitely present but um we we gamefully made it uh from start to finish.

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[laughter] >> No, no, no. >> Wearing vests. >> We had a blast. It was a great event. I'm glad that we got to participate. >> Absolutely. Anything else? >> No. >> All right. Uh, vice mayor, >> I cheered for all of you. [laughter]

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>> No, nothing much to report. Thank you very much. >> Uh, Commissioner Anderson. >> Yes. So, a few things. So, the first thing [clears throat] is is um and I we have currently I'm seeing if you're able to establish a policy, a procedure or some type of ordinance um anytime that

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we change an authorization like to a position that it has to come back before the council. And I say that because I know especially now I look at this budget season is that when I know when I look at a budget and I go line item and I approve a certain position um a lot

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goes into that approving that. So if we are approving positions and then the position is reclassified I think it should come back before the board to make sure that the board agrees on that position. So I'm asking that um I know a lot of other cities have is that there is an ordinance that is prepared that it comes back to the council for approval

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anytime that there's a reclassification of the position. >> Yeah. And that's something that it's unfortunate how aggressively it was being done in the past and that's for years uh that has been happening to where we would approve something that they just change um without us approving it. So I've already implemented October

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one that's not going to happen. What approves is approved in a department is what they have. Whether or not they can fill it is up to them. Um, so yes, that'll be that'll be changed to make sure that what is approved in the budget is what each department gets without any movements. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you for that. And the next thing is I know that there's a

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$150,000 for the homeless shelter that is currently the Duke. Can we kind of can we make sure because I want to make sure that that money is we're going to actually spend that money because it's been you know it's been rotating for a long time in the budget and I think it's something that we really need to look at making sure that we implement and I know

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that the CRA is working on something that they're going to be presenting to the board and I want to make sure that we have that $150 $50,000 budgeted so that way we can help bridge the other gap. >> It's not budgeted it's earmarked. >> Air marked. Okay. So how we put it in it? you if you want to budget it, you just have to

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>> because it's because it's it's sitting there, right? Committed. Okay? >> Yes. It's sitting in in reserves as a committed or restricted amount >> because of the Duke funds. If you look in your act, you'll see I labeled it at one point said Duke funds. >> So, yeah, it is there. >> Okay. Because we don't budget for it,

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then we can't use it. >> You budget when you get ready to use it. Yeah. You have to budget for it to use it. And I know that we are I know that the CRA in in the next meeting we're going to be looking at purchasing a property some >> some land >> and that is CRA funding not this 150. Correct. >> Correct.

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>> So what I'm think what I'm asking the council to consider is is that in addition to we're going to need some more funding. The 150 is just to purchase the property looking at planning for the future with that property. I think that $150,000 that's currently airmarked need to be put into the budget so we can utilize it.

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>> Yeah, we definitely discussed it. I think let's get CRA discussion and make sure that there's some cohesion there and then from there we can make that decision. >> Anything else? >> Nope. That is all. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Baron. >> Um, it was a great weekend. Uh,

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especially doing the 2650 challenge on Saturday and the 5K on Sunday. I wore a weighted vest and yes, I passed Commissioner Ruth and Mr. Hall [laughter] with my vest. Had to say it. >> Um,

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And so, um, what I did want to bring up was, um, mayor, if we could bring the public comment to four minutes. I know that's something that, um, was discussed and I would like to put that on the table to bring that to four, uh, bring

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public comment up to four minutes. >> Yeah, absolutely. I think the, um, that's based in an ordinance somewhere, so we can definitely bring that back up to to change. Um, and while we're doing that, probably would make sense to maybe change other parts of that policy as well.

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>> Okay. >> Yeah, absolutely. I'd like to do that. Um, and then moving forward when we have positions such as uh with the public information director or any positions moving forward that uh the commission be

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sent uh their salary package um along with their resumes, you know, just that there's an advertisement for the position. Um because I just kind of heard through the grapevine that there was an advertisement for the position. I think it's a something that the commission should be at least emailed to

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say, "Hey, we've got this position out there. We've got these uh applicants that are applying. We don't need to go through the application process." That's obviously something that's internal um that's done. However, if we can get privy to this is who we are selecting or

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considering, this is the salary package, just to be having that transparency that we're not getting it the day of the ratification. >> Sure. Um, let me figure out like a new process for that because I know that we do have uh emails go out, at least I receive them and I'll make sure that you guys do too moving forward of any new

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positions that are posted. So, make sure that you're getting those emails as well, just so you can see, hey, whatever it may be in any capacity, any new position that comes up, regardless of it's a director level or not, you'll get those emails um that it's been posted. And there's some policy of it's been posted internally for a few days and

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then externally. So, I'll make sure that that's out there and then make sure that it's complete package uh moving forward with the ratifications um as they start to come in. >> Appreciate that. >> Well received. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Awesome. Uh >> thank you, ma'am. Uh, city

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administrators report. >> Uh, nothing to report. Thank you all for the well wishes. Uh, the new baby, the wife and the two-year-old are all doing well. >> Great. >> Just short a little sleep. >> Yes. [laughter] Uh, city attorney. >> I have nothing to report except the the

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grandpa and grandma are doing okay. And that's me and my wife. [laughter] >> Mayor, sorry. I do have one thing uh Blanch would like to communicate that uh is a hold over from the village meeting. >> Yes. Just wanted to share as you know a part of the process I have to send out

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notices to our customers through our utility billing of the planned rate increases. Of course the storm water one will go out on the trim but the water waste water and reclaim water has to go out in a special notice through utility billing

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as well as sanitation. So I just wanted to let you know I'm working on getting those out. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Thank you for that. Uh mine is super short. Um just want to if you've looked at the agenda, I changed uh one small thing right now. It's on the information items at the

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end. It's specifically to the city's a city of Apaka's dispersement report. That used to be under consent agenda. Um there's no requirement to approve that, but I do want it to have beformational for you guys. And one of the things I saw it never made sense that we approved it because the money was already spent.

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So if we deny it as a board, I don't know how to get that money back. So it didn't quite make sense. But I do want it to be informational and be included in the packets every every uh meeting. It's just you'll see that change moving forward that it'll still be there. It's just not there for uh approval because based on the budget, it's just showing

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what's been spent the previous month. So with that, we'll close. >> Thank you everyone.