[0:00]

[0:00] The mic was live, and you could just hear [INAUDIBLE]..

[0:05] Hello, did you know?

[0:06] [CHUCKLES] [INAUDIBLE] everybody sweating.

[0:09] [? Didn't go ?] over great.

[0:10]

[0:14] I call the February 13th meeting of the City Commission

[0:17] to order.

[0:18] And to start out, we will have Pastor Travis

[0:21] come up for the invocation from Baptist Church of Casselberry.

[0:27] Thank you.

[0:28] Let us pray.

[0:29] Precious Heavenly Father, we thank you for this opportunity

[0:33] to stand before you, O Lord.

[0:35] Father God, we ask you to bless these gentlemen

[0:38] and these ladies that serve our community.

[0:41] May you give them wisdom, give them knowledge,

[0:44] to do the business that is needed for our community

[0:47] to be blessed.

[0:48] And Lord, we thank you for the many blessings

[0:50] that we have in this great nation that we have.

[0:53] Lord, continue to look over our leaders, making sure that they

[0:59] look toward you Lord in all the decision makings that they

[1:02] make, that they honor you, that not only

[1:04] that they be honored, that you'll

[1:06] be able to honor your people.

[1:08] In Jesus's name I pray, Amen.

[1:11] Amen.

[1:12] Thank you, sir.

[1:14] If you would join me for the Pledge.

[1:15]

[1:19] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America

[1:23] and to the Republic for which it stands,

[1:26] one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty

[1:29] and justice for all.

[1:31]

[1:34] Thank you.

[1:34]

[1:37] Donna, would you please call the roll.

[1:40] Commissioner Aramendia?

[1:42] Here.

[1:42] Commissioner Meadows?

[1:43] Here.

[1:44] Commissioner Albritton?

[1:45] Here.

[1:46] Vice Mayor Busch.

[1:47] Here.

[1:47] Mayor Henson.

[1:48] Here.

[1:49] Thank you.

[1:50] OK, we start the meeting out with the minutes,

[1:54] approval of minutes.

[1:55] Is there any comments, questions, deletions?

[1:59] If not, the chair will understand a motion

[2:01] to approve the minutes.

[2:02] Motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of January

[2:05] 23, 2023, as presented.

[2:07] Second.

[2:08] We have a motion and second.

[2:09] All those in favor.

[2:11] Aye.

[2:12] Those opposed.

[2:13] That motion carries unanimously.

[2:15] If everyone would join me out front,

[2:19] we have a special proclamation.

[2:22] I'd like Mike and the chief to come down if you would please.

[2:25]

[2:39] You need the microphone.

[2:41]

[2:56] It's kind of a bittersweet moment for us.

[2:58] We have another retirement.

[3:01] And we want to give a proclamation to Mike Johnson,

[3:07] and let me read it here.

[3:08] Whereas Mike E Johnson has served the city of Casselberry

[3:11] in a professional and dedicated manner since he

[3:13] began his employment with the city as a police officer

[3:17] on January 5th of 1998.

[3:22] He was transferred to the criminal investigations unit

[3:25] on October 29 of 2001, where he served the Department

[3:30] and community as a detective and has most recently been

[3:34] representing the city in his role

[3:36] as financial crimes investigator with Seminole

[3:40] Financial Crimes Task force.

[3:42] Whereas Michael Johnson, whose passion professionalism

[3:46] and devotion to duty has proven to be a tremendous asset

[3:49] to the Casselberry police department over the years,

[3:52] and whereas Michael Johnson has for the past 25 years

[3:57] has been an exemplary employee of the city of Casselberry

[4:00] has instructed fellow law enforcement officers

[4:04] on fraud investigations and has worked with law enforcement

[4:08] agencies around the world to further the goal of protecting

[4:11] victims against financial crimes and who has earned the status

[4:16] of Certified Fraud Examiners, certified cryptocurrency

[4:21] expert, and certified blockchain expert,

[4:25] and whose commitment to the city of Casselberry

[4:27] and the police department has been proven to be invaluable.

[4:32] I therefore-- I David Henson, by virtue of the authority vested

[4:36] in me as mayor of the city of Casselberry, Florida,

[4:39] present the proclamation to Michael

[4:42] Johnson in honor of his retirement on behalf

[4:45] of the city commission.

[4:46] The staff and the citizens of the city of Casselberry and

[4:50] set aside this day to honor and show our sincere

[4:52] gratitude and appreciation for his extraordinary 25

[4:57] years of service.

[4:58] And for anybody that understands blockchain and cryptocurrency,

[5:03] they have my respect because I certainly don't understand it.

[5:08] Thank you, sir.

[5:09] [APPLAUSE]

[5:12]

[5:34] Mike has to be a bean counter's bean counter

[5:36] to understand all this kind of stuff.

[5:39] Thank you, appreciate it.

[5:40] Hey, Mike, congratulations.

[5:41] You'll [? be ?] good.

[5:42] Thanks.

[5:43] Thanks.

[5:44] Thank you.

[5:45] Thanks for everything

[5:46] [INAUDIBLE]

[5:47] I will.

[5:48] I will.

[5:48] OK, thank you.

[5:49] Thank you.

[5:51] Give him one more.

[5:53] [APPLAUSE]

[5:56]

[6:28] OK.

[6:30] All right.

[6:30] The next item on the agenda is we're going to have

[6:33] to delay for a little while.

[6:35] Young lady that's supposed to be presenting it as

[6:39] stuck in traffic.

[6:40] So it's quite apropos since she's--

[6:47] so hopefully she's not riding a bike on the way here.

[6:52] So we'll move to the consent agenda

[6:54] and come back to that item directly.

[7:00] And so the consent as far as the consent agenda

[7:04] goes is there anything on the consent agenda

[7:08] that anyone wants to remove or discuss?

[7:11]

[7:13] If not, is there anyone in the audience wishing to discuss

[7:18] anything on the consent agenda?

[7:20]

[7:25] Seeing none, hearing none, we'll close

[7:27] that portion of the meeting.

[7:29] Turn it over to the commission for action.

[7:31] Motion to approve the consent agenda as presented.

[7:34] Second.

[7:35] We have a motion and a second.

[7:36] All those in favor?

[7:38] Aye.

[7:39] Those opposed.

[7:39] That motion passes unanimously.

[7:43] As we move along.

[7:44]

[7:56] See discussion items.

[7:58] Any future agenda items that anyone needs to talk about?

[8:05] OK.

[8:06] We have one resolution.

[8:09] So we'll start out with that resolution 23-3350

[8:14] and we'll turn it over to Donna to read that by title.

[8:20] Resolution 23-3350 resolution of the city commission of the city

[8:26] of Casselberry, Florida recognizing and confirming

[8:29] legislation in progress regarding

[8:31] the buffer and accessway requirements

[8:34] and section 3-3137 of the unified land development

[8:39] regulations for property zoned recreation and open space,

[8:43] providing for legislative findings,

[8:45] recognizing legislation and progress,

[8:47] providing for conflict severability,

[8:50] and an effective date.

[8:52] Mayor and commissioners, presenting this item

[8:54] will be Dr. Kelley Brock, director

[8:56] of Public Works and Utilities.

[8:59] Good evening mayor and commissioners.

[9:01] So as Donna mentioned resolution 23-3350 provides

[9:05] for recognition of legislation and progress

[9:09] regarding buffer ways--

[9:10] buffers and access ways.

[9:13] So the staff has been taking our parks bond projects

[9:18] through our development review process

[9:21] as any other site plan would need to go through,

[9:24] and with that we've realized that we have some constraints

[9:27] that we need to work through with regard to buffer

[9:30] requirements which brought about this item

[9:32] that's here before you tonight.

[9:36] So the unified land development regulations within the code

[9:40] of ordinances define--

[9:43] have various definitions related to buffers,

[9:46] including buffering, buffer strips, and buffer yards,

[9:49] but basically they call for landscaping

[9:53] or other screening between adjacent uses

[9:57] for proposed developments.

[10:00] Within that same section of the ULDRs,

[10:02] there is a table that indicates what

[10:04] type of buffer, denoted by A through D,

[10:09] would apply in a given situation.

[10:12] So in the example of parks, there

[10:13] is no separate parks or recreation open space zoning

[10:17] category for buffers currently.

[10:19] So it's usually interpreted as being

[10:21] a low impact development-- so if your proposed

[10:25] use is low impact.

[10:27] And then in most cases, your adjacent existing use

[10:30] is single family residential.

[10:33] So in that case your buffer required would be B.

[10:38] A type B buffer is basically 20 foot width

[10:42] between the adjacent land uses.

[10:44]

[10:47] So when it comes to parks, we are dealing with a lot

[10:50] of competing interests.

[10:52] One is to try to fit in all of the elements that were

[10:54] included in the conceptual packages

[10:57] associated with the parks bond.

[11:00] There are these landscape requirements,

[11:02] and I have a couple of examples of that I'll share

[11:06] on the next couple of slides.

[11:08] There are the city's goals related

[11:10] to active transportation where we're trying to make all

[11:12] of our parks within a 10 minute safe and comfortable walk

[11:15] of every resident within the city,

[11:19] as well as trying to promote active transportation

[11:22] and complete streets.

[11:24] We also have challenges when we're

[11:26] trying to make sure they're served properly

[11:28] for emergency services.

[11:29] Fire department has a lot of say.

[11:31] We have environmental considerations

[11:33] like wetlands, stormwater requirements, and the like.

[11:37] I didn't mention it here, but we also have other interests

[11:40] like Duke and power easements, as is the case with Wirz,

[11:44] is a challenge that we're currently working through.

[11:47] And of course there's cost, which has been a big impact

[11:50] for these park projects.

[11:53] So this next slide--

[11:54] these next two slides will give you

[11:56] just a couple of examples of the issue that we're looking at.

[11:59] So Wirz Park, this is Mark David Boulevard.

[12:02] This is the currently proposed site plan for Wirz Park.

[12:06] And then depicted in the pink color along the northern side

[12:11] of the park is what a 20-foot wide landscape

[12:15] buffer would look like.

[12:16] This is against a single family residential.

[12:18] And if you look closer, you can see

[12:20] we're trying to squeeze in a new sidewalk connection

[12:24] to get better access from Mark David Boulevard into the park,

[12:28] and to the various park elements.

[12:30] And this buffer requirement would actually

[12:33] make that pretty much unachievable with this site

[12:36] plan because the sidewalk, even if you

[12:38] were to shrink its width, would need

[12:40] to encroach into that buffer.

[12:43] And we're constrained by other issues such as fire department

[12:46] requirements, the dumpster location,

[12:48] the existing community building location as well.

[12:54] Another example, perhaps even more egregious,

[12:57] is Dew Drop Park.

[12:58] Off of Avalon Boulevard, the current access to Dew Drop Park

[13:02] is largely unimproved access consisting of a mulched area

[13:07] to be able to access drive up into where the parking

[13:11] and the restroom are.

[13:13] Under our current code, that really

[13:16] would not be able to meet our buffer requirements,

[13:18] because that space that you're going between

[13:21] is insufficient to achieve a 20-foot buffer

[13:24] from both adjacent single family residential

[13:28] on either side of it.

[13:29] And then we've also proposed--

[13:31] Dew Drop Park is actually meant to be a shared use path.

[13:34] So it's a real trail facility that's linking

[13:37] Avalon to Canterbury Circle.

[13:40] And it's meant to snake through the park.

[13:41] This is very similar to what was proposed

[13:43] in the conceptual package.

[13:45] And this would be encroaching taking up about half

[13:48] of that buffer in this current scenario.

[13:51] So that kind of elucidates the issues

[13:55] as we're facing as far as the buffers, the buffer

[13:58] requirements for parks.

[13:59] While we were looking at this section of the ULDRs,

[14:02] we did notice this section that has to do with buffer

[14:05] strips along street frontage.

[14:08] We noticed the language and this is just vehicular only.

[14:12] We think that's just an oversight that it was missed

[14:14] that you should be able to have sidewalk connections

[14:17] and active transportation connections

[14:19] through those buffer strips that are

[14:21] required along street frontage.

[14:23] And I think that was just an oversight when the code was

[14:25] originally written, but now is the time to go and clean that

[14:27] up while we're cleaning up the buffer requirement.

[14:30] So staff's recommendations, and this is what's reflected

[14:34] in the resolution before you tonight,

[14:36] is to consider modifying section 3-13.7.C.1

[14:42] regarding buffer yards.

[14:44] There are two tables in there that may need to be modified.

[14:48] We are proposing to narrow the focus

[14:50] to only recreation and open space zoned proper properties.

[14:54] So in effect it would just apply to parks.

[14:58] It would allow, potentially, for sidewalks

[15:00] and shared use paths under certain conditions

[15:02] to be within those required buffers.

[15:05] It may result in the need for additional vegetation

[15:07] to sort of mitigate the impact of that encroachment,

[15:10] and this wouldn't be by right it would be subject to planning

[15:14] and zoning commission approval.

[15:16] And then while we're at it, the second section mentioned there

[15:19] 3-13.7.3.2 has to do with the strips along street frontage,

[15:25] and that's simply revising it to also

[15:27] mention active transportation not just vehicular access.

[15:32] So the resolution provides for recognizing

[15:35] legislation in progress.

[15:37] That will help us in particular with our permitting process

[15:39] that we're currently undergoing for Wirz park,

[15:43] and then you would see this again

[15:45] after it has passed before--

[15:47] we hope to take it before the parks and recreation

[15:49] advisory board, and then planning and zoning,

[15:52] and then back to city commission for first and second reading.

[15:56] We're trying to target the second reading

[15:58] for June of this year.

[16:01] And with that, I will take any questions you may have.

[16:04] Any questions of staff?

[16:08] I think it's pretty clear.

[16:11] At this point, we'll open it up to the audiences.

[16:13] Is there anyone in the audience wishing

[16:15] to discuss resolution 23-3350?

[16:27] Seeing none.

[16:28] Hearing none.

[16:29] That portion of the meeting is now closed

[16:31] and we'll turn it back over to the commission.

[16:34] I move we approve resolution 23-3350 as presented.

[16:39] Second.

[16:40] We have a motion and a second.

[16:41] All those in favor.

[16:42] Aye

[16:43] Those opposed.

[16:45] That motion passes unanimously.

[16:49] Then we have no first reading of ordinances.

[16:54] We have no public hearings tonight.

[16:57]

[17:00] No other items that I know of that are on the agenda.

[17:03] So we'll open it up for citizen comments.

[17:07] Is there anyone in the audience wishing

[17:11] to speak to anything that was not on the agenda tonight?

[17:17] Please come forward name and address for the record.

[17:22] Good evening.

[17:22] My name is Dr. Deborah Bauer.

[17:24] I'm president of the Society for Historic

[17:26] Casselberry, 423 Eagle Circle Casselberry,

[17:29] Unincorporated Seminole County.

[17:31] I just wanted to come tonight to let you all know,

[17:33] you may not believe it, but two years have passed

[17:36] since I came before this board.

[17:38] Historic Casselberry is celebrating its second birthday

[17:41] believe it or not.

[17:42] Two years ago, not exactly tonight, but approximately,

[17:46] came before the board to let you all

[17:48] know that a group of citizens had gathered to help address

[17:52] a great oversight and the fact that within the historical

[17:54] community of Seminole County, of the seven municipalities,

[17:58] only two did at the time in 2021,

[18:01] only two didn't have a Historical Society--

[18:03] Casselberry and Winter Springs.

[18:05] So I'm proud to say that Winter Springs

[18:07] is now the only one that still doesn't two years later.

[18:09] And within that two year period we've worked to come together,

[18:13] we now have a membership of close to 40 members,

[18:16] both inside and outside the city.

[18:18] We draw from all over the Seminole County area--

[18:21] a couple actually even outside Seminole County.

[18:23] We've hosted four educational lectures and a guest lecture

[18:27] series, where we've had close to 300 people

[18:30] attend those four lectures.

[18:32] We have another one coming up on March 9th

[18:34] that we'll be talking about the architecture of James

[18:37] Campbell Rogers within the city and South Seminole County

[18:41] at large.

[18:41] And we continue to work right now with our two main points

[18:45] being increasing public awareness of the city

[18:48] and working to preserve cultural resources.

[18:50] So I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank the City

[18:53] Commission, thank Mr. Newlon, thank city staff

[18:56] for the wonderful support that they have continued to give

[18:59] historic Casselberry, because I have to tell you

[19:00] all, I've been doing this a long time,

[19:02] and I've said this in other areas.

[19:04] It's a dream to be able to have the support

[19:06] that historic Casselberry has had both publicly and privately

[19:09] from the city, and I just want to thank you

[19:11] all from the bottom of my heart.

[19:13] Thank you.

[19:14] Thank you.

[19:14]

[19:17] Good.

[19:17]

[19:20] Can I comment on that real quick?

[19:22] Sure.

[19:22] Yeah.

[19:23] I think this is fantastic.

[19:25] In fact, I've talked with a lot of people

[19:27] in the city about this.

[19:30] I know Commissioner Aramendia has been really also involved

[19:34] with historical Casselberry.

[19:36] In fact, Deborah Bauer, she she's been very, very good

[19:40] at promoting and really helping with the historic Casselberry,

[19:44] and it's grown over the last couple of years.

[19:47] And I've talked with a lot of people about this,

[19:50] and I think it's fantastic.

[19:53] And I've actually been thinking about this,

[19:55] of potentially creating maybe--

[19:59] because of that, the conversations I've

[20:01] had with people, a historic day for Casselberry.

[20:04] Maybe it could be a Historic Casselberry Day or even

[20:07] a historic day for Brightwater, Historic Day,

[20:12] or Brightwater History Day.

[20:13] So I've been thinking about that a lot lately.

[20:15] In fact, I was going to bring up in my commissioner comments,

[20:17] and it's--

[20:19] thank you for bringing that up, Deborah, because I've

[20:20] been meaning to bring this up.

[20:22] But I think it's something that we maybe should take a look at.

[20:25] Now that we have an active historic group

[20:29] working within the city, this nothing but propels us.

[20:31] We have historic parts of the city.

[20:37] Brightwater is one.

[20:37] We're dealing with Brightwater right now,

[20:39] and I think that, eventually, that

[20:41] could be a symbol of the city, eventually, of its past.

[20:47] But it's a pretty unique opportunity because of what's

[20:50] going on with Brightwater, because it's

[20:52] such a unique focal point, and also a unique, I would say,

[20:57] historic marker for Central Florida.

[20:59] It's a destination.

[21:01] So it's something to think about.

[21:03] I've had a lot of conversations about it,

[21:05] and love to maybe have more conversations about that.

[21:08]

[21:10] Anything?

[21:11] If you don't mind.

[21:12] Do we know if there's any state holidays for specific cities

[21:16] in Florida currently?

[21:18] Because I think it would be great to even push at the state

[21:20] level to see if there could be a Historic Casselberry

[21:23] Day as a state holiday.

[21:25] We can celebrate the date of incorporation,

[21:28] which is October 10th.

[21:30] Thank you.

[21:31] Thank you for the clarification.

[21:32] And the reason that April 1st was chosen

[21:34] for the historic marker dedication

[21:36] was because, supposedly, that was

[21:38] the date that Hibbard Casselberry turned

[21:40] in the paperwork to the state.

[21:42] And it was Gordon Barnett that thought that that

[21:45] was a joke because it was April Fools',

[21:47] so he didn't believe it.

[21:48] But he was able to sneak it in before Gordon

[21:50] Barnett, which was Fern Park.

[21:55] That was the battle--

[21:56] who's going to incorporate first?

[21:57] So that's the reason that April 1st was chosen.

[21:59] Oh, great.

[22:01] Well, I'm glad to say that I'm a lifetime

[22:04] member of the Casselberry Historical Society,

[22:07] so I would encourage everybody else to join up

[22:10] and support the organization.

[22:13] So go ahead?

[22:15] Oh, I just wanted to hitchhike on Vice Mayor Bush's comments

[22:19] and take it literal and just make sure it's said

[22:22] and honor the Historic Society for their great success

[22:26] of winning a historical monument marker for the Brightwater

[22:30] Estate, which is right now, I believe,

[22:33] planning to be installed on April

[22:36] 1, as Commissioner Aramendia kind of alluded to that date.

[22:42] So anyway, that's a great success

[22:43] that they've been pursuing for the last two years as well.

[22:46] So I congratulate you all, Dr. Bauer, Former Commissioner

[22:51] Hufford, who I know is very engaged in the Historic Society

[22:55] too.

[22:56] So anyway, that's my comment.

[22:58]

[23:01] So April 1st, I show up and nobody's there.

[23:03] Is that how that works?

[23:04] [LAUGHTER]

[23:05] I'm on you.

[23:06] I got it.

[23:07]

[23:11] Very smart, that one.

[23:12] I've been set up.

[23:12] Yeah.

[23:13] Yeah, if that's what you want to do, I mean,

[23:17] that's fine with us.

[23:18] I mean, I don't see an issue with that.

[23:20] I mean, obviously, the city manager

[23:22] would have to look into that.

[23:25] Yeah, for me, I--

[23:26] What's the [INAUDIBLE] for the day?

[23:27] We'll have to talk about that some more.

[23:28] Yeah, because that's an opportunity, because I know

[23:30] that's coming up, and I thought maybe

[23:31] that could be something we could have

[23:34] discussions about because it's going to be a big deal for us.

[23:40] Like I said, traditionally cities

[23:43] celebrate their date of incorporation

[23:45] as their anniversary date.

[23:47] Like a Founder's Day.

[23:49] But not.

[23:51] OK.

[23:52] We'll get back to the citizens' comments.

[23:56] Is there anyone else in the audience

[23:57] wishing to speak to any item that

[24:00] was not on the regular agenda?

[24:02]

[24:06] If not, we'll close that portion of the meeting and we'll

[24:09] turn it over to Emily Hannah, since she just was

[24:16] able to transverse the area.

[24:20] And we'll have Dr. Brock introduce here, I guess.

[24:23]

[24:32] As long as she says she wasn't lost

[24:34] and didn't know how to get here because she'd never been here.

[24:36] I won't believe that.

[24:36] [INTERPOSING VOICES]

[24:37] She doesn't know the area.

[24:40] For those of you who don't know, Emily was one of our planners

[24:46] in the city and moved on to greater things.

[24:49] I hope so.

[24:51] [LAUGHS]

[24:52] So Emily doesn't really need an introduction,

[24:54] but Emily Hanna, executive director of Bike

[24:56] Walk Central Florida.

[24:57] And she's going to speak to the Best Foot Forward Program

[25:00] and the city's participation in it.

[25:02] Thank you, Kelly.

[25:04] Good evening, Mayor, commission, City Manager Randy.

[25:07] Oh, my god, it feels like I'm home.

[25:08] So thank you guys for having me back to present to you all

[25:12] the activities that we've been really doing

[25:13] over the past couple of years in the pedestrian safety

[25:16] program, Best Foot Forward.

[25:18] So just to familiarize probably the audience and some of you

[25:21] that might not know, Best Foot Forward

[25:23] is a pedestrian safety program that's

[25:25] across the entire region.

[25:27] So each individual county and city

[25:29] participate and have specific outreach and enforcement

[25:32] efforts that they take place, and also the engineering

[25:34] improvements that they do to the crosswalks

[25:36] are all very unique across each individual city and county

[25:39] based on their program.

[25:40] But all of this is a part of a regional effort

[25:42] to change driver behavior and, really, to make drivers

[25:45] be more aware of pedestrians and cyclists out in the community,

[25:48] and remind them that there is a state

[25:50] statute that says that they have to stop

[25:52] and let people cross the road.

[25:54] So really that's the whole impetus of the program.

[25:56] But today, I'm presenting to you specifically what Casselberry

[25:59] has been doing in that program.

[26:01] And honestly, I'm here to tell you what rock stars you are,

[26:03] but you already knew that.

[26:05] So there will be some plugs throughout the presentation.

[26:08] And it feels really good to be back in front of you guys

[26:10] presenting all of this information about all the work

[26:12] that you have been doing in the city.

[26:14] I've been keeping an eye on all of you.

[26:17] But here's what we've done from October 1

[26:19] to September of this past year.

[26:22] We've held four high-visibility enforcement operations.

[26:24] So that's your police department participating

[26:26] in those regional efforts.

[26:28] There were four details held, which

[26:30] essentially, a detail is an enforcement

[26:33] effort at a specific crosswalk.

[26:34] So sometimes, if our partners say, like, Orange County, city

[26:37] of Orlando, they have lots of police enforcement staff

[26:40] available to do these efforts.

[26:41] They might do multiple crosswalks in one day.

[26:44] You guys have an incredible staff of the PD,

[26:46] and they hit one crosswalk hard each and every enforcement.

[26:50] And they are often top-performing in our metrics

[26:53] that I'll talk about in a minute as well.

[26:55] And then, of course, they've issued

[26:57] over 51 warnings and citations.

[26:59] So that's not-- we don't want to issue tickets in the program.

[27:02] That's not the point.

[27:03] It's education.

[27:04] Every time a driver gets a citation,

[27:06] you know that they're telling somebody

[27:07] else that they got a ticket.

[27:09] Did you know that this was the law?

[27:11] So we count that as education, right?

[27:13] Hopefully, they're telling people--

[27:14] hopefully in a positive way, not negative.

[27:17] But we call that education.

[27:18] So we're not out there to put a financial burden

[27:22] or issue these tickets.

[27:22] Really, it's up to the enforcement agency

[27:24] whether or not they issue warnings,

[27:26] or if the violation is incredibly egregious,

[27:28] they usually will cite them.

[27:30] We've held over five events and presentations,

[27:33] reached about 1,100 people with those events in presentations

[27:37] and handed out over 2,100 materials

[27:39] to different individuals.

[27:41] And that could be educational material related to the driver

[27:43] yield law, or it could be just reminders like pens or graphics

[27:47] or pencils or stickers that we have that

[27:50] really just remind people to watch

[27:51] out for people in crosswalks.

[27:53] We have bumper stickers that you'll likely see around

[27:56] your community, especially if you've

[27:57] attended a event recently.

[27:59] And then, lastly, we really work with your Public Works

[28:01] and Engineering Department to monitor specific crosswalks

[28:05] throughout the community.

[28:06] So we've monitored five to date.

[28:09] We completed over 30 crosswalk data collections, which

[28:12] I'll talk about in detail.

[28:14] And we supported three other projects

[28:16] within the city of Casselberry.

[28:17] And of course, I could not come to the city

[28:19] and work with you guys without supporting some of the efforts

[28:21] that you guys have in complete streets and the work

[28:24] that Dr. Brock is doing, which has been fantastic.

[28:27] And I'm sure you all know of his kudos

[28:30] to winning the Change Agent Award

[28:32] from Smart Growth America.

[28:33] So huge win for all of us in the region for Dr. Brock's work.

[28:37] One of the things that I really want to highlight to you

[28:39] guys today, the importance of a new regional summit that we

[28:43] added to the program last year.

[28:45] So right now, we're meeting with our regional stakeholder

[28:48] partners but in their respective counties--

[28:50] so all of the cities that participate within Seminole

[28:52] County all talk to each other, Orange County, Osceola County,

[28:55] and so forth.

[28:56] We really decided that we're still siloed.

[28:58] We need to have these conversations

[28:59] across the region.

[29:00] So we brought everybody together in one big summit,

[29:03] and that was held in April of 2022.

[29:06] And, at that time, we decided, you

[29:07] know what, there's some really outstanding people that

[29:09] are part of this coalition.

[29:10] We need to thank them for their work.

[29:13] And so we put a call out for the three E awards, as we'd

[29:17] like to call, one for enforcement, one for education,

[29:20] and then one for engineering.

[29:21] And we had the coalition partners decide who to nominate

[29:24] and who should when those three E awards.

[29:28] And it is such an honor to say that Sergeant Blunt won

[29:32] the enforcement award for being an outstanding enforcement

[29:35] partner to work within the program,

[29:37] and not only we at Bike Walk Center Florida recognize that,

[29:40] but our coalition partners among the entire region

[29:43] recognize that.

[29:44] So Sergeant Blunt has been fantastic not only

[29:46] in working with us in the program

[29:48] and spotlighting the work that they've

[29:50] been doing in the city of Casselberry,

[29:51] but educating and telling other law enforcement partners

[29:54] about the work that they're doing and getting them

[29:56] excited about the operations that we

[29:59] hold are about really educating on that driver yield law.

[30:02] So last year, he was the inaugural enforcement winner,

[30:06] so kudos to Sergeant Blunt and the CPD for all the work

[30:10] that you guys do continuously on this effort.

[30:12] So I did want to highlight that to say how important that is

[30:15] and how excited I was-- not biased at all.

[30:17] You can't tell.

[30:19] So as I said, we monitored crosswalks

[30:22] in the Best Foot Forward program across the city.

[30:24] These are the five locations that we monitored last year.

[30:27] These locations have slightly changed this year.

[30:29] So next year, I'll be up presenting, hopefully,

[30:31] something a little different, in different locations

[30:33] that we help.

[30:34] But these were the five crosswalks that we monitored.

[30:37] And here are some engineering improvements that were made.

[30:40] So we're really fortunate to have a partner like you guys

[30:43] in the program because we get to suggest recommendations

[30:47] to your crosswalks, and your public works department is very

[30:50] quick to implement or put those into their plans

[30:52] and make happen.

[30:53] So at Queens Mirror and Lost Lake Lane,

[30:56] there was a rapid-flashing beacon installed.

[30:58] And that yield rate-- so the number

[31:00] of the percentage of drivers that stop

[31:02] and let people cross the road--

[31:05] doubled from 40% to 80% right overnight.

[31:08] We had some issues with some lighting

[31:10] because those were solar, and the trees kind of made

[31:13] those lights a little dim, but our data collectors observe

[31:16] these during their observations, and we sent that information

[31:19] back to Kelly and the partners so that they can make

[31:21] those changes in real time so that nobody

[31:24] has to feel unsafe about walking and biking in the city.

[31:27] At Crystal Bowl and Casselberry Elementary,

[31:30] we did a new type of pedestrian treatment

[31:33] that we've actually been talking about but no one was

[31:35] really bold enough to do except for your deputy--

[31:38] your public works director.

[31:39] So Kelly decided that we were going

[31:41] to do this gateway treatment at this elementary school.

[31:44] We measured data before.

[31:45] It was yielding at about 36%--

[31:47] so about 1 in 3 drivers were really stopping and letting

[31:50] people cross the road.

[31:51] Now I'll caveat and say that is outside of school

[31:54] crossing times, because there is a school crossing guard there,

[31:56] and we do not interact with the school crossing guard

[31:58] because they have a very important job to do,

[32:00] and that is to make sure everybody

[32:01] gets to the other side of the road safely.

[32:03] So we don't try to collect data during that time.

[32:06] But apparently, for drivers that are outside

[32:08] of that school zone, they think that nobody

[32:09] should be allowed to cross.

[32:10] So we try to educate that all hours of the day,

[32:13] even during school and outside of school,

[32:14] that you should be able to cross that street.

[32:17] And so by doing the gateway treatment,

[32:19] by adding the high visibility paddles that

[32:21] are in that roadway, along with changing out and adding

[32:23] the stop bar sign or the stop bar that's there to let drivers

[32:26] know that that's where they should stop their car,

[32:29] we've increased that yield rate to 74%.

[32:31] And since then, that has been a project

[32:33] that we've sent other partners across the region.

[32:36] And I can certainly tell you, with fact,

[32:37] that we've got two or three other municipalities that

[32:39] are inputting this type of work, this countermeasure

[32:42] on their streets now because of the fact that you guys did it.

[32:45] So kudos to you for being pilots on all of these safety

[32:48] improvements in your city.

[32:51] All right, so Operation Best Foot Forward-- like I said,

[32:53] we held four enforcements, four details, and 51 warnings

[32:57] and citations, one of the largest number

[32:59] of warnings and citations issued for

[33:01] our small municipal partners.

[33:02] So kudos to Chief and his CPD team.

[33:06] We had lots of people out during our enforcements last year.

[33:09] They are interesting to attend if you have a chance

[33:13] to come out and watch one of those enforcement operations

[33:15] take place, or if you're, like Mayor, and join in

[33:18] on the enforcement operation and cross the road

[33:20] and become our decoy during that enforcement.

[33:22] I promise, we were very safe with him.

[33:26] But we invite you out to participate.

[33:28] Even Commissioner Dallari came out and participated

[33:31] at one of the locations that is a joint jurisdiction

[33:35] between Seminole County and the City of Casselberry,

[33:37] at Park and Lake.

[33:39] And we were trying to point out to him that there were

[33:41] some safety concerns that we really needed Seminole County

[33:43] to step up and take care of.

[33:45] So we're still working with Seminole

[33:46] County on those issues.

[33:48] We are always pointing to them at Casselberry

[33:51] is doing as to lead by example.

[33:54] So our outreach efforts-- we were out in the community

[33:56] attending those five different events.

[33:57] Like I said, 1,100 interactions, with 2,100

[34:01] educational materials distributed, along with some

[34:03] helmets.

[34:05] We are certified helmet fitters, and we do

[34:07] fit helmets when appropriate.

[34:08] Not every event is designed for that.

[34:11] And we even got the city manager out there

[34:13] representing to yield for peds.

[34:15] Thank you, Randy.

[34:18] So this year's program we are doing three enforcements.

[34:22] So we're scoped to do three, but I always-- we hold for a year.

[34:25] We do one a quarter.

[34:27] And usually, every year, CPD always

[34:29] participates in all of them.

[34:30] So that's never an issue.

[34:32] They like to participate.

[34:33] And when we do, we encourage that,

[34:35] and we'll always support your additional efforts in that.

[34:38] We are monitoring five crosswalks this year.

[34:40] Some of them are the same.

[34:41] Some of them are new, in anticipation for projects

[34:43] that you guys are building in the city.

[34:45] So we're taking advantage of that,

[34:47] and we will be doing five more presentations and events,

[34:49] so we will likely see you out at this beautiful park and other

[34:52] places throughout the city.

[34:54] And ultimately, as always, thank you

[34:56] for supporting the Best Foot Forward pedestrian safety

[34:58] program and being a very important partner in the work

[35:01] that we're doing across the region

[35:03] because without you, we wouldn't have the opportunity to move

[35:06] the needle, and we wouldn't have other partners

[35:09] being able to look at those that are moving the needle

[35:11] and doing the right thing for pedestrian safety.

[35:14] So thank you for all of the things that you do in the city,

[35:17] and I hope that you continue to be

[35:18] the change-makers that you are.

[35:20] Happy to answer any questions that you might have about

[35:22] the program or Bike Walk or anything

[35:24] that I've been up to lately.

[35:25] Thank you.

[35:26]

[35:29] Question-- Emily, how do you guys get your stats?

[35:33] How do you collect?

[35:34] What's the data collection component to that?

[35:36] Sure, so the data collection-- we send a data

[35:39] collector out to a crosswalk.

[35:40] That crosswalk is identified by the city partners here.

[35:44] We make some recommendations-- obviously, I know the city,

[35:46] so I've made a few.

[35:47] But we go out and we cross the road

[35:49] 20 different times in three different occasions,

[35:53] so 60 total crossings.

[35:54] And that's how we get our average yield rate for

[35:57] that specific data collection.

[35:59] What I like to do is try to send different data

[36:02] collectors to that crosswalk.

[36:04] We have varying ages, genders, and ethnicities within our data

[36:09] collection program, and so we like

[36:11] to send out multiple different types of people

[36:13] to cross the road to see what that average data comes back

[36:16] at.

[36:16] But that's ultimately how we collect that data.

[36:19] We do six different data collections

[36:21] for each one crosswalk.

[36:23] So that's about 30 that we do a year.

[36:25] OK, awesome.

[36:26] Thank you.

[36:27] You're welcome.

[36:30] Yeah, first, nice to see you, Emily.

[36:33] Thank you for the presentation.

[36:34] I find it-- to be able to see the data

[36:38] and to see that relatively simple and inexpensive

[36:45] changes are doubling the compliance rate is amazing,

[36:49] really.

[36:49] And I will say also, just by looking at those pictures,

[36:53] it definitely visually is easier to understand,

[36:56] OK, I need to pay attention here.

[36:58] But yeah, doubled in both cases is super impressive.

[37:01] So keep up the great work.

[37:03] Thank you.

[37:05] I think education is the key here

[37:08] because it is confusing to a lot of people,

[37:11] and I've been confused by it myself, quite honestly.

[37:18] But when you do yield, you get a lot of people that--

[37:24] especially when you're turning right--

[37:26] somebody's crossing, you get people blowing horns at you

[37:29] and all kinds of stuff.

[37:31] So the education is the key.

[37:34] And the more we talk about it, the better it's going to get.

[37:37] Absolutely.

[37:38]

[37:41] Go ahead.

[37:42] Since I get to enjoy the one over at Crystal Ball Circle,

[37:45] I would say that it's pretty interesting

[37:48] because, at the same time, it's adding that value.

[37:52] It's interesting how even then, as good as it is,

[37:55] you have some people that will stop at 3:00 in the morning,

[37:58] and it's like, there's nobody in the sidewalk.

[38:00]

[38:03] OK, hey, I'm behind you.

[38:05] No problem.

[38:06] Then, when they get to the stop sign, they don't even stop.

[38:08] They just turn right.

[38:09] And it's like, so you did well back there,

[38:12] but you totally failed the test in front of us.

[38:14] Come on now.

[38:15] But I will say that really has woken up the neighbors.

[38:20] And that's usually the biggest issue

[38:23] is you become so immune to it that you tend not to realize

[38:27] that you do have an important crossing here,

[38:30] and you do live in the neighborhood.

[38:34] These are going to be your kids or somebody else's kids.

[38:36] So I do appreciate that even though there's a ghost there

[38:40] and there's nobody crossing, you still have that opportunity

[38:44] where people still stop.

[38:46] So it makes them cognizant.

[38:48] So I would say that it does work.

[38:51] I appreciate your work.

[38:52] I know that you really hold this in high regards to that.

[38:55] So I welcome whatever else you want to do here.

[38:58] And I know that Kelly will [INAUDIBLE] too.

[39:00] But thank you very much, Emily.

[39:01] Thank you, Commissioner, I appreciate it.

[39:04] Anything else?

[39:05] Anything else?

[39:07] We appreciate you.

[39:08] Of course.

[39:08] Thank you, as always, and I hope to be back not in a few years.

[39:11] But a little bit sooner.

[39:12] And thank you to your team of wonderful employees

[39:15] at the city to allow us to be able to do this work

[39:17] and monitor this data and bring back

[39:19] the before and afters to you guys

[39:21] to show you that the work you are doing

[39:23] is making a difference in your community.

[39:25] So thank you.

[39:25] I encourage everybody else to participate.

[39:27] It's kind of fun.

[39:30] The one lady that does it from, I believe, Orlando Health--

[39:36] Orlando Health, yep.

[39:37] Yeah, she's been a trooper, and I've

[39:42] been participating with her on a couple of occasions.

[39:45] So it's kind of fun.

[39:47] It's something that will certainly

[39:49] encourage your attention to detail when it

[39:55] comes to these kind of things.

[39:56] So we appreciate it.

[39:58] Thank you.

[39:59] Thanks, guys.

[40:02] Moving on.

[40:04] We'll go to the city manager's report.

[40:08] Thank you, Mayor, commissioners, I'll be brief.

[40:10] I'll draw your attention to the Procurement Information Report

[40:13] included in your packet that speaks

[40:14] to contractual commitments that were entered into by staff

[40:19] through their delegated authority

[40:21] under the procurement policy.

[40:23] And beyond that, that concludes my report.

[40:26] OK, move on to attorney.

[40:28] I have no report.

[40:31] When have you ever seen an attorney that

[40:33] didn't have something to say?

[40:35] It's great.

[40:36] OK, we'll move on to city clerk.

[40:38] I know she has several things she wants to talk about.

[40:43] Just wanted to let everybody know that this coming Saturday,

[40:46] February 18, we have several events

[40:48] going on all at the same time.

[40:52] We'll start off with our Mardi Paws Parade at 5:00 PM,

[40:56] here at Lake Concord Park.

[40:58] That'll be followed by our Mardi Gras Music Festival.

[41:02] That will be from 6:00 to 9:00.

[41:04] And simultaneously, there'll be two different art exhibits

[41:08] going on, one at the art house for the Seminole

[41:10] County Printmakers Exhibition.

[41:14] They'll be having a--

[41:17] that'll be from 6:00 to 8:00.

[41:19] And then, over at the Sculpture House, I cannot say the last

[41:24] name, but I'll let you know.

[41:25] It's Eugene Ofori-- last name I will not even butcher--

[41:29] and that will be from 6:00 to 8:00.

[41:31]

[41:34] OK, we'll go back to--

[41:36] down the--

[41:38] So I've been busy.

[41:39] So we'll start a couple of weeks ago.

[41:42] I went ahead, and I joined with Dr. Deborah Bauer,

[41:45] and we had a conversation pretty much about preservation

[41:50] and the city's work and working with the preservation

[41:53] of the Brightwater Estate.

[41:56] So that was decently attended.

[41:59] Then, also went ahead and, let's see,

[42:03] we had the topping off of the police station,

[42:07] so very well-attended, great to see the walls going up.

[42:10] And we're halfway there, so something

[42:13] to be very proud of as well.

[42:16] Also, I was able to participate as a facilitator

[42:19] for Leadership Seminole.

[42:20] We had arts and culture last Friday.

[42:23] And the city of Casselberry hosts a ceramic class.

[42:27] That's what we do each and every year.

[42:29] I also speak in behalf as president of Seminole Cultural

[42:31] Arts Council, so we have our 15-minute speech of what we

[42:35] do with the arts there as well.

[42:37] Next year, since I am part of the committee that puts it

[42:40] together, we're going to be bringing

[42:42] them to the new art house and showcase that

[42:45] and do it here instead.

[42:47] So very happy to report on that.

[42:50] And also-- let's see-- we had [? Counto ?] last week.

[42:53] [? Counto ?] was hosted by the City of Oviedo,

[42:58] and they had a couple of things of discussion.

[43:01] They had the new fire truck that they showed us.

[43:03] It's a ladder truck.

[43:05] And I think at 1.2 to 1.5--

[43:08] depends how much apparatus you want to go

[43:10] ahead and add to the vehicle.

[43:13] They're one of the few cities that still

[43:15] has their own fire department instead of having

[43:18] Seminole County services.

[43:20] And they also had a presentation on their downtown district,

[43:23] and what they're trying to do-- because they're in that moment

[43:27] that they're growing, so they have a zoning district called

[43:31] Downtown Transitional, which means that as they're

[43:34] moving forward, the opportunity is there to have more density.

[43:39] Of course, their density is sort of limited, obviously,

[43:43] because of roadways, infrastructures, et cetera.

[43:46] But it gives a cohesive plan of where it is that they're

[43:49] looking to move forward.

[43:52] And then for commissioners' reports from different cities,

[43:55] we had Longwood, who went ahead and discussed some

[43:59] of the events that they did in the past couple of weeks, SMaSH

[44:02] Festival being one of them.

[44:03] SMaSH received around 300 to 400 people

[44:06] that were able to attend.

[44:08] City of Lake Mary also mentioned some of the festivities they've

[44:12] done in the past month or two.

[44:14] We had City of Winter Springs.

[44:17] She had a question of how long the meetings run.

[44:21] Seems to be that their meetings run over five hours.

[44:24] So we pretty much just let them know how much--

[44:28] in all of our cities, how long our meetings usually run for.

[44:32] City of Altamonte-- same thing, just the festivities

[44:34] and the new year.

[44:36] We haven't met since December, so a lot of us

[44:40] were just trying to get over that hump of the holidays.

[44:43] Water and soil, for example--

[44:45] they're going to go ahead and join us.

[44:47] We're going to be hosting Earth Fest here

[44:49] in the city of Casselberry, along with Friends of the Park,

[44:51] April 29th.

[44:53] So they're one of the members that always join us.

[44:55] So they're very excited to join that with us.

[44:59] Seminole State College-- they reported,

[45:01] too, on the new semester.

[45:03] And City of Oviedo-- well, that's

[45:06] what their presentation was.

[45:09] Seminole County was not at the meeting.

[45:11] And Sanford had to check out earlier,

[45:15] but she did go ahead and leave some notes behind of some

[45:17] of the stuff that they're working,

[45:19] things they're adding to the riverfront, bathrooms

[45:23] that they're adding there as well.

[45:25] And other than that, let's see--

[45:27] Friday, went ahead, attended the food truck event.

[45:30] Unfortunately, it was rained out,

[45:31] so by 7:45, the park was pretty much cleared out.

[45:36] Other than that, we also have a historic marker

[45:39] dedication for Hedy Lamarr.

[45:41] That will be March 12th, and that

[45:45] will be at Red Bug Lake Park.

[45:48] And that will be at 4:00.

[45:50] It's outside city limits, but it is Casselberry.

[45:53] And the Jewish foundation for Historic Preservation

[45:57] is paying for that marker as well.

[45:59] So there'll be some attendees if you all wish to be there.

[46:02] Hedy Lamarr was a resident of Casselberry,

[46:05] and it's going to be dedicated at Red Bug Lake Park.

[46:09] Other than that, that is all I have to report.

[46:12] Thank you.

[46:13]

[46:16] I'm not going to try and top that.

[46:18] That was good.

[46:19] I would like to mention--

[46:20] I believe it's been mentioned, but, speaking of historical,

[46:24] I believe this is the first meeting

[46:25] that we are livestreaming.

[46:26] So I know it was a process to get there.

[46:30] The city is really good about dotting the Is

[46:33] and crossing the Ts, so glad we got there.

[46:36] And I know we're going to do it right,

[46:38] like we do everything else.

[46:39] So it just gives another opportunity for the public

[46:44] to see what's going on and, again,

[46:48] nice to be in the sunshine.

[46:50] So thank you, staff.

[46:52] Thank you, City Clerk Gardner.

[46:54] Thank you, IT, for getting us there,

[46:57] and everyone else involved, thank you.

[46:59] Have a good evening.

[47:00]

[47:02] I'd just like to add on to that.

[47:04] I think that livestreaming is extremely innovative.

[47:09] It's been around a little while, but to be able to take it today

[47:13] and incorporate it live on our website

[47:15] and be able to provide captioning

[47:16] and make things so accessible, it's astounding to me.

[47:21] We have made great strides in making meetings more accessible

[47:25] by pushing meeting times from 5:00 to 5:30, but as we know,

[47:28] there's still plenty stuck in commutes

[47:30] even during those times.

[47:32] So for those who might have health issues

[47:35] or work takes a priority or any other reason--

[47:38] family dinner calls--

[47:39] for them to be tune in and join us online,

[47:41] I think we'll hopefully see greater engagement

[47:44] and hopefully more access.

[47:47] But hello, everybody.

[47:49] Thanks so much.

[47:50] Appreciate it staff and clerk and IT for all your hard work.

[47:53] Thanks again.

[47:55] Well, the last two commissioners beat me to the punch

[48:01] on that one.

[48:01] I was going to thank everybody was involved

[48:04] with getting this done--

[48:05] IT, I know our clerk--

[48:09] she did a lot of work getting this put in.

[48:10] I know it's a challenge.

[48:12] Everything always looks easy when you're doing--

[48:16] especially when you're streaming a service.

[48:19] There was a lot that was involved to get this done.

[48:20] So thank you, everybody that was involved with that.

[48:22] Also, I'd like to also congratulate Mike Johnson again

[48:28] for all the work he's done in the city,

[48:30] and then also recognize the historic Casselberry.

[48:33] I want to continue that conversation going.

[48:35] I think there's a lot to offer.

[48:37] And if there's something else that we

[48:39] can do to bring recognition to it,

[48:41] love to keep those conversations going because I think it's

[48:44] going to be a big part of who we are,

[48:45] who the city is moving forward.

[48:48] OK, well, since our last meeting I'll

[48:52] go through some of the stuff that I

[48:55] was involved in with the city manager and Mr. Aramendia.

[49:01] We went to Seminole State College

[49:03] and looked at the county manager candidates

[49:11] and got to meet the finalists for that.

[49:17] And quite honestly, they chose the individual

[49:20] that I thought was probably the best suited for our area.

[49:25] So that was interesting.

[49:29] Went ahead and attended the Chamber of Commerce meeting

[49:34] and went to the MAC meeting in downtown

[49:37] Orlando, where our Winter Park Drive project was presented

[49:43] by our consultant and Dr. Brock, and it was very well received,

[49:52] and it fit right in with the theme of DOT,

[49:57] and Dr. Brock was recognized by everyone for his work.

[50:04] And that was a feather in the cap of Casselberry.

[50:08] And I pointed out how Winter Park Drive was not

[50:12] only important to Casselberry, but important to the region

[50:16] because a lot of people use that road to avoid the intersection

[50:20] 17, 92, and 436.

[50:23] So hopefully, that will get fast-tracked

[50:27] and get on the agenda.

[50:30] I also attended the police building topping-off ceremony

[50:34] and toured the building, and really

[50:36] impressed, one, with the space.

[50:40] It's something that they'll be able to grow into,

[50:42] and it really is an impressive.

[50:46] And they are working with the supply chain issues,

[50:51] but it's very comforting to know that we've

[50:55] got a good team on the project.

[51:00] Attended the Tri-County board meeting.

[51:04] And we should appreciate our city clerk and assistant city

[51:10] clerk because I got the minutes of the board

[51:15] for the board meeting five minutes before the meeting.

[51:19] So it made it interesting to read to the minutes

[51:25] before we could approve them.

[51:27] Outside of that, I went to the South Seminole Academy

[51:32] this last week and judged the Shake competition.

[51:39] It was very interesting and really enjoyed that.

[51:44] Former Commissioner Hufford encouraged me to attend that.

[51:49] And the kids were just spot on.

[51:52] If you've never been to one of those,

[51:56] they had 10 stations set up in the gymnasium.

[52:00] And they brought the students in, 10 at a time,

[52:03] and they had three waves of them.

[52:05] This was the semifinals.

[52:07] And they tasked these kids with--

[52:11] they didn't know what they were coming into,

[52:13] and they tasked them with different tasks.

[52:18] They're judged on their handshake,

[52:20] their presentation, their--

[52:22]

[52:24] I took the station where they had to pick

[52:27] a random item out of a bag.

[52:30] And there were just Kleenex and a candlestick holder

[52:37] and just different items in the bag.

[52:39] And they picked one item out of that bag,

[52:42] and they had to develop a commercial

[52:45] and sell that product to me.

[52:49] And they were judged on their presentation there.

[52:54] It was just a good--

[52:57] and one kid went to the national finals last year

[53:04] and came in second from Casselberry, the Academy.

[53:09] And he was in this program again this year.

[53:14] And he was dynamic.

[53:16] It was impressive to--

[53:18] and we're talking middle school.

[53:20] These kids are learning life skills that are

[53:23] going to last them a lifetime.

[53:26] So it was very interesting.

[53:29] Unfortunately, went to--

[53:33] Dede Schaffner's memorial service was held Saturday.

[53:38] Those who knew Dede know what a dynamo she was.

[53:46] And I will tell you, she was a school board member,

[53:50] but it went way beyond that.

[53:53] This lady was a school board member for like 16 years.

[53:58] But her dedication to Seminole County

[54:02] and the children of Seminole County was second to none.

[54:06] This lady worked until the day she died for Seminole County

[54:12] and for the betterment of the children of Seminole County.

[54:15] And if you didn't know, you missed

[54:18] one heck of an opportunity.

[54:21] I know Anthony has worked with her closely.

[54:25] She was involved in the arts program.

[54:29] She started the Dividends program in Seminole County.

[54:32] She started the Red Bag program for food for the children.

[54:39] She had her fingers in everything.

[54:42] Anybody that knew Ms. Schaffner, when she started approaching

[54:49] you, you knew either you were going

[54:52] to get into your billfold, or you

[54:54] were going to be volunteering for something

[54:57] because she was that dynamic.

[55:01] She had that presence about her to where she was going

[55:05] to pull you into whatever.

[55:06] She had a passion for what she was

[55:09] doing that was second to none.

[55:12] And at her service--

[55:14] if you want to call it a memorial

[55:16] service or celebration of life-- was

[55:23] really a good tribute to her.

[55:26] And Seminole County lost a leader,

[55:31] and that was kind of sad.

[55:35] Also, attended the Florida League of Cities

[55:38] webinar today--

[55:40] legislative priorities.

[55:42] And I'll talk about that a little bit.

[55:47] And then on the 16th, I'll be going to--

[55:51] Leadership Seminole is going to have

[55:52] a visioning where they pulled community leaders together.

[55:58] On that same day, shortly after that,

[56:03] I won't have to leave Lake Mary because we're

[56:06] going to have the Tri-County League of Cities there.

[56:10] And the city manager and I think the city clerk

[56:12] is going to be attending that.

[56:14] On the 21st, we're going to host Mayors and Managers here.

[56:20] So those of you that want to join in are more than welcome.

[56:25] The 23rd, I will be attending the police awards ceremony.

[56:32] So we'll be doing that.

[56:35] And on the 24th, I've been invited

[56:39] to be the keynote speaker at the Aviation Maintenance Institute.

[56:47] We're going to have a graduation ceremony,

[56:49] and I've been asked to be the keynote speaker there.

[56:54] On the second, we'll have a MAC meeting, and on March the 7th,

[56:59] we'll be doing our budget workshop.

[57:03] But as far as the webinar for the League of Cities webinar,

[57:07] they're going to be coming up with a five-year water plan.

[57:11] And one of the items that we need to pay attention to

[57:16] is House Bill 361.

[57:19] And every Monday morning during the session,

[57:24] Florida League is going to be highlighting what's

[57:28] transpired, what's coming up.

[57:30] So if you want to stay abreast of what's

[57:32] happening in the legislature, that's

[57:34] an opportunity to do that.

[57:38] And also, another hot button issue

[57:41] is they're calling it accessible housing in the legislature,

[57:51] workforce housing, affordable housing,

[57:54] all the same kind of things.

[57:57] But they're looking to increase the Housing Trust

[58:02] and the issues that we have already

[58:06] dealt with and passed as legislation as far as density--

[58:14] they're going to be talking about that

[58:16] and fast-tracking those kind of things through the process.

[58:24] So when people develop adjustments to their comp plan,

[58:30] they're going to look favorably upon increasing the density,

[58:36] which we've already done.

[58:38] So we're kind of a step ahead of it.

[58:40]

[58:44] Both the Ship and Sail programs--

[58:46] if you don't know what they are, you

[58:49] need to get educated on that because the state's

[58:52] looking to put $700 million to those two programs.

[58:58] The Senate president is taking up the mantra of live local.

[59:06] And that's where they're supporting local housing

[59:12] and local rents and so forth.

[59:15] So House Bill 671 and 383 are both going to be something

[59:28] that we're going to watch, and they're

[59:29] going to try to look for streamlining

[59:32] the permitting process for building permits and so forth.

[59:37] And the next webinar is going to be February 23rd at 2 o'clock.

[59:43]

[59:47] And that's for the Prelegislative Webinar,

[59:51] and that'll be the last one before the legislature hits.

[59:55] And I intend on going to Tallahassee during the session.

[1:00:02] So I'll be up there for that for a couple of days.

[1:00:05] Outside of that, I don't think there's anything else.

[1:00:07] Did I miss anything?

[1:00:08] No, that was very complete.

[1:00:10] OK.

[1:00:12] Nobody has anything else for the good of the cause?

[1:00:15] I apologize for being so windy, but we'll

[1:00:20] call the meeting adjourned.

[1:00:21] [GAVEL STRIKES]

[1:00:22]

[1:00:24] [SIDE CONVERSATION]

[1:00:28]

City Commission Regular Meeting

Transcript