Welcome to the regular meeting of the Cape Coral City
Council. Today is August 26, 2026. This meeting now comes
to order. Please stand for invocation and pledge allegiance by
our council member Stinky. Please bow your heads as we
remember all those around the globe that have lost their
lives recently. Fighting for the freedoms that we enjoy today.
Father, we thank you for the opportunity to gather. And
discuss those matters that affect us here locally. We thank
you for the opportunity to have a voice in that.
We thank you for those that dedicate their time to
understanding the issues, reaching out. To have questions answered that
are necessary to make those decisions that are in the
best interest of the most people that we can in
this city. We pray for objectivity. We pray for sensitivity.
We pray for the grace necessary to deal with those
issues that are controversial and to deal with them respectfully.
And deal with each other with grace. Father, we thank
you for the men and women locally and abroad. That
fight for the freedoms that we enjoy today. We ask
that you would watch over them safely. Give their families
peace as they wait for their return. And we pray
that you allow them to come home safely. We ask
all these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States
of America. And to the Republic for which it stands
one nation under God, indivincible with liberty and justice for
all. Madam City Clark, please call the roll. Mayor Gunters
Donnell. Here. Kaduk? Here. Kilrayne. Here. Lastra. Here. Lehman. Long.
Here. Stein key. Here. All present. Okay, item five is
changes to the agenda. Are there any changes to the
agenda. Council member Donova. See your light on it. Yes,
thank you, Mayor. I would like to add a motion
to reconsider ordinance number 2026 under. Unfinished business. It was
one just so council knowledge that we had a conversation
about the special magistrate and the hearing examiner. All right.
In order to that for reconsideration, you'd need a second.
Is there a second for that move? I second it.
Okay. All right. Uh, Madam City clerk, could you call
the role for the reconsideration. Kill rain. Aye. Lastra? Aye.
Lehman. No. Long? No. Steinky? No. Donnell? Gunter? Aye. Kaduk?
No. Four ayes, four nays motion failed. Okay. I will
entertain a motion for the agenda as presented. Motion to
accept a genre present as presented. Second. Any council discussion.
Seeing none, Madam City clerk. Please call the rope. Kill
rain. Aye. Master? Aye. Lehman. Aye. Long. Aye. Thank you.
Aye. Donnell. Gunter. Aye. Kaduk? Aye. Eight ice motion carried.
Okay. Item six is recognitions and achievements. Uh, sixa. We
have a presentation for city employees for years of service.
I'll be making my way down to the front.
Okay. Today is my privilege to recognize and celebrate. This
particular employee as he retires after many years. Of dedicated
service to the city of Cape Coral. During this time
with Parks and Recreations, Department has served as a chemical
specialist. Providing valuable knowledge, expertise, and commitment to the important
work that happens every day behind the scenes to maintain
our facilities and serve our community. He has demonstrated professionalism,
dedication, and the strong commitment to the city of Cape
Coral. His years of service have contributed to the quality
of our parks and recreations operations. And ultimately to the
quality of life enjoyed by many of our residents and
visitors. Madam City clerk, could you please read the name
of the recipient along with the years of service? And
as his name is called, please come on down to
get your award. Deniz Veles, parks and recreation department, 31
years of service.
Okay, let's move on to citizens input. Just a reminder,
if you haven't filled out a comment card, please, one
up front. To my left, you're right. You can fill
out a card so the city clerk can call you
up, council member Dono. I see your light on. Yes,
I just wanted for council's consideration. Um, last week during
the meeting, our mayor protein did an excellent job. One
of the things that we did do was violate our
rules. The rules that specifically talks about clapping. We've got
some comments behind it. So for your consideration before we
start tonight, I was wondering, would you have an appetite
to suspend that portion of clapping for this meeting only
until we can revisit that totality of that subject? Because
we're either going to allow it or not. If we
start, if we enforce our rules tonight, like we really
should have, but I didn't call the point. Then, you
know, we got to enforce our rules. So I just
wanted to know, that's my thoughts just suspended. Until we
revisit that whole, since we did it last week. That's
all. Thank you, Mayor. Is that a motion. Sound like
a motion to me. Um, is that something that's motionable,
Mr City attorney. This is really a, you're really just
moving away for a portion of a suspension of your
permanent rules. So it has to be done by majority.
So I would recommend doing it by way of emotion.
Motion to suspend the clapping part of our ordinance just
until we revisit at a later date. That's all. Thank
you. Council member last year. Thank you, Mayor. So just
to understand you better, Dr. D, what you're saying is
that you want to make a motion to not have
clopping. That's already in our rules. To not have clapping.
To suspend it so they can't because we let them
public do it last year. So do we want to
make a motion then to change the rules to add
clapping today. Only specifically suspended. Oh, suspended. Suspended for this
meeting until such time that we revisited. Because the only
options are to either suspended. Or, well, suspended, keeping in
place or get rid of it. So I just say
suspended. So that we keep in line with our rules.
Okay. Thank you for clarifying. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, Council
Member Kilring. Yeah. Uh, just so I understand it too.
Uh, Councilman Darnell. Um, I reviewed all of the commissioner
meetings. And in Charlotte, in Lee and in call your
county, as well as all the municipal meetings of council
meetings, all of those. Prevent clapping. Resolution today
for consideration is to suspend that, allow clapping for this
meeting until we can resolve it in the next meeting?
Yes. The last meeting, we allowed it. We allowed it
last meeting. We broke our own rules last meeting. Right.
So now it'll be really interesting if we now today
start enforcing it. Cause I know the next thing the
mayor is going to do is read our rules, which
he should. So now we've created a conundrum. So to
get us away from that and not go off on
a tangent, we just suspend it for now revisit it
and make a decision on it. Just a classroom portion.
The implication would be our next meaning. We'll just have
a discussion on it whether or not we should impose
that rule. Well, sometimes sooner. Whatever your pleasure is, but
just this meeting, I'm saying to suspend it. You either
suspend it or we enforce it. That's where we are.
Okay. Thank you. So our wheel. Uh, council member stanky.
Thank you, Mayor. Yeah. Uh, this he wouldn't even be
brought up. Had a gaveled in our last meeting. These
are business meetings. And so I was errant in my,
uh, neglect to allow the clapping that was allowed. Obviously,
if you're doing three miles over the speed limit, the
officer gives discretion once in a while. I felt like
I gave limited discretion. And obviously it is a rule.
And it should be imposed. I think the understanding that
these are business meetings, they're not sporting events or anything
else. And their rules state that the clapping is not
allowed during the business portion of the meeting. When we
have, when we have acknowledgments and recognitions, uh, to applaud
those, that are deservant of that. I think that's the
reason why the rule states that it's during the business
part of the meeting that it's not allowed. So I
would apologize for, uh, for breaking policy and not gaveling
the clapping that happened last week. But I think that
it is a, I think that it is an appropriate
venue to conduct business, uh, like business should be conducted.
And as, uh, council member, Killerain said, it's the way
it's done in all the other chambers across the other
municipalities in the county. So that's just my input. Council
Member Lehman. Yeah. Um, in view of what council member
stanky just said, I don't think this needs to be
revisited. I think we need to go back to, I
think a motion needs to be made to go back
to Robert Schools of order and follow what we've always
done. It's a business meeting. No clapping period. And if
need be, I will make the motion to do so.
Yes, but he, to discuss it further. Please keep your
comments to yourself. Uh, I'll make a motion that we
go back to the way the rules are supposed to
be. And we follow what other municipalities do. And the
clapping at a meeting other than, you know, at an
award presentation. Council member Dono. I already have a motion
and a second. But let's just put some real talk
to what's going on up here. All right. The mayor
wasn't here last meeting. We counsel me as a senior
member allowed our rules to be broken. Now play this
out what happens when the mayor returns and we start
enforcing it. Just play that out real time. Do you
understand what we're talking about? Now all of a sudden
that seat is not about the who is about the
what. Now we just put that seat. Right out there
and it's going to happen as soon as I'm sitting
here. So I'm trying to avoid a circus so we
can conduct a meeting, move forward and deal with it.
That's just how I see it. I could be wrong.
I'm going to go whatever you all want to do.
But understand that we let it go last week and
now we're asking that seat which just happens to be
the mayor to gavel it. And it is going to
happen as sure as I'm sitting here. And resets. And
here we go. That's the purpose. We can leave it
with, I can rescind my motion and. Well, your motion
wasn't recognized because first of all we already have one
motion on the floor over there. Let's leave it with
the motion we had. Right. Thank you. All right. I
mean real quickly for me, I know we've had this,
uh, discussion before many times. So it's not like this
is, uh, the first time this has come up, uh,
and in the past, we've always kept the rules in
place that we had. Um, for me, uh, as the,
uh, basically the chair of the board, my responsibility is
the follow the rules. Whether I agree with them or
I don't agree with them. Now when clapping is concerned,
I agree with them only because we're here to conduct
business. Can you go to the courthouse and clap? Can
you go to other, uh, county or municipal governments and
act that way. You cannot. So I think it's important
that we make sure that we continue down the path
that we've been. That's what my vote's going to be.
But as always, and I've said this the last nine
years that I've been here. This body will make that
decision. And whatever that decision is. And however that boat
goes, I will abide by it because that's what my
job is. And I've done that many times before. So
we'll make this decision as a collective body. But me
personally, uh, I think that we're here for, for, for
business purposes. Because we've already seen, if you give an
inch, they take them all. So once you open this
Pandora box, it will continue and continue down that way.
So with that, uh, Councilmember Long. Yeah. So I'm just
trying to play catch up here. I guess what I'm
gathering is that everybody, most of the people here had
selective amnesia last week about our rules. And now Mayor's
back and we're all acting like now we remember what
the rules were. Um, you know, that's fine. I think
that maybe the motion should be amended the better way
to phrase it rather than this temporary, this temporary that
is, do we want to make another motion to remove
that section from our rules? Yes or no? We've already
made that, we already had that decision. Three, four months
ago possibly. Couple of us up here voted to allow
it. Some of us, the majority of us did not.
That's fine. But I'm kind of wearing this weird place
now where, well, last year last week we let it
go. We shouldn't have this week, maybe we're going to
do a temporary one. We're going to talk about it
later. Why don't we just be done with it? Do
you want to do it? Do you want to change
the rules? No, I'm sure. To allow it or not.
And then it's done. We don't have to come back
and get, cause you're to your exact point. The circus
is back next week because we're talking about clapping again
next week. Cameras are here next week because we're talking
about clapping. Cause we postponed that decision. Make the motion.
I would suggest to amend the motion to modify that.
And you know, as an aside, we violate these council
rules. Dang near every meeting. Uh, and one form or
another. There's a section in there with regard to the
invocation, uh, the requirement that it's nonsectarian. More often than
not, that's violated. So do we want to pick which
ones that we're going to adhere two strictly versus those
that we knowingly are not miss every week. That's a
whole nother discussion. But it just seems silly to me
that, that now, you know, I appreciate what you're doing,
but I got to, I got to call it like
it is. So all right. That's where I'm at. I
would, I would amend it. I would suggest you, I'm
in the motion to just definitively ask whether or not
we want to remove that portion. But I'm only one
boat. Thank you. Council member could do. Thank you, Mayor.
I think we all know where I stand. I last
time we talked about this. I said, let them clap.
And since then, we have rearranged our agenda. That citizen's
input is now in the beginning. And it's before business.
So in that case, I would allow placard. Council member
dinell. Um, I hear you. I'm fine with it. I
will withdraw my motion so you all can make that
motion about that. Because we have not had that discussion
as a body, but if that's the ways we're going,
I would withdraw my motion. And then someone else can
make that motion. Okay. I'm fine with that. Council member
Killrane. Yeah. I was just going to suggest with a
follow along with what the council person long had said.
I think let's settle it now. Let's get it up
in the table. And I will make a motion to
continue the rules as they now exist. Lots of double
negative. Yeah. I don't think we need to make a
motion to continue the rules the way they are. The
rules are effective as Mr. Cydia attorney. The rules are
effective as of right now. There's no reason to make
a motion to. Sorry, I can't hear you. The rules
are effective as they right now. If you want to
alter them, that's what I think council member long is
referring to because there is the provision that clapping isn't
allowed. So if you want to either amend it to
remove it, suspended, um, this is the opportune time to
do that. So the motion, if there was one to
be made based on what council member long state, it
would be motion to amend a council rules. Removing, clapping
as a prohibition during the meeting. All right. Uh, Council
Member Kilrain, are you? Yeah. You don't. My son. No
other lights on. So, uh, I'll give anybody an opportunity
to make a motion or we'll move forward. Okay. See,
no motion made. We'll move forward with, uh, item eight
of the citizens'input. Just remember citizens are given opportunity to
be heard. Concerning matters scheduled on the council agenda and
any other pertinent to the city's business in order to
promote an orderly system hold to public business meeting and
to ensure that individuals are not embarrassed or harassed as
a result of their exercise, write a free speech. The
city is established rules. That must be followed. The speaker
is required to mean maintain proper decorum at all times.
Only the person recognized by the mayor shall be addressing
the city council or making any audible remarks during the
business portion of the meeting. Unauthorized remarks stomping on feet
whistling or similar demonstrations shall not be permitted during the
business meeting. No person has permitted to interrupt the city
council proceedings or that the comments of any person recognized
by the mayor in any manner. No person is permitted
to behave in a disorderly manner by shouting yelling whistling
chanting singing dancing, clapping foot stomp and cheering, cheering. We're
engaging in any other disruptive display during the city council
meeting. No person is permitted to refuse to follow the
instructions or to comply to the policies that have been
adopted by resolution and approved by the city council. Any
person who engages in this type of behavior that is
prohibited herein and is being boisterous or disrupted in any
manner, uh, and their conduct, uh, during the city council
meeting, shall be asked to leave or maybe escorted from
the room. With that being said, Madam City clerk will
turn it over to you to call the first speaker.
Lou Navarra and David Scott.
Good afternoon Mayor Council Unovar of Vintage Cape Poor resident.
Entertainment for today's meeting looking ahead for city council. Incidentally
mayor, um, in the words of President Nixon, you're only
defeated when you quit. So good to see you back.
For the time being. Uh, flock cameras. Let's limit them.
There are violation of the First Amendment. I talked to
Chief Sizemore by text. He's a great guy, but I
think he's going to be a politician when he wrote
me his answer. Look for him to run for 2030
mayor. I'm serious. I can't show you what he said.
But I think they need to be limited. I want
to see the future. The council addressing this. Remember the
Nazis and the fascists said that, uh, the ends justify
the means. Uh - uh. This is America. Code enforcement.
I like the mayor's new proposals. Let's get rid of
these unlicensed people. I'm still in a small claims from
Hurricane. So, uh, I'd like that. I want you to
continue investigating that. And I did call for a review
of code enforcement under the direction of Mr. Hoglin and
Miss Raul. Uh, I met with the mayor about all
that. I don't think he needs to micromanage me and
other citizens. The flag. Wonderful. Continue with the new home
for the 55 foot veteran spy. That was good. Restore
voluntary councils. The magnificent four of the members we elected
in 2024. They went to stakeholders, stakes are for corporations
and eating dinner. Tom, the shed wreck. He wouldn't be
running for district one if you hadn't kicked him off
the voluntary councils. So, you know, where is Tom? Go
Tom. All right. So moving quickly along restore eight A
of the agenda. That's for the future too. Petitions to
council. It was illegally removed. The charter stands for it.
Review and restore old language so we don't get kicked
out so easily. Uh, move the meetings back to 5
p. m. I think the one council member wanted him
at 9 p. m. She's in a fog, you know.
Uh, preview of the coming attractions. Totsi take out the
trash. They say two members. Are targeted to resign. I
say make it three. And, uh, leave the fourth one
over there. She's okay. But, uh. I'll put them out.
We can't say names, but it's my fearless warrior over
there. It's my nice lady over a year. And it's
my honest man over there. Thank you, counsel. Thank you,
Mayor. Thank you. David Scott.
My name's David Scott. I live in the Northwest Cape.
And, uh, we had quite a historic election. And, uh,
the bunch of things that came up and all of
this that are, they're very troubling actually. So let's get
into it. I've only got two minutes and 44 seconds
left. I got started with all this over all the
controversy with the rowers. And we heard there was 1400
against 40. Then we started in with public records request.
And we were told that it was going to take
about 6, 500 dollars to get the information that we
wanted. We refined those queries and we got the information
that we wanted for pennies. The same thing's going on
right now with the traffic study that was done on
the seven islands project. It's completely bogus. We're trying to
get that. And we're told it's going to cost about
6, 500 dollars contracted up in Tampa right now and
he's working on it. It's as bad as the valuation
report that I've talked about to many of you. The
valuation report is a joke. We gave this property away
this property was at least a 50 million dollar property
back in 2021. You gave it away for 20. And
this developer apparently needed 15 million. From somebody here to
help them get the sales price, which is pretty weird.
How undercapitalized are these people. Now we've had a former
mayor when all the, uh, public fighting started with the
current mayor and the former mayor. Former mayor is a
good friend of mine. And he's a very accomplished well
- educated attorney. He said people are asking him if
our current mayor is a crook. And he says, no,
I don't think so, but he just makes so many
bad decisions that people think that. Well, I started with
the valuation report. It's bogus. So you were stupid there.
The traffic report, that's bogus. You were stupid there. The
RFP, the whole sheurette nonsense with the Northwest neighborhood association,
trying to represent something. The D1 plan destroyed the value
of that property. Then we claim that we had a
very complicated RFP process. So that was flawed as well.
Now we've got past council members here saying that there
was a relationship between the present mayor back when he
was a district one council member and forest. So I
told many of you, you needed outside council. You can't
count on this guy. I don't know where we dug
him up, but talk about somebody on thin ice. But
you need outside counsel and we need an investigation. How
did we get somebody like forest development in here? The
subject of RICO complaints. They have 14 million dollars in
liens and lawsuits against them. And not one of you
did the due diligence to call the city manager over
in Lake Park and talk to them about the person
or this entity that you've invited into. Our. Thank you.
Yeah. I like Wes Owen. And Joanne Denate Uris.
Wes Owens. Yep. Mayor Council, Wes Owen. The question before
us today is whether this council will be proactive. Or
is it oddly by the police department expands a citywide
surveillance system without meaningful transparency, public debate or accountability. AOPRs
can help solve crimes. Find missing people and improve officer
safety. That is not the issue. The issue is our
cake girl system was implemented. Who authorized it and what
safeguards govern it. In August, 2024, Council approved a speed
zone detection contract that included ALPR technology. Not an expressly
authorized citywide surveillance network. CCPD later said it deployed the
broader system in 2025 and authorized the deployment itself. When
councilwoman conduct asked whether additional flock cameras are being installed,
the police chief answered that they were not flocked hammers.
But the substance of requestion was clear. This was not
transparency. It was obfuscation. Last week, a former state or
sold officer was charged after allegedly searching the same plate
355 times. Including 121 times in a single day. Those
searches were not uncovered. By the department's internal controls, but
by USA Today reporter. Cape Cora Police has pointed the
internal safeguards as acting controls. Sarasota shows why they are
not enough. If 355 searches of one blank and occur
without internal controls, exposing the pattern, independent oversight does not
be a radical. It is necessary. Cape Roche had immediately
shut down its citywide ARPR system until clear safeguards are
publicly adopted. Independent council oversight. Automatic review of unusual searches,
corner approval for historical tracking, et cetera. Emergencies. Public reporting,
strict data sharing rules and council approval before expansion. Cape
Coral can use this technology, but only under rules that
are publicly adopted independently reviewed, transparent, and informal. Acting now
is not anti - police. It is how we protect
both public safety and liberty. And once again, I find
myself saying, do your jobs and let us clap. Thank
you. We're clapping, please.
Good afternoon, Mayor Council. Um, I'm here to talk about
solid waste and stormwater and your 35 million dollar proposed
deficit that you're facing if the property tax goes through
in October or November on the ballot. So as you
know, the governor is trying to cut the fat. Period.
Bottom line worked for county government for 35 years. They're
facing the same issues. Spoke to county commission as well.
As far as solid waste, ridiculous. Should have never renewed
waste prose contract back then. And we still have an
issue. They want me to tie branches in a bow.
It's three feet. I can't tie that stuff up. Take
it. You've got a claw come and get it. Be
done with it. Stormwater. Since they put the UEP in
north one, we have stormwater drains now. The street is
flooding worse than it used to. I don't understand that.
So that needs to be addressed. I know whoever paid
for their UEP. We'll get some kind of money back.
Well, we'll see. Um, the taxes have gone up because
they added that to the advalorium taxes. So anybody's tax
that was too grinned are now paying eight grand. That's
like living up north. So, you know, the taxes are
getting out of hand. It's just too much waste. The
Board of County Commissioners has what four commissioners. Five commissioners.
How many we got here? Eight. You guys can't even
make a decision on whether it's a clap or not.
That's ridiculous. I propose that. We don't need eight people
on the board here. It's why. Four and four, nothing
passed. Sounds a little to me. So, you know, if
you get four degree for the don't agree. So then
null and void doesn't pass. Anyway, but your 35 million
deficit. They're cutting the fat. Don't put the taxes on
us. Thank you for your time. Oh, I still have
time. I'm sorry. 35 million that you're looking at a
deficit. You need to look at your budget. County put
a flat budget out certain departments. Um, if this does
pass, yeah, public safety may be hit. Fire. I don't
know. You know, we'll have to see what happens. But
I'm for police protection. We got too many immigrants here.
Ice is busting people all over the place. It's been
on the news. Get rid of them. You're not a
taxpaying citizen. You don't live in America. Get the hell
out. That's how I feel. You want to become a
citizen. Do it legally. My ancestors came over. They came
over legally. Went through hells island. Duh. So all I
can say is you need to look at your budgets.
I don't agree having eight people on the panel here.
That's a waste. County commission. They do a better job.
Thank you for your time. Thank you. Tim Dolly and
Gary Eldrid.
Good afternoon Mayor Gunter and members of the council. My
name is Tim Daly. I'm going to Cape Corps resident
and I live in the Northwest Cape as well. I'm
here today because I'm concerned about whether the level of
marine patrol coverage in Cape Correl is adequate for a
city whose identity. Lifestyle property values and public safety are
so closely tied to the water. We call ourselves the
venous of America. We have more than 400 miles of
navigable canals. 150 miles of salt water and 250 miles
of fresh water. It's an extraordinary. Amount of water for
one city to patrol. Recently in our backyard of witnessed
jet ski is traveling at over 50 to 60 miles
an hour in my estimation. Through no egg zones on
the spreader canal. That raises a larger question for me.
When something dangerous is happening on our waterways. Do we
have enough dedicated marine patrol resources to respond while it's
actually happening? My understanding is that the Cape Coral Police
Department has a marine unit. What I don't, and I'm
not able to determine is how many sworn officers are
assigned to it. How many patrol boats are operational. How
many units are normally staffed on the water and what
hours are these areas regular patrolled. I think we residents
of Cape Coral deserve to know. It's not simply about
wake violations. It's about reckless boating. It's about speeding wildlife
protection boating under the influence accident search and rescue and
protection of our waterfront properties. And having a visible law
enforcement presence that deters dangerous behavior before somebody gets hurt.
Importantly, the police department's own 2026 through 2030 strategic plan
identified extending, expanding the marine patrol boating safety enforcement as
an objective. So I'm asking the city to create a
new priority. I'm not asking the city to create new
priority. I'm asking the council to make sure that we
are adequately supporting a priority we've already asked for. I
respectfully ask the council to have the city manager and
police chief provide report on marine patrol staffing operational vessels
patrol hours calls for service response times and how coverage
is divided between our freshwater and saltwater canal systems. If
the current resources are not sufficient, I would ask counsel
be presented with options and costs. For expanding that coverage.
For a city with over 400 miles of canals, I
believe a strong and visible marine patrol presence should be
a fundamental part of our public safety. Thank you Mayor.
Thank you, council. Thank you.
Good afternoon Mayor City Council. As you know, I've been
coming to these meetings quite regularly for the last X
years. First of all, it was Mayor Sawicki. When I
was president of the new residence club. She spoke in
front of theirs. So, uh, you've seen me a lot
here. I've tended a lot of meetings. Finally, the citizens
of Cape Coral are speaking up. And I applaud them.
So, uh, my topics are nothing personal. And hopefully they'll
be professional. Uh, one of the candidates running for mayor
indicated that he's going to try to bring back bike
night. I'm very familiar with it. I met with Mr.
Stanke. I met with the police chief. Parks and recreation
director along with other, uh, Bike Night groups. And I
saw an interesting video. That they presented. It's quite alarming
as some of the things that do go on during
bike night. I'm probably assure you and Mr. Styche can
speak at this that bike night will not be on
47th. Second of all. I noticed that any questions that
are asked by the city council by some of the
city employees come back as a condescending comments. Why are
you asking me this. So I would, and I know
I've dressed this with the mayor, or not the mayor,
the city manager. And they are quite responsive. To try
to not have a condescending attitude and being challenged by
some of the remarks that are asked by the city
council. Lastly, and I hate to even bring this up.
In light of last week's council meeting to discuss the
rowing clump, it is quite evident. That district to councilperson
was way over her head regarding the decisions that affect
many residents in Cape Coral. When the rowing club students
outshine and embarrass a city council member would fax changes
needed. Poor decisions. And not knowing the basic understanding of
procedures. Budgets. Means this person should resign to better serve
district two and residents of Cape Coral. Lastly. Mr. Long
made a comment I saw. Sir, if you could just.
Oh yeah. City council. So city council person. Made a
comment regarding three fishermen's and the amount of money that
we spent when litigation. I think it's over two million
dollars if I'm not mistaken. So I hope when we
go forward some of those litigations that we're going to
have, uh, take those into consideration. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Tom Shadrach and Lynn Reedy.
Good evening. Tom Shadrach. Just one, you only have one
consent item. So I thought I'd kind of address some
questions towards it. No complaints or anything, just questions. Um,
this is about the solid waste collection for commercial applications.
I asked when we were doing the RFP for WACEPRO,
which is under right now under the coat of silence,
I guess on what we're deciding there. Uh, I asked
that let's throw the commercial into the big picture for
revenue consideration and to make sure we can spread the
overhead over the commercial aspect as well. That wasn't included.
So here we are just talking about rates. This is
a direct pass - through that waste pro bills directly
to our commercial entities. And we talk about, we need
more commercial revenue in Cape Coral. But here we're not
recognizing this revenue as a source of funding for overhead.
I mean, if you'll, when we talk about solid race
for residents, you'll see overhead as a big expense into
residents. That doesn't get any allocation to this commercial cost.
And I don't know what the franchise fees, if there's
any associated with the commercial aspect, these are questions, right?
Because we know trash trucks probably create the most damage
to our streets than any other vehicle. So do they,
is this money get included in the franchise fee value
that they do pay to us? These are just questions.
I don't know, because it's really kind of outside our
revenue stream because it's just a mount that's increased. And
a lot of people are discussing, is this how waste
pro gets well? Cause we know we get a pretty
good deal because it's a fixed price contract, but do
they get well because of these commercial rates? We don't
know. I don't know what kind of revenue this adds
up to that Ways Pro is receiving from these commercial
contracts. It could be part of the revenue that offsets
are overhead. We have like what six people that oversee
waste pro from a residential cost. None of that gets
allocated. Are we received back from the commercial world? So
do we want more commercial value in our city? This
seems to be the opposite. The residents are funding the
commercial side of waste. Collection. That's what it looks like.
I could be wrong. But these are kind of questions
I would ask and expect you guys to know and
understand. Thank you for that. And we'll talk later at
the hearings. Thanks.
Hi, I'm Lynn Ready. I live in 2237 Southwest 15th
Avenue. Keep coral. I received a letter from the city
regarding. Utility assistant assessment. Would you? Yeah. A little closer.
Um, I received a letter from the city regarding a
utility assessment from the previous owners at hardship deferment. And
I've thought all of that was dealt with last year.
And now I have another one to appear here. For
the same thing. And I have the information here showing
that it's been paid. If you have questions, we can
have a staff member try to help you. Yes. I
have questions. Okay. Just go ahead and have a seat
and somebody will get with you. Okay. Perfect. Lassette Fialo
and Marie Kavanaugh.
Urattay, non, tu, everybody, en special resident. Um, here are
many times yesterday I have meeting with Miss Lastra. Miss
Lastra, thank you so much for listening to me because
my problem, many problem with this city. It is over
a year. Um, yesterday, uh, you know, milk with you
only clarify because meeting before you say to me in
front of the resident, I try to avoid taxes. You
know, Aaron Aboy taxes. My application in my fence, the
cost was 500 dólar. So I paid taxes about 500
dólar because my family, help me do everything, everything who
is my husband. Now my friends has to remove, has
to take care of and put new fame because they
mistake was building the parming. They signed it and they
stamped the perming. And now they sent to me that
we have to remove the fence, you know, dawa. Okay.
I agree with you. Thank you so much because after
February 25, I try to contact, you know. Richard Miller.
Todd Hoagland, Rachel Kadu, Michael, love, love Michael Gunter, nobody.
Trae to meet with me. Two listen to me. But
after one year, you finally listen to me. Now my
family and me is no harassment is no stalking me
and my family. No, this is persecution with my family.
This is harassment. This is discrimination. I claim equal rise.
I claim my freedom porque aren't living in American. Okay.
Now my daughter, you know, recipe dislero, my daughter never
renting you house in the Airbnb. And this is not
fair. The dictator government. For mi opinión is dictator government,
because I live in freedom. This is persecution because mydore
house never renting. Airbnb platform. You don't know why they
say in dislero, because these under field or neigh. This
is persecution. Hay remember one day when Mr. Mike say
I don't. I told you now in front of the
people, I don't answer any email from the resident. Hide
that in this pooly beari one time. Because I remember,
I don't like. I say true. You got is with
me because I am clear person. Transparent person. He say
that here. I don't answer anything. Thank you.
Okay. My name is Marie Kavanaugh. Vice chair. Take out
the trash committee of Cape Coral. First I want to
talk about Bimini East. There's some questions that really need
to be answered. And nobody's answering. You give them up
here. You ask questions. Nobody bothers to answer them. They
just ignore it. And hope we go away. Well, I
got questions. Uh, we did a little investigation into the
proposal that, uh, crown development. Brought forth. And according to
that, and Charles Crane agrees with me on this. The
city is going to put in a minimal of 60
million dollars out of the 500 million they're claiming. Is
it going to cost? And that's only a portion of
it. There's more. That haven't been determined yet what the
costs are because staff never supplied it. We're going to
do all the lighting fixtures. Um, on Coronado and Cape
Coral Parkway. We're going to do some development beyond Miramar
and Coronado. And there's no prices there. Before we're done,
I imagine we're going to be probably footing at least
100 million dollars Well, on to JC Park, wow, 18
million dollars later half the park is not usable. We
were promised a bistro that was going to bring in
500 million dollars a year. Well, right now we got
three food trucks coming on the weekends at 375 dollars.
A weekend each. And over the course of the year,
that 17, 000 dollars We put 18 million. We are
owed an explanation as to why that park is in
the horrible situation it's in. There was obviously a design
flaw. The whole center section is all soggy. It's like
a swamp. If my front lawn looked like that, I
would have code compliance tickets up to my roof and
thousands and thousands of dollars. And as far as this
little dissertation this morning about whether we can clap it
out, if you look at your agenda, we're not in
the business meeting yet. Citizens input is above that. And
I'm sure staff is going to scurry off and move
it down under business. The citizen's input. But last week
was a great meeting. We didn't have gavel guy here
smashing us down at, you know, anytime anybody clapped. Anybody
said anything. It was wonderful. Even the council looked more
relaxed. Everybody here looked relaxed. And what good time was
had by all. So I've come to the conclusion, it's
his fault. And that's why he lost his election by
85 percent. Hi, Kyle. Muhammadu and Ken Jans.
Good evening, Kyle Lamadou chair of Take Out the trash.
Boy. There has been a smell of fear in this
room recently and I love that smell. It's coming from
up there. I don't know why the city is so
fearful of the citizens controlling their own government, but that's
a question you guys should ask yourself. So now to
the mayor. You have two options in my opinion of
how you take your last two months. To. Listen. I'm
listening. I'll do that with my ears, not my eyes.
Okay. I'll have to judge Judy says listen with your
ears. So I think you could do one thing. You
could apologize to the citizens tonight. You could resign and
then you could walk out. Or you could be a
mayor for the people that you always should have been.
You get to decide how your last two months go.
Now we're going to talk about council member district two
and council member district. Oh, what are you five? I
think five. So she already know where I'm going. So
I pledge to not accept any stipend from my full
term and lead in its trapel. Restore resident subject manager
experts to key committees. Champion the voice of the people
in all programs, including budgeting, parks and rec, JC Park,
and the yacht club. Be your full - time councilman
at part - time pay. Now, are you sick and
tired of corruption in our city. Wasteful spending by the
mayor and city council. Voted themselves a stipend without a
citizen's vote. Skyrocketing your taxes. Spending money the city doesn't
have. The city becoming a concrete jungle. Disastrous park projects
such as JC Park, which is now a perfect refugee.
Or do you want a bar, a band shell and
food trucks? The city wasted 2. 5 million dollars on
Coviel a park. That is not handicap or senior accessible
and cannot be navigated by strollers, bikes, or our pets.
Each homeowner in the northeast will be forced to pay
for 35, 000 for water and sewer. I was 38.
I stand for transparency. Honesty and integrity, strong character. Both
of you have two years left. And you get to
decide how those two years go. We saw somebody, very
rollover very quickly last week and change their vote on
certain things. But at the end of the day, you
get determined what you want your legacy in the city
to be. And you guys have the chance to actually
make it a decent one. Because right now, everybody I
talk to is not happy with you and they are
not happy with you. The one who's probably falling asleep.
Thank you. Can. Jan's and Anne Birchtol.
And Birchko.
And votes told, take out the trash. I didn't really
think I was going to be speaking tonight. I came
down here thinking I was going to sit myself down
and have a meeting. And Dr. D, you surprised me.
Maybe it was the excitement or the relaxation of the
pleasant council meeting last week. But you had something to
say and it was wonderful. Let's revisit clapping. What a
great idea. But unfortunately, Ryan. But the gavel's out. But
unfortunately, nobody could come to what you were saying. And
understand what you were saying. Which really hurts my heart.
Last week's meeting was orderly. And with decorum. And yes,
there was clapping. We clapped, right? I think even the
council people clapped. Y'all enjoyed yourself for once. You look
like it was really a good time. And sometimes we're
not going to have meetings that are a good time.
But it was a great meeting. And I am sure
all of you agree, if not openly, maybe just quietly.
That last week's meeting proved that citizen participation was a
valuable part of the meeting. Right? Valuable. And as for
the all - consuming compulsation with the business aspect of
a meeting, I just talk a quick look at the
agenda. And guess what? The agenda says that citizens input
us before business. Before. I like somebody else said. I'm
sure that'll change next week. It'll be changed. And as
for the statement from one of the council members that
every other meetings, Sanibel, Port Charlotte, Fort Myers, wherever, every
other meeting, there is no clapping. I don't know where
that person dreamt that up, but it's just another example
of whimsical nonsense. That comes before us. Whimsical nonsense from
the bench. Dr. D, it was a great way to
start the meeting. Thank you. Please, no clapping. Oh,
stop. Not a judge. Your honor. And city council. I
am. In receipt of comment cards after last call was
given and the box was collected. Um, and your council
rules on page 13. It says that the mayor shall
provide a last call notice during the meeting after which
point no further public comment cards will be accepted by
the city clerk. They were dropped off physically to me.
I just wanted to let council know in case they
want to do what we have. Two. Two. I would
let them go ahead. Yeah. I think two is fine.
Okay. David Kalish. And Lisa Cohen Atkinson. Mayor, before they
start. May we take a boat on what we're doing
here. Because we are, again, our rule state that has
to be approval of counsel. And I know we all
going to approve. Let's just make it formal. Okay. So
we don't get shot down with that. I would like
to make a motion that yes, we continue with citizen
input for the last two speakers. Second. No other lights
on, Madam City Clark, please call the rope. Kill rain.
Aye. Lastra. Aye. Lehman. Long. Sanky? Aye. Janelle Gunter. Aye.
Kaduk? Aye. All eyes motion carried. Was that.
For you? Yeah. Okay. You guys know me, Dave Kalish.
I used to come here real lot. Before I got
tired talking to a brick wall. I'm back. I'm glad.
I'm back because I'm excited that the people in the
city are finally waking up. And realizing that we need
change. From where we are. Okay. That's a very big
deal to me. I'm very happy about it. Um, hopefully
we can move forward and keep staying with making the
changes and the people keep staying involved. Because a lot
of times for all the years I've been here to
a council meeting, I've watched most of the time and
you could count on your hand if you watch four
at most five of you actually will watch the person
that's talking to you. Three to four of you will
be playing on your computer or eating your dinner or
whatever they have you're doing. Okay. No offense. I find
that to be disrespectful, extremely enrude. We don't do it
to you. Why should you do it to us? Okay.
We're here for you to pay attention. I know you
don't care and you're not going to answer. You've proven
that for all the years I've been here, I've never
seen you guys really give a crap about anything. That's
a big deal. And that's why I'm really happy that
the people in this city are waking up. And district
to them a little very disappointed in what you did
with the vote last week. But we need more change.
That's just the beginning. You know, I'm not going to
miss them. I can't say his name. Not that anybody
doesn't know who I'm talking about. You know. But, um,
I don't know what to say. I mean, I'm just,
I'm disgusted. I'm very disgusted. I came, I moved to
Cape Coil. And he is a good story. I moved
to Cape Coil and I had something going on that
I needed to get permission for. I was brand new
here. I didn't know anybody. So my, my bad that
I didn't know how bad it was here. Okay. So
I went and talked to my council member and I
said that I needed a fence in my yard because
I have a special needs to order. I've been holding
this in for seven years. I never get told anybody
this, but the answer that I got, and this is
on God, from God. This is the truth. Okay. Was,
huh. Good luck with that. Okay. So for me, what's
going on now, what happened with the primary is a
much more of a big deal for me than anybody
else. Because I turned around and I walked away and
I said, there is going to come a point that
you're going to get yours. Okay. And I'm very, very,
very, very happy and proud of the people in this
city. But you guys got to pay attention and you
got to give a crap. And I'm not saying that
all of you don't. Okay. So don't everybody take a
personal. I don't mean it that way. But the ones
that are like that know it. Okay. Uh - oh.
Wait a minute. That's it. I'm sorry. Good evening, Lisa
Cohen. Southwest Cape. It was a joyful place last week.
There's no doubt about it. I could feel the joy
in the room. It was just, it was a lighthearted
place. It was a place that people, I smiled more
than I've ever smiled in this room last week. So
I'm looking forward to brighter days. There's no doubt about
it. However, in the meantime, before a single dollar of
property taxes, 515 dollars for fire, 384 dollars for taxes.
And after tonight another 163 for stormwater. Over a thousand
dollars and flat fees. And they don't care what you
earn. The water bill is in the third straight year
of 11 percent increases. And the tax rate goes up
this year. Well, page 51 of the budget still collect
7 million more in property taxes than last year. Families
don't get a rollback right when their income drops, they
cut. Now the city's page 29 of your own policy
number one says structurally balance means current revenues equal current
expenditures. This year and the forecast year, page 46 shows
5. 9 million gap this year, 9. 8 million next
year, 18 million the year after, all covered from the
fun balance. Personal costs rise 10. 9 million. Short of
your own policy. And page 63 forecasts of the fire
assessment collecting 83 million next year up from 64 million
this year. If that's right, families need to hear it
now, not next July. When it came time to find
cuts all at the August 4th workshop, the options were
an 80 percent fee increase on your youth sports, which
you rightly rejected and eliminated a vacant position in the
internal auditor's office, the auditor. And a year that the
top of the organizational chart got a raise. The city
managers pay went to 336, 984 last September. About 18
percent above his 2023 starting salary. And a page 42
creates two new deputy director titles, which reclassification. Residents keep
telling me that there are double digit raises for directors
in here. I can't find that line. And I won't
repeat a number I can't source. So put it on
the record before September 10th. The pay change for every
director level position above next to the market midpoint in
the Baker Tilly study you paid for. Three asks, reconcile
policy one with page 46 in writing. Publish executive and
director pay by position before the first hearing. And before
you ask a family for one more dollar, show them
the whole page. Thank you. And please reopen the RFP
on Biminied. Is that the last person? Yes, sir. I'll
open up for any council discussion for citizens input. Council
member last year. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you to everyone
who spoke. Um, I've just kind of made some notes.
So I'm going to, I might be a little choppy
on this. First, I wanted to address ma'am. I did
not get your name. You may have said it, but
I didn't hear it. So I apologize when you spoke
about solid waste. We're going to go through that. We're
going to talk about that. Um, I plan to pull
that from the consent agenda item so that we can
clarify some of those points. And I know they're on
our discussion for tonight and I anticipate some of my
team will be asking similar questions as well. So just
sit tight. Um, Mr. Daly, you spoke about the marine
unit from CCPD. And I know because I ask every
year, um, that's one of my favorite ride - alongs
to do. And I always see every time I do
it that I always ask the question we really need
more. Um, we do need more. We have four marine
unit officers currently and a working sergeant. Um, however, you
know, each year, uh, you see our police budget, you
see, um, our need for boots on the ground. And
this year, we're not increasing that number. Um, the past
two years have been about half the request that police
PD has made, um, and then of course response time
for marine depends on the issue. So if it's an
emergent issue, it'll be faster. If it's not, uh, then
it won't be, um, I'm trying to think of a
good example of that. So for example, if the, um,
a fire or a potential reckless driving, that's obviously something
that goes to priority if a resident complains that someone
speeding through a wake zone or it's too loud. That
might fall below that priority. I can't say that for
a fact, but I'm only speaking from experience when I've
done these ride alongs. Um, and then, you know, we
also have to weigh out quality of life issues, uh,
marine issues. So for example, if there's a shooting somewhere
in the cape and someone at the same time is
called because someone's speeding in the wake zone, obviously the
shooting would take precedent. So, um, you know, keep watching.
Stay tuned. If you have any additional questions, I encourage
you to reach out to myself. Um, or police chief,
um, and they can answer your questions more directly. Let's
see. Uh, let's see. Mr. Aldrid, since I moved here
in 2008, we've always had, I mean, I moved here
and would watch, uh, council meetings, um, cause I saw
them a lot on the news. I think Mayor Sullivan
was the mayor back then. And there was always group
of residents. So it's, it's encouraging as an elected official
to see residents coming forward and speaking and talking and
asking questions. Um, I think that's why we do our
jobs up here is because we do want to hear.
I'm not going to a lot of doors. Um, and
I hear from residents all the time, what can we,
what can I do? Should I serve you to make
it better? Traffic still always the number one complaint. Um,
and then they're concerned for public safety. But each year
it's been a new group. And I'm happy to see
that tradition continue with our city. And then we do
have bike night. We do have bike night actually. Um,
we still have bike night. We did a presentation. I
want to say it our last cow meeting. They talked
about the cost of the city, uh, 1. 8 million
for bike night. And red, white and boom. So we
still have bike night currently right now. Will that change?
I don't know. That depends on, um, what our budget
looks like next year. And, um, you know, where if
it's a priority to the council, um, and then Mr.
Chadrach, as I mentioned before, yes, we will be talking
about solid waste. So stay tuned. Thank you, Mayor. Council
Member Kilring. My first mentioned, we had a couple of
questions that were centered around technology. And the execution of
police service and using that technology. Uh, I'm going to
reference a paper that was provided by chief sizemore. It's
called trust before technology. It's available on the website. Or
if it is, and we'll get it up there. It's
available through his department in any event. It's an excellent
paper talking about the evolution and technology and how technology
and democracy is used to, first technology service policing service
for law and the law serves constitutional liberty. And it's
with the Fourth Amendment really controls what's available and how
that's used. And it's, it's a knowledgeable. Document that really
gets into the trust issue and being able to take
the good points of technology. And we're talking plot cameras.
We're talking about license plate readers. Uh, the way it's
evolved over time. And I mean, it gets into the
early things like fingerprinting everything else. Uh, it's, it's an
excellent document. So people who are uncomfortable about how technology
is moving in to the policing effort. It's been happening.
It's been evolving for a hundred years, at least. And
this, this really captures the thought process how our capas
and do it in a manner that adds some real
good consideration for the Fourth Amendment. Uh, I recommend it
for everyone, uh, to take a look at. Uh, the
second thing I want to address, I put my hand
on the Bible when I took this job. And basically,
uh, it is funny, but it's the truth. Uh, and,
and basically I pledge that I would do things in
a best interest or residence of the city. I do
my homework on every meeting. I do it. I evaluate
things and I'm going to continue to do that. And
because I'm not meaning what you feel policy should be
in a specific groups of people, I'm sorry, but that's
not the way I'm coming down on things. I'm looking
at it in what my input has been from other
sources, from the facts. And I make my decisions based
on that. And if you don't like it, I don't
intimidate. Well, you can do whatever you need to do.
But the point being is I'm going to continue to
operate that way. And that's, that's about it. That's all
I can say. I follow the facts. I follow what
I think is reasonable. And I'll make the best decision.
I feel I can make any interest to the city.
Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Stinke. Thank you, Mayor. Just
a few things. Gary, I was going to speak about
bike night as well. Thank you for acknowledging getting together
with that. Uh, and the way you started out, uh,
it sounded like a new candidate was going to bring
bite night back. Bite night hasn't left. It was talking
about bringing it back to 47 and having the motorcycles
on 47 rather than in the, in the parking lot
in the club square parking lot. So it wasn't the
bike night's been taken away. Uh, and what, and what
Gary was referring to, uh, was the inability for, for
our public safety officials to provide the type of public
safety that was necessary, uh, if it was left on
47th based on, uh, as he stated some, some video
observations that, uh, would have caused our potentially caused our
citizens harm. Um, so it was all about, it was
all about having public safety. The changes. And so the
thought of bringing it back to 47 was the issue,
not us not having bike, not anymore. So yeah, we
still have bike night. Um, as far as being on
the computer, uh, David, I use my computer to take
notes. So, um, I'm a hunt and pecker. And so
I kind of have to look down at the keyboard
while I take the notes, but, uh, we're giving technology
use. And rather than using paper and pen and whatnot
during citizens input, I continue looking up and back to
my computer to take notes. So that's what I'm using
my computer for is to pay attention, uh, and have
nodes to refer back to in the future. Uh, and
last, as it relates to the flock cameras, I would
just let you know that, um, my thought on them
is technology has continued to progress in every aspect of
our lives. Um, and, you know, as we know, when
we go through the toll booths and intelligent, if you
don't have a, uh, you know, a transponder of some
type that you're going to get a bill in the
mail, well, the way they know how to send the
bill and the males because they take a picture of
your license plate, uh, and so there's, there's cameras all
over the place. Um, I think when we go into
publics, we'll see the little round dome up there. It's
taken your picture. It's taken videos. Uh, and just, you
know, in the last 12 months, I tell you personally,
uh, I came home to find someone had run their
car up onto my personal property and caused quite a
bit of disruption. 48 hours later, they found out who
did it. And they had to make restitution. And that
was because a flock camera is being able to say
this car is what left this street on that day
and left half of their side of their car on
my lawn. So that's what, that's what they're for. There's
no one sitting there watching a video trying to see
where you go and where you don't go. Uh, but
certainly any type of technology can be misused. And so
the comments around making sure that we have the guardrails
on that, that they, that the information supplied to them
is not being misused. Uh, I would absolutely agree that
we need to make sure the guardrails are on there.
But, uh, not that we would not necessarily use that
type of technology. That's it. Thank you. Council member Kadook.
Thank you mayor. And thank you all for spending the
evening here with us and coming to speak. We do
take notes. And I personally write them down, but I
also look things up while people are speaking. So I
wanted to address, we just did a whole charade before
this whole thing started about our council rules and not
allowing clapping. And in our council rules, it also says
that speakers must address the council as an entire body
rather than targeting or questioning individual members. And that was
not stopped. So if we're going to follow the council
rules needs to be to its entirety. Thank you. Councilmember
Lehman. To all of you, thank you for making your
comments, but to all of you, that seemed to feel
I need to resign. You have no idea what I
do. I do my research. I check everything out. Before
I make a decision. I followed through with emails constantly.
And to be singled out the way you felt you
could tonight, little unfair. When you walked a mile in
my shoes, talked to me about it. Till then don't.
Thank you. Count. Mr. City Manager. Thank you Mayor. I
just want to do address with some points of information
comments about Bimini. And I'm going to use some examples
of what's in our budget. I had a very good
discussion with, um, Mr. Charles Crane and Councilwoman Kaduk after
he put out an analysis that was not, um, accurate
and kind of misdirected what I felt was a good
portion of our population. And in fact, at the end
of the meeting, uh, he, he agreed. That basically he
made some assumptions that were wrong. And, and then found
out that it wasn't even his tax money that was
going to it. And then came to a conclusion that
maybe he shouldn't even care. But let me give you,
let me give you some examples of, of what. The
issue is when, when somebody says, Oh, we're going to
spend a hundred million dollars at down in Bimini. In
our budget for the CRA, which is meant to do,
pay for redevelopment and funded by the business owners that
are down there. We have projects in there such as
CRA streetlight renovation. Now I know there's a, there's a
gentleman in the audience tonight who was constantly talking about
the lights on Cape Cole Parkway and how they needed
to be redone. The CRA paid for those. So those
nice new beautiful lights that went down there. Now under
the assumption that because we're asking a developer who's going
to be doing a project down there to do that
work for us. As part of their project. Well, which
project do you want me to assign all those CRA
streetlights to. None. We did it ourself. But when we
have a developer down there who wants to redevelop an
area of the CRA, we ask them to do things
for us so that at the time that they're doing
the development, we're not coming back and tearing up the
streets, tearing up the lights, tearing up the stormwater. So
to just take projects that we would otherwise have to
do on ourself and say, where's going to be spending
those or giving those to them, it's not a fair
assignment of a project cost. To Bimini. So for example,
we also have stormwater. The stormwater system down there is
at end of life. I could go do it right
now. And waste the redevelopment agency's money. Because we'll replace
all the pipes and then they'll go in there and
tear them all up. Or I could tell the developer
while you're building this development, please fix our pipes while
you're tearing up the roads to do the utility connections
that you need to do. That's not an assignment of
project costs to that development. That's us working with the
private sector. That is what good government does. We identify
the things that we need to do. We partner with
the developer and we put in the development agreement for
them to do it and us to pay it so
it gets done at the time that all the work
is being torn up. We've got trash compactors down in
the CRA. In the middle of Big Johns parking lot,
they're not compactors yet. They're just dumpsters. We have them
in club square. When we do those, they're going to
be completely for the business. They have nothing to do
with city government. It's for the businesses in the CRA.
When the CRA spends money to put in trash compactors
to benefit them, whose business do you want me to
go around saying, well, this is the benefit you. Nobody,
because it's not an appropriate assignment of contract costs. And
what we're trying to do to redevelopment the CRA. So
when you look at the term sheet that we put
out for Bimini and you take all of the costs,
the projects for the road projects, for the light projects,
for the stormwater. And you try to say that that
is the city giving that to the developer and we're
spending a hundred million dollars. That's really inappropriate because what
we're getting is projects done that we need to have
done by the developer who's going to work and partner
with the CRA. And then lastly, there was a statement,
I think it would honestly do think it was just
an error. Um, there's no, there has never been a
projection of any, um, concessionary at JC Park bringing in
500 million. I think that was a Freudian slip. So,
but what, what was always contemplated was, um, for that
to bring in revenue and to that would offset some
of the debt service costs. Thank you. Okay. Thank you.
Let's move on from the, uh, to the next item,
which is the consent agenda, uh, which is 10A. I'll
open up the consent agenda. Apparently there's only one item
on here tonight. Resolution 220 - 26. Council member last
year. Thank you, Mayor. I'm going to pull this resolution
2026 because I want some clarification from our direct geofinance
crystal when we get to it. Thank you, Mayor. All
right. And since this is new, the item, you go
ahead, Council Member, last year. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you,
Crystal, for coming up. For the public's, the purpose of
explaining this publicly, because there seems to be a lot
of back and forth I'm seeing all over social media.
And I just want you to clarify this out loud
as to why, um, how this works in terms of
why we're determining this. And then, uh, where the money
comes from and goes to. This, we currently have a
contract with waste pro to provide hauling waste hauling services.
Um, at the beginning of that contract, there were fees
established. But what was also built in was an annual
CPI adjustment to those commercial rates. And so section nine
of our city ordinance requires us to adopt those rates
before each October one, um, and so that that's exactly
what this resolution is doing. It's applying that, um, contractual
obligation of the CPI, um, to the rate and by
resolution, we're adopting those rates. Um, this is for commercial.
The city does not bill our administer the billing for
commercial properties. The commercial billing waste pro does that on
their own. We, what's different is for the residential rates,
which we'll go over later, um, on the agenda. And
once those are approved, the city through the tax bill,
uh, work with the tax collector to administer the billing
for the residential rate. So the residential side of that
contract is billed through the city by way of the
tax bill. Commercial rates are different. That's handled directly by
waste price. Waste pro. Okay. Um, so you're saying this
we have to, we've done this annually, I know. Um,
I just wanted to clarify it for the public sake.
So it's, let's say no different. Someone brought up the,
the water increase of 11 percent, which was approved by
council in 2023. And I know it's a three year
11 percent increase over three years. And to stop that,
it's no different than this to stop that. Then we
wouldn't be able to, um, continue with plan projects that
say, or in waste post case, you know, plan pickups
or plan service, if you will in the future if
we just stopped it, correct? Well, we don't receive any
funding from these rates. It's built by waste pro. They
collect the revenue. It's theirs. Okay. We're just contractually obligated
to apply that CPI each year. So that's really our
only involvement in the commercial side. Okay. Thank you. I
just want to clarify that. Thank you, Mayor. Kilms member
Kadu. Thank you, Mayor. We also had a speaker ask
a specific question. Does this money get included in the
franchise fee. It does not. Thank you. See, I know
other lights on. I'll entertain a motion. Merci and to
approve. All right. Motion in the second, uh, on the
floor. Mr. Citimanager. I just want, I think the question
was asked wrong. I think you said, does it get
included in the franchise fee? I think the question you
wanted to ask, does this generate a franchise fee. Right.
So the franchise fee is, is just a payment that
we receive from the WACEPRO. It could be a combination
of whatever revenue they collect across their business. Um, it's
not directly correlated to, um, well, it is. Um, but
we don't receive, it's not a one for one directly
from the rates. It's a separate calculation based off of
those rates that are intake. Okay. We have motion second
on the floor. Madam said, you clerk, please call roll.
Kill rain. Aye. Lastro. Aye. Lehman. Aye. Long? No. Steinky?
Aye. Donnell. Aye. Gunter? Aye. Kaduk? No. Six eyes, two
nays motion carried. All right. We'll move on to, uh,
the next item on agenda is appointments to boards and
committees. We do not have any item 10 C as
unfinished business. C1 is follow up items for council. Nonlisted
follow up items for city management. None listed. Uh, item
11's ordinances and resolutions 11a public hearing for quasi judicial
hearings. We have none the night. 11B is the legislative.
Public hearings first of which is resolution 235 - 26,
Madam City clerk. Please read title. Resolution 235 - 26.
A resolution of the mayor and city council of the
city of Cape Coral, Florida. Certifying the results of the
primary election held on August 18, 2026, providing certificate of
official returns from the League County Supervisor of Elections, providing
for an effective date. Okay, I'll turn it over to
staff. It really is just a matter of a resolution
of you approving it. It'd like funct three. Okay. All
right. I'll open up public hearing anyone wishing to speak
on resolution 235 - 26. Please come forward. 221 -
26. 235 - 26. It's the first one under legislative
hearings. All right. Seeing none. Public input is now closed.
Is there. A motion to approve resolution 23526. Is there
a second. Any council discussion. Seeing none, Council Member Kaduk.
Thank you, Mayor. I understand that this is procedural. Can
you please just explain exactly how this ended up on
our agenda and why. If we don't approve it, what
happens? You have to approve it. There is no option.
Exactly. Thank you. All right. Madam City clerk call. Kill
rain. Aye. Lastra. Hi. Lehman. Long. Stein king. Aye. Donnell.
Aye. Center. Aye. Paduk? Aye. Eight eyes motion carry. Okay,
moving on to resolution 236 - 26, Madam City clerk.
Pleasayed title. Resolution 236 - 26. A resolution of the
mayor and city council of the city of Cape Coral,
Florida, calling for a general election. For the city of
Cape Coral, Florida, providing for a general election for mayor
and council member in districts one, four, and six. Providing
for an effective bait. Okay, just the same thing, Mr.
City attorney. Just kind of a formality that we do.
Okay. All right. I'll open up public input for resolution
236 - 26. People want to speak, please come forward.
Say a non - public input is now closed. Now
entertain a motion regarding resolution 236. Motion to approve 236
- 26. Any council discussion. See, a non - Madam
City clerk, please call the role. Kill rain. Aye. Lastra?
Aye. Lehman. Long. Aye. Stein key. Aye. Donnell? Aye. Center?
Aye. Kaduk? Aye. Eight eyes motion carried. Mr. Council Member
Donna. Yeah, I am. That is past. I am kind
of curious though. Because stranger things have been happening in
our society. What does happen if a council decides to
Mr. City attorney not to approve those. You'd probably force
a loss. You'd be fouling against the city, mandating that
we being joined from denying it enforcing us to be
brought back for you formerly to act. So that's why
I said it's perfunctory. You're essentially required to do it
under our charter. And Florida law. So you'd be starting
the next meeting with another reconsideration boat. And one after
that. Thank you. That's all. Appreciate it. All right, let's
move on to. Oh, I'm sorry. Council member stanky. Thank
you, Mayor. Is there a requirement that we ratify the
charter amendments. It's all part of what was required and
what was presented to us by the leaked county supervisor
of elections. And it's in there, too. Yeah. It is
on there as well. It is important. Yeah, it's important.
Yeah. What page is it? Two of resolution 235. Page
two, it's on there as well. Okay, thank you. Okay,
move on to resolution 221 - 26. Madam City clerk,
please. Read the title. Resolution 221 - 26. A resolution
of the mayor in city council of the city of
Cape Coral, Florida, relating to the imposition of stormwater user
fees, establishing the amount of the user fee for the
fiscal year beginning October 1st, 2026, imposing user fees against
property within the city to fund the city's stormwater program,
authorizing the collection of delinquent stormwater charges, approving the stormwater
user fee role and providing for an effective date. Okay,
thank you. I turned over to staff. Thank you. Good
afternoon, Crystal Feast Financial Services Director. So each year, as
you know, the city brings forward a number of assessments
for your review and approval. There was a initial public
hearing held in July on July 22nd that, um, established
a not to exceed rate. To be used as notification
to the affected property owners. So the hearings that you
will have tonight, um, are considered the final public hearings
to establish the rate for the next fiscal year. Um,
so we have several presentations to go over at least
I do. And we'll start with stormwater. To set the
stage. All right. So chapter 22 of the city code
of ordinances requires the city to review and establish, um,
its stormwater user fee each year as part of the
annual budget process, the introductory resolution was approved on July
22nd, authorizing the city, um, to notice assess property owners
of the rate that was established at that time. Notices
were appropriately sent out first week of August and we're
before you tonight to present the final resolution. The stormwater
program supports both daily operational needs and long - term
infrastructure investments on the operations side funding support regretting drainage
pipe management and replacement canal maintenance and street sweeping to
name a few. The program also advances priority projects such
as drainage and flood prevention and water quality. Projects. Uh,
this includes continuing both freshwater and salt water canal drainage
programs to preserve during drainage conveyance and functionality. For fiscal
year 27 programmed funding includes, uh, 1. 8 million for
environmental in water quality, uh, projects. 500, 000 for flood
prevention, 1. 7 million for drainage improvements. And an additional
operational capacity through one heavy equipment operator, one service worker
three and a dedicated swell crew. Additionally, the proposed program
includes 3. 3 million for we are improvements 7. 7
million for trafalgar drainage improvements, 2. 6 million for catch
base and replacement and one million dollars for the rotary
park stormwater system retrofit. And fiscal year 23, we conducted
a comprehensive stormwater rate study setting the framework, um, for
the rates from fiscal year 24 through fiscal year 2033.
Uh, so based on that study and to support the
current level of services and capital investments were proposing a
rate of 163 dollars per ERU for next fiscal year.
So this slide compares Cape Coral's annual stormwater fee with
other Florida municipalities across the state, at the proposed rate
of 163. You'll see that Cape Coral remains, um, below
several comparable communities, including Naples for Otterdale and Tampa to
name a few. Each municipality may use a different methodology
such as ERU's versus ESUs. But so this is just
a general context rather than a direct one - to
- one comparison, but it just provides you some general
context to where we land. This slide provides a comparison
of stormwater revenue. So looking at fiscal year 26 budgeted
versus collected, you'll see that we've, um, almost all have
been collected. And when you compare 26 to what's being
proposed for what will be included in the fiscal year
27's budget, uh, the about a million dollars. All right.
And so with that, I asked for your approval of
the resolution before you. Thank you. I know public hearing
anyone wishing to speak on resolution 221 - 26. Please
come forward. Please remember to state your name. Yours. To
live northeast King. Carl. As I stated, we were just.
Finished. With the. UEP. By street floods. So let's stormwater
damage, are we preventing? I don't know. Um, there was
a main break on Santa Barbara. I was in the
shower at home. And I had to washing machine going.
My toilet was bloop blooping. They just put in that
water main. How does that back up already? My neighbor
had to have another meter installed and my toilet's blooping.
What the heck is going on? So I know they
had to pressurize the line. That shouldn't be happening. If
you're just putting in pipes, what's going on at these
pipes are breaking on Santa Barbara. And we just went
under, we're done in UEP one north. And I, I,
I paid 46 grand. I'm on a three lot sight.
I paid it. So I wouldn't have to pay 8,
000 dollars in taxes. Some people don't have that kind
of money to pay that. But what the heck is
going on with the contractors here. Why is this, why
is our street still flooding? That's what I want to
know. When we had sewer city, uh, not cities or
when we had well in septic, it was draining fine.
Now that we have cities sewer and water, I had
water up to where my bleaching field was. It's not
draining. Something is wrong here. I know Denko handled the
contract because I was here when they were initiating the
UEP one. But something's wrong. If the street is not
draining and nowhere we already have pipes busting, something is
wrong. I don't understand. I really don't understand. And then
you want to increase fees, increase fees. Like I said,
the governor's cut in the fat. You guys are 35
million already proposing in the hole for your new fiscal
year. I get it. The county commissioners, you know, they've
put in their budget already. Some people have flatlined their
budget. But now you're, you guys are asking for more
and more and more of our citizens. I mean, how
much more do you want to take from us? There's
15 homes sitting on northeast 15th Street. Cut the darn
in for structure. I told you guys back then. The
other commissioner that used to be here. I told him.
Why are you still building when these people are going
to have to pay for cities or in water? Those
houses are sitting empty. Empty. I just don't understand. You're
forcing people out of the area. I just looked at
the church. Tallahassee and Jacksonville pays less than Cape Coral.
That's the damn capital. What is going on here? I
looked at some of you guys'salary. Are you kidding me?
You make more than the fricking president? Come on. Are
you kidding me? That's why I said we don't need
eight people on the city council here. County commission has
what four or five? I worked, like I said, I
worked for them for 35 years. And thank you Jennifer.
You sat with us on certain committees. I really appreciate
your input. And I know you from working on different
committees. But come on. You guys got to wake up.
Well, West Owen and I want to start, before I
start, my prepared or marks tonight. I want to speak
on the city presentation and another amateur's presentation from the
city. Not one single metric. It's just give me more
money. There's nothing in there about what they've done with
the money you've given them before. There's nothing about metrics.
If you go back in, you look at their metrics
from 2019 to today. There's only two metrics that they
put in there. How many miles? A swale they've done
and how many canals they've dredged. Both of those are
below 2019 levels despite all the money you've given them.
They're doing less today than they were in 2019. And
you want to give them more money yet. Okay. So
Cape Carl is proposing another increase in the stormwater fee
under resolution 221 - 26. The fee would rise from
156 to 136 per ERU for 2027, a five percent
increase. That is a five years, including 15th percent just
last year. Stormwater infrastructure is important. Drainage flood prevention and
water quality. It'll have to be funded. But before council
raises this fee again, this city should prove it has
done everything reasonably possible to improve inefficiency and control costs.
Taxpayer should not be asked to absorb increase after increase
simply because raising the fee is the easiest option. Before
approving resolution 221 - 26, show us the efficiency, show
us the cost control, show us the metrics that you've
done your job. Then justify another increase. Because every taxpayer
matters in the city. Please no applause. Oh.
Go ahead. Good afternoon. Uh, this is my first time
in this kind of, uh, event council. So, uh, excuse
me if I'm a little nervous today. Um, a year
ago I moved from Miami to keep coral, uh, because
I couldn't afford a property over there. Um, so I
moved to Cape Coral. It's more affordable here. Uh, yo,
Andy. And now you receive this letter with this assessments
where we, I believe, who have to pay out of
bucket for all of these assessments that I do not
agree that we should be paying for those. We already
paying off taxes, uh, personally, um, I live in patient
by paycheck. And I'm pretty sure most of the people
here are living under the same circumstances. So again, I
do not agree with, with these assessments. I don't think
we should be paying out of pockets for this. And
I do have a couple of follow questions. First of
all, I'm assuming that this will come out of our
own pocket. I would like confirmation of that. And if
I do not agree on paying this, are the implications
that I will, I will personally receive, uh, if I,
uh, do not agree to pay this again, um, this
is unjust, unfair. We already pay enough taxes. And I
do believe that, uh, we, we, we should not, uh,
have to pay for this assessment. Thank you.
My name is Marie Kavanaugh. Take out the trash committee.
Um, these assessments, they just keep going up and up
and up and up and up and up and up.
Uh, do people seem to think we have unlimited funds
at our, at, at our fingertips many, many, many do
not. Oh, and I did make a mistake earlier. It
was 500, 000 dollars JC Park was supposed to bring
in, not 500 million. I misspoke there, obviously. But, you
know, I'm also looking ahead here. You know, you're doing
the same thing for the fire. I'd like an explanation
from somebody as to why Cape Coral, we have somewhere
in the vicinity of 300 firefighters. Ma'am, you have to
wait until that portion will be at that show. I
don't have time to wait. Oh, I'm sorry. This public
hearing you could only speak about stormwater fees. All right.
Storm orders, everything you're right raising up. I don't want
to pay more. And then if you don't pay, what
are you going to do? You're going to attach our
house and sell it to a developer. Is that the
plan. Come. On up, ma'am, if you want to speak.
Even in Kyle Lamadu. So I just have a quick
question. You guys project usually, what is it? 20 to
50 years in the future, depending on what you're talking
about. So now we're increasing again, fees again. Can you
guys actually start to estimate what our taxes are going
to be on these things in 20 to 30 years?
I think that would be great for the citizens to
know because, you know, I think a lot of people
want to retire here. And if they're not going to
be able to afford to retire here, they might want
to sell and get out now. So I think that
would be great if you could predict that. Thank you.
Good evening. My name is Monica. I moved here. About
two years ago. I lived in Miami, Pembroke Pines, then
to in bonita. And then I moved here. My husband
and I retired. We have a set income. And I
thought I moved in a place where, you know, it's
a lot less taxes and, you know, it's better for
retired. But unfortunately I got smacked in the face. It's
incredible how much my taxes have been going up. They
lower the tax rate and then they hit you with
assessment. So they take the tax rate when like one
point down. And then they hit you with assessments. I
don't understand why that's happening. I mean, as a retired
person, I worked all my life as a teacher. I
did some site real estate. But this is, to me,
it's, I don't understand it. And then we are all
here talking and asking you for, for help to do
something about it. But you guys don't listen. You just
vote yes on everything. Everything against the citizens. It's not
fair. I moved here. To be a citizen friendly
senior friendly community. And it's really disappointing. It's really, and
my husband and I are really ready to sell and
move somewhere else. Because we don't get the help. We
want here in this community. Everything, I mean, I live
in burn store and everything is on hold. Every time
I see a project going on, it's on hold. That
seven islanding or eight islanding never happened that could you,
that by burnstore marina, it's on hold. And I don't
know why there's, everything is, it's a mess. People just
don't follow the rules here. And I'm just very disappointed.
Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak on ordinance 221
- 26. Seeing none, public hearings now closed. I'll entertain
a motion regarding resolution 221. I'm going to approve 221
- 26. Second. Council member down now. Thank you, Mayor.
Ms. Feast. Would you mind putting slide number six back
up. I'll continue on this side. I'm still searching to
try to bridge the gap. With the things I continue
to hear that you guys are not listening. You're guys
not listening. I've asked the question. Time and time again,
but no one has given me an answer. How do
you ascertain that we're listening. If we hear you, but
we're not doing what you say. The only conclusion I
can come to. Is that listening is equivalent to doing
what you say or agreeing with your approach. In this
particular case, I don't know how else to articulate to
you. This is a visual. There was a comment made
about not understanding. And what to look at, and it
made sense to me, you know, what you seek is
what you find. It's one of my tenants I say
around. But the attention was brought to the lower half.
But I stand you to look at the totality of
it. And then more importantly, months ago, for if you're
new here, if you have your, you see me on
this iPad a lot, try not to do it when
you're speaking, but if you say something, I know I
go here. The steps are really simple. If you go
into our website right now, if you're sitting there, fact
check. You go in there under government, select your property
taxes and then click the one that says comparable cities.
And look at the data. I'm a fish out of
water. I'm not an emotional person. I'm about data. And
know the data has not been, if you come from
the countwell, it's been just manipulated. I'm going to fish
out of water, but you can go ahead and research
it for yourself. What point am I trying to make
in conclusion? And I'm still lost. Cape Coral, we are
a growing city. Anybody who's been here anytime, if you've
been here five years, the more people in the city
now than it was when you got here. So that
means everything is increasing. There's more demand for police. There's
more demand for water. There's more demand. Everything outside the
city, I don't know about you, but every time I
go to the store, cause every pen accounts, everything is
going up. But yet I hear constantly while everything is
going up. You guys want us to cut even more.
And those cats that take a beating. Trust me, I
wear them out. I know the council people wear them
out doing the best we can to get as low
as we can in a capacity now where everything is
going up. That confuses a person like me. So in
conclusion, can we get better? Yes. But when you compare
what we're doing here, what they're doing, what the counselors
doing and it's right there for you to look on
this screen and you can put your property in. I'm
still confused. So yes, I'm the one out there that's
saying, look folks, I get it. Yes. I want to
go ma'am. Yes. We want it. Lord. I have two
kids. And I get it. But we're still growing and
we want to contain. We want to make sure that
we protect the city. I love this. Save. This is
a great city. It's a safe city. But it's going
to cause to be here. And things are going to
go up. So maybe somebody can help me with that
listening point. And we are continuing. They are continuing work.
I know they get beat down. But their job is
12 hours, 14 hour of the day looking, looking, looking
to get this more and more concise. So that's all
you're going to hear from me tonight. But yes, I
am going to be voting yes because I've worn them
out over the week about these prices. And I understand
the totality. So just don't think that, Oh, you just
say yes. It doesn't work that way. Thank you. That's
all. Council member Caduk. Thank you Mayor. Mr. City Manager,
what have we done with the money. It's a great
question. I love answering these. So the city keep coral,
as you know, is the largest canal system in the
world. And so when you think about the number of
catch basins outfalls pipes, uh, dredging programs and the, uh,
amount of swales that need to be regraded, there is
no city in the world. That has the amount of
stormwater assets that we have to have, uh, comparatively. Port
St. Lucie and Florida's close, but we have the more
canals, which means more pipes, more drainage. And so, uh,
the money gets spent on all those programs. So if
you think about the street, uh, it starts at the
edge of the pavement. So, um, a portion of the
stormwater money goes to swale regrating. Uh, I'm actually going
to read a high five highlight tonight about sweaty regretting
job. Um, so it starts there. Then you have catch
basins. Those are the concrete structures that the water, the
stormwater goes into. We have to repair, replace any damage
and maintain any that are old. Though all the ones
in the north are coming up on end of life.
60 plus years. And I don't mean to cut you
off, but isn't there a long wait list for the
replacement of these? Uh, so our longest wait list is
in the swale regrating. So as more properties get built,
so one resident talked about, uh, what we were doing
in the past. Well, as it's real easy to regrade
a swale when the homes there. Were just basically one
person complains, Hey, the lot next to me is, uh,
too high and it's causing me to back up. Our
crews can blow right through that from the high point
to low point very easily. As soon as you start
having multiple driveways of different elevations, ramp driveways, culvert driveways.
Now you have to have somebody go out there and
design the flow. You have to take surveys have to
put marks out there. It's a lot more involved. And
so what we're having is by not adding crews. But
adding the workload, the volume that those same crews need
to do, they're accomplishing less. So what we need to
do is add cruise to keep up. But let me
get back to, so yes, there is a long list
of swale regretting. And that's why we, when we said
about the last stormwater rate study, which is probably a
good thing for our residents to read to see why
we set the fee that we did and what those,
that feet increases doing. It's adding actual infrastructure maintenance crews
in the field. The worker, the workers that people see
in the front of their house. So we have the
swale regretting. We have the cat span, the concrete. Then
from there, you have the conveyance system. The pipes that
connect either from there to the canal or to connect
across the street to another basin, to another basin and
so forth, moving water, stormwater, underneath us all day long.
Then we have the canal, the outfalls, a lot of
silt in the breed gets, uh, deposited from, you know,
runoff in front of them. They clog up or they
start to silt in. We have an alfal maintenance program.
The grout around the outfalls through people seawalls fail. And
we need to make sure we continue to regroute that
so they don't lose soil behind their seawall. Then eventually
you have, uh, the, um, wears that actually act like
miniature dams, but hold water in each individual basin. They
all have sleuth gates. They all have can be raised
and lower to make sure we can capture water in
the dry season, let it go in the rainy season.
So our stormwater system, I put it up against, um,
just about any other system in the world. The only
thing I think that even compares close to us is
New Orleans. And that's because they're below sea level and
they actually have to pump their water out. But as
far as what our crews do and the work they
put forward, look at the chart as council member Donnell
said, we're maintaining probably the second or third largest municipal
separate storm sewer system in Florida. Jacksonville being the largest,
but they're combined with a county having the most miles
of canals, most mild drainage pipes. And we are producing
that at a rate that. Stormwater study was completed in
2023. We're going to find that. We can send you
a copy of it, but I'm tried looking online. I
just couldn't quickly find it. That would be helpful because
it says that it covers from years 2024 to 2033.
So I think that would be important. And then we
can share that. Thank you. Council Member Laster. Thank you,
Mayor. Mr. City Manager, I had the same question council
member Kaduk wanted to know in terms of the wait
list. I know in 2024, I had many residents reaching
out to me not only for my district, but other
districts throughout the city saying there was an 18 month
wait list for that swale regrating. Are we better worse
or the same. I don't have that information with me,
but that's what, that's what adding these cruise is trying
to keep up with to be. I understand. Um, and
then, um, secondly, Ms. Joanne spoke and it sounds to
me, and I've driven in the Northeast all summer needed
a alignment after. And it sounds to me like Miss
Joanne is concerned. Um, regarding just spending the 38, 000
dollars or 36, 000 dollars. And she's concerned about drainage
now, like, like maybe we did something faulty. Is that
because of the, the, I know, I mean, I talked
to Mattia Williams about this all the time, but is
it because of the, the, the massive amount of rainfall
that we get in such short periods of time that
it might not be draining or could there be another
reason? Well, most often it is based on intensity. So
that's what I thought. You can only design a stormwater
system to handle a certain amount of rainfall per hour,
right? It's like pouring water in a cup. Okay. So
when what happens is when you get a major rainstorm
and I can tell you probably two or three weeks
ago, you all may recall. We ended up having some
flashfrood from a rain event that dropped like almost four
inches of rain in an hour. Yeah. And we actually
had to activate the EOC and do a couple things.
So that, that type of rainfall event. It was that
night. Then she that lady would have been the same
as everybody in that area, which basically was from Del
Prado, I think over to Nelson north of Pone Allen
Road. There was probably about a four square mile area.
The amount of rain that dropped that night was just,
it was impressive. You know, it's hurricane level rain farm.
Okay. Okay. Um, okay. Well, I would just say, um,
you know, to that resident, Ms. Joanne, just reach out
if things don't get better or if you still have
concerns and I can contact you. I can put you
in contact with public works. Thank you, Mayor. Okay. See,
now the lights on, we got a motion second on
the floor, Madam City clerk, please call the roll. Kill
rain. Aye. Lastra. Aye. Lehman. Aye. Long. No. Stein key?
Aye. Janelle. Aye. Gunter? Aye. Kaduk? No. Six eyes, two
nays, motion carried. Okay. Let's move on to resolution 222
- 26. Madam said he clerked. Pleasaring the title. Resolution
222 - 26. A resolution of the mayor and city
council of the city of Cape Coral, Florida. Approving the
fiscal year 2026 to 2027 non - advaloreum assessment role.
For solid waste service assessments. Approving the solid waste service
assessment rates for such fiscal year and providing for collection
of the assessments pursuant to the uniform assessment collection act,
providing for several ability and providing for an effective date.
Okay, alternative staff. Thank you. So this resolution covers the
annual solid waste assessment, which provides a dedicated source of
funding for our garbage collection and disposal services for the
upcoming fiscal year. As the other assessment, chapter 22 of
the City Code of Ordinances requires counsel to establish an
annual assessment rate in conjunction with the city's budget process.
Uh, the introductory resolution was approved on July 22nd. And
that action established a not to exceed rate and authorized
the city to provide a required notice to affected property
owners. And we are before you tonight as part of
the final public hearing. Changes that affect the fiscal year
27 proposed rate include WACEPRO CPI increase of 2. 75
percent for their services on the residentials pickup, uh, and
the LEA County solid waste division is proposing a 3.
25 percent increase That was actually approved by their board
very recently. So, um, that 3. 25 percent increase has
been approved and will be included Uh, proposed rate. So
for fiscal year 27, we're proposing a total assessment that
the total assessment remain the same as last year per
dwelling unit with while the total assessment remains level. It's
components have changed, as you can see, uh, from the
chart on the screen. You'll notice a reduction in the
city operating and personnel costs to offset the increased collection
and disposal cost for Lee County and waste pro, which
I just mentioned. This allows the city to maintain the
overall rate at the prior year level. And just as
a reminder, I mentioned this at the last public hearing,
the rate associated with the operating and personnel costs. That's
that fourth row included and elevated rate in anticipation of
an increase in the cost of waste hauler services and
the new contract for fiscal year 2028. So the goal
was accomplished where we got the rates to where we
think they will be in fiscal year 28 while building
a reserve. You're marked for disaster recovery and two months
of operating expenses. Um, at 384 dollars and 25 cents
annually, Cape Coral's proposed residential rate, uh, you can see
is in line, uh, with nearby comparable service areas that
also do, um, a one week pickup. So you can
see that the rate here falls in line with other
cities statewide. With that, I asked for your approval. Okay.
Thank you. I know public hearing any one wishing to
speak on resolution 222 - 26. Please come forward. Good
afternoon. Again, mayor council, um, Joanne Denigers. As I stated,
I have some yard waste out front. Evidently they only
picked up one side of the street and not the
other. Um, when waste pro came back to council to,
um, put in their bid for the contract. We should
have never went with them. We should have stayed away
from waste pro. I don't know who the other competitors
may have been. Waste pro is, I mean, they've done
a lot better with their services, but now they're telling
me I have to. Tie my bundle. Do they want
a bow on it? As I stated before, ridiculous. Come
on. I had to hire somebody to cut the limbs
from my tree and place it out front neatly stacked.
And, you know, I called. You know, waste pro to
tell them in advance, make sure that they have a
truck big enough to take the waste away. They're telling
me now that I have to tie it. So I
have somebody that's going to come over and tie it.
But like I said, what do they want to bow
on this stuff? Okay. God help us if we get
hit by another hurricane. I'm going to talk about waste
management. I'm going to talk about stormwater. Why I flooded
this time was not because of that storm. It's because
when I was unwell and septic, I was draining fine.
But now that they have put in the city sewer
and water, it is not draining. Something is wrong with
either the swales or the stormwater drains that they put
in. I don't know why. The whole street was flooded.
I took pictures and it wasn't during that time. We
flood more now than we have ever before. I've lived
on my street for 20 years. I built my home
20 years ago. I spoke to council before. You keep
building. You keep building. Cut back the infrastructure. We can't
handle the influx of people that are coming to Cape
Coral. I understand we're growing. But we need to put
a moratorium on building. We can't handle the infrastructure. Police
fire our roads. We can't handle the people that are
coming here, but you still want to add more to
us that have been living here. We need to put
a moratorium. Stop. Cause I know you want the tax
revenue, but it's killing us that have been here. You
know, we're paying what we need to pay. But I
had stead before you need to stop building. Like I
said, there's 15 home sitting derelict up on northeast 15th
Street. Nobody's there. And you know, it's just, you know,
it's going to be ransacked by squatters because they can't
sell the property because now they're cities soar and water
there. People are not going to buy those homes. And
then, you know, the spec homes. Nobody's going to buy
them. Like I said, I'm just preaching to the choir
here. Hopefully you guys, I understand you are listening. But
come on, we're paying out the but for some of
these services. And like I said, I've been in North
Cape for 26 years. Thank you.
Uh, Tom Shadrach, uh, I talked last time at the
initial hearing about this, but I noticed the chart was
left off this time about, uh, how much reserve is
created. So I brought it with me from the last
hearing. We're adding 8 million dollars to the reserve pot.
As a surplus. We're up to 35 million dollars now.
There's no financial policy other than you're using this to
inflate the value because you think that's what we're going
to have to pay next year when we get the
recompete of waste probe. I think this is crazy. Five
years ago, we didn't require a reserve. Now we have
35 million dollars. Have been overcharged. You want to look
at a comparison chart. There's nothing wrong with being the
cheapest. Okay. So, uh, basically you could give a hundred
dollars back to everybody on this and we still have
25 million dollars in reserves, why it's so important. If
you can justify what the cost is next year, because
rates went up because of the competition we were getting
a great value. Okay. I think people can accept that.
But to have created this 35 million dollar of surplus
is crazy. And it's done. You're getting 8 million dollars
this year. That most of that is reserve. And it's
not personnel and operating cost. So this is an issue
of transparency. I think council member long ask every year
how much of that is just, uh, reserve versus personnel
and why can't you divide that? We've always discussed that.
I guess you don't want to be transparent about that
because it never gets changed. Um, but thanks for not
raising it this year. And the policy on why we
even have 35 million dollars in this reserve category and
what we're going to do with it. We don't have
capital expenses at all. So it's ridiculous and it's a
waste. And that should be back in our residence pockets.
Thank you. We saw and I'm just getting that pretty
much to speak because he just said everything I was
going to say because it's one of his lush funds.
We all know it. We all know there. There was
no reason to raise it so early. And you don't
need to be raising it again now and diloting everything
you said, Tom. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak.
Something. New. Hold on. He's speaking. You can come after
me. Okay. Uh, Kyle Amedy District 7. So talking about
these, you know, slush funds or whatever you want to
call them. Dit or did we not get a hundred
million dollar interest - free loan offer for six months
by the state. Due to hurricane. Didn't we also get
a hundred percent of everything recouped? And I think you
actually said that's very unlikely to happen again. But to
my knowledge that actually happens in almost every storm. Am
I correct in that? So again, we keep on going
for disaster preparedness, but we have all this money. Apparently
already set aside. We still want more set aside, but
then we get disastro money sent to us that we
can use. And I believe again, it was six months
interest - free hundred million dollars available to us. If
I'm wrong on that, please correct me. Um, so again,
why do we need to keep on expanding this so
much? What other purposes is it going to be used
for besides storm damage cleanup? And can you guys change
it by a vote to move it from something with
storm damage to anything else you guys want? Curious. Thank
you. Now. My question is we got this paper in
the mail. Notice the property owners do not pay. This
is not a bill. And we are invited to come
and to the hearing. But I feel like I'm wasting
my time here today because this happened last year. I
came here about the same thing with assessment. And nothing
has been done. All of you guys vote I. And
nobody's list. I feel like no one is listening to
us like we're speaking to dev ears. And it's really
frustrating at this point. I feel like backing up and
leave because I'm wasting my time. I have better things
to do than sit here, but I'm worried about the
future of my home. I have small house. I don't
want to pay more taxes. I can't afford it. I
don't want to, what do I have to go work
again at 65? I don't want to. Why are you
all voting yes, yes, yes. And not even listening to
us. That's what's crazy. That's what's sad. And I'm feel
like backing up and leaving this room. Thank you. Anyone
else. Wish to speak when. Resolution 222 - 26. See,
in non - public hearings now closed, entertain a motion
regarding resolution 222 - 26. Motion to approve 222 -
26. Second. Council member could do. Thank you, Mayor. Crystal,
it says on chart. I don't even know what number
this is. I guess it would be four. Cape Coral
operating in personnel costs. And it's going down by 11
dollars in 57 cents. What exactly is that. This program
does have employees assigned to it. Um, seven out of
public works. And we also have a billing clerk. That's
assigned to this program that are funded through the rates.
Um, in addition to that, that is also, um, where
we built in the elevation of the rate. Preparing for
our contract and fiscal year 28. Okay. And the slide
above says waste per will receive a 2. 75 percent
CPI increase. And sorry for the person that's running the
screens the very next one down, 26 and 27 when
it shows on chart four a 2. 75 percent CPI
increase would only be four dollars in 60 cents. So
the proposed fee in 2027 should be 171 88, not
17208. So waste pros contract has many line items within
it. So that 2. 75 percent, each service that they
provide. So once you add all of those up, it
does get you to the four dollars in 80 cents.
It's just a massive list of all of the breakdown
of their services and that 2. 75 is applied to
each one. Um, so with rounding, uh, it does get
you to the 4 dollars in it. It won't math
exactly. Okay. Just using last year's rate compared to what
we're proposing. Yeah. I mean, it's very close. It's 20
cents off. It's we're nickel and diming literally, but that's
if you're using a 2. 75 percent CPI increase it
would be 4 dollars in 60 cents changing what the
proposed rate would be for 2027. I'm very thankful that
it stays the same, but it just, if we're saying
it's a 2. 75 percent increase and then you're trying
to do that math, it is just off. That's all.
It's, it's a 2. 75 percent increase from their contract
fees in their long list of fees that are included
in that. So when we apply it to that and
then calculate our proposed rate, it is a difference of
the 480. Okay. Thank you. Council Membersteinke. Thank you Mayor.
Yeah. Um, this is to address Monica's concerns. Some of
the meetings you may have missed and why, why it
seems like, Oh, it's just brought up and voted yes
on is that there were many meetings before where we've
brought in consultants and looked at what the cost of
the services would be over a period of years. And
so when we go through the budgeting process and the
dollar's required for this, it's gone through many other stages
where, uh, others have come forward and brought their concerns.
And we look and we break it down just like
you're seeing here into the component parts, uh, and so
this is just where we're memorializing what has happened before
as the budget has been evaluated. And most of these,
uh, especially you just saw as it relates to the
CPI increase. It's part of their contract that they got
when, when they got the contract. And so when we
evaluate these as to where we would expect these to
go year after year, it's those things are committed to
in contracts that get played into the equation where we
can't say don't pay them that because we're contracted to
pay them that. And then the, the, any of the
personnel and capital that we can control, as you can
see that in the, in the operating personnel cost, you
can see that was brought down. So, um, another thing
just moving here last year that may not be familiar
with is that we were getting a tremendously low rates
in the past that we know we're not going to
get. And so part of this, uh, the way that
this budgeting process was put in was to soften the
blow of that which will occur guaranteed to occur on
the next contract that we give whatever waste company that
we give because we just happened to have timing wise,
um, had an extremely low rate that was committed to
that is that is no longer available from any provider.
So that's one of the reasons why you see what
it is. It's not just a matter of saying our
blessing over it without a great deal of, of thought
and consideration. Thank you. Council member Laster. Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you, Council Members. Thank you for stating that. I
think that's important for those of you that are new.
It's, it's true. We have, um, discussed this budget, discuss
these contracts, research, um, probably eight months. Um, so we
are just formalizing this with a vote. Crystal, could you
explain exactly what our or maybe Mr. City Manager you
should explain it. Maureen. Hello. Um, can you explain why
we have this solid waste fund? And I also want
to clarify that it is not increasing. I think I
know why because I remember during Irma when there was
a giant pile of stuff in my district and I
got complaints daily, um, as I had just been elected
into office the first time because residents were so upset,
um, that we had this giant pile. And it's because
we have to get reimbursement from FEMA. So we have
to spend our money to remove all that waste. And
I believe that because of that and then definitely because
of Ian, we wanted to have a solid waste reserve
so that we could utilize those funds to begin the
cleanup immediately. And I will say with Ian, um, it
was incredible because we did get things picked up clearly.
Can you please explain that Maureen. Or Terry. Or yeah,
thank you. And we are also, as Council of Overstank,
he stated we are in the process of the bidding
process to get our solid waste contract renewed potentially with
a new vendor. So stay tuned with that. And as
Council Member Steinki also stated, um, this increase or this
was done so that we could soften the blow because
he's not wrong. Cheaper isn't always better. Um, uh, as
Ms. Joanne stated, maybe waste pro wasn't the best choice,
but I do believe at the time council selected them,
they were the most inexpensive choice. Thank you, Terry. Yes.
Hi, Terry Schweitzer. The solid waste manager for the city
of Cape Coral and the debris manager during those after
hurricane events. Hopefully I'll never have to worry about it
again and know else in the room. Um, so briefly,
uh, in the reserve, there is money set aside to
cover cleanup costs after Ian, uh, in finance could correct
me if I'm wrong, but it was raised. We do
get reimbursed from FEMA. Uh, that takes months. Matter of
fact, I want to say it was around August of
24. Before we got our first checks from, uh, Ian,
which was in September 22. We have to pay the
contractors. They're not going to do the work for free.
So we have to have that reserve fund there to
pay the contractors while we're waiting through all the FEMA
reviews and such. Make sure that all the debris clean
up that we did was eligible for reimbursement. So we
need money in there to cover that interim period as,
as we say. Right. I remember, like I said, when
I was first elected after Irma, I mean, that was,
we received hundreds of phone calls and emails weekly from
residents who were very upset that their items hadn't been
picked up quickly. So I appreciate that explanation. Thank you.
Um, Mr. City attorney again to address Ms. Joanne who
spoke earlier about stopping, uh, putting a moratorium on building.
Remind me again of the Senate bill that the state
won't let us do that, right? Yes. It's sent Bill
SB 180 that remains in effect. It actually went retroactive.
It really, um, put a gun to our head and
then cut our legs off. Frankly, and we can't do
anything about that until, uh, October of 2027. And that's
presuming and assuming that they don't extend that. And if
they extend that, uh, it puts us that by far
more in jeopardy and exposes us to a potential legal
action if we were to do that moratorium. Okay. I
just wanted to clarify that for you, Ms. Joanne. It's
beyond our control sadly. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Council
Member Cadoo. Thank you, Mayor. What is the target fund
for the hurricane debris cleanup for solid waste? Like what
is the target fund that we're going to have. There
was no defined number, but I think, you know, to
compare, for hurricane Ian, the disaster recovery, um, the debris
cost it recover, um, on the debris pickup was over
60 million dollars. So where we are now, we feel
like it's, it's a comfortable number to where it will
address allow us to, um, start that recovery process. As
soon as we can, as soon as we're able to,
um, so we think that where we are now is
a good number and also built into that is two
months of operating expenses to build a reserve for that
as well. Perfect segue back to the operating personnel cost.
Sorry to beat you up on this. It's going down
11 dollars and 57 cents per ERU or EBU. How
are we losing someone? You said the seven FTEs. How
does it go down? So based on our estimate, um,
with the rate where it is where it's being proposed,
um, as it was mentioned before and in my slide
at the initial hearing, it will create an additional surplus
of about eight million and that's an estimate, which will
get us to, uh, reserve of about 35 million. That's
leaving the rate where it is. Um, so again, that
estimate where it felt like we were in a comfortable
spot, successful with the increase. And so we were able
to reduce the operating and personnel costs where that reserve
elevation was built in so that the residents weren't so
that the increase for waste pro and Lee County was
not passed on to the residents. It just kept, kept
the rate level. So we reduced what we were building
for the reserve to offset those external costs. Thank you.
And after we implement a new solid waste contract with
whomever that is, are we going to be building a
reserve again or is there still a reserve? There will
still be a reserve. Perfect. Thank you. And before we
conclude on this topic, I just want to, um, kind
of add to what Terry said, especially as it related
to FEMA and the recovery, um, assistance that we receive.
Um, yes, hurricane Ian was an exception where they provided
reimbursement at 100 percent, but normally and in all other
storm cases, it's been 75 percent 12 and a half
percent from the state and then the city is still
responsible for 12 and a half percent. So that's typically
what we can expect moving forward. Um, and since Ian,
we've had two other storms. And it was not matched
equally, uh, the way it was for Ian. It's, it
went back to the 75, 12 and a half, 12
and a half split. And as far as, um, 52
million dollar lap loan. So it was actually 52 million
dollars where they advanced us funds to help with those
recovery efforts. And as we receive, um, as money is
obligated and we request reimbursement and we receive those funds.
It goes back to paying the loan. State. And the
interest is paid on that loan and it's paid to
the state. All right. Okay. See, another lights on. We
got a motion second on the floor. Madam said he
clerked, please call the role. Kill rain. Aye. Lastra. Aye.
Lehman. Aye. Long. No. Steinky? Aye. Donnell. Aye. Gunter? Aye.
Kaduk? No. Six ayes, two nays motion carried. We've owned
resolution 223 - 26. Madam City clerk. Please read the
title. Resolution 223 - 26. Resolution of the mayor in
city council of the city of Cape Coral, Florida. Approving
the fiscal year 2026 to 2027 non - ad valoreum
assessment role for fire protection assessments. Approving the fire protection
assessment rates for such fiscal year and providing for collection
of the assessments pursuant to the uniform assessment collection act.
Providing for hardship deferrals establishing and administrative petition procedure regarding
the number of tier two equivalent benefit units attributed to
tax parcels, providing for several ability and providing for an
effective date. Okay. Thank you, alternative staff. Thank you. All
right. Resolution 223 - 26 covers the fire service assessment,
which provides a dedicated funding source for our fire protection
services for the upcoming fiscal year. Chapter 17 of the
city code provides the uniform process for imposing an administering
assessments that fund essential services and capital improvements. Uh, the
introductory resolution was approved on July 22nd authorizing the, uh,
that authorizing the city to notify affected property owners of
the maximum rate. Uh, today's resolution will establish the final
rate for next fiscal year. The FSA supports fire protection
services throughout Cape Coral. It helps make the city maintain
fire stations, uh, replaced and maintain equipment and provide the
personnel needed to protect residents, property owners and businesses. The
assessment uses a two methodology intended to allocate cost across
benefited according to the benefits received. So there are two
tiers. Tier one is the availability benefit. All parcels, including
vacant parcels, um, share in the fixed cost of maintaining
a 24 hour readiness to respond. Uh, and that it
represents 70 percent of the assessment tier two is the
protection of structural loss benefit. And so only approved parcels
are assessed under this tier. The charge is based on
structure value, not taxable value expressed as an equivalent benefit
unit, REB. And so tier two represents the remaining 30
percent of the assessment. Looking at the numbers, the rates
being presented were calculated, assuming in 81 percent recovery through
assessments. The general fund will pick up the remaining 19
percent. This is the same recovery rate as fiscal year
26 and the rate approved today, uh, represents, um, what
will be used to fund fiscal year 27. The decrease
in operating costs equals about a 2. 29 percent decrease
compared to last year. You'll see that tier one rates
will decrease by seven dollars in 69 cents. So on
average, uh, that means a decrease just under twenty five
dollars per year. The proposed 27 assessment, um, is calculated
at 81 percent cost recovery consistent with last year and
the general fund will pick up the remaining 19 percent
as I mentioned. And the total assessment revenue is proposed
at 66. 85 million, a decrease of approximately 1. 6
million from last year. Right. Um, and the last line
provides you with a snapshot of what the cost would
be for an average single family. You'll see that it
would be 515 dollars and 43 cents compared to the
540 dollars in 17 cents last year. Some key investments
that will be funded through the assessment include implementing replacement
apparatus schedule station facility maintenance such as painting and flooring.
Hazmat material analyzer replacement, uh, at HVAC replacement at multiple
fire stations. With that, I asked for your approval. Okay.
Thank you very much. I now public hearing anyone wishing
to speak on resolution 223 - 26, please come forward.
Yes. Cake Coral, the city of Cape Coral is asking
counsel to approve resolution 223 - 26, setting the 27
fire services as but right at 81 percent recovery. Let
the city still is not clearly explained how this works.
The fire operations fund increased by almost 7 million dollars
in 2027. At the same time the average homeowner's fire
FSA is expected to decrease. And the city still calls
that 81 percent. Math ain't mapping. We know the fiscal
27 budget uses 1. 8 million more from the general
fund. And spends almost half your fire fund of 3.
8 million dollars. So they question the simple. And the
election year, how does the fit that fire budget go
up, the FSA go down and the city's still claim
81 percent cost. And after the election, until the city
clearly explains this calculation, council should not approve it. Do
your jobs won't know on this resolution because every taxpayer
matters. Thank you. Marie
Kavanaugh. A while back I did a little bit of
looking into the fire department. And we have somewhere in
the vicinity of 300 employees total. Yet we have 13
battalion chiefs. Each as I recall, and I may be
a little off on some of them are each earning
over 200, 000 dollars a year. Fort Myers, however, last
year had three battalion chiefs and they did away with
those. Now you're very quick to say, oh, well, this
city has this, this city does this. This CD does,
yada, yada, yada, yada, yada. But yeah, one of those
other way. Here we are. We're not denigrating the fire
department at all and they need to be paid. But
13 battalion chiefs. Seriously. And Dr. D, you're correct. Prices
are going up on everything. But yet I have yet.
To see this council. Take a project and scale it
back to save money. That is not none. That is
something that needs to be looked at. JC Park is
a classic example of that. That thing is a mess.
It's an 18 million dollar failure. And the city, he
owes us an explanation as to how it's going to
get fixed and who is going to pay to get
it fixed. And it better not be us. Thank you.
Uh, before you get going there. Gentlemen there in the
back, it's been speaking. Could you ask him to either
step outside or just we can hear you up here?
Thank you. Good Mr. Chair. Wes, it wasn't you. You're
cool. Just, I'm just going to footstop like I did
last time. The assessment we all get is really lacking
in information. I think we should work on correcting it
for next year. Uh, there should be a comparison of
what was paid last year, just like our trim notices.
And especially when it comes to the FSA, how do
you determine how many FEU tier twos you have? It's
not explained on the form. It doesn't show why you
have 40, 60, 70 EBU2s. That should be a topic
of discussion and interest. It should be comparable to what
was last year. So you don't have to go hunt
through everything and figure out everything. Why can't that be
done? That should be simple. I've complained about it every
year. Hopefully next year we get that fixed. Thank you.
Anyone else wishing to speak on resolution 223 - 26.
See, a none public hearing is now closed. And I'll
entertain a motion for resolution 223. Motion to approve 223
- 26. Is there a second. Council member can do.
Thank you, Mayor. Crystal, will you please explain how the
FSA goes down. When the operation costs are increasing from
fiscal year 26, which is adopted to propose fiscal year
27. It's showing 83. 1 million for 26 and 89.
9 million for 27. So that is the fire department's
total budget, which includes other services outside of the fire
protection services, which is what we're approving tonight, the rate
for that service tonight. Uh, it also includes EMS, which
is funded by the general fund. Um, and so that's
why the total department budget can come up while you
see the amount used in our recovery calculation goes down,
causes the rate to go down. So if I can
get the. Yeah, showing general fund 1. 8 million in
reserves 3. 8 million. So, um, when we're using the
reserves, then next year, the huge increase. And you talked
about this on July 22nd as well that you weren't
funding the fire stations. And then that would be proposed
for 28 and beyond. Yeah. So two things. So the
reserve that's in the budget is for encumbrances. We've worked.
This for fiscal year 27, we're estimating encumbrances. Um, instead
of what we've done in prior years where we've analyzed
those, after year in, after the budgets adopted. As part
of BA1. Which can sometimes in some years be a
large increase only months after the budget is approved. So
based on discussions with counsel last time, we did that.
Last time we adopted a BA1 for fiscal year 26,
council expressed an interest in us trying to estimate that
as part of the adopted budget so that we're not
taking a large hit, um, incorporating a large increase with
BA1. So that is what we're doing with this proposed
budget. So that use of fund balance is the use
of assigned fund balance to cover fiscal year 26 encumbrances
that we estimate will need to be carried for it.
So that, that's what that is for. As far as,
what was your other part of that question. Just how
we have our operations increases, but you said EMS. Yep.
And then the fire stations was together. Question that you
had. Um, so the plan for the fire stations is
in fiscal year 27, we have design and apparatus scheduled
for fire station 14. And what we've done in future
years, the plan is to, um, build in 10 million
for construction next year. Um, so we can operate on
a pay as you go basis to fund and construct
the next three fire stations. Um, that was, you know,
kind of, we thought that was the better approach given
the fact that there was a desire to try to
reduce, you know, our use of our, of the city's
debt capacity, right? So we are trying to build in,
pay as you go plan for the next three fire
stations. Next fiscal year includes design for 14 construction the
year after design construction. And so we, our plan is
to build that into the assessment calculation. Okay. And I
guess, uh, why didn't we just continue to do that
this year. We have not done that before. Okay. So
why are we doing it in the future. Based on
discussions with council and prior budget workshops, um, we did
a presentation on this where there was a desire to
try to reduce our use of debt. Where we could.
This was in a way to work on a pay
as you go basis to fund those projects. Right. So
we're lowering the FSA, but if we kept it where
it was or higher, we would already start that reserve,
so to speak to fund the future fire stations? Well,
what's built in for next year are built into the
calculation is the design. So we have started it. So
the design is built in. On the slide that we
have up, if you look at the first line, which
provides you this assessment revenue for fiscal year 26, that's
68. 4 compared to fiscal year 27, the 66. 9.
Last year's assessment included a number of capital, um, purchases
and projects, uh, that were approved as part of the
fire department's program modifications. Um, this year, those modifications were
presented to council and council chose not to fund those.
And so that also represents, that is also a representation
of why that number is less compared to last year.
Okay. Thank you. Council member Steinke. Thank you, Mayor. I
just wanted to remind all those that are still here
and those that might be watching from home, uh, that
we, we began a couple of years ago, uh, having
a budget town hall here for the, uh, facility of
any citizens that were concerned about how these numbers were
established. What was going to make up the assessment? Why
the numbers were what they were in the budget? Which
personnel we're being, uh, reduced all of that. And so
like we said before, this is for memorialization of, of
that entire process that came along the way. And I
find it interesting that, um, on the first assessment we
dealt with, uh, it was a slight increase. And that
we were asked to say no to that. Uh, the
second one remained the same. And we were asked to
say no to that. And now we have one that's
being reduced. And we're being asked to say no to
that. Um, and yet when I was here for the
budgetown hall that we had and the fire department was
here to talk about all of these numbers, I don't
think there were half a dozen people that went to
the table to ask any questions about why these numbers
are the way they are. So from a full and
fair disclosure or full transparency basis, there are many times
that are given for full understanding of why the numbers
are, uh, the way they are. So I would encourage
in the next budget cycle, uh, to get involved earlier
to come to the, to the town hall. A lot
of effort is put into making sure that we have
resources there. Uh, and all the facts behind where all
these numbers are coming from when they, when they come
down to a number as specific as 66, 845, 893,
that's the time you can ask. How did you come
up with that number? And where did that come from?
Uh, and so before we ever get here, the questions
that can be answered to have the clarity, uh, and
the understanding that we've been going through when we're asked
to approve what's before us. So that's it, Mayor. Thank
you. Council member long. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, just a
quick observation since this is our third assessment. Presentation that
we received. In the last two, uh, we were presented
with charts that showed where our rates were at in
relation to other cities. You can't help but notice that
we don't have that same information on this one. The
implication to me obviously is that it probably isn't as
favorable, but maybe you might be able to explain. No,
when I did research across the state, um, the methodology,
uh, for, for our specific assessment was different than what
I could find across the board, you know, other cities
adopted different methodology. Some didn't have the tier one, tier
two approach. It was just a fixed cost. Um, some
did have the tier approach, but using a different, uh,
methodology built in. So I didn't think it would be
valuable. It wouldn't represent a true comparison. And so it
would be your position than that same explanation. Wouldn't be
relative to the stormwater collection assessments, for example, that we
already voted on. And we're provided information on. I'm sorry.
The stormwater assessments that we already voted on. So those
are, those are all applied uniformly. Based on the figures
that we received. The methodologies work more comparable. They were
closed. Some used ERA, some used what they called an
ESU. But the approach was very similar. So I, my
professional opinion, I felt it was still valuable to the
public and to you to use and to show. It
was just vastly different for do the work. And go
through and figure out where those formulas differentiated and basically
get down to the brass tacks of it all as
far as per dwelling unit. Uh, which a lot of
them are reflected. But I understand what you're saying with
the tier one and tier two. Would it be your
position that we would be situated at the higher end
of that or the lower end of that for our
FSA rates per residential dwelling. For the rate. Like we're
looking at 515. For example, Fort Lauderdale's like 350. Fort
Myers is like 200. I'm not in a position to
really give an opinion on it because I haven't done
that deep of a dive in the comparing the methodology.
I would wager that we were probably at the top
of that matrix. So, you know, I would love to
see that information. I understand. The point that you're making
with regards to us maybe being a little different. I
think that probably is a blind doll. The other ones
too. Um, if we could get that information, I would
love that. Just, it's tough to look at it and
see that. The charts that we see where we're at
the bottom end. We parade out. But we're, in my
opinion, we're probably at the high end they're absent. Um,
that doesn't sit right with me. I'm not. I don't
know if we are or not. Okay. Well, I would
love to find out into that, uh, to that point.
So, um, and that would be my only comment on
this one, Mayor. And I do obviously appreciate the fact
that it's dropping. Um, we did raise this what I
believe last year. I was a no vote during that
race. Uh, I'm going to be a no this year
for that exact reason, even though it is lowering the
rate. Just want to put that out there. Thank you.
Just one quick thing I wanted to mention, as you
can see, the average single family home based on this
chart's 270, about 275, 000 dollars. I know an individual
that lives in Cape Royal, which we all know is
an enclave of, uh, Cape Coral. So they, they, they
pay a fire district. But just to put it in
perspective, that individual wounds a home. Is assessed value is
about 690, 000. It's about two and a half times.
Uh, the average single family home that's listed on this
chart. If you take two and a half times of
the 515 that takes you up to about 1287 dollars.
Cape Coral with a home value of about 690, 000
is going to pay. In your FSA. He pays 3,
000 dollars. To the Matt Lachey fire district. For his
fire service alone. So I just wanted to kind of
put that in perspective. In a community that's an enclave
within Cape Girl. That more than likely, uh, there was
a fire in that community. Because of our mutual heat
agreement, we'd be going there anyway. But I just thought
that was important to mention what he's paying. In relation
to that same home value house would pay here in
the city of Cape Coral. Uh, Council Member Steinke. Thank
you, Mayor. Uh, just a couple of things. One is
there's, I think I mentioned it before there is a
tool that you can use that's available to you as
a citizen. If you just Google Cape Coral checkbook, um,
you can go and take a look at, um, how
each one of these compares to other cities around us,
not as many cities as it was on that bar
graph. But I know that one thing that is true
and maybe Mr. City Manager can speak to it. There
are some cities that actually partner with the county for
fire services and cost gets spread out where the actual
cost for fire shows up in a, in a county,
uh, receipt, if you will, than it does a city
receipt. And so even with how the, how the FSA
is calculated being different, uh, as was presented to us,
oftentimes it's not a matter of calculations how it's paid,
um, that it wouldn't necessarily be paid to the city,
but it might be paid through a county partnering. Is
that not true. That is true. There's a, there's a
number of reasons why fire is really hard to, to
compare apples to apples. One being that specifically that, um,
so for example, take our sister city port st. Lucie,
port st. Lucie does not have a fire department. So
a lot of people like to compare them to keep
coral. But their staff does not have to respond to
manage or oversee or counsel doesn't even have to budget
for a fire department. So in that case, they, they
go through a fire district similar to what the mayor
just said about, um, the, the mat was able, uh,
is that we in the city of Cape Coral. Put
a priority on the personal response, the medics. And so
we have all of, um, we have paramedics in advanced
life support. On our trucks. You do not see that
in all, all, um, fire departments throughout the state. But
our community wants that because the cause they go to
where we want somebody not to wait for an ambulance
to provide service immediately. We pay that premium. You compare
us to a department that does not provide that level
of service. Of course they're going to be cheaper, but
your response time for that is going to be a
lot longer while you're sitting there in an emergency waiting
for somebody from the county to show up. Uh, additionally,
as you all know, even with the city, we only
recover 81 percent of our fire department costs through the
FSA. So even if crystal were to look at what
the other departments recover through their FSA, if they have
one, it may be a 20 percent cost recovery cost
recovery So there are, there are a lot of reasons
why from the fire perspective, it's just, it's just hard
to do an apples to apples comparison. Okay. Uh,
Councilmember? Yeah, that was it. I mean, my point was,
I think still stands. I think to the last thing,
if they were only doing a 50 percent recovery, wasn't
that the point? Is there charging their residents less? I
mean, my only main point is that it's awfully convenient
that anytime that we're in a position where it seems
like we might be on the higher end of the
spectrum, there's all these new wants approaches that this makes
us different. So it's okay that we might be on
that spectrum. Um, the mayor, I appreciate the point you're
making, but again, if we're cherry picking data, that poor
guy, Matt Lachey's paying 300, three thousand dollars. They have
a flat rate for their residential and it's like 350
dollars. We give a damn how big his house is.
So you can pick and choose and throw numbers around
to meet your thing. But what I'm saying is we
shouldn't be doing that. We should be getting the same
exact data that's being used to justify every single assessment
on every single assessment presentation, period. Because when we don't,
you leave that void open and then the void of
truth is what? So that's my only point here. Thank
you. Mr. Zai Manager. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted
to answer the question for, uh, there was a question
about what is tier one, tier two. And so for
those members of the community who have not been here
very long, um, our fire service assessment was taking all
the way to the Florida Supreme Court and upheld to
be a valid fire service assessment. There is a report
out there that I think will answer every question, um,
that anyone has about how it is built and what
was upheld by the Supreme Court. It's dated 822 2013.
And it actually has exactly what you want to know
about tier one, tier two, how certain costs are a
portion. The name of the study is city of Cape
Coral Fire Rescue non - Advilorum assessment study. On page
16 through 20. If you have a chance to look
at that report every single line item in the fire
department budget is looked at on whether or not it
is a benefit to a real property or to a
real person. If it's a benefit or a portion, any
of that cost is a portion to a real person.
It is not legally allowed to be in the fire
service assessment. So you will see every line broken out
at 1. 7 percent of this is to a person.
So only 98. 3 percent can be put into the
assessment of this. And then all the other costs are
up to 100 percent allocatable to the fire service assessment.
Additionally, um, if you, I think I misspoke there, I'm
sorry, 16 through, yeah, 16 through 20 is the, the
line item allocation distribution. And then if you want to
know about how, what is in, how is tier one
and tier two, uh, developed. There is an entire write
up, uh, tier one is assigned to every parcel equally.
Whether it's improved or unimproved. And the thought there is,
our fire department is ready to serve whether a call
comes in or not. And there can equally be a
fire on any one of those properties. So tier one
is the cost that we need to have our fire
department ready and available to take a call. Those costs
are identified. And then broken out on a per parcel
basis. Tier two goes to the level of protection. That
the structure on the property obtains. In the report is
specifically states that tier two all improved properties with structures
on them receive an additional benefit. Of protection from the
loss of the structures due to fire. As follows. Maintenance
of minimum cost of insurance. By providing a favorable ISO
rating, the city provides property owner with the ability obtained
fire insurance out of favorable rate. And the benefit, if
not insured, if not insured, the property owners would have
assurance that they have protected from actual economic loss from
their structures. And it goes on and on. So based
on the value of the structure on the property, we
get that certified from the property appraiser. We know exactly
what the land value is and what the structure value
is. We divide the structure value in five, That's how
we create an EBU. So if you have a hundred
thousand dollar property, you're 20 EBUs. If you have a
200, 000 dollar property, you're 40 EBUs. The tier two
component, the cost of actually not the readiness to serve
the cost that we would have regardless of one call
ever came in. The other consumable costs go into tier
two. And then tier two is divided out by the
total number of EBUs. So somebody that has a 200,
000 dollar structure on tier one, but on tier two,
they're going to pay higher than somebody that has a
hundred thousand dollar structure. That is also written into resolution
223 - 26, which is before the council tonight, section
six E2 spells that out. Thank you. Okay, seeing no
other, hold on a minute. Quick one. Where would where
was that Mississippi manager? Coach, you know, I like to
send this out. Where I'm on the website right now.
Where can we find that outside of resolution on our
city council website on the city government website. I didn't
do a direct crosswalk. I could send that to, but
if you just, if you just type in Cape Coral
fire service assessment and do a search, the 2013 study
will come up. It is on our, let me see
if I can on our website where everybody, cause you
know, we always counsel go through this transparency thing. So
what I'm hearing you say, all those in the backup,
is it on the website. Yes, sir. I'm just found
the directory to it. So it's under city, Cape Coral
page. If you click on the government tab, go to
city managers. There's a link there for fire service assessment.
Thank you. That's all Mayor. Madam City clerk, we already
got a motion, right? Yes, sir. Caught a roll. Please.
Kill rain. Aye. Lastra. Aye. Lehman. Aye. Long. No. Steinkey?
Aye. Donnell. Aye. Gunter? Aye. Kaduk? No. Six eyes, two
nays motion carried. All right. Let's move on to resolution
224 - 26. Madam City Clark, please read title. Resolution
224 - 26. A resolution of the mayor and city
council of the city of Cape Floral, Florida. Approving the
fiscal year 2026 to 2027 non - ad valoreum assessment
role for assessments imposed to fund law mowing services, approving
the assessment rates for such fiscal year and providing for
collection of the assessments pursue it to the uniform assessment
collection act, providing for several ability and providing for an
effective date. Turn over to staff. Thank you. All right.
This presentation concerns the lot mowing assessment and final resolution
establishing the rate for next fiscal year. Again, chapter 17
of the city code provides a uniform process for imposing
and annually administering assessments for a central services and capital
improvements. The introductory resolution was approved July 22nd. Um, which
allowed us to notify the affected property owners, which we
did, uh, the first week of August. And we're before
you tonight for final resolution of those fees. The city's
a lot mowing program provides mowing invasive vegetation removal and
burrowing owl nest trimming for unimproved lots enrolled in voluntarily
enrolled into the program, approximately 31, 000 parcels participate. And
the program across four districts. Lots are mode 13 times
annually. Generally from February through December services also include removal
of exotic and invasive vegetation and burrowing owl nest trimming
from May through January. Our rates are calculated using an
equivalent lot unit, R - E - L - Equal
to 5, 000 square feet. Uh, this approach applies the
assessment proportionately based on the size of each lot. The
program covers four districts within Cape Coral. Each district has
its own assessment rate, reflecting the specific needs and characteristics
of that area. The proposed assessment rates for fiscal year
27 compared to the current year, um, and as you've
shown on the table, um, all districts will receive a
modest increase in the rate per ELU. And that increase
is attributed to overall, um, increased in fuel surcharges and
increase in personnel expenses for those employees working the program.
For a standard parcel, this is two ELUs. So the
annual assessment rate, they can expect a range from 96.
86 to 151 dollars and 78 cents depending on the
district. With that, I asked for your approval. Hey, thank
you. I opened up public hearing anyone wishing to speak
on resolution 224 - 26. Please come forward. See, a
non - public hearings now close and I'll entertain a
motion for resolution 224 - 26. Motion to approve. Second.
Any council discussion. See, a non - Madam City clerk,
please call the role. Kill rain. Aye. Lastra. Aye. Lehman.
Aye. Long. Aye. Steinkee? Aye. Donnell. Aye. Gunter? Aye. Kaduk?
Aye. Eight ayes, motion carried. Okay, move on to resolution
225 - 26, Madam City Clark. Please read the title.
Resolution 225 - 26. A resolution of the mayor and
city council of the city of Cape Coral, Florida. Approving
the fiscal year 2026 to 2027 non - adviloram assessment
role for assessments imposed to collect certain delinquent water, wastewater,
irrigation, fire service non - advalorum special assessments and capital
expansion and contributions in aid of construction loans. Approving the
amounts and providing for the collection of the assessments pursuant
to the uniform assessment collection act and providing for an
effective date. Okay, thank you, alternative staff. Thank you. To
the city offered a number of programs to its residents
to assist with paying assessments, uh, and associated fees for
various, uh, utilist expansion projects over the years. And so
a small number of these accounts, um, have become delinquent
and now need to be resolved. So this resolution formerly
establishes the assessment amounts for the delinquent parcels authorizes collection,
um, through the uniform assessment collection act and allows the
charges to be placed on the tax bill. So resolution
22526 serves as the right resolution for the delinquent deferred
assessments and the delinquent hardship deferrals. And as the others,
an introductory resolution was approved on July 22nd, authorizing us
to notice, uh, these assessed property owners. So the first
program under this resolution, I'll start with is the deferred
assessments, um, for certain UEP areas, the city offered property
owners, the option to defer assessment payments under the program,
owners were allowed to place a voluntary lien, uh, for
the full assessment, including principal and interests and administration fees.
Uh, these deferred assessments became due and payable upon the
sale of the property, refinancing of the home are transfer
of ownership. So for fiscal year 27, there is only
one property with, with a deferred assessment account still outstanding,
uh, this property is an assessment in an assessment area
that has reached the end of the assessment term. The
total amount due to the city is approximately 59, 000.
So we are looking to add that assessment to the
tax bill in an annual installment over the original term,
which is 20 years. Delinquent balances plus statutory discount and
collector fees will be added to each installment and the
lien will be released upon full payment. So this is
just another, more details of that one assessment that we're
including. You'll see that the annual installment will be approximately
3, 100 dollars. And when an assessment is deferred, just
want to point out that the city actually pays the
annual installment on behalf of the property owner. So most
of this outstanding balance actually is going to be considered
a reimbursement to the city. The next is the delinquent
hardship assessment. The city's hardship program provides low - income
property owners a means to defer all are part of
certain UEP and fire service assessments each year based on
HUD guidelines to participate in the program owners must apply
annually and all deferred amounts are recorded as liens against
the property. The amount includes principle and interest, and like
the deferred assessments, they become due upon sale home transfer,
our refinance. So under this category, we have 11 properties
that have outstanding hardship assessments, eight properties are no longer
enrolled in their hardship program, possibly because they no longer
qualify in three properties have changed hands, but assessments were
left unpaid at closing. The total about here is 46,
658 dollars in 36 cents. The amount of the assessment
shall be equal to the total deferred amount due and
owing as of November 1st, 2026, and the repayment term
will match the remaining term of the original assessment. The
fire service assessment balance will be billed over a term
of five years and be added to the current annual
fire service assessment. And no additional interest will accrue. And
here are the details of those 11 parcels that will
be included on the tax bill. It also provides you
with their annual installment terms. And with that, I asked
your approval. Okay, thank you. I open up public hearing
anyone wishing to speak on resolution 225 - 26. Please
come forward. See a non - public hearing is now
closed. And I'll entertain a motion of recording resolution 225
- approved 225 - 26. Any council discussion. Seeing none,
Madam City clerk, please call the rule. Aye. Master? Hi.
Lehman. Long. Aye. Steinky? Aye. Danelle. Enter? Aye. Good to?
Aye. Eight eyes, motion carry. Okay, move on to the
last resolution 226 - 26, Madam City clerk. Please read
the title. Resolution 226 - 26. A resolution of the
mayor and city council of the city of Cape Coral,
Florida, approving the fiscal year 2026 to 2027 assessment roles
for various non - advalorium assessments levied and imposed pursuant
to Florida law and the city of Cape Coral Code
of Ordinances, including chapters 2, 17, and 19 thereof. An
ordinance 29 - 05 describing the lean associated therewith, directing
that the assessment roles be certified to the Lee County
Tax Collector and providing for an effective date. Okay, thank
you. Staff. All right, you're the finish line. So this
resolution formerly approves the city's assessment roles for our non
- advalorium assessments that will be collected on the upcoming
property tax bill. The city has levied various non -
advaloreum special assessments to fund capital improvement services that provide
a specific benefit to certain real property within our established
UEP areas. These assessments are governed by sections 166. 021
and 197. 3632 of the Florida statutes, as well as
chapters 2, 17 and 19 of the city's code of
ordinances. And section 17 - 47 requires counsel to adopt
an annual assessment resolution as part of the annual budget
process. This action approves assessments for the upcoming fiscal year.
So this slide here provides you a total of each
of the roles related to the specific project areas, starting
with South 1 East, all the way through Del Prado
Mall parking lot and all of the associated utility capital
expansion fees and contribution in aid of construction fees associated
with those assessment areas. So approval of the resolution authorizes
the certified roles to be transmitted for inclusion on the
Lee County tax collector's property tax bills in November, uh,
and this is the final administrative action needed to collect
those fees next fiscal year. And with that, I asked
for your approval. Okay, now public hearing in one wish
and speak on resolution 226 - 26, please come forward.
See, a non - public hearing is now closed. I'll
entertain a motion regarding resolution 226 - 26. Motion to
approve. Any council discussion. Say a non - Madam City
clerk, please call the rope. Hill rain. Aye. Lastra? Aye.
Lehman. Long? No. Steinky? Aye. Donnell. Aye. Gunter? Aye. Kaduk?
Aye. Seven ayes one nay motion carried. Okay, move on
the item 11. C is introductions. We do not have
any introductions tonight. Item 12 is reports. Council members thank
you report. No report. Council member down now. No report.
Council member Kadu. Thank you mayor. So I know we
talked about this a long time ago about Hayden Lane
and I'm going to make a motion and I'm looking
for a second to request a future agenda item be
scheduled to address the Sandoval application for a replat. I'll
give you the second. Thank you. Are we going to
add that to a committee of the hoe? Is that
what you asked? I would be. Yeah. If we could
add as an agenda item. It could be community of
the whole would probably be best. Yeah I think so.
We have one next week. Are you whenever. Is that
good? Next week is fine for me. All right. Thank
you. Madam City Clark. We can add that to the
agenda. For September 9th. That's the next cow. Yeah. Whenever
our next one is. Thank you so much. That's all.
Alright. Uh, Council Member Kilring. Uh, on the 20th, I
attended the St. Hughes Walt. Reuben Cunning with one of
Holmes. And that's the first, I guess, uh, the, uh,
state of Florida. And, uh, great project. And, uh, along
with Councilman. Lori Lehman, uh, CCCIA was there to represent
a lot of other builders who are going to be
participating in that. Saturday. I went to the CCIA home
show. And that's it. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Lastered.
Thank you, Mayor. Um, I too attended the home show,
but on Sunday, it was a great event. Lots of
vendors, lots of information. So thank you to the CCCIA
for putting that on. Um, I don't have any more
on a report, Mayor, but I do have a question
for all of you. I met with the city. I
spoke to the city manager two weeks ago about moving
the camera back onto the podium for citizens input. And
the reason is because we end up with distractions here
with, you know, iPads and cell phones. And I just
feel like if you guys are okay with it, could
we possibly consider moving that camera back to the podium
so that eliminates the distraction right here in front. Is
that something that maybe we could put on our next
committee the whole and have a discussion? Do we need
to. I mean, I think so. You do. Okay. All
right. Yeah. That's fine. If I can get a second
or do I need a second? Okay. That'd be good.
Thank you, Mayor. We'll add that on that same committee
of a whole era, Madam City Clark, please. Yes, your
honor. Thank you. All right. Uh, Council Member Lehman. Yeah.
I too attended the home show. On Saturday. Met with
a lot of different people. It was a great situation.
Thank you, that's it. Council Member Long. All right. Go
back to going back to lastress. I don't recall did
we need a cow to remove that. I don't game
review. Did we change? It's not like a proper function
of council. I don't remember making any action on behalf
of council to. Take that away. So I don't know
where that leaves us with regards to the discussion next
week. But if that's a staff function, then we can
just direct staff to do it, even though I don't
think we, I don't remember doing that up here. To
change the camera angle. So I guess take them out
what you will. That's your, that's your cause. Take and
run with it. Um, just one question with regards to
the, um, report with the hearing examiner. Where didn't can
we expect, I guess to move forward with what's the
process look like to hire the new hearing examiner, I
guess the contract that we've had with the hearing examiner's
terminated, will become terminated very soon. What does that look
like moving forward? Uh, technically when you approve the last
hearing examiner as part of the authorization, she's allowed to
sit for quasi any cause education matters. She's allowed to
sit, but her term, her, her contract is up, right?
So wouldn't we either renew the contract or we would
then ask special magistrate, the contract that you approved. Sure.
Authorized. That individual to sit for any and all. Matters
that our cost and judicial. Okay. So if that was
true, then what would have the purpose have been to
come and codify that before this council. Through the motion
that's now failed twice in the last two weeks. I'm
sorry what. You're telling me that when we hired a
new special magistrate when April. That effectively turned to that
replaced the hearing examiner. No. That did not. That's not
what I said. Okay. So then help me. Set is
they're authorized. To sit for quasi judicial matters. Okay. I
didn't say it to replace that. So that was incorrect.
Then the motion that was just brought up for reconsideration
today, which was ruled upon and shot down last week,
that was to have the position of the hearing examiner
replaced with plethora of special magistrates. That was an amendment
to the land development code regarding who would be sitting
in that, in that stead. Can you explain how those
two then are different? Because if I'm saying you said
it, you took offense, which I appreciate to me categorizing
it that way. But then when I then turned around.
And capsulated what the nature of the motion that was
up for reconsideration today was it in effect was the
same exact end result. Was it not. The motion was,
as you just confirmed, was today was a reconsideration. Of
the denial of ordinance number 20 - 26. Which in
short does what. Have brought the matter back before you
all as it was? Not the matter itself. What was
the matter itself regarding. The matter itself was an amendment
to the process associated with who'd be sitting and hearing
these matters. So if we chose not to amend the
process, then logic would dictate that that means that the
process as it currently exists would continue on. Is that
not logical? Going to. Okay, well if it is, I'm
hearing examiner sits over these meetings as they have for
the last several years. And our hearing examiner's contract is
up. I'm asking when we would put out a contract
seeking a new hearing examiner. There seems to be a
clarification on that. If the council authorized the special magistrate
to sit for all quasi - judicial matters, as pursuing
to her contractual agreement with the city of Cape Poorl,
that would mean that they have legally the authority as
authorized by you all. To sit in that place. Okay,
that's great. So then why would we need to follow
it up with the motion that you put forth to
a man? Motion was a correction of what was happening
before, amongst other things as we had discussed. It resolved
the issue of the hearing examiner making a ruling. And
then it going to a special magistrate. But that apparently
didn't seem to get any traction despite my talking about
that. Mr. Mayor, can we put, can we put this
on the cow for the next week so that it
could be explained exactly how that was set forth? Because
I'm whether you want to agree or not. I'm fairly
certain on a majority of this council did not understand
that we're kicking out the hearing examiner and replacing it
with a special magistrate. When we hired a new special
magistrate four months ago. And then again, just last week
we voted on a decision. Why don't we go down
the line and see if a majority wants to bring
that topic back for discussion. And then if it is,
then we'll add it to it. You know, for me,
we've already voted on this issue last week, it sounds
like I wasn't here. Uh, right. We voted in the
negative to not allow for special magistrates to sit for
quasi judicial hearings. No, that's, that is not true. I
don't think that's true. So what did we vote on.
Well, first of all, I don't even know. Why don't
we, let's go down the line and see if we
want to bring this up for a discussion for next
week. Um, and, and then we'll go from there. I
have one point of clarification before we go down the
row. Yep. I just want, does anybody have any butter
to go in my popcorn? Cause I love when those
two started going right. I have no idea what they're
talking about. Well, I mean, honestly, you should be having
these discussions, you know, before you get here before bringing
it up in the report sessions. I'm sorry. That's why
I'm confused. I've had these discussions. Okay. All right. Council
member downhill. We'll start down here with you. Do you
want to bring, uh, this matter to a discussion at
a future committee, the whole matter we've already voted on?
No, no. I would. No. I'm going to, no. Yes.
Yes. I wasn't counting boat. So what are we, where
are we at? Four, four. Four, four. Okay. So then
moving forward, we will not be using a hearing examiner
in the city of Cape Coral. Yes or no? I
can, let me answer this to try and take legal,
legal. What's a yes personnel out of this? My administrative
staff is still going to be bringing cases. To our
hearing examiner. Under the exact same process that is in
place today. You all did not vote. To change the
process. So my staff, when it pertains to a land
use in development regulation is going to follow the exact
same process. This is not a personnel issue. I don't
know why it's getting twisted into that. This was a
procedural change on how my staff deals with land use
development cases. You all voted that down. We're following the
exact same process. I hope that clears it up. So
then what was last week when we were talking about
carousels of magistrates and reverses one single hearing examiner. That
was exactly the process that you brought up. So the
process was meant to. Align with what is happening. So
I believe council member long, you're the one that made
reference to or intimated that there was some nefarious activity
in scheduling with certain special magistrates, which was false. Okay.
Because these are scheduled one year in advance. And they're
randomly selected based upon the invalidability of the special magistrates.
But that's not what you ultimately brought forth. Are you
asserted? What you asserted that there's going to be some
nefarious activity in order to identify certain cases, I'll go
before certain special magic. I didn't say that. That there
was a that would open up an appearance of impropriety
if we were to allow that to explain. You sort
of that in a public mean. Okay. Where there was
none. Okay. So these are scheduled one year out in
advance on a pre - scheduled calendar and all the
special magistrates are asked for their availability to attend. Okay.
But you intimated that there was some nefarious activity by
staff. In scheduling certain matters before certain special magistrates. But
we're not even doing that yet. So how would I
have been? You brought that up. Yeah. As in a,
as a carousel. I think this, uh, what I did
not assert, but you asserted was that the special magistrate
that we apparently hired to replace the hearing examiner what
four months ago. Mayor point out of town. Point of
order. She lived in Sanibel, but she actually lives in
Miami. Has a practice in Miami. Hold on. We've, we
got a point of order. Could you tell us what
the, uh, procedure is for point of order. I need
to know what. S the point of what? We're in
report. This has nothing to do with reports. This had
to do with an item that was then brought down
the line for consensus of bringing it to a, to
a meeting on an agenda where an issue like this
is supposed to be dealt with. And that failed. So
why are we continuing with it. Councilwomans take you. Okay.
And do we need a second for the point order?
No, you rule on that as the individual running the
meeting. I rule on it. Yes. I think this is
an offline discussion where you too because it's been a
matter. It's already been booted on and discussed. We brought
it here for a, um, reconsideration. That failed. And then
we even had a subsequent consensus where we didn't want
to bring it at a committee of the whole. So
if you two want to have that discussion, have at
it, uh, but having, in my opinion, having it now
during, uh, report and going back and forth. To me
is, uh, is ridiculous. So if that's something to eat
you want to, you two want to discuss, how about
it? That's fine. Understand. Thank you, Mayor. Yeah. I don't
have anything in my report. Uh, Mr. City Manager report.
I do have a report. I'm sorry. Mr. City attorney.
I usually go to Alex goes first. And you have
a report. All right. Go ahead. Thank you, Mayor. This
coming Saturday will be the second anniversary for the courts.
August 29th from 11 a. m. to 2 p. m.
at the courts at 420 Southwest second avenue. They're going
to have hot dogs, hamburgers, drink specials, raffles, uh, for
paddles, memberships. Uh, there's going to be some round robin
events. And then there's going to be some demos, uh,
from some paddles providers. So if you're interested in celebrating
the second anniversary of the courts with the city or
if you play pickleball, uh, join us there from 11
a. m. to 2 p. m. I do have two
high five highlights that I want to read. I hadn't
gotten a couple of these in a while. And then
last week I got a couple of them. Uh, I
had one resident right in regarding city workers. Nice job.
And, uh, it says very nice job trenching for the
drainage of my lawn, super professional and thorough. And that
goes to the stormwater folks that regraded a swale. It
came with it a bunch of, uh, pictures and they
actually, uh, he asked for them to pose for them.
And so, uh, thank you for the recognition from the
resident and also thank you to the swale crews that
perform that work professionally and thoroughly. Uh, another one came
in regarding the fire department. This one says, uh, regarding
station 12. Just wanted to pass along some info when
I hope you can pass this onto our city council
about the fantastic department. We are blessed with. They should
know what a blessing you folks are to the community.
I had issues with a myriadic acid leak around my
pool supplies. Your team came to my house last week
and helped neutralize it. But I still smelled something this
week. Lieutenant McCar and team were better than I could
ever imagine. They checked every inch of my house inside
and outside to find the source. They vented my entire
home and didn't leave me until the VOC dropped. They
explained a lot to me. You respected my home. Made
every effort to protect my pets and also take care
of me. When it was time to go. They even
made sure I got back in the house. Okay. I
am a disabled vet. They were so professional, kind and
patient I've never met an entire group of pros like
this. And I was in the, since I was in
the military. They worked so well with the public and
one another. God bless each and every one of you
to these fine firemen. So I want to thank the
resident for pointing out the professionalism in our fire department.
And I would like to respond to lieutenant McCarr and
his team from station 12 who took care of a
disabled vet to make sure that he was safe not
only once they, uh, isolated the issue, but then also
getting back into his home job well done high five
highlight. Please don't make me gavel. On the left. Do
it. I double jogged deer. You gabble gavel. Just that
Mr. City manager. That is it. Thank you, sir. Thank
you. We'll move on to item number 14 time and
place a future meetings. The regular meeting. No, he said
no. I didn't. Yep. That's what he said. Is it
still no report, Mr. City turning? Still no report. All
right. Great. I mean, I could, I could give you
one if you want. All right. All right. So can
I go on to 14 now? Okay. Thank you. So
now time and place a future meetings, regular meeting with
the Cape Coral City Council is scheduled for Wednesday. September
2nd, 2026 being at 4 p. m. in council chambers.
Is there a motion to adjourn? Yes. So move. Second.
All those in favor say aye. On the opposed. Meeting
adjourned.