>>> good morning, everyone
, thank you so much for being here today.
a little bit after 9:00,
9:06 a.m. , on
february 19th . Our council meeting
will begin.
roll call.
>>> everybody is here. Thank you
so much.
>>
I would like to have a moment
of silence for
reverend bill who served the city
for 20 years and
was a friend to everyone.
a moment of silence
for bill, his family.
>> heavenly father , we come before
you today and ask you be with each
of us in
all we do and always say. Help us
to be a blessing to others.
lord, god
, we thank you
for all you have done for us in the
past and all you will do
for us in the future. Father, bless
all the families represented here
today and bless
this city council and the decisions
they make
and made
those decisions be pleasing to you.
psalm 33:12 says blessed is
the nation
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
. 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 indivisible with liberty and justice for
all.
's period
could all of our veterans stand.
we thank you for your service. [ applause ]
do
we have any announcements?
>>> I would like
to thank the johnsons
for letting us use the space free
of charge. Very generous
of them.
[ indiscernible -low volume
] [ applause ]
>>
I wanted to announce , melissa
and I went
to tallahassee. It was extremely productive
. I cannot tell you how wonderful
it is to have them help out with the
changes,
special sessions ,
they made everything work.
they presented
the [ indiscernible -low volume ]
we have fully dollars and they would
support it. Amazing
, the president
is personally sponsoring this for us
, which is
a huge thing.
he said he would take it.
vanessa oliver will carry it to the floor.
it is a big deal
for us and I think that is pretty
cool we will have the governor
signed it and we will have that equipment.
[ applause ]
we will start off
with our proclamations. Excuse me,
our next meeting
is march 5th at the laishley community
room .
melissa, you said
you would put signs out?
>>
we will have signage.
signage versus city council meeting here.
--signage that says
city council meeting her.
>>
agenda approval ?
do we want to pull in the items?
from the meeting we had
yesterday morning , I believe we will
request to
pull parks and recreation , is
that okay ?
>> yes . >>
we will pull the status of
the ymca because we had a community member
in district 1 who wanted to meet with
them so we
wanted to pull that to give them time
to bring forward
a good presentation about the ymca.
is that okay?
third thing, move 911 dispatch to
the first topic of conversation for
regular agenda.
is that okay? Perfect,
thank you . Anything else I needed
? Now, we will
start with populations or presentations,
the first is st.
vincent de paul
day. Janis ?
>>
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
proclamation
today in punta gorda , whereas
the county continues and has been
affected by
the devastating effects of recent hurricanes
with many
of our neighbors finding themselves
in dire distress and need of assistance,
whereas,
the society of st. Vincent de paul
has a mission to assist those in need
by responding to
community and individual needs and programs
such as disaster relief services,
job training, placement
, thrift
stores, food pantry, housing programs,
and many others,
always seeking [ indiscernible -low
volume
] towards the flourishing of every person,
whereas, the local churches and
charities, including
the food pantries
--relieving
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
and participating in seasonal programs
for school supplies
and assistance . Whereas ,
each year , the four conferences of
st. Vincent de paul in charlotte county
will raise funds to increase awareness
of the less fortunate in our community
where every money raised benefits
the
neighbors in charlotte county. The
city council
of the city of punta gorda , florida
hereby proclaims
march 8, 2025 as st. Vincent de paul
day .
and encourages all city
--charlotte county residents to participate
in the 16th annual [
indiscernible -low volume ] or volunteer
with the society
to support its mission.
duly adopted this 19th
day of february, 2025, city of
punta gorda, florida . Is there anything
you
would like to say?
>> I would like
to
thank everyone, without us raising money,
we would not be able to help
thousands of people per year. With electricity.
even
mortgage payments. Thank you
, everybody.
[ applause ]
>>
photo opportunity.
>> there
you are.
>> thank you . [ applause ]
>> next presentation is black history month.
>> it is with great honor
that I am able to present this proclamation
this
morning to
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
[ applause ]
whereas , during black history month
, we honor the courage and tenacity
of the black
american need to overcome and expand
[ indiscernible
-muffled ]
the civil principle that
all people are created equal, whereas
, black history month affords a
special opportunity for
all americans to celebrate and reflect
on black heritage and to honor the
many black
leaders who are contributing to the
progress of
our nation in the face of great diversity. Whereas
, knowledge of this difficult past
can
strengthen the insight of all of our citizens
,
regarding the issues of human rights,
the great strides that have been made,
and the effort to eliminate
the barriers for a quality with minorities
and whereas
the city of punta gorda is proud to
honor
the history and achievements of its
black community
[ indiscernible
-muffled ] to
community organizations such
as community united
[ indiscernible ] naacp
who continue to
provide support and resources to help
our city
thrive. Therefore , the city
council of the city of punta gorda
, florida hereby
proclaim the month of february, 2025
, as black
history month,
duly adopted this 19th day of february, 2025.
[
applause ]
>> my lord and savior
, jesus christ, I want to acknowledge
you all for
even considering
--this is very special to us.
I want to acknowledge
the representatives. My father here,
my
wife year , we have sponsors as well
, pastor jermaine andrews
.
word and power kingdom centered in
port charlotte.
demetrius thomas ,
st. Mary's baptist church, our sponsors
,
we are an organization, nonprofit
that goes out
and tries to reach the needs of
the people by serving the food, hygiene products,
we minister
, we do it all.
trying to be the hands and feet of jesus.
we are looking to be here
to be with you all on the fifth
, the operator of the community
garden on virginia. We just thank
you for
this opportunity and we look forward
to doing greater things
in the city.
>> [ applause ]
>>
did you want anybody else in the photo
with you?
family and friends?
>>
come on down.
>>
[
applause ]
>> next ,
the 80th anniversary of the battle of
iwo jima.
>> I'm honored
[ indiscernible -low volume
] to receive this
proclamation whereas,
1945, the united states marine corps
with the navy
and army , fought the
most grueling battle on the battle
of
iwo jima .
over the course of 36
days, more than 70,000 american servicemembers explained
--displayed extranet courage
--
extraordinary courage
[ indiscernible -muffled
] resilience , unwavering spirit
, whereas
, [ indiscernible -low volume ]
to those
who fought in the battle of iwo jima .
[ indiscernible -
low volume ] the sacrifice of
those who bought at iwo jima , including
the thousands who gave their lives
must never
be forgotten. Help
to secure the freedom we enjoy
today and punta gorda recognizes
that gratitude 02
[ indiscernible -muffled
]
this battle to
be reaffirmed the commitment
and honor those who stood in defense
of liberty [ indiscernible -muffled
]
therefore, the city council of
punta gorda, florida proclaims
they were 19th, 2025 as the
80th anniversary
of the battle of iwo jima and encourages
all
citizens to reflect on the sacrifices
made by these brave servicemembers
and
honor their enduring legacy. The
newly adopted
on this 19th day of february
, 2025 .
>>
[ applause ]
>> thank you .
I am a
jr. Vice, not --
out of cape coral, florida.
we are the ones
that meeting the iwo jima monument
that you see in
veterans park.
this sunday,
deborah 23rd,
we will be doing --
february 23rd,
this is important,
the anniversary, the exact date
--[ indiscernible -muffled
]
I want to thank the city council
and yourself . So much.
[ indiscernible -muffled ]
appreciate it.
[ applause ]
>> all marines in
the audience
join us for a photograph.
>>
could we bring up all the veterans, please?
>> [ indiscernible -muffled
]
veterans, come on!
>> [ applause ]
>> last but
not least, a special proclamation
for
betty louise munford they.
-- day.
>> brenda
,, peter , thank you
--
I am honored to present this to
her daughter. Betty
louise munford
was born on march 16th, 1934
.
a pharmacist and a teacher
, who it
--[ indiscernible -
muffled ]
segregation
profoundly impacted her early years
as she was
buzzed past
white schools to attend black junior
and senior high schools. She excelled
academically, graduating from central
high school
and immediately enrolled at the university
of louisville
where she completed her masters degree
in three years before pursuing graduate
studies. Whereas, betty was dedicated
to
building relationships , eliminating
racial injustice
and
promoting minority entrepreneurship.
materials and
training for the young women's christian
association center of racial justice
,
the value of minority owned businesses
and the director
of the council and establishing the
minority purchasing program.
her dedication did not go unnoticed
as she received
numerous accolades including recognition
from president ronald reagan , george
h.w. Bush
, and bill clinton.
after relocating to charlotte county
in 2017
, betty remained committed to humanitarian
causes until her passing
with
habitat for humanity, the aclu,
and the national association for the
advancement of
colored people , and
the tuskegee airmen museum
and doctors without borders. Therefore,
the city council of
punta gorda, florida hereby proclaims
february 19th ,
2025 as betty louise munford
day and urges all
citizens to follow her example to
make the city
a more just place.
on the 19th day of february,
2025 , in the
city of punta gorda, florida.
>>
[ applause ]
>> I want to say a quick thank you.
her 90 years
she touched a lot of lives
and she strive every day to do what
is right and
help everybody appreciate and love
each other.
she was a wonderful woman. A
wonderful woman.
I appreciate this award very much.
>>
[ applause ]
>> what a wonderful morning of populations.
now we go to public input.
those who wish to introduce themselves
as nominees
--anyone wishing to address the council
on any matters, state the
name for the record, and afterwards
, we will do
the nominees . Each person will be
allowed to speak
up to a maximum of three minutes.
please, be respectful
.
>> hello,
my name is keith anderson.
I will speak about the
911 center consolidation.
as background, I practiced
emergency medicine and critical care
for
42 years and my specialty is ems systems
and I was one of
the first emergency physicians in
the united states
formally trained in emergency dispatch.
also, I was an
operational consultant to the united
states army
, second airborne
, special operations forces in ft.
bragg. Professor
at the jfk center at ft.
bragg for 10 years.
I
would like to thank you , I am her
to urge you to reject any plan that
allows the county sheriff to
take control of the 911 communications center.
it is a matter of public safety, accountability
, and
responsible governance.
the sheriff is an elected official,
not a neutral administrator.
if we hand over our cities 911 operation
to emergency response,
political office with no accountability
to this council
for our city's leadership. That is
a risk we cannot afford at any price
. 911 dispatchers serve the needs
of every resident and should not be
affected by political pressures, budget
decisions made outside the chamber
, policy set by a single elected
official. Instead, consolidating the sheriff
we should establish a structure that
ensures balanced oversight
, whether through an independent director
, a professional civilian administrator, or
a regional board with the proper checks
and balances.
when seconds count, we need a system
focused on efficient professionalism
and responsiveness. Centralizing control
could lead to delays , conflict
of interests , and reduced coordination
with
city emergency services . We must prioritizes
serving all first responders equally
and remaining
accountable to the public and not just
one elected official. We deserve a
911 that is independent accountable
to the
people it serves . I urge this council
to stand
firm against any proposal that gives
the sheriff control of our
emergency communications. Instead,
we should create a
system that ensures reliability , fairness
, and safety for all.
>>
[ applause ]
>> good morning.
I want to talk
about the 911 dispatch as well.
the city of punta gorda
is a small centralized place where
there is a lot
of historic buildings
, valuable buildings, but ,
historically valuable and culturally
valuable buildings.
our
911 system is serving as
--us very well, our
response time is better than the county
as a whole and I want to selfishly
say that we would not
have --we would not be in
our house right now if it were not
for
the city dispatch , the
911 center. We had a fire
when the
saltwater went to the electrical system and
we did not know
. We were sleeping at 6:00 in the morning.
a friend accidentally woke us in
an unrelated event and the house was
on fire. It was
a five to 10 minute window we would
have lost our house
. The ceiling had just caught fire.
when I was on
the phone to 911, I could
hear the sirens coming.
the fire and police were exemplary.
I cannot imagine a
better situation. People saying their houses
were
more destroyed by the water then by fire
that was not the case .
they respected our possessions. They
went above
and beyond. I would
like that situation to continue. I
am very grateful to
the police and fire and I'm very grateful to
our 911 dispatch system.
we could
not do that if we were controlled.
thank you
.
>> [ applause ]
>> good morning.
I live on
raven court in punta gorda and
have lived here year-round for 25 years.
I have seen the city grow and services
get better and better. I want to
thank all of you who have volunteered
your
time to be representatives of us
. Working
as a city council person is not an
easy job. And democracy is
hard work. It is also our job,
as public citizens, to let
you know what we need. I want you
to know
that we need to keep our 911 dispatch service.
our police and
fire departments could not provide
better service . They do
that because they can't respond so quickly.
if we did not control the
911 dispatch , they would not have
the time
to do what I personally have observed
,
calming people down when the
paramedics arrived, rather than just go
--for helping
a woman assess
whether she needs to go to the hospital
or they need to get her a cup of coffee
and listen to
her to make she --or she is
stable enough. If they did not have
the quick response
, they would not have the time to
do that.
they would just
have to go to the emergency room.
which means over the bridge
.
[ indiscernible -muffled ] please ensure
you keep our 911
dispatch service so that we can continue
to have a great police
and fire department. Thank you very
much.
>>
[
applause ]
>> my blood pressure is rising . I
have
been living in this town for
20 years and visiting since 1979
when my
family started investing in properties
in punta gorda . I helped
--
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
in 2013 , an incident occurred which
took me
years to understand why a drug user
terrorizing my life and
chasing me all over the county. Whenever
I went out,
I was terrified, I had
my car blodgett one night when I went
out by druggies.
I believe that was correlated
by a former councilman ,
charles wallace and I oppose anything
connected with the sheriff, I think
he is a criminal who belongs in prison,
detective wagner , they were
supposed to protect me, they did not
, I kept contacting them over and
over again . I was so scared to death
, people were
knocking on my windows. I had to go
around my home at night time to make
sure there
was nobody hanging around my house
trying to get --
so I could get into my home safely. Finally,
I get in touch with wagner who did
not respond to any of my correspondence
and was not available. She was
out sick. Pardon me. I have been
out sick . She left me not protected
for weeks.
I had a cell phone number and reamed him
about no protection. From day one,
when he sent out wagner to my home,
he did not seem to care about what
was
going on. I did not know why
I was being chased around by druggies,
why somebody
acted like they wanted to kill me.
I had
no idea what was going on
I center everything I could possibly
think of who may be mad at
me. Well , they did nothing and
the sheriff and wagner
belong in prison with several
other detectives
. I highly recommend you
do not connect with them in any way,
shape, form, and this is what
we pay so much. Probably almost half
of our revenues, tax revenues
, go to the police department because
we do not want to be affiliated with
corruption in the
sheriff's department.
>>
bill page.
I recently had the privilege
of attending the citizens academy
with the
police department. I would like
to commend them on what I saw
as creativity
and making do with what they had available
to them.
the use of the 64 volunteers
and services and values to
the citizens . Recently,
the city --
[ indiscernible -muffled ] I recommend we
look at doing more of this
activities with citizens involvement.
constantly hearing there is a shortage
of resources
for the city.
if you look through the town, you
have a tremendous
talent base. You have folks that have
many years of dealing directly with fema.
you have real estate people
that have developed code.
financial people , purchasing people.
and
for labor.
in
the planning for hurricanes . We have
people set
up on a temporary
--they come back in and help with
the cleanup.
one other thing I would like to
challenge is,
the studies, if we do not have professionals
that are doing their job and know
what the
problems are, why do we need a study
after having
known we have a water meter problem
in 2022
and we
want to now take the time to do a
study? That is ridiculous. If you
do not have
professionals doing the job and do
what the problem is and can address
it, we need to realign our resources.
thank you.
>> [
applause ]
>> good
morning, everybody
. I am a resident of punta gorda .
red tie
, all the way from tampa bay to key west.
and,
somebody made a comment this morning
on my video
. About
all the waters are connected.
I want to say,
I attended the pgi canal meeting
. Dr.
richard whitman personally handed
me
his presentation.
had a very productive meeting. What
I learned in this meeting,
we have
a serious disconnection
from our state legislator,
to the
county commissioner, to the city council,
and to
washington, d.c.
in 2018 , I coined
the phrase
florida water quality crisis . That
is because
, in that time , we have so many
dead sea life and in the
showing up on the east and west coast.
as I speak right now,
littered
with thousands of dead
sea life , not hundreds , thousands.
there is a group out there that is exposing
all the spraying of
the chemicals .
pastor scott wilson
is spearheading this.
dennis lee, who
lives on lake okeechobee
for years. These guys have
exposed all of the
chemicals being sprayed. I will request
that
our city stops spraying
any chemicals anymore on
his quails. Remember
the days when we had guys from the
jail working , send them back out.
the ones on the
behavior and will be released back
into society.
but, this, all these
chemicals , the
toxic pollution I have been talking about
,
the fertilizer, all
tied together.
it has been a long journey but we
will get there.
thank you,
everybody.
>> [ applause
]
>> good afternoon.
my name is mark
. I live on susie street.
the purpose
is to address city council
and the group overall as a whole.
I want to
talk about excellence in healthcare with
punta gorda and preface
this by saying I appreciate , respect,
all of the doctors that take care of
us.
it 926 , my parents moved
--in 1986 ,
my parents moved here. I have
seen the progression. You
look at
lee health, nch, hhs
hospital , I can go down the list
, hospitals we partnered with, this
is
not a self-serving [ indiscernible
-
low volume ] I am a consultant. I
have
20 years administrative expertise.
[ indiscernible
-low volume ]
that was one of my clients in certain locations.
a partial --
[ indiscernible -low volume ] what
does it mean? Right now , as you know
, the ambulance comes ,
they do a great job , the paramedics can
they only can take you to faucet
or the other shore point hospital.
not disparaging them. Recently, we
were
involved in the hhs
hospital.
[ indiscernible -low volume
] my
question is, what is the
city council [ indiscernible -low
volume
] . Who and what are on the committees?
what
is the engagement with adventist health?
what does asset mean
for punta gorda hospital ? What
is the plan and what is the
local support? Now is the time to
get that
committee together. Adventist health
is
a great company.
first-class healthcare.
very exciting they are going
to be in charlotte county. Right now,
if I have to have my
knee done , I am going to naples ,
if I
have a heart attack probably not going
to
go to the hospitals here, I am
not talking about the doctors , I
am talking about
the facilities. Topic for consideration,
some small way.
thank you for your time.
>>
[ applause ]
>> I will make
a brief comment. We
did meet with
shorepoint
recently and we
understand the crisis we have and
need to be proactive. We have been
talking
about putting together a healthcare
roundtable of
residents, physicians who want
to be involved in fostering this issue
so we
have quality healthcare within the city.
it is on
our radar. We will be reaching out
.
>> we would like to connect.
>> sir,
can you please make
your comments at the mic?
>>
the progression of healthcare
in united states has changed, especially
with what is happening, you
look at prevention , retention,
I can
go down the list.
we are not medical doctors
. We engage with them heavily.
from our standpoint,
they
have direct interaction with patients
and their families.
I think
that committee --anybody can
be there, but the people
doing right now
, for the best healthcare systems
in the
united states,
adventist health , what they bring,
but
, understanding the partial purchase means
, understanding [
indiscernible -muffled ]
. They need a certificate of occupancy,
a cnl, I
would like to be a part of that committee.
I will
stop there. Thank you so much.
>>
jeff
. A letter I sent to
the county commissioners about
steven's reprehensible behavior.
by deposition.
dear county commissioners,
general george s patton was removed
from his command on the third army
during
world war ii for slapping an enlisted
man.
the single incident made
it impossible for them to command
[ indiscernible -muffled ]
while not forced to resign,
[ indiscernible -muffled ]
you
are the de facto boss of the civil service
,
long after your term as commissioner
ends --[
indiscernible -muffled ]
pay raises and promotions.
I know that he has done
a great thing for veterans. That should
not be taken away
from him.
[ indiscernible -muffled
]
in this day
and age,
we must respect everybody's
diversity, equity, and inclusion.
make city workers uncomfortable in
the workplace.
thank you very much. If you could,
send a letter to
the commissioners. That would be greatly
appreciated.
thank you.
>> mike,
punta gorda .
approval of 120 --
storage facility
[ indiscernible -muffled ] prior
to that, the county
approved the 99,000 square foot keeps
swap facility north
of jones loop, and the scenic view
storage facility
containing 145,000 square feet.
these three projects will bring approximately
345,000 square feet of self storage space
into an already saturated market.
there is currently approximately 320,000
square feet of self storage space
in the
area which
equates to approximately 16 square
feet per
city resident.
the development of these two facilities
that are proposed will increase the
supply of
self storage in the city of punta
gorda by over 100%.
to 33
square feet per capita.
to build that into context, the city --
implemented a moratorium on self storage space
with the supply
of self storage development
at 10 square feet per resident. We
have
three times
, okay? We will have three times that
amount of
space. Okay? These two elements
-- okay? This
should require a
feasibility study to determine their impact
and what it will have on
the greater market and whether it
is feasible.
[ indiscernible -muffled ]
the repurposing of the structures
, if they are not successful,
is very [ indiscernible ]
. A project of this size
should have been a decision made by
the city council and not staff. Okay?
we are not the county
. We have a limited number of sites, especially
on that road.
this is one of the largest
[ indiscernible ] . Originally proposed
for a
car wash
, okay? Now, they will put a self
storage facility on
it. That would not have been allowed
without the special exception.
they did not have a right.
they had no investment expectations
of the self storage facility.
that was staff recommendation.
we need to think.
we have a limited number of parcels
left
on 41. Two of them right now
are proposed for a carwash
were proposed for a carwash, what
is next to the fire station.
[ indiscernible ] thank you
.
>> [
applause ]
>> good morning.
[ indiscernible -muffled
] you think I am here
to speak about pickleball courts,
but I am not. [ laughter ]
couple weeks ago, there was a watering
restriction
in punta gorda . I understand
drinking water is more important that
our lawns. Can you continue
to provide updates on your website
as to what
is being done to remove
that watering restriction at some point
? Also, be able
to accommodate all the new development
that is happening
in our town because
there is a great deal of development.
not only large developments,
but individual residential developments
, so , what are we
doing to ensure one
year, two , 10 years out ,
we have leaking water for ourselves
and
the ability to maintain our landscaping
and filling our pools?
if you can speak to what
is being done right now, I appreciate
it, or provide updates on
the website.
>>
[ applause ]
>>
my name is ed,
resident of punta gorda .
I was going to listen but I agree,
our drinking water is super
important, and
the water that comes from the river
is very important and
we have a serious about the filter system.
it
gets dark . The sediment we have in
our water systems is terrible . I
am embarrassed.
water
main breakage a couple weeks ago.
I believe they did not repair it
for hours. I could be wrong.
we have to take our water seriously.
the pressure
, the day before the break, was up
to 75 meters high
.
did we break it
, the city? Why was the pressure high?
maybe I
am crazy, but our drinking water is
lousy and it used to be better. Thank you.
>>
>> anybody else want to speak this
morning? Thank
you for your comments. Those wishing
to
introduce themselves for nominees
for a board committee may do so at
this time those who choose to speak
must take
their name for the record.
anyone?
I am sorry.
>> I
will try to keep the short . I
am running for the ultimate position
of the planning and zoning board.
that
is a position I currently hold.
I have some experience from up north
, as
city council persons, I do not envy
you
at all.
I was on the planning commission and
development commission.
I hope you consider
me.
I am a snowbird.
thank you.
>> thank you, sir.
anybody else?
public hearing agenda , there is
none.
orson it's --ordinance
and resolution, the next on the list is
consent agenda.
[
indiscernible -low volume ]
>>
second.
>> all those in favor? >> aye. >> opposed? >>
motion carries.
[ indiscernible -low volume ] our agenda,
we will start with
911 dispatch.
>>
chief
of punta gorda
postponement not sure if you want
me to start
up with some talking points I put together.
I want to start off
by saying we have a great partnership
with the fire department
and with the county. This
is about our 911 center. I am
talking about how good I believe our
911
center is. I cannot speak
from the fire chief, we believe
we are doing things great
and we're serving our citizens the
way
they want to be served. The
police were , we have a community
policing philosophy, at every level,
when you call our 911 dispatch,
you are getting community policing.
they will treat you as they were
treating one of their own family members.
to get a history of how this
came about,
ever
since I have been here, the sheriff
has mentioned
it would be nice to consolidate. I
feel like we do a
great job and I would like to --
[ indiscernible ] .
in 2023, the sheriff
wrote a letter to all the city council
members saying the city
commissioners, with reasons why he
felt we needed to
consolidate. One was because of the incident
february 24th , 2018 .
he believed we were
[ indiscernible ]
I feel very confident we are in
full compliance and I spoke to the
chairman of
the commission, he agrees that we
are
in compliance . One of the things
he said,
he wanted to go a step further, consolidate
our computer aided dispatch with
the sheriff's. Each agency
could see what is going on with the
other agency. The
sheriff --I will backup
, at the time the letter was written,
arguing all
the different things , including our
great response times that are faster
than the response times with the sheriff
and fire
and county,
they have talented dispatchers and
we have
talented dispatchers, just the way
we control our
dispatch center where we can change
things up to make sure we are responding faster
,
particularly our fire department out.
one of
the concerns we brought up, we trace
our ems calls, to
the county.
however, each
engine at each of
our stations is equipped with advanced
life support and they have a paramedic
on it.
we are still sending
each call , each
medical call our fire department goes
out
and therefore, you are getting a paramedic
to your call.
which means there is no issue with
that life
, we do
not have a paramedic,
the ms will, do the transfer after that.
--ems will do the transfer
after the.
they are going at the same time we
are
going anyways.
so, couple
of pros , I do not know
if you want to speak.
>>
fire chief. So, with that,
with our dispatch times
, we have worked really hard .
by getting minimal
information, police , fire , ems,
before that,
they will grab the address.
yes,
they may have to repeat the address
to the ems dispatcher,
we are not ems , we
really are, we are just not the
ambulance service and transport. Emts
and paramedics
, sometimes multiple on the
scene apparatus. We will provide the
same level of
care for those initial moments.
it is important we get out
there quickly. We
are almost twice as fast as accounting
and getting
out ems people out the door.
I am not sure if
they mimic the same thing
if we partnered with the county.
but they asked a lot more questions
before they dispatch units.
>>
the sheriff cited
officer safety , resident safety,
one central location,
if they know what is going on throughout
the entire county.
we do monitor their officers with
scanner channels.
[ indiscernible ] there
are two centers.
when you are talking about
things --if an alert goes off, a panic
alert at school, he goes to
their center so the county is aware.
some of
the things expressed
as concerns , I am telling you,
I am not concerned about. If you
start to say that we should always
be connected
to people on our boards,
[ indiscernible ]
. You go down the rabbit hole.
we are confident our dispatchers know
our citizens , no our frequent callers
, no our landmarks
.
[ indiscernible ]
I will bring up one more point,
hurricane lee --
hurricane helene , flooding
, to get into
pgi
and it flooded
--
we have calls
stacked up. When you normally --
[ indiscernible ]
we were able
to go after
[ indiscernible ]
. Group those calls [ indiscernible
] .
take all these calls from the historic district.
at [
indiscernible -background noise ] .
the bridges are closed, how would
we go
over there?
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
we go through staffing crisis sometimes
just like any other
dispatch center.
right now, this has
caused a lot of anxiety for our employees.
so, we are dealing with
that right now. Any questions?
>>
melissa lockhart for the record.
[ indiscernible -background noise
] the only
con is staffing, any department
anywhere. For
transparency , I had
a conversation with the sheriff and said,
I cannot
support this because of these concerns.
at the end of the day,
the commissioners and the councilmembers
, we are not the experts. We do not
know the ins and outs
of how the
systems work, until you can tell
me how
you and our chiefs will sit down at
a roundtable and discuss all
of our concerns, I cannot support
doing this, it will not be conducive
for
our residents. I did not
get a feeling the sheriff was going
to
be willing to have this roundtable
and that concerns
me as well. What also concerns me,
they
were asking --
city council at the time, the chief said
,
we will stick with what we have. Fast-forward
to december,
the sheriff goes to
the commissioners and has a very compelling story,
if I heard it
, I would say, this sounds great.
I do not support this.
I support keeping it local. Everything
you said , redundancy , almost twice
as fast as far as our calls , grouping
those calls in certain situations.
>> you talk about redundancy ,
hurricane ian ,
calls coming in
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
the fact we
have redundancy in the system,
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
>>
you discussed this before.
you do the extra stuff, too.
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
changing our batteries in our
fire alarms.
we are very spoiled in that respect.
>>
we tailor
our departments to the needs of our citizens.
>>
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
>>
what he said this morning --
[ indiscernible -muffled ] you know
our landmarks.
we are an older population. Is there
going to be different if we have an
entire county
?
thank you so much for all you do.
>> we had a
similar conversation. I do not see
the need to fix something that is
not broken.
>> melissa lockhart . There
is my concern . Time is of the essence
because we are hearing from dispatch.
it is interrupting our daily services
now. There is
this looming , can it happen, is it
going to happen?
to put our chiefs at ease
and dispatchers at ease
, to go on with business as usual,
with the continuing
of the hiring process,
I personally would like to see
that we have a consensus , whatever
we need
to do, to take a stand , if that is
what we would like to do, to say,
no, we will
keep it. And
confirm it.
>>
janis denton.
do we have the authority to keep the
dispatch service?
we want to keep our personalized service.
the
only advantage I can see it saving
$1.2 million.
our citizens want to cut costs.
I am
in agreement .
>>
david levin , city attorney.
the regulation, cited
support of consolidation,
I am 100% satisfied we have the
authority to adopt our own
911 system. We may not
be able to get money from
the county , not by legal means,
compel that
by willing to fund it ourselves, we
have the authority.
>> janis denton.
do we have to continue to pay the sheriff
when we are double playing,
in a sense ?
>> well
, yes, the sheriff is funded
through that statutory mechanism.
nothing in the statute
--handing me the
actual citation.
this was my 3:00 a.m. Legal opinion.
there is nothing in section
356 .172 that said the county
should be paying
dispatch.
nothing in the statute
which indicates an intent by the
florida legislature
[ indiscernible -low volume ].
the county has responsibilities
regarding 911.
under the florida constitution , case law
, in the absence
of an espresso prohibition
--
[ indiscernible -low volume ].
>> do you want a decision today?
I make a motion we keep our
911 dispatch center .
>>
second .
>>
all in favor?
>>
aye.
>>
anybody opposed ?
>> motion
carries.
>> [ applause ]
>> the next
is [ indiscernible -muffled
] .
>>
6.a.
>> thank you.
rules of procedure
draft, rules one through ten.
>> should
we take a quick 10 minute break ?
thank you
very much.
[ indiscernible -muffled ]
I am
hoping we can look at the first 10.
rule one --
do you want
me to read each of these or do you
want to make comments?
>>
make comments.
>> any comments on
rule one?
we will
leave that one. Any comments on rule two?
rule three, regarding
regular city council meetings. Any comments?
>> hang on.
I do not think everybody
has the rules in front of them.
anybody for rule three?
>> rule two? >> we just talked about it.
>> is everybody good with
rule two?
>> I am good. >> yes. >>
rule three.
regarding city
council meetings.
a question whether council could have
evening meetings.
is everyone
in favor of that change?
>>
yes.
still in rule three,
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
. How
does the council feel
about that ?
>>
could you read that one more time?
>>
[ indiscernible -low volume
] adjustments to meetings
, locations or
time.
>>
we do not always see the email.
we do see texts more often
.
>>
melissa lockhart.
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
>> you need to forward the text messages
so we
can archive that.
>> city attorney ,
concerned
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
procedural items ,
I would like to double check that
.
>>
we will come back to that one.
03 .4
--rule 3.4 --
[ indiscernible -low volume
]
's
>> [ indiscernible -background
noise
]
[ indiscernible -low volume
]
>> we suggested
the agenda be posted
the afternoon following the city council meeting.
you have two agendas out there
at the same time.
>> is council okay
with making the changes as discussed
yesterday?
>> yes.
>>
when it comes to
staff, I know that we will try to not
have the
minister to the agenda , posting so
far out,
I am okay
with that.
as long as it does not go up to
the deadline. From his top perspective,
they should have some leeway .
>> I do
want to suggest for the agenda process
, we would not
add new topics [ indiscernible
-low volume ]
[ indiscernible -background
noise ]
we want to
make sure staff has all documentation
and not be
having items
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
>> melissa.
whatever
is added to the agenda , sometimes
something
needs to be added , I am
okay with that. Sometimes
, staff says , new information has
come out. Not
getting all the information we need,
adding
to something already on the agenda.
does that make sense?
>>
we would like to hear your feedback.
if
we change
, is that in the
best interest in the community
? They do not have all the information.
if we make a change on sunday
evening, if there is an issue with
the documents that have been posted,
half staff
suggest amended information
[ indiscernible -low volume ].
>> melissa.
the other things,
not having all the information
--
[ indiscernible -low
volume ] that document was
too big, we do not have time,
we need to
table it.
>> which is great,
three-month out schedule which gives
staff
enough time to be prepared.
some things will happen.
it is
too much.
>>
recommendation
made must [ indiscernible -low volume
]
>> 's
--so
the public knows in advance.
>>
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
but at least
you would have that there.
[ indiscernible -low volume
] that is a
really good idea.
>> melissa,
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
>>
we like to get direction
on this , these are the reasons why
we like it, these
are the cons.
I think that helps educate us as
well.
>> isn't
that what we do at council meetings?
>>
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
>> melissa .
[ indiscernible -low
volume ]
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
quote will be
looking for his direction on
--what we will be looking for his
direction on
a, b, and c. Giving staff more work to
do.
>>
I think they do a good job of being
pretty objective.
we listen
and may say yes or no.
maybe it is case by case.
>>
4.1.1.,
the last sentence.
>> still on three.
[ laughter ]
>> melissa.
can I
suggest, set in motion or direction
,
consensus on how we feel about pros
or cons?
in certain cases, when it comes to
different things they're talking about
[ indiscernible -low
volume ] . Showing the public what
direction you ask for council [ indiscernible
-
low volume ] .
>> [ indiscernible -background
noise ]
>> a
consensus --[ indiscernible
-background noise ]
>> [ indiscernible -background noise
] that
is completely up to you.
subject to change
.
city council has either approved,
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
>>
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
it
could still be held as an emergency
meeting.
>>
yes.
>> yes. >>
for 3.7,
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
>> rule 4,
special city council meetings,
rule 4.1.1, 4.1.2, if
you have questions or comments?
sorry, mr.
levin?
>>
4.1.1.,
the last sentence special
meetings may be held 24 hours
[ indiscernible -background noise
] .
>> rule number five
considering emergency council meetings.
[ indiscernible -background
noise ]
>> [ indiscernible -background
noise ]
>>
deborah lux for the record.
5.1
falls into emergency meeting
[ indiscernible -background noise
].
>> you put
special needs, nonemergency ?
>>
I will make that change.
>>
emergency meetings , not special meetings.
>> I can do that. A
suggestion for
4.2?
how does council feel about that?
>>
melissa.
4.2 for special meetings?
>> yes. >>
[ indiscernible -background noise
] .
>>
4.3,
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
>> rule 5,
emergency city
council meetings. Any questions?
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
>>
debbie lux, on your powerpoint,
you did include
the rules .
5.4.1, not listed.
it is
okay.
>> next page,
it was so long.
>> thank you.
>>
did you have a question
, councilmember julian ?
>>
no.
>> any questions? 5.4, a suggestion
,
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
.
rule 6,
comments or questions?
moving on to
rule seven, comments or
questions?
rule 8, presiding
officer,
comments or questions?
do you need a moment to catch
up?
>> no. >> rule nine. >>
tonight backup
, this is mayor julian?
--
can I backup,
this is mayor julian?
[ indiscernible -muffled
]
>> it
would be the board members .
>> any comments or questions about
rule nine? Rule 10
is very similar.
comments or questions?
I will make
the changes from today. [ indiscernible
-low volume ]
>>
I like 10
, not to lose the audience's
attention.
ten is perfect for me.
>> agree. >> that
works.
>>
all right,
thank you.
>>
I will bring 10 back at the march
meeting.
>>
taking out things --
>> yes.
thank
you.
>>
next
,
carollo engineers
to
develop the 2025 hydro biological
monitoring report for
shell creek reservoir.
>> city council , master agreement
, hearing services
[ indiscernible -
low volume ]
the rights for a negotiating future
, staff requested a proposal
based on the negotiated hourly rates
of
the engineers to provide services
to develop and
provide the 2025 hydro biological
monitoring
report to provide information
to ensure that the physical
, environmental ,
biological communities of the shell creek
and
river system continue to not be
significantly
impacted
from water withdrawals
with the total cost is
$74,640 --
the time
to complete it is six months
. Staff is
recommending approval.
>>
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
>> any questions?
>> I moved to
--
I move to approve.
>> second. >> all in favor? >> aye. >>
any opposed?
motion carries. Thank you. Next on the
agenda is urban
qualification and interlocal agreement.
>> good morning .
human services director for charlotte county,
sara welch.
good morning
. I wanted to take the opportunity
to
talk a little bit about the
qualification process and
community development block grant.
it is an acronym,
cdbg,
want to make sure we're all on the
same
page while we are discussing.
you indicated
your desire [ indiscernible -background
noise ]
we are very excited about,
once we entered into the agreement,
he advised that
he would align the contract with her
fiscal year. What that means,
[
indiscernible -background noise ]
we have the interlocal agreement with
you as well. A good
opportunity to review
the need .
what is urban qualification? A process,
a process that means that the
federal government , within had ,
housing
and urban development, we as a
community have reached a population growth,
200,000 , as a community
. They're recognizing
, a bigger community
, bigger community issues,
the capacity to handle our own
direct funding obligation .
as a part of that,
the population threshold, there is
the consolidated plan.
also
an action plan, and hud
has to agree that we
have said, we know about ourselves
and this
is what we do with funding.
so,
here is why all this matters. Once
hud
has agreed we are entitled
, we would be
--they are saying,
you are big enough , you can
handle that funding we could give you.
the way that starts is with the
cdbg , community development
block grant , that stream of funding
means it could
be used for infrastructure, economic development
, individual assistance , but targeted
to low and moderate income residents. But,
the doors open
to other funding from hud .
intentionally,
affordable housing with us, we
look at the program to very
specific tools, money
we would get directly from hud , a tool
in
our toolkit. There is some
urgency solutions,
[ indiscernible -low volume ] .
I want to draw your attention to the
second one, community health and block
grant disaster program.
what that means,
if we
did not get that, we are not entitled.
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
a direct application of cdbg and arpa .
$200 after hurricane
--$200 million
after hurricane
ian. We received
support from the state,
and that runs through
florida commerce and they decide how
many dollars will be spent.
I don't know about you ,
but I like to have more control.
the community development
block grant ,
our allocation from hud , we
would receive a little over $1 million annually
for this process.
$1,047,000.
based
on population, they look at
all the information we provide them
and they have a
detailed formula that they use. That
funding is
a great opportunity for
us to make the necessary programs
for
our citizens.
that is what I wanted to say.
an excellent opportunity
for us to have a say
in how we decide our community uses
its resources.
the interlocal agreement you all have
is
a requirement,
[ indiscernible -background noise
] .
bless you. It
ensures it is equitable, fair for
everybody . It is a
three-year contract and we take on
the administrative duty.
we want this to be a collaborative effort.
the consolidated plan,
[ indiscernible -background
noise ]
you
can see the housing [ indiscernible
-background noise
] .
what are our needs specifically?
we want to
look at the housing market.
how does that affect
our inventory? Specifically
, a strategic plan.
how will we use these funds?
community involvement is a
huge piece.
a ton of
citizen engagement.
obviously,
they are monitoring ,
anytime you do with the federal government
, they will monitor your performance.
the first allocation of
funding from the cdbg
is $1 million.
it needs to benefit low and moderate
income residents.
the citizens of the community come
together and say, this needs to be used
[ indiscernible -background noise
] .
it can be used
for housing. Assistance.
it has to
be for targeted residents.
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
the projected timeline , again,
relatively set .
we want to
get to a point
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
it does take a tremendous amount of effort
.
essentially , what we are looking
for today, a better
preside or to participate
--[ indiscernible -background noise
]
we want to be able to
work together.
any questions?
>> I have some questions.
I know the sales tax
is dispersed based on population,
is this how this money?
>> yes. Different formulas
, go
back to
--hud gives this money
--cdbg
,
that will be awarded after a federally
declared disaster.
in terms of the block grant,
based on population thresholds,
each of these programs have specific
things they
look at. When we create them
, we have present the housing
[ indiscernible -background noise
] . They get to choose
that information
and work
based on how much affordable housing
we have.
they will look at the percentage.
we look at the community, the housing.
all very specific formulas.
population is a huge part of it.
we will not get all of this.
different aspects as we move through.
>> if the county receives
the money , how are you dispersing
it
in the city?
>> not dispersed to the city,
just like we do other interlocal agreements.
our state housing initiatives,
[ indiscernible -background noise
].
I think I put
it on one of these slides. We have
to make the decision collaboratively.
we cannot
--
[ indiscernible -background noise
] .
>> melissa for the record.
for people watching ,
this is an opportunity
[ indiscernible -muffled ]
some are concerned,
we obligate ourselves , matching,
this is for us to participate
.
>> thank you .
>> [ indiscernible -
low volume ]
>>
congress decides
how to allocate those funds.
following a disaster . Hud has a
specific form that used.
--hud has a specific formula
they
use.
that is
great information
for hud to report to the rest of
the federal government .
>> not just
city repairs?
>> I can be.
designed --
it does keep the requirements
and has to
go to low and moderate income residents.
it can
be infrastructure. There are communities
where this
is not specific to disaster recovery.
there are communities
where the cdbg allocation
to build [ indiscernible -low
volume ] .
there are all kinds of interesting
things you could use the money for.
disaster recovery --
it is similar in
terms of infrastructure for residents.
>> melissa
--
[ indiscernible -
muffled ].
>>
debbie lux. Let's make the assumption
we all reach this, can we go back
and ask for funding for hurricane
ian?
>> no. It is a
done deal
, the funding has already been awarded.
we are working to ask for some of
that money,
at the state level, that is where
our
work is, the state to carve out some
funding
to our residents.
>> greg julian,
we participate in
the program .
>> I think that was the question.
>> I presume
that is the approval of
the interlocal agreement. That is
what you are referring to. Two
paragraphs I want to
make sure the city council understood.
paragraph 4
, the city
understands --
can you explain what rights
they have if they enter into this
agreement?
>> certainly,
asking for
state of florida cdbg program
, the city
[ indiscernible -low volume
] in the past,
we did not have the value
of what we were putting out to the
community, that funding
was
[ indiscernible -low volume ] .
we are not seeking allocations of
other cdbg funding at this time.
>> paragraph 12,
a statement
of certain policies that they have adopted
, advised the
city council
if that had been adopted by the
city?
>>
if you have questions
, it should be brought to the city council
.
>>
I do not have answers.
use of excessive force.
physically barring entrance.
appreciate if you would advise whether
or not
we have policies.
>> I withdrawal
my motion.
>> do we have a
second?
>> second.
>> [
indiscernible -low volume ]
>> I would not be
in position to give you that advice .
>> we will wait until we hear from
the city
manager.
>> you have a sense of when this would
come back?
>>
we
do have to bring it back again.
[ indiscernible
-low volume ]
>> melissa for the record.
would it be appropriate
to approve pending
, concerns the
attorney has?
>> there would be no surprise.
the action taken at
today's meeting was to have his
at the neck city council meeting
[ indiscernible -low volume
]
.
it sounds something to
me like something the city council
would want
to adopt as soon as possible.
>> greg julian.
how would a delight impact
this process ?
>> we would need to
reach out to hud . We can find out.
>>
I need
to check with the police chief
, excessive force ,
that means --
thank you. [
laughter ]
>>
police department
does have a policy
on excessive force.
>> thank
you very much .
>> you are welcome.
>>
the municipality
adopted a policy
physically barring entrance to
--[ indiscernible -
low volume ] ? I want to
make sure the city assigns something
on behalf of the city that is aware
of what is assigning
and not certifying something that
may not necessarily be true.
very helpful regarding
excessive force. The
policy regarding physically barring
entrance to. I am not sure where that
comes from.
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
>> melissa for
the record.
[ indiscernible -background noise
] put this on
the next agenda.
>> [
indiscernible -background noise ]
>> that
we adopt this today. If we do
not act ,
the barring of interest to
[
indiscernible -low volume ] .
go ahead without direction
to staff.
>> greg julian.
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
>> does
not necessarily need to be a part
of a motion.
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
>>
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
>>
those in favor?
>> aye.
>> any
opposed? Motion carries. Thank you
very much.
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
city of punta gorda council is seeking
the services of a city attorney, either
individual or firm , to serve the
legal needs of the city.
>> [ indiscernible
-background noise ]
>> [ indiscernible -muffled ]
>> I was wondering about that. It
is that
much better?
[ indiscernible -muffled
]
>> [ indiscernible -background noise
]
>> is
eric here?
>> [ indiscernible -background noise
]
>> instead
rather a contrite person firm.
--rather a contract person
a firm.
>>
melissa . I will start.
we were originally talked about
the information , whether in-house
or contract. It seems like this
is more --
I want to make sure this is for in-house
or contract.
>> that would not be an issue.
we can change
the wording.
>>
I will go down the line.
another concern I had,
it says, in these
seven years, okay
--if we are soliciting for
another attorney,
years experience,
I would like to put that
at least 10 but no lower
than seven. I want to make sure that
there is a salary requirement added.
if we're talking about seeing cost
, apples to apples.
I think we need to only look at
a firm
as opposed to individuals, we have
an attorney with
a firm and we have these attorneys
, whatever he needs it.
we can solicit other opinions. Finally,
areas of practice for that firm.
obviously,
what I would like to see,
apples to apples,
we have an attorney with governmental experience.
instead of
an attorney without experience working
with the government at all.
>>
jeannine polk for
the record . Think of a large firm
with a lot of trees with a lot
of clients.
those clients could hold special interest.
that firm ,
could have special interest
because of clients
. Do you understand what I'm trying
to say? It happens all the time. I
would
prefer us not to say someone from
a large firm.
>>
janis ?
>>
we do not have to specify.
>> I disagree with
10 years.
we have some intelligent people who
exceed
far beyond someone with 10 years experience.
just because
somebody has been something
for a long time, does not be
there any better than somebody else.
I do not think
years of service should be activated.
we could encounter somebody
who may be a very good attorney.
>> melissa for
the record.
I understand that.
I am not saying put in there, large
firm.
it is perfectly okay.
we should find out
if they are with a firm or
an individual. Mr. Levin is needed
opinions and went to his firm
.
I understand
where you're coming from.
are we okay with putting firm or individual?
or just specify where you're coming
from?
>>
yes .
>>
I did send this
to melissa and jeff,
they were very detailed,
in these requests. The
more detailed it is,
we should
follow what mr. Levin's contract
has been , very generalized. I
have not outlined what has been in his
but it allows us more saying,
we are looking at this, too.
we need to have a more generalized.
I
can give it to melissa to send to
everybody to take a
look at. Keeping us as a requirement
,
so we are not shooting
ourselves in the foot
and not
allowing a good person to apply.
>>
melissa for
the record. We are asking for
attorneys who may want to come on
board. They do need to have
--we are looking for the best of the
best. They need to meet
this criteria. If we decide to
enter in to the contract, the negotiations
that will proceed
which sets what we will do
. I do not want
to generalize anything. You know where
I sit. Our attorney has been here
20
years as an attorney. Very
cost-effective service
. I do not want to
generalize anything
to work we will save money
.
>>
I think we open the door to have
more people applying if we
have a broader request.
>>
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
this would be an rfp
[ indiscernible -
background noise ]
for either a firm or individual
as an independent contractor with
the city. If you are looking for staff
,
how we have
our existing contract
,
it does itemize
tasks,
language that says,
these are the tasks that are required
, not limited to
those tasks and additional tasks
would be at the
discretion of the city manager.
your proposal,
the same as
hourly rate.
different structure of contract.
need to know that as well.
>> melissa. May I ask,
are we looking,
the conversation I thought I heard,
we want to see anybody who will apply
from in-house or apply
for contract ? What is
the consensus with what we
want to be asking?
>> independent contractor
would be a solo practitioner,
w
>>
only looking for people that are going
to be listed
as a contract attorney?
are you also wanting
to have people applying that will
be in-house?
I think we agreed on that last
time
>> that is what
I was saying, only for contracts.
>> I want
to make sure that is clear. Looking
at this, the
only attorneys, I would have to decide
will I apply for a contract position
or in-house,
which will have different clarifications
of salary
requirements, et cetera. Does that
make
sense?
>> greg julian,
not interested in an in-house attorney.
>> I agree.
>> can you
state reasons ?
>>?
more expensive to have an in-house attorney.
more cost-effective to use a
firm with rates,
experience , and tap into
other members of the firm.
>> debbie lux.
what we had with an in-house attorney,
anymore outside
legal advice? Do you recall?
>> we have never
had an in-house attorney .
>> forever,
an attorney
, an outside attorney with the law
firm.
>>
we do not know if it
would be more cost effective?
>> we
did some research
and look at
surrounding melissa polities. --
we looked at
surrounding municipalities.
they had junior attorneys,
multiple paralegals.
[ indiscernible -
low volume ]
some said they would contract
for a city attorney, bring in lower
paying attorneys
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
>> melissa
for the record.
you have medical,
I think our first task is to have
a
consensus in our direction, in-house
or contract only .
>> it doesn't hurt .
>>
jeannine polk for the record.
if we just put out
the message we're looking for an in-house
or contracted attorney?
>>
we can put it on websites
where we advertise.
no
additional cost.
>> then why not?
>> [ indiscernible -low volume ]
>>
something we would have to discuss.
>> you
do not do this outside the
city council meeting.
there is no possibility for a shade meeting.
I am not sure
how we
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
whether they would save money by having
an in-house attorney.
I was
confident based on my expense
[
indiscernible -low volume ] you will
not find the expertise
hiring in-house
,
[ indiscernible -low volume
]
staff was erected about the proposal
for in-house and outside contract attorney.
our
agenda for today only as for
outside contract attorney.
I am not sure
who made the decision to exclude
your proposal from the agenda. Understand,
I have been doing this
, understand the politics of working here.
I do not think there is any , necessarily,
deficiency
that my firm and myself has given
to the city for the last
20 years.
I have gotten along well with every
single councilmember in
that time. With
the exception of difficulties
we have with respect to
the understanding
[ indiscernible -low volume
] that will happen from time to time.
I would like to limit it to read the policy
.
my job is to make sure the city
makes decisions that are
legally correct.
the suggestion that the mayor
has made today,
that ,
we can have an attorney learn on the job,
the city and
residents deserve legal representation
that
is quite experienced and not make mistakes
. I recognize
the fact,
based on the circumstances we've
come this far, the city is not going
to be
renewing my contract.
the city has a right to
terminate me
before the end of my contract.
I want to city council
to understand, you need someone with experience
that will protect the city
, not someone who
will count out to what the mayor wants.
--
not someone who will
kowtow
to what the mayor wants. They can
apply in-house or contract
.
as
far as the cost and the salary, when
they
are applying, I am looking for
x salary.
>> yes,
during the applicant process
, always part of the application,
for these outside folks,
[ indiscernible
-low volume ]
>> everybody okay with that
?
>> I was
trying to be respectful
that I do
not disqualify
[ indiscernible -low volume ] mr.
levin,
I am trying to be
respectful, you have said otherwise
, I take offense
to that.
I looked at
ziprecruiter.com,
I don't know if anyone has looked
at what fees
would be acceptable or
not acceptable . Has anybody done research?
>> just last night, I
went on
indeed.com, quite a few local
cities local for
city attorneys.
anywhere
from $150,000 to $200,000.
>> in-house ? >> it says
city attorney.
>> [ indiscernible -low volume
]
>>
remind city council , the first meeting
of the city council,
the finance director
was asked, how much are we
paying for the law firm ?
the answer was
, less than $150,000.
if you find somebody who's cheap,
experienced, you can find somebody.
--
you can find somebody who is
cheap, inexperienced, you can find somebody
.
>> I had city attorneys reach out
to me
, sometimes people
can ask
for less money and be just as qualified
and just
as good. Let's keep
this kind and stick
to the fact, please.
>>
melissa for the record . We are in
a different situation.
we do not have an attorney that is
leaving, we don't have an
attorney that only
has five or six years of expense.
we have an attorney
with four years of expense, 20 years
with the city ,
a land-use attorney. He already has
--it is a disservice that we
are talking about
getting somebody with less than seven
years experience. We need to
make sure --the city attorney
is one of the most important positions
because his job is to
bring us in and make sure we are not
doing things to get our city sued.
who always agrees with an
attorney? Sorry. That is the name
of the
game his job is to make sure that
the city
gets his opinion, whether you
like it or not, up to us on whether
we will
take it,
and I do not know why we will set
the bar
back, we have a pretty good bar set
for our city
and we will continue to have. I do
not
know what we would go
with somebody less than seven years,
10 years,
has to be willing to work with us
and has
20 years with the city, four years of
--when he does his hourly, it
is including,
am I correct that if
--he spent seven hours,
seven hours with him, seven hours
with his
other attorney that fee has
to apply. He understands that . Instead
of having seven hours with mr. Levin,
and built for another attorney,
that is very important for
me personally, for transparency.
>> we discussed all
of this. We
all decided that we
were going to look at another direction.
we
are hashing something else out. Time
for us
to go ahead and make a motion
for them , our city staff, to
go ahead --
I approve 16.
make a motion to approve 16 .
>>
I second.
>> what is the time?
the timeline for people to respond
? 30 days ? How do we
do that?
>> 14 days to 21 days.
the
evaluation committee ,
review those proposals,
make sure it meets
the requirements. Rfp . Send out
the references.
gather all that information
to review the proposal.
there is
a process .
council to
review the evaluation of
the proposals. For council
to review those proposals,
to approve the firm, for procurement,
representatives
from the community --
the other play is to
have the evaluation , review
, proposal , shortlist,
have someone going to the negotiations
with the representative from the
evaluation committee
and bring the proposal to city council
to approve.
>> because it will
be us hiring and firing,
council should have one direction
to what we're looking for. If you
are putting
inexperienced,
mandatory
[ indiscernible -low volume ] .
it feels good
, but do not make it mandatory.
maybe
somebody without seven years but has
worked in a law firm. Something.
make it so narrow
.
>>
I disagree. It needs to be
seven years.
>> any
consensus on seven years?
>>
jeannine polk. Let's let
this be hashed out,
anything offered --
[ indiscernible -low volume ] .
>> the function will be
to evaluate the responses based on
the scope --
what we have identified
. That
information would have to be clarified.
>> [ indiscernible -low volume ]
>> the composition of the committees are,
our policy , numbers
of staff --members of staff,
identified
by the [ indiscernible
-low volume ].
>> is
it possible to have some citizens
with expertise
in this area on the committee?
>>
our policy dictates
--no.
>> you will
ask staff, but this
is contract. We are
missing that fact.
council should be looking at these
applications
. [ indiscernible -low volume
]
so we can narrow it down.
we will look
for somebody who will work well with us.
try
to compromise ,
that will
open it up for more people to apply.
seven years is way
too much.
>> set the bar low. >>
I do not agree
. Do not agree it is a staff policy.
we have our protocol
on here.
let staff read it.
to have this a smooth process,
I would like
to ask another question. We
have a
motion. I will not ask now.
>>
if you prefer to have
a firm ,
to come in and make a
presentation,
we can do that as well.
>>
where are we in the motion?
>>
a motion to approve
16 and let city staff
put out
a firm or individual for city attorney.
>>
second.
>> yes.
recommend instead of mandatory for
seven years.
>> that right? >>
I do not to get matters,
six, seven .
let's
interview people before we fight over this.
>> so,
you want to let
anybody apply
?
>> I would set
a standard.
>>
look at other municipalities and see
their protocol.
>> debbie lux, when
I asked you this morning,
look at a broader
picture,
[ indiscernible -low volume ] ?
>> you cannot say somebody with years
of service is the best.
>> we
have a consensus for seven or not?
>> I am good with seven years , jeannine polk
, for the record.
>>
minimum would be the word.
a minimum of seven.
>>
this is greg julian. I do not
disagree with the recommended
language ,
so there is flexibility.
>> I think recommended
is fine.
recommend
seven years.
>> second.
>> do we vote on the
motion?
>>
with recommended seven years, a motion
?
>>
second.
>> all in favor? >>
aye.
>> any opposed?
the motion
carries.
>> will mr. Levin be a candidate?
are we looking at this
as a look and see
what comes or not renew
the contract of mr. Levin?
>>
he can apply like everyone else and
we evaluate the candidates.
>> that
is
a correct.
>> I agree.
>> yes.
>>
okay. Next
is the
city of
punta gorda is soliciting proposals
from qualified executive search firms to
conduct research to the executive
position of
city manager.
the process for the city attorney search
, I looked at other disparities,
through this process,
looked at what
their rfps looked like. Rather than
the end
result from
an attorney you will have a search
firm
specializing in these searches. This document
directs them
to how to go about this search.
spirit melissa for
the record,
I feel like, the
day and age of the internet and city
managers or
city attorneys,
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
I am not sure we need to spend money
for a company to do that.
this is my proposal, it's
--instead of spending money , can
we post it to see who we get? If we
do not get a lot of candidates, we
can spend the money.
>> I think that
is a reasonable suggestion.
there is a search firm
that reached out to us.
I have his name here.
$2000 for
the search, the guarantee , if
you are not happy with the person
after
one year, they will find another
person and work with the
chosen city manager to work with the staff.
rather than saying ,
this is not working , they will
work through the situations. A hiring firm
that helps people learn to work together.
we want to get it
all right as much as possible.
I can send
council this proposal.
are we allowed to set up one
with medications?
>> one-way communications
are permissible.
>>
I could send it to all
of you.
some
good firms.
I think there are some applications
on the
table maybe that we haven't seen.
is that correct?
>>
the posting
has not gone out.
>> I remember
[ indiscernible -low volume
] .
>> the city had not
decided on the collocations.
-- qualifications.
>>
there are quite
a few firms out there I
would like to discuss this.
>>
as we identify
the criteria
to evaluate this , the
city council has the approval authority
for this type of firm.
so , I
would suggest that you not obtain
proposals
from firms. And
provide proposals to
the other members of council because
that could appear as
a conflict of interest because
you are the approval body for
this type of solicitation.
>> we are
responsible for
hiring , but [ indiscernible
-low volume ] ?
>> our objective today,
you
can research information
that you would like to see in the
proposal. Solicitation.
identify any special conditions.
as we go to recommend,
--as we go to the
german process,
w procurement procurement
,
if they do contact you,
they are automatically rejected.
would like maximum competition
. I would suggest that
,
doing research is a wonderful tool
and providing
information so we can relay that in
the solicitation.
>>
if you have somebody, go to the procurement process.
>> we do help individuals
[
indiscernible -low volume ] it can
be ominous, the process
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
anybody interested in solicitation,
we publicize [ indiscernible -
low volume ]
they can come in and ask any type
of question.
we post the solicitation online
so everybody can see the questions
and
what the answers are. [
indiscernible -background noise ]
>>
it almost seems
to me that they should present that
to us to understand
how to do this.
>>
I would be happy to
do so.
>>
debbie lucks
--debbie
lux for the record.
is everybody okay with
looking at sites to put
something out?
I started
some questions.
you may have those questions already
down
in the process.
>> that is not what I was suggesting.
all
I was saying, just like city manager,
excuse me, just like
the city attorney, you will
put it on the website , why not for
the city manager, too?
>> job description for the city manager
and post that
with salary range, job duties .
>> we need to discuss salary range.
prior to putting
it up.
>> for the
search form?
--for the
search firm? [
indiscernible -low volume ]
>> my questions, with salary range,
specifically at a city with 20,000
,
seawalls , things
like that , the
whole state of florida?
>>
salary ranges
are set by compensation and benefits.
they examine every position in
the city. That is how
it is set.
>> okay,
every city,
no matter what size?
>>
we concentrate on just
about this in our primary area. Ft. Meyers
, sarasota.
>> my question, I
the respect that and understand that, but
with charlotte county with a much
bigger project
, a lot different than
us being lower budget
to pay this much money
for something.
county is a lot more work than somebody
in
our city.
how
many staff , how much more money?
a moralistic
--a more
realistic amount, let's say
$140,000
to $200,000 , they
will say, I want $200,000.
>>
I recommend that is the highest
we would like.
.
15
>> this is a sliding scale
?
>> a minimum and maximum.
4% increases
each year.
>> jeannine polk for
the record. I am concerned , we
are going to a
pathway not having a search firm for
the city manager.
they have
the wherewithal to draw in the best
of
the best.
I am concerned if we just put it on
the internet,
$30,000 or whatever we will pay them,
that
is nothing.
we do not know what we
are doing. I do not know what I am doing.
citizens
we entrust,
may not know what they're doing. These firms
know what they are doing. My concern,
just put it on the internet
--denton
[ indiscernible -low volume ].
>>
this is the most important decision
we will make in
our term.
I thought that is
the direction we were going, who do
this professionally.
>>
I was offering something else,
with technology,
we could be candidates
who are actively looking.
>> not saying not
to do it, just saying additional.
I understand what melissa is saying.
>>
[ indiscernible -low volume
]
>> yes ,
looking at a firm, want to also
[ indiscernible -low volume
]
I think that is what melissa is asking.
>> I concur. >>
do we have a job description for
this position?
>>
I have it right here.
>>
I would like to see it and discuss
it to
make sure we are still on the same page.
>> if you go with
a search firm, that will be a part
of the process.
>> I sidetracked everybody,
basically today is just
a direction , soliciting ,
bringing a search firm.
is that correct?
>> the evaluation criteria I
have . Structures
, guarantees ,
we want to guarantee from
every person --[ indiscernible -low
volume
] the methodology
, the approach , the timeline.
if you are okay with those, [ indiscernible
-low volume ] .
>>
a motion to approve
6f.
>> second. >> all in favor? >> aye. >>
opposed?
motion carries.
>>
thank you.
>> if you speak
into the microphone, it helps the video.
>>
I am here for agenda item
6h, draft
hud --draft polk
amendments. -- draft
ldr amendments.
today
to see if council was any additional
revisions
before the public hearing
for zoning
[ indiscernible -low volume ].
>> debbie lux
for the record, thank you for working
so
hard on this. A lot
of hard work to figure out those numbers.
>> I
have a minor question ,
[
indiscernible -low volume ] surface
with brick
, asphalt
, does this have to come before
council ?
>> that was a requested change.
if you want it to go before council
.
>> [ indiscernible -low
volume ]
>> seems like a lot of busy work for
a small item.
>> [ indiscernible -low volume ]
>> are you talking about concrete,
janis ?
>>
it says that
, with recommendation
from public works, as approved,
does it just go to public works?
>> no.
>> come
before council for a final decision
but need a recommendation .
>>
a motion?
>> I move to
approved maintenance
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
>>
second.
>> all in favor? >> aye. >> opposed? The
motion carries. Thank you
very much. Next,
nominations, planning
and zoning.
>> sara welch for
the record.
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
council may nominate
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
>> I
would love
--[ indiscernible -low volume ]
>>
second.
>> all in favor? >> aye. >> opposed? Motion carries. Do you want to do
your report?
>>
[ indiscernible -muffled ]
qualifying
period from tonight
to
--june 9th
to june 13th
, 25 .
2025
. [ indiscernible -low volume ]
the primary election held on august 19th
--[
indiscernible -muffled ]
>> melissa ?
>> I have a list of items
, we had a meeting
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
they brought forth an opportunity
to consolidate city operations to
one building.
bringing it up to
hurricane standards.
one city council to consider
that option, they were
[ indiscernible -low
volume ]
>>
council chambers ?
>>
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
>> jeannine polk
, in the city,
where is the $50 ? That is a
ridiculous price.
if the city council wants
to move in the direction,
you will have people say, oh,
no.
>> [ indiscernible -low volume
]
correct?
>> correct.
>> [
indiscernible -low volume ]
>>
1978
addition a city
hall chambers is about complete.
staff is doing the
final reviews.
a lot of people have
been interested in the tourist attraction
,
we have been working with our city
police
department [ indiscernible -background
noise ]
with necessary sign-ups for those vessels,
all four
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
I am working on
the date.
[ indiscernible -
low volume ]
we have the draft scope for the
dock master. City staff,
what the management company does
for us.
we are staffed to handle
the other things [ indiscernible -
low volume ] .
from the landscaping to the electrical,
air conditioning,
anything that
land side, that would
be responsible for the entire building.
looking at potentially being able
to
have staff --add to staff,
I do not know if we are ready for that.
any other conversation you
may want to have on that issue?
>>
is the management company doing the
landscaping themselves?
or hiring someone?
>>
I am not sure . We would have
to check with him on that.
the solicitation [ indiscernible -
low volume
]
we will work on the
most cost-effective.
the document only solves
one portion.
>> do we have a job description
for the dock master?
>>
just about ready for publication.
>> open for
applications?
>> it is not.
another item that keeps coming up,
the review
,
what are you
looking for, what information do I
forward you [ indiscernible -low volume
]
what are your
wishes
there?
>> melissa.
the biggest confusion.
what the tenant
is responsible for. They
had to read it and sign it. To
continue with those leases,
from taxpayer dollars,
has to be written in a
certain way, outsource that to a leasing company
and taken off the shoulders of the city.
we should not be in the
rental business.
looking for another entity to take
that over. My other request was
to have --
when the floodgates would be put up.
another concern
, that tenants had come
a storm is a certain amount
of miles saturated, when
the floodgates are put up you do not
get anything,
interrupts business .
the flipside, they are
not up. I would like to have a more
definitive. This
is when they can expect those gates
to
go up.
a policy,
however.
>>
jeannine polk for the record. Just
to see
when are the
contracts up. It could be a viable solution
, a
city employee there
in those buildings.
why not use them? Why
not use what we have to conserve?
I feel it is an option
for us.
>> I agree
with that. If there is a flood, we
can't go
through what we
went through.
plus, we can
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
>> are
we vacating those spots ?
>>
dependent upon as having space available
to continue operations
there.
>> so,
greg julian,
I talked about the
tenants at the airport and they are
concerned, they want to know
what you have been talking about.
they want clarity
.
so they are not caught in the same situation.
insurance company
, they're not getting anything.
to help them out.
I want to see some urgency about
these leases and make sure they are
clear and we are clear .
that they
need communication as to what may happen
in hurricane season .
they are not
designed to keep water out.
do some repairs to the
existing ones
but we need to look at
a way of keeping water out of
the door frames.
>> I do have additional comments.
public works director,
he spoke to the individual
, renting those spaces, concerns
about modifications
to the
flat-panel system. On the parallel,
in tallahassee ,
contact from
a member of office and budget in medication
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
.
we are working on that.
how
we are going to staff this ,
communicating that .
when we put those panels up early
,
the tenants are not happy with that.
not happy
with what happened as a result of the
flood.
we had a contract in place
. The
city council made the decision to provide
[
indiscernible -low volume ]
council will have to decide
the balance of interest
.
>>
there is the perception
whether or
not they would've done anything
, nobody really knows. I guess
we do not , cannot guarantee they
will not be flooded. [
indiscernible - low volume ]
there is not really a way to promise anything.
we do not want to be sued
.
>> jeannine polk for the record.
[ indiscernible -low volume
]
>> I am asking for
more input
, so you can have the information
you need in front of you.
>>
we want to look at the existing leases
and what we want
to do, to see if the city should take
over the spots.
>> and
policy on the floodgates.
>> couple of events we have coming up,
the 24th , planning session at
the library. Listening session for
my
council . To hear
from the public .
where they
want to see the city go in the future
and provide thoughts
on what will
make their lives better in the city.
very excited for that session.
[ indiscernible -background noise
] a public workshop
from 5:30
to 7:30 at st. Mary's church.
[ indiscernible -low volume ]
staff
and council representatives [
indiscernible -background noise ]
looking for city commentary in
the area and support
[ indiscernible - low volume ]
development study they
will be writing grants,
looking for letters
of support . With your permission,
I will
put this on letterhead
for the city of punta gorda .
another update,
we talked about the website upgrades
that
are necessary.
utilizing our credits
we arty have.
not a significant investment in dollars
to refresh
, upgrade the website.
we want to make sure we
are providing information on our projects
and
keep people updated on
the projects. Go to the website
to look at the projects that are happening
and how they are progressing.
we have done a lot of research into tools
, software .
we already have
the tool.
within that,
we will purchase
more of the training credits.
project managers.
[ indiscernible -
low volume ]
staff is
working on the moratorium
on storage units.
[ indiscernible -low volume
] coming to council
for final adoption .
>>
greg julian. Verifying
the facility
already the exception
, is that great grandfathered?
a letter from his
attorney yesterday
that , is that grandfathered?
carwashes going forward ?
>> so ,
I was provided
with a copy of
the appeal that
was submitted with respect
to that. Ask zoning
officials questions pertaining to
that view.
the determination this morning
was that
the heel was not
--as that [ indiscernible -
background noise ]
the person submitting
the appeal did not waste
any opposition and comments at
the configuring during
special sessions.
[ indiscernible -low volume ] both
of which
are mandatory requirements . The right
to appeal. As a result,
deem the
special exception as final.
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
it would be
grandfathered with respect to initial action.
>> [ indiscernible -low volume ]
that was the confusion here.
allowing storage unit to
be placed there, despite [ indiscernible
-low volume
] .
>> that is correct. [ indiscernible
-
background noise ] [ indiscernible
-low volume ]
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
>>
staff has developed more complaints of
management according to
for the cip projects,
we put together a nice tool
,
we will have the ability to
have reporting which will allow us
to pull information from the systems
that is
--our information is going into.
in a more complex subway
to the city council.
february,
we have our listening sessions,
physical budget,
cip
2025 updates coming up
, and long-range financial planning.
it is really important for residents
to attend this
, march 22nd
, city staff will be asking
--looking
for direction ,
answering questions in the community
[ indiscernible -low volume
] . We encourage residents to attend.
I wanted
to mention pickleball,
a number of ideas from
the community , thoughts from the
pickleball community.
mr.
edwards suggested
we design it , have
our staff
weigh in, get comments from the public.
if you
have anything, forward those along
to us.
the gofundme page,
pickleball players
are supporting the investment in some
trees and potentially
benches. Be willing to help with the fence they are
looking at
requesting.
have good community engagement.
anyone who has an interest
and passion , may be interested in
something
like that. We have a resident asking
information about
the website, our planning board.
that is something we can make
more prevalent. Our list of projects
in
various stages,
we
have a lot of water projects going on.
we have a grant application in
.
within the cip plan,
how producers , upgrades
as well.
we are working with the rate study.
discussions with council to
serve that process
should we look at alternative funding
so that
we can get the support and water projects done.
get that information published.
emergency meetings with the city
.
it would not be a special meeting
.
we can use that
tool, too. I will stop right there. [ laughter ]
>> mr. Levin? >> nothing further, thanks
you.
>>
melissa?
>> the duplexes on magdalena?
sorry, rachel.
>>
that is still in progress.
was evaluated and going through,
we did note that the
development must --may not be the
best route,
[ indiscernible -low volume ] we are
now exploring the potential of
a neighborhood
residential district
which would allow for residential
uses and
cap the size at
two units.
we are still working on that
and it will go before planning and zoning.
>> I went out and
did a three hour,
it would've been longer, but
I had to leave, with tom spencer --
if you have not been out there, I
would suggest, take
a tour with tom. The
knowledge, who knew water
could be so fascinating? It opened
my eyes , especially around the
budget talks. I appreciate that. Tom, I
will give
you the spotlight,
maybe having some public
tours, I think that is a great idea.
the more
the public and see what is going on
and understand, that is
it.
>> janis ? >>
I want to commend our public works
for last week or so , I was
riding my bike and going by the
book club , there was our
giant truck with the water pressure
hose and a section
hose. If the pipe
is this
big, silt and sand was six inches
from the top. They
were cleaning
drains. We thank you and commend you,
and want to see
more of that, which I am sure you
are doing. Cleaning drains, so
concerned about we love the progress.
thank you very much.
>> jeannine ?
>>
thank you,
I got in touch with her about the
tour buses. Has
anybody seen those throughout the city?
a person lives in
downtown in my district was saying,
why
are these buses here?
they were parked on a small road and
it was concerning
to the residents
that emergency vehicles could not
get by , or
traffic connected by. We
got in touch with you . Those
tour buses , we are going to fight
a place
for them to safely part so they are
not in the way of
traffic. Not sure if we did not
realize that but it seems to be
an issue . I do not think it
will be an issue anymore.
>>
in contact with the tour company that he
--
in contact with the tour company,
they had a new driver
who was not aware. That will work
itself out
but something we want to
consider in the future because they
could potentially
be other tour companies
that need a safe place to drop people off.
that will be staff discussion.
>>
I have never
visited on a cruise line,
if anyone is interested,
go and see what it is all about.
was
not connected into the person called me,
there is a tour bus.
okay. There is that. Flooding,
are there divers
coming to look at our flood situation?
how is
that going ?
how is that all going?
>>
engineering
is in the
process of that among many other things.
>> thank you very much
for that.
are you going to say something?
>>
downtown flooding ,
the solicitation --
we extended it several times.
we had two responses
from companies and are obtaining
the residences and will be
setting up evaluations.
>>
do you have a
sense of when it will
be released?
>> he said two weeks.
[ laughter ]
>>
I wanted to get that on the
record because
--before the
rain comes.
the concern ,
just
like warehouse and self storage ,
are we going to
see this
before us? The drc will look
at this.
thank you, rachel. You should stay closer.
>>
the way the code is
written, punta gorda has the final decision
, special exceptions
, we are still finalizing that
staff report.
we were trying to dry conditions to
save cars , it is surrounded by residential properties.
we are finalizing the
staff report and will get that out
later today.
>>
exactly,
my concern, I hope they understand
the difference between zoning,
they're saying [ indiscernible -
muffled ] I am concerned , that
is a commercial
zoning and is allowed but is not in the
residential area . I may need you again.
no wall by the
car wash. I
am getting complaints of various people
who lived
behind it who are in
our city, our hearing a noise
. They said
there is no wall. Next
to the
building you are in now. Just wondering,
is there something we could
put in , recommendations that would
protect them ?
>>
we have
had people stop by our office. Equipment
--
the boys --the noise was louder than
in the past. We
have law enforcement visiting them.
they will have to do something
to mitigate those noises.
>> great.
maybe adding a wall
, especially in a
residential area.
so they can have some sort of tranquility.
>>
that will be part of the carwash and
storage facility discussion.
that will be in the
discussion going forward.
>> may I
respond to your commercial comment
?
I understand all the points
of view.
it is for marine purposes , to encourage tourism.
some have their
boats launched,
I would not call it
industrial, marine , tourism.
they can
put that in their
facility . I have examples
to both sides of the story.
>>
it is multi family
, 15, a residential area.
>>
general multi family is a special
exception. Accessory use
to their boat. Still
finalizing that
staff report.
>> that is fine. >>
you will see the staff report.
>> I have
one item.
boaters
have lost the opportunity to take
showers at the south park.
plentycounty
of places in reasonable proximity.
I understand we can set
it for the showers. They were able
to
get showers all year long
at south county
park.
we are charging
$15, I would like
a temporary , reasonable accommodation for
boaters. They are
renovating it, a
2.5 month period. More
reasonable
three bucks per shower. One boater
said it would be
$5000 to
take showers . He comes to the
shore and goes to work.
>>
I can add that to a
future agenda. Consider,
in normal operations ,
a considerable strain
on resources to people in
the harbor .
>> I am only talking about
the next two months.
>>
as we conclude the contract with management,
have the dock master in place
for those
facilities.
>> okay. >> wow, okay.
I think this is great.
great input. Eric,
thank you for allowing us to
use this facility.
thank you for going ahead with the 911.
our police trauma and fire department
, the
stresses they have been dealing with.
I would love to see more
workshops we will be having,
making sure people can know they
can talk to us . They may have some
great ideas that we do not even think about.
I think it is really nice for us to
have that
input. Also,
a resident sent me an email saying
they're looking for the cars.
they want to
do something with the
car washes. They were asking about
that. Also,
I was asked to shout out,
same day as our event on march 22nd,
bicycle
clue, I guess
is what they are doing. It will
be fun.
last,
do we have any residents
for final input ?
>>
two things, one,
on the search for the future city manager -- I have done a
lot of
thinking about this, my
family
has been here for a long time in punta
gorda .
shut me
how much taxes she has been in two,
three homes.
we are letting somebody
who knows florida , somebody
who is not
from out-of-state, and somebody who knows
the specific water problems
that are happening in the state
. I want to let you know,
other people in our
legislation delegation do not know
what is
truthfully happening.
I have to tell you,
I bump into our
former city manager all
the time , I have his cell number,
eye call him to shoot the breeze and
we have great conversations.
I spent a lot of time, had
people want me to start a consulting
firm for politicians, et cetera, no.
I am citizen.
I will tell you,
seeing what happens
in study with the harbor , other
scientists and other people who were
working
to help improve the problem in florida.
we need somebody
who is going to really take care of
us. I have met a lot of
city managers,
and when I leave these
meetings, I am feeling good. I don't
have an
upset stomach.
I do not feel like I'm getting the
wool pulled over
my eyes. I want to say , right now,
our city manager
is done one
hell of a job. [
applause ]
step in in a
very difficult time.
whoever will put their name and
that had , I appreciate
it and want to tell you, when
you have somebody
, a system that is working, not
only working , light years
ahead of anyone in
the city with experience , we have
to respect
that. Regarding the attorney,
we are here because of
a few poor decisions. Freedom
of speech , lawsuits.
thank you.
>> hi.
I have
a picture , a suggestion,
maybe put
in the commercial
-- maybe
put it in a commercial.
this store is probably
eight feet tall, this is three times
that height.
right next to the houses.
just a suggestion.
>> I
want to thank they mayor for
tallahassee,
a good job, especially to
the mayor for spending her own funds
to facilitate that.
I want to comment on your search.
I was a recruiter,
search consultant, one thing,
people who do this for a living
are not just looking
for people who are looking for a job,
they already have a
multitude of people who probably can't
do the
job very well and are not necessarily looking.
these are people you will not
be --
these people are not looking, this
is what
an executive search form can do. --
this is what
an executive search can do.firm
>> I will
make this quick, $165
per hour,
the cost savings
are significant.
[ indiscernible -low
volume ] you do not have to take
his opinion. Something
about giving people access to meetings.
they have an ordinance
in public buildings.
I
do not know if that has to do with
the legislation you are
looking at.
[ indiscernible -low volume ] I know
he has experience. His judgment
is sound.
would
you want your pediatrician to treat
you today
? You would want geriatric care.
[ laughter ]
something to think about.
also , the cost of living has
gone up exponentially. My son
got offers for being
six $5000 you
--$65,000 per year
,
you would
be surprised with the recommendations are.
his firm is very large.
thank you very
much.
>>
mike, punta
gorda ,
[ indiscernible -muffled
] from the hospital to
city hall ,
[ indiscernible ]
you cannot build a building in that
area. You
cannot build this building today
located on olympia or
marion avenue. You would have to have
a second
for multi family use or office.
I am a commercial appraiser and I
appraise properties all over
florida and 60%
to 70% of the properties I appraise
are single tenant buildings. The current
[ indiscernible ] eliminate
--the proposal
for the city market place the staff
is reviewing
is not for a potential buyer or developer,
it is for
the owners. They have no plans to
develop the site
merely trying to sell the property
the attorney for city marketplace
--[ indiscernible ]
the development site was not feasible
without the increased density and
over
a year later, nothing is happened
except they are raising the price
to $12
million from $8.4 million. The plans
need to be admitted back to the
prior densities and uses , so the
only commercial growth you will see
in punta gorda will be in john's loop.
[ indiscernible -background noise
]
and the 75,000
people per day that use that arterial.
and provides a two-tier market
for commercial development.
that is all the developer you will see.
64 years,
nothing has been built
on the site.
now we have a medical district with no hospital. That
cop plan should be rescinded.
[ applause ]
>> anybody else ?
we are adjourned. Thank you very much.