>> now please stand by the blood of legions led by city attorney. >> 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.
>> please remain standing for the invocation, .
>> let us pray. Thank you, god of justice and kindness for
giving us life and giving us the chance to help our city. Assist us to listen with compassion and goodwill. Assist us to talk with
charity and self-control. Help us to act with conviction and character. Instill a sense of servicing us. We thank you
tonight for these, your servants, our mayor, our city manager, our city staff, and our city commissioner millers. We
give thanks for the weight of service they have chosen to take
up on behalf of all of us here tonight. We express gratitude to
you, god, for your presence, your grace, and your inherent dignity and value, and each person as city residents. We
express gratitude for being called to our neighbors, and be good stewards of your creation. Help us, lord, tonight, to trust
you more. May we lean on your everlasting arms. Therefore, we
pray that tonight's actions made by this city will exalt you. We pray that we will be able to recognize how our lives
interconnected and how listening to and helping those who are
most in need of our support serves the common good. We hope
that your power will work in each of these servants of yours, bringing your kingdom to fernandina beach as it is in
heaven. The voices of the most silent be heard clearly. May
your light shine stronger and may your truth be exposed.
tonight, they will employ this governing body to defend their calls, o god, in the name of jesus, we perfect love, your
perfect love sets us free from all our fears, amen.
>> folks in the audience, just a point of order, if you have any cellular devices, please silence them now. If you're going to
speak to the podium submit a card to miss best, next over here. Any document distribution will also be submitted where the
speaker cards will go. If you're taking photographs avoid crossing the front of the dais. Also, comes from the podium
should be addressed to the commission as a whole or myself. That being said we will start us off with item 4.1, our
proclamation for "les demerle amelia island jazz festival > whereas for many years the select to skip to this part of the video">week" . >> whereas for many years the
"les demerle amelia island jazz festival week" has brought exciting world-class jazz entertainment to styles
including contemporary, big-band, latin, swing,
dixieland, blues, and more, whereas this year the amelia
island jazz festival is celebrating its 21st anniversary with headline performers which include internationally
acclaimed jazz vocalist, I hope I get these names right, grammy nominated legendary jazz pianist monty alexander, exciting 12
piece salsa band tony cruz and the latin jazz legends, the 21
peace university of north florida jazz ensemble, directed by dennis marx, the spirit of six dixieland band, and of
course the dynamic les demerle band. It is truly an honor and a
privilege to have these world-class performers here among us. Whereas the familiar island jazz festival is endorsed
by jazz icons quinton marsalis, tony bennett, david sanborn, ramsey lewis, the manhattan transfer, and whereas in ever to
reach out to as many concertgoers as possible the amelia island jazz festival is offering a wide range of venues
including the springhill suites by marriott, the beer company
and fernandina beach atlantic rec center. Is the amelia island
jazz festival presents a free community concert and many educational programs including jazz and schools jazz for kids, just for seniors, as well as a scholarship program which
supports continuing music education high school musicians who desire to study jazz music in college. Therefore I, james
and and by virtue of the authority vested in me as the city of fernandina beach hereby encourage the citizens of
fernandina beach to participate in the island jazz festival celebrations and further proclaim the week of september
28th through october 5th as "les demerle amelia island jazz festival week" in witness whereof I hereby set my hand and
caused the official seal of the city of fernandina beach order
to be affixed this 15th day of september 2045.
here you are. >> thank you very much,
commissioners, and thank you, mayor antun. We are so grateful,
ladies and gentlemen, to present the 22nd annual. Amelia island
jazz festival, for 22 years we've been swinging hard, and we just got back from maui two days ago and we did jazz for
seniors council on aging on friday, and had a 100-year-old
man come up there and do a blues brothers to with us, and on saturday we did jazz for kids, where we had a 1 1/2-year-old
kid come up and play the conga drum with me. He took my gate on
saturday night. He played well. We do this from the heart, we
couldn't do this without my incredible wife bonnie , and our board of directors and all the volunteers, hundreds of
volunteers through the years edina beach, one thing that he
said if you don't know, if you don't know what that is, you'll
never know. It's just a feeling. I know you guys have a lot of
heavy stuff coming up, I'm going to lighten it up and give you a taste of what jazz is. Spontaneity, improvisation,
creativity, and most of all, in my band and in our festival, the groove. Ever buddy snap your fingers like that. Two, three,
four, the bass player would say , and everybody say this. Hey,
hey! >> hey, hey! >> jazz fest is here! >> jazz fest is here! >> hey, hey! >> hey, hey!
>> jazz fest is here! >> jazz fest is here! >> anything more than that I have to get fancy. We'll see you
at the jazz festival. >> thank you to each and
everyone of you who support the festival, we want to give joy through music happening all through the community, through
the county and through the world. This is our contribution to that, hope that purpose and our mission, thank you so much
for supporting us throughout the years. Thank you. >> thank you. >> I'll take us along to item
4.2, our presentation with our budget summary. Ms. Carless, come on up. >> you'll have to sing this for
us, please. >> thank you for your patience
while we work that up a bit. Okay. Wow, we are presenting
month 11, 91.7% of the fiscal year is completed for this
budget. Summary. As always, we'll begin with our general
fund revenues. I thought this was worth talking about.
insurance premium tax reported in our group for sales tax and other taxes. It's a significant source of revenue to us. We use
it to offset the city's contribution for the pension funds we were talking about. So, in august, we received $534,923.
split between the two pension funds. And I mention that
because we budgeted around, I think, to 15. You're going to see a budget amendment coming your way so we can record that
extra revenue. Those funds are not deposited by the city into city accounts when we receive the knowledges the receipt, and
we fedex the funds directly to the fiduciary. The gatsby, our
general government accounting standards board, says because you receive a benefit , and that it helps to obsess your
contribution to the pension fund, we're going to ask you to recorded as revenue and expenditure in the general fund.
that's a little confusing I think, to some people. I wanted to just bring it forward and talk about it a little bit so
you'd understand what you're seeing when that time comes through. Moving forward, general fund revenues. We've seen ,
we've had a really good year , total just over 32 million. They
exceed the total budgeted revenues for the year already by 698,000. You'll notice some changes on the slide, you can
tell pretty evenly with last year, but intergovernmental
revenues were reduced. This period by a request in grant
revenues for the general fund for capital improvements. I've
done an accrual for grant revenues, it was erroneously
posted to the general fund and it belonged in our capital improvement fund. You'll see that effect between the two
funds. Charges for services, this is significant. Charges for
services reflect a significant increase in revenues from
ambulance services. We had some challenges with the billing
services last year and you'll probably remember, and our team and the fire department and cooperation and support with
other administrative departments, we were able to implement a new ambulance billing service, so, year to
date we're at 177% of budgeted revenue for the ambulance services. We have exceeded this year's budget and recouped our
shortfall from last year. That was a lot of hard work for the fire and the other folks. Looking at general fund revenues
this year, versus last year, the breakdown receipts is very similar. There's the three-point difference in the
percentage of revenue from property taxes. When you look last year the revenue from property taxes comprised 62%,
this year is 59%. Simply stated, what that means is, we found
more money from other sources. That 534,000 from the insurance
premium is in there. And it's an overall increase in charges and
services of 800,000. And we moved to our general fund
expenditures function. Just a reminder, we're 91.7 complete,
what we're seeing is the breakdown of percentage by function is comparable, we're expanding our model in the
manner over a period. We're seeing the dollars spent and I
wanted to present it to you, even though the breakdown overall, it's helpful to see the actual dollars and how they
compare. We see a decrease in transfers, and that's
attributable to the decrease in the transfer to the improvement funds. So we didn't transfer as much money to capital
improvements this year. Then, significant increases in
administration, that's from litigation and settlement costs. And then it's also from capital projects, which were done in the
general fund. The planning department for the egan's creek
bridge, and the greenway. So that explains a little bit. Fund
balance, the general fund balance has increased. The
balance right now is about 2.4 million more than last year. And
it's primarily because year-to-date revenue exceed
expenditures. We brought in more than we spent this year so far.
the next section we record on is special revenue funds, and I like to have this slide up to help people understand our city
manager did a great job talking about them. The odd ducks, but,
the important thing to remember is, they exist to account
specific revenues with limitations on how we can spend them. They don't fund operations, so they don't need
reserves. When we're looking at special revenue funds that's
money we received and we need to spend it a certain way. These
are the current fund balances as from the end of august. Just some notes, year-to-date revenues exceed expenditures for
all funds except for these three. The building fund,
expenditures exceed revenues by 169 2000 year-to-date. And that's by design, it was budgeted to do so. Wastewater
capacity fees. Exceed revenues, expenditures exceed revenues by
34 896, also budgeted to reduce a reserve. And the community redevelopment area , expenditures exceed revenues by
483,000. And it's because of the work we're doing on the
capital projects at north street. $94,000 was spent on
these projects in august. Capital improvement funds, we
talked about it a little bit, we have four of those. Three are similar, the one that's different is our capital expansion funded by impact fees. We usually do a separate slide
on that want to talk about it. Looking at our capital
improvement funds, this is a quick calculation of what the
fund balance is at the end of august. Shows our revenue less expenditures, and our beginning cash balance. Year-to-date all
of them have a solid ending fund balance, and I didn't see any
unusual transactions. For august, we spent 300, 30,009 92.
37,000 on the men's locker room at a.r.c. 45,004 putt putt and
90,000 for the lighthouse. 94,600 for the central park batting cages. Four funds 315 and 330, there were no
significant revenue or expenditures for august. This is
our capital expansion fund. We also call it our impact fees.
there are restrictions for how we spend the funds that come in, so we segregate it by department, here. When you see
police, fire, sanitation, administration, those are the impact fees assessed, and then they go directly into each line.
the only significant expenditure this period was 186 700 on the
waterfront park, and that's reflected in the recreation parks total. Down at the bottom you see the budgeted
expenditures remaining to be completed from these funds, so this is what was budgeted as of fy 25 and the amounts that have
not been expended for those budgeted items. As our city
manager explained, the enterprise funds are sometimes called our business class. They're also called proprietary.
year-to-date revenues exceed expenditures for all but two of them. That's storm water in the marina. So, performing well this
year operationally, year-to-date revenues are 99% of the total budgeted for fy 25, and 85.8% of the total budgeted for this
year. Revenues exceed expenditures by 420,000 so far.
the airport year-to-date revenue exceed expenditures by 292,000.
sanitation revenues exceed expenditures by 230,000. Wastewater year-to-date exceed expenditures by 200,000. Water
year-to-date revenues exceed expenditures by 73,000. Stormwater expenditures exceed revenues by 167,000, and the
marina year-to-date expenditures exceed revenues by 260,000. As
our city manager had mentioned, we had a couple of major expenditures in the marina, we spent $1 million for dredging.
there was also a large expenditure for an annual payment in august, that was 505,000. That impacted them. And
that's what I have for this budget report. Are there any
questions? >> do I have any questions for our city comptroller? >> I would say thank you, these
reports get better every month, and I'm very glad that we've increased the billing from the fire and ambulance services.
again, it's a lot of little things that make a budget
stronger. And I appreciate the hard work that staff is going on
that, thank you. >> I appreciate the slide number
and the heads up on the insurance premium, I would not have understood that line. Without a heads up, thanks for explaining that. >> all right, thank you.
>> thank you. Taking us along to item 4.3, we have our project
updates . >> thank you, mayor, as miss
carless mentioned we are 92% through our fiscal year, this is the last project update you'll see for this year,
commissioners, thank you all for your engagement for your
prioritizing, guiding, funding, we got a lot done this year and this list reflects this. We had nearly 40 million worth of projects, in this fiscal year and the majority of those
products have been completed, and those that have not are not marked in blue, will be rolling over to next fiscal year. As I
moved down the list, looking at reference number on the left, to identify the project what's been added to the completion list,
since last time we spoke was the city hall window replacement project. We continue to update this 120-year-old facility as
funds permit, and that project has been marked to complete number 48, here, sidewalk installation, and replacement,
we're wrapping up a little bit of work on north second street over the last few days and we will reopen that project next
year with increased funding for new sidewalks for areas where we do not have any me and the replacement of existing of a 10
million sidewalk network. Number 56 with the exception of some
small service improvements on south eighth street which will be happening the next few days, the rehabilitation project,
there is substantial complete, and we're happy to see that one
behind us, as is 59. This is the last of our stormwater
improvements for this year, as you all may recall, 20 projects were identified last year do to record amounts of rainfall, nine
of those 22 projects have been completed, the stormwater department has been working tirelessly on a lot of these
projects, and remaining 15 or so products will move to next year,
and open up a new project for fiscal year 25 -26, we are
getting a jump on 25-26, there's a few items for next year that you will see, on the regular agenda tonight, and you
will see golf course irrigation rotation plan, replacement,
we're getting a jump on that, so we can hit the ground running as we move into the next fiscal year in a couple weeks. That's
all I have, we're happy to wrap up a number of these projects, and full steam ahead next year. Any questions?
>> do we have any questions? Seeing none, we like to say we
appreciate your hard work in the time I've been a commissioner this organization and keeping with how is something I've seen
continue to improve. We appreciate the way we can not
just see as a commission for our residents that there's quite a bit getting done by the day. Thank you. That will take us to
item five, public comment for items not on the agenda, I have three requests to speak so far. If you still wish to speak,
brave you're up to the city clerk, the first will be mr. Mac morris. >> thank you, mr. Mayor. It's
been a whole two weeks. Mac morris, a 21 park view. I don't
really want to be appear talking. I'm up here because of the actions of some of your colleagues, mr. Mayor. Because
of those actions, the florida secretary of state , florida
chief financial officer and their staffs are aware of the situation when it comes to the pay parking issue. The people of
the city signed 2000 no pay parking referendum petitions in 3 1/2 weeks. Which I understand is probably a local record. We
could have collected far more out of respect for the supervisor of elections and their current workload, they're
collecting petitions from all over the county. We stopped after being assured of a certified charter which our team
has acknowledged and confirmed. It was coordinated actions which
causes resident driven charter amendment in the first place. A first for our city and county. All eyes are on commission next
step mr. Mayor. Including tallahassee's. There is a way
for the provides revenue without paid parking harmful effect on downtown retail businesses. Let's hold those discussions in a public workshop. Let's do it in the sunshine. Thank you.
>> thank you, mr. Morris, next up we have mr. Guerrero.
>> thank you. I'd like to hispanic heritage month, which
began >> name and address for the record. >> 31 south fifth street.
fernandina beach, home of bo benson. It was good to see that
we still have $60,000 therefore the expansion of the skate park.
I know we've got these projects that are going on. And that is
probably one of the last things on your mind. We have two girls,
three girls who are going to california to compete, in the exposure skate competition, which is the largest female
skate competition in the world. It's in california. And they're
raising money at the skate park by selling lemonade, and
homemade bracelets. To try to make it out there. One of them we see potentially being in the 2028 olympics, just like we saw
pope henson, went to that exposure competition, and took
second place. And when she was 10 years old. We have another
10-year-old who is heading over there this november 1st and
second, and third. So we hope that we can get our community,
and our commissioners behind the effort that's being done. With
such a small group. It's not like the baseball basketball football where they have a lot of kids. We have a small group.
we're turning out at high levels. Another girl who got
signed by a skateboard company, colorblind skateboards, and she
just came out with her new skateboard. Shirts, hats,
colorblind skateboards and her name is cadence hauser. Skidding
atop levels. So, it really is good to see it in the capital
projects that there is still a section there for us. We don't
have any grants or anything. But, our organization is willing
to chip in half the money . This was kicked over to nassau
county, and I spoke with poe, taco poe, and, they said there
is no money in the budget until five years from now. So, we like
to see that pushed up a little, a little bit like that, and
we're willing to see if we can bring it back, to the city commission, we like to show you the $30,000 that you gave us, we
split it, was approved from the last commission. We would like
to be able to come back and show you that presentation. Thank you. >> thank you, mr. Barrera. Next
up. >> good evening, I live at 406
beech street. On july 7th 2025, the city issued building permits 2511 97 through 12 . I appealed those permits it to the board of
adjustment on july 16th, 2025. In a conversation with city staff attorney teresa prinz on september 9th, she said my
appeal was too late. She claims it should've been based on the local development order that was issued july, june 12, 2025.
here's the reality, the local development order was only sent to the applicant and to trc members. The city manager
didn't receive it. The city commission didn't receive it. Neighbors didn't receive it. People who had active litigation
in the fifth district court of appeals did not receive it on this property. None of these folks were ever notified.
misprints argues that our notice was the trc meeting held back in march, but trc meetings don't approve progress. Approvals can
come months later. I was confident I would be told when
that happened because I specifically complained last november about missing application and was promised I
would be informed. That promise was broken, and if I had been informed, misprints said she admitted that I intended to
appeal. My intent was clear all along. I was simply denied my basic constitutional rights of due process. To say I missed a
30 day appeal on something I never received, nor did most staff members of the city, receive, is unconstitutional.
courts of both the state and federal level are clear. Due process requires notice. I ask you, if I cannot appeal to the
boa because my staff cut off my rights, who do I appeal to? The
answer must be you, here, right now. The local development order
was issued in error, the building permits were issued in error, both violate section 103 05 of the land development code,
a section already upheld at the fourth district court, and the fifth district court of appeals. You have the case law to back
you up, the florida case corona properties versus morrill county confirms that when permits are issued in error, the city has
the authority and the responsibility to revoke them. Finally, I want to address the tone around this project,
according to the fernandina observer, the developers attorney claimed that they could build 58 units on this property
at this if the plan is overturned. In my opinion
that's misleading. Only third street qualifies for live local
and when I calculate the acreage et cetera, they can't even do a third of that. So, also, the developers attorney claimed that
they will sue the city for bert harris act violations. I want to
remind you the developer purchased this property in july of 2023. After litigation had already been filed, and many
years after section 103 05 was written in 2006. For all these
reasons, I respectfully am asking this commission to revoke those permits, and I have a copy of the case here. >> thank you. If you'll leave it over here, please.
>> thank you. Next up we have mr. Paul lori.
>> good evening, 2794 longbow drive fernandina beach florida. I'm here today because of september 15th. If I look at
this commission here, along this podium, when I look above, I see
one thing. I see september 15th, 1700 22 signatures were signed,
executing exercising their voice on how they feel for paid
parking. If you look above you on the organizational chart,
that's where the citizens are. If you look above you, the
citizens are above you. They've spoken, they've exercised their
voice, and will see your leadership. Thank you.
>> thank you, mr. Lori, next we have mrs. Sandy carey.
>> I just want to make a statement about a national --
>> name and address for the record. >> sandy carey, forest drive. Charlie kirk, who was
assassinated last week, who stood up for everything that this country stands for, I wanted to just acknowledge the
legacy that he's left behind, and the millions of people
around the world who are acknowledging how brave he was. He had such courage , stood up for his convictions, he never
backed down, he stood up for his religious beliefs, and yet he
always had the compassion to listen to what others had to say. That was what really truly made him unique and remarkable.
he always tried to find common ground. He invited people who differed most with him on college campuses to be the first
to come forward and reason with him. He would say let us reason
about this, let's talk about it, let's see what you think, what you believe. He would speak the same. That's so important in our communication in our community. When communication
stops, there is nothing. There's anger and violence and
things that are not good. We have to keep the lines of communication open, even if we don't agree with one another,
and we need to be respectful to one another. I don't care who
stands appear, what their view is, I will defend it to the death. They have the first amendment right to freedom of
speech, all of us do, that's what makes our country great. This man died prematurely at the hands of an assassin , left
behind two young children and a widow only 31 years old. His legacy, his martyrdom will go on. For a long time. So, I
wanted to take the time to acknowledge that, I hadn't
heard anyone mention that and I feel like he was a really great republican, and conservative, and he stood up for what he
believed in, that's what we need so much. We are a republic and we need to stand up for our rights because if we don't, we
will no longer have them. And our freedom of speech which is why I have tried so hard with the last commission and this
commission is so important, because all our other
constitutional rights are hinged to that. If we lose the freedom of speech we lose all the others behind it. They are all
together, so, I wanted to say that I have another thing to
speak about but, it's unrelated. I think this is probably the
only time I can bring it up. I'd just like to remind that
the transcript today in the process of reading over that.
the bert harris act with ryan, the claim was filed july 11th, I
understand they have 90 days which would be october 11th.
that's just a few short weeks away. And there's been a lot of overtures of rumors I've heard about some, and I hope that's
not true. Because if you settle with them, that will be the
beginning of the end of life as we know it on this, people are already moving because they're so upset.
>> thank you, miscarry. I have no other requests to speak.
seeing none we will move along to our consent agenda. To any
commissioners wish to pull anything from the consent agenda? >> yes.
>> commissioner minshew. >> I like to pull 6.2, grant approval for the faa, I understand there's adjustments
that need to be made in that. And I see mr. Coyle is here.
>> thank you commissioner. Any other requests to pull an item
from the consent agenda? >> I moved to approve. Conditionally, 6.2. >> okay. You have a question?
>> no. >> I have a motion, do I have a
second? >> a second. >> any commission or discussion? Seeing none, please start the role.
>> on your behalf? Would you like for me to mark that is
approved on your behalf? >> yes.
>> that motion passes 5-0, that will bring item 6.2 up before our seven resolutions. Mr. Nate coyle, come give us the short on
this, please. >> commissioners, good evening,
your port manager, the agenda this evening is the grant agreement for the master plan update. I sent an email out this
week and the short answer is, they had issued us a grant
agreement for the full 95% of the project, and do their fiscal constraints came back on friday and asked if they could faze
that project instead. The revised grant agreement is what's in front of your hard copy. It reduces the total grant
amount by $200,000. However, the second phase of that grant will
come in the spring and will, the funding as it's presented within the packet will be the same. The master plan is an 18
month project, financial will be able to bear that and will still receive 95% coverage instead of one grant which was what was
initially issued, 11th hour change , they asked that we process the revised agreement that's in front of you here
instead of what's in the packet. >> are there any questions on
this agenda item? Seeing none, thank you for your time, sir.
two I have a motion? >> moved to approve 6.2. >> motion on the floor, do I have a second?
>> I'll second it, but we need to approve it, we need to amend it. >> approved the amended one that
he's just handed out. >> moved to approve the amended. Agreement. With the faa. >> that is seconded as amended?
>> yes. >> any additional commission or discussion? Seeing none, please start the vote.
>> thank you for getting together . So last minute. He's
not getting the pop up. >> did you join the meeting? Oh.
going to have a lot. >> that motion passes 5-0, and
will move along to item seven, resolutions and 7.1 is a lease assignment termination. Take it away.
>> this is consideration of resolution 2025/170, which would terminate early the lease between the city and mr. Ernie
saltmarsh for the atlantic seafood bait and tackle building located at 10 ash street. The current lease is not set to
expire until 2028. However, mr. Saltmarsh closed his shop, and
then contacted the city and asked if we would consider early termination of the lease. I do support that recommendation
based on the amount of work that we're going to be having going
on in the coming years, I think it does benefit the city to close the shop early. I'm sorry, recommend approval of
this early termination. Mr. Saltmarsh is not asking for any
buyout from the city, nor are we asking him to repay any lease
payments that would be owed to the end of the lease. I do
recommend one amendment to this item, and that is that you change the effective date to august 1st. So that we can
properly account for the lease payments that have already been made. So, if that's the pleasure of the commission it
would be an amendment to the resolution for the effective date to be september 1st. >> if I may, mr. Mayor, it would
be an amendment to exhibit a, section 1 of the termination of the lease would be effective august 1st. I'm not looking at
the resolution that's in there. >> august or september? >> august.
>> thank you, miss campbell, misprints. Do I have any
commissioner questions for miss campbell or misprints on this item? I do have one request to speak on the audience, miss
julie pereira, please,. >> good evening, 501 dayton
street. I think it's very kind that mr. Saltmarsh is and asking
for a buyout. My question is, was going to happen with the land lease? Is that land lease going to be repurposed , or can
that now become city property without it being a commercial building on it? My second question is about the atlantic
seafood building itself, because it's an iconic old florida part
of fernandina. I've gone down there, I've looked at it, it
looks to me that if you knocked off the back shed, lean to shed it's on the back, the part of the building that's on the
south side, that we could raise money and try to refurbish just
that little commercial part , and have that be there as part of iconic fernandina. I'd be willing to try to raise money to
do that. I know that in the past it's always been said that that
building has to come down in order to continue the seawall.
it looks to me, I'm not an engineer but it looks to me that if we took off the lien to shed, that that iconic piece of
fernandina could be repurposed, maybe it could be a copy shop,
maybe it could have a platform built up in there, so when the seawater comes in, the city could have , I don't know, coke
machines in there, it seems like that building is an iconic piece
of fernandina and I know that a lot of people in the community would like to see it still exists. Thank you.
>> thank you, miss ferreira. I have no other was request to speak from the audience. Two I have a motion?
>> I would move to amend resolution 2025.170 to make it
effective date august 1st. >> I have a motion.
>> second, and I'd like to, if I could, bring up because of
what we're planning on doing at the waterfront park, this, this area where the building stands now, when that is removed, it's
going to help with the boats coming in, getting into the
ramp, it's going to make an easier swing. I'd like to ask city staff if they would look at designing a nice entrance going
into the waterfront park. It wasn't designed for that, there
was going to be potentially a building sitting farther back
between the existing building now, and where the waterfront park starts, so that area now that's won't be occupied by a
building, in fact, it would be spruced up to be part of the
waterfront park. >> thank you, commissioner.
seeing as I have a motion and a second with additional commission or discussion, does anyone want to weigh in on the
suggestion? >> I would like to task the hdc or something with julie ferreira's idea of saving some
part of that facade , the sign, something? I know we talked
about in the future, where bretz is, I know the waterfront
advisory board has talked about having, helping some of the
businesses at the waterfront with their kiosk structures or something. Is that an hdc thing? >> yeah, it can be.
>> mr. Mayor. I think it's two separate discussions, one is an
action on the resolution and the agreement in front of you and
I'm happy to talk about what happens next, we like to get direction from the commission. My preference would be to direct
the building official to conduct an inspection of this facility, it's a supportive structure and I don't believe the floor and
the pilings are salvageable, the building official needs to make that determination. My recommendation would be that we
forward the demolition application to the hdc for their approval. Mr. Saltmarsh is going to salvage the sign, he's going
to keep that and we have contacted the museum and asked
them to document the facility before we take any action. At
the pleasure of the commission, my recommendation is for the official to inspect it. >> thank you, miss campbell.
commissioner tuten? >> I would imagine the building.
I'm glad the building official will look at it, absolutely, I'm sure the structure has a lot of issues. I'm thinking
about my funky old house, and a lot of funky old houses in this
building that surely there must be some aspects of the building
that could be saved or salvaged and incorporated into something as a historic memory. And maybe, can be hdc, before it's
demolished, and everything is lost, could be hdc look at it?
no, yes? Separate issue? >> officially.
>> perfect. >> commissioner minshew?
>> I was going to say that commissioner saltmarsh is taking the sign. Which is the most iconic component of it. And he
wants to repurpose it in one of his other businesses. So, and I
think we've agreed for him to do that. Once that sign is gone,
then I'm not sure that there is much less there to be
maintained, or to be recognized as significant or iconic. I
think first of all we need to make sure, we need to get the
building official to give us a report on the building. First, we need to do this, please. >> thank you commissioner.
>> you're still up to speed. All right. I have an amended motion and a second come at no additional commission or
discussion. Please start the vote.
>> that motion passes five manager which brings us to item 7.2. >> know. As amended.
>> do I have a second? I have a motion and a second, any
commission or discussion? Seeing none, miss bass, please start the boat.
>> that motion passes 5-0, and will move along to item 7.2. We
have an rfp for restroom facility cleaning, take us away, miss campbell. >> this consideration of
resolution 2025-171, which would award the cleaning services for
certain city restrooms. After rfp 2025-08 was issued. We did
not put a maximum dollar amount on this, the funds are budgeted in the parks and downtown departments, but not knowing a
couple of things we didn't want to put a maximum dollar amount on that for you. We recommend a ward. The boro building and
property maintenance is the theme of the company that we recommend a ward to. Esther michelson is here to answer any
detailed questions you have. >> any commission or questions for miss campbell or mr. Michelson? >> these are the same people who are currently doing a beach
cleaning. We >> beach?
>> yes. Yes, this is the current vendor that's under contract with nassau county for cleaning the beach , covered by tdp
funding, this is getting in alignment with that. This vendor would be cleaning other park city facilities as well.
>> thank you. >> so, who's doing it today?
city staff? >> I think city staff is providing coverage now, that's the contract, is that correct,
scott? >> we had another vendor doing
it before. Got it. Sorry. I didn't understand all that, thank you. >> I see no other requests to
speak from the commission, and I have no request from the
audience. Do I have a motion? >> moved to approve. >> any commission or discussion? Seeing none, please start the
vote. That passes five manager which brings us to item 7.3, our
special event cosponsorship approval. Miss campbell. >> thank you, consideration of resolution 2025-172 , this is
our annual slate of events that we cosponsor. The first four are
sounds on centre, nassau sports association fishing rodeo, hometown fourth of july and shrimp drop, and we also help
partner with fernandina beach main street for four additional events, dickens on centre, island hop craft beer festival, and black friday pajama party. There are certain fees and
charges that the city waves in order to be considered a sponsor
and whatever the pleasure of the commission is on this item.
>> thank you, mrs. Campbell, are there any questions from the commission? Commissioner minshew? >> so, I will reluctantly vote yes, on this, but I have a lot
of concerns about who we're sponsoring why we're sponsoring,
and some of the history behind some of the stuff we are
sponsoring. I would hope that maybe before the end of the
year, maybe early next year, we would have a workshop. Or we could look at what we do for special events, how we do it,
what we're giving away, what we're spending city money on, and is that the right thing for us to do? Because we keep
getting told all the time that we spend our money on wants and not needs. So, I would challenge this staff and this commission
that we need to take a hard look at things like this, because
these are a lot of wants. And not necessarily a lot of needs.
so, I just would ask staff to take that under consideration, and let's put something on the agenda in a workshop relatively
soon. >> thank you, commissioner. Any
other requests to speak? Do I have a motion?
>> moved to approve. >> I have a motion on the floor, do I have a second? >> second. >> motion and a second, any other additional commission or
discussion? Seeing none, please start the boat.
>> that motion passes 5-0 bringing us to item 7.4. A purchase approval and declaring surplus for our vehicles and
equipment. Miss kim? >> thank you, I'm going to turn
this over to deputy city manager glisson, he have a thorough presentation to give you on this year's fleet replacement program. >> glad to hear the excitement.
thank you, mr. Minshew. In front of you is a large ticket item. This is the vehicle replacement plan for fiscal year 25-26. You
just approve the budget, the final hearing for the budget, this is getting a jump for fiscal year 25-46, the
acquisition of vehicles and equipment. History here is how
we got here with the process and the plan that we have, we have our first vehicle rotation plan adopted by policy in 2005-2006.
the goal was to provide for the planned replacement of rolling stock and assets because of the services that we provide in
fernandina, we have a lot of different apartments, a lot of different departments the buildings and equipment and
personnel to provide those services and our fleet alone is a $20 million replacement asset. It's about 380 rolling stock
units, that's everything from the golf course, to the boats used at the marina, to fire apparatus , police, law
enforcement vehicles, everything in between. A planned replacement plan reduces downtown, running your assets
till failure is not a good business plan, not a good business model. While increasing safety and dependability and it
provides city operations with consistent, reliable assets, and furthermore this improved plan for this year meets commission
goals for all these assets were in your five-year capital
improvement plan that you already approved, and it help the project management as you approve the go-ahead to move
forward with a lot of acquisitions and replacement for
projects for this coming fiscal year, you will not see a lot of these action items come back to you over the next few months.
it's a big step in efficiency. How do we replace assets? When it comes to vehicles and agreement, all assets fall under
a seven year 75 mile criteria, this is for critical duty assets, a 10 year 100,000 mile, which is regular duty assets,
and exempt, those are assets that we do run till failure,
specialized vehicles, equipped, trailers, pumps, you'll see those assets run 20+ years depending on the type of asset that we have. We have big-ticket items this coming year, you'll
see a new rescue unit that you've already approved and the purchase on, a sewer cleaning truck for the wastewater
division, gravel truck that's our yard waste collection
program within sanitation, a new front end loader, that's a 22-year-old asset, and a new street sweeper, we have one and
this is our front line and only line unit that we have . Of that you have 3.1 million in rolling stock this coming year with the
enterprise other funds funding a majority of these assets. General fund as city manager campbell mentioned, 1.3 out of
the general fund for vehicles this coming year, the average age of assets for this plan is 11 years, and on top of that we
have other fixed equipment that, like I said, you would normally see come back to you through various agenda items that in the
budget that you approved, generators, hvac, water pumps, for our wastewater and water plants, and other standing
equipment that takes for these departments to operate,
enterprise fund is funding 617,000 of that with general fund at 121,000 and the average age of these outstanding assets
is right around 13.5 years. When is the right time to replace an
asset? That's something that we're always working on, and what's pictured is the bathtub curve, that is a picture of,
when is the ideal time to replace an asset? As you would see the ideal time is when the cost of ownership is at its
lowest. Time is here to the right, depreciation of the
assets on the left, and our goal, which is often a moving target, is replacing an asset here before the wearout period,
before the asset is of no value, and the cost of repairs are high. This is a guiding document, as I mentioned we have
policy that guides our vehicle rotation plan. That's captured
by policy, we have our five-year capital improvement plan that details those purchases and of course there's funding
availability due to if the money is not there, due to
determination of need, those assets may move a year. And of
course additionally we look at not just buying equipment but we look at rentals, lease purchase options, and often you can rent
the asset over a course of several years, and it doesn't just, that's a route that we take, and all departments that
have equipment within their purview, they have rental accounts for renting assets as needed for various projects. On
the right is a chart that will make much sense, but a visual of
our life cycle cost analysis. This is a model that we use for
strategic planning, and what this does is help us plot the ideal time to replace an asset. Like I said, this is a lot of
detail, I would have been hiding a bunch of columns and rows here
to be able to blow it up larger, but, this is an example of how we get the recommendation to replace police patrol vehicles
at the time and mileage that we do.
>> on the right won't make much sense, but just a visual of our lifecycle cost analysis, and helps us plot the ideal time to
replace an asset. Like I said, this is a lot of detail, here. I
am hiding a bunch of columns and rows to blow debited larger, but this is an example of how we get the recommendation to replace
police vehicles at the time and mileage we do. Recognizing that your assets are not just buying the asset, but it is the life of
the asset. So, when we look at asset management, is the acquisition of the asset be purchased through government contracts, a lot of these contracts bring a pretty
aggressive pricing structure, 20% or 30% above msrp, and we
are also doing this quickly because when the city of
fernandina gets behind the city of jacksonville we might not see those assets for a long time, 200 or 300 of a certain vehicle
instead of three or four. We do try to move quickly to get ahead of those larger agencies. The life of that asset is through
the maintenance operation by the responding departments and those
assets are maintained in-house. They are contracted out, and we
also have internal rotation. As assets get to end-of-life, we move out to the beach, they moved to search and rescue or
get reallocated within city departments, for the life of that asset. On the back end, all the assets we dispose of are
fully depreciated, and we do that through a competitive bid process. We also get acquisitions covered by policy
as the disposal of assets is done through competitive, dove
deals.com if you want to see what the city is getting rid of.
that brings $250,000 per year in surplus revenue. That is what we have for the asset replacement plan for this fiscal year. Staff
recommend approval of resolution 2025-173, and I do have a friendly amendment if you are amenable.
>> eskimo please. >> in order to not come back here, and a couple of months, commissioner minshew, with the
next step for the gas removal system, I would like to propose
a friendly amendment to improve the purchase amendment of a gas removal system for fire station one in the amount not to exceed
$75,000 from the capital improvement fund. We can go ahead and move forward accordingly if you are so
inclined to make that amendment to this capital asset replacement plan for fiscal year 25-26.
>> thank you. Do we have any questions for mr. Gleason, or do we have an amendment? >> I would like to comment,
quick, that when I was a commission of the first time, we did not have this. We are running vehicles with the wheels
falling off, and it was costing more money to try to keep these
things up and running, I believe it was you that put this into action. And, kudos, because things are going so much better.
>> and also, that the city won a national award for fleet
management, which is really super impressive, and I agree,
it is not just saving money for the actual asset, it is saving
money and staff time when a vehicle doesn't function, staff
is stuck, unable to do work. That staff time has a value. So,
I appreciate it. We all do this with our own cars , when cars
are costing us more than they are worth, but on a fleet scale
it is impressive and complicated, thank you. >> thank you, commissioner. >> I have one question. With
this fire department equipment normally be in this budget? >> it would have been included in our fixed asset system.
without knowing it will be over $50,000 it will have to come back for approval, city manager, I mentioned that we had
proposals in hands to make that amendment, we can move forward
with the installation of that system, rather than come back to you. >> so, I would move that we
approve resolution 2025-173, including the addition of the
fire department diesel sump-something, equipment
disposal. >> exhaust gas removal system.
>> not to exceed $75,000. >> I have your motion, commissioner, but I do have one request for speak, for the sake
of order I will take a second. Mission and second. Miss julie
ferrera? You are recognized. >> julie ferrera, 501 eight
street. I think it is great that we have had national awards .
jeremiah has been around a long time and knows that occasionally, when we have this conversation about replacing the
fleet, that I have always gotten it to say that we have the
nicest police cars in the area. I don't have a problem with new rescue units and grapple trucks, but it seems like, in the spirit
of saving money, I would like to know what the difference is,
between a vehicle that has 75,000 miles, and 85,000 miles.
we are on an island that is three miles wide and 12 miles long . It just seems like rotating every 5 to 7 years is a
lot. I know that my car has 200 and something thousand miles on
it, I did not put that much money into it. I did have to put
$5000 into a transmission, but that was a 200,000 mile -- so, I also wonder if the building department, if it would be wise
to look at electric vehicles . I don't know what our gasoline
bill is. And vehicles are extremely expensive because of
tariffs and other things I know that we buy chevy, but probably be carburetor or something is something that has to come from
another country and I know that we piggyback off of jacksonville, and we try to buy our vehicles along with however
many vehicles they buy so that we get a discount, I understand all that but in the spirit of saving money, not to run
vehicles into the ground, none of us want that, but I am just wondering if there is not a way that we can stretch the amount
of time that we put into vehicle use, thank you. >> thank you, miss ferrera. So, we have our motion and second.
any additional commissioner discussion? Seeing none. Miss best, please start the vote.
>> that motion passes, 5-0. We will move to item 7.5, the
school year 2026-2027 legislative policy and statutory potential areas of concern . Miss laura lie jacobs is here.
thank you very much. >> thank you, mr. Mayor. Laura lie jacobs, sr. Administrator. The resolution before you,
2025-174 is a follow-up to a discussion we have had our december 2nd meeting. >> that was a fast three
minutes. >> sorry. >> I want to thank those of you who were able to meet with the
city lobbyist, jacobs here and myself, over the past week to discuss these bills. As we know, the legislative session moves
quickly, and I think respectively, identifying legislative policy issues of concern in advance is a great action to take. To complement you for this. At this time,
there has only been two or three policy bills filed. We are still very early in this session. So, tonight, as I understand in your
resolution, you have been provided a list of 11 potential legislative concerns that may come up in the upcoming session
and you have been asked to prioritize those . Those of you
who do not have your form, miss best is coming down with one. Does everybody have their forms? >> I already did mine.
>>, good for you. You are so great. >> I thought I was going to be collecting your homework at this
point. >> beisner?
>> oh. Very good. >> I will briefly go over them,
just for the public understanding of them. The first one was the bioethanol issue, which we remember from the
legislative session was built 118, which sought to add language defining bioethanol production as nonchemical.
proposals to eliminate reduced property taxes, there are many of those. A big concern is senate bill 180, which imposed
significant restrictions on local governments ability to
alter future construction, after a hurricane. And, that affects the entire state. Opposed limits on territorial charges, and
enterprise transfers. Most of these are recognizing limits on home rule. Support preserving municipal authority, over
utility revenues and the ability to realize the rate of return on
utility assets. Support protecting municipal authorities that impact fees, to safeguard existing taxpayers from
incurring additional infrastructure costs. Proposals to eliminate local business taxes, raising sources of
revenue for local government and to watch closely for more changes . Opposed large increases to sovereign immunity
caps that can be passed down to local governance. Dissolution of regional planning councils and redevelopment areas. On your
form, previously you were asked to identify the strongest concerned issues, the ones that you are going to recommend we
lobby for, and advocate. This will typically be a small number, just so you do not dilute your effectiveness. We
already have our two appropriations with legislative priorities, and then the second list is ones that are of such concern to you that you know you will want us come already, even
at this premature level, to get behind the league of cities position on. We will still be monitored and still be providing
information as the session progresses, you can add those significant items later, if you see them going out in a way that
you do not find acceptable. So, at this time, I will turn it back over to you. It might make sense to collectively discuss
those he rate number one or number two, or other considerations. Thank you. >> thank you ms. Jacobs. Do we
have anyone kicking off our discussion? >> I would like the ethanol to be number one up there for us to
pursue . Also, the live local, in addition to that, I would
like to add that barrier islands be exempt from live local. I
would like to push towards that, because you know, live local might work for other parts of the state , but having more
people gym into every type and piece of property left on this item makes no sense to me. So, I would like for this community to
push for an exemption, not just for fernandina, but for all
barrier islands . >> thank you, commissioner.
beisner? >> thank you. I know we talked about this last meeting, about when we prioritized our
appropriations , or at least set our appropriations. I have been
on record many times saying I am not big on getting involved in
state policy. I am a budget guy, I am a person who looks after, hey, what can we do to go find appropriations within the state
, and that has been the focus since the time that I have been on the commission, and going back to it, I want to thank both
senator yarborough, and representative black, you have
done a phenomenal job. The job that we have done in those three years, you're one that I was here, we had $1 million that was
put into appropriations. The governor unfortunately redlined
that one, but year two we had $3.5 million that our legislatures were able to get in the budget. We lost 1 million of
that from the governor's pen. This past year, focusing solely on appropriations, we were able to get $4 million, which made up
almost 25% of house district 15's appropriations that they got, what did we do when we focused hard on appropriations?
$8.5 million put in a budget for a city of 13,000. That is amazing. Fernandina has led the way, almost, from senate
district 4 and house district 15 in our appropriations, it's all
of our hard work from legislatures and lobbyists. I am just not big focusing on policy. We have a lobbying arm for that
in the league of cities and league of counties, they are constantly in their ear . I think when you start to really
try to put our lobbyists , it is not just the two that we go to
and try to push this. You have to go into the leadership chamber, you have to go into legislatures that are going to
want to listen to you, so you only have a few minutes. The four or five of us have been over there, you know when we go
in to see the legislature you have five minutes, max. A lot of
that is just eaten up with hellos. So, if the message gets
sprawled out to five or six or seven items you will lose focus on those appropriations items . It will be very difficult to
continue that, forward, because again, putting our lobbyist in front of every single person and trying to knock down four or
five different items that are policy , not just appropriations, it makes it difficult . That is why, again,
I am against our city getting involved in policy, I am strictly about appropriations, I decided to make my stance known.
that is not something -- I haven't said on records multiple times. Throughout the process, people have asked me
and I have written emails, you know, it is just not something that I typically get involved in. Thank you, that's it.
>> thank you, beisner. Commissioner tuten? >> I agree with commissioner ayscue to a large degree. I
definitely agree with commissioner poynter that we put bioethanol as number one , that we would like you all to
directly lobby that bioethanol language does not sneak back into some bill. But, after that, I agree with commissioner ayscue
, that we are such a small little city, that my biggest interest is the $4 million we have asked for , and that for a
lot of this, absolutely, I agree with the florida league of cities. We should not illuminate property tax. How will we fund
our government? We should make sure this bill 180 gets fixed, and all these other things. I completely agree about the
barrier islands, and live local act, but, I feel like leaving
that to tampa or orlando, or miami, somebody bigger to fight
. That is my opinion. >> thank you, commissioner.
commissioner minshew? >> while we stand there with our
handout, asking for money in one hand, the other hand is being tied behind our back, and we are being -- our ability to
function, and our ability to support this city is being taken away, bill by bill by bill. If all we do is ask for money, at
some point, there is not going to be anything else we are allowed to do. Just because we instruct our lobbyist to keep an
eye on these bills, and to pay attention to them, and to act on
them if he needs to at his discretion, does not take away
from our ability to ask for appropriations. And you know, I
cannot tell you how many people have come up here and talked about live local, have talked about density, have talked about
all of the things that we are struggling with not being able to do. If we just continue to never say anything about those
issues, then we are doing our citizens a huge disservice. We have to do more than just ask for money and beg. We are a
vibrant, active city , we have a lot of diverse city -- density
issues. We have a lot of issues about how we allocate and get
money. We are not a taxing authority. We have to stand in
everybody's door with our hand out and say, please may I have a dollar? So, we do that. But, we can also do this. I feel really
strongly that, at a minimum , we need to say these issues are
important to us and leave it to the discretion of a very knowledgeable and experienced lobbyist , to do what is right.
and I think that mr. Jacobs knows when he needs to intervene
and when he doesn't, and all this is doing is giving him a little bit more direction than we have given him in the past.
>> thank you, commissioner. I have no other request to speak
from the commission at this time, and I see no request for public comment. Commissioner tuten?
>> so, commissioner minshew, do you recommend putting more
direction putting anything besides bioethanol as a want to
directly lobby? >> yes. I mean, you know, one of
the things they want to do is take away our ability to do the
a 25% surcharge for people coming into the city, just to get city sewer and water. That money is not just frivolously
spent, it is used, directly, to continue to improve and increase
our wastewater capability. If we lose that money, and we lose the
ability to do that surcharge, then we have reduced the ability
to manage and maintain our wastewater system. And, that is something , I have already asked laura lie, I said get with
finance, and get with andre, and I want to know how much money that is bringing in. What are we doing with it, and give that
information to mr. Jacobs, so that when he is in tallahassee,
and this issue comes up, he can actually say, that is an impact to my city of this much money, and if you make us lose that
money, we cannot recover it someplace else. Except by
raising taxes. Right? Or raising fees, or raising utility rates.
which none of us want to do, because why should we continue
to burden our citizens , over and over again, for things that
tallahassee doesn't understand and we are not speaking up about. There is more to life than just asking for
appropriations. And I just think that, we are not asking him to
stand out on the street corner with a sign, marching up and down and managing protests. We are just asking him to
understand that these issues are important to us, and as they
become an issue that is at the top of the table, that we can respond to it. Otherwise, he just -- you know, has to keep
his hands in his pockets, and not get engaged, and that is not
really what we want. That is not what I want, anyway? I want a lobbyist that represents all the needs of our community and our
city. And I don't think it is too big of an ask. >> thank you, commissioner. I have no other request to speak
from the commission. And any other questions from mr. Jacobs?
>> what are we doing with this? >> we have to kind of agree on
at least a few priorities if we are going in that direction. My understanding, vice mayor is that you want to keep this as
simple stick as possible, but I think it would be fair to take our reading and tally that, without not be appropriate, miss
best? Pass these down and see what they add up to. >> just to clarify, while you're putting your rating, ms. Jacobs
is in my office, so I want to make sure we are clear. If they put a number one, that will direct the lobbyist because they
put a 2 on something, then that is just -- the city wishes to support the league of cities's position, and mr. Jacobs would
not take any lobbying action. One is the city's lobbyist to support the league of cities, correct?
>> that is how the form is explained in the document, and
that has been my understanding before. >> commissioner minshew? >> why are we tying the hands of
our lobbyist? He is a very experienced lobbyist, he has
been over there for years and years, we pay him good money, why would we deny him the ability to intervene on any of
these issues that are critical and important to us? Frankly, all of them are. I don't know if it is a matter of saying he
cannot say anything about it, it is a matter of saying, these are our priorities, use your good judgment to figure out where you
need to intervene, and where you don't. When you need to speak and when you don't. That is what we pay him for. So, why are
we tying his hands? >> mr. Jacobs, would you like to speak to white you ask them to do members wonder gentoo dig?
>> definitely number one it is critically important, because that is actual direction with what he will work on. What we
will prepare for talking point papers when you all come. Number 2, I thought we would catch more categories, and maybe prioritize
some of the ones that you already know. We saw these all last year. If there are ones that through your experience
last year are your concerns, but that number 2 to get behind the
league of cities. That was my intention. >> that doesn't mean that he cannot speak about them. >> thank you, mr. Goodson. Commissioner minshew, I think I
understand it the way that mr. Jacobs has excellent which I agree with you, we should not be telling our lobbyist what to do,
but I believe we are just, as the vice mayor said, if we go and we have five number one priorities, by definition, a
priority means the number one thing. I do think we should keep it to a shorter list , or if we feel any of these are not
relevant which I think most of the commission would agree they all are, that a3 would be relevant in that moment.
>> if you would like mr. Jacobs to add any insight he might have. >> would you like to come up,
mr. Jacobs, and add some color to the discussion?
>> I just want you to know, first, that I appreciate very much, being the person who gets to represent you. I am just in
sales. You all are in management. So whatever you want me to do, that is what I am going to do. I appreciate that
opportunity so, whatever you want me to do I will do, this is my 63rd year of being involved with the legislature and I was
not 12 when I started. We have really good support in the
legislature. Whatever you all want us to do, we can do. We
have been blessed and very successful, with clay yarbrough,
great personal friend of ours. We have dean black, a great
friend, and very good to us, he is a personal friend, too. So,
whatever you all want me to do, I will do, and I'm glad to have the opportunity to do it. So, just tell me what you want to
do, and let me just say something to you, I have been involved with the legislature , for the city, I guess over 20
years, and I have really enjoyed each one of you, and whenever
you all came to tallahassee, last year, you had impact. We
went to kill the ethanol bill, we would see the chairman in the
house, the chairman in the senate, and your presence and what you had to say was very influential. I invite you back
again this year, we want you to come, because you all do have impact. So, whatever you want me to do, I will do. I do not care
about what it is that you decided to do. Just let me know, I'm glad to do it. And again, I am in sales, not management. So
you tell me what to do and that is what I will do. And really, being real honest with it, you are all in management and I am
in sales. >> thank you, mr. Jacobs. >> as I have seen you operate, it seems like the best model is
to take a vote and majority prevails. I think this would get
complicated, if individual commissioners directed him to pursue different aims. >> I agree.
>> I wouldn't do that. >> just like how we put in our
city visioning session, the order of priorities for
different objectives, those would be the ones that would be most effective to have our lobbyists keep an eye on and
when the commission is able to give a little more interpretation, if there is anything bubbling around , this
commission can then direct them to give it more attention at this time. >> okay. I do know how to
statistically wait those with this type of scoring, which is
why I chose it. But, does there have to be a public vote , or
can I score by collecting the tallies turned in?
>> right now I think what is happening is that miss best is scoring them. If you have an indication of how you thought
they should be scored we should probably discuss that, and then they will put the tally up, as to the top items, and then I
would suggest that the commission should vote on that, or discuss it and see if they want to rearrange it. It will
require a vote. You have a resolution that says you are
authorizing items, but some of this is how you will pick the items. So, the short answer is yes, we will have to vote.
>> we don't have an electronic way to tally the provided, but we have our sheets here. Would you like us to read the top four
into the record? >> certainly. >> bioethanol which is the lowest scoring, which means it
is the highest scoring. The second one was the proposals to eliminate property taxes, third-place tied with proposed
limits to extraterritorial surcharges, and enterprise funds transfers, as well as the live local act.
>> thank you, miss best. Is there any commission or comments regarding those top four, any lack of consensus about those we
might pursue? Is there anything not in that list that we would
like to make sure is also emphasized, even if it is not number one? Seeing none. Would it be appropriate, met him
attorney, to take a motion on supporting those four legislator directives? >> for item number 1, and then if you will do any to direct the league of cities, that would be
a separate motion. >> thank you. Do I have a motion? >> I moved to approve the top
four that we just picked, and everything else on the list would go to the league of cities.
>> supporting the position for the league of cities. Do I have a second? Any commission or discussion? I would just like to
add in as mentioned earlier that if we can say any other priorities arise, we would then bring that back to the
commission to amend this intention in our direction. So,
I would support that accordingly, and seeing no further discussion, no public comment, miss best, please start the vote. I have you for 8.1, sorry, would you like to speak
on this item? Come on up. >> julie ferreira, 501 dade
street I just want to say that money is our lifeline. He has
contacts left right in the middle, he has long-term friendships, I think that he needs full leniency to respond .
things pop up in the legislature all of the time . Jennys has a great point about home rule. Home rule is being sliced and
diced and this city needs to push back. Senate bill 180 is a terrible bill. It is being pushed back on throughout the
state , and why we don't have that on our list is beyond me. I
am glad that no ethanol gets great support because under no ethanol -- but, I also don't understand why we think that but
he would only get five minutes with people. I went to the state legislature and I sat down with both black and yarbrough, one I
got 45 minutes with and the other I got 35 minutes with. I don't think that we can say that but he will only get five
minutes with somebody. So, let's be as simple stick as we
can. I just hope that, you think about 180, that you also about just giving him leniency to keep his ear to the ground. He knows
what is good for fernandina, and what is not good for fernandina. Right? Right? >> thank you, miss ferreira. We
have our motion and second and mr. Jacobs, would you like to
add a comment? >> I would like to reassure miss ferreira that senate bill 180 will be hard-fought at the state level. The league of cities will fight that hard, and there are
lawsuits , and we are approved to work with the league of
cities on that one, so I don't think it will be ignored. >> thank you, mr. Jacobs. All right, folks. We have our vote.
that motion passes 4-1. Once again, for a point of order, do
we need a second motion for any secondary priorities? >> commissioner poynter printed it all in one. The only thing is
that on the cover sheet, ms. Jacobs did point out that there are five league of cities policy cities that a commission may
discuss and appoint commissioners to serve on, that
would have to be done at a public meeting meeting, for this
agenda item if you would like mistake is to address it now or bring it back at another meeting, or just not discuss or vote on it at all. That is on your covert summary sheet, and
that is something you will have to have separate submission on if you so choose. >> are we ready to talk about
it? >> I think commissioner minshew makes a fair point. If this could be brought back at a
future meeting so commission has time to review this information and can make a better decision, I think that would be good. >>, asked the question? When would you need this in?
>> I can do it at the next meeting. I did hear from one commissioner is specified a certain policy committee and
another commissioner two, provided that list in the email
yesterday. So, it does seem like this is a little bit in process. >> is there a deadline to get this done, before certain time
in the legislative session? Or is this done at the league of cities? >> it will be done at the league
of cities meet, they do have a policy meeting in september .
next week, in fact that I was going to send you information for that, but anyone can go. >> thank you, mr. Mr. Buddy
jacobs? >> I just want to say thank you to sarah. She did a great job. She has been involved in the literature for a long time, too. And she did start when she was
12. Anyway, you will really have a great opportunity this year, I think we will do well, and I appreciate your support. What I
have noticed about all of you all , you're really servant leaders. You care more about all of these folks in this room then
you care about yourselves, and I thank you all very much for
doing that but I appreciate it. >> thank you, mr. Jacobs. So, we have our tabling of that
discussion for the next meeting, our postponement. Which I believe brings us along to our 7.6 , our opioid litigation. Is
that you as well, mr. Jacobs? Take us away. >> okay. You all are familiar, I am sure, with the opioid
settlements florida. It was aggressive in securing opioid settlement funding , that being funding produced by drug
manufacturers and purveyors that contributed to the opioid
epidemic. So we had already received one funding stream
through that. There are two more national opioid settlements, and they are perdue and sackler, mylan's son and zydus. So, this
resolution just direct the city to pursue a settlement through
those a settlements. >> thank you. Do I have any questions? >> thank you for keeping an eye out for these. >> I will add, you will see
another resolution on this. We do not know how much money we
will get at this time, because it depends on how many jurisdictions apply for state funds. At some point they will
let us know and the police department will make recommendations for their use, so we will see the final
decision-making again. >> thank you. Are there any additional questions for ms. Jacobs? Seeing on, and I have no
request to speak from the audience, we have the motion? >> I have a motion in the second. Any additional
discussion? Seeing none. Miss best, please start the vote.
that motion passes 5-0 which brings us to 7.7. Credit card surcharge fees, amending resolution 2021-140. Take us away, miss campbell. >> thank you, this is a
consideration of resolution 2025-176, which would broaden our ability to correct collect credit card processing fees. In
2021, when the commission adopted this resolution, only certain departments were authorized, and that was utility billing, code enforcement, planning, conservation, and
police . We are being increasingly burdened by these
merchant fees, particularly at the golf course, and marina. So, we would like the ability to charge credit card convenience
fees . Under florida statute, we are limited to only actual
charges. We can only pass along what we are actually being assessed. But, this would broaden this to all city
departments, and for an example, the golf course had about
$58,000 in merchant fees this year , and the marina was over
$200,000 of merchant fees. So, this goes a long way in sharpening those two energize funds , bringing them into the
black, into the operating area. Staff highly recommends approval of this . >> thank you, miss campbell. Any
questions from the commission on this item? Seeing none, with no request to speak from the audience, do I have a motion?
>> I moved to approve resolution 2021 -176.
>> I have a motion and the second. Any additional discussion? >> I just want to thank miss campbell. If the state authorizes us to capture these
fees, we are all confronted with that everywhere. You know, to pay by check or ach or cash, instead of paying those fees .
so, if we are authorized to capture them, we need to capture
them. I we have some of the highest credit card fees in the
world. Thank you. >> thank you, commissioner.
>> as a small business owner, we pay credit card fees . With the
motion and second, no additional discussion noted, miss best, will you please start the boat? That motion passes 5-0. 's
second reading of the master fee schedule. Miss campbell? >> thank you, mayor. This is the second reading of the annual fee
schedule update. I will ask attorney prince to read into the record by title only and I can describe some of the amendments
that are proposed. >> ordinance 2025-09, and ordinance of the city of fernandina beach florida to
establish fees for the airport, building, business, services,
code enforcement, cemetery, city parks office, city manager's office, fire, golf club, marina, parks and recreation, planning and conservation, police, sanitation, stormwater, streets,
wastewater, water, and impact fees, excluding water and sewer capacity fees , for fiscal year 2025-2026, authorizing
administrator of -- of scrivener's errors, providing
for severability and providing for an effective date, thank you, mr. Mayor. >> thank you, misprints. >> so, in the attachments, which is 31 pages, all of the
departments are covered. We make numerous changes, and all the department we listed in the title . Some that I will point
out briefly, we now have a rental rate for this space, for city hall chambers, golf and marina, we made significant
adjustments, too, and gave them the ability to flex rates during peak usage , peak seasons, this gives them a lot more
flexibility and efficiency on those rates . Parks, a number of
adjustments in the parks area. Planning and conservation, nothing to cause significant. There were some fees we were
charging already that had not been codified, so we are cutting them down in this policy, now. Adjusted the closure of center
street rates and side street rates , to have more teeth when
somebody tries to close down a road that impacts the central business district. I am happy to answer any questions you might
have on other miscellaneous changes. >> are there any questions from miss campbell on the current fee
schedule? Commissioner minshew? >> so, I am looking for it, now.
the cleaning deposit for parades , under parks.
>> page 15. It is up on the screen, as well.
>> so, the last time this city worked to redo special event
stuff, I worked really closely with the current city legal
staff about the ability to have a reasonable price for grade permits. It is a first amendment issue. There is research that I
found from aclu that talked about, you cannot use fees to
prevent first amendment rights activities. And if you do, then
you have to have some way for people to ask for exemptions ,
because they are indigent or whatever, so that everyone has the ability to do this. With that, the fee was set at $25,
which I think has been fine, it has not been a big issue. Now, there is a $250 security deposit for parades, which, I understand
security deposit for when you are living in central park or
you are renting out something big for a special event, but I do not understand why we would ask somebody for a $250 cleaning
or security deposit for a parade that is a $25 fee , and has
actually got a bunch of first amendment rights issues associated with it, so, I would either like us to take it out,
or to understand how we would wave it upon request, if someone
came in and said they were indigent and cannot afford a $250 security fee , but that they want to have a parade for a
particular issue. >> thank you, commissioner. Either miss campbell or misprints, do we have a fee
waiver application process? >> I cannot look at anything in
the code related to parks waivers , or parade waivers specifically. >> if you wanted to, legally,
because it would be less restrictive, you could remove it, or you could vote to approve it with and amendment of the
ability to waive it based on indigence, and we would have to
bring something back for a proper application, or bring up some sort of form, but you could approve it with that condition,
that a waiver is created on the basis of indigency. >> can we also ask as to why we added this?
>> that would be my question. >> how do you decide that a parade needs to be cleaned up? >> it is a security deposit.
normal you can get it back if it is clean. >> scott michelson, department of parks and recreation. My
recommendation would be that if you wanted to take it out, just take the parade aspect out, and leave the for other facilities.
the intention was not to prohibit anybody , just like a
rental at central park, a parade it involves a lot to do. Sometimes there is clean up after it. It is more the intent
to make sure the people who are holding these events are
accountable. Like commissioner poynter was saying, it is a deposit. We are more than happy to return it , it is just
sometimes, with any event, there can be issues afterwards.
>> thank you. >> so, for the last two or three
years, since we have had this $25 permit, have we had issues with parades that would cause us to want to do this?
>> I would say, after a parade, including streets, I think there is a lot of cleanup that is done after the event .
>> by the parks department, or by the streets department? >> a combination. >> you don't give any of that
money if it is kept to the streets department? >> it would be in the general fund.
>> to me, it is a first amendment issue. >> I believe it with the commission, parks and recreation
has no problem with it being removed if that is the will. >> commissioner tuten? >> will make one comment that I
live relatively close to central park, and after almost every single event there, I purposefully walk the dog in
that direction, because there is so much trash to be picked up, but we still get it, for events, you get it. So if you are having
an event at central park, you pay $250 deposits, and every time we are good stewards, and we clean up
>> that is correct. >> I'm talking specifically
about parades. >> one thing with parades is,
where people are setting up for the parade is in central park.
>> it is a first amendment right issue to me. >> I totally agree, and I went refute your point, but I do see
the need that if the city will be burdened with a potential cleanup that there is some safety mechanism, that there is
teeth to the contract, there is skin in the game on the vendor or the interested party that holds the event. But that the
will of this commission I would be happy to move this be applied
to events instead of parades. >> how often, when you give back
-- parades have never had it? This is the first time. So it
wasn't even a $25 thing? >> it was the permit that was
25. The permit was $25, so there was not a deposit. So, we have
not held it. I will say that
-- willing to work with us. So, I don't think it will be a
problem either way. >> let me ask one more question. If you have a special event and a parade, today, you are paying
the special event fee, and you are also paying the $25 parade fee, are you going to get charged two cleanup fees?
>> no you will not. You would pay the $25 permit fee for the
parade, and then if this would proceed, you would then now have
to make a deposit, which would be refundable after the parade.
>> I don't think that is what she was asking. >> oh, I'm sorry. >> so, today, if I want to have
an event at special central park, I pay the special event
fee and I pay the 250 dollars deposit for central park, and I
have a parade, too, is that a second $250 fee? >> no. We wouldn't do that. >> well, it doesn't say that.
>> we did have that conversation. I think it would
be the higher of the two deposits, with the rental fees,
based on rental fees if it is 50% of the rental fee, whichever is higher at that point we would do that deposit. If that makes
sense? >> I will make a motion to
remove the $250 deposit for parade.
>> I have emotion. Approving the rest of the fee schedule ending? >> I have emotion, to have a second? Motion and second. Any
additional discussion? >> I just have a question. How many parades do we have in the city of fernandina beach?
>> I am not 100% sure off the top of my head, but I would say maybe 10 or 12 throughout the year. The majority of people
having parades are local organizations , that people know
in the community. >> thank you, vice mayor. With
no additional discussion or request to speak from the
audience, miss best, please start the boat. >> which boat is this? >> this is to remove the $250
fee . >> to approve the whole thing?
>> no, this is just a motion to remove the $250 fee. This is
just an amendment. >> commissioner tuten?
>> thank you, everybody. >> now, and I have a motion regarding the remainder? >> to approve. >> second. Any additional commissioner discussion? Seeing
them, miss best, please start the event.
>> that motion passes, that brings us to item 9, our city
manager reports. >> several things for you tonight. I wanted to give an update after four full weeks of
the grocery getter shuttle, we have had 27 protestants in that
program, it averages about 7 writers per week. We will
continue to track that as we get it from the parks department.
the city received correspondence from our partners at oasis
marina, they have been acquired , and they are now called alliance marine . No changes to the staff that we are working
with , and legal will be reviewing the agreement to
determine whether we need to update that agreement, since it is being assigned to a new organization. I wanted to thank
miss carless and miss brown, jeremiah, and all of the other department directors for their work on the budget. We spent
hours and hours, together, myself and miss carless, being
new to our roles, I think it took us some extra time but we wanted to make sure that we have a full grasp of every single
fund, and I think smooth passage tonight speaks volume to their effort, including how they put it together. So, we have
established the public stakeholder group to discuss paid parking. Their first meeting will be thursday
afternoon at 3:30 p.m. I believe that agenda has been posted, now. We have some discussion items for them to consider, and
then again, it will come to the commission for a workshop on october 7th. I wanted to thank the I.t. Department for the
monitors behind us. They were up last meeting but not functioning
yet, so now the audience should have full visual kit ability, no matter where in the room they are to see what is going on, on
the big screen. Lastly, I have been invited to tallahassee, to speak as a panelist, to the house select committee on
property taxes. I will be going to tallahassee on september 23rd
, representing small cities. There will be a city manager from a small city, a medium city, and a large city, and our
role is to educate the panelists about how it works, how we plan
our budget, I am not there to lobby , or to apply for a
particular position, but I am there to educate them about how
gets calculated, that sort of thing. So, I will report back how that goes. That is all I have. Thank you. Happy to answer
any questions. >> questions for ms. Campbell? >> I have one question. Regarding oasis, do we want to
add, at some point, 28 workshop agenda, halfway through the
year, sometime in the spring, on potentially bringing marina
management in-house before that one year contract is over?
>> sure. >> any objection? Let's get it on a workshop. Any other questions for ms. Campbell
before we pass it along to miss best? Seeing none. >> thank you. Be paid parking initiative committee had their
certification requirement . That item will be on your october 21st regular meeting agenda for consideration . Pending your
forward movement , we will -- that item will go to the ballot,
or not, depending on how you vote on october 21st. >> thank you, miss best. Any questions for miss best? Seeing
none. City attorney reports? >> thank you, mr. Mayor. I have
a few items tonight. One, I wanted to update to the
commission on potential tax deed sale that we would bring to you
tonight, as an expansion item, but, we learned at the 11th hour before coming to this meeting, that someone went on behalf of
the property owner and paid the $3200.90 owed in property taxes
. The owner of the property is denton llc, it was an llc that
has a georgia address. It purchased the property at a tax
deed sale in 2009. At some point in 2019, it stopped -- denton stopped paying taxes, and one of the tax certificates that it
sold was right for a tax deed to be requested, the cell was
october 7th. Golf group holdings acquisition is the one who paid
the taxes, on behalf of the property owner. That does not give them any rights, and mr. Jeremiah glisson has brought up
the property. We want to let you know that it is completely wet .
mr. Glisan can show you that. We have spoken with the county, I
spoke with brandon carvalho, who also spent time with county
manager pope. It is completely wet, the property appraisers
site it is designated as wasteland. The commission , the
city manager consented to bring to the commission because it is adjacent to city property , and we wanted to hear your thoughts
on bidding . We don't have the opportunity anymore, but I
don't have a lot of concerns, my presentation tonight was going to inform you that there is not much you can do with this
property. There is actually nothing you can do with this property it is not developable, based on the wetlands, and it
does not have access, so there would be issues that would have to be resolved, and from the county perspective, because it
is property within the county, it is not developable, based on
their reviews. While it was an opportunity that the commission
may move forward on, we will not be moving forward if the taxes
have not been paid, we will find in a few years that it comes up again, because, you know, they stopped paying taxes when they
realized. So that item did not come before you tonight, but ms. Kirkland had sent information to the county and mr. Glisson,
forwarded it to me, we coordinated with the county to
make sure we would not be in a bidding war and today, we found out taxes were paid on behalf of the landowner, so there we are.
but I just wanted to bring it up, since we had let ms. Kirkland know we would be speaking aloud about it and a
lot of people were interested. The other matter I would like to bring before you at the next meeting, on october 7th --
>> before you bring up the second one, can I have a question about that? I know this was going to all happen really
fast, and we would hopefully authorize the city manager to use the money in the conservation fund. Is there any
merit, or any ability to make that kind of emotion, now, that
if something similar were to come up some of that we would authorize the city manager to use the balance of the
conservation land fund? >> that would be great. However,
the commission agenda that I had put together was an extremely complex -- because you had several steps, if it is $100,000
or more, you have to get an appraisal, if it is 100,000 or less, you are allowed to vote to waive the appraisal. You would
have to get the city manager a limit which we would do tonight, you would have to get the city manager the authority to do ,
due diligence. The reason this would be an expansion item is that we only get 30 days notice on a tax deed sale. That came
into my office on the ninth, on a tuesday. I it is a great idea but it is a bit complex. It is something we will have to bring
to you again, in this kind of situation. We have discussed, ms. Campbell and I, about amending your section of the
code , to allow for emergency measures, which would be a tax
deed sale, a sheriff's sale. And handling it by ordinance, to
give more authority to the city manager for those things which are truly triggered so quickly, that it is very difficult for us
to jump on top of it. But, I it is too complex, to just make a motion to do it at that time. >> any other questions on that
particular piece of property? The other matter I would like to
bring before you at the next commission meeting is your communications media technology, cmt procedures you have in
place. Earlier tonight I spoke about your commissioner policies
and procedures, and that has been adopted and in place. You have a separate technology agenda policy, that has not been
of repealed or changed since covid, and it does not allow any
form of, for anybody to attend via zoom , any commission or
board member to attend via zoom unless there is an executive order of the governor. So, that is a very broad , and probably
two extreme and does not allow for us to period if we need to, in a truly extenuating circumstance. You have to have a
quorum in person. No doubt you would have to have three. I will give some examples in the attorney general opinions, you
have covid and don't want to come to the meeting, that is an extenuating circumstance. You have a family member die, you
have -- one of the examples was back surgery and they could not
come to the meeting. Those would be times when we would allow a commissioner or board member to potentially appear via zoom. So,
I would bring it to you for you to look at. Looking at the extenuating circumstances. It came up, because of our board of
adjustments, again. We had the trend dolly appeal set for
tomorrow , and now we are down to four. And we had to postpone
that appeal. Nothing to do with the comments that were said earlier, but we do not have the ability. We had one extenuating
circumstance, somebody had to be called out of town, we don't have the ability to allow him to appear via zoom. For the record,
all of the attorneys involved , mr. Poole will be representing
the board, I will be representing staff, mr. Anspach or is the owner applicant, and ms. Krasner is represented by
mr. Brooks. So, all of the attorneys got on the phone and said, there is no way we can violate your policy. So, we
could not allow the board member to appear via zoom even though
he was willing to put that is what brought this to my attention and we thought we would like to bring it back
october 7th, because we have an october 15th, now, board of adjustments appeal, and if this came up, I would again not have
any ability in a true emergency. Is is not I forgot I will be out of town, there has to be some sort of extended waiting
circumstance, so, I would like, with your consensus, to bring it back to be something that we could look at and vote on.
>> absolutely. Any objection from the commission? Seeing none. Thank you. >> on that note, the appeal has
been moved to the third wednesday, october 15th, and for
the board of adjustments meeting. Then, lastly, the sales tax on leases has been repealed. So, I know our comptroller, and
ms. Campbell have been on top of the landlords collecting sales
tax for properties that are not being used for municipal use ,
we are no longer allowed to collect that sales tax, and we were just remitting it to the state anyway, so that has been
waived, and the city staff is moving forward to properly administer our license. That is all I had.
>> thank you, misprints. Any questions? >> I have a question for the city attorney. Can you please
explain what ms. Christer was referring to in the public
comments? Because I have no knowledge of what has been going
on. Could you please give us an update? >> certainly. I wanted to speak with mr. Brooks attorney and ms.
krasner was on the phone and we were talking about attorney theories and arguments , that we might present in front of the
board. We later had an attorney discussion without -- it is not
really appropriate to have the appellant , or even city staff,
it was the lawyers trying to determine what would be before the board of adjustments, what was appropriate to be before the
board of adjustments, it wasn't that the appeal of the building
official is untimely, it was whether or not any appeal related to the trc, local development order was timely. So, with that first meeting, ms. Krasner was on it, we have had
two or three meetings with all of the attorneys since. Miss chris is well represented, and we are all arguing what we are
going to present, and what the parameters will be, in front of the board of adjustments.'s that is something unfortunately
ms. Krasner was on the call and heard some theories being bounced around, like lawyers do, but no final decisions have been
made, except for, we know the appeal as of the building official permits, and we are working with the agreed
parameters . >> now I am more confused.
>> I bet. >> so, has miss christmas appeal
been denied? >> no. Miss christmas appeal has not even been considered. It was going to be considered tomorrow
night, it was on the agenda, it was going to be heard. And now it has only been continued, postponed . -- which oceans of
the city process was going to be in front of the board of adjustments. But her appeal has not been heard.
>> it still has a standing? >> for the building permit, it
has standing. There is some question as to whether or not the trc has standing, but that is something that the board of
adjustments will take up. That is something that will have to
be decided on by the board of adjustment, with advice and counsel, so it is all at the board of adjustments level, and
those things will be discussed on the record at the meeting, when she is afforded a quasijudicial appeal.
>> okay, thank you. >> thank you, misprints. Any
further questions for the city attorney? Seeing none, we will move along . Ladies first, commissioner tuten?
>> I have a couple of things . One, I think I mentioned before,
an organization, affordable housing first is building tiny homes for workforce housing, they are kicking off a big
fundraiser, you can find them online at affordable housing first, as in 1 st ,.org. Wally mentioned the hispanic heritage
festival, I just want to remind everybody, it is saturday, october 11th. From 12:00 to 9:00 on south third street. There is
really great food. And then, I got a text from a friend , maybe
a week ago or so, with this crazy picture of a palm down
across south seventh, and it was a sunday morning, maybe, and I
texted jeremiah, and before anybody could do anything, magically, cruz appeared on the scene . My friend text me back.
I wrote it down, she said, city yard debris guys.the tree. They always do a great job picking up yard debris, great guys and hard
workers. I decided to give our guys a shout out. I did actually end up running into them here, and I told them I was going to
give them a shout out and he said oh, can you mention one thing, when we all part put our yard waste out, to look up. If
there are wires or overhanging tree, there big giant grappling
arm struggles with that, so find a better place. But anyway, they are great for us, because my gosh, we generate yard waste.
and then, the last thing, jeremiah, could you put a picture up for me, of the flooding on front street, if
anybody missed it? It was on my calendar, because I was watching
when we were going to have this, we have a noaa gauge at the
marina, we were 2.34 feet above the mean high water mark . Last
year, we had 10 days of sunny day flooding but it was not the
full moon, it was many days after the full moon. That is at
the crossing. That did not go over the railroad track this
time, you can sort of see some bubbling in the center , because
we have -- correct me if I am wrong, it is a waste water pipe
running in there? So, this flooding water is entering our
wastewater system, which is going to our wastewater treatment facility, which cannot handle this extra flow. I just
wanted to show this picture, because I was walking around and
ankle-deep water, taking photos. This is happening more and more
to the city and we need to build a seawall. That is all I wanted to say on that. >> thank you, commissioner.
commissioner minshew? >> okay, I have a question. I
thought we spent several hundred thousand dollars putting in
really fancy stuff underneath all those streets and relining pipes to keep water separate? >> absolutely.
>> what is bubbling? >> that particular situation was a manhole cover . When we redid the pavement in that area, we
replaced an agent manhole cover with a brand-new polycarbonate
one which is supposed to seal 100% .
>> and it leaks? >> did experience some weeks during that event. We have since , the next day, went back out
there and fixed it, addressed those issues. We use these opportunities to really , they tell us what we need to see when
we go. At the building in the photo with the green roof, we
found a broken cleanout . We went out there and smoke tested
that area, the following day , and we found an area that was
billowing smoke . The property owner went in and made the repair. So, when we see these issues it gives us an
opportunity to address them. >> our nice fancy lined pipes are all still fine? >> absolutely.
>> thank you. >> can I also give a shout out
to storm water? Because my gosh, they were all out there dealing
with this. And then they got yelled at by somebody, that had
nothing to do with it. This was literally just the river
deciding it was coming into our city, and therefore, we need a seawall to keep the river out. And protect the historic
downtown. That is it. >> thank you.
>> so, I would also like to thank the city staff, the city manager, the finance folks, and all of the department heads who
work so hard on the budget and capital improvement plan this year. It is head and shoulders above anything that I remember
seeing from 10 years of sitting out in the audience. So, I am
very happy to see things like finding places where we can get
more money, we can increase revenues, we can be more efficient and productive. Those are all really great things, and
I am very proud of everybody working on that. So, thank you for doing all of that. One of the things that I would like us
to look at as we get into the new budget year, and we have talked about this briefly, before, is the possibility of
increasing approval limits for the city manager, and creating
new approval limits for the deputy city manager, who does not have any of his own special approval limits. In a way,
again, to speed processes up him and not have to have so many
things come in front of us which adds weeks and weeks to processes. So, I would ask that if you are ready to start
looking at that, but we should do that sooner, rather than later. And then, last week, I went out to the economic
development council's training class on artificial intelligence. And I only use it to look up crossword answers, so
I am not really a big user of it, but I was actually blown away at all of the possibilities and potentials. I was there for
another group to think about how we -- for them to use it, but
all I could do was sit there and think about all of the different
things the city could be doing with artificial intelligence. So, I think that is something that, maybe, for next year, we
should begin to look at. And I think it would help with budget planning, it can help with doing analysis, to determine what is
the right approach , there's different ways. But it was
actually very interesting, and I learned a lot. And I am going on
vacation for two weeks, starting friday, so don't send me an
email. If you do, I will be answering it, just slowly. And
that is it. >> commissioner poynter?
>> the only thing I would like to ask, to see if this commission would indulge me, I met with buddy jacobs last week,
to go over the various issues facing our city, vis-à-vis the
state legislature, and we were reminiscing a little bit, and
one of the things that we all believe, that eventually we will
have to do is replace city hall, and I was involved with him
trying to get the post office building, and he thinks that
maybe now is the time to go back and try to do that again. Things
are changing at that building. There is one person that operates, the federal government now is looking for ways of
cutting cost and this type of stuff. One of the reasons why we did not take the building when we were suggested that we could
get it is that we would have to pay for all of it, to be improved, and then the post office got the whole first
floor, for the next 100 years and free rent. We did not approve that. But now, they spent over $3.5 million on
repairing the infrastructure of that building, new roofs, new ac, new dehumidifiers and stuff, so I am just asking if this
commission would allow buddy to go ahead and start working on that, again. I spoke with him, and he is absolutely thrilled to
start working on that again, he also knows a lot of people in dc, and we have a great congressman, there, he was able,
the last time , he was able to get it into the senate because
of senator nelson, but, it stalled in the house, and we have got somebody in the house, now. So, I think it is a good
time to try to do it. As you know, it takes a while to do
this, and if you guys give permission then we can ask him
to do that and he would love to do that. >> is there any objection from the commission to look into this
kind of acquisition? >> I think it is great. If that building is not used. It is less likely to be saved? It is an
incredible building downtown. >> there is one person in the entire building. >> charlie george definitely advocated that is worth considering at the least, and it
just didn't seem to happen last year for obvious reasons. The city was facing, so, I like the sound of it, we will see what we
can come up with. >> thank you. >> thank you, commissioner. >> meisner? >> thank you. I read an article online, so I would have to go
back to wastewater and utilities, I think a culvert or
engineering a pipe there off of simmons, instead of using a big consultant, the engineering firm, you were all able to do
that in house, I want to give you kudos. You do an amazing job there, with keeping a lot of things in house. I know
everybody has drainage problems and it is tough, but, just give them a really good shutout, they do a good job with what they
have got. On another note, I want to talk about the citizens petition for paid parking, I want to acknowledge the
committee that did a lot of that work. It is not lost on people
that I am a pretty big political junkie. I like politics, I like things like this. You know, I have been involved in a lot of
campaigns, and when you go through petitions, it is one of the biggest things you have to get. Countywide, for a county
commissioner it is like 730 or something like that. Constitutional officer is right around that same number. And I
have watched candidates struggle to get that, in a countywide election for two months, trying to track them down. What this
committee was able to do in a voter registration number of
about 11,000, to get right at 2000, and 10% is not an uncommon
number , that is a pretty common thing. To get that many in four
weeks , it baffles my mind . It truly does. As somebody who
watches politics, who sees things, it absolutely floors me, that it was even possible. I am going to say something, and I
don't want it to sound like it is a threat, I just want to put
my feeling out there on this , and my political consultant
would kill me. I have never been afraid of recall. Simply because
the threshold to do it is almost impossible. If you read the
statute, even when people were talking about recalling me , or
recalling the last commission and everything, when I look at statute I said, good luck. They accomplished the second half of
that recall petition, which takes 60 days, in 30 days. I have never been terrified of recall, but it is on the table.
and it is not a threat to anybody, I'm not trying to say that, design, it is a legitimate concern, that any commission
going forward needs to worry about. I just ask that as this
process moves forward, that maybe we sit down and start talking to the committee, and start talking to these people about, you know, the no paid parking people, how do we move
forward and how does this look? And what can we do to simply allow the citizens to go out on this, and that is all I got.
>> thank you, vice mayor. On a more somber note, I would like to extend condolences to the family, friends, and loved ones
of woodrow ,■ woody mullis. He graduated from the tricycle and
then moved to nashville and built a immensely successful career in the music