[Captioner present]
>> Here we go.
I will call this meeting to order.
Please call the roll.
>>
[Roll call]
>> Please rise for the invocation by Doctor Steve
Fellows.
>> Heavenly father, we're grateful to be here today.
I'm thankful for those that are willing to serve in each
of the council members and the mayor
and we pray that you bless them and you give them
wisdom pure I pray that you will also
give insight and wisdom to just everybody involved on the city
side as well as those that are here
to express their thoughts about things that are happening.
We look forward to hearing some of the good things that
are happening in our community as we continue to grow.
We're grateful for that.
We know they're blessings from you.
We pray that you give wisdom throughout the proceedings
today.
We ask in Christ's name.
Amen.
>> Please join Council Member Coburn for the pledge.
>> 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.
>> Get these a little closer so people can hear me.
We now move on to community announcements on Monday
September 7th.
It is Labor Day.
The city offices are closed.
Our next council meeting is Thursday September 10th at 5
p.m.
That's our evening meeting.
Following council meeting is Thursday September 24th.
That's a morning meeting at 9 a.m.
On Saturday September 26th, there's a race for bays five K,
ten K and Fun Run at Conservation Park.
And Saturday September 26th, there's a fall festival which
should be a good time at Aaron Bisset Park.
That is it for can you meeting announcements.
We now move on to the approval of the meeting minutes.
Motion to approve.
We have a motion to approve and a second.
Please call roll.
[Roll call] We now move on to the approval of the agenda
and additions or deletions.
Mr. Whitman?
>> No.
>> No additions or deletions.
I noticed in the crowd we had a number of folks
from Laguna Beach here that I wanted to hear about that.
And we have that last in the agenda.
Do you mind if we move that up to first?
Motion to approve as amended.
We have a motion to approve and a second.
Please call the roll.
[Roll call] We now move on to presentations.
I guess we can't change it now.
We have an update on the Bay Economic Development Alliance
by President Becca Hardin.
>> Thank you Mr. Mayor and members of Council.
Thank you for having us today.
My name is Becca Hardin.
I'm with the Bay County Economic Development Alliance.
We try to come before you, hopefully a couple of times
a year to give you an update on the projects that we have been
working in the county and how it has
an impact on you and in this community.
That's what I'd like to do today.
Give you an update on some of the projects that we've recently
announced and where they are as far as development
and implementation.
First one that we announced this year in 2026
is Voluntary Electric.
This is a Canadian marine boat manufacturing company
that is located on a site that we
found that has access to deepwater
near Robinson Bayou at the end of Frankfort Avenue.
You see that we put this slide up there for Constable Register.
That's his hotel Indigo, and Harrison's.
We had Paul vote in town and the mayor
was able to take a ride on it, and gave
a lot of the leadership on their boat.
This is a very innovative company.
The boat is and actually electric motor boat
with a carbon fiber hull.
They plan to create 300 jobs in Bay County.
Average wage of $75,000 a year.
We're investing more than $40 million in our community.
The owner and CEO of the company has already
moved here with his family and bought a house in Bay County.
He's got his four children in our school system now
and the president of the company has already
bought a house as well.
You see the boat.
This was a boat that the company manufactures
for the Canadian Coast Guard.
They're working with the US Coast Guard on a similar boat.
They also have a contract for these boats with the Navy Seals
in San Diego California because it's an electric motor.
You can't hear the motor, you can't smell the motor.
You can't detect the boat from an aerial infrared light.
So they are growing in the defense industry.
That's why they have to expand in the United States.
Thankfully, they choose Bay County to expand here.
We're super excited about having Voltari in our community.
This is the biggest project we've ever
announced with the Bay County Economic Development
Alliance and the community leadership
in Bay County and their airport authority.
This is IAG Aaroe group.
There's a company that's headquartered in Miami Florida
with operations in Rome Italy.
They are a jet engine maintenance company.
They work on big jet engines for GE and Pratt and Whitney,
Raytheon, Rolls-Royce, Airbus and Boeing.
They work with the big boys in the rendering.
You'll see that they plan to build 120,000 square foot
maintenance facility at our airport,
will eventually have access to our 10,000 foot runway.
The key thing about this project is
that they'll build a jet engine test cell,
and that asset is going to be worth about $75 million.
If you get a company that builds a jet engine test
cell in your community, they're not going anywhere.
They'll build the second test cell and then a two wide body
hangar.
This project will create 500 new jobs in Bay County,
average wage of $65,000 a year, and a $107 million capital
investment.
We worked with Gulf Coast, and their board,
and we were able to solidify $25 million grant to help support
the recruitment of this company and we're using that grant money
to help build the maintenance facility that you see here
in this picture.
The company also bought existing manufacturing facility
in the city of Lynn Haven.
They plan to have 150 of the 500 employees in this facility.
Already got 50 employees working here.
This company is going to be a company
that we want in our community because they are already
very philanthropic.
You see the big jet engine, this is a GE jet engine on the right.
This is a jet engine that they have already donated
to Haney Technical College.
In front of a student that is in the FAA and--
>> He looks thrilled to be there.
>> He's about to graduate.
He's did a good job.
This is the first engine and there's
the second engine coming.
Not only did they donate the engines to the college,
but they donated an employee for the training the trainer,
so they can train all of our instructors
and then all of the tooling to work on these engines
at the value of this donation is more than $5 million.
They are already contributing back to our community.
This project is a project we worked with the county,
and for those of you who are familiar with where
the old County incinerator used to be in highway 231
in the original industrial park, that's what that building is
going to look like once global impact product is finished
with the retrofit.
Global Impact Products is already
using our port to import glass from our sister city in Merida.
And they will eventually create 150 new jobs
and invest more than $50 million in this project.
Another aviation company that we were successful in approving
is from Connecticut, Oxford Technologies.
They went into an existing building.
They'll create 60 jobs and a capital investment
of $8 million.
You see this equipment is very specialized
because they manufacture the leading edge of the Black Hawk
helicopter for Sikorsky.
Sikorsky has already been in our community.
We're talking to them about some opportunities as well.
And then we recruited Amazon as a last mile distribution center.
They went into an existing facility Off of highway 231,
and they've hired about 100 people
in retrofit this building.
This was a $9 million capital investment project.
With these five companies that we announced over the past two
years, Voltari, IAG, Oxford global, impact products
in Amazon.
Those five projects alone will create more than a thousand jobs
with a capital investment of $175 million
over the next 3 to 5 year period.
But we wanted to take that a step further and we
have partnered with our friends at Florida Power and Light
who did a more extensive economic impact
study for our county in the communities in the county.
You can take those five new projects
and you can look over the next 7 to 10 years.
Almost 3000 new jobs will be generated from these project
announcements with $140 million in annual revenue,
and 305 million total value added in the economy
of our community.
We're looking forward to this growth.
We'll see some major activities happening in our airport, which
obviously impacts Panama City Beach and the people who
live here.
As you go up 79, you see construction projects spreading
up every day, and we're excited about the growth
and we'll have a positive impact on Panama City Beach.
We are out there traveling.
We are a small lean, mean machine, but around the world
these are some shows that we're targeting that we've already
been to this year.
Maintenance repair and overhaul, Americas in Orlando, Ben and I
and my colleague, he's here with me
and we're invited by state commerce
to go on a recruitment mission to Canada,
which was very successful.
And we just returned from London,
where we were at the international show
where we met with more than 20 companies in three days.
And got three good substantial leads from that trip.
Saturday, I've been asked by the Secretary of Commerce join him
and his team on a trade mission and recruitment
mission to Taiwan.
So I'll be taking the 30 hour flight to Taiwan,
and representing our communities there.
And we'll be going to a big boat show in Tampa in October
as well as a major overhaul show in Europe and Amsterdam,
then we'll be going on a recruitment mission
to our sister city.
And we're working for you and the county.
We're excited about these announcements
over the past year and a half.
Now we're ready for implementation
and for the recruitment of the suppliers
of these main companies.
Thank you so much for your support.
We appreciate your partnership.
Together we're seeing great things happen in this area.
We want to continue to make great things happen.
I'll be glad to take any questions.
>> So five companies across aviation, Maritime,
manufacturing and distribution.
Do you have a core focus?
That's an impressive array of >> That's a great question.
We do have target markets that align with the state of Florida.
Aviation, marine and manufacturing
are two key priorities for target markets
because we have an international logistics and distribution
but it's one of our key target markets.
And advanced manufacturing, so we're
seeing successes in all these major sectors.
>> And how long do these deals take to come to fruition?
>> We've got one that we've been working at the airport that Cole
has been very involved because he's an airport attorney
as well.
And we announced it in 2023 that we're still
working to try to get it under construction.
Some can last upwards of 4 to 5 years
just to get going and under construction.
Voltari was the exception.
It took us six months because we found the perfect site for them
that already had existing buildings on it.
It can range from 6 to 8 months to 3 to 4 years.
I tell people that economic development is a marathon not
a sprint.
You've gotta have patience.
We've got a great team that's working
to make these projects happen.
>> Any further questions from the Council?
>> You guys have a great relationship with Haney
Technical and the colleges that we have here.
What does that look like when we're bringing these people in
and you're substantial relationship
with these local institutions and the pipeline of bringing
families up and being able to work here and stay
in our community and not having to leave if you
don't work in tourism anymore?
>> Great question.
I moved here from Georgia.
I've been in economic development for 25 years.
It used to be that we would sit at the table with the president
of a company, and their first question
was how much money are you going to give me?
It's not the case today.
Their first question is, how are you going
to meet my workforce needs?
And if you haven't been to Haney lately,
I would advise you to go to meet with Angela Reese
and take a tour.
I would take any president of any company
in the world to visit any technical.
Their marine programs, aviation programs, welding programs
are second to none.
And when we bring companies here,
that's one of the first stops we make.
Any Gulf coast state College, Florida state University,
the Bay district school system.
If you cannot provide an answer to how we make the workforce
needs of the project, we're not going to make it without
a strong educational partnership.
>> Very good presentation.
Thank you for being here.
>> Thank you.
>> We now move to employee years of service awards.
Council member.
>> If I can have Jeremy Cross and Mark Schaefer to please come
up and join me.
Good morning.
How are you this morning?
Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to be here.
I'm sure Mark made you come.
Jeremy has been with us for five years.
He is a dependable and dedicated member
of our wastewater operations team.
I am told that his technical knowledge
and his proactive approach and his commitment to safety
and compliance has really contributed
to the reliability of the operation of our facility.
Jeremy, I'd like to thank you very much for your five
years of service to the community of Panama City Beach.
Mark, would you like to...
[Applause] Next, I'd like to ask Officer Sweden and the chief
to come up and join me.
Good morning.
How are you this morning?
Is this your lovely wife?
Fiance.
Officer Sweden, I understand that you're
assigned to the uniform patrol and you
serve as a field training officer, which
helps our new officers as they join our force.
You're also an active member of our 287 G program,
and you have received additional training
to be able to assist with certain immigration enforcement
and federal supervision.
We thank you for all of the extra training
you've gone to for your dedication and your commitment
to our city for ten years.
Thank you very much.
[Applause] Do you want to say anything?
>> Just that officer Sweden is a very valuable member
of our team.
We're proud of all the accomplishments.
Ten years in this job is very difficult.
And we look forward to the next 10 to 20 years, Sweetie.
>> Thank you.
The next would like to call up Lee Gilmore and Cheryl Joiner
from our parks.
I see Sam is coming up with her.
She's taking a photo.
Good morning, Lee.
How are you this morning?
Quite an accomplishment for you today.
We are recognizing Lee for ten years of service.
>> 20.
>> Sorry.
I was thinking about the last one that was ten years.
For 20 years he has been working in Parks and Rec.
He started part time when he was 17 years old
helping out over there with the athletics and with maintenance.
And now he's the athletic supervisor,
managing the youth and the adult sports.
Congratulations and thank you so much
for your ten years of service.
>> 20.
>> 20 years of service.
[Applause]
>> Lee, Everyone knows how old you are now.
>> Lee has one of the hardest jobs,
if you know anything about youth sports.
I hope you understand that.
He has over 2000 participants in youth and adult sports.
If you do some math, he has about 8000 people a year
when you do parents and grandparents that
are not happy with the refs call us that he has to deal with.
We appreciate everything you do, Lee.
[Applause]
>> Stay up here with me.
Because this lady is hitting another milestone.
I think she started when she was 15.
To have worked 20 years for Parks and Rec.
And I want to thank you so much for all
that you've done for our Parks Department.
I think you started as the head of the Parks Department
about the time I was elected.
I have been able to work with you for the past four years.
It's been such a joy.
It's been a joy to see all the that
have come to all of our parks, not just Frank Brown.
Thank you so much for your 20 years of dedication
to the City of Panama City Beach.
We appreciate you.
[Applause]
>> We now move on to public comment on the consent agenda
and non agenda business.
If you do have a comment on something on the regular agenda,
please wait till that time.
This public comment period is for the consent agenda
and non-agenda business.
Please come up state your name, address myself
or the council as a whole.
Please keep your comments related to the city business.
You have three minutes.
>> Once again, my name is Captain Gary Wayne Beck.
I live at 2601 Beach Street.
I'd like to address the good people of Bay County
that I just addressed a few seconds ago.
My obligation to hold up the Constitution and Bill of rights,
I put my hand on the Bible and Honolulu.
Since then I've witnessed strong armed extortion
against the weakest of our people.
Our elderly.
And I have found myself being targeted
because I've had all of this criminal activity carried out
in conjunction and under the grace of the Bay County
government.
I've had some bad things happen to children.
And I currently am in possession of the record
of the individual that come over to my house
and told me that he was--
>> Keep this relevant to Panama City Beach.
>> I remember when you and Ethan both said that the molestation
of a child happened in a county that don't matter on Panama City
Beach.
How proud of you.
You know what I'm saying?
But during the meantime, we're talking about the Constitution
and Bill of rights.
I think strong armed extortion on Panama City Beach
is important.
I've had gallons and gallons of tears from the elderly
that you rip in the properties from.
You remember Miss Cindy Wright?
And there's a bunch more since her.
Am I lying?
No. $42,000 for one day's labor.
That's a lot of money for an elderly lady.
It 16000 how she got thrown in.
Everybody knows the story how she got thrown in a room
by three men and didn't -- go ahead and tell me that's right.
And then we have Ethan over there.
I told him what happened to that child.
I cried on his shoulder.
And what did he say?
Same thing you said.
As they kicked me out of this building to tell me
that I can't talk about it.
It happened in the county.
It happened in the city.
That's exactly what--
>> Please keep these relevant to Panama City Beach.
Not your issues with the Bay County government.
>> So the Constitution and Bill of rights don't matter?
And the fact that our law enforcement officer right there
weren't recognize the capital felony that any American citizen
does will go to jail for.
Such as forgery coma strong arm extortion.
>> Sir, please keep your comments relevant to Panama City
Beach.
>> Everybody can see because I've been 16 years
into my obligation to uphold the Constitution and Bill of rights.
No matter how about how much crap you've put out about me.
No matter how many lies you put out about me.
You can't hide from the truth.
The truth and the fact of what you've
been doing to the old people in this town and the perversion
that you proud yourselves in inside this government.
Preying upon the children.
I can link the fellow and let me get politically correct.
>> Thank you, Mr. Beck.
>> You're a disgrace.
>> Public comment on the consent agenda or non agenda business.
Seeing none.
We now move on to the consent agenda.
>> RESOLUTION NO.
26-155, A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF PANAMA CITY FLORIDA,
AUTHORIZING ADDITIONAL EXPENDITURES AT SET UNIT PRICES
IN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $50,000.00 FOR FENCING SUPPLIES,
INSTALLATION, REPAIRS UNDER THE CITY’S EXISTING AGREEMENT WITH
MR. FENCE OF INC., FOR FISCAL YEAR 2026.
RESOLUTION NO.
26-156, A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF PANAMA CITY FLORIDA,
APPROVING REIMBURSEMENT TO THE BAY COUNTY BOARD
OF COMMISSIONERS RELATED TO MCELVEY ROAD REPAIRS
IN THE AMOUNT OF $33,451.50.
REVISION OF THE MASTER AUDIT LIST TO REMOVE OBSOLETE ITEMS.
>> Can I get a motion to approve?
We have a motion and a second to approve the consent
agenda items.
Please call the roll.
[Roll call] We now move on to our regular agenda.
We have a modified regular agenda.
If you're following along at home regular agenda item number
seven, private sewer connection program from Laguna Beach
expansion area.
It's Mark going to speak on this?
>> Mayor, I'll take the first crack at it.
>> What we'll do for this item is just give us a brief
overview.
We'll call for public comment.
So you guys can ask some questions or make your comments,
and then we'll have Mr. Davis or Mr. Schaefer
help us walk through it.
>> To give you the backdrop here.
For several years the city has been
working to expand the sewer system into Laguna
Beach in a three phase project that those three phases have
been talked about for as long as I've been around.
In 2023, we were able to get a $3 million
Appropriation from Florida legislature thanks
to Representative Griffith, Senator Trumbull.
And so that's when we began the first phase.
And what we would call phase C, so in May of 2026
you approved the $6 million construction contract
to actually expand that sewer connections
across that first phase of Laguna Beach.
And I think it's several hundred different connections that
will become available.
But the grant doesn't fund and what the city doesn't fund
is the pipelines across the neighborhood.
We spent a decent amount of time in thinking
of ways in which we can try to make it feasible
those private connections to happen.
The memo before you detail some options there.
In talking with utilities department and City Manager,
the option that we think is probably the most feasible
for the private citizen for the city
is to have the contractor go ahead
and install those connections on a voluntary basis
if the citizen wants it.
Not to force any connections, but to allow for the contractor
to take advantage of the pricing that we got from the contractor
to give that benefit to the residents
and have them elect to have those connections made.
And then in your packet, you have some option
as to how we could essentially finance that connection
with the residents in different ways
that we could collect upon that.
And I can answer any questions or defer
to staff or anyone else.
>> In summary, we're doing sewer line down there.
There's a lot of old septic tanks down there.
We're going to fund the grants in the city,
or the utilities department is going
to fund the main connection.
Private citizens may want to go from there septics, which
may be having issues.
Or you just want to go into sewer.
That's going to be privately funded.
But here we're discussing options to finance that.
That would allow the citizens to take advantage of the pricing.
>> When we bid out the construction,
we also got pricing for these private connections.
It's already incorporated into their contract.
>> I will now call for public comment.
If you have any questions, feel free to come up and ask.
It will be all addressed after the end of the public comment.
Just come up and state your name and you'll have three minutes.
>> My name is Tim Ford.
My dad bought a lot on Laguna Beach in 1958.
I was born in 1960.
I've been here off and on since 1960.
I graduated from Bay High School at the time.
I've been here a while.
What we are looking for is just as much information
as we can get.
One, if you've noticed, in the last two years,
Laguna beach has come up from the health department
with problems with fecal matter in the Gulf.
I've been here since 1958.
I've never seen that.
Another background to that.
If you've been to Panama City Beach, you know the carousel.
If you go to the carousel, look at the signs sitting there now.
It says if you park here, you have
to do business at the carousel.
That's never happened.
But I'm getting to is we're getting a lot more people.
But we need to look at this the Airbnb.
Nothing against the.
There's a lot of Airbnbs coming up.
That's economic.
But we're looking for is folks like me.
We've been here for a long time.
We are looking at the cost of going to the septic system.
Going off the septic system, want
to help save our beach to where we
don't have the documentation coming from the health
department to where we can go swim in the Gulf.
That is a big issue.
This project is going to help that issue.
Looking at what's coming down for a lot of us that
have been here it's the cost of connecting to the system.
We are for the system because it's going to help everybody.
Our question is, the initial cost.
There's a lot of places that have been
in families for a long time.
One of my suggestions is, if we could
get with the city to come to Laguna Beach Association
meeting.
It's not an HOA.
It's an association that goes back.
If you don't know the history of Laguna Beach,
it goes back to when the properties of Laguna Beach
were originally sold.
The gentleman that sold the properties back in the early 50s
put on deeds that our beach would not be built on.
Large process went to the state.
And the association is just there to make sure
that the agreement is upheld.
A lot of people in that association that have been
on the beach for a long time.
If we could get a connection to where the city could come,
because from what I see, if we initially
connect as a contractors there, it
will be less expensive for us to do that.
>> Tim, if you could start wrapping this up.
>> That benefits us, but it also benefits you for us to get
connected as soon as possible.
I think that would be the correct statement.
As soon as we could get what the cost to initially do it
so we can help get the information out and possibly
work with you to come to the Association with--
you can't put everything in stone,
but it's close as we could get to it.
So we could get more of the older people
that have been here for a long time that see what
this is going to do for us.
Not only to help us at our pocketbook.
>> We appreciate you, Tim.
You're substantially over time.
We're more than happy to have the conversation >> Just
to let you know the alarm is messed up.
They're gonna have to fix it after the meeting.
I'll try to keep in track.
>> Everyone gets the same amount of time.
That's just a rule.
Don't want to be mean or anything.
Everyone gets the same amount.
Any further public comment on this item?
>> Yes, sir.
Thank you very much for letting me ask questions.
One of the first questions I have.
>> What's your name?
>> Linda Gastner.
I live in Laguna Beach.
I've got five questions here.
If a homeowner or property owner does not pay the impact fee--
if they choose to pay an impact fee now,
can they pay the terms that you guys
have given us for the 5, 10, or 15 years financing?
The next one is, the impact fee, is it
different than what we were given a couple of months
ago from Mark?
I didn't see it in the paperwork.
Also, vacant lots that are not developed, will they
be charged the $31.06 per month if they're not developed?
They are vacant.
So of course they're not going to hook up impact fees.
What is the difference between a three and a four inch pipe?
What's the use of it.
I don't understand that.
I don't know if it's the number of bathrooms, whatever.
And the last thing is the date update for the contract.
It was supposed to start in May.
Now it's several months behind.
I'm wondering if that's been revised.
What can we expect to start construction?
That's all I've got.
Thank you.
>> Thank you.
Further public comment on this item?
All right.
I think several of those questions
are mixed between Mr. Davis and Mr. Schaefer.
Mr. Schaefer, can you come up and help
us understand this program and address some of the questions
on financing, vacant lot charge, three versus four inch pipe.
Contract starts.
And just a minor correction.
These aren't impact fees.
This would just be a fee for construction.
>> First off, the limits of the project says Mr.
Davis indicated, is the first of three phases.
The limits are from the Luna all the way to East Lake Shore.
North to Back Beach Road, south to Front Beach Road.
If it's outside that area, that's not
in the phase of the project.
I've done three presentations to the Laguna Beach Homeowners
Association.
But I'll be glad to cover any questions anybody has.
Regarding the schedule for the project,
the notice to proceed was issued the 10th of June.
The contractors have been a little slow getting mobilized,
but he has started.
Barring any rain events or delays in construction,
it should be done in March of next year.
>> Be completed?
>> Yes.
There's about 441 lots in that service area,
and we used that quantity in the bid form.
What we're trying to do is leverage the number of homes
in that area to get better pricing in our contract
and allow that to be available to the homeowners
if they wish to use that.
They're not required to use it.
And I think we got some really good quotes here in terms
of septic tank abandonment and it's less than $2,500 which is
much better than they likely could do on their own.
Secondary benefits to the homeowners
if they go in this program.
Septic tanks can fail on you without a moment's notice.
And suddenly you have a big time constraint
to get something done.
This allows them the opportunity to deal with it now
at an advantageous price.
In the city is your in between the contractor and the homeowner
in terms of issues and construction.
We are basically serving as a representative.
>> Mark, between the start time now and March of next year,
if I was a homeowner in their.
I'd like to know if there's a certain time they have to agree,
does it just have to be before the completion date?
>> The contractor owes me that date.
I don't know what it is yet.
Typically they'll put the mains in the street
and I don't know if they're going
to do it in bulk faction of the entire area
or if they're going to do it street by street.
>> Can you speak to the difference between a three inch
and a four inch pipe for the homeowners?
>> Some homes have four inch main service exits coming out
of the rear of the house.
Some of them have four.
Typically it's a four inch line.
We just got the unit pricing for both options.
If the homeowner wanted to stay with the three inch or he
could upsize to the four inch.
>> And then the question about sewer availability charge
for vacant lots.
>> The sewer availability charts,
the guiding principle there is to encourage people that are
on septic tanks to get off the septic tanks.
I don't know how it's going to apply to an empty lot.
I would think it targets people that are on holdouts
I want to stay on septic tanks.
It's basically saying we've expended all this money,
and the state of expended money to extend utility service
in your area.
And that has a cost.
It's certainly not going to recapture that cost,
but it's something to incentivize them to get off
their septic tanks and connect.
A state requirement is that it's once it's available,
they have to connect within a year.
>> Say that again.
>> There's a state requirement that once sewer is available,
and they've been given notice about it,
they have up to a year to connect.
>> Mayor, one question.
Miss Christina did ask about impact fees and impact
fees that would be associated with these connections.
This financing option includes financing those impact fees
as well.
Just to clarify.
It's a whole cart thing.
>> The impact fee I gave in the presentations to Laguna Beach
was an example impact fee.
It's based on a standard three bedroom two bath home.
And our impact fees are a function of fixture units.
If you have a three bath home , that number is going to be
higher.
I use a standard three bedroom two bath home.
And it was roughly $4,700.
For the sewer impact fee only.
That does not include the connection cost
which is the cost of running the pipe from the home to the sewer.
There front property line at that point of connection.
>> We're looking at an average cost per home around $7,000
for the total hookup and impact fees.
For hookup and connection.
>> If it's a nine bedroom seven bathroom,
it's gonna be significantly more because of the fixture count.
>> I agree with the gentleman that got up and spoke.
It's definitely advantageous for the property owners to --
let's say one of these folks have spent $20,000 in the last
couple of years on a new septic tank.
And I know in the past we have encouraged people
and helped finance to get them to tie on.
And it's what we're talking about today.
You said something about the state law.
We still have some folks that still haven't tied on.
We're not forcing them to tie on.
We are encouraging them to tie on.
Which hopefully most of you guys will.
If they don't, they just have to pay the availability fee
each month?
Is that what the penalty will be?
>> Yes.
The city's practice right now is only charging availability fee.
We don't take any other enforcement action for failure
to hook up.
>> When everything's gravity down there.
No homeowner will have to put--
>> We have a grinder pump that we can connect.
There's a unit price for them to connect that to the service.
>> This is a little different than what we've done
in the past.
Are we still doing the same option
that we've had in the past where we give them--
I guess it's up to us how we want to do it, but in the past
we've encouraged them to tie on within 90 days
and give them a break.
But this way, we're trying to do a package deal
where we let the contractor.
We've never done that before.
This is something new.
>> That's correct.
What time with the construction.
So they would have the time to hook up to the constructor.
That'll be the only option to be able to tie
into the system at this cost.
>> That'll be a better deal for you guys.
They just have to figure out how we're
going to get reimbursed to the >> The state is ratcheting up
the mandatory connection.
The legislature is doing that right now.
There's property issues and ownership issues.
It seems like every legislative session, they keep stepping up.
Connect and so on and so forth there's
benefits to the homeowner because if he
gets rid of the septic tank, frees up
a lot of the real estate for other needs
if they're willing to put in a swimming pool
or add a room to their home or so forth.
They restrict it before because they
had to accommodate this drain field and the septic tank.
So there is added benefit in terms of the property.
>> Thank you for your presentation.
You've answered my question.
>> One of the questions the gentleman asked is the cost
for the hookup here that's going to be on a case by case basis
based on the fixtures and the size of the home.
I guess the residents would have to come forward and say,
I want to become part of this program, whatever
we decide we're gonna do.
And then at that time, they would
be able to get an accurate assessment of what
the cost would be.
We could give you what a basic one would be,
a specific to each home, it's probably going to change.
>> If the sewer currently exists the home,
now the piping has to wrap all the way around the home to get
to the main connection at the street.
Where if it's plumbed out of the front of the house,
it's much less expensive to do that.
A fixed cost of septic tank abandonment.
We have that cost in there.
There's some other costs like site work.
The quantity of pipe varies home to home.
>> I just wanted to address that because there is not one set
price for everybody.
It's going to be on a case by >> We can give them
an estimate of what their impact fees would be if they give us
a fixture count.
We can get a better one in terms of what the picture will be.
>> So the way to look at this is if a resident wants to hook up,
at that point they can come forward and say I want to see
if I want to be part of this and then the assessment would go
forward and they would get a price?
>> They can approach us now , we can get an estimate.
>> This would be an individual contract between the city
and the homeowner for each individual hookup.
It would be a case by case bespoke thing
that we do for each lot.
It won't be all in one shot.
There will be some mechanics to each individual one that
will be by contract.
>> So if they want to write a check or pay cash,
they can do it?
Or we can finance it for them?
Is that where we're at?
>> There's an option available.
We need your direction on that.
>> The septic tanks, the old septic tanks,
don't have to remove those, and that'll be included
in the price.
>> The unit cost for that is 2403.57.
>> Anything else for Mr. Schaefer?
>> Thank you.
>> So finance has done a bang up job giving us a few options
to work with here.
Can someone come and walk us through these?
>> What we feel like is probably the easiest mechanism to finance
this is having an agreement with each property owner and have
a certain term.
We've looked at five year terms, ten year terms and 15 year
terms.
We've looked at interest rates that
would be associated with that.
Finance believes that is 3.75% is what actually currently earns
in the bank.
So we have calculated different options based on those terms
and based on a suggested 3.75 interest rate.
What we would do is assuming you took those terms,
and if the homeowner wanted to agree to those terms,
we would simply assess that annual cost
on the tax bill the same way that we do your fire assessment
or your stormwater assessment.
>> Help me understand that, because this project is outside
the city limits.
Our utility and service area.
This is outside the city limits.
So they're not currently getting anything through from us,
but we'll work with the property appraiser.
>> The tax collector and the homeowner to have them agree
to do this.
They could just write a check, but that would be a backstop
to make sure since the city is fronting
all the money to make sure that we are able to collect them.
In the past, what happened is the city
took mortgages on the properties.
And there was a more complicated collection system.
And it was administratively burdensome
and didn't work out very well.
This is what we think is a simplified version that
allows everybody to kind of get what they need.
>> The options outlined in this memo are cash up,
installation options, installment options secured
by Leon in the property.
And the third would be the voluntarily
agree to a Non-ad valorem assessment.
So those are the three options that I
believe the staff recommendation was the not assessment.
>> And that's attached to the deed of the House.
They sell the house and it just carries over.
>> If they sell their house, the new owner would take care
of those payments because the person who's gone doesn't want
to be paying.
>> If we go with a non or.
>> Similar to the way the solar panels work.
>> And then amongst those options,
we have outlined three terms.
A five year term, ten year term and a 15 year term.
And as you mentioned, the staff is recommending a 3.75% interest
rate, which is what the utility fund is currently
being able to get for that money and for the bank account.
So it's not taken from the entire city's DoorDash
every utility pair in order to subsidize.
That is our break even point there.
And I see that staff has recommended basically
a ten year term at that 3.75% and Non-ad valorem assessment.
I think that's a useful starting point for a discussion.
>> Is there a way to offer all three terms?
Or is it only a way we can choose five, 10 or 15?
>> Probably finance question because they're the ones that
have to track all this and make sure that it all works.
>> When we did the Leon in the early 2000,
it was very taxing on our finance department
because if they sent the bill, we didn't know if it was gonna--
so we're asking for the non.
If you recommend that, we could recommend one
where they can write a check to the city
and we can reimburse-- those would be the two options
I'd recommend.
>> If they desire to overpay their payment or pay a little
bit early, are they able to do that?
>> Yes.
If they wanted to come in for one year
and say I'm gonna pay all the money in advance,
don't put it in my tax roll, we want to do that.
We want to be flexible with this.
>> But they would go to the Bay County tax collector to do that?
How would that work?
>> The way it would work is if they gave a check to finance,
and said here's my annual payment,
then we would contact the tax collector because we have
to submit the roll to the tax collector every year.
We would just take them off the roll for that year.
>> Hopefully Deborah's not mad at me.
>> She's nodding her head.
>> I was gonna say if the council,
depending on what the council says,
it's really A, and, or one of the others and they could pay
partial upfront and they would assess and finance would adjust
that to the roll.
I was just going to say that you can decide I've got half of this
that I want to pay up front and therefore only half
the charge is going to go on the roll of the Non-envelope.
>> And to clarify the action, you're asking for direction
to finish creating this program and would this come back
as a resolution or would this be >> The program would come back
fully fleshed out as a resolution and we'll build it
out with all of the details for your direction.
>> Sounds like we've given as many options as we can
to encourage them.
>> To Councilman Register's point,
could we offer multiple terms or should we decide on one term?
>> I think staff recommendation is one term.
I like that term to be sensitive because you'd have a home that
ends up being a 10,000 a year you're taking $1,000 of these
people's household income for an annual basis for those ten
years.
So maybe we can look at the longest term
to be able to see if they can pay it off early.
And that would be the least impact,
and I think you get the most response
and maybe dragging it out a little further.
>> In the memo, do we have the average cost?
It was 7000?
A model home was about three bed, two bath model home.
It was roughly $7,000.
The annual payment we have in the chart
is in the packet online this is available for everyone.
It's based per $10,000 so if they go above that, 30% above,
they would get that 1,200.
Let's take this in pieces.
One is the options of-- we'll potentially agree
that we'll take cash up front.
And the other two pieces of the options
are installment plan based on security or non ad valorem
assessment.
Staff recommends Non-adversarial assessment.
so we've got that portion done.
>> Would it be possible to require,
should the property change hands,
this debt would be paid off at that time?
>> We can have an acceleration clause.
Which is exactly that.
If they sell it, then it's all due up.
>> I personally don't want to do that.
That's my personal opinion.
>> It was just a suggestion.
>> I think it's just keeping it with the property.
It would have to be disclosed at the property sale
price the property sale time.
Any prospective buyer would have to do their own diligence.
>> At that point they can roll it in alone.
>> They can pay it off because that would have to be disclosed.
>> It just makes sense to clean it up at that point.
>> That's a good idea.
I just think we're trying to keep this one
simple as my opinion on it.
Thoughts?
>> 15 years.
>> Let's talk about the interest rate first,
then we can do the term.
The proposed interest rate is 375, which is a very good rate.
I think what home mortgage is now are over 6.
The city is not making any money on this.
This is what keeps the utility fund whole
without having the rest of the subscribers
basically subsidizing this program.
375?
>> There's a fee associated with the tax collector collecting
this?
>> Usually 2%.
>> Is that going to be added in as well?
>> We will need to add that into the total amount of the debt.
>> I just wanted to make that clear.
>> Everyone is good with 3.75?
We got those two and now we're talking term.
We have the five year term, and your term,
15 year term proposed and model.
We could pick 14.5 years if we wanted to,
but let's start with those three options.
What are the thoughts of the council?
>> I agree with the Vice mayor, I'd give them as many years
as possible.
15 years, if they want to pay it off earlier, they can.
>> I'm good with 15.
I think you got a lot more participation at that point
as well.
>> I'm fine with that.
>> Can someone do a motion to wrap this entire thing up?
Vice Mayor, you're the one that can do the complicated motions.
>> This is more of a direct staff?
Motion to direct staff to create a resolution for sewer hookup
in North Lagoon project to accommodate the proposed options
A and C. C option being including a 3.75 percentage
rate and a 15 year term.
>> We have a motion and a second and I'm not going to repeat what
you just said.
Please call roll.
[Roll call] I will come back to us as a resolution and obviously
staff can be in contact with you folks and I know Mark has said
he had been to a few of your meetings
and we're happy to continue to talk through this process.
It won't be enacted until we do the resolution.
This was just discussing what goes into the resolution.
The resolution is going to come back to us.
>> I would encourage everyone to get out there and spread
the word because apparently they've already started.
Everyone kind of needs to be ready to pull the trigger,
if they want to do it.
>> I was originally a regular agenda item number seven,
which we moved to the first.
We're now going on our regularly scheduled agenda.
Agenda item number one.
Large conditional use application
located at 201 Hutchinson Boulevard.
This is a public hearing Quasi-judicial use.
There's extra mechanics whenever we get one of these quasi uses.
I have to read a bunch of stuff.
This is a hearing to consider the approval of a conditional
use application from LSE Shipwreck Island LLC section
5.06.01 of the city's development code.
This is a quasi judicial hearing governed by the city's Land
Development Code.
This hearing is based on the recommendation of the Planning
Board approval, Planning Board member approvals,
the members of the Council have provided
a copy of that for our review.
We will now begin the hearing.
We move on to soaring in the witnesses.
All persons wishing to speak during this hearing.
Please rise to be sworn in.
>> Do you swear or affirm that the evidence you're about
to give will be the truth the whole truth and nothing
but the truth?
>> Mr. Leonard, where the notice requirements met for this
hearing?
>> Yes, sir.
>> We now move on to disclosures.
At this time, we will ask each member
of the council to make their earnings disclosure.
>> Nothing to disclose.
>> I also have nothing to disclose.
Next is the staff presentation.
At this point, we will hear the staff report.
Mr. Leonard.
>> Thank you, mayor and council.
This is a large conditional use.
It's over three acres in size.
It's to the applicant is less shipwreck LLC.
And they've submitted the large conditional use application
for a new water slide at shipwreck Island waterpark,
the property zone c h.
And it's in the FB02 Zoning District.
And because it's a conditional use,
it would have to meet 12 general criteria.
And the City Council, you have discretion to impose conditions.
It determines that there are necessary-- required findings
are met, the must be approved.
The applicant held his required community meeting on August
the 4th prior to the Planning Board meeting,
and the Planning Board recommended approval of this
request at its meeting of August the 12th of 2026 with
the following conditions.
There is two of them pier is at a 20 foot setback
from Hutchinson Boulevard is met on all portions
of the new amusement structure and number two of modification
allowing the existing six foot black chain link fencing
to remain in lieu of required solid faced fence.
>> What was setback?
>> 20 feet for the entire structure of the new waterslide.
That is it.
>> Okay, that is it for the staff presentation.
Thank you, Mr. Leonard.
At this time we will hear from the applicant.
>> Thank you for having me here today.
Some new slide tower presentations
is a great opportunity for the waterpark itself.
It's a $5 million investment in 260.
Roughly 20 seasonal jobs added to the park itself.
We've worked with the city extensively
to make sure that we comply with all necessary municipal and
county regulations on this particular slide tower.
It's going to be a great new attraction for the community,
and we're very excited to construct this.
Once we hopefully get approval from the City Council
to pursue this, we're getting action immediately.
I'm happy to answer any questions
that the Council might have on this particular project.
>> What is the location?
>> It's on the Northeast corner of the waterpark itself.
>> Where the children's play area is?
>> That's correct.
Northwest corner.
>> Is it a water slide?
>> Yes,
>>Height?
>> 50 feet.
>> Questions from the council?
>> Okay.
>> Could you state your name for the record?
>> Clark Davis.
>> That's why I didn't know what to call you.
Thank you, Mr. Davis.
Mr. Davis, seeing none from the applicant.
Thank you, sir.
>> I'm just going to be a little informal.
At this time we will hear from any affected parties
who wish to speak.
Please come up and state your name
and address for the record of any affected parties.
At this time, you want to take any public comment.
Seeing none.
At this time, we will hear any rebuttal
by staff in the affected party or the applicant.
Any rebuttal?
No rebuttal.
Mr. Davis, you have anything to add?
>> No.
>> At this time, we will close the evidentiary portion
of the hearing.
And at this time we will hear the closing arguments
by the staff.
No closing argument.
We will move to council discussion.
We have a conditional use and the Planning Board
put on the 20 foot setback and required and allowed
them to keep the existing chain link fence,
instead of moving to a bigger fence which was required.
>> I think the chain link fence makes it more esthetically
appealing to continue it the whole way around.
I think the 20 foot setback is good.
>> It's a water park.
You want to see what's in there.
>> Especially at night.
It's good for security.
>> Mr. Davis, If we approve this with the recommended conditions
by the Planning Board, we have to re-add the conditions
recommended by the Planning Board?
so a motion could be just adopt the Planning Board order?
>> Motion to adopt the Planning Board's order of the 20 foot
setback and required chain link fencing although we would
normally require.
>> And to approve?
>> Second.
>> We have a motion to adopt the Planning Board's order
and to approve.
Please call roll.
[Roll call] Got through that one.
We now move on to regular agenda item number two resolution
26-133.
Mr. Davis.
>> Resolution amending the budget for the City of Panama
Beach Florida, the fiscal year 2025 2026 appropriating revenues
and providing an effective date.
>> Is there any public comment?
Mr. Davis, Could you help us understand what's going on here?
>> Before you, you have the amended budget for fiscal year
2026.
All through the year, there's been
a budget amendments presented to you that you have approved.
And also throughout the year, the department heads
have also made some budget amendments
with the approval from the manager
and myself within their authority.
The budget amendment that you have before you
encompasses all of those amendments for 2026.
>> This is the budget we originally approved,
and as we enacted them through the resolution throughout
the year, and ask the department heads if the request was under
Drew spending authority or within drew spending authority,
it encompasses those as well.
Is that accurate?
>> Yes.
>> Do you need Miss Gibson up here for this?
>> Possibly.
I got some calls yesterday from some folks in the community
about, and we're short on $41,000 shortfall for railway
and transportation.
I think we got our wires wires crossed here
because I think in the TPO meeting
earlier before we did our budget meeting last year,
and this is all true and up this year 2026.
There was a TPO meeting held and everybody
agreed that each municipality of the shortfall, the TDC
did not pick up that year.
I've worked it out with the TDC to pick up going forward,
but we had a $41,000 shortfall that I think we had a meeting.
And I'm just looking for clarification from our members
so we can have some discussion.
Right now we have a problem, and I'd love to address it.
We have a pretty large cash Carryforward.
And if we did agree as a municipality in that meeting,
and I would like to uphold what we said we would do and cover
the $41,000.
So to --
>> To clarify, we passed the budget at this Council.
And that had the $41,000 in it.
>> 45.
It was 86.
I think we paid 45--
>> We passed 49 775, but then the TPO voted for their budget
that didn't include that, and that was a higher contribution
from the city.
>> I think there was some conversation.
There was some wires crossed and something we missed,
we got a shortfall and it's an opportunity for us
to rectify the shortfall and fix the problem that we got a hand.
>> Wouldn't that go in the next item?
J3, 26-27.
>> This is actually for last year that we were short,
but we've got the TDC to pick up that portion.
>> So if you want to make an adjustment, it would be on J2,
not J3.
What's your recommendation or your >> My recommendation would
be to cover the $41,000.
This is a system our workforce uses to get up and down.
>> I agree with you.
>> And just for clarification, we were made aware of this early
enough to where we have two resolutions depending
on your action.
Finance staff has already built that in.
So we can immediately move in that direction.
>> And it's in front of you in your?
>> And also right now it's a one off.
>> TDC will pick up next year and we won't have this problem
going forward.
I think it's important that we get our workforce.
People that live in our communities
and pay tax in our communities, they
need to get to and from work.
I think we got some wires crossed.
No fault of anybody's.
Just something we can do to fix a problem and rectify moving
forward.
>> Do we have an MOU with Bayway or TPO for this?
I've been on the TPO, and this came in before I was on the TPO.
I don't know the background on that.
I don't know that Paul would know because Paul didn't come on
until two years ago.
>> I think they vote on it every year.
>> I do not recall having voted on it.
>> Mr. Davis, do we have an MOU with the TPO?
>> I haven't seen an MOU.
My understanding is that the TPO level, the cost
share amongst the cities--
>> Miss Gibson, feel free to sit down.
>> It's based on population.
>> They track where people get off and get
on, and there's a table that we see every year.
Generally it tracks what they believe
are proportionate share is compared to other cities.
And then they submit a funding request
to the cities in that end, approved in your budget process
every year.
I have never seen an MOU.
I can't say it doesn't exist.
My understanding is the process originated from the TPO,
and it's funded by each city subject
to your budget appropriation.
>> I can't remember what meeting of the TPO.
One of the things that really jumped to cost for us
is the Sunday Service.
At the time, TDC was paying the Sunday service,
and we had a gap.
This is that gap from my understanding
and my conversations.
I want to say that February's meeting was
addressed at the TPO.
I have to go back and double check.
But coming back on the next cycle, the TDC has looked at it
and said, I think we're going to be funding this as well.
>> If I recall, that's why when we discussed the budget last
year, the TDC initially funded Sunday service.
The TDC ceased funding Sunday service,
and the TPO sent us that bill.
They said we don't need Sunday service.
And then it appears that the TPO has budgeted in Sunday service,
and voted on and fully approved the process.
There's a gap between what we said we were going to fund,
and what the TPO including our members have voted.
I think we still have a motion?
We have a motion and a second on the table.
Is there any further discussion on this item?
>> I think it's great that the TDC is picking up going
in the next year.
And it's a major check out day for us.
We continue to grow.
People coming on Friday and leaving on Sunday.
So they get to the workforce on these places is important.
It hopefully keeps a lot more e-bikes off the road
and doing dangerous things and cutting across parking
lots in scooters and things.
I believe it's beneficial to get these things to and from work
safely.
And I believe TDC has a portion in paying that.
And they're going to step up and do that.
We've got great partners over there.
>> We have asked this of everyone that we give money to.
Mr. Hobbs coming and talking to us about the ridership.
>> Fantastic point.
>> I agree that we'll talk about that in the budget for next
year.
Absolutely.
Motion in a second.
Further discussion?
And the motion was to the 41000.
Just to be clear, the amended budget subsequently
amended to adopt the 41000.
Whatever the shortfall is.
Motion in a second.
Please call the roll.
[Roll call] We now move on to regular agenda item number
three, resolution number 26-134.
Mr. Davis.
>> Resolution establishing the budget for the City of Panama
City Beach Florida for the fiscal year 2026 and 2027,
appropriating revenues and providing an effective date.
Any public comment on this item?
>> Good morning.
My name is Jessica Graham.
I'm the executive director of the Saint Andrews, Saint Joseph
based estuary program.
I try to come in front of you every year
and give you an update of everything.
I just wanted to quickly update you on some of our projects
we have.
One of those is litter traps which
is cast basins that we install in stormwater drains that
capture organic and trash.
We have six of them installed near Aaron Bassett Park.
And in a year we have collected 260 pounds of debris
and kept that from draining into the adjacent lakes there.
Which eventually would turn into muck.
We have also captured one trap alone right
by that pond as captured 80 pounds.
We sometimes have to shovel the leaf litter out of the trap
because it's so thick.
We also capture a lot of trash from different events that
are there we are seeing a measurable impact
and I really want to give a shout out
to the Public Works staff.
They are fantastic.
They meet us out there and they do
all of the hard lifting and the traffic control.
We try to keep it as easy as possible on them.
They do a fantastic job and really appreciate their support.
We also have a couple of other projects
like a microbial source tracking project that will actually
look at what the source of the fecal coliform in the waterways.
You saw a lot of swim advisories last year.
Surprisingly this was swim advisories
during dry conditions.
Not wet conditions.
Understanding the source of that is important.
And we'll be doing that at all of those healthy beaches
locations in and around the city.
And another aspect that we're doing
is harmful algal bloom monitoring.
That is monitoring for red tide events.
We had a very large red tide event last year
that lasted into January.
We saw dolphin mortality from that.
Scallops are closed in Gulf County because of that.
The more we can get on top of it,
we can then work with Mote Marine Laboratories
to deploy technologies to actually kill the red tide
before it gets inshore ideally.
It's still in testing phase.
We have trained citizens on how to collect these samples.
And then we're analyzing the samples
to try to get on it earlier than later.
And just to put everything together for the estuary program
and what it contributes to economically,
we did an economic assessment in 2023.
The estuary just a half mile buffer
of both the beaches and the estuary
indirectly and directly contribute $9.7 billion
in total economic output.
It provides substantial economic returns.
Both safeguard natural resources as well as the tourism
and our community's way of life.
Thank you very much and I'm happy to answer any questions.
>> I'm going let public comment go through and then I have some
questions to ask.
Further public comment on resolution 26-134?
Seeing none.
Ms. Graham, I had a few questions.
>> Yes, sir.
>> Ms. Graham, the city does very few contributions
to organizations, and we ask those who are requesting that
funding to submit the request before we have the budget
workshop.
We did not receive this request in time.
You have a member of the Estuary Committee on here
that was able to carve some time out.
Why weren't we able to receive the request in time?
>> I'm still getting used to the timing of the request.
We just started producing these requests to the cities last year
I was caught off guard when you guys started your budget
workshops in time to be able to get that request in.
But I'll be remedying that and getting it in sooner.
>> What is the amount of the request?
>> $20,000.
>> What are the other contributions,
we had gotten actual budgets on their side.
Would you be able to produce that in the future?
>> Yeah.
>> I notice on your policy board you have 12 voting members.
40 members include Bay County Commission, Gulf County
Commission, Callaway, Lynnhaven, Mexico beach, Panama City,
Panama City beach, Parker port, Saint Joe Springfield and FSU.
Panama City, or any of those government entities,
do they provide contributions?
>> They do.
We had contributions from a few last year.
This year when we were exploring contributions
because of the upcoming November vote on the Texas.
The request hasn't gone into Bay County yet.
>> Essentially Springfield is contributing members.
And then we're considering here as Panama City Beach
would be the only two contributing members
from the municipality?
>> Last year we had Lynn Haven come on Mexico Beach,
Springfield, Panama City Beach.
>> So Panama City?
>> Not yet.
>> I noticed you highlighted your member from Panama City
on your most recent flier.
>> That's a board spotlight.
We've done that every month to try to show who's
behind the history program.
>> Any questions from the Council?
>> No questions.
I thank you for being here.
>> Thank you.
>> We had that tied out.
We have one resolution or two resolutions for this one?
>> We have one resolution.
We did include it in your discussion at the workshop.
It is included.
>> I think the estuary program is a great program
and it's a program like the other programs that we
contribute to.
They help a very broad range of people.
It's not like we're giving money to an HOA or something like that
that's very specific.
They help the entire area including Bay County.
For me, shame on them for those who don't help
contribute to these programs.
But if my neighbor doesn't help somebody,
that doesn't mean I'm not going to.
Especially if it's a program that assists in such a broad way
and affects the area, especially environmentally or with helping
the elderly or kids.
I'm totally in favor of keeping this 20,000 in there
for the estuary program.
>> I'd like to hear from Council member Coburn about what her
thoughts are.
She serves on the Estuary Committee.
>> I think they do a lot of good work out there especially
monitoring the red tide because that's something that really
affects tourism here.
I remember when I first moved here
we had several years when the red tide was really bad it
was miserable for everyone.
Anything we can do to protect our waterways
and to decrease that and make sure that our waters are
safe for swimming.
I think it's really important.
The litter traps has been astounding.
We only have a few around the park over there.
We've kept a lot of debris in our waterways by using those.
I think they do good work.
I would really like to see us support them,
and pushing forward for our national designation
so that they can qualify for additional grants
that we currently can't qualify for.
Jessica has done a really good job of getting grants and moving
the projects along, but now money is getting much tighter
and you need that national designation
in order to qualify for some of the larger grants.
>> And what is it that we need to do to help with that?
>> Doctor Graham would have to speak to that.
>> We could follow up on >> Add it to an agenda.
>> Sounds good.
I think it's a great program.
I agree with the vice mayor that it does make sense to do
what's right, even if those don't.
I have a bit of a concern for cities
having voting seats on the policy board
without having any contribution.
On the TPO, we all do our contributions.
Why are there cities for other municipalities
and the policy board that are not contributing?
That's something I would ask you, Council member,
to take to your board and help us understand that.
I think we have talked more about the Estuary
Committee in the last five minutes
than we've ever talked about.
Thank you for coming up.
>> It looks like it's a great program.
Thank you for serving on it.
I think the beach should probably
benefits the most than any other city in the county.
It's important to have beautiful beaches.
With that, I'll make a motion that we give Mrs Graham
or the estuary program the $20,000.
>> It's built in?
>> Just a motion to approve resolution 26-134.
>> We have a motion to approve and a second.
Please call the roll.
[Roll call]
>> We now move on to regular agenda item number four
resolution 126-135.
>> RESOLUTION NO.
26-135, AMENDING THE BUDGET FOR THE PANAMA CITY COMMUNITY
REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING OCTOBER
1, 2025, AND ENDING ON SEPTEMBER 30, 2026;
ESTABLISHING BUDGET FOR THE PANAMA CITY BEACH COMMUNITY
REDEVELOPMENT FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING ON OCTOBER 1,
2026, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2027.
appropriate the use of funds shown there as stated and may be
necessary or deemed necessary to defray all expenses
and liabilities relating to the respective --
>> Any public comment on this item?
Seeing none.
Mrs. Gibson, please.
>> This resolution is for the amended budget for the CRA fund
for 2026, as well as the proposed budget for the CRA fund
for 2027.
Each year, there's things that happen
that we have to adjust things that
happen that require adjustments for revenues and expenses.
Those amendments are in the 26 budget amendment
within the resolution.
Also, you have the proposed CRA budget
that we have prepared in accordance with Florida Statutes
section 163.387, which requires that we follow and use
the outlined redevelopment plan.
That's it.
>> Okay.
Thank you, Mrs. Gibson, this is the same process
we just went through for the general fund for the CRA.
>> Motion to approve.
>> We have a motion and a second to approve.
Please call the roll.
[Roll call] Regular agenda item number five.
Resolution 26157.
Mr. Davis.
>> RESOLUTION NO.
26-157, APPROVING A GRANT AGREEMENT WITH THE STATE
FLORIDA, DIVISION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT FOR THE CREATION
OF WATERSHED MASTER PLAN; AND AUTHORIZING A BUDGET AMENDMENT
REFLECT THE RECEIPT OF THESE FUNDS.
>> Any public comment for resolution 26157?
Seeing none, Mr. Adaire, is this you?
This.
>> If you got a recall resolution 2619 in October 23rd
of 2025.
The city approved $473,000 for the preparation of the City
Stormwater Master Plan.
We still continue to search for funding for that project
and we were able to secure grant funding to help
recover some of that cost.
That's what's before you today. $300,000 to go towards that
project.
>> So this is to accept money -- where is the grant from?
>> HMGP Grant from FDEM.
>> Any questions?
Thank you.
Motion to approve?
Any discussion?
I'm sorry, I'm just following the rules.
I'm excited to accept this money.
Please call the roll.
[Roll call] We now move on to regular agenda item number six.
Resolution 26158.
Mr. Davis.
>> RESOLUTION NO.
26-158, APPROVING A GRANT AGREEMENT WITH DEPARTMENT
OF JUSTICE FOR FIVE BALLISTIC SHIELDS FOR THE DEPARTMENT;
AND AUTHORIZING A BUDGET AMENDMENT TO REFLECT RECEIPT
AND APPROPRIATION OF THESE FUNDS.
>> Any public comment on this item?
Seeing none.
Chief Talamentes, help us understand this item.
>> Mayor, a while ago now we applied for a grant
of the Department of justice for five ballistic shields.
These plastic shoes are utilized for tactical operations, patrol
operations and just another piece of
to keep our guys safe out there on the street.
We have our notified a couple of weeks
ago that we're approved this would be a no cost to the city.
This is completely grant funded and a vital piece of equipment
for officer safety.
>> Thank you to everyone that works so hard at the police
department on procuring these grants.
>> We got to protect our officers and our citizens.
>> Motion to approve.
>> Second.
>> We have a motion to approve and a second.
Is there any discussion on this item?
Seeing none.
[Roll call]
we now move on to the city Manager report.
Mr. Whitman?
>> No report.
>> We now move on to the city attorney report.
>> No report.
>> Council comments.
>> And one thing that just hit me with the Laguna Beach thing
or whatever she's trying to put all together in the consolidated
format for these residents to be able to maybe fly or something
that the city can put together.
I don't know if that's doable.
But just something where it makes it simple and easy
that we can get it translated because I
know we had a lot of robust discussion
and we came up with this.
And it took a PhD up here to be able to make a motion
to approve it.
I'd like to see the city be able to put something together.
I know your team can do that.
>> Aaron and Mark can put something together and they
presented at one of their meetings.
>> Thank you so much.
>> Nothing from me.
Everyone is back to school.
I hope everyone is getting settled and enjoying it.
And also enjoy your Labor Day on the 7th.
Our next City Council meeting is Thursday September 10th.
5 p.m.
Here at City Hall.
Have a blessed day.
This meeting is adjourned.