[0:00] the meeting to order. Everybody stand
[0:02] for an invocation from Commissioner
[0:03] Linda Thompson and then the pledge of
[0:05] allegiance.
[0:07] >> Dear Lord, we thank you for the
[0:08] privilege of gathering here today in our
[0:10] service to our community. Help us all to
[0:13] remember the citizens, families, and
[0:15] neighborhoods affected by the choices
[0:18] made in this room. Inspire a spirit of
[0:21] mutual respect, patience, and courage
[0:23] among our leaders and our public. guide
[0:26] our discussions so that we serve the
[0:28] common good and build a stronger, safer
[0:30] future for everyone we represent. Amen.
[0:34] >> Amen.
[0:36] >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
[0:38] United States of America and to the
[0:41] republic for which it stands, one nation
[0:43] under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[0:46] justice for all.
[0:49] >> Carly, if you can call the role, please.
[0:52] >> Here. Thompson here.
[0:55] Penny
[0:56] >> here.
[0:58] All right. Well, good morning everybody.
[1:00] Um, thanks for joining us today. Today,
[1:03] we're going to induct an agenda meeting
[1:05] for the September 9th regular commission
[1:07] meeting immediately followed by an
[1:09] administrative workshop. Right now,
[1:11] we're just going to briefly go through
[1:13] the agenda items for next week. Uh,
[1:18] looks like we've got under public
[1:20] hearing, we've got an ordinance number
[1:22] 2026-01,
[1:24] which is an ordinance of the city of
[1:25] South Pasadena, Florida, amending
[1:27] appendix chapter A198, fees of the code
[1:30] of ordinances relating to rates and
[1:32] charges for sewage usage to increase the
[1:35] base minimum monthly sewer rates and
[1:37] sewer flow charge rate by 5%. Providing
[1:41] an effective date will be the second and
[1:44] final reading. Uh the next item that
[1:46] we'll review next week will be ordinance
[1:49] number 2026-02
[1:51] and this is an ordinance of the city of
[1:53] South Pasadena, Florida amending
[1:54] appendix chapter A198 fees uh fees of
[1:59] the code of yeah fees of the code of
[2:02] ordinance relating to the rates and
[2:03] charges for reclaimed water. Uh to
[2:06] increase the minimum monthly reclaimed
[2:08] water service charge for single family
[2:10] residential customers to $13.66 66 and
[2:14] to create the increase the commercial
[2:17] and municipal user service charges to
[2:19] $3901
[2:21] per pvious acre and this will be a
[2:24] second and final reading as well. Uh our
[2:27] third item will be resolution number
[2:29] 2026-06.
[2:31] A resolution of the city commission of
[2:33] the city of South Pasino, Florida,
[2:35] adopting a tenative millage rate for ad
[2:38] valerum taxes for the city of South
[2:40] Pasino for a fiscal year 2026 to 2027
[2:44] and providing for an effective date.
[2:47] Um next item, item number four will be
[2:50] ordinance number 2026-03.
[2:53] This is an ordinance of the city of
[2:55] South Pasino, Florida. adopting fiscal
[2:57] year 2026 2027 budget providing for an
[3:01] effective date and this will be a second
[3:03] reading. Uh then we got no unfinished
[3:06] business. We will have the consent
[3:07] agenda which will be the approval of the
[3:09] minutes from August uh which are always
[3:11] available here at the office. And then
[3:14] we'll have new business uh item number
[3:16] six which is a motion and this is to
[3:18] approve the extension of contract for
[3:20] legal services with Gray Robinson for
[3:23] services as city attorney for the period
[3:24] of October 1, 2026 through September
[3:27] 30th, 2027.
[3:30] Does anyone have any questions or
[3:33] concerns over the items for next week?
[3:35] >> No questions.
[3:36] >> We're all good.
[3:37] >> All right. Uh well, the agenda is
[3:40] approved for next week and we will now
[3:42] adjourn.
[3:44] Let's head downstairs.
[4:50] Hold on one second.
[4:52] >> Okay.
[4:54] >> All right.
[4:56] So, we're now going to call the
[4:58] administrative workshop to order. Uh
[5:00] probably to do the roll call one more
[5:02] time.
[5:02] >> Mer
[5:03] >> here.
[5:03] >> Magal
[5:04] >> here. Thompson here. Reed
[5:06] >> Penny
[5:07] >> here. All right. Looks like we've got a
[5:10] one item agenda. Uh personnel update.
[5:13] Who's handling all that?
[5:15] >> I'll come down. Some some others might join me at some point, but I'll
[5:18] come down.
[5:21] » This is should be relatively brief.
[5:27] Thank you, sir. Um, so as you know,
[5:31] we've had um a temporary office
[5:34] assistant position in community
[5:36] improvement that was previously filled
[5:38] and the employee moved away. So we had
[5:40] it has been um vacant. Uh in our in our
[5:44] discussions amongst the department heads
[5:46] and kind of looking at what the
[5:48] potential financial situation is of the
[5:49] city, we've been trying to find some
[5:51] alternative solutions to our needs if
[5:53] possible. Um and so in discussion with
[5:57] Terry and on. We decided that it maybe
[6:01] uh it may work out for all departments
[6:04] involved if we were to um sort of share
[6:09] the administrative assistant from public
[6:11] works into community improvement to help
[6:14] fill that gap. Um so she's uh Marie has
[6:19] worked over in C before. She she
[6:21] supported them after the storms and did
[6:22] a great job. Um, and it may just be an
[6:25] easier fit that way than trying to fill
[6:27] the temporary position again for just
[6:29] another year and then getting rid of it
[6:31] again based on our financial situation
[6:33] and sort of the unknowns with dropping
[6:36] taxes and whatnot. Seems like a logical
[6:38] thing to try and see if this would work.
[6:42] wanted to discuss with you all, let you
[6:45] know that our plan there is, if you all
[6:48] are okay with it, is to
[6:51] remove the office assistant position
[6:53] from community improvement and actually
[6:56] on the city's work chart listed as an
[6:58] administrative assistant position within
[7:00] community improvement and consider the
[7:03] position a part of that department
[7:05] because of the accounting that goes into
[7:06] running that department. Yeah. If the
[7:08] physician is going to be doing work
[7:10] there, it should be a part of that.
[7:13] >> Right.
[7:14] >> So that's our thought there. That's
[7:16] really why we wanted to bring special
[7:17] attention to it.
[7:18] >> So you're going to change a title, you
[7:20] saying to the job?
[7:21] >> Completely different position.
[7:22] >> Okay.
[7:23] >> And in theory, not consider it temporary
[7:26] over there anymore. It would be an
[7:29] administrative assistant position in
[7:30] community improvement and then on the
[7:33] city's work chart will leave an
[7:35] administrative assistant position listed
[7:36] in public works but not fill it
[7:39] >> if that makes sense.
[7:40] >> Yeah. So not not adding a position more
[7:43] shifting it from one place to the other.
[7:45] >> Leave their case in the future it does
[7:46] come to where we do need
[7:49] >> yeah just in case the need in the city's
[7:51] financial situation it were to make
[7:53] sense we could fill that also but for
[7:55] right now there's a pretty significant
[7:57] need in community improvement.
[7:58] >> You'll get support you need.
[7:59] >> Oh yeah yes yes 100%.
[8:02] >> Good and a lot of money. So just
[8:05] accounting wise it makes sense for it to
[8:07] be a community improvement department
[8:10] employee if that makes sense. So that's
[8:12] really why we wanted to draw specific
[8:14] attention to it was I wanted to be
[8:16] upfront about us
[8:19] >> a title showing her that she's half and
[8:21] half just a title saying she's C.
[8:23] >> She would be administrative assistant in
[8:25] C.
[8:26] >> That then also supports public works
[8:28] rather than administrative assistant in
[8:31] public works supporting C. So is public
[8:33] works going to be paying any of the
[8:35] salary?
[8:35] >> Most likely no.
[8:37] >> All come out of C.
[8:38] >> It would depend on the amount of work,
[8:40] >> but we think that the substantial amount
[8:42] is going to be in C.
[8:44] >> Okay. So you're saying they don't do
[8:45] much work over there.
[8:49] >> Just checking.
[8:51] >> Kind of sound like it. You know,
[8:53] >> honestly,
[8:53] >> she's able to do both.
[8:55] >> A testament to honestly how well it's
[8:57] run over there because everything is so
[8:59] set in processes and cycles and whatnot
[9:01] that it's They're such a welloiled
[9:03] machine is really what I'm saying. And
[9:05] >> by leaving position open if if he
[9:08] something came up where you needed
[9:10] somebody could always fill it.
[9:12] >> Exactly. So it would be listed on the
[9:14] org chart which there will be an org
[9:15] chart listed in the in the final version
[9:18] of the budget that you all get. So I
[9:19] just didn't want to shock you. If
[9:21] there's these positions, one is just
[9:23] going to be considered vacant. It's
[9:25] there if we need it. It's built into the
[9:27] city's system and structure, but we just
[9:29] are not planning to fill it right now.
[9:31] If
[9:32] >> there any pay changes for this process
[9:34] or anything?
[9:34] >> No, because she's already paid at an
[9:36] administrative assistant rate. So, it's
[9:39] >> the same.
[9:41] >> It would be the same. Correct. It's
[9:42] saving us the temporary office position.
[9:45] >> Gotcha.
[9:46] >> Office assistant position.
[9:48] >> It was a lower pay scale, but it was an
[9:50] additional pay.
[9:51] >> You guys have all chatted this out.
[9:52] You're good. And
[9:53] >> we have. Yeah. And Marie helped us so
[9:56] much during the storms that I it I think
[9:58] it's going to be a good fit. She also
[9:59] used to work over there.
[10:01] >> She used to do back and forth anyway.
[10:03] >> Yeah.
[10:06] She's good at what she does and
[10:07] >> you know it'll we'll we'll be okay.
[10:11] >> And I can
[10:12] >> going away
[10:14] fast two fingers.
[10:18] » Yeah.
[10:18] >> But no, we're good. We're We'll be We'll
[10:20] be good.
[10:21] >> Good.
[10:22] >> Okay.
[10:23] >> Yeah, it'll work. Sean and I are
[10:26] talking.
[10:28] >> Right. So there's nothing voting wise or
[10:30] anything. It just
[10:31] >> Well, well, I mean, we do want your
[10:33] approval to to do that. It is replacing
[10:36] a temporary position.
[10:37] >> Everybody's good with the
[10:38] >> consensus. It's saving us money.
[10:40] >> It's saving us money to do it this way.
[10:42] >> Okay, perfect.
[10:44] >> And we would continue. It wouldn't just
[10:46] be for the year.
[10:46] >> Yeah, it would be
[10:48] >> on and on and on and on.
[10:50] >> So that's indefinitely is is kind of the plan. So that's the one thing. I
[10:57] have one other Just to let you all know,
[10:59] um, we have some calls set up this week.
[11:01] Um, we've had a reserve employee in the
[11:04] fire department, um, who recently, uh,
[11:09] got orders for a three-year active duty
[11:11] deployment. Um, so his his orders
[11:14] previously had been much shorter than
[11:17] that, few weeks at a time, maybe a
[11:19] month. Um, yeah, he just got threeear
[11:21] orders. And so we're going to be
[11:23] evaluating
[11:24] um how we handle that in terms of we'll
[11:27] need to hire for that position. And then
[11:29] we just need to be ready with a plan in
[11:32] place for when he returns. If he returns
[11:34] to employment here with the city, we
[11:36] have to make sure that we are doing what we need to do um for him if he chooses to come back to the city.
[11:44] Sometimes when people have that long of
[11:45] a deployment, their lives change. They
[11:47] don't necessarily want to go back to
[11:49] where they were. We don't we don't know.
[11:51] But we just want to make sure that we
[11:52] have a plan in place and that we know
[11:54] what our responsibilities are to make
[11:56] sure that he's planned for.
[11:58] >> So he's becomes off the books for us for
[12:01] that period of time technically.
[12:03] >> So he he's still a city employee. He
[12:05] stays on unless he chooses to resign
[12:07] which he doesn't need to. He stays on
[12:09] the books. He's just not paid anything.
[12:12] He stops acrewing anything. But he is
[12:15] considered an employee. It's pensionable
[12:17] service.
[12:19] >> Yeah. He stops
[12:20] >> how does he how does a new
[12:22] >> No, he's still it's still pensionable
[12:23] term of service. He is an employee with
[12:25] the city. He's just not getting paid
[12:27] >> because it's military. Yeah.
[12:29] >> So, his pension increases.
[12:31] >> It continues to
[12:32] >> this counts as years of service.
[12:34] >> Okay.
[12:35] >> Unless he were to resign, which is his
[12:38] choice, but um he's dropped off of the
[12:40] city's health insurance. He does get
[12:41] health insurance through the military.
[12:44] Um
[12:46] >> how does a new person come in? They are
[12:48] they're like kind of like a ops op, you
[12:52] know, optional personal services or
[12:54] >> I mean that's kind of what we're going
[12:55] to look at. Most likely not. Our our
[12:57] hope there I think and we're going to
[12:59] need to we have calls set up for
[13:00] tomorrow and Thursday on this to try to
[13:02] get a a plan in place to make sure that
[13:04] we're doing what we need to do. The hope
[13:06] there is that we can fill the position
[13:07] and then it naturally will staffing will
[13:10] adjust because three years is a long
[13:12] time and there's you know potentially
[13:14] turnover in that three years. So there
[13:17] it's kind of it's a moving target.
[13:20] Obviously you can't hold anyone to any
[13:22] anything and we plan for everybody to be
[13:24] here for as long as they would like to
[13:25] be. Um
[13:26] >> but they know that's coming in that the
[13:29] spot could be might only be for three
[13:31] years. Is that how you tell this person
[13:33] that they're hired or
[13:34] >> probably not?
[13:35] >> Um I hesitate to answer some of those
[13:38] questions at this moment. Um, no. It
[13:41] would most likely be hiring for a
[13:43] full-time on staff position with no no
[13:46] terms of
[13:48] >> years and then we would the the
[13:50] difficult part would be adjusting and
[13:51] adapting when the other employee
[13:53] returns.
[13:54] >> That's we have to make sure that we're
[13:56] fair to both if that makes sense.
[13:59] >> So, worst case you'd be hiring an extra
[14:02] firefighter in the end if he came back.
[14:04] >> So, there was turnover.
[14:05] >> Okay. If there was no turn,
[14:07] >> we'll we'll make sure that we know what
[14:08] the city's obligations are truly and
[14:10] that we're, you know, fair and plan.
[14:13] >> It's it's a very difficult thing to to
[14:15] plan for, unfortunately. So, we're going
[14:18] to kind of have some contingency plans.
[14:20] >> Couple months ago, we were talking about
[14:23] the state legislating that we might have
[14:25] to add a force shift so that we went to
[14:27] a 40-hour work week. Do we know if
[14:29] that's getting any closer? Because that
[14:30] would encompass all this. Um, right now
[14:33] the the focus is so on property taxes
[14:35] that everything else is kind of kind of
[14:37] paused both at the state level and
[14:39] locally. Um, I think
[14:41] >> cities are not blind to the fact that is most likely coming down the pike
[14:44] at some point. Now whether that's a year
[14:47] two, three or six, seven or eight, it is
[14:50] most likely going to happen. I think the
[14:52] property tax changes, if that passes,
[14:54] could really affect the time frame of
[14:56] that because if that passes, you are
[14:58] significantly limiting the financial
[15:00] abilities of a lot of local governments.
[15:02] And so, if you're wanting to make some
[15:04] changes in that, you are slowing our
[15:06] ability to do that if if the property
[15:08] tax legislation passes. So, a lot of
[15:11] that is sort of paused. The the thinking
[15:12] is it's going to happen. It's just when
[15:15] >> So,
[15:17] if that makes sense. So, I just wanted
[15:19] to let you all know that. So if and when
[15:21] you see us advertising a position for a
[15:23] firefighter, that's that's what it is.
[15:25] >> So and that we're going to do
[15:26] >> you're fully staffed right now?
[15:29] >> Yes.
[15:30] >> Or is there there's no openings at this
[15:33] time?
[15:33] >> Okay.
[15:34] >> No.
[15:36] >> Okay.
[15:36] >> So just just the one we're about to
[15:38] post.
[15:38] >> Okay.
[15:39] >> Right. Right.
[15:40] >> So the only openings we have right now
[15:41] in the city is finance.
[15:44] >> Okay.
[15:47] All right. Anybody else have any
[15:49] questions or anything?
[15:51] >> No. Nothing else for us?
[15:53] >> That was it. I just want to let you all
[15:55] know
[15:56] >> we're we're working on it. So, I don't
[15:57] know if any of the other directors have
[15:59] anything, but that's all. That's all for
[16:00] me.
[16:01] >> All right. Anybody else over there got
[16:03] anything you wanted to say or no? Just
[16:05] want to come up hand or nothing. Okay.
[16:08] All right. Well, then we are going to
[16:10] adjourn.
[16:13] >> Great.
[16:17] have a chance.
[16:20] It only takes a minute, girl.