City Commission on 2026-09-21 6:00 PM - Sep 21, 2026

Stephen Colwell: present · Davison Heriot: present · Dori Howington: present · Commissioner Knobbeck: present · Commissioner Santiago: present · Santiago Avila, Jr.: present

Davison Heriot: yes · Dori Howington: no · Chris Nabicht: yes · Commissioner Santiago: yes · Santiago Avila, Jr.: yes

Outcome: 6-1. (partial — some responses not in transcript)

Good evening. At this time, we're going to go ahead and get started with the regular commission meeting for Monday, September 21st, 2026. If I can please have the city clerk call the roll.

Commissioner Caldwell?

Here.

Commissioner Harriot?

Here.

Commissioner Howington? Here. Commissioner Knobbeck?

Here.

Commissioner Santiago? Here. Vice Mayor Villa-Vasquez? Mayor Villa?

Here.

Thank you.

This time, I'm going to turn it over to Commissioner Caldwell of District 5 for the invocation and the honoring of the veterans.

Please join me in a moment of silence. Thank you. And I'll go to the pledge. 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. Mayor, they're not allowed or they're not here to attend. So we'll go down and I'll speak. Hello. We're here to honor. Hello. We're here to honor Army Staff Sergeant Jessica Vasquez, who is unable to attend tonight. Staff Sergeant Vasquez honorably served in the United States Army from March 23, 2001 through June 30, 2010, completing nearly 10 years of active military service, motivated by her desire to defend our country's rights and freedoms. She enlisted through Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico, and trained as an aviation operational specialist. During her military career, Staff Sergeant Vasquez deployed to Kuwait and Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She coordinated and supported aviation operations and served as a tactical driver for her unit's deputy commanding officer. In that role, she transported senior leadership through high-threat areas while navigating enemy fire, suicide bombers, threats, toxic waste exposure, extreme sandstorms, and repeated mortar and rocket-propelled grenade attacks. In October 2003, her unit suffered a devastating loss when 10 of her fellow service members were killed after a mortar attack resulted in a crash of a Chinook helicopter. One month later, while walking back from her base, her base's shower facility, Staff Sergeant Vasquez was caught in a nearby mortar blast and rendered her unconscious. She was diagnosed with a severe concussion and later with a severe or service-related traumatic brain injury. Despite the lasting effects of her injury, Staff Sergeant Vasquez continued to demonstrate the courage, perseverance, and sense of duty that defined her Army career. Following her honorable discharge, she devoted herself to caring for her family and serving her community through volunteer work and local nonprofit organizations. In recognition of her honorable service, leadership, overseas deployment, and demonstrating military proficiency, Staff Sergeant Vasquez earned the following awards and decorations. Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal with Campaign Star, Global War and Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vitorious Unit Commendations, Army Overseas Service Ribbon, German Armed Forces Professionally Badge in Gold. We are also honoring Army Sergeant Sergeant Scott Allen, who wasn't able to attend also. Sergeant Scott Allen honorably served in the United States Army from 2006 to 2012, achieving the rank of E-5 Sergeant. During his military service, Sergeant Allen served as a 13B field artillery crew member and deployed to Iraq from October 2008 through November 2009. While deployed, he cross-trained as a 15W drone pilot. Piling the RQ-11 Raven, he also credited as an operator in a now-declassified, unnamed ghost HMM-WV Humvee project. In recognition of his distinguished service, Sergeant Allen received the Army's Commendational Medal, Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Iraqi Campaign Medal with a Campaign Star, Global War and Terrorism Service Medal, and Master Driver's Badge. The City of Deltona proudly recognizes Sergeant Scott Allen and extends its sincere gratitude for his honorable and dedicated service to our nation.

It's my understanding Commissioner Caldwell will personally hand those over to both of our veterans. This time we're going to go to additions and deletions. There are no presentations for tonight from staff, and then we do have presentations on behalf of Fire Chief Stephen Cousins, so we're going to invite Chief Cousins to come up, and once he's done, the commission will go back down.

There you go. All right. Thank you, Mayor and Commission. I appreciate your time letting us come up today. While we get prepared, I'd like to go ahead up and bring Aria and her family up to start with. While they're coming up, I'll give you a little story about it. We recognized Aria earlier this month for her heroic effort, but we wanted to bring her up in front of the commission. We wanted to acknowledge her in a more public format, and we know the commission wanted to acknowledge her personally as well. So as she comes up, I'd like the first responders, i.e., our Deltona Fire Department, to come up behind them if they don't mind. These are the folks that responded to the call to help mitigate the incident, right? So a real brief back story. On Saturday, August 29th, Aria noticed that her little brother, Elijah, was in a life-threatening situation. Her remarkable courage, quick thinking, swift actions helped save Elijah's life. After immediately alerting her parents, Aria continued to be the tremendous help as Elijah's parents provided life-saving efforts until the Deltona Fire Department arrived. Elijah was transported for medical care, and we are so incredibly happy to share that he has made a full recovery. Please join me in saying thank you to superhero, Aria. I'd also like to recognize the folks behind her, which are Deltona Fire Department members. We'll acknowledge them in a more formal format on our award ceremony at a later date. One last piece before we invite you down so you guys can present her with her award. The parents' discussion earlier in here, I want to remind everybody, right, part of the life-saving effort that took part here was knowing CPR, right? So please, please, please, if you don't know it, please reach out to the Deltona Fire Department. We'll be happy to organize something for you, your family, your church, your HOA, your civic groups, any of those types of things. We're here to support the community 100%, and this is an integral part of the positive outcomes. So please contact us any time, and we'll make sure we'll provide that to everybody that needs it. So at this time, if you don't mind, Mayor and Commissioner, you can come down so we can make the presentation. We'll have you guys step forward, if you don't mind. We'll come to the front of the phone.

We're coming.

You guys as well.

All right. So can we please have you guys over here facing that way? And please, the commission is more than welcome to approach Aria, who is obviously one of our youngest superheroes here in the city. So on behalf of the whole commission, city staff, and the city manager, Aria, we wanted to give you this medal for being a superhero, right? So now you get to be amongst people like Wonder Woman, Superman, Spider-Man, all those people with special powers. And it's a Citizen's Life-Saving Award on behalf of the Deltana Fire Department, and as I said, the commission and staff and the city manager. And this is one of my special coins. I say it every time. I'm sure the commission's tired of hearing it. But there's a special encryption in the back that mom and dad can read to you. And this is only meant for those that get this coin, okay? So this is for the City of Destiny Community Champions, which you are part of that special group. And this is on behalf of myself. That is for you as well. Thank you. Sorry, as a dad, I get a little... I can't even imagine what those two parents had to go through witnessing that. So, all right, we're going to move to consent agenda. At this time, Commissioner Howington? I'd like to pull E. E as in Edward?

Yes. E.

7E. All right, this time I'll entertain a motion for approval of the rest. Commissioner Santiago?

I move to approve consent agenda A through D.

All right, there's a motion by Commissioner Santiago. Commissioner Novick? Second. There's a motion and a second. Is there any public comment on the consent agenda?

Pat Blodgett, please. You put down fiscal report, which is 7E.

Fiscal report, okay. Okay. Fiscal report. Why do we have $138,249,949 in carryover expenses from this year to next year? Okay. I can understand some of it. That's a lot. Okay. We have, for instance, Deltona Water. $2,993,549 being carried over. I don't understand. Can somebody explain this to us? That's all I got. Thank you. That's it, Mayor.

All right. Since no one else is locked in, can I please go with the vote? Motion passes 7 to 0. Commissioner Howington, you are up next for 7E as in Edward.

Thank you. I had recently got a list of the promotional expenses and revenue for the current year, and I was just curious if the $11,000 donation that was a capital contribution for the Harris-Saxon Park had been added to the capital funds because it looks like it's still sitting in promotional revenue. And I would think if that's been earmarked as part of the donation to be for a capital project, we need to recognize it within capital contributions as opposed to promotional revenue.

I would need to see exactly, Commissioner, which item that is. Okay. This is news to me.

Okay.

So, but absolutely, if something is coded somewhere and it should be others, I would have to be informed of what that item is, and it would absolutely be moved.

It's the $11,000 from the Mayor's Ball that was received as a donation from the Hispanic organization, and it was earmarked specifically for Harris-Saxon Capital Projects.

Okay.

And I didn't see it on this list, and I did still see it in the actual expenditures, or sorry, the actual revenue.

From what I sent you on Monday? Yes. I'm sorry, Friday? Yes. That wouldn't have been on what I sent you on Friday?

It was.

It was?

Yes, it was.

I will take care of that for you.

Thank you. And that was the only thing I had.

All right. This time I will entertain a motion and a second. Commissioner Santiago?

I move to approve consent agenda item number E.

All right. Commissioner Harriet? Second. There's a motion by Commissioner Santiago, second by Commissioner Harriet. Can we please vote? Motion passes six to one. All right. This time we're going to go into eight ordinance and public hearings. If the city attorney can please read Section A.

Yes, Mr. Mayor. This is ordinance number 19-2026, an ordinance of the city of Deltona, Florida, establishing a temporary moratorium on the acceptance, processing, review, and approval of applications for data centers within the city of Deltona, providing legislative findings, providing for purpose and intent, providing for a temporary moratorium, providing for exceptions and vested rights, directing staff to study data centers and provide recommendations to the city commission, providing for duration and early termination, providing for conflicts, severability, scriveners, errors, non-codification, implementation, and an effective date.

This time I'll entertain a motion. Commissioner Harriet?

Thank you, Mayor.

I'd like to make a motion to approve ordinance number 19-2026, the temporary moratorium for data centers at first reading.

All right. This time I'll entertain a second. Commissioner Howington?

I'll second.

All right. Is there any public comment?

Yes, sir. Stephanie Cox, please.

Screen. Thank you again for allowing me to speak tonight. I absolutely want no data centers anywhere near Deltona. A few years back, there was a test done on my personal residence, and there were seven cancer-causing ingredients in my water. So for that reason, we can't even supply ourselves good water. We don't need to be wasting it on data centers. Thank you.

Thank you. Tim Blodgett, please.

Okay. I'm glad we're doing a moratorium on data centers. And I really think we need to know what we're getting into here. Granted, we are way behind the curve when we're compared to the Chinese who have been using it to spy on us for years. But what are we doing with it? We're using it to spy on ourselves. And you take a look around you, people ask me, well, what exactly is it? If you look on Facebook, people make nasty little emojis and pictures of each other. I personally learned how to use it about four months ago. It was as easy as asking a question. And it was nice because I was doing committee work, and I wanted to know how the rest of the area was dealing with issues like e-bikes, noise, and how it was being enforced and so on. And all you had to do is put a question in there, and it would tell you what everybody is doing. You can even do a – I was able to do audits on our city here, which everybody was screaming about forever. I was able to do an audit on Deltona in 26 seconds, which was amazing. So now I do it all the time. And that's why every now and then you'll hear me say that John's doing a really good job. But there's two innate problems with data centers. One is they use up an enormous amount of electricity, and the other is that they use up an enormous amount of water. The water is for cooling. And my guess is as time goes by, they're going to find better ways of doing it where they don't have to scrub so much water and waste it. And as far as electricity is concerned, there's some new technologies that are coming up that should change the way that we make electricity. We recently had a breakthrough. We have some materials that will replace copper. We've also – Tesla's designed something that will replace rare earth elements. That means you can make a generator without rare earth elements for magnets, and you don't need to use copper. That should change things quite a bit. And if we put a moratorium on everything, it might just give us the time to work all these bugs out. I don't know how SB-180 is going to come into all this because according to SB-180, we can't control anything. We do. But I'm all for the moratorium. And if it's causing pollution around here, like the previous speaker said, all the more reason not to have it here. Also, Florida has over two dozen data centers already. We really don't need one.

Thank you. Jason Bowles, please.

Good evening. I support a moratorium on data centers, but you're going to have to do more than that. You have to in the city right now with the Amazon centers. You can convert those very easily into a data center. So moving forward, having something that says you can't convert a building that already exists would be something I would like to see on top of lobbying in Tallahassee to make sure they don't pull the rug out from under us with these data centers because they're going to do that too. They're going to preempt you. So lobbying at the state level, along with some other stuff, is how you stop this. Nobody wants them here in Deltona. So you're not going to get any citizens up here saying yes, yes. So let's try to make sure we do it right. Thanks.

Thank you. Mayor, if that closes, public comments.

Commissioner Knobbeck and then Commissioner Howington.

Thank you, Mayor. My first question, Zach, this doesn't affect us on SB 180 at all?

No, sir. So the Florida legislature's enactment of 163.326 specifically affirms local government's ability to regulate data centers, including the issuance of moratoriums, and it is the later legislative pronouncement. So it supersedes the provisions of SB 180, a specific subject.

And for zoning, do we even have a zoning classification that would permit this? No. So there's no zoning classification that would permit this.

All right.

And what is the commission's intent on the timeline for this? I'm in favor of six months. It's only because in six months there will be a new commission up here. They might want to revisit that issue, and technology changes rapidly. So what's the wish from the motion maker?

My preference would be a year, but I would default to staff to find out what reasonable amount of time they would need in order to put the safeguards in place for our community.

The ordinance is currently drafted to provide for a moratorium of one year and allows for early termination if that's the will of the commission. Okay. However, also being the will of commission, if you all want to provide for a shorter time and come back for an extension, you can do that as well.

My preference would be to leave it to one year if there's a new commission that comes in.

Okay, as long as it can be reopened because, again, technology changes rapidly, and what Mr. Blodgett said is true. There are data centers now that use an extremely less amount of electricity and a less amount of water already. They know that's an issue. So, okay.

Commissioner Howington.

Thank you. And I believe other communities are using one year as well. So that seems to be kind of typical for Volusia County. And I was also going to speak to the 180 because we had asked that question previously, and we had received confirmation. While there is no verbiage in the bill that says that it supersedes SB 180, the fact that we didn't have the zoning in place prior to August of 2025, I believe.

24. 24.

There you go. We are still okay with that, with the zoning portion. Thank you.

All right, Commissioner Herring, unless we're going to add something different to the support, we're going to go ahead and go with the vote.

I'd just like to ask legal. Since that is data centers are not currently an allowable use for any of our zoning classifications, then that would make it Amazon ineligible to be converted to or be used as a data center.

That's correct. They would have to come for a zoning change. I believe they're part of a PUD, so they would need to amend their PUD and also likely our underlying zoning code.

So they cannot just, you know, laterally on their own decide that they want to be a data center and do it on their own?

Not legally, no. Okay.

Thank you.

Vice Mayor Avila-Vasquez.

Thank you, Mayor. Jordan, do you know that the one over by Spectrum, is that considered a data center over by Graves? Is it Graves or Howland? Huh?

Are you talking about Amazon?

No. I'm talking about Spectrum. They're over by the milk company.

I'm sorry? Okay, you, Catherine, do you mind giving them the microphone?

Because I know they have a large area where all their data machines are stored.

Vice Mayor, the facility you're talking about is not a data center. The city has no data centers within the city limits.

They're not within the city?

There's no data centers within the city limits.

So what that area that they have, it's a huge area building where they keep all their data back all?

Right, that's just equipment, so.

Okay, thank you. All right, we're going to go ahead and go vote, please. They're doing, they're on their way.

Motion passes 7-0.

All right, at this time we're going to go to action items. City attorney, do you want to do it? And then we'll do, Mr. McKinney, you do have to do the legal reading. All right, after you do the legal reading, then I'll ask for the motion, and we'll move forward then with public comment and then from the commission.

Yeah, so I'll read the, first read the title. This is resolution number 2026-87, a resolution of the city commission of the city of Deltona, Florida, establishing a final operating millage rate of ad valorem taxation for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2026, and ending September 30, 2027, providing for scriveners, errors, and an effective date.

Mr. McKinney.

Yes, Mayor. The fiscal year 2027 budget commences on October 1, 2026, and continues through September 30, 2027 for the city of Deltona. The city commission this evening shall discuss the final millage necessary to fund the 2026-2027 final budget for the city of Deltona. The city of Deltona is the taxing authority, and the current year's taxable value for operating purposes is $5,920,885,741. The adopted final millage rate of 6.4948 mills per $1,000 evaluation is a 0% increase in ad valorem tax revenues above the rollback rate of 6.4948. The budget portion includes all operating and capital costs for fiscal year 2027. This budget includes the general, special revenue, capital, enterprise, and internal service funds. The final proposed citywide fiscal year 2027 budget for all funds is $316,519,788. The major changes from the proposed tentative budget for fiscal year 2027 are as follows. The prior year carry forwards of $138,249,949. This includes revenue of $31,870,440 in federal, state, and local grants such as FDEM, SHIP, and CDBG. Expenditures includes carry forwards of capital projects of $129,643, which takes multiple fiscal years to complete. There's capital outlay of $7,943,826, which includes vehicles and equipment that were ordered but not delivered by September 30th. There's consulting and operating commitments of $710,005 that have contracts or obligations necessary to complete. Adjustments from the tentative includes adding grant funding for the Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program, or FURDAP, for the Lake Gleason and Campbell Parks of $400,000, which includes an increase in estimated project costs of $150,000. Increased available CRA funding by $245,475. This offset increased transfers to transportation to the Transportation Fund for corridor improvements. Also, this includes a prior year transfer from the General Fund to the Stormwater Capital Fund of $350,000 for a Stormwater Master Plan study. That's all at this time, Mayor.

At this time, I'll entertain a motion for action items 9A, and I see Commissioner Santiago, you're on.

Thank you, Mayor. I move to approve Resolution No. 2026-87.

All right. Is there a second? Commissioner Howington? Commissioner Nobick?

I second.

All right. We have a motion by Commissioner Santiago and a second by Commissioner...

Mr. Mayor, sorry, if we would just like to amend the form of the motion, please. Yes, I know.

He has to read the motion.

Yeah.

I get it. Go ahead.

Yes, Mayor. Sorry. Motion to approve Resolution No. 2026-87, adopting the City of Deltona fiscal year 2026-2027 final millage rate of 6.4948 mils per $1,000 evaluation.

Commissioner Santiago again. So moved by Commissioner Santiago. Commissioner Nobick, you want to just re-verify your second?

Second.

All right. Is there any public comment?

Stephanie Cox, please.

To the residents coming up to the podium, I am sorry if I don't look directly at you. The sun is literally glaring right there. If you can click on... There you go. Public comment, we usually, for these two, we do them together.

Well, while the budget is already approved and not approved by myself, I think we could have done a whole lot better on the budget. But I'm too late to say that. I would hope you would go to a full rollback on the millage rate. People are hurting in Deltona, and we really need to pay attention to what is going on so that we can better help our residents. Thank you.

Thank you. Jason Bowles, please.

Good evening. Tonight, you ask residents to accept the millage rate, and you want us to be happy with the rollback. But you're ignoring the reality that people in this city are living through every single day. So let me enlighten you on what that world looks like. Effective January 1, every citizen's insurance policy for homeowners insurance will require flood insurance. That is not optional. That is immediate and unavoidable cost for our thousands of families in this city. Gas is around $4.50 a gallon. Diesel is around $6.50 a gallon. Interest rates are around 7%. Food costs are still high. Residents are being squeezed at every direction. Insurance, fuel, groceries, housing, lending. And in the middle of that, the city is prepared to pass the largest budget in Deltona history. The highest budget ever. And you want the residents to be happy about it. Last year's increase already pushed people to the edge. They told you they were frustrated. They told you they were struggling. They told you they couldn't absorb any more. And yet, here we are, again, being told that the rollback we should be celebrating. A rollback does not ease the fact that the city has increased revenue over $130 million in the last four years. A rollback doesn't explain where the money went. A rollback does not justify the spending patterns that got us here. You cannot explain government. You can't expand government while residents are cutting back on groceries. You can't keep growing the budget while families are shrinking theirs. A rollback does not justify the spending patterns. Oh, sorry. I'll be honest. I have not seen a resident stand here and ask for higher taxes. But what I have seen is residents stand here and ask for accountability, transparency, and reasonable spending. Right now, they don't see reasonable spending. They see the highest budget in city history. They see rising costs in every part of their lives. They see a government that keeps growing while their paychecks keep shrinking. And I can't finish the rest. But thank you.

Thank you. Madam Mayor, that closes for 9A. Did you want me to start calling 9B?

Is the commission okay with us doing it how we always do it? Please.

Okay. Tim Blodgett.

I got some wise guys back there. Okay. John, nice work on the budget. And keep banging away at the floodwater mitigation. Keep banging away at roads. We seem to be coming up a little short on roads. And aside from that, there's fluff. And I know nothing's going to be done about the fluff this year. It's just going to get voted right through. And it'll probably end up populating the general fund for next year. But I really hope that we don't see any more of it. We have other priorities that need to be addressed. Holland Avenue is starting to chip away. That road was just built. I was looking at it, and that asphalt looks awfully thin. And I hope when they resurface it, they use twice as much asphalt on the top as what they did. Because it was inadequate. We got potholes coming out. I left New York to get away from potholes. And we got them in Deltona. How the hell did that happen? No, I'm not going to blame Santiago. They already know what they do. Anyway, I hope that the good work that John did to thin out the bacon, so to speak, wasn't just a waste of time so that fluff could be backfilled into what is left. Because we've got too many good people doing good work. We've got a couple of keepers here that we didn't have three years ago. It's like we didn't have the water guy. We didn't have public works was not as efficient as it was today. Zach and the legal people, they're much better than they were before. And who else do we got over there? We got the planning people. We got public works. We got all sorts of people that are doing all sorts of great work here. And the money would be better spent going towards what they think is a priority instead of fluff. So have a good night.

Thank you. Pat Blodgett, please.

Pat Blodgett, Deltona. Has anyone in our city government ever had to budget? It looks like they want to spend our money like drunken sailors. We just want accountability. Do we really need all the festivals? Do we need all the fluff? We need our streets fixed. Our stormwater problems resolved. The city's needs come before our city wants. So we have a Celtic festival. That was $80,000 last year that we complained about. Well, I did. Now it's $100,000. And from what I heard, we now have to pay to go. What's going on here? Who decides where our money goes? Not the taxpayers. Let's see who votes to waste our money and our time tonight. When the state law passes Senate Bill 1134, what happens to the budget items that are not going to be done because then it's against the law? Good question, huh? Thank you.

Mel Himes, please.

Right time and right place.

You turned it off. No, click. Hold on. There you go.

I'm Mel Himes. I live at 2141 Wiggly Farms Road, 30 acres, 10 of it still underwater from flooding that hasn't been addressed. I'm a longtime resident of Deltona, moved here in 1974, served on the very first MSD board and on several code enforcement boards. Raised my family here. And right now, I want to talk about one thing and one thing only in the budget. And like the lady before me said, it's fluff. I've been outspoken about the use of city tax dollars for certain special events that have somehow, over the years, crept into our city budget. And I'm wondering who brought them in and why. Now, first, understand, I'm not against special events. I'm just against city tax dollars paying for these fluff that we really aren't providing for the majority of the population of Deltona. I believe that any form of government is designed to provide what I would call essential services for their population. Of course, you have to define what are essential services. And, of course, you have to ask yourself, well, who's going to make that definition? Or really, who's going to define what the purpose of government actually is? So I actually looked up on the Internet, of course, what is the purpose of city governments or any kind of government. So here's what I found out. The primary purpose of a government is to establish a framework for order, ensure safety and security, protect individual rights, and provide essential public services for a community. They are to include maintaining order and safety, protecting rights and freedoms, providing public services, and promoting the general welfare. Well, I thought, well, the Internet doesn't know everything, so how about our city charter? So I pulled up the 1,309 pages, all 15 sections, and 111 chapters, and I searched for where our city government is responsible for using taxpayer dollars for special events. Guess what? Couldn't find it. It's not there. So my question is, why? Why is this in our city budget? And why are you voting to use our taxpayer dollars to pay for these events? Want to have an Easter egg hunt? Let Trinity Baptist Church provide for it. They do it every year, and Chambers and other organizations.

Sir, happy Gallagher, please.

So thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Oh, it's on. Good. Okay. Hi. I agree with him, and I'll also mimic Jason in saying that the residents have been squeezed every which way, and it's difficult. I probably don't think you're going to change any of your minds by what I'm saying here. You're already digging in your heels. You already know what you're going to vote. It's just I've been a 40-year resident. Can't even say that I've been to any festival. I don't think that it belongs in the budget. I think I went to a Christmas parade once, but maybe the parking was difficult, so I left. I don't partake of any of that. I go to the library. I expect my roads to have no potholes, and I just don't think that all those promotional things need to be in the budget. This is a special year. We need to look forward in how we're going to be visible, be accountable, and do right by the residents and make it where you're not hiding things left and right, so thank you. Thank you.

Terry Hines, please. Haynes. Sorry, Haynes.

Terry Haynes, Pepperwood Avenue. I'm going to reiterate a lot of what was already said before me, but I decided to look at the events part because I have problems with it, and as I started looking, so the community events budget proposed increase is 26.23%, up from $532,444 to $600,072.89, an increase of $139,645 over last year. A total of $89,100 in new events and expenses have been added to the budget. The turkey giveaway appears to be new on page 27 of the budget, but this isn't a new event, so I'm not sure why it wasn't showing the current year, so I left that out of the $89,100. New event, Latin Fest, $10,000. New event, Fall Festival, $5,000. New event, Bike Safety Fair, $5,000. New event, Chili Cook-Off, $20,000 for a chili cook-off. New event, Community Shred Days, $5,000. New event, National Night Out, $7,500. New event, Spring Festival, $5,000. New other operating expenses, $19,700. Continuing down the budget, Amphitheater Entertainment, $30,000. Arbor Tree Giveaway increasing to $12,000. One hundred and forty percent increase over last year to give away trees. Back to School event decreased from $47,500 to $10,000 for 2027. The Celtic Festival increasing from $80,000 to $100,000 for 2027. And I've heard something about there was a $10 possible admission charge, even though we're paying for it as taxpayers. That could be a rumor, but it is sounding weird. Fourth of July, $101,000. Holiday camp out at Dewey, $5,000. Holiday Parade, $50,000 for a parade. Jingle Jog doubled to $10,000. Love Your Heart 5K, $10,000. Mayor's Fitness Challenge decreasing $15,000 to $10,000. MFC Warrior Run doubled to $10,000. MLK Day, $5,000. Turkey Giveaway, $10,000, no increase. In a year when we don't know whether Amendment 3 will pass, the city is proposing 26.23% increase in events budgets. An additional $139,645. Like the households it serves, the city needs to reserve expenses, consider possible revenue losses, and identify where it can cut back. If you are worried about losing your job, or you're an hourly employee, and your hours are being cut because your employer isn't doing as well, you surely are not going to go out and buy season passes to Disney and Universal and book a vacation to the Bahamas. I struggle to understand why an increase of this size is being proposed. Thank you, sir. Randy White, please.

Randy White-Deltona, I'm just going to touch on a few things that I've touched on in the past, so I get to talk a little slower this time. Can we talk for a minute about what you can do versus what you should do? Because there's a distinct difference. When reviewing the budget, do you ever ask yourself, is this the responsible thing to do? Because after reviewing 10 years of budgets, there's a lot of times I look at it and I think you couldn't possibly have asked yourself that question and still came up to the same conclusion. There was a claim not long ago about the crisis if Amendment 3 passes. There was a lot of discussion about that at that meeting, a lot of claims of how rough we're going to have it, all the things that are going to be cut. But yet in April, the Senate bill was approved, saying that there's a lot of things that governments should not be funding. Now, granted, in a typical process, that's not going to go to effect until January 2027. That's how it works. But it was already deemed inappropriate in April. So what I find is we decide to rush to cram these in in the few months that we are legally able to do it, even though it may not be the right thing to do. I don't understand why we can't be proactive and say we see it was deemed inappropriate in April. It's going to go in effect in January. Let's be proactive and put into compliance today, right now. One of the confusing points for me was seeing a second Latin festival listed, knowing that it had to be done this year, and yet we just had one. It's an annual event. That would be two for this year if we did it this way. And I don't find that to be responsible spending if it's already been deemed inappropriate. Moving on to the Celtic Festival. I'm familiar with how these work, and given it's in October, it's plausible that money has already been spent on this event, yet it hasn't been approved. So what happens if it doesn't get approved tonight? Is another one of those, oh, you guys are stuck, so you have to. We get a lot of that every year. But I will say that if you approve it tonight, you better put my tickets and everybody else's tickets in our water bills, because we've already paid the price. I will be damned if you're going to double charge me or other residents to attend an event we are paying for tonight. We've already paid for it. Send us our tickets. What I see is we clearly need a change. We clearly need representatives who will budget responsibly and spend wisely. Let the chili cook-off be held by those who use it to fundraise, nonprofits, associations, small businesses. It's not a 20K government event.

Thank you. Albert Bryan, please.

This is both of them, Mr.

You know, like her, I've been doing this quite a while. I've been standing at this podium quite a while talking about these budgets. But I can honestly say this is the first time that I've ever had to stand here and wonder why y'all are even thinking about passing a budget like this. Milledrate? I get milledrate. That's, you know, all right. I get it. But when you have a budget that is basically looking at possibly being basically gutted after November and we don't have any contingency plan at all, none whatsoever, without having anything in there saying, if this passes, this is what comes out. If it doesn't pass, then it doesn't come out. That's the definition of insanity to me. And I think if you pass this tonight, the way it sits right now, then we'll have to vote accordingly. Because to me, that is literally a way to walk away from the acknowledgement of what the people want. Because right now, the polls are sitting at 67%, plus or minus 3% on it. And it has to pass by 60%. So when Amendment 3 passes and it guts your budget, that's not an economic problem. That's mismanagement, complete mismanagement. Because you didn't take the foresight to take a look at it and say, we need to take and correct this, this, and this, if this happens. I heard one time this year, this whole budget year, about Amendment 3. We've known about it since July. It's been everywhere. And yet, I only heard about one time in this chamber, just once. I don't know how many times y'all heard it in the back rooms. We don't get to hear about the back rooms. So that's not essential. What happens is what happens here. That's what we hear. And to hear it one time, that's pitiful. It's shameful. And it shows that y'all are disconnected from them. And that's the way we should vote in November, to disconnect from you.

Thank you. Christian O'Brien, please.

Hey, good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Christian O'Brien, District 6. For those of you who are at home listening, I am one of the candidates for November. And so, I want everyone to know that I am listening. Even if there are no other folks listening, I am listening. And I hope you guys do, too, seriously. Because the message that has been going on back here from everybody is just transparency. I started, I believe, around 2024, getting involved here in Deltona. And this is the third time I've come up, as the budget is to be voted, to advise the commission that what we want to see as citizens is you wringing out this budget. And even if you're passing a budget that we don't approve of or we don't like, make it so we're comfortable and confident that you did your best. That every single day you are up there, that this week is what's on your mind. To keep every single day, January, February, March, April, May, June, the whole year, this is what it should be about. So, I want the citizens to know I hear that and I will do that. Because what we need now is an Amendment 3 mentality. Whether or not you agree with it or not, it's going to probably pass. And so, you have to prepare for that. And there are folks who say that you just tighten your belt. You just tighten your belt. That's all that's going to happen. You just cut 6%. Just cut 10%. Like, the reality is it's not that easy. And that's why we need you folks as representation to help us with that. What the residents want to see is more creative thinking by far. Okay? Now, everyone has talked about thebillstohigh.com being some shtick. But it's not. It's a message that clearly has been heard that it's really tough right now. And people need that attention on everything. I want to bring up one specific example just because it was recent and that's the back to school. Now, there was a lot of confusion over the $47,000 worth of the budget. It ended up being somewhere between $2,500 to $5,000, depending on who you're talking to. But the point is, in this budget, it's now $10,000. So, why is it 2x higher than what we already know it could be? On top of that, it was originally budgeted for $47,000, which was $5,000 for backpacks and $42,000 for an air-conditioned tent for the event. That's not the creative thinking that the people want to see. And I promise you, I'm going to change that. Thank you.

Thank you. Gail, please.

Gail, Laura, Deltona. So, you're going to pass this budget if you don't have any guts within you. Recently, Altamont Springs had a similar problem with their Red Hot and Boom. They realized in their budget they don't have enough money to cover it again. They've been doing it for many years, and now they don't have it because everything has been costing so much money, and they have to cut down in their budget. And they cut down in some of their events, including their biggest event every year of the Red Hot and Boom. And if you can follow their lead and cut out that crap, we might be able to have a better city budget here, too. Thank you.

Thank you. Mayor, that closes public comments.

All right. Commissioner Howington, you're up next. This is right now currently only on the millage. We'll get to the budget next.

Thank you, Mayor. It's always perplexed me this entire process. I was prepared tonight to come in and make a motion at 6.4500, which is much lower than the rollback rate. I believe it is absolutely doable, and if the rest of the commissioners have the guts to go through and pick out fluff this evening, I think we can make that happen. The millage rate always comes before the budget. If you vote no on the millage and yes on the budget, that's a problem. If you vote yes on the millage and no on the budget, that's even worse because then you're creating unencumbered funds that you're collecting from the residents. This is a phenomenon that's been created by politicians here in Florida. They've created it to be deceptive in a way to pat themselves on the back. They tell you that they're holding taxes flat and that they're doing a good thing for you. The rollback rate is a mechanism used by municipal and county governments to increase tax revenue while promoting flat taxation. We always talk about tax-based diversification and the importance of adding businesses to alleviate the tax burden on residents. Well, as of this upcoming tax year, we will have finalized the tax credits to the first Amazon building. We should be retaining somewhere over $600,000 from that. That's just for the first facility. The second facility also came online this year. Taxation, I don't have the exact dollar amount, but should be about the same amount, somewhere between $800,000 to $900,000 a year. That does not have credits associated with it. So what should this mean for our residents? This should mean that it should lower your tax burden. Unfortunately, the rollback methodology that's been developed here in Florida by politicians tells you that your taxes are not changing, that they're being held flat while the municipalities and counties still collect more money. The coffers are increasing whether they want to admit it or not, and the big piece of the puzzle that's missing is new construction. So while we push to get businesses in, we don't get the benefit of those businesses reducing your taxes. We talk about Amendment 3 and how it could potentially hurt our city. It can, but we have to ask, how did we get here? Why are residents so upset? Why have we seen budgets grow exceptionally? It's because of this rollback rate. You can look like you're doing a good thing, and you're really increasing your budget. You are growing the coffers. You are taking more and more money every year, and it just compounds. And now we're at the point to where residents are fed up, and we are facing a challenge. Because I do suspect it will pass. Because as somebody who pays $7,000 in property tax, yeah, I'm a little tired of it. As for anybody out there who's paying $0, I feel sorry for you. Because when it does pass, they will have to become creative, and they will create ways to tax you. And I do half wonder if part of this budget is fluff to help cover the general fund if Amendment 3 passes. If that's not the case, then I think we should really scrub this budget tonight and get rid of some of this fluff and go below rollback. It is 100% doable. I received our actual expenses on Friday, and I went through them. Do you know that we've already spent $77,000 on the Celtic Fest in July? Are we paying our bills late, or is this prepayment for the upcoming event that's in the budget now? Right, current year. We paid it in July. So are we paying our bills that far behind?

No, ma'am. We're current invoices on Friday. We pay the following Thursday.

Okay, because we just paid, I think, another $10,000 on the Celtic Fest here in September that was on that list?

I'd have to go back through there and look at it. If it comes through and it's a budgeted line item, Commissioner, and it's approved by the appropriate individuals, it does get paid.

Okay. And that's what I thought. I also saw $10,000 come through for a Latin Fest in August.

That was this past weekend, I do believe.

So how many Latin Fests are we funding? Because there's one in next year's budget, too.

That's in next year's budget, ma'am.

So is that funding an event that's after January 1st? Because I believe we were told by the city manager that that event was taking place in October.

So under the upcoming, yep.

Is it November?

Per the upcoming bill that I spoke about in both June and July, all of that takes place effective January 1st of 2027. That goes into effect for the budgets that are approved October 1st of 2027 and beyond. The next thing that takes effect that leads into the 27-28 budget that has to be done is that by the third week of January, don't quote me, I don't have that in front of me, the city commission must pass the budget calendar for the upcoming budget year. So that has to be posted. Then it's very clear then that monthly we have to post salary data, which we already do. We provide that to the clerk currently. So as I discussed in July, we have adhered to everything going forward. We already did as part of the budget workshops this year that we held on July 15th, we already put the required mandatory 10% reduction exercise. So that was completed. We already went through and changed some of the names on the events to be compliant. So we have done everything that we're legally required to do leading up to this event. Then the other things that we've worked on with the city attorney's office that we also know that things that are related to federal holidays are still allowed to maintain a certain naming scheme. So we're doing everything that we're legally required to do as much as possible before it goes into effect January 1st of 27.

No, and I understand that. That wasn't my question. I'm curious how many Latin Fests we're funding.

There's one. Well, there was just one, and then there's one next year.

Okay.

One a year. Next fiscal year. October. September, for next year.

Okay. I remember seeing some things come out from city officials and commissioners saying that they were in October and November. But I guess we'll hash that out.

Well, you might be talking about the vice mayor's Festival of Nations.

No.

Why would we have two Latin Fests at this?

I don't know. I'm just wondering why there's one in the budget for an event that took place in September.

It's for the budget that goes into effect of October 1st of 26.

Okay. I think that we all have some disconnect as to what our legal team may feel is acceptable versus what other people's interpretation of the bill is.

Yeah, and I do want to just on that note, I'll clarify that, as Mr. McKinney mentioned, observances of federal holidays or observances are still permitted. So I am assuming the Latin Fest is actually a celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs September 15th to October 15th.

In which case, the naming. Ms. Blodgett, please. This is the third time. We're trying to hear. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Latin Fest would be very questionable, and we should probably make sure that we are in compliance, if that is the case. As the budget is written today, it is not in compliance, in my opinion, as well as many of our residents. And as we know from the bill, it only takes one resident to sue us. So if one resident deems that this does not meet the requirements of the bill, they can bring a lawsuit. Or, I don't know, a class action lawsuit. So that is a concern. I think that we definitely have the opportunity. We have other communities getting rid of their 4th of July celebrations. I think there's ways that we can help our residents. I was actually just told this evening that some people have been out knocking doors and finding out that some residents in my district specifically are selling vehicles and things just to make ends meet. So passing this budget even at rollback, I can't support that, not knowing that we have almost $700,000 in promotional events, and that is citywide across all. That's parks, that's parks, that's community events, everything. And looking at the revenue that was provided to me, we only took in about 9% of revenue to cover those expenditures that we've had thus far this year. And that is concerning. I've also been told that we're not tracking attendance. So how many people are actually showing up to these events? I don't know if anybody else has done the math, but we are throwing over 65 events during the year. That's more than one per week. I mean, are we in the entertainment industry or are we a city? Because we need to make sure that the essential functions are being taken care of, and our residents are having a hard time buying food. Half a million dollars buys a lot of food, pays a lot of electricity, pays a lot of water bills. That hurts our residents, and we really need to take that into consideration.

Mayor, Mayor, I just want to clarify, Commissioner, we do one Latin Fest a year per each fiscal year. We partner for one Latin Fest. We don't do two a year.

And also, Mayor, just because it's been said by a couple of people, Altamont Springs is 46,000 people. It's half the size of our city. They are getting rid of the red hot and boom, I understand, but they're putting the money towards the library. They're not actually cutting the budget. But they spend $950,000 on one event. That's $1 million on one event. And I agree with the commissioner, as she just mentioned, up to 65 events the city has. I assume movies in the park every month, concerts in the amphitheater every month, they're all free across the board. And we're looking at a cost maybe per household of about $15 for the entire household for the entire year in taxes, $15. So if you take your family to a movie, you're going to spend $100. But all of our events, all together, from Veterans Day, Memorial Day, everything that goes on, $15 per household. Again, a whole lot less money than Altamont Springs spends for one event. We cover the entire city. Let's make that point.

Before we start getting into the budget, we're going to go ahead and do the vote on the millage, please. The motion was made by Commissioner Santiago and seconded by Commissioner Novick. Yes, for the millage. The motion passes 5 to 2. This time we're going to get into the budget. This time we'll entertain a motion. You already read the necessary.

I didn't. We read the resolution. Go ahead. I just, would you like for me to read the motion?

We'll let the city attorney start, and then he'll hand it over to you.

Yeah, so this is resolution number 2026-87, a resolution of the city commission of the city of Deltona, Florida, establishing a, oh, excuse me, reading the wrong resolution. This is resolution number 2026-88, a resolution of the city commission of the city of Deltona, Florida, adopting the final budget for each of several funds and departments of the city for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2026, and ending September 30, 2027, approving the final capital improvement plan, providing for appropriation and procedures, providing for scriveners errors, and an effective date.

Yes, Mayor. Motion to approve resolution number 2026-88, adopting the city of Deltona, fiscal year 2026-2027, final budget.

All right. At this time, I'll entertain the motion. Commissioner Santiago, you're on the board first.

Thank you, Mayor. I make a motion to approve resolution 2026-88, adopting the final budget for the fiscal year 2026-2027.

Commissioner Novick.

Second.

Okay. Is there any discussion? All right. Seeing none, can we please vote? Motion fails, three to four. Commissioner Harriet.

Thank you, Mayor. So after hearing all the political pandering that's gone on tonight, I'm looking at this list of community events, and I'm kind of wondering where we'd like to draw the line. There's definitely a list of, you know, definitely some events on this list that I haven't taken any part of. I know that there's some of these that my neighbors haven't taken part of, but I know that a lot of these, if not all of these, with the exception of the new ones, have had neighbors at them. So there are a couple other things that I would like to point out. The notion that the city hasn't prepared for Amendment 3 is just, it's wrong, it's incorrect. On July 15th, that workshop, budget cuts were presented if something happened. Also, it was mentioned that if it did pass, then staff would take, there would be cuts that would take effect on November 4th. We're sitting here talking about, essentially, parks and rec. I've got a couple neighbors that their kids are in Little League. Their kids play youth football. They use the parks for those activities, but I don't know that they've ever gone to one of the community events. I've got some other neighbors that don't have kids. Their kids don't use the parks, but I know that they go to Fourth of July. I know that they were at the Latin Fest on Saturday. I've got another neighbor that I know has gone to the Mayor's Fitness Challenge the last couple years. So my question is, where do we draw the line? Commissioner Howington, would you like to cut all of parks and rec? That's $6.3 million. I bet we can do better than...

I'm not making any recommendations because anybody who voted yes on the millage rate has already accepted the budget because you accepted what we're charging the residents. And so any changes to the budget at this point is disingenuous because you are creating unencumbered funds for the city manager to spend however he so chooses.

Well, that's just wrong. In order, stop. That's completely incorrect.

It's okay.

Whatever we cut, we can address where those funds can go. Let's stop with the political shenanigans. I'm getting real. We're adults. We need to stop this. Then people wonder why the residents are so discouraged with us up here. Finish your statement, please. If we have to go down item per item, we're going to go down item per item.

So that's an incorrect representation because we could allocate that money towards stormwater, towards capital projects, or even towards reserves. But I don't think that anybody actually wants to make that cut. You have the opportunity, Commissioner. Make the motion.

Commissioner Knobbeck, you're up first, and then Commissioner Howington.

I'll yield to Commissioner Howington.

The millage has already been set. There is no changing that. It's already been voted on. I never once said anything about deleting all of Parks and Rec. Please tell me where I said that.

I didn't say that you said anything about deleting Parks and Rec. I said, where do we draw the line? I said, I have neighbors that use the events, that participate in the events that use the parks. I said, if you're asking me to alienate only my residents that go to the events without making adjustments and reductions towards the parks, then, again, where do we draw the line?

There were a lot of opportunities. If you look at the expenses, I believe you had made a comment at some point about the revenue and how it should offset the expenses. I saw those numbers. And if we're going to be doing events like this, we need to handle them better. That is my concern. I have a list of things. However, I'm not going to bring them forward because the millage is already approved. You have already accepted keeping that tax rate, which increases the coffers by almost $700,000. That's about exactly how much is in events. I would never say cut all the events. But we could scale back. There are a lot of items there. I want to know why we need almost $40,000 in travel for the commission. I mean, I don't agree with that, but yet it's on there. And the millage was approved. I voted no. I disagree with what's in the budget. But let's address the elephant in the room. I already know it's got the votes to pass because the millage passed. Accepting the millage accepts the dollar amount.

That's not true.

You can shift it however you want. But we gave the city manager the ability.

I'm going to take a point of privilege. I'm going to turn everybody's mic off. Commissioner Knobbick, you're up.

Thank you, Mayor. So is it about the events or is it about the dollar amount? They say it's about the dollar amount. So I'm going to make a motion that we transfer $1.5 million from parks and rec to road resurfacing. It's in the budget. We passed the millage. The roads need fixing. You don't want it in parks and rec. Let's transfer $1.5 million from parks and rec to fix infrastructure, to fix roads. I make that motion. Is there a second?

Commissioner Harriot?

Where would you pull that $1.5 million from?

Not my decision. That's his decision. Let staff make it. It's about the budget. It's about money. It's not about the individual events. Everybody just shook their head to that. So we passed the millage. You want $1.5 million to go over to roads to fix roads?

Bob, let's stop really quick. Mr. McKinney, there are 26 events that I'm looking at right now. With all those events combined, how much money is that?

We currently pay in the community events division $661,102.

So if you add the travel for the commission, how much is it with adding the travel commission? And the money for the commission to do their community events?

That's correct. So travel, sir, is $38,000 for travel?

That's travel, $38,000. How much is it for each altogether for the community events for each commission or for the whole commission?

$35,000. $35,000.

All right. Here's what we're going to do because I'm not going to sit here and embarrass this city with a back and forth. We passed the millage rate, which is full rollback, which means no tax increase. Obviously, revenue increases because people move into the city. That's not going to change. All right. There are 26 items right here. We're going to go down every single one of these items, and we're going to vote them up or down. And then what we come up with, which whatever we decide to remove from this list, we'll add that up with the travel and with the commissioner expense for their community. And then we can use that to either re-stripe the roads, put it for stormwater, whatever this commission decides to do. But we're going to go down every single one of these lists right here.

Mayor.

Vice Mayor, go ahead.

Thank you. First of all, I'd like to find out, I don't think all these funds for these activities come from park and recs. So why are we suggesting it comes out of parks and recs? It's my understanding that it comes out from another budget, right?

You are 100% right. And let me just, to your point, the mayor's fitness challenge, which at one point others on this dais had no issue with, is budgeted for $25,000. Is that correct? Folks, this is the political BS that screws up our city. Right here. I'm going to explain to you. I will give you your time. What is it budgeted for?

$10,000. $10,000. And it has an offsetting revenue.

How much did we use last year?

I don't have that in front of me right now.

It was $1,500, give or take. Why is it that we have offsetting revenue? Because we have sponsorships.

That's correct.

What happens to the money that does not get used from the $10,000 that was allocated?

It stays there and rolls over into fund balance. It doesn't get used, correct? And like this evening, we took the $350,000 of the $500,000.

Respectfully, Mr. McKee, that's all I needed. So I can start with the mayor's fitness challenge. When the next mayor comes into place, whether it's the vice mayor or the other gentleman, they can decide if they want to put it back in. But instead of having these arguments back and forth, and I'll cede the time back to you, let's get this done and stop with the silly infighting because we need to grow up like a city. So, vice mayor, please finish.

I just want to know where the funds for all these entertainments come from because I know it doesn't come from Parks and Recs. So let's stop picking on Parks and Recs. Parks and Recs gives a lot to our children and our community. Can we cut back a little bit? Yes, maybe we can. But right now, we don't even have enough in the city of Daltona to give back to the residents, children in the community, even those residents that are paying tax. So let's stop picking on Parks and Recs for a change. We can work with Parks and Recs and see what we can cut back on because it's not just activities for the children. It's other stuff. It's your parks. Well, not everybody's parks because my parks were not done. My parks, four, are not in the budget. Everybody else's parks is in the budget. So maybe we can do some cutting back there as far as, you know, my parks were not in there, but the Doggy Park is in there to get fixed. So, you know, let's look at those things and stop picking on things that taxpayers need, like where their children spend time during their off time in school. But I still want to know where these funds are coming from.

Mr. McKinney, can you please answer the vice mayor's question?

Parks and Rec expenditures are paid from all revenues received into the general fund, whether it's ad valorem, franchise fees, charges for service, etc. All go to pay their proportionate share. You have certain events that are covered directly by sponsorships or fees for, you know, the jingle jog. You know, if you run in the jingle jog, you're paying an entrance fee. So it's all revenues of the general fund pay for it.

Mayor, can I clarify real quick?

Vice mayor's still on.

Thank you. Thank you, mayor. So the events funds come from the general funds that come from Parks and Recs? Is that what you're saying?

They come from all general fund revenues. Parks and Rec does not.

So is that all the ad valorem?

Ad valorem, utility taxes, franchise fees, charges for service, any revenues that come into the general fund go towards paying for all expenses within the general fund.

So the Parks and Recs, sports and stuff that we do for the children of the city of Deltona, that comes also from general funds.

We have no policy in effect that says we're going to cover X percentage of expenditures within Parks and Rec. But the fees collected for Parks and Rec is a very small portion of total expenditures.

So then maybe we should look at that part in the Parks and Recs budget, but not cutting the children's funds out for their sports and stuff like that. Thank you, mayor.

I'm going to go to Commissioner Caldwell first because he was on, and then Commissioner Santiago, and then Commissioner Harriet. Then you would be next.

I think with the uncertainty of the Amendment 3 passing or not passing, I think we should pull all these items out, including the one that the mayor has mentioned. Any additional vehicles that we're already not working towards, we're unsure whether we're going to need more employees. I think we have enough vehicles in stock. These always can be amended back into the budget after November 3rd. Is that correct?

That is correct, and we've already put all of those items on hold pending November 3rd. That was something that we talked about at the July 15th workshop.

You're talking about all the events or vehicles? The vehicles. That's just one part of it. I think, you know, all the events, the additional spending by the commissioners, all should be pulled out until after the November 3rd vote. That's my opinion.

Commissioner Novick.

So my point, vice mayor, was not to take money away from the children's programs. My point was to settle on a dollar figure rather than a specific event or line item. Let's decide how much fluff is the word that's been used tonight. Let's decide on what that dollar figure is and then let staff go back and figure out where to call that out of there.

Commissioner Novick, point of order. That is unacceptable. Residents want to see us be accountable. We're not going to put that burden on city staff because they get crap done. Well, Mayor, point of order to you, sir. Excuse me. Let me finish my point, Commissioner Novick.

City staff is the one that compiled the budget, not you and I.

This is correct, but we're the ones that are approving it. I'm hearing from the residents not about trucks. I'm hearing about events. I'm hearing from some on this dais about events. Let's go down the events. And then if you still want to, we're still short, then we can tackle that other part of it. I'm not saying let's not do it.

Let's start on a dollar figure first and then look where to cut. Let's settle on a dollar figure.

Mayor.

Commissioner Novick, I was not attacking your comment. I was just making a comment, you know, as a whole. Yes.

Under Parks and Rec's budget. Correct.

And I was talking about some specific events, not taking away from the children. Yes, ma'am.

Thank you. Commissioner Harriet. And then I'll go to the city manager.

Thank you, Mayor. So I want to clarify my comment. My comment wasn't actually more specifically. It was I'm not going down a list of events and picking and choosing because that alienates some of my neighbors and not others. Proves my point. Some people don't go to the events. Others go to the events. Some people that don't go to the events use the parks. And, Vice Mayor, I am absolutely not advocating for taking away from Parks and Rec's budget or anything for our youth. That is the opposite of everything that I have done for the last two years and change. I was trying to make a point that our parks don't benefit every individual resident. Our community events don't benefit every individual resident, but they benefit our community as a whole. The parks benefit the community as a whole. The events benefit the community as a whole. If we want to make changes moving forward, I absolutely think the gentleman in the back row's idea about getting the chamber and our local associations involved and partnering with the churches to do the Easter egg hunt is a phenomenal idea. But that requires us up here to use our connections in the community to make that happen. I would like to see a motion like the original motion to pass the budget as presented.

There's a motion by Commissioner Harriet. Is there a second? Just yell it out at this point because there's too many people on this. All right. As presented. All right.

The motion, the original way.

He was on the winning side, so he's able to make the same motion again per Robert's Rules. So can we please go for a vote? We're voting for the same exact thing we voted for a little while ago. Do you want to? That's the motion and that's the second. Can you please just read it again so we're not confusing people? All right. Under Robert's Rules of Orders. Hold on. Hold on. Zach, do you want to?

Certainly. So earlier, the commission voted on a motion to approve the budget as presented. That motion failed. Per Robert's Rules of Order, the party that is on the prevailing side, so in this case, this would be the no side of the motion, can then make that same motion again. So in this case, Commissioner Harriot was on the no side, the winning side of the last motion, so he can proceed to remake that motion at this time.

All right. We're voting. Motion passes four to three. We're going to go to request for approval for proportionate fair share agreement for Howland Marketplace. If the city attorney can please read it.

Yes, Mr. Mayor, this is a request for approval of the proportionate fair share agreement for Howland Marketplace, located generally northwest of Forest Edge Boulevard and Howland Boulevard. This is an agreement where the city is required to approve and sign off. However, the city does not receive revenue because the impact is to county-owned infrastructure to Howland Boulevard, and Mr. Smith can provide additional information if requested.

All right. At this time, I want to entertain a motion and then a second before we go to public comment and discussion. Commissioner Santiago.

Thank you, Mayor. I move to approve the proportionate fair share agreement for Howland Marketplace.

There's a motion by Commissioner Santiago. Commissioner Novick? Second. There's a second. Is there any public comment? All right. Commissioner Harriet?

I don't have any comments. I wish to second it. Thank you, Mayor.

Nobody else is on the board. Can we please vote? Motion passes seven to zero. All right. This time, we're going to go into Section D. City Attorney?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So this item is a discussion of resolution number 2025-26. This was brought forward at the request of the commission during the last meeting. I believe it was Commissioner Colwell who had made the request following and then received consensus from the dais. So resolution number 2025-26 grants or granted approvals to Aloha states for the development of 536 apartments on approximately 45.3 acres of land within the city of Deltona, but was subject to specific conditions. Section 5 of the resolution provides that the final plat must be recorded within 20 working days of the effective date of the resolution, which was March 18, 2025. That final plat was never recorded. So there is no active plat or site plan approval at that site. If the site is to be developed, it will require the approval process again.

Commissioner Colwell, do you need to add anything to it?

Okay.

Okay. There is no vote there. City Attorney, do you have any comments?

No, Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much.

City Manager, any comments? Just a few real quick ones. Last comprehensive plan update workshop will be Monday, September 28th. That's Monday, September 28th, workshop for the comp plan. As we mentioned, Culver is still looking at November 2nd as an opening. Dutch Brothers on Halifax is looking to open before the end of the year. Also, after receiving some matching grants this past year, we're currently evaluating stormwater utility projects to apply for Transform 360 grants this year. We're in that process. We're also at about 60% in the plans for design for the Fisher wastewater plant so that that project is moving along. And staff just had a pre-bid meeting for the Lake Windsor stormwater force main project where we're going to move it from behind people's houses to Cortland Boulevard. And just one more comment that goes, staff has been discussing inside on what happens with Amendment 3, numerous discussions of possibilities of what we're looking at. And one of them, since it wasn't mentioned earlier, is certainly there are some events for October, November. After the parade, everything else would probably just be ended immediately at that point for the rest of the year. So things that are in the budget, we will have workshops with the commission to discuss a matrix, if this, then that, if then that. So anything that would be after January on that list that we've talked about would certainly not be taking place at that point. But if it does pass, we have a zero-based budget at rollback that still has some opportunity to have some entertainment for our citizens. Because that's the one thank you almost from the city to the taxpayers is festivals, events, activities, recreation, and quality of life issues. And that's a great thing, especially at a zero-based rollback. Thank you.

Okay. Commissioner Harriot.

Are we doing commission?

Comments. Correct. Comments, requests, and reports.

Thank you, Mayor. The only commissioner request that I have today is for consensus for staff to update the letter of support for D-Ranch to their current ECHO grant for the property.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Aye. All those opposed? Commissioner Santiago?

Thank you, Mayor. Since the last meeting, I wanted to say thank you to the city of Deltona for the two wonderful events that they put together with other organizations in the city of Deltona, the Festival of Nations, and the Latin Festival. It was an amazing. Both events were actually wonderful, greatly put together. A big shout-out to our city of Deltona Parks and Rec Department for their assistance. The Latin Festival was greatly, lots and lots of people. I didn't ticket count, but there were over thousands and thousands of people at the event. Wonderful event. Great shout-out to Doc. Thank you so much for everything you do. Thank you for your staff. And that's all I have for now. Have a good night. Thank you. Commissioner Howington?

Thank you.

Commissioner Colwell? A couple meetings ago, I had asked for an update on fines and through code enforcement, and I haven't received those yet, for liens and fines.

That was the list for every single person that owes fines. That's correct. Yep. I'll get with staff on that. Sorry.

Make sure the whole commission gets it, please. Oh, absolutely. That was originally state. Vice Mayor Avila-Vascoz? Oh, sorry. Commissioner Chris Novick.

There we go. I'd like to get us to move forward on a particular section of the parking ordinance. There is an extreme public safety issue and an issue for WastePro, particularly in these subdivisions where we have parking on the roads, because we've designed these subdivisions in such a way that people that have three or four vehicles have no place to park in a driveway. So, what occurs is, at least in District 6, several of our subdivisions on garbage pickup day, there's vehicles parked on both sides of the road, and the garbage truck can't get through, and then I get phone calls that the garbage wasn't picked up because the garbage truck couldn't get through the road. Now, if a garbage truck can't get through the road to pick up trash, certainly an ambulance or a fire truck can't get through. So, my suggestion is that we look at modifying that section of the code and only permit parking on the non-fire hydrant side of the street. Obviously, if we allowed it where the fire hydrants were, then you get into the 15 feet issue with the hydrant. So, you've got more parking on the non-fire hydrant side of the street, and this needs to be addressed immediately. This is a public safety issue.

So, Chapter 66 did just go to Ordinance Review Committee earlier this month, so I believe that we would be ready to move forward the current draft, the next phase in the draft, in October. It did not include a provision for the fire hydrant side. There was some talk of doing alternate side parking, so we can move that forward. If it's the will of the Commission to move forward this initiative.

If we could, because per the conversation of Commissioner Novick, it is a public safety issue. I think everybody on this dais can agree on that. We're not restricting people from parking on the street, just on one side for public safety issues. So, all those in favor? Aye. Aye.

Can you say that one more time?

Remember, you're time for the one, Commissioner. Go ahead.

So, how long until it goes through the Ordinance Committee?

So, the Ordinance Review Committee already reviewed the latest draft of Chapter 66, so we could reasonably have a draft for you all ready for Commission to approve on first reading next month. However, it did not include that detail about the fire hydrants. We can see if we can either tweak what the consultant has been working on, or we can move forward with, you know, what has just been directed. So, that's the pleasure of the Council.

Well, this was a point of contemption, because when you guys got on the board, you voted to repeal the original parking ordinance, and now you want to alter it for a temporary period of time?

No, I don't want to make it a temporary period of time. I want to put it into effect. We can't have people parking on both sides of the street in these subdivisions.

That's why we had it where it was.

And we've suspended it, and then I'm not even sure where Danny's at with the thing right now. But it's an issue for emergency services, and it's an issue for WastePro continually. So, the quicker we can address it, the better it is.

I would like to see it come through the Ordinance Review Committee myself and put in worded or verbiaged.

All right. We're not having a discussion. All those opposed? We're just – can you please do a roll call?

My request is to have the parking ordinance amended to allow for parking on the non-fire hydrant side of the road in our subdivisions. They can only park on the non-fire hydrant side, so they're not blocking hydrants.

Commissioner Caldwell? Commissioner Harriot?

Yes.

Commissioner Howington? How can we enforce? No.

It's called a tow truck.

Commissioner Novick?

Yes.

Commissioner Santiago? Yes. Vice Mayor Vila-Vasquez? Mayor Vila?

Yes.

6-1.

Vice Mayor? Was that it, Commissioner? Vice Mayor, go ahead.

Thank you, Mayor. First of all, I just want to let everybody know that this Saturday, September 26th, there's going to be an event with Vima and the city of Deltona. It's a car, bike, and food truck festival on Deltona Boulevard in Deltona Plaza. And this is funded by Vima and sponsors. And the proceeds of this event is going to go towards our PTSD foundation that we partner with the fire department and UCF Restores. So everyone is welcome to go out. It's from 5 to 9, and it's free to the public. Also, I want to give a big shout out to everyone who participated in the Festival of Nations, Parks and Recs. Unbelievable. And, of course, our PIO, Catherine, thank you, thank you, thank you so much. You always go out of your way to support the events here in the city of Deltona, and your staff is unbelievable. Thank you so much for everything you do for us. And also, the Hispanic Chamber, who did all the preparation and put all the volunteers putting this event together, thank you to them as well. And just a comment for the record, I was not attacking any commissioners up here on comments about the Parks and Recs. It was my personal comment stating that I do not agree with cutting any funding or any events for our children in the Parks and Recs department. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, everyone, for showing up.

Hope everybody has a good night. The meeting is adjourned.