CITY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING - Jul 09, 2026

Welcome to our July 9th, 2026 City Commission meeting. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Can you please lead us in the vocation? Today, the city asks that we all take a moment of silence to recognize Jack Latvala. Jack represented parts of North Pinellas County, including the city of Dunedin, and the Florida Senate from 1994 until 2002, and then again from 2010 until 2018. He passed away yesterday at 74 years old. Please join us in a moment of silence to extend our thoughts and prayers to his family and friends. Thank you. Now we will do the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, a nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. So Mayor Franey is not with us tonight. She's attending the Florida League of Mayors Regional Roundtable. And so you all are stuck with me tonight. First of all, can I get a motion to approve Mayor Franey's absence? So moved. Second. Okay. First, Commissioner Gow. Second, Commissioner Dugard. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. And that passes four to zero. Thank you. All right. We don't have any presentations tonight. So before we get into the consent agenda, do we have any citizen input? Does anyone in the audience wish to speak on a topic that is not on the agenda? Please come forward. Thank you, sir. David Ballard Geddes, Jr. I live on Georgia Avenue in Palm Harbor. Our government appears to be made of various bodies. The Senate is a governmental body. Legislation is a political body. Our local county commission serves as a body politic. Collectively, each body of government is expected to perform certain functions that is essential and vital to our survival as a civilization. Congress, the Senate, legislation, to include the city commission, are all in a position to articulate the required needs of society usefully as they hopefully perform their respective duties productively. The various bodies of government intercourse their respective duties between themselves on matters of reasonably foreseen and expected duties in government. Between them, they conceive and birth matters of importance that enhance our survival overall. We as taxpayers fund the government, expecting these bodies in government to intercourse their required duty in a straightforward manner. We as taxpayers don't pay taxes so legislation can place in motion its will to perform its responsibility gaily serving its individual desires, in particular proactively engaging in issues and circumstances. Doesn't mean that the various bodies in government are being productive in birthing matters of straightforward concern, serving the needs of society as a whole. Should our government be making a mockery of the gay civilian population as its way of gaining consent to justify its political, prideful, political objectives, supporting licentious and rogue legislation, reverse engineering government, insurrecting privatized factions in government, and sticking it to our hindsight in the 14th Amendment, then I find such mockery of the civilian population to be disgraceful and tasteless. Such prideful political desires in government to gain such consent is reflective of perjury, and such pride is to be straightforwardly denounced, sweepingly so. Furthermore, the street signage on the church across the street from the high school is influencing sexual conduct of minors, promoting gay sexual conduct as a way of influencing underage children in the high school. I find this type of behavior that qualifies for excommunication, and those politicians, and even the library to itself, to be called up for judgment on that. Your time's up. For the record, sir. Thank you. I've got copies. Name an address for the record, please. Jason Seibert, 1756 Ranchwood Drive. That's where the party's at. Dunedin, Florida. You guys want copies? Yeah. Give them to the city clerk. I've got 10 minutes on the clock. I've never had 10 minutes on the clock. Let's see how I do. This is from the restaurants, bars, and breweries of downtown Dunedin. Dear Mayor Freeney, who's not here today, but Vice Mayor Walker, commissioners, Ms. Bramley, and Mr. Mulkey, we are the owners and operators of the restaurants, bars, cafes, and breweries that fill downtown Dunedin with music, laughter, and the smell of something good cooking every single day. We are writing to you not as individual businesses, but as one voice. Neighbors who love this city, who have built our lives and livelihoods here, and who believe with everything we have that Dunedin's best days are still ahead. Please listen to this letter for what it is, an olive branch and an open hand. We want to partner with you. Every one of us has stood with the city through every initiative you have asked us to support. Festivals, road closures, construction seasons, parking changes, streetscape projects, storms, and long recoveries. We have said yes again and again. With Helene and Milton hit, we swept out the water, threw open our doors, and got our neighbors fed. We show up. We sponsor. We volunteer. We do it because we believe in this town and in the people who run it alongside us. So we hope you'll receive the next part of this in the same spirit of trust. We have to be honest with you about where we stand right now. Consumer confidence is down. Tourism is down. Every family in our community, including our own employees and their children, is feeling the squeeze. And while we tighten our belts, we are watching our neighbors pull ahead. Safety Harbor, Largo, and other municipalities are actively courting the visitors, the energy, and the dollars that used to be ours. We are losing ground, and we refuse to let Dunedin's magic slip away to inertia. We don't believe you want that either. We also know the city is carrying real headwinds of its own. As you shared at this city's State of the City, proposed state legislation could sharply reduce or even eliminate ad valorem property tax revenue, a cornerstone of the city's budget. We don't raise this to alarm anyone. We raise it because we think we can be part of the answer. The two proposals below were designed to do two things at once. Bring people back downtown and create new, recurring revenue for the city that does not depend on property taxes. Proposal 1. A downtown open container hospitality district with the city as a partner and beneficiary. We are asking the city to approve open container consumption within the downtown community redevelopment area. Modeled closely on the program Largo adopted this June for its downtown sip-and-stroll district. Here's the part we love. In that model, the city sells official, branded, approved cups, and merchants purchase those cups from the city. Every drink carried down Main Street becomes a small piece of Dunedin marketing and a small deposit into the Dunedin budget. Here's exactly how the rules would work. Mirroring Largo and the districts already running in Gainesville and along Tampa's Riverwalk, the city designates a clearly bounded district within the downtown CRA. Only licensed establishments that register with the city may take part. Drinks are served in city-approved, shatter-proof plastic cups of 16 ounces or less, each marked to identify the establishment that poured it. Guests of legal drinking age may carry no more than two drinks at a time, and it remains illegal to walk the district with alcohol in glass, cans, or bottles. The district runs on set hours the city controls. Largo, for example, runs 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and until midnight Thursday through Saturday. In other words, the city keeps its hand on the dial at every step, from who participates to what is poured to when the district is open. The scale is real. Downtown food and beverage businesses inside the CRA generate an estimated $70 to $80 million in sales every year. Based on the numbers our operators are compiling right now, a well-structured cup program could move an estimated roughly 500,000 city-branded cups annually. That is a brand new non-property tax revenue stream that grows as downtown thrives, and it costs the city almost nothing to launch. We have asked every operator to bring their top-line sales and projected cup usage to the table so that we can hand you real figures, not guesses. And here's the best news. This is squarely within the city's own power to grant, and much of the framework is already on the books. Florida has no statewide law banning an adult from carrying an open drink on foot. Public consumption is left to local ordinance. Here in Dunedin, Section 6-33 of the City Code makes open container consumption on city streets and right-of-way unlawful, unlawful only until a letter of permission is obtained, and that section already authorizes the city manager or a designee to permit open containers and consumption for special events. In plain terms, Second Friday can move forward under the special event permit process that exists today administered through Parks and Recreation with no code changes at all. To make an everyday open container district permanent, the Commission would simply amend Section 6-33 to add a downtown district exception, sitting right alongside the carve-outs the section already contains for the Dunedin Marina and for city facility concessionaires. The existing hours of sale rule in Section 6-32 already allow service between 8 a.m. to 3 a.m., so a district's hours would fit comfortably inside the rules already in place. This is the same path Largo, Gainesville, and Tampa have already walked, so we are not asking for anything untested, and we are not asking the city to do it alone. We will help draft the amendment, stand up the participating merchant registry, and fund and design the branded cups so the program is all ready to run from day one. Proposal 2. We want to revive the Second Friday tradition and make it unmistakably ours. Our model is Safety Harbor's Third Friday. We would ask the city to close Main Street to traffic and turn it into a walkable, family-friendly celebration for the evening. Picture the second Friday of every month with Main Street shut down and full of people, a unified, special running across every participating restaurant and bar, whether it's a $10 burger night, $8 martinis, or a signature pour, so the whole district moves together. Local street vendors and a night market lining the street, an open invitation to any food, beverage, or retail business within the city limits to set up and be part of the celebration, so the whole downtown family shares in the night. To power the entertainment, we propose dividing downtown into corridors, pools of neighboring businesses that would jointly fund live music and street performers in their immediate vicinity, so every block has its own energy and no one carries the cost alone. Put simply, we want to throw a genuinely great street party on the second Friday of every month, one that people across Tampa Bay plan their weekend around. We want to bring Fun Eden back, what we're asking for. None of this works without you, and respectfully, we don't think the city's next chapter works as well without us either. We are not asking the city to fund these ideas. We are asking the city to partner with us, to zone the CRA for open container, to run the branded cup program that puts money back in the city's pockets, and to help clear a workable permitting path for Second Friday. We will bring the business, the energy, the specials, the entertainment, and the data. We will do the heavy lifting. What we need from you is partnership and your blessing to begin. We love this city. We chose it. We invested in it. And we are raising our families and building our futures on these streets. We are extending our hand because we would so much rather build something extraordinary alongside you than watch it drift to the town next door. Let's bring the crowds back to Main Street. Let's make Dunedin the place everyone in Tampa Bay wants to be on a Friday night again. We are ready to get to work, and we truly hope you'll join us. With gratitude, respect, and every ounce of love for Dunedin, the owners and operators of Bowser's, the Black Pearl, Black & Glen, Blur Night Club, Bon Appetit, Caledonia Brewing, Cassatina's, Clear Sky Drought House, Crown & Bull, CUNY Brewing Company, Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin House of Beer, the Dunedin Smokehouse, Flanagan's Irish Pub, Hob Brewing Company, Hog Island Fish Camp, The Honu, Hopscotch Cafe, Jack Polino's Pizza, Lane's Lemonade, The Living Room, Lucky Lobster Company, Mangoes & Marley, Old Bay Cafe, The Patio, Pisces Sushi & Global Bistro, Reboot Arcade & Bar, Rosie's Tavern, Sandpiper, CC Riders, Sonder Social Club, Sterling Wine, Unrefined Brewing, Wild Irish Cafe, and we're looking for more. Thank you. Thank you, Jason. City Manager, do you have any thoughts on this? I haven't seen all of you agree on anything like this for a long time. All of you at the same time. That's impressive. Thank you. Yeah, that's an extremely well-thought-out letter, and we certainly have the power of downtown here in our City Commission chambers this evening, and it's good to see everybody somewhat. But no, I'm just kidding. I'm kidding you. I am kidding you. Yeah, I think vice mayor and commissioners, I think the best thing to do is for staff to absorb this, if we may, to do a little bit of research about what's going on in other cities, and to work with some of these establishments, and then probably workshop this item with the City Commission, bring as much information to you as we can, discuss it, and then get consensus direction from the City Commission to move forward with whatever it is you'd like to see, whether it is to move forward at all or to move forward with something. So, you know, in terms of the second Friday, there are some other, you know, factors involved in the second Friday. So we can certainly digest this and do our research and get back to you as quickly as possible. I understand that the summer has been a very difficult summer for some of our establishments. It's hot, not a lot of people moving around. So we'll get to work on this if that is your direction as quickly as possible. Thank you. Anybody else for citizens' input, please approach the podium. Thank you. Good evening, vice mayor. Did you get that? Can we start at three minutes? Mary Skinner Narine, 590, Walden Court, Van Eden. Thank you. Good evening, vice mayor, commissioners, and city manager. I listened with great interest a few days ago on your discussion of the plans to improve the shoreline along Alternate 19, where the concrete pipe and dock are located at Weaver Park. I thought you and listeners might enjoy learning a little of the history behind these two structures, especially Mr. Sandberger. I think you expressed an interest in the pipe. In 1941, Juice Industries, a division of Florida Citrus Machinery Company located west of Weaver Park, was struggling to keep up with the demand for citrus juice needed by the European allies during World War II. One of the factory's greatest challenges was disposing of the tons of orange peel left over from processing. Because the company did not yet have a feed mill, the peel was dumped into Brickyard Creek. At that time, Brickyard Creek extended from the bay just north of Blanchley House. It passed beneath what is now Alternate 19 through a single-span concrete bridge and continued east past the area that is now Pinellas Trail. Brickyard Creek has since been filled then. Once the creek became filled with orange peel, the company needed another solution. So B.C.'s Skinner, grandfather, owner of the factory, hired a contractor to install a 36-inch pipeline extending approximately 1,400 feet into St. Joseph Sound. To allow trucks to access and maintain the pipeline, a 10-foot wide dock was constructed directly above it. At the end of the pipeline was a 34-inch propeller powered by a 100-horsepower, 440-volt electric motor. The propeller's purpose was to push the orange peel further out into the bay rather than allow it to accumulate around the pipe's discharge point. Florida Power also installed a line of utility poles along the northern side of the dock to provide electricity to the motor. Unfortunately, orange peel was not the only material discharged through the pipeline. Wastewater from washing the factory and detergents used to clean the plant also flowed into the bay. The combined effort severely damaged the marine ecosystem, destroying the fish habitat as well as clams, scallops, and oysters. It serves as a reminder of why environmental protection laws have become so important. So after more than 65 years, it's gratifying to see our city taking steps to restore this area. And I believe the pipeline is still the original pipeline built in 1941, but the dock is new dock, and it's only six feet wide, and it's higher. Because they needed the trucks to go right alongside the pipeline to clean it out. Thank you. Thank you, Mary. Anybody else who wishes to provide citizens' input? Okay. Hearing none, seeing none. We're going to move on to the consent agenda. I've got several items here. 2A, approve the minutes for the May 21st regular meeting, June 2nd workshop, June 4th regular meeting. We have board and committee appointments for the Historic Preservation Advisory Committee. 2C, award of invite to bid number 26-2607, hammock boardwalk replacement project to price marine construction in the amount of $152,231.54. 2D, approval of the amendment to the city's retirement plan investment advisory agreement with one digital investment advisors to revise the current fee structure. 2E, renewal of the advanced traffic management system, intelligence transportation system, interlocal agreement between Pinellas County and the city of Dunedin. 2F, approval of change order to bid 26-2602 for an increase of $95,548 to Cardinal Fence. And before we go to a motion, anybody have anything they want to pull from the consent agenda? Vice Mayor, I'd like to pull 2F, one question and comments. And Vice Mayor 2C, same. Okay. We are pulled 2C and 2F. Can I have a motion to approve 2A, 2B, 2D, 2E? So moved. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That passes 4-0. Thank you. Just a clarification or full presentation? Yeah, I just kind of have a speculative question. Thank you, Tony, very much. $152,000 plus for this. If the property tax issue passes in November, what would this item look like a year from now? Where would we get the money? Would this be an item? I know it's speculation. Yeah, we're still going through a lot of the numbers of what the impacts could be. So this would probably not be scheduled, just looking at the initial numbers. But it would be loss of an amenity because the boardwalk currently, as it stands out there, is not safe. And it would have to be blocked off from the public. All right, so if anybody is considering, and I hope we all are considering the vote in November, keep that in mind, right? That we're going to lose some things. Thank you. That's it. Thank you. Thank you, Vice Mayor. All right. Any public input on item 2C, having the boardwalk replacement project? Name and address for the record, three minutes. Hi. Thank you, sir. David Ballard Geddes, Jr. I live on Georgia Avenue in Palm Harbor again, sir. Is this in reference? We're talking about the interlocal compact that the county has with the city? Okay. We're talking about ad valorem? Okay. I didn't mean to engage this. Because I got lost in the minutiae here. I can answer. Yeah. Would you? I'm not sure. I can't say that. Sorry about that. That's all right. We would use ad valorem funds to pay for this repair. Okay. As far as I can tell, the county itself, if you can look at it as a property holding, as though, you know, I would own a home. The county, based on Pinellas County Resolution 95286, Section 4C-2, stating absolute bill of sale, full warranties of title, and release of lien, the entire county itself, respectively, has been sold to the water district, sir. David, excuse me. Is your microphone on, David? Your Pinellas County, in a sense, as a real estate holding, has been sold to the district. Now, over a 30-year process, the district is going to reconfigure the city, the municipal governments, and re-franchise them out as water jurisdictions. Hence, the non-ad valorem portion on the bottom of your ad valorem will rise into power. Your ad valorem portion will be gone. It will rebirth itself as a non-ad valorem in the form of a levy, not as a property tax lien, a shape-shifting of governments taking shape from a land-based government to a watershed government. This, I'll probably speak a little bit more on next meeting, but as we move forward on the forms of taxation as far as property tax liens and in the form of ad valorem versus a non-ad valorem property tax levy, I think we're going to have an issue in trying to get the key in the keyhole, so to speak, in order to get that to work. Levies aren't going to fly in the face of the civilian population. Thank you. Thank you. Name and address for the record. Three minutes. Dr. Carrie O'Brien, 1798 Patricia Avenue. Friends of the Hammock, President as well. I would like to offer to the city for the boardwalk if there's anything Friends of the Hammock can do, grant writing, anything like that. We would love to assist in any way, and as you know, we certainly are out there talking about the tax and what is going to happen if property taxes are cut to our wonderful park. So I put forth anything we can do to help. Thank you very much. Any additional citizens' input for item 2C? Okay. Seeing none, hearing none, we'll move on to 2F. Nice, Mayor. Let's get a motion for 2C. Oh, thank you very much. So moved. Second. All right. First by Commissioner de Gard, second by Commissioner Gao. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? And that passes 4-0. All right. Yeah, this was real quick for Joe or Tony. I understand this is for Field 7, correct? Am I right on that? Field 7, is that set up for the juniors? Is that field a little bit bigger? Yes, that's our larger field. That's about 285 feet compared to the 200 as the other ones. So it's bigger than Little League fields? Good. I just sort of wanted to make sure that, you know, all the time that I've spent up there, I really appreciate what you're doing here. You know, these fences make it safe for the kids, for the fans. Will this also include a batter's eye and then higher behind home plate to stop foul balls? So this will, the batter's eye will be extended bigger than the other fields because this is also going to include the batting cage on the third base side. Okay. Which is a big chunk of the extra money compared to the other fields. So the taller fencing will go from about third base all the way to roughly first base. Okay. I see what you're saying. Good. I just, I sort of just wanted to take a second, you know, to make sure everyone up here and everyone in the room that understands it. Yeah, this is a few extra dollars, but this is purely for the safety of everyone involved. And that's all I had to say, and I appreciate you coming forward with that. Thank you. That's all, Vice Mayor. Vice Mayor, may I? You sure may. Thank you. And where are the funds from this project coming from? So these were budgeted funds through the General Fund Capital Improvements Program. And what funds the General Fund? Thank you very much. Does that answer your question? Yes, sir. Okay. All right. Any public input on item 2F, change order to Cardinal Fence for $95,000? Name and address for the record. You have three minutes. Yes. Charlie Olson, 1951, Downing Place, Palm Harbor, Florida, 34683. I just want to honestly say thank you on behalf of Dunning and Little League for all the support the city has provided. Thank you, Joe, and Parks and Rec as well. So I just wanted to come forward, say that. I know I've invested a lot of money in the fences currently, and we're looking at helping fix the lights as well on our side. But just more importantly, I just wanted to say thank you on behalf of the Little League and represent the league for everyone else. So thank you. Thank you very much. Anybody else for public input? All right. Can I have a motion to approve? So moved. Second. All right. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. That passes four to zero. Good. Thank you. All right. We're going to move on to the action items. First action item up is 3A, and this is a long one. Application ANLUPZO 2026-0001. Voluntary Annexation Land Use Plan Amendment and Zoning District Designation for the Property Located at 1991 Spanish Pines Drive. This is the second reading of Ordinance 2602, Voluntary Annexation into the City of Dunedin. Second reading of Ordinance 26-03, Land Use Planned Amendment to Residential Low. Second reading of Ordinance 2604, Zoning District Designation to Single Family Residential. We will have one presentation from the staff, but one or more of those ordinances are quasi-traditional, so therefore, City Clerk, could you swear in those that will be speaking? Bringing it back to the commission, does anybody on the commission need to disclose ex parte contact for the record? Okay. Seeing none. All right. Ordinance 2602, Annexation. Noah, please read Ordinance 2602 by title only. Ordinance 2602, An Ordinance of the City of Dunedin, Florida, Annexing Certain Real Property Located at 1991 Spanish Pines Drive, Parcel Number 1328-1584-576-0000-0340, with designated meets and bounds and totaling approximately .24 acres into the corporate limits of the city, providing for filing with the Clerk of Court, and providing for an effective date. Thank you, Noah. Can I have a motion to approve Ordinance 2602 on the second reading? So moved. Second. Okay. First, Commissioner Degard. Second, Commissioner Gow. All right. Over to you, George. Vice Mayor, Commissioners, thank you. George Kinney on behalf of the Community Development Department. As is customary, I'll read through the product for all three ordinances, and then you can make your motions individually at the end, as you normally do. Property owners, in this case, are James and Gene Davis. Who reside on the property at 1991 Spanish Pines Drive. The map to the left in the first slide, you can see the location of the subject property. It's lot 34 on the north side of Spanish Pines. The Spanish Pines subdivision consists of 47 residential lots. It was platted in September of 1975. And again, to the map to the left, you can see the plat and the outline of the subject property. The Davis property is, again, lot number 34. It's developed with a single-family residence built in 1976. Mr. and Mrs. Davis purchased that property in August of 2001. And there is a street Google view, you can see, of the nice homestead that exists on the property. The Spanish Pines enclave, as you can see by the map to the right-hand side, is within the Dunedin planning area, where annexation is envisioned and supported by the city's comprehensive plan. You can see it's basically the second lot within that subdivision to annex. And it's kind of a drawn-out view, so you can see a little bit better the location of the property, where it's south of Curlew and west of Belcher. From a land use standpoint, it is actually the exact same land use that already exists in unincorporated Pinellas County. It is called residential low, which permits the single-family residential uses. That is the same designation that would be anticipated for it should this application be approved this evening. It would also be residential low in the city of Dunedin. From a zoning perspective, the property is currently zoned single-family residential R1 in unincorporated Pinellas County. The comparable zoning category in the city of Dunedin is residential R60. And the chart that you see in the lower right-hand side are the dimensional standards analyzed as a result of the analysis of the project. And you can see that it will be brought in with no nonconformities. Accordingly, as you know, as I mentioned at first reading, the LPA considered these ordinances on May 13, 2026, and unanimously recommended approval to the City Commission. The City Commission then followed that up with their first reading, after which the application was transmitted to Forward Pinellas. They did process that land use application as a Tier 1 review and have recommended approval back to the City Commission, and that's in your packet as Exhibit N. Accordingly, staff is recommending approval of all three following ordinances. That's Ordinance 2602 for the voluntary annexation, Ordinance 26-03 to designate the property as residential low on the city's future land use plan map, and Ordinance 26-04 to designate the property as R60 single-family residential. And I'll leave it at that. And if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them. Okay. Well, thank you, George. Jim and Gene, do you have anything that you want to present here for purposes of your annexation? Okay. Okay. All right. Well, thank you. All right. I'll bring it back. Questions for staff. Maker of the motion. Commissioner Dugard. In the comment category, I just think that this is to the citizens joining the vote. Are we in questions or in comments? Questions. Questions. So why... Are you good citizens? So why do you want to join Denny? That's... Come on up. I think we ought to hear that. Okay, and we're going to swear you both then. Okay. Okay. Do you swear the testimony you're about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes. Thank you. Okay. Go ahead, Lynn. Well, so, you know, our roots go back far in Dunedin. Like Commissioner Jeff Gow, I, too, am a graduate of Dunedin High School, class of 79. And, you know, we have lived in this area for the majority of our life. We have raised our two beautiful daughters who are now 27 and 29. They were born right here off of Chicago Avenue, a couple blocks south of here. We had our engagement party at the Dunedin Boat Club in 1996. Every member was invited. And, you know, our girls... My mother used to... I can remember when my mom used to walk the girls to the Dunedin Library in a little stroller. They were two years old, and they spent their first early years at Dunedin Library. And when my mom passed in January, she even... Phyllis Gorsch was even kind enough to send a sympathy note. And, you know, that's the relationship that we have with the people here in Dunedin. We moved to a bigger home. We outgrew Chicago Avenue. We moved to a bigger home in Spanish Pines. And at the time, it didn't really matter that we were in unincorporated Pinellas County. We were busy raising our children. And now, though, things are a little different. We're getting into our retirement years, and we feel more connected and just want to bring our roots back home and spend more time volunteering in our city that has been so good to us. Can't wait to get the blue sign off the lawn and put the oranges on the mailbox. This has been quite a process. So thank you for everything, and hopefully that answers your question. Beautifully. Thank you. I think you said it all. I've been here for 50 years. 1971, moved in, settled, ran a grocery store locally for the better part of 25 years. I got to meet every citizen that came through our front doors for groceries for a long time. It was called Lukens Food Villa on 975 Broadway Avenue. And that's where the Holiday Inn Express is now. And, you know, I got to meet a bunch of wonderful people through all those years. And Dunedin has definitely always been home to us. We felt a little bit like a red-headed stepchild out there, you know. But just a little disconnected. But we may remain connected. And so it just feels good to be home again. So we're grateful, and we're certainly grateful for all that the city of Dunedin and the people in it do for us and everyone. Thank you. You compliment us with your application. Thank you. That's all I have is a wait of questions. Questions? No questions, Vice Mayor. Commissioner Sandbergen. No questions. And I don't have any questions either. For Ordinance 2602, I'm going to open it up for public input. Seeing none, hearing none, I'll close public input. And I think at this point I will call for a roll call vote. Commissioner Sandbergen. Aye. Commissioner Gow. Aye. Commissioner Dugard. Aye. And Vice Mayor Walker. Aye. And that motion passes unanimously. We're now going to move on to Ordinance 2603, the Land Use Designation Ordinance. Noah, could you please read Ordinance 2603 by title only? Ordinance 2603, an ordinance of the City of Dunedin, Florida, amending the City of Dunedin Land Use Plan, as adopted by Ordinance 2001, on certain real property following annexation, located at 1991 Spanish Pines Drive, parcel number 1328-15-84-576-0000-0340, with designated meets and bounds and totaling approximately .24 acres, to assign the Residential Low, RL, land use designation, and providing for an effective date. Okay. Thank you. May I have a motion to approve Ordinance 2603 on the second reading? So moved. Second. Okay. First by Commissioner Sandbergen, second by Commissioner Dugard. All right. Commissioner Sandbergen, any questions for staff? No questions, Vice Mayor. Okay. Commissioner Dugard? No questions. Commissioner Dugard? No questions. And I have no questions on 2603. And if you don't mind, I'll hold our comments until the end of the votes here, if you're all okay with that. And with that, I'll open it up, public input. Anybody having public input on land use designation? Okay. Hearing none, seeing none, we're going to go to a roll call vote. Commissioner Gao? Aye. Commissioner Dugard? Aye. Commissioner Sandbergen? Aye. And Vice Mayor Walker? Aye. And that motion passes unanimously. All right. Moving on to Ordinance 2604, the zoning designation. Noah, please read Ordinance 2604 by title only. Ordinance 2604, an ordinance of the City of Dunedin, Florida, zoning certain real property following annexation located at 1991 Spanish Pines Drive, parcel number 1328-1584-576-000-0340 with designated meets and bounds and totaling approximately .24 acres to single-family residential, R60, and providing for an effective date. Thank you, Noah. May I have a motion to approve? So moved. Okay, the maker for Commissioner Dugard and Commissioner Sandbergen. Commissioner Dugard, questions for staff or the applicant? No questions. Commissioner Sandbergen? No questions. Commissioner Gao? No questions. All right. I have no questions either. I'm going to open up 2604 zoning designation for public input. Anybody from the public wish to talk on this particular ordinance? Okay. Hearing none, seeing none, I'll close public input. And I'll bring it back to the commission for commission comments. Maker of the motion, Commissioner Dugard? No comments. Thank you. Commissioner Sandbergen? Welcome to Dunedin. That's it. Commissioner Gao? He stole my thunder. It won't mean as much, but welcome to Dunedin. Well, I have some comments. You know, I've been, you know, I've been thinking, I've been thinking quite a long time here on what I was going to say here. But I guess, okay, first of all, I mean, to be redundant, welcome to Dunedin. And, you know, I just want to say that your contributions to our great city have just been just amazing. You know, from everything you do with the Dunedin Boat Club and the Marine Advisory Board and everything else you do, I just, I'm just thrilled that now you are officially part of this city so that you can pay your share of Dunedin taxes and, most importantly, vote in the next election. So, with that said, you know, this is a great day. Roll call vote, please. Commissioner Gao? Aye. Commissioner Sandbergen? Aye. Commissioner Dugard? Aye. And Vice Mayor Walker? And those motions pass unanimously. Thank you. I'd like to recommend to Jim and Jean that they hook up with our Newcomers Club, that they can tell you what we do in the city and how we operate. We're going to move on to item three, review of the fire assessment request proposal. Before we get into staff presentation, I think, Jennifer, you had some more talk to say here. I do, yes. Thank you. Vice Mayor Les Tyler is coming up to the staff table there along with Tammy, and we have Chris Rowe, who is joining us virtually from Bryant-Miller-Olive as well. And so, Vice Mayor, thank you for a little bit of time to just kind of frame this agenda item. I want to establish where we are in the process and actually go back a bit. When property tax reform was first being discussed, and it was actually before the New Year, as you know, last summer when Governor DeSantis first introduced the subject, we started looking at ways within the city of Dunedin to address what would be a potential revenue loss. We still don't understand, well, we do know the degree of the revenue loss should the referendum pass. At that time, we did not. And so, our charge was to look under every rock to find out where we could reduce operating expenses, where we could increase revenues. And so, the fire assessment is one aspect that many cities are looking for and looking at. In fact, our neighboring, most of our neighboring cities are currently looking at a fire assessment. Fire assessments apply to fire operations only and not to EMS. And so, we spent about $12 million a year on our fire department and about $2 million on EMS. So, and first of all, let me say we're not looking at that total amount. So, I don't want anybody to think that. So, in that vein then, when you look at the scope of the property tax reform and using this, the fire assessment, as a tool available to us perhaps in the future to address our decreases in revenues, The fire department is currently paid out of ad valorem taxes, which is the general fund, the fire operations portion. So, this would relieve the general fund. That said, we have a long process to go. And we're actually, it is more than a year and a half away when we realize the revenues, but this is how much it takes and how long it takes in order to look at the fire assessment. And we're going step by step. We, as you know, we called a special meeting of the City Commission on May 19th. At that point, Bryant Merrill-Olive, Chris Rowe, kind of gave you the overview of a fire assessment, what it is, how you can do the assessment various ways in order to levy the assessment, and so on and so forth. The City Commission gave staff a consensus direction to move forward with developing the request for proposal. And one thing that I want to say is that it's very unusual for staff to put an RFP before the City Commission and the parameters of the RFP. That's traditionally an operational function. But a fire assessment is of much gravity, if you will, that I think that most certainly the City Commission needs to be included in every step of the process. And that includes reviewing the RFP, an overview of the RFP. And then what we're asking for tonight is direction from the City Commission to move forward with advertising the RFP. At that point, we would advertise the RFP, we would get our responses, we would put together a committee to review it, and then make a recommendation to the City Commission as far as the successful proposer, and then you would decide whether or not to move forward with that next step at that point. We are going to, we are completely committed as charged by the City Commission to be completely transparent on every single step of this process. And so, so the RFP is before you. And then with, with that, I will hand it over to Les. And as I said, we have Chris Rowe, who is going to, you know, go over the, the request for proposal. I do want you to know that, that our City Attorney, you know, Chris Rowe is Brian Miller and Olive. And we have Noah here and Jennifer Cowan has also reviewed this RFP. It is ready to go. It's, it's a very comprehensive request for proposal. And with that, as I said, I'll just go ahead and hand it over to Les. Go ahead, Les. Sorry, I don't know if I took any of your thunder, but they can hear it twice if you want to. Oh, great. No, thank you, Jennifer. And Les Tyler, the finance director. Les, you're going to need to pull your microphone closer. Remember, yeah, I know you only have, there we go. Keep, keep the furry thing on this time. I will. I'm going to try to keep it on this time. I learned last time. Yeah, I did. Les Tyler, the finance director. I'm here with Tammy Winton, our purchasing manager. And what I'd like to do is go over the, kind of some background and then go over the scope of work and then turn over to Chris to add anything that he'd like to add to the conversation. For some brief background, basically, I'd like to go over the scope. And then also, as Jennifer mentioned, on the 19th of May, Chris went through the fire assessment and we discussed that the fire assessment is a funding mechanism for fire protection districts. Fire assessments create a dedicated funding source specifically for fire protection operations and infrastructure separate from general fund property tax revenues. Special assessments have been used by Florida local governments since the 1800s as a reoccurring annual charge imposed on properties that receive a specific benefit from a service or improvement. Common special assessment examples include stormwater, street lighting, and fire assessments for fire protection services. The Florida League of Cities estimates that approximately 140 cities in the state of Florida in 2023 had fire assessments. And since that time, there's been additional cities added. And there's in between 175 and 200 cities and counties with active fire assessments today. Under Florida law, special assessments differ from avalorant property taxes in several key ways, which are revenues must be dedicated to a specific service or purpose. Homestead exemptions do not apply. The assessment methodology is determined locally rather than by state statute. And assessments may be collected on the annual property tax bill using the uniform method under Florida statute 197-3632. The assessment process to design and implement a legally defensible fire protection assessment program first includes undertaking a study. A study is intended to identify the full cost of the accessible fire protection services, separate the accessible fire operations from the non-assessable EMS functions, develop a fair and equitable assessment methodology, evaluate long-term funding needs for the fire operations, prevention, and emergency management apparatus and facilities of the fire department. Also, legal support is necessary to ensure the proper legal milestones are achieved, including but not limited to public notices, letters, resolutions, ordinances, agreements, publications, or other required legal documents. As mentioned, Chris Rowe with BMO has been providing cities and counties with consultation information and background on the process and legal steps of implementing the fire assessment for many years. And as mentioned, Mr. Rowe presented to the City Commission on May 19th. The City Commission direction on May 19th was for us to bring back the RFP, as the City Manager mentioned. So with that background, I'd like to briefly go over the highlights of the scope of services within the RFP, and that begins on page 19 of 41 in the RFP attached, which is the attachment 1 in your staffing report. And the key objectives of the study are to determine the full accessible cost of fire protection, explicitly excluding the EMS cost and other non-assessable activities. Next, describe the demands for services and the methodologies for apportioning the assessments consistent with Florida case law, including exemplary rate structures that deliver a presentation and reports summarizing those methodologies. Rate structures and special benefits conveyed by fire services and the method recommended for the City. Also, produce rate options and pro-forma revenues that meet the City's revenue requirements. If authorized, assist with the implementation of the program under the uniform method of non-advalium assessments, including notices, hearings, the tax roll bill, and certification. Analyze and define the full cost and appropriate five-year financial plan and funding model for the fire protection services, including inspections, plan review, code enforcement, and community risk and reduction activities. Identify and quantify emergency management program costs, including preparedness, mitigation, response coordination, recovery functions, and also determine the extent to which these services convey special benefit to the real property and are therefore appropriate for special assessment. Evaluate the cost of capital needs for funding fire engines, fire boats, vehicles, special rescue tools, as well as renovations to fire stations. In the background scope, tasks one through six in the RFP on pages 20 and 21 will be completed. And all those phases will be completed. And at the end of that time frame, the consultant will, at that point, prepare a comprehensive fire projection assessment report and a five-year financial plan for the provision of fire rescue, summarizing the analysis, cost allocation, the apportionment results, and proposed assessment rates. The consultant would then present preliminary and then final findings to city staff and then to the city commission to review and for your input and then or approval. Upon completion of tasks one through six of the study, the city commission will determine if tasks seven and eight will be performed. That would be a point of, do we move forward? The next phase will contain tasks seven and eight in the RFP. And those tasks include assist with the implementation of the fee. Selected firm would work with our city attorney's office, Chris Rose and his team, and assist in mailing and publication of required notices and would coordinate with Pinellas County property appraiser to prepare and certify the non-advalorium assessment role for inclusion of the tax bill, on the tax bill. The firm will deliver all work products and source files, including editable copies of spreadsheets, models, databases, and documents to the city, provide a summary or guide describing how the update assessments would work in the future for us to follow. And tasks nine and 10 in the RFP are optional. Task nine would be to provide estimated costs, to provide ongoing support for public meetings and information and materials. Consultant may be asked in that task to do the assessments for maybe year two and three as we learn this new process and also serve as an expert witness if needed. Task 10 is another optional item, and this is a fire prevention cost study with lump sum costs, a separate item. This would look at the staffing levels of the fire prevention division, look at the recommended FTEs and service levels and expectations, benchmark against other jurisdictions, and evaluate the needs and structures if needed, any changes are needed. And this would be done after the fire assessment work is complete, and this, again, is an optional item. If the cost is acceptable to the city commission, we would move forward with that later. The fee study determines the budget and the operational cost and the funding baseline, and the efficiency study really can't be done right without knowing exactly what the level of service is you are trying to deliver and how much money the department has to work with. And much of the RFP is boilerplate. It's been reviewed by our purchasing manager, Tammy, also our city attorney, Jim Cohen, and also, as mentioned, Chris Rowe with BMO have all reviewed it, as well as the fire chief and myself and a few others at the city. The plan is if the drafted RFP is approved by commission, staff will select a five- to seven-person committee to review the RFP submissions and then make their recommendations for a selected consultant. The consultant would then be brought forward to the city commission for approval to proceed with an agreement. And that concludes my overview, and I'll turn it over to Chris to ask Chris if he has anything he would like to add at this time. Good evening. This is Chris Rowe of Bryant-Miller-Olive. That was a very thorough overview on assessments, the process for imposing assessments, and the form content of the RFP. I have nothing to add, but I am available for questions should there be any. Okay, thank you. All right, I'm going to start to the left here. Commissioner Gao, any questions for staff? No, thank you. Or BMO. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Actually, very few. But from my understanding, the fire assessment is for firefighters only and not EMS. Correct. And you've probably told us why. But can you repeat why EMS is not included and what is that, how does that impact the city of Dunedin considering that all of our fire personnel are firefighters slash paramedics? How do you separate that definition and what does that mean for the funding? I'm going to let Chris answer the first part of that, if you don't mind, Chris, and I'll try to answer the second part. Chris, did you hear me? Oh, it looks like we might have lost him. You know, just real quickly, we have two cost centers. We have a cost center for our EMS, and we have a cost center for all the other fire costs. So we do separate the cost now pretty well. I think the consultant will fine-tune that and determine what's accessible and what's not. But we do track those separately. And currently, the EMS costs are currently 100% reimbursed by the county, currently. So we incur the cost, and they reimburse us on a monthly basis. That reimbursement amount is at risk. Their funding source for that is property taxes. So the estimated impact of that is, I think, about a 33% reduction in their revenue source. So if the vote is approved in November, then that will reduce their revenue source to pay our EMS services. So that's something that we'll have to work through. But we do track them separately from a cost and accounting standpoint. And does that answer your question on the accounting side of it? I can, if I may. Let me try. As we're trying to get Chris back, he'll be much more eloquent than I. But my understanding is that an assessment must apply to the structure or real property. And as a result, fire operations is pertaining to fire suppression on real property or structures. EMS is a benefit to a person. So the assessment can't be to an entity or a body. It has to be to real property. Okay. And so if I understand that correctly, and you did a fabulous job, is that if my house catches on fire, that's firefighters. That's fire operations, yes. If I have a medical emergency at my home, that's medical. It's the person. That's the person. But the firefighter coming to my house could be the same person. So, yes, that's true. And as Les had said, the cost center for EMS is reimbursable by the county. It is already similar. It's bifurcated already. Okay. And so where it comes from the county, I'm sorry, Les, you had mentioned it, but it might be worth repeating. Where does the county get those fees for EMS? It's property tax revenue. Property tax revenue. Chris, are you live now? I am here. I apologize, there's a terrible storm in the background. I was disconnected, but I am here now. All right. And that's it. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Commissioner Gow. Commissioner Dugard. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I'm a little confused about the timing. In the RFP, it says time of completion will be agreed upon by the consultant, and yet we've got a calendar in here that shows a consideration by the commission on either 11-19 or 12-3. Help me understand our calendar a little bit. Yeah, we've got an estimated time frame in the back, and the left column is our plan time frame, and the right column is sort of a what-if time frame. Our plan is to bring, is to, if the commission approves the RFP this evening, the RFP will go out tomorrow, and it will be out for 30 days, and then we would put a selection committee together. We would, as soon as the RFP came back, the selection committee would meet, and the plan would be to select the firm, bring that back to the commission on 9-17. That meeting would be the goal date of bringing it back for your consideration to approve whoever's selected. And that really is, and then from that point on, once it's approved by the commission, we would begin the work and the study with the consultant soon after that, right after that. I'm going to jump in here a little bit. Also, so we need to, by December 3rd of 2026 of this year, we need to adopt a resolution expression in the intent to use the tax bill collection method. So we have to notify the tax collector that this is the method that we're going to be using, and that has to be done by December 3rd. And so when we adopt, or when you approve the methodology consultant, then we will be agreeing on the length of the study itself. Okay. Just wanted to be sure how much was in our control or the provider. All right. Very good. There does seem to be a number of things that are critical in timing. I presume that by mid-November we'll know the results of the property tax return and that we'll be able to do that piece of knowledge. How do we – is this me? I'm sorry. Am I making – thank you. Once we have that piece, are we considering going forward or if that proposition fails? Regardless of the reform, whether it fails or not, we're still planning on moving forward with the study and then, you know, see what the results are and, you know, the commission will decide how we move forward. Jennifer? Yeah. So moving forward with the study itself. And, you know, those decisions will be made by the city commission, obviously, on the dais, the go, no-go. Our recommendation is to move forward with the assessment to complete it after having contracted with a consultant. And then we can make a decision on implementing an assessment or merely having an assessment in place or a minimal assessment to help us address some of our structural budget deficit issues. But my recommendation is right now, without having gone through the full study itself, is property tax reform is being discussed this year. As you know, it will be discussed by the Constitutional Committee in 2027. It should take place in some way, shape, or form, and this would be a good instrument for us to have in our tool belt moving forward. It is the thing that the city commission controls and not Tallahassee. And the amount of the assessment is entirely up to the city commission as well. Thank you. And thank you, Vice Mayor. That's all the questions I have for right now. Thank you, Commissioner Gard. Commissioner Sandberg. So tonight we're just talking about the RFP, correct? Now this will go on to... That's coming from up there, right? Yes. So this will go on to DemandStar. Correct. Just out of curiosity, what kind of a consultant, what do you anticipate we're going to see? Are there going to be multiple people that come in, or this is unlike anything you've probably ever seen? Well, all that Tammy talk, but there are... I don't know whether you'll garner support from firms outside the state of Florida that also do assessment work, but as I mentioned during the May presentation, experience in this particular area, and by that I mean fire assessment, is crucial. I would really emphasize the need for experience with Florida fire assessments among whatever shortlists are presented for consideration. Okay. That's kind of where I was going, because obviously this is... I'm not sure we've ever... or if you've ever handled something like this, but it's going to be different. And, Jennifer, I think you just... you mentioned that we have to have this turned into Pinellas County in December. The intent, yes. And does this... do I understand this probably tracks with national elections, or would it be a midterm also? Actually, the assessment itself is not subject to... you're thinking of a referendum? The poverty tax referendum is November 3rd, but the assessment is adopted by the City Commission outside of the election process. Okay, so this... we would make this decision in this building. Yes. You don't have to go to the voters of Dunedin. That's correct. Interesting. Okay. That clarifies that. I'm good. Thank you, Tammy. Thank you, Commissioner Sandberg. That decision, sir, if I may briefly, I just want to underscore that it is made entirely by the City Commission, but only after a fully noticed public hearing during which members of the community who have received notice and all potential assessment payers will receive mail notice of your intent to consider the assessment will have an opportunity to come before you in a public hearing and express their support or their objections before you actually vote to impose the assessment. And generally, that hearing takes place August, September of next year. It's a direct mail notification. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. So the decision is ultimately the City Commission's, but can be made only after a fully noticed public hearing of all affected property owners. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, so my questions are right along the lines of Commissioner Sandberg. So as I was going through the RFP, you know, as I went through the tasks, you know, those tasks are pretty complicated, correct? Yes, they are. And it requires a very specific expertise, I think. Because, and correct me if I'm wrong, we can't afford to get this wrong because basically then this is how we're going to formulate our communication, our plan back to the county in terms of how we're going to do this. And we sign up then for, you know, we sign up to do it that way, and that's really pretty much it. Is that correct? Yeah, it's critical that all the steps are done properly and in order and a lot of legal steps too, like Chris mentioned. And the timeline, I mean, you know, if you just take a look at the timeline from when the referendum, you know, is going to hit the ballot and how long it takes to put this assessment in place, basically I think your strategy, and you can confirm this, is that it was to work in parallel so that we're not behind the eight ball if the referendum passes. Is that correct? Exactly right. And if I may add, Vice Mayor, this referendum or a future referendum next year. Yeah, this referendum in November of this year or any future referendums. So basically we need to get ahead of this. Yes. Yeah, okay. So, okay, those are really all the questions I have. Well, one, just one. And I also want to just confirm what Chris said because that was exactly the takeaway when I read the RFP is that this is such a specific expertise. There's probably, you know, I think I heard five companies in the state that do this. Or less, yeah. And so, I mean, that's an important point because, you know, obviously we couldn't do this without a consultant. I mean, yeah. Right. Okay. Correct. Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you. Those are all my questions. Yep, go ahead. Where will the funds come from to fund this particular contract? This will be general fund. And our estimated cost is 70, well, there will be two phases, as I mentioned. When we get the quote for the first phase, that will be a certain dollar amount. And if we move forward, there will be another dollar amount. But the budget right now we have is about $75,000 to $100,000 for everything. Okay. Including the legal fees. Including the legal fees. Okay. Good to know. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Okay. And at the commission's discretion, that the expenses incurred in developing and implementing an assessment program can be reimbursed through proceeds of the assessment, if that's your wish. Thank you, Chris. All right. I want to open this up for public input. Would anybody in the audience want to provide public input on fire assessment, RFP? David? Name and address for the record. You have three minutes. David Ballard Geddes, Jr., Georgia Avenue in Palm Harbor. According to the research that I've come across, the ad valorem portion of our property tax is now old school government. That's done. The non-ad valorem portion, which has been juxtapositioned on the ad valorem, is now going to support this new form of taxation. Our property tax lien is now changing again into a levy. So, in a sense, the non-ad valorem levy will come for the equity in our home, creating a mortgage revenue certificate based on statute 180.08, I believe. So, as we have it right now, as a property tax lien, should I fall behind on my charges and so forth, you all can't necessarily, you know, take my home. You can just hold a lien against it. But this levy actually creates a mortgage revenue certificate. I'm a little confused into this area and the shape-shifting from an ad valorem to a non-ad valorem. But I do know that, based on statute 197.3632, that these charges that are now coming across the board are not based on the millage rate. So, as we have it in our ad valorem now, fire department, school, whatever, is all based on millage rate. Now, this charge here is not a millage rate. It becomes a flat tax, however you're going to label it. In a sense, I feel as though us as civilians are being subjected to a form of taxation that I'm not so sure of such political wildlife, fishing for taxation, so to speak, is fishing on the right side of the boat here. We need to keep ourselves civilized in how we're going to tax the civilian population. And, understandably, we need functions in government. Society needs to function. But let's not become a despotic form of government as to how we're moving forward. Thank you. With the non-ad valorem process here. Thank you. Thank you, David. Anything to add to that, Jennifer? No. All right. Okay. Anybody else wanting to provide public input? But, okay, I'm going to bring it back to the commission. Can I have a motion to approve the advertisement for the RFP? So moved. Second. All right. To the makers, Commissioner Sandbergen. Second, Commissioner Gao. Over to you, Commissioner Sandbergen, for comments. I just, this is big. And I think we started to dance around the cost. What we've got budgeted right now is between, did you say $75,000? Yeah, $75,000, too. $75,000 right now. Yeah. Okay. He sort of made me feel a little bit better. And I hope everybody caught that. The cost could be moved on to the assessment. Right. True. Because I don't. Yeah, that's correct. It's been a long time since I priced fire assessment studies. But this seems like this is going to be big. So I support it, obviously. And it's just part of everything being changed in Tallahassee dictating. And we're having to help out. So that's about all I have, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Commissioner Sandberg. Commissioner Gao. Thank you, Vice Mayor. No, I just believe in being a Boy Scout and being prepared. Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner Dugard. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I need to be linguistically correct here. We've been calling this property tax. This referendum is a removal of a tax on your property. Nothing could be more inaccurate. It is a charge for services. It's a services tax. And we're beginning to get the list of services that could evaporate or severely diminish in the absence of this property tax that they're calling it. It's a services tax. You're getting services that could go away if this goes away. This is the first opportunity I've had to say that. But I think linguistically, we're calling it the wrong thing. Governments tend to do that because they like to believe that liability is shifted to the citizens in certain ways on their property. And they say, well, you can come get my property. Well, that has to do with the last comments. Yes, if you don't pay the property taxes or services taxes, there's a lien on your property. And therefore, there's an illusion out there that they're going to come take away your property because of this thing. Well, we can come take it away for a number of reasons. If you fail to pay your water over time, we can come get it that way. So this is just a bunch of, it's a big shell game. And I don't think the citizenry understand that. They think they're going to be able to continue getting the services they've got right now without having to pay for the services they're receiving. We have to go this way. We don't really have any other choice. It's where we are. There's a lot of good in this town. I've heard over and over again how wonderful this place is. It's not an accident. It's a deliberate process that's been being built for the last hundred years. Decisions have been made. They've piled on each other. They create what we have here. This thing passes. We're going to start dismantling that. Not just in this community, but in every community across this state. This is serious. We're having to treat it with whatever tools we have right now. I support this action. Thank you, Commissioner Yard. Great comments. So, you know, my questions were really focused on providing the community, the public, our residents an understanding of what this process looks like. And we are facing, on November 3rd, a referendum that will remove approximately 50% of our general fund. And, you know, we would not be doing our jobs if we weren't looking ahead on how we address that. And so, this is the great thing in the way that this is structured. It's, you know, it's segmented. It's phases. Well, first phase is to get that RFP out, get the experts involved so that we know what we're dealing with, what we need to do. And if the referendum doesn't pass, we have a point there where we can make decisions, all right? It's not, you know, I wouldn't call this, you know, a done deal. But the fact of the matter is, is because of the fact that this referendum is even on the ballot, is causing us to plan accordingly if it passes. And the unfortunate thing is about this, the referendum is, is that the referendum was passed without any preliminary discussion on how the municipalities are going to be, you know, left intact. And that's, you know, that's what we are dealing with up here. And so, subsequently, I'm in favor of this. I honestly feel that if we didn't do this at this point, we're not doing our jobs. And everything has to be on the table. And, you know, that's just where it's at. And so, I'm in favor of this. I'm going to call for a voice vote. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes 4-0. Thank you very much. All right. We're going to move on to 3B. This is Resolution 2609, repealing Resolution 0320, which established the Youth Advisory Committee, as amended by Resolution 0816 and 1212. Noah, please read Resolution 2609 by title only. Resolution 2609, a resolution of the City of Dunedin, Florida, repealing Resolution 0320, which established the Youth Advisory Committee, as amended by Resolutions 0816 and 1212, and providing for an effective date. Thank you, Noah. May I have a motion to adopt Resolution 2609, sunsetting the Youth Advisory Committee? So moved. Commissioner Dugard first. Do I have a second? Second that. Commissioner Sandberg in seconds. Staff presentation. Tony. Good evening again. Tony Mulkey, Parks and Recreation Director. The original Youth Advisory Committee had the goals to provide the youth of Dunedin with a forum to address their needs and concerns, provide input to the Commission on issues affecting youth in our community, provide an opportunity to enhance leadership skills and civic involvement among Dunedin's youth. Given the demands of school, extracurricular activities, the structure of a formalized committee, it had some challenges with consistency for effective engagement long-term. We are developing a new approach to replace this, and I feel that it would have the same, if not a larger impact, on what this committee was originally intended to do. We feel that we can be effective and inclusive of more voices of our community's youth, and that programs the teen leadership program that we've had for many years. It has been a summertime activity that we are planning to expand into the school year. Looking at the history of this program, we have had participants progress from camp participants to the teen leadership program to seasonal staff during summers while they're off of college, and some have even matriculated in some of our supervisory staff within the department now. It's a powerful example of engagement and stewardship that's built out of this program. And we can use this model to provide valuable feedback to the commission and the community on what teens and youth need. I know all of the commission members are involved in our programming in one aspect or another, and we want to lean into that. We want you to be able to hear from our participants and engage with our participants to get that feedback to make the decisions to serve our community best. The intended result of this in bolstering the teen leadership program will be to engage more teens in the process while also providing skills, development, and mentoring. This approach will be much more lucrative than the structure of a committee and can build in opportunities to provide feedback and discussion, and I'm glad to answer any questions you may have. Thank you, Tony. All right, questions for staff, maker of the motion, Commissioner DuYard. Tony, what's been the participation level on this particular committee in the last year? They haven't met this last year. When was the last time we had any participation at all? I think it was COVID. Yeah, a long time. Yeah, I think it was 2020. Thanks, that's all I have. Thank you. Second was Commissioner Sandbergen. I had no questions, Vice Mayor. Okay, Commissioner Gow. Thank you, Vice Mayor. The ability and opportunity to hear from our youth is incredibly important to our community. It's important for us to hear it. It's important for them to know that they're being heard. And so can you talk a little bit more about what is that process for getting that engagement? What is that process for, you talked about getting more youth involved. What does that look like? Sure, so looking at the committee structure through the various amendments to the resolution, it started out, I believe, as a 15-person committee and was whittled down to nine, and then it was opened up to allow for some non-residents. So I think that consistent participation has been a challenge. This year, summer alone, we fully filled our team leadership program. I believe there are 22 participants in that. They go through a series of activities and mentorship and growth and development. Expanding that throughout the year, we hope to build in, like, teen summits and teen activities to provide a voice that's very formalized. So we can bring those results or include that into some element that does come to the commission that does, one, gets youth involved with the civic process as well, gets them comfortable, you know, speaking in front of the community, and also has that mechanism for growth and feedback as well. Because I know there's at least one other community that I'm aware of in Pinellas County that has been known to take their youth committee to Tallahassee and show them the civic process and what it looks like. And so if we can, I don't know if we want to go that far, but if we can, I like your comments about civics and making sure that they understand the government process and how we operate and what their impact can be in that process is important to me, along with parks and recreation, right? But it's all aspects of the city because they live here too, and their voices a lot of times go unheard. So it's important that we hear their voices. So thank you, Tony. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Commissioner Engel. I have no questions. So I'm going to open it up for public input on sunsetting the Youth Advisory Committee. Anybody from the public wish to talk on this issue? Okay. Hearing none, seeing none. I'm going to bring it back to the commission. We'll go with commission comments. Maker of the motion, Commissioner Degard. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I don't think the general public realizes how much work goes into maintaining a committee for the city. Our clerk is engaged in this process. Our departments are engaged in this process. It's not free to have a committee. It's expensive. And we have to look at every way we can save money now and in the future, even if we don't see any loss of revenue for the city. It's incumbent upon us to be efficient at all times. And this is a method of efficiency. And I salute the staff for bringing this recommendation forward. And I think it's one we should follow. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Degard. Commissioner Sandberg. You know, I fully understand why we're here. We discussed it. We've beat it up and, you know, we've hashed it every way we can. And I completely understand. And I appreciate your help, Tony. Thank you, Commissioner Sandberg. Yeah, I just want to echo that. We did discuss this. And this started with a list of how many committees did we have? Twenty-six. Twenty-six. That's a lot of committees, and it's a lot of work for the staff. And, you know, we really needed to make some decisions on efficiencies. I really appreciate Commissioner Gao's comments with regards to essentially civic involvement of our youth. But it sounds to me, Tony, like you've got other ways to accomplish that. And I think that's awesome. So, with that said, roll call vote, please. Commissioner Gao. Aye. Commissioner Sandbergen. Aye. Commissioner Degard. Aye. And Vice Mayor Walker. Aye. And that motion passes unanimously. All right. Moving on to 3C, Resolution 2610, repealing Resolution 0939, which established the Public Relations Advisory Action Committee. Noah, could you please read Resolution 2610 by title only? Resolution 2610, a resolution of the City of Dunedin, Florida, repealing Resolution 939, which established the Public Relations Advisory Action Committee and providing for an effective date. Thank you. And I have a motion to adopt Resolution 2610, sunsetting the Public Relations Advisory Action Committee. So moved. Maker of the motion, Commissioner Degard. Do I have a second? Second. Commissioner Sandberg in second. Sue. Good evening, Vice Mayor and Commission. Super Ness, Director of Communications. The Public Relations Advisory Action Committee was established by Resolution 0939 on November 5th, 2009. And that committee had been active for many years. The purpose of the committee, the original intent and goals was to provide recommendations as to specific issues and areas of concern, which warranted special efforts to provide information to the public. So public information, education, and also really focus in on specific methods for effectiveness of official communications between the city government, the citizens of Dunedin, and the general public. Also, they were focused on really more operations, city website, and other forms of communication. Probably at that time, social media was adopted as a form of communication. But the real purpose was there wasn't a strong communications department in place during this time. And one of the recommendations of the committee was, to the city manager, was to hire a communications director. And the PRAC committee was involved in that process of the public search for a communications director to build a communications department. With that, they brought me on board. And with that, I have built a department. And so, as we have reflected on the years since then, they've been involved in many aspects of communications. They've been involved in the website, the new website that we built and launched in 2023. And that was really a two-year process. They were very involved in that. They were part of the original RFP. They also were very involved in the brand refresh that we did in 2023. So, as the committee has evolved and as the committee matured, they reflected themselves back in early 2025, maybe even in 2024, that the purpose of the committee was really no longer needed. It was really more of, it was, they were looking and we were giving them updates and getting feedback from them. But they really didn't actively have that original intent or purpose. So, the committee themselves actually made a recommendation to us, staff, that the purpose of the committee was no longer there. And a recommendation was made by them to sunset the committee. And we have not met since January 2025. Now, to keep residents still engaged, if, you know, we ever needed to do another RFP for a brand refresh or for a new website or any other big communications type project, the recommendation by all of us would be to create a task force. There's, there's ways to do that to keep citizens involved. And we have a lot of engagement with residents, even still through many of our channels that we implement today for communications and public information. All right. Well, thank you, Sue. All right. Questions for staff? I'm going to start with Commissioner Sandbergen. Was this committee absorbed by anybody else or was it just canceled? No, the committee was not absorbed by anyone else. We discussed that, but it was decided to sunset this committee. If I'm not mistaken, wasn't there an attendance problem with this particular committee? There was an attendance problem as well. But we had some really, really strong, very, very committed members of the committee who had served for a while. I think attendance can be a problem with a lot of our committees, but the, the, the, the committee, you know, had, had good, dedicated members for quite, for quite a while. Good. That's all I had, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Commissioner Sandbergen. Commissioner Gao? No questions. Thank you. Commissioner Degard? No questions. And, uh, I have no questions. Um, I'm going to open it up to public input to sunset the public relations advisory committee. Anybody from the public wish to talk on this issue? Okay. Hearing none, seeing none, I'll close public input and bring it back to the commission for commission comments. Maker of the motion, Commissioner Degard. I don't think anybody, unless they've been under a rock for the last 15 years, is, um, unaware of the fact that communications has changed dramatically in the last decade and a half. Um, it is no longer possible to bring a set of people together, I don't care what their skill level is in communications, to plan a comprehensive communications plan for an institution like this. It requires professionals that are on task every day, every workday of the week, and sometimes even on the weekends. I think that is why the committee self-selected not to be as active as it had been in the past. I think changes in communications have been notable. I think we just take a look at some of the products we put out. They're outstanding. And so I think this is a necessary change. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Degard. Uh, second of the motion, Commissioner Sandberg. Nothing to add. Thank you. Commissioner Gow. This is the second agenda item about, uh, getting rid of our advisory committees. And, Michelle, how many did you say that we had? 26 boards and committees. 26 boards and committees. And Dunedin is well known for its community involvement, for reaching out and asking our residents, what do you think? Um, uh, uh, what's the average number of committees in other cities? Do you know? I would say about seven. About seven. Okay. Uh, 26 versus seven. Uh, I think that, uh, that speaks volumes to how hard we try to get our, get engagement from our, our citizens. And so the idea of reducing a few, uh, to make a cleaner process, to make a better mousetrap is, is certainly worth it. But I think we should always, always be mindful of how can we ask for input from our residents and just never lose track of that whole concept of we are who we are because of the residents. But, so I do support this though. So thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Gow. Those were really insightful comments. Um, you know, I, I, this, this is about efficiencies. But I, I loved, uh, Commissioner Gow's characterization of the activism that we have in this great city. And, uh, I, uh, you know, I, I don't think it really should surprise us that we have 26 committees or had 26. Um, I think what we've whittled them down to 25 or so. Um, I also want to just give, uh, you know, in the, the progression, the evolution of our, our communications. It just grown exponentially, um, Sue, you and your team do such an amazing job. And, you know, it just, you can just, you can just see how the, the, the, the whole, the whole strategy evolved. And, you know, the fact that the committee itself was recognizing that, you know, it, it was time to sunset, um, I think speaks volumes. Uh, I, I love your idea with regards to task force and, and keeping the public involved on strategic initiatives. It was, uh, I think that's perfect. All right. Uh, with that said, uh, roll call vote. Commissioner Gow. Aye. Commissioner Sam Bergen. Aye. Commissioner Dugard. Aye. And Vice Mayor Walker. Aye. And that motion passes unanimously. All right. We're moving on to item 3D. Authorized Task Order 2026-03 for Stormwater Cured-in-Place Pipelining to Vortex Services in the amount of $901,709. Uh, staff presentation over to Isaac. Isaac. Good evening, Vice Mayor, Commissioners. I'm Isaac Wasilewski, Engineering. And I'm joined with Trevor Bacon, Public Services Manager, for item 3D, Authorized Task Order 2026-03 for Stormwater Cured-in-Place Pipelining to Vortex Services, LL3, in the amount of $901,709. This task order parallels what has been presented to the Commission previously, but this is for the stormwater system. Pipelining is a yearly capital improvement project, and this year we have begun using a task order process for both our yearly projects as well as to address issues as they arise or are discovered. This contract process was competitively bid as a continuing service contract, which was subsequently awarded to Vortex Services, LLC, at the January 22nd, 2026 Commission meeting. Vortex has performed this type of work in the city before and to our satisfaction. The Public Works Department maintains an extensive municipal separate storm sewer system, or MS-4, that conveys stormwater runoff to its intended outfall. The MS-4 contains a variety of conveyance pipes consisting of different materials, sizing, and configurations. CIPP lining extends the service life of existing stormwater pipes up to an additional 50 years. It does not require excavation of the streets and right-of-ways, and pipes are accessed and lined through manholes. This task orders for approximately 4,700 linear feet of stormwater pipe, ranging in size from 12 inches to 48 inches in 12 locations across the city, as shown in Exhibit C. They are Braymore and Buena Vista Drive North. We have Garden Circle South Citrus Avenue, Robin Hood Lane, Ranchwood Drive East, Overcast Drive, Amberglund Drive, Valley Drive, New York Avenue, Highland, and San Mateo Drive in Sremont Way. As such, staff hereby recommends issuance of Task Order 2026-03 in the amount of $901,709 for stormwater CIPP lining to Vortex Services, LLC of Riverview, Florida, as detailed herein. We are here to answer any questions. Thank you, Isaac. Commissioner Gough. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Isaac, how many linear feet in total? Was it 700? For this task order, 4,700. 4,000. I was a little... I heard the same thing. I was going to ask... Yeah, let's a little better off. I apologize. My voice must have broke. Okay. So for the same linear foot, what would the cost be, if you know, of replacing the piping there? I think Trevor here. That would vary between the material, equipment needed, access for it, but it is an extreme cost-saving being able to repair the pipe with CIPP lining versus excavation. Okay. So it would be more than the 900, 1,000 you're asking for. You're probably talking 3 million. 3 million. Yeah. Okay. And this extends the life of these pipes how many years? 50 years. 50 years. Thank you. That's all I have. Thank you, Commissioner Gough. Commissioner Dugard. Help me with my math here a little bit because I'm struggling on this one on the numbers still. This is a 900,000, 901 and some change, and it's 4,700 square feet. What does that come to about a foot? Do you have a feel for that? The size is very dependent on the, I'm sorry, the price depends on the size and the thickness of the lining for the different pipes and depends on where the pipe is under road through right-of-way, depending on load pressures and whatnot. They give a breakdown on their quote, a 12-inch pipe at 6 millimeter thickness at 1 foot length is $116 linear foot. It varies. If you go up to a 48-inch pipe at 18 millimeters thickness at linear foot is $396. But if you were to lump sum at all, it would be about $192 a linear foot, and that also includes there's other ancillary services like road closure, bypass pumping, things like that, that are also kind of lumped if you're to take that. So that's really not product linear foot. That's totally installed linear foot. Correct. Okay. That helps me a little bit, too. That's all I have, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Commissioner Dugard. Commissioner Sandberg. How did we determine those addresses? These addresses were vetted by the Operations Department. Most of these locations, eight locations we've had previous repairs at, seven locations are limited access. As you can see, just by that Tremont Way, it's in between the homes. If we were ever to have a repair needed there, we'd be digging in between the homes in a, I believe that was a 15-foot right-of-way. So then you'd have seven and a half foot on each person's property. So it's just limited access and tight quarters, previous repairs. What are these pipes made out of? Are they? Again, they vary. It's C&P, corrugated metal pipe. Some of these are VCP, which is clay pipe. Some of these are RCP. But, again, that would be where those are in between homes with limited access that we want to get ahead of the curve. So we can do it without disrupting the property owners? No, there is very little disruption to them because it is done from the right-of-way and the different access areas. It seems like this is an ongoing project. I mean, this Vortex comes before us quite regularly. We've used Vortex. We've used Inliner. We've used Institut form. We've used Granite. You know, I should have probably waited to comments, but this Vortex company, we pay them a lot of money. We're sitting at home tonight waiting for this $900,000 contract. And just out of, you know, commissioner to their ear, I'd love to see them sit here someday if we can at least meet them. You know, we hear no complaints. Obviously, they're doing a good job, but, you know, we've got to be a pretty good-sized client of theirs. And it would be nice just to meet them and hear what they have to say about us sometime. You're welcome to pass that on. I'm sure it's being heard. Absolutely. Thanks, guys. Yes, Clay. But also, I want to add on, this is actually, we awarded a multi-year contract to Vortex. And it is, like you said, we've been in front of you probably, and this is like the fourth time, I would say. And it is for wastewater and stormwater. So we'll be able to use it for both groups. So, and it is a multiple. You'll see us next year probably a few times in the year after. So, yeah, we'll be seeing them often. Yeah, like I said, you never hear any complaints. You know, we just seem like we're a pretty good-sized client of theirs. That's all. Thanks, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Commissioner Sandberg. Yeah, I just mind clarifying questions. So basically what this means is, is that cured in place, you don't have to dig up the pipe. You just need to get access to the pipe. And it's a special filler material that goes in and basically lines the pipe for, to extend its life for 50 years. Is that correct? It's a fiberglass liner that they push through the system with water. And they have a boiler, reaches temperature for a certain amount of time. As soon as it reaches that temperature, they're able to release and, yeah. That sounds like an incredibly efficient way to address our infrastructure. Yeah. No further questions? Yep. Commissioner Gard. I appreciate the ingenuity of this process, but I want to know, are we losing much volume by this process through the pipe? No. Can you give me any idea of what it is before and after? So is it like only a 5% loss of volume? What are we looking at? Do we know? Calculation-wise, I do not know that, but you're talking 6 millimeters of thickness? And an overall pipe size? Oh, the overall pipe size of a 12-inch, 9 millimeters thickness of an 18-inch. So it's very minimal. I would say it's less than 1%. Thank you. That's all I had. Thank you, Commissioner Gard. I do have a follow-up. Yeah. Go ahead. Sorry, Vice President. And it actually, on some of this pipe, it will actually provide a smoother surface and probably increase your flow rate. Yes. And in 50 years, can we do this again to the same pipes? Yes. If you're here, help us. I vote yes. All right. Thank you. Okay. I'm going to open this up for public input. Anybody wanting to speak on this issue? Seeing none, hearing none, I'll bring it back to the commission for commission comments. First of all, though, I would like to ask for a motion on 3D. So moved. Second. All right. To make her the motion is Commissioner Gow. Second is Commissioner Dugard. Now I'm going to bring it back to commission comments. Commissioner Gow, make her the motion. I think this is money well spent on infrastructure. No further comments. Thank you. Commissioner Dugard. I concur with my colleague. Commissioner Sandbergen. Commissioner Sandbergen. Money well spent to keep those pipes working. I think you're doing a good job, both of you guys. You too, Clay. Thank you, Commissioner Sandbergen. I will say that you have brought this before us many times now. And I'm still just kind of awestruck by the technology and how much efficient this is. So, anyway, well done. Great presentation. And a call for a voice vote. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Anybody object? Hearing none. That motion passes unanimously. And if I can, Vice Mayor, if there's, during this project, if there's an opportunity to ask us to come out and observe, I'm sure it's actually pretty fascinating to watch them work. Well, when they come in, they'll invite us and give us all the day, because I'd love to meet these guys. And that's to acknowledge that I work during the day, so I probably can't make it, but a cool process. Yeah, a lot of times when we do our wastewater, they are working at night, just because of the low flow time. Stormwater might be a little bit different. All right. We have one more action item on the agenda here. 3F, proposed agenda for July 23rd, 2026. Anybody have any additions or changes? Vice Mayor, one consent item has been removed. That is consent item 2D. 2D. Okay. Okay. Anybody else? All right. Can I get a motion to approve the July 23rd agenda? So moved. I'll second that. Okay. Maker, Commissioner Degard, and second, Commissioner Sandbergen. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. That motion passes unanimously. All right. Well, that closes out our action items. We're moving on to informational items. First of all, commission discussion and comments. Commissioner Gow, anything for the good of the order? It just might fall under baseball, so I do apologize, Commissioner Sandbergen, for stepping on your toes. But July 11th is Celtic night at TD Stadium. And so if you get there early, you can get your tartan bucket hat. So it's a kilt night. Come on out. So that's it, man. Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Sandbergen. Go ahead, Steve. And I do have... I'll go with the real... I'm just the imposter. And I do have my ticket, and I will be at that game, by the way. There you go. I had a real good opportunity a couple weeks ago. I volunteered at the Dunedin Summer Camp. They offered me a chance to go outside and play kickball, and it was about 125 degrees, so I elected to stand inside the gym all day. But I was there, and I did get to shake hands with a bunch of five- and six-, seven-year-olds and had a great time. Shot baskets and really enjoyed it. Got great volunteers up there, great staff. Man, those kids, it's like, it's just controlled chaos. But those kids are having a good time, and staff's doing a good job. I'll be heading out Tuesday, meeting all of you on probably, I think, Wednesday and Thursday. Forecast in Toronto is a little cooler than here, but it's going to be hot. It's going to be humid. So I think on your agendas, you've seen now that we're going to be eating dinner at the Keg. That's about one mile from... That's about a mile walk. So just keep that in mind. Everything's... What? We're going to walk? Unless Commissioner... Oh, nobody told me about that. I ain't... I'm kidding. Yeah, with that, you know, I'm excited to go, and this is going to be a good year up there, and I'm glad everyone's attending. So that's all I have, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Commissioner Sandberg. Commissioner Newgard. It's not the walk to the Keg I'm worried about. It's the walk back. It's the stagger home. The distance could become immeasurably longer. I wish to compliment our Vice Mayor for leading an exceptionally good meeting. I know that from most seats, you can't see what goes on up here, but it is an orchestrated chaos, and keeping it all together takes a good degree of attention and focus. I shudder the day I might end up over on that seat, because it's a hot seat. Congratulations to you, Rob, for a job well done. Yes, thank you, Tom. I do think that the community needs to be advised that there's going to be a lot of material, some informational, some biased material, on this property tax referendum. We are restricted on this dais from expressing an opinion on it. I know tonight I was a little direct, but I do think that there's a lot at risk in this thing, and I think the population needs to know it. We will use every opportunity under the law to make sure that the population is fully informed as to what is at risk. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Commissioner DeGuard. First of all, I just want to provide a huge shout-out to Parks and Rec and everybody that was involved with the Hometown USA. It's just amazing what our Parks and Rec and all of the other departments that are involved with that do. I mean, it's huge. And it just really kind of reaffirms the fact that we live in a great city. I don't have anything from a liaison perspective today, but I do want to just echo Commissioner DeGuard's comments with regards to the position that we have to take on the property tax issue. And yes, anything that we provide is in the interest of providing background for the community and the residents so that when you go to vote, you are fully informed. And that's really the key. And as part of that, there's some realities here. And, you know, we would not be doing our job if we did not explain the realities. That's all we're doing. So anyway, with that said, that's all I have. I'll turn it over to the city clerk for anything for the good of the order. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I would just like to remind everyone that qualifying begins Monday, July 13th, and goes through July 27th, noon on July 27th. Not a minute more, right? Thank you. Not a minute past. Thank you so much. Thank you for that. City Manager. Thank you very much, Vice Mayor. And I, too, want to thank staff for their hard work for our 4th of July celebration on the 3rd of July. It truly was, yeah, it truly was a wonderful night. And the stadium was almost full. And I also want to mention that our own Tony Mulkey was the one who, our Director of Parks and Recreation, who coordinated the music with the fireworks. Multi-talented. You've got to love that. He is up for an Emmy on that. We're hoping any day now. Also, I want to mention Nicole Delfino and our lobbyists, the Southern Group, on the $4.7 million appropriation that we have received after the Governor signed the budget. So we have $3 million for the marina. We have funding for the Bayshore Drive water main replacement. And we have funding for a high-water vehicle, which was actually, in our budget, pushed back to, I believe it was 2028. And the high-water rescue vehicle will actually help us in a flooding situation with a storm surge. And we don't, right now we have John Boats with motors on the back. But this is a fully covered vehicle that actually could make it, my understanding is, to Honeymoon or Caldese at low tide, believe it or not. So, which is a good thing. You know, I'm very grateful for their hard work on those appropriations. It takes a lot of work. There are some grant tracking forms. You know, one of the instruments that we're pursuing is part of a tool of ours to address some of these issues is the grants, the grant funding. We hired a grants writer. She's doing a fantastic job, Camille Zoller. And so I'm happy to continue to be able to bring good news to you as far as what grants are, have been awarded and what we've applied for as well. So, and we're continuing to pursue any funding source that we can to replace what we may lose as part of the property tax reform. We have on, as soon as we get back from Toronto, we have a very busy week. On July 22nd, 21st, we have our first budget workshop. We will be presenting to you the position across all our funds in our budget. Our proposed budget, which is a 2027 budget, which is a balanced budget with a 17.6% reserve, I think, built into that budget. And we will also be introducing to you our contingency budget if the property tax reform does pass. The budget that we have submitted to the city commission, you can see some deep cuts in operating, in expenditures for operating, and a plan moving forward as far as pushing out some capital projects in order to address our deficit. And we are planning on implementing a portion of that contingency budget, even if property tax reform does not pass in terms of doing a little bit more slowly in order to kind of get ready for what's coming in the future. And, of course, the fire assessment is a tool that we're going to be using there as well. We have two forums coming up. We invited all of our boards and committees, and we invited our Dunedin Citizen Academy to a forum to talk about property tax. They are our ambassadors in the community, and I think it's really important that they understand exactly what the impact is and convey it to the community. And then we have another one after that. So we are continuing to hold our forums. We are, as far as cities go and what cities are doing, we're getting ourselves a reputation because we are ahead of the ball. I want to be very, very clear that our city attorney is reviewing all of our activity to ensure that we're in an educational mode and not an advocacy mode. We are not in an advocacy mode. We are educating the population based upon the facts that we have before us and what the impact of this reform will be on the city of Dunedin. So thank you. Thank you, Jennifer. And, Noah, I want to thank you for joining us this week. Anything for the good of the order? Thank you for having me, and thank you, Vice Mayor. I have nothing to report. Okay. Thank you. All right. I think that just about does it. All right. Well, if nobody has anything else, we're going to adjourn this meeting. And thank you all for putting up with me today. Yay. Yay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you.