CITY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING - Jul 17, 2025

Pledge of Allegiance and Invocation first by Jen. Let's begin this meeting by taking a brief moment of silence. Amen. Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the public, one nation under God, indivisible. So we started on time to the second, and I was so taken with that. I forgot to say good evening and welcome to the July 17, 2025 city commission meeting. So, okay. And we are going to start out the meeting with the presentations, which we only have one tonight, and that is our Purple Heart Recognition Day 2025 proclamation, and I'm going to turn that over to Commissioner Walker, who is our veteran. Thank you, Mayor. I see a number of members of the military order of the Purple Heart. Can I get you all front and center? And any other veterans in the room? Come forward, sir. I pay my time. And so much more, sir. Yeah, for sure. Well, this most certainly is a very distinguished group, and I'm very heartfelt. I'm honored to read this proclamation, so we'll get started here. Purple Heart Recognition Day, whereas August 7, 2025 marks the 243rd anniversary of the inception of the Purple Heart Award and the 93rd anniversary of the military order of the Purple Heart. August 7 has been officially designated as National Purple Heart Recognition Day in honor of those American veterans who have earned the military tribute by virtue of their bravery and sacrifice. And the Purple Heart is specifically awarded to any member of the United States Armed Forces that has been wounded or killed in combat with a declared enemy of the United States. And throughout history, brave and patriotic individuals have answered the call of duty and nobly engaged in the fight to eliminate the oppressive forces of tyranny that have threatened our freedom. And on this 17th anniversary of the city of Dunedin being congressionally recognized as a Purple Heart city, the city celebrates Purple Heart Recognition Day and honors the sacrifices of our nation's men and women in uniform. Now, therefore, I, Robert James Walker, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the mayor of the city of Dunedin, Florida, and on behalf of the entire city commission, do proudly proclaim Thursday, August 7, 2025, as Purple Heart Recognition Day in Dunedin and ask everyone to pause and remember those extraordinary men and women, as well as their families, who have made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our freedom and those who are willing to make that ultimate sacrifice and to honor the courage and continued protection of all those defending our nation today. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Would you like to say a few words? I guess it's me. Yeah. Hi. Mayor, Council, on behalf of the Commander Melgan, I'm Dave Klinger. So, we're not brothers from another mother, but I like to express personally and on behalf of the chapter our sincere gratitude and an honor to be here and accept this recognition. As you know, the Purple Heart is actually the oldest ribbon given to a service member. However, it goes without saying it does come with sacrifices. It does come without saying that the battle wounds are deep. We feel them often. But if you give me a minute, I'd like to tell you a real quick story. Go for it. I live every day, the dealing with the trauma, and even after Vietnam. But God gives us certain things in this world to give us meaning. So, my family gathered around one time. This was a couple years back over in Clearwater. And my brother and dad and brother-in-law talked me into going fishing. And if you knew my background, I feed fish. I don't catch them. So, we went out in the Gulf and rented a boat. And we're out there, a couple hours. Everybody's catching fish. I'm feeding them. They're catching them. And all of a sudden, I get a bite. I'm reeling it in. My pole is bending down. I'm like, oh my God, I'm finally getting a fish after all these years. My brother's there with a net bending over. And I pull it up. It's a shovel. You know, I didn't have a sense of humor at the time. I go, no. Why are you laughing? You know, somebody could have used this shovel to kill somebody. And then my brother turned to me and says, no, this is a coal shovel. This is what they use to shovel ice onto the fish. It made my day. And it's just little things like that that gets some of us through a day. So, please, we appreciate it. And thank you very much for the opportunity. Got to have humor. That's exactly right. And just before, Commissioner Walker, anything else you wanted to add to the occasion? I just wanted to make sure. No, I just, I just, we all collectively have so much, so much gratitude for your service and your sacrifice and, you know, I, Dunedin, Dunedin is a purple heart city. And, you know, I, I'm, every day, I am so proud of what the city does to support our veterans. And it's vice versa. The veterans supporting the city always out. So, thank you. Thank you all for, thanks for everything, all your service. Thank you. Oh, we need a picture. Sorry. Got to have a picture. Don't go anywhere, everybody. I was going to. Jocelyn, did you, would you have an announcement about the event? Or, I had you down on the schedules maybe announcing that. Maybe I'm wrong. I just had you down. So, August 7th. Sure. Good evening. Jocelyn Broadhead, Interim Parks and Recreation Director. The Purple Heart event will be on Thursday, August 7th at 10 a.m. I'm going to invite Jory and Danielle up to chat because I do not recall the keynote speaker, but it's in Pioneer Park. We get Danielle, the new mama. That's a new anymore, right? Yeah. Danielle Edwards, the special events programmer here for the city. The Purple Heart ceremony is on Thursday, August 7th at 10 o'clock a.m. We do have a really nice program lined up. We have a helicopter flyover from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, and we have a keynote speaker. His name is Charles Charlie Lemon. He was actually wounded. He was on a tanker, and it was destroyed, and he lost both of his legs. But his story is absolutely incredible, and I'm not going to spill the details because you have to come and hear him talk because it's a beautiful story. And now he has a two-year-old kid, and he's happy as can be, and he's thriving. So I highly recommend coming. Like I said, it's a beautiful program that myself and Jory and the committee have all put together for the community. And it's at Purple Heart Park, right? And it's at Purple Heart Park, yep, 300 Main Street, right next to Straw Hands. Great, great. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you both. Appreciate it. Okay. We'll go to citizen input. So does anyone in the audience wish to speak on a topic that is not on the agenda? Come forward, name and address for the record, and three minutes, sir. Hi. Hi. My name's Armando Galella. I live at 1379 Curlew Road in Dunedin, part of Curlew Trails. I'm humbled to follow what just occurred, but God bless the city for honoring them. You had a chance to hear from some of my neighbors at the last meeting. I couldn't attend, but I'm here to put in my plea to you regarding the bridge that connects Weybridge and Curlew Trails. I'd like to point out a couple of things. One, I think that's pretty obvious. It's a public bridge. Okay. We can agree on that. It's not private. It's public. Therefore, anything that happens to that bridge can be challenged by public entities, such as those that live on one side of the bridge or the other. I also want to point out, I believe you have a duty to maintain. That means that if there's an implied or explicit obligation to keep it in a reasonable state of affairs, and I believe the city has a duty to maintain that bridge. You do have municipal discretion. However, if that bridge's closure, and it is now closed, causes significant harm or access issues, which it does, affected parties might claim that the municipality is not fulfilling its obligations. And I'd like to bring that to your attention. Is there negligence? Well, if you fail to repair the bridge and it results in harm or danger to the general public, then you have negligence. Now, is it a breach of duty, claiming that the closure effectively removes access without compensation to any party? Perhaps a breach of duty is involved. Do you have immunity? You can claim immunity. But if there's a duty to maintain the bridge, then the questions of liability might be made clear. Some jurisdictions have statutes that specifically address maintenance and closure of a public infrastructure. And as I stated, we believe it is a public structure. Therefore, a public interest and a public remedy must be delivered by the city. You've shut ingress and egress to pedestrians, to bicycles. The city is less walkable. It also creates the need for additional car and other vehicles for access to the city. So I just want to point out that we believe that there's an obligation on your part to repair the bridge. Thank you. Thank you, Armando. And I know we'll be talking about the bridge during the budget workshops. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else wish to come forward and speak to? Good afternoon. Three minutes. Name and address for the record. Pardon? Name and address for the record in three minutes. Oh, yes. Eric Tensley, 1361 Curlew Road. I also live in Curlew Trails. And may I, on a lighter note, express my support for the reopening of the bridge. When we were, when my wife and I were looking for property to purchase, one of the main factors was, and my wife wanted to be near nature. And one of the main factors in her choosing, or I should say, you know, us choosing that property was the fact that we had access to the bridge, which allowed us a safer route to get to Pinellas Trail. So, you know, on behalf of myself and the other residents, we are asking, you know, for your support in reopening the bridge. And the bridge was open for over 20 years. Lots of people in the neighborhood used it. Currently, with it being closed, we have to venture onto Curlew Road. And the deputies are really great with regards to the speed limit there. But people drive really fast on that street. And they don't slow down for those of us that are coming in and out of the residences. So, and I have lots of time left. But that was my appeal. You know, just that if you guys would take that into consideration, we would greatly appreciate it. And thank you very much for your time. Thank you. We never want anyone to feel obligated to use all their time. So that's good. Thank you. We heard you. Thank you. Okay, anyone else wish to come forward to speak on an issue not on the agenda? Name, address, and three minutes. Hi, my name is Debbie Rowe. I spoke at the July 3rd meeting. I'm at 1365 Curlew Trails, also supporting opening the bridge. Two things I've learned since the meeting July 3rd. And that is that we have 19 homeowners. And the vast majority, I told you at that point, had voted to grant the city access to make it a public access. But I think you need to know that in the last eight months, four of our homes have gone up for sale. Three of them have sold. And if we're going to grant you the access, let's grant it now while we have the overwhelming majority. Not so much. I don't know it because I don't know how the new people would vote. I noticed that the city, when I was trying to dig through your documents, may not have put any money into the budget for that bridge in future years. But I'm asking that you consider using some money that was set aside for this year to get the city attorney busy to do the easement, the public easement, while we have people that want to do it. One other short thing, I talked to the public works people who have to work on the lift station, our lift station and lift station number 26. They're connected. And they used that bridge regularly to make sure that the two lift stations are communicating with each other. And now they can't use that bridge. They have to go around. So they asked me to ask you to consider reopening the bridge because it would make their life a little easier, too. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Anyone else wish to come forward to speak on an item that is not on the agenda? Name and address for the record in three minutes. Hi. My name is Greg Lee. I live at 939 Highland Avenue and concern regarding speeding going up and down that street. And I wonder if there would be any consideration of putting in speed bumps because I've talked to all the neighbors. I talk to them every morning. And people worry about getting their dogs hit, themselves getting hit. And I see the only solution would be a speed bump because people do not pay attention to the signage. That's it. I appreciate your input on that. And when all comments are done, I might have the city manager at least comment on that. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else wish to come forward? Jim? Name and address for the record in three minutes. Thank you. My name is Jim Calgar. I live at 2092 Valley Drive, Dunedin. And my concern, along with many of my neighbors, is the condition, the deplorable conditions of Cedar Creek. And I have pictures of that creek and the damages that it's causing to my home, such as cracking, floor cracking. And I have, may I present this? Absolutely. To the city clerk. And then she'll send it down to us. Thank you. Because of the condition of that ditch. I also have a video of that ditch after they cleaned it out. You know there's a road sign in there that says, road closed. How did that get there behind my house? That's something I'd like to know. Now, the Trevor, I believe his name is Trevor, Trevor Bacon, sent a crew out. They took all the overgrowth out of the ditch, exposing a gabion that was ripped. There's a gabion in the bottom of the ditch that's supposed to keep the soil from eroding away. That's all torn. The barrier behind the gabions is washing out from underneath the gabions. This is neglect at its finest. And I'm not happy. And many of my neighbors are not happy. My first instinct was to contact an attorney and have him file a suit against the city. That's something I don't want to do. But I'm not above doing that. What I'd like to see is that ditch piped. That would eliminate this problem permanently. And that would also protect my neighbors and their property. On the other side, there's an empty lot. Mayor, you've seen it? I did, yeah. That empty lot on the opposite side. As you're facing that empty lot on the right-hand side, you look down that ditch, you can't see 10 feet because of the overgrowth. I asked when the city inspects that ditch and how. I was told they use a drone. To fly a drone through that, you'd have to be one hell of a pilot or a very small drone. And you're not going to get down in there and see the conditions of that ditch. That ditch runs on two sides of my property. And it goes off to the left. There's two lakes back there. That drains into there. There's a pipe that comes through from, I believe it's Braymore. It's constantly draining water. I just need to wrap up. Okay. So I'd like to find some resolution to this. And those documents that I gave you, I definitely need those back. Thank you. And I want to thank you all for taking time and consideration to hear this from me. Thank you, Mr. Cohen. And Jennifer, I just want to say, when I was walking for my election, that's when I met Jim. And I saw it because it was pretty bad. And it looked like the Gabians were collapsing. And it was full of stuff. And I know that's when people went out. So maybe we can just kind of get a sense of where it's at. I mean, I don't know anything about the flow or anything like that. But maybe we can figure out, like, is it where it needs to be now? Does it need to be different? Obviously, he's still very concerned. Okay, good. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you for your concern. Okay. Anyone else wish to come forward and speak on an issue that's not on the agenda? Name and address for the record. My name is Gloria Settlemyer, and I live at 2070 Valley Drive. And I am here to get my concerns about the ditch. I've written you all a letter explaining that I've lived there for 30 years. I walk the ditches every year and watch the deterioration. And I've read a lot on Gabians. And our city does not have an inkling as to how to care for the Gabians. Because it has a lot to do with soil pH and roots that's growing into the Gabians and stuff. And when you come out and look in that ditch at what they cleaned out and what's still in there, you're going to understand. I've lived in my house for 30 years, and the land used to be straight with the ditch into our land. And now it goes like this. And in some places, you're like this. You're experiencing it throughout the whole ditch system. The one at the high school, it used to be open to golf carts, which kept traffic off of Michigan and Pinehurst. They closed it. My presumption is they closed it because they knew that it was unstable. And this week when we had a heavy rain, it washed it out. The Friday before they did that, they took truckloads of dirt and dumped it in there. That's money that they're just washing away down into the golf because they should have done something to stabilize the bank before they started putting dirt in there. Because they did it on Friday and on Tuesday, it all washed down. And that high school ditch used to be very wide. And on the Pinehurst side, it used to be really wide. We could drive a golf cart on the Pinehurst side, the Pinehurst Village side. And the high school was open. And it takes a lot of golf cart traffic off of the main roads. And you know when you're driving around Dunedin, if there's a way to get you off of the main roads, it's good. Like the kids here at Curlew Creek. I mean, on Curlew Road that have that bridge. I love that bridge. It was so peaceful to go out there and look at it. So we got problems all over the city with drainage. And our ditch is bad. My fence posts used to be like this. Now they're like this. My pool deck that I just had refinished three years ago is cracking. One end of it is like this far below where it used to be. And that end is cracking off. And that's the end that's near the ditch. So I feel that the research I've done, and we can look it up here at City Hall and find out what kind of materials that the Army Corps used, because I've looked up woven and non-woven and all kinds of things. And if we do that, we could come up with a solution. And these are problems, I know their problem with the bridge, our problem with the ditches, you probably weren't aware of them. Because you've had employees that could have been aware of them, should have been doing the maintenance work, that weren't. So with that, I thank you all, and close, and I would like to submit this letter, and you can keep it. And that to the city clerk. Thank you very much. Is there anyone else in the audience who wants to speak on an issue that's not on the agenda? Come forward. Okay. Name and address for the record in three minutes. Hi, Vinny. Vinny Luisi, 854 Cambridge Court. Nice to see everybody. Thank you for letting me up here for two brief announcements. The first is kind of sad, but I wanted all of you to know, if you haven't heard, and for other city employees and friends, long-time city employee Gene Wilson passed away suddenly last week. I'm working with his family, and on Saturday morning at 11 a.m., we're having a memorial service for Gene with his family and friends at Andrew's Memorial Chapel. So we just wanted to let you know that the museum is working with the family, and Gene, who was my umpire for 20 years for my vintage baseball league. So we're just getting together and doing memories and talk about Gene, so I wanted to mention that to everybody. Second is kudos for the city, which I'm sure you'll enjoy that. But we're August 16th, the museum, Dunedin History Museum, is having a fundraiser to restore the clock tower that was hit by lightning, and that was about three years ago. We came up with a fundraiser that kind of connects to the 40th anniversary of Back to the Future. So we're doing the event with music, DeLorean there, Time Machine, the prom dance, costume contest. It's for families with kids 10 and above, so everyone is welcome. We have a lot of things there to do. It's, again, August 16th from 5.30 to 9.30. But kudos to the city because we're working with you. We're working with the city to use the city building in the Rec and Parks, the building on Pinehurst, so we're using that for the event. And I just wanted to thank Angel, who has been working with us through the whole thing and has been a really great contact, super employee, and great pro at what she's doing, and helping us out to make that event a success. So I wanted to thank you all for that, and thank Angel personally for what she's doing for us. Thanks, man. Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. Anyone else in the audience wish to speak to an issue that's not on the agenda? Okay, seeing no one else, let me just ask the city manager on the Highland Ave speed bump issue. I know we don't do speed bumps at this point, but any other things that we could do there? So certainly the city does not have an adopted traffic calming policy, and that speed bumps would be incorporated within the traffic calming policy. And so typically what we will do with the Highland Avenue— I shouldn't say we don't do additional speed bumps. Additional, yeah. We do repair ones that are existing that came in some time ago. So we will reach out to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, put some special details on Highland Avenue, and see if we can put some additional signage as far as reduced speed and those types of things. But we're not—the speed bumps are not—that's a collector roadway. It's not a roadway that we would put that type of traffic calming on. It's just more complicated. I know that sometimes seems like the solution. Yeah, okay. Well, let's just see what we can do with enforcement, and we'll go from there. But—and just, you know, let us know. We'll try to monitor it. Okay. And then the other thing is on Valley Drive, you said our men have been out there. Do you want to add any comment right now about it or just— Just really quickly, actually. Trevor Bacon has been on site. I have been appraised of his conversations with the residents in that area. By both Angelica, my assistant, as well as Lindsay, who is the assistant to the City Commission, that we did remove some of the overgrowth in that area. The question was—or, you know, the purpose was to ensure that we could convey water during the storm season and any other season in Florida, it seems like, anymore. And so as far as the Gabion repair goes, we have made some progress as far as funding for Gabion repair. The HMGP grant, which is the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, we have $890,000 for Gabion repair. We've also put in—and we put our total ask for the HMPG was actually $7.5 million. So we have $850,000, as well, that has been awarded, and that is the appropriation. And we are looking for other funding sources, as well, for Gabion repair. So it sounds to me like there is additional work to do in that area, and what I'd like to do is meet with staff. We did inspect the Gabion. We inspected it in March of 2025. We did use a drone inspection. It's a Cedar Creek drone inspection. It's an inspection program that we have for, you know, our drainage conveyance vehicles or areas. And so it was inspected. We have been there. We have been on site with the property owner. And we will look at longer-term solutions as far as the Gabion repair goes. No, that'd be great. I remember just thinking it was one of the worst ditches I'd seen. But, you know, again, you just want it to be functional and make sure it's not causing damage. But, yeah, we can't really go back and forth. But if you want to, you can talk to the city manager, you know, just call her office tomorrow. That'd be great. Do you have your card that you can – if you want to get her card, that'd be great. And then the last thing I just wanted to say as far as Weybridge Bridge goes, we did get a little bit of an update last time. But I think most of us all know very well about Weybridge, the bridge. And, of course, it's closed because of safety reasons. And it is a complicated issue and one that we, you know, we understand. We really do. And we're going to be talking about it during our budget workshops, which are coming up. We actually start tomorrow. I don't know that we'll be talking about Weybridge Bridge tomorrow, but we'll be talking about it. And I appreciate your tidbit about not losing the ability to get an easement if we are going to make it all come together. So I appreciate that. So on that note, we are going to go to our consent agenda. But thank you, everyone. Okay. So on the consent agenda, we have approved the minutes for the 6-3-2025 workshop. We have board and committee appointments for Committee on Aging and Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee. We have 2C, which is request to enter into an interlocal agreement with Pinellas County to memorialize the current multimodal impact fee process between City of Dunedin and Pinellas County. And we have 2D, which is the Leland Chase Outdoor Gallery Public Art Project, Phase 2, located at the wastewater treatment plant, artwork selection and stipend and installation by third party, Speed Pro Imaging Printing in an amount not to exceed $6,000. We have 2E interlocal agreement between City of Dunedin and the City of Clearwater for assistance with repairs to the ferry landing dock at the Dunedin Marina by Clearwater staff. We have 2F, which is Commission Approval and Ratification of an FDEP Consent Order and Authorization to Purchase a Trailer-Mounted Wastewater Bypass Pump from Mersino Dewatering, LLC of Jacksonville, Florida, via piggybacking the Florida Sheriff's Association of Cooperative Purchasing Program at a cost of $117,101.47. So let me ask first, is there any items that anyone wishes to pull? 2E. 2E, which is the ferry, and are there any other issues anyone wishes to have pulled? Okay, so all of the consent agenda, minus 2E, if I could get a motion. So moved. Second. Wow. I'm going to give Commissioner Degard and then second to Commissioner Sandbergen. And I think you were a distant third, so I apologize. Okay, and first, before we do a vote, is there any public input on any of the consent agenda items, except for the one on the ferry, which has been pulled? Okay. Seeing no one, I'll close public input. And I will ask for all in favor of the consent agenda, minus 2E. Say aye. Aye. Aye. Okay, aye, and any opposed. Okay, and the motion passes unanimously. Okay, so now we'll go to 2E, and I will ask Commissioner Walker, did you want a full presentation, or did you have questions? I don't, not a full presentation, but I just have some questions and some clarification. So this particular agenda item is really just to approve the interlocal agreement between us and Clearwater to assist us in the repairs of the ferry dock. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. All right. Well, actually, when he was walking up, I told him, I'll start, but since we're only doing questions, then we're good. And I don't know if you're prepared to talk about this now, and if you're not, you know, I think it would be beneficial for us to understand what the plan is on that, because, again, I just want to make it clear that we are approving the interlocal agreement, and essentially that part of it, you know, is pretty straightforward. But any comments on that? Yeah, so generally speaking, the interlocal agreement is for City of Clearwater Marina staff to come over. They're going to relocate one of our floating docks that used to be used for the ferry previously. They're going to relocate it at dock 180, the northern part of the seawall. It's a temporary location until we get the, excuse me, the pier back up and running, and we decide where that permanent location will be. And their staff is going to handle all the labor. Okay. May I add? Yes. So, actually, if I could just give you a little bit of background about how this interlocal agreement came to be. And, actually, I was approached by the city manager of the city of Clearwater. The city of Clearwater would like to see, obviously, that ferry triangulated again and going back and forth, obviously, between downtown Clearwater and the city of Dundee, certainly before season. The city of Clearwater has the pile driving capability. They have the barge. They visited on site with Clay and Lori, and they thought it would be a very easy job. And they were essentially, it was like a Monday, they were essentially like, we'll be here Thursday. So, the understanding that we also want this done to get that activity back in the marina, and certainly for those business owners, certainly for downtown, certainly for the activity within the basin. We were good to go, apart from the fact that I can't enter into agreements with other entities. Only you can, only you can, the city commission. And so, the city of Clearwater actually, this was introduced to their city commission, and they said, go ahead and move forward. And we, Jennifer, drafted up the interlocal agreement. And it's very simple agreement, just, you know, allowing them to pile drive the drivers, piles, whatever, attach that floating pier, which is currently at the day docks and is in good working condition, to get the marina back in as it was running before the hurricanes, which is, I think it was Thursday, Friday, Saturday. And, you know, and it doesn't, I think it's once an hour. So, this is temporary in nature, by nature. And we, once we're finished with our analysis about where it will go permanently, then we will certainly bring that to the city commission. But otherwise, absent this, we're going to be waiting a couple years to get that ferry back in until we can get the day docks up and running again. So, this was the only place for it to go because the lifts, the first responder lifts, need to be repaired, and they're going to go where they were before. So, it's really a very simple agreement. I've provided you with the dimensions that our engineering division drew up today, where the ferry will go, and we can answer any other questions. This has not been before the Marine Advisory Committee, and the reason for that is that we did mention to them earlier that we do have a $1.2 million grant for the ferry, for the permanent location of the ferry. And that it could well go in this area, we're not sure. But we, you know, we have this opportunity right now from the city of Clearwater, and it's not to exceed $30,000. We think it's probably going to be less than that. If I understand this correctly, the yellow is the relocating the floating dock, and then the gray box is the basic square dimensions of the Clearwater ferry. Yes, that's the dimensions they gave us for that ferry, 16 by 20, or excuse me, 16 by 50. And then I'm assuming that the ferry then will come in, bow in, and then back out as they egress from the marina. That's the assumptions made on this, yes. Okay. And, you know, if you take a look at the footprint, there may be eight feet. It's eight feet more than what the vessel that used to be there was. It's about, that's about it, right? Eight feet. That'd be pretty good, yeah. Looking, we did not, I didn't, should have thought about having that dimension, but that's also often an aerial. So, yeah, give or take eight feet is probably right. Yeah. And, you know, we used to have a vessel on a dock that was 65 feet, and that boat, you know, would back out and come in, bow in. Yeah. Okay. All right. Yeah, I have no further questions. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions, Commissioner DeGarden? Okay. Vice Mayor? Yeah, just, do we feel comfortable with the ingress and egress for other boats entering the marina? Well, with the boat ramp right now being closed with a lot less traffic throughout the marina, this is a good temporary location, and it's going to give us a really good idea of how this is all going to play out, how they're going to handle that amount of space. We've looked at it. Clearwater's looked at it. The ferry owners looked at it. And they're all very confident that this is enough space. So, there'll be no interruption for the slip runners, our own slip runners coming in and out? Correct. Thank you. Mr. Sandberg? So, the ferry, they load from the side? Is that how they go to the dock and then up the ramp? And that's far enough away from where the collapse is towards Bon Appetit? There's not going to be any problem with the seawall there? Yeah, we think we've got some room to operate inside of there. That location is, you know, these are remotely sort of ballpark. We're going to be within a foot or two of what you see there. Okay. Yeah, I'm comfortable with it then. Thank you, Mayor. So, Dan Zucker's boat was 65 feet long? It was about 65 feet. How wide was it? I want to say it was probably about 18 to 20. 18. 18. Okay. Okay. So, actually, add a little bit more, but not that much more. And it's temporary. So, again, like you said, we'll learn from it and decide what needs to be the permanent type of a setup. So, okay. And Commissioner Walker had one more question. And Trish, Trish Rodriguez, she's okay with this? She's been on site and looked at it, and she's comfortable with it. Okay. And it's her captains that pilot that boat and drive the boat. And there's no scenario where the boat would actually be docked there overnight, I don't think, right? No, there isn't. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Okay. If there's no more questions, I'm going to ask for public comment. Anyone in the audience wish to come forward and speak on this item? Okay. Seeing no one. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you. Come forward. And so name and address for the record in three minutes. Hi. Is there a picture that we can see? I don't think we have anything to share. Do we? Do we have another PowerPoint? Yeah. Oh, we do. Okay, good. Great. So I am Carolyn James, and I am in slip one. And I have been there for quite a while. My boat is quite the boat. And I have been asked to give my slip up for the ferry. And I do not want to do that. And so I am inviting you over so you can see, because I would like to see if there's anything that can be done. Oh. Oh, yeah. I mean, tell what is what. Yeah. I mean, I can get past that with no problem. So really, because the thing that Lori was saying was she didn't think I'd be able to get out. I can definitely get out. Thank you. That's all I wanted to see. So there really is no reason to move. Thank you. Thank you for your input. Appreciate it. Am I correct? And assuming that, I mean, that's. I'm not sure we heard that question properly. I mean, there's. I think what you're saying is that you don't want to leave. Right. You think you don't need to leave. I'm going to gather more information. And as I see this, I don't see where it will be a problem. Well, I can have the city manager comment once we're done with all input. Because there was a boat behind me before that was humongous, ten times the size of the ferry. And I never hit it once in nine years. Okay. Thank you. Okay. We'll respond as soon as we're done with all comment. Anyone else in the audience wish to come forward and speak to this issue? Okay. Name and address for the record in three minutes. Thank you. Lori Browning, 2464 Bayshore Boulevard. I was out there by the boat thing yesterday. Who's going to fix the seawall and stuff out there? Because there's a big hole where they're talking about putting that boat on that seawall. That's badly damaged out there. So we're going to put this on top of what's there damaged? Are they going to fix the seawall prior to putting this ferry there? I don't know if you've been out there to look at it, but there's a big hole. We just were over there at that restaurant, me and my grandkids. There's a big, huge, I mean, there's a lot of damage to that seawall. So I don't see where it could be safe to be putting people, a boat up there, the people are going to be on and off on that seawall until that seawall is properly fixed. And another thing about, she said about the boat ramp, when are they going to fix a boat ramp that for us to put our personal boats in on that side? It might be one boat thing there at a time, but, you know, when are they going to fix that? What's going to happen there? We're waiting on that, you know, for me to help take my boat down there for my grandkids. And, you know, it's still just sitting there, nothing done. I'm just curious. We can answer your questions when all the comments are done. Thank you very much. Anyone else wish to speak on this issue? Okay. Seeing no one else, we'll go ahead and respond to Carolyn's. Sure. Absolutely. I have been in communication with Tricia, and she runs the Clearwater Ferry. The Clearwater Ferry requests that their slip be completely clear of any cross traffic or any necessity to maneuver around it, especially now. I think it's a very sensitive subject. So having to get around it or maneuver around it is not a good thing. Ms. James has been offered a slip on BDOC, which is open and available to her whenever she'd like to move into it. But Clearwater Ferry feels and the city feels that it is a little tight in there, and for everybody's safety, she needs to move. Okay. Thank you. And the second question, I think, was, is there any kind of seawall repair there that needs to be done before we actually – no, we're not going to go back and forth. But if you want to call the city manager – Okay. I'll take an appointment because I spoke to the – Ma'am, I'm not making an appointment on this. You've been asked to relocate. Ma'am, please. We're not doing this here at the meeting. Thank you. Please. Please. Okay. So is there any repairs that need to be done for the seawall? Clay? Well, later on, we're going to be bringing in front of you the contract for the contractor to repair the wall. They should be doing all their work landward side, so we think we should be okay. Okay. So you feel comfortable? Well, we're going to follow a process that's safe, and we'll work. Tomorrow, we will be having conversations. We can start – if you guys award us – we will start having conversations with the contractor tomorrow morning. Okay. Great. Okay. And then just a clarification on the boat ramp. I know the boat ramp and the Marine Advisory has been part of this decision to – we're not opening it yet. Correct. And also, I was talking to Captain Harvey, our North District Commander, and he feels that it's not time to reopen it either. Because there's – you know, there is – there are access to water issues throughout the county still. The peninsula is still closed to jet skis. And if we reopen that ramp, as we're trying to repopulate the marina, it's going to be a problem. Okay. Okay. All right. But, you know, again, we'll communicate things as they move along with the marina, which we've been trying to do as best we can. Okay. So, going back to interlocal agreement between City of Dunedin and City of Clearwater for assistance with repairs to the ferry landing dock at the Dunedin Marina by Clearwater staff. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Second. Okay. I've got Commissioner Walker and Vice Mayor Gow. I think. No? Okay. So, anyway, as the mayor heard it. It doesn't mean it's right. Okay. So, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Okay. Okay. We are going to go to – I've been asked to move the item on the Coca-Cola plant up. I think that's item 3D because we do have some – Sorry, Liz. We didn't tell you. Yeah. Sorry. Well – sorry. But we're paying the attorneys on this issue more. So, we want to get them off the call. Okay. So, we're going to go to 3D. Let me just get to it. Agreement to donate real estate between the Coca-Cola Company and the City of Dunedin for approximately 1.6 acres of vacant land located at 427 San Christopher Drive. Dunedin, Florida, and I will go to staff presentation, which I have City Attorney Cohen and Clay. So, who's taking the lead? Doesn't matter. Take the lead. Okay. I mean, I should say City Engineer Clay, too, you know. Anyway, go ahead. So – Did I surprise everybody or – Yeah. Okay. But that's okay. Follow in the directions of the City Manager. No, no. That's okay. So, Coca-Cola has offered to donate the property. This property is adjacent to the City's existing wastewater plant, and it's 1.6 acres. The subject parcel was appraised at a value, I believe, of about $870,000 as of May 5th. The City hired – the gentlemen who are on the phone, actually, they hired environmental attorneys, Frank Hearn and Cannon Hearn, who are also, like I said, on the – available online to co-counsel with BMO and negotiate the terms for this real estate donation. The donation agreement before you basically identifies the fact that the property that's going to be donated when the closing is going to happen, the fact that there is going to be insurance provided and that Coke is paying for that insurance policy with regards to that parcel. And the uses at this time, I understand that the uses of the property are anticipated that the City will extend the existing wastewater site to utilize that property. There were environmental considerations with regard to this. Those have been outlined in the staff memo that was provided to the Commission, but briefly. There was some contamination on the main property of the Coke parcel. You're seeing in the aerial, you see a ground area where there's 10s and 12s and 13s is the best way I can describe it. That's on the Coke plant parcel, and there was some contamination there that was both groundwater as well as surface soils. Those soil contaminations are limited, but the groundwater extends out and actually flows into – or I should say under Weaver Park across the trail and further extends. As part of this, because there has been an environmental – there has been environmental contamination that's been identified, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is placing engineering controls on certain areas that will limit the land use in those areas in accordance with the Declaration of Restrictive Covenant, which will also be recorded in the land records. It creates restrictions requiring – restrictions and requirements with regard to soil and groundwater within the boundaries of the Coke parcel. This limitation doesn't interfere with the city's proposed plans, and as I said, there will be engineering controls on the donated parcel in question – I'm sorry, the donated parcel is outside the boundaries of the engineering controls. However, the institutional controls will affect the donated property. With regard to this, Coke has approved this. We received this signed agreement. It's about 4.30 today. Yay, all right. So it's now being presented for your consideration, and I'm happy to answer any questions with regard to the parcel, the donation, or anything further on this matter. Okay, Clay, did you have anything else to add before we go to questions? No, the only – besides for what she had mentioned regarding all the other obstacles to obtaining the property through having the environmental concerns on the other parcel, our parcel is, as I said, sort of clean. But we are very interested in the parcel to help us further down the road in expanding the wastewater treatment plant. Most of these items here are adding another reclaimed storage tank and then the deep well injections. All of these items are necessary for us to help meet the Senate Bill 64, where we're no longer allowed to discharge any effluent to open waters. So this land will help us meet those goals. Okay. I will go to questions, and I will start with Vice Mayor. Thank you, Mayor. No questions on this item. Okay. And I will go to Commissioner Sandbergen. So I was interested in the pollution liability insurance policy. Does that have an expiration date, or how long will they continue to cover that? So the policy will be for three years. Three years. Okay. And lastly, I guess it's more of a housekeeping item. In the appraisal, beautiful CBRE on page two, it references the current owner intends to donate the parcel to the City of Clearwater, who intends to turn it in. I don't know if you caught that, but we should probably just clean that up. Good. All right. That's all I had. Absolutely. Thank you. Very good. Good. Wow. Yeah. That's awesome. Good ayes. Okay. Commissioner Walker. No, I have no questions on this. Commissioner DeGarden. Okay. And Jeff is just going to clarify. So the limits of the liability policy, or the pollution liability policy? $5 million. And you guys feel that's good? I mean, it seems good. Yes. Okay, good. And then, again, the reclaimed water tank would actually help us during our dry season issues. For maybe the early part of those dry seasons, because near the end of the dry season, we're just not producing enough reclaimed to keep up with the demand in general. No matter what. Right. So this will help during some periods. Okay. Okay. Well, I don't have any other questions either. So I will open this item to public input. Anyone in the audience wish to come forward and speak to this item? Okay. Seeing no one, I will close public input, and I will ask for a motion. So moved. Second. That was you, right? Commissioner Walker. Yeah. Okay. So Commissioner Sandbergen is the maker, and Commissioner Walker is the seconder. Okay. And I'll go to Commission comments. I'll start with Commissioner Sandbergen. No additional comments, Mayor. Okay. And Commissioner Walker. No. It's just a long time coming. And I will go to Commissioner Dugard. No comments. No. Vice Mayor. No comments. Well, I'm going to make a comment because I'm going to say thank you to Coca-Cola, even though I know we're not done-done. You know, they have been a great corporate partner for many, many years, and even though they're not there, this is just a way they continue to be a great corporate partner. This is, we have no other way to expand our wastewater plant property because of the residential all around it. And so, you know, this is a very generational gift that they're giving us to help us. It could certainly have been a big problem by being landlocked in the future years. So wherever this ends, we need to be very, send a very big thank you and accommodation to them. So, okay. So I will go to voice vote. So all in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Motion passes unanimously. Mayor. May I just say something? Yes, please. Just very quickly. I just want to say, first of all, of course, thank you to Coca-Cola. We started negotiating this when the plant was still up and running and operational. I want to say a special thanks to Jennifer Cowan and Jorge Quintas and Clay Watkins and Nan Bennett for the work that they did. And who? And Doug Hutchins. Yeah. Doug Hutchins has been also- He lives on. It's like 1.6 acres, but it's a really big deal. It really is. Because it is going to help us with the reclaimed water in the future. And the Hearns who are still on the phone are environmental attorneys. So tonight is like a really great night. Right, right. Because we got it done, finally. And most of all, it's off our desk, you know, and moving forward. So we're very grateful. But thank you, Mayor, for giving me some time. No, it's been a heavy lift, and I'm glad you recognize everybody. I know whenever I got on the phone with Jennifer Cowan, it was always like, yep, that's the number one thing, trying to get it done, trying to get it done. So I appreciate all the hard work on it, because it certainly was worth it. And it's a, you know, it's all good. So thank you. Okay. Our next item is going to be 3A, which is Resolution 25-18, Establishing a Maximum Millage Rate for Fiscal Year 2026. And Jen, could you please read Resolution 25-18 by title only? Resolution 25-18, a resolution of the City Commission of the City of Dunedin, Florida, adopting the proposed millage rate for ad valorem tax revenue for fiscal year 2025-26, at a rate not to exceed 4.1345 mills, or $4.13 per thousand dollars of assessed property value, providing for public hearing dates and providing for an effective date hereof. And that is resolution. And that was Resolution 25-18, read by title only. Thank you. Yeah, you know, former mayor and I were both trained by John Hubbard, so we're used to that final line. Thank you. Okay. I need a motion to adopt Resolution 25-18. So moved. Second. Okay. Commissioner Sandbergen, Commissioner Walker. Oh, I'm sorry. Commissioner Dugard. Sorry. My mistake. Commissioner Dugard. Commissioner Tom Dugard. Got it. Okay. And Commissioner Walker. Okay. Staff presentation. Les. Thank you. Get me out of trouble here. Good evening, Mayor. Vice Mayor, Commissioners. Les Tyler, the Finance Director. I'm here with Gene Horshwater, our Budget Manager. This item is mentioned as Resolution 25-18 to establish our proposed maximum millage rate for the fiscal year 26 budget. Staff recommending the approval of this rate, which allows the Commission to approve this rate of 4.1345 mils or any rate lower than that. This is not an increase from prior year, and the rate of 4.1345 mils has been the same since fiscal year 2016, so this would be the 12th year at this millage rate. Following adoption of this Resolution 25-18, the attached forms and your staffing and the first public hearing date, time, and location will be certified by the City and returned to Pinellas County Property Appraiser's Office by July 29, 2025 to be included in the trim notices, and the forms are DR-420, DR-420-TIF, and the 420-MMP are the forms that we send to the county. And I just want to mention that the total general fund reduction in revenue in fiscal year 26 budget, if the City were to do the rollback rate, and our rollback rate is calculated to be 3.9216, that would be a reduction in revenue of $919,000 in fiscal year 26. That includes our general comments, and happy to answer any questions. Okay. Thank you, Les. So, questions, and I will start with Commissioner Walker. So, in terms of the rollback rate, that basically would, there was a figure we used last year when we discussed this with regards to the businesses and the residents and how much that really would mean. Do you have those figures for approximation of those figures? It was about, not exact numbers, but it was about roughly $30 to $30 to $40, you know, something like that, annually or something like that, the average for the people that fall under Save Our Homes, somewhere in that area. Yeah. Per household or per business. Close to that, yeah. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Any questions? Commissioner Dugard. When I look at the millage rate, and I look at what we've experienced in the last year, I'm wondering how many things got put aside that we would have liked to pursue relative to the budget that got sacrificed because we're actually trying to keep it within this mill rate. Can you help me understand that? Yeah, well, the storm definitely, you know, had a huge impact on the city. In other words, you know, a lot of capital projects, you know, a lot of staff is working on storm-related items that would have been working on other things, that's for sure. You know, we're going to be, at the budget workshop tomorrow, we'll be talking more about what we'll be having, you know, we'll be dealing with the storm for the next three or four years. I mean, by the time it's all rebuilt and we receive all of our FEMA money and state money, so it's going to be a long process to weather through it, you know, for financially and staff time, too. We've experienced a lot of costs associated with benefits, particularly in the health care area, and that's driving a lot of this budget. So any other areas that I should be focusing on as I inspect the budget? Well, areas that increase, that we have a lot of increases in 26 is insurance, property insurance, liability insurance, major increases there. We're looking at CINIP larger than we've had in a few years. Health cost increases are going to be a lot more than they've been in a few years. They had been pretty fortunate being at 6% or under for the last three years or so, and we're looking at roughly 10 to 15% next year is the range we're looking at right now. We're still fine-tuning that number. Those are a couple. And operating costs, just in general, they're, you know, continue to drive up. Sheriff's contract is up 8%, which is more than normal. You know, that's normally 5%. So a lot of operating cost drivers are up quite a bit in 26. That's all the questions I have, Mayor. Thank you, Commissioner. Vice Mayor? Thank you, Mayor. Les, what's our current reserve level? Our current reserve level in the general fund is we're at about 24%. You know, we've got some adjustments for storm damage, revenue, and expenses that kind of flow in and out over a three-year time frame. But in general, we're at about 24%. We expect that to be in 2025, right at that level in 2025. And do you know what that reserve level would be if we did a rollback? Did you do that calculation? I did not do that calculation. Our rollback would fall in 26, and right now our 26 reserve, our estimated 26 reserve, as we begin the budget process with your commission tomorrow, is at about 15.7 in 2026. So we're slightly above our target. So if we were to roll the rate back in 26, I'd have to do the math, but I think that would put us slightly below our reserve level. And historically, where is our reserve typically? Our target's 15% minimum, and our reserve for a number of years, since I've been here, six years, has been right at 15%. We've managed to build it up over the last few years and gotten it over 20 the last two or three years. But it was right at 15 or very close to that for the first three years I was here. Thank you. That's all I have. Thank you. Commissioner Sandberg? That $19,985,000 number, I just had in my notes, how was that, is that a total of the property taxes paid, the total Dunedin portion? Yeah, that's a good question. That is, that number is the calculated total gross taxable tax revenue that we'll receive for the city and our CRA. But when we budget, we budgeted at 95% of that because we know there's going to be delinquencies. So that's a gross number, not a net number. And we take off 5% because we know that there'll be delinquencies. And you beat me to it on the unpaid taxes. I did have questions on that. So roughly $20 million, if my math does me right, that's about 35% of the total city budget comes from property taxes. Am I close on that? Very close to that, yeah. So, okay, I'm just, all right, because that kind of reverts back to when we were in Tallahassee. You know, that number kept coming up. What percentage did you say? It's about 35%, roughly $20 million. We had some significant damage during the storms. Are people getting a break on their property taxes during the repair time? And if so, is that number baked into what we anticipate our income from it? Yeah, there's a, in 2026, there's a lot of parcels in the whole county, including our city, that have been taken off the roll. And they're not paying property tax if they're taken off the roll. They're rebuilding or they're doing whatever. So we do have a large number of, some cities have more right next to the beach. But, you know, we have quite a few parcels that are off the roll. So that, our net value, our net assessed value, you know, we normally have a new construction value every year that moves around. But our net value this year is a negative $14 million. Really? Yeah, so the storms were about $50 million, roughly, taken off the roll. And then we had new construction. And that net number was about a $14 million reduction. And just out of curiosity, you know, I know a lion's share of property taxes are paid in November. Because when the escrow pays it, they have to take advantage of the 4% discount. So we, as a city, we get a pretty significant amount of money in November. Is it as simple as that money's just transferred in to the city of Dunedin Bank? Or how does that money come from the, how does that work? Yeah, yeah. We get, most of our revenue comes in November and December. You're right. Those are the big months. And it's directly paid to us by the county. County Assessor's Office gives us distribution starting in November, December, and then January. Those are the three big months. And then we have some delinquencies and things later on in the year. But, yeah. But they come directly from the county. Usually one or two payments a month. Okay. And then my last question was on that DR420 form, that e-trim. I had three sections. One, two, and five. Can you explain to me what those numbers, how they were arrived at? Lines one, two, and five. Yeah, let's see. Line one was the taxable value of real property. And then you asked number two. And number two is the personal property. They also tax on personal property values. And that's a much smaller number, obviously. And then number five. Number five is that number that you just asked about. That negative $14 million, that is the net number. Really, that's the reduction in assessed value in 2026. And that number was about $50 million in properties that went off the roll due to the storm. And then we had about $36 million, roughly, or $35 million in new construction. So that net negative $14 million is the net of those two numbers. So if I read this correctly, this is my last question. It's a number we can be very proud of. We have $4.7 billion in real estate in the city of Dunedin. Am I reading that right? Yeah, that's correct. That ends my questions. I had no idea. We can be very proud of that. Yeah. Thank you. Great. Good questions. And I will add that for 2024, the time that you weren't in your home from the storm, there was a way to apply for tax refund money back. Not as much as everybody had hoped. But it was still, you know, it was good. It was something. And then that decline, that declined figure in property values also includes some devaluing of some properties, right? That's a very good point. Yeah, that also included some devaluation. Properties right on the water, mainly the ones that got in the flooded areas, they reduced the assessed value of the land by a certain percentage this year for the first time in a number of years. So that was part of that, too. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, I'd rather my property values stay up, but at least I got a little, you know, anyway. So hopefully it'll go right back up, but we'll see. After a good storm season, no storms allowed this year. So with the ad valorem tax, and I'm asking you a question, I already know the answer, but I think it's an interesting fact for the public. In terms of it being 30, 35 percent of our overall budget dollars, is it enough? What we get in ad valorem taxes, is it enough to pay for our fire department and our sheriff's coverage? It contributes towards both of those. But our current labor and operating expenses for those two departments and other departments has gone up dramatically in the last few years. Now, I'd just be curious for you to do that calculation, because when we looked at that, based on what Florida League was saying, they had a whole big thing where most communities in Florida, their ad valorem tax would just cover, or not quite cover, their police and fire coverage, so public safety. Yeah, and I think ours didn't quite cover it. It was just a little off. Yeah, that sounds about right. Yeah, because we took those numbers up with us. Yeah, we'd be real close, I think, on that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'd be, you know, we could reconfigure that. I think it's a good number for people to really understand, you know, the importance of it, you know, and no real great supplement to that number, so. Right, right. And so if you start taking away that number, you've got to have your public safety, which means your quality of life stuff is just going to start really falling apart. Okay, so I'm trying to think if I have any other question. Again, this is, voting on this just means we, this is the cap. We can't go any higher than this. That's right. But we could go lower. If we were done with the budget and we said, oh, wait, I don't see this happening at all, of course. But if we did say, hey, we could go lower, we can always go lower. This just says we can't, we can't go higher. That's correct. That's right. All right. Okay. So based on that, I will go to open public input. Does anyone in the audience wish to come forward to speak on this issue? Okay. Seeing no one, I'll close public input and I'll go to commission comments. And I will start with, I guess I'll start with the vice mayor. Thank you, mayor. You know, you can tell by my questions, you know, my focus is always on the reserve. And, and the financial sounding of, of, of the city and the idea that we haven't raised taxes since 2016, which has been fabulous, but the city consistently runs on a very, very thin reserve, which as they should, you know, I know historically we have seen, uh, the county did a rollback and there's been some other cities in the last few years that have done a rollback, but their reserves were sitting at 30% and right. And, and, and the reserves are, are residents' money as well. And so if, if, if a government entity has an opportunity to give money back to the residents, as a resident, I would question why did they have it in the first place? So I think we manage our, our millage rate well. I think we manage our reserve well and the fact that it's been at 15% and we've all liked it. I'm much more comfortable with the 20% and especially in, in times of sea level rise and climate change and the focus we're going to have to have on infrastructure and the money that takes, uh, the financial impact that the residents are feeling now with interest rates, with, uh, insurance coverages and things of that nature. We're feeling the same thing. And, and so insurance coverage has really impacted our finances. We saw it with the raising of the, um, uh, utility rates and we just mentioned it here tonight. So, uh, the, that's just, I just thought I'd share where my head was, uh, with this. I, and, and so that's where it is. Thank you. Commissioner Sandberg. No additional comments, Mayor. Commissioner Walker. Uh, thank you, Mayor. Yeah, I, I have to echo, uh, Vice Mayor's comments and, uh, specifically though, I do want to say, I mean, it's, um, it's noteworthy and, um, important that we recognize that we haven't raised the millage rate since 2016. And the reason we haven't had to raise the millage rate since 2016 is because we've really managed our, our reserves very well. And we are coming into a bit of a challenging budget season this year. And I think it's also especially noteworthy that in light of the, some of the, the, the decisions we will have to make in the next several weeks, um, and you're coming to us with a recommendation not to raise the millage rate, you know, I think that's noteworthy. And I, you know, we have the, we have the challenge ahead of us to make those decisions that, uh, you know, we're, we're going to have to make. But, um, yeah, I, uh, I appreciate, you know, I appreciate all that, all that you do on this because I know it's, it's, it's always, it's always, uh, a great deal of calculus that goes into this. So, thanks. And, um, Commissioner Degard, my apologies. You were the maker of the motion. I should have started with you. I think we'll take a break right after this. So, it might be a sign. It might be a sign. But anyway, so please. Yes. Thank you, Mayor. Um, a lot of people don't realize that this is not the place where all the hard labor originates. I happened to sit in on the finance committee meeting yesterday and that finance committee goes through this with a fine tooth comb and I wish to compliment them and their work and how they bring forward these documents with, of course, the help of staff. I know that they look through every line item and they process it in a fashion like it was their own money. So, when it gets to us, it's been chewed on pretty hard. And, um, they're looking for ways to save a dime. And I want to compliment you and them for the work they do and bringing us a product like this. Thank you. Thank you. Um, and, um, you know, after the storm, I think we all know we're probably facing a tough budget period and we're going to start our budget workshops tomorrow. And I think, you know, as I look back, we, we considered a rollback the last two years. And I think, you know, kind of the, the slow, steady, stable budget because the 30 to $40 per year per household, you know, didn't seem like a reason to blow a $1.4 million hole. And, and of course, when the storm hit, the first thing I know I thought of, and I think we've talked about, was thank goodness that we were in a better position than some communities because slow, steady, stable budget to be careful for what could happen. And of course, the worst did happen. Not really the worst of the worst, but, but bad. So, um, I think, um, again, this is the highest we can go. And, um, I think we're going to have a tough time even within that, but we're, we're going to live within that. And, and I think that's important for our residents, um, because we still have a lot of the inflationary costs. We still have a lot of the market costs that are in the labor costs that are pushing us. And, um, and so, you know, and I guess we'll, we'll all be challenging ourselves to be as efficient and tough on the budget as we can possibly be so that we are doing what we need to do for our citizens. But we had a storm, we had a lot, we have a lot of obligations and, um, and if we didn't have the reserve that we had, we'd be in big trouble. So, um, anyway, so I, I've obviously am in favor of this, so I will go to roll call vote. Commissioner Sandbergen. Aye. Vice Mayor Gow. Aye. Commissioner Walker. Aye. Commissioner Dugard. Aye. And Mayor Franey. Aye. And that motion passes unanimously. And we are going to take a short break. Meeting. Uh, and. And, uh, go to item 3B, Resolution 25-17, authorizing the City of Dineen to enter into a community aesthetic feature agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation to install artistic wraps on specific traffic signal boxes along State Road 580 Main Street and Alt 19 Bayshore Boulevard. Um, Jen, could you please read Resolution 25-17 by title only? Yes. Oh, no, I'm reading the whole thing now. Um, Resolution 25-17, a resolution of the City Commission of the City of Dineen, Florida, authorizing the city to enter into a community aesthetic feature agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation to install artistic wraps on traffic signal boxes along State Road, along State Road 560 Main Street and Alternate 19 Bayshore Boulevard and providing for an effective date. That was Resolution 25-17, read by title only. Thank you. Appreciate that. Okay, uh, I'm, need, uh, could I have a motion? Second, second, second, second. Commissioner Walker and Vice Mayor Gao. Got it. Okay, uh, and I'll go to staff presentation. Nicole. Yes, good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners. Uh, Nicole Delfino, Strategy and Sustainability Manager here. Um, this is fairly, uh, straightforward. Um, back last year, uh, we brought to you the conceptual ideas of, um, the images to use on the signal boxes. Um, upon, you know, reviewing the process with, uh, the Florida Department of Transportation, uh, we realized or saw that they required an application, uh, which we had been looking into. In the, in the meantime, we went ahead and installed the four that were not, um, in the, under their jurisdiction. Um, and we were a little preoccupied at the end of last year, um, but getting back to the agreement, uh, have to have a resolution to accompany the application, uh, so that FDOT can then approve, um, or provide comments as to the images that are being supplied to them. And that is it, in a nutshell. Okay, um, were you doing the PowerPoint, or no? I, I, I mean, these are all images that we looked at back last year. I'm, I'm, I'm certainly happy to open it if you'd like to take another look at them. Um, there has been no changes since we reviewed them last, um, with some, uh, there actually was one slight modification. We had to remove some letters. Um, would you like to review the PowerPoint, yes? How's everybody feel? Do you want to look at, have the, just walk through the PowerPoint? Yeah, just turn in front of CMT. Yeah, I think it'd be good. Uh, we have Elizabeth Brinklow, the city's art consultant here. All right. With us this evening as well. Uh, and we will take a look at, uh, these, uh, images. Again, kind of thematic or inspirational, um, in purpose. Um, but to start, uh, we've got the two indicated along alternate 19, um, one that is at Palm Boulevard and one that's out at, uh, uh, Michigan. Uh, this was the, oh, it's higher here. I was looking at the other, the other screen. I was like, there's the image. Um, this was the image that the wording had to be removed. Originally, the green sign that you see here in the photo, um, stated PGA. Unfortunately, we cannot, um, advertise, um, for any private organization on a signal box. Um, although, so that's, that was the change that we made there, but still wanted to obviously keep the, keep the theme of the, of the golf cart and the original Donald Ross, of course, that's, that's very adjacent to the signal box. Look at those golf carts, man. Come on. There we go. Where do they put the clubs? They look like boxcars, right? Yeah. Those are very small. Three wheelers. Three wheelers. Oh, yeah, they are three wheelers. Yeah, good point. Okay. Anyway. Sorry. Go ahead. So, and moving along to the Palm Boulevard location, or the, sorry, the Michigan location, um, we've got an image of the sailors, sailors in the prams. Um, so that's something that you would often see kind of out on, in the water, um, in that, in that area. So that's why we selected that image for that location. I will just keep going unless you stop me. Um, then there, there are 10 boxes, uh, along, uh, SR580, basically every, uh, every signal that is along 580 from Broadway to Belcher. Uh, so we will just go through those here and feel free to jump in. Uh, we've got, I, I, you, you want to, you want to take this one? Because I don't. Um, this is Myrtle Sher Betts. As a young girl, she was, uh, her father homesteaded Caledese Island. Uh, and this was the skiff that she rode back and forth to school every day, even in inclement weather. So it seemed really fitting to have her placed, um, close to the water. Hmm. Cool. This is an original Main Street, uh, photograph that has been color tinted, um, and placed at Bass and Skinner. Uh, this is for Skinner, 580 Skinner and Patricia Avenue. This is, uh, the original Mies Hospital. And there's, uh, two photos that, that go with this particular box. I only have the one. Okay. Um, these are young artists, uh, for representation of our visual art, uh, interests in Dunedin, Main Street and Lake Haven Road. And 580 and Achieve Away, another nod to our orange, um, history. And there were several beekeepers that were, that had their, um, uh, hives, yeah, beef hives. But I was thinking more like colonies because there were several of them and they were located, uh, along 580. There were a lot of orange groves and of course having the bees and the orange groves, um, together helped pollinate and, um, keep the bees very happy. Uh, there were also horse, some horse farms along 580. So this represents, um, our horse farms. And then this is another one where the text will be taken away, um, due to the requirements that the, the state wanted us to have. No text. You can't have Dunedin, Florida on it? I might, we might, we, so we had a conversation with the, um, the engineers and the designers, uh, at FDOT and we reviewed some of these and we did kind of able to push some of those boundaries. So if we, if there is any way to continue to keep this, I will definitely push for it. Um, obviously we love to be able to have our, have our name. And I have, as you, if you're driving around Pinellas County, you're seeing a lot more of them pop up. Um, so they have authorized other areas that do have words on them. So I'd like to kind of use that as a, as a precedence, so to speak. Because how could you get the last one in then? Well, Meese Hospital because it was so small. Oh, okay. When we specifically did talk about that, that one, when we were on the phone with him, he, and he did say he would allow it. So, and then this one was definitely out, but we would love for it to be in. Yeah. Um, and this would be at 580 and Belcher. Uh, and that is it. And that is it. Okay. So we have questions, right? Questions. Uh, Commissioner Walker, we're going to start with you. Yeah. I guess, why is it that FDOT takes exception to the, the, the, the words? I, ironically, I think it's an issue of distraction. Hmm. Hmm. Um, which if you've ever driven 580 is fairly distracting without even. Yeah. This isn't going to make a difference right now. Um, so, uh, that was the, what was conveyed to us. Um, so, and again, we'll, you know, we'll, we'll push it as if, you know, if we can have it, especially if we can provide photos of what the rest of the area looks like and the other signage that, that it's adjacent, that it's certainly not going to be something that causes, you know, rubber necking, so to speak. One of the other issues that they had was not, they did not want faces. And because they'd had, uh, at the University of South Florida, the Florida Department of Transportation actually sponsored boxes on the property of USF with faces. We were able to, you know, bring attention to that. And then they said, oh, well, okay. And then also, uh, within the agreement is making sure that, um, we take, uh, precautions and adequate, um, maintenance, um, immediately if we see any graffiti. And certainly with the box, um, at the location of Patricia Avenue and Union, Union, Union, across from the middle school, that's been there for several months. And there's been absolutely no, um, graffiti of any kind. So we feel pretty confident that our community is going to respect each of the signal boxes. What's involved in putting these on the signal boxes? So, this, the images have been selected. And from there, I work with Jack, um, uh, Furry at Jack Signs to come up with a design for each of the boxes based upon the images. And then he produces those in a, like, a vinyl wrap, uh, a very high quality material that is then wrapped onto each of the signal boxes. It takes sometimes, in some cases, two, two and a half hours to wrap, sometimes less, depending on the, the size and shape and orientation of the box. I, I would assume that you really only have one chance to get it right. It sounds like a pretty... He's, he's, he's done them all. In the entire county and also in Hillsboro, he's done them all. Wow. Um, he's, he's quite proficient. Yeah, we, we... He's great, great. We didn't know that his sign business would become a signal box wrap business. Yeah, you never know what you're going to do. Oh, thank you. Okay. Commissioner Dugard? This is for 15 under this particular... This is for 12. 12? I'm sorry. We have four already that are placed. And we have two more that do not need to go through, um, the Florida Department of Transportation on Keene. And those are actually in process with Jack now. So what would that bring our total to? Because I know we have several already out there. This is a math quiz. It's a math quiz. It's a math quiz. So you've got 12 here and we have four plus two. Plus two. Okay. Okay. I don't need to... I don't use the new math yet. Stump, stump, stump the, the judging group here. Could you, could you do that again for me there, Elizabeth? What was that number? Well, if Les can't get it, we're in trouble. I think this is a great project. I think it really takes something that's much of an eyesore. But I'll get that into comments. I have no more questions. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you. Vice Mayor. It's a good thing there weren't any parentheses or exponents in that calculation. Because people on Facebook can't do Pemda. It's pretty funny. Do we have the dates the photographs were taken? Well, they're all between 70 to 100 years ago. That's generally... The idea was having archival photographs that are indicative and iconic images of Dunedin from that particular period of time. Wow. So the earliest picture was at least 70 years ago. Wow. More. Wow. That's so cool. More. Up to 100. That's so cool. And then on the website already is what is on their website are the four that are currently installed. And those have stories beside each one that the Dunedin History Museum helped to create those informational and descriptive narratives about each photo. And so while the pictures are 70 to 100 years old, the era in which they represent are within my lifetime. And for anybody who has moved here recently, I hope they can at least really, really appreciate the emotion that these pictures bring out. Just curious on the graffiti and FDOT's concern that we make sure that we maintain or remove any graffiti that shows up as a result of these pictures, are they equally concerned without the pictures? Or can we just have all the graffiti on these boxes we want unless we put a picture on it, they wrap it, and now all of a sudden we need to... I think the concern with the graffiti was when you have real live people being represented, like the children that were sitting under the tree sketching, that then you might have somebody who comes along and adds some accents to their faces. Very good. Very good. All right. Yeah, nothing further, Mayor. Okay. Commissioner Sandberg. So I know, Elizabeth, you started and Jeff added to it. So in the event of any vandalism, fading, storm damage, it's all ours? No. In fact, in St. Petersburg, when this program started with the artistic wraps, the canvases that artists have created and then it's wrapped, that's Clearwater does them, I think Safety Harbor may have some, and St. Petersburg certainly, those have lasted way longer than was expected. So they're actually protective of the boxes. So even out in the direct sun, I mean, I know all these locations, not a fading problem. I guess there's so much new construction, roads widening, but if something has to be moved, the whole box moves and the wrap moves with it, nothing to worry about there or worry about it when it happens, I guess? I mean, currently, I can't imagine that FDOT or anybody would want to have to deal with moving an entire signal box. That would require a lot of work. The one that is at the corner, obviously, where we have the skinner construction, we'll wait until that is all completely done before we would install that wrap. Good. That's all I have. Thanks, Mayor. So, since we're adding up numbers, so I see nine pictures for 10 signal boxes on 580? Yeah, my concern was the one at Belcher that that would be going away and finding suitable alternatives to place. Also, a little bit of leeway in reviewing this particular PDF again, the Alternate 19, which was an incredible inclusion. It's a fabulous inclusion because we would then have to go back again. So, the golf carts and the artists were originally on 580, and so those were pulled and placed on Alternate 19 so that we would have approvals for those. So, within all these photographs would remain the same, but might move, a couple of them might move in location, and then providing the Dunedin, Florida can stay with the fish, fishermen, which is, it's a really iconic photograph of Dunedin. The only thing that would change with that one is just removing the text, which we've already done. I've already had the photoshopping for the golf cart one that you saw. The Dunedin, Florida, that's gone away. And then, entirely, the small sign of Dunedin with the best water at Belcher, that would be replaced with another photo. So, it looks like maybe Pinehurst Road is the one that's missing. Say that again? Pinehurst Road may be the one that's not up there. We'll take, yeah, we'll take a look at it and make sure the package is complete, whether we need to, we had a few extra photos or not, I don't have them on this presentation, but when Elizabeth had originally kind of dug up a bunch of different options, I think we had some extras that were, that we were holding back on and can certainly take another look at those. So, that kind of goes to my next question, which, and I think you kind of, you were maybe going around that, but, like, how did the locations get picked? Like, because when I look at the golf carts, that makes sense at Palm Boulevard. You know, the boats, does that make sense at, what's, what's, Michigan or closer to the marina? I, you know, who, who, did the committee decide, hey, let's put these at different places? Originally, I curated all of the photos, selecting all of the photos, researching, and then having them photographed at high res, right, then place them at the location. So, for instance, on Patricia Avenue, the peacock, right, there was a peacock farm where our bowling alley is. And where, as going, going through this presentation, there were beehives along 580, I knew I wanted to represent that particular period of time. The pony farms, the horse farms, placing them where they occurred. So, are these reflective of where you think they all should be, or is that? Well, I think there's some, there's a little bit of shuffling to be done. For instance, the Alt-19 in Palm Boulevard, where the golf carts are, I think that should remain. The Alt-19 in Michigan, rather than the prams, it could either be the Little League photos that would be out on Keene, because it's closer to the ballpark, and then replacing the other one with the artist's photo, or placing the artist's photo there, because Dunedin Fine Arts Center is so close. We don't have an artist's photo in here, right? That's just another one you're talking about? I think the student, you're talking about the student artist. The student artist. The student artist. Oh, I see. Oh, yeah, okay. I got you. Right, and placing that there. So, there's representation, or giving a nod to those particular locations. Yeah, and that's kind of what I meant. Are they, yeah, are they synced up with, like, the logical location, because that sends its own message, too, so. Right. Yeah. Okay. So, that's something you guys will work on beyond this. Okay. Okay. So, and, Nicole, thank you, but you're our art expert. Do you feel good about this whole thing? The overall concept is pretty exciting, I think. Yeah. I think the ones we've done are fantastic already. Yeah. Okay. All right. Okay. So, let's see. We're going to open it to public input. Does anyone in the audience wish to come forward and speak on this item? Okay. Seeing no one, I'll close public input, and I will go to commission comments, and I will start with the maker of the motion, Commissioner Walker. Yeah, I love the project. I've gotten so many comments from both residents and some of our visitors during season, and it really kind of sets us apart. I think it's awesome. Great. And the seconder of the motion was Vice Mayor. Thank you, Mayor. You know, my wife and I were just driving down Patricia Avenue the other day, so this is very serendipity that we're talking about it tonight. And we had crossed Union coming into Dunedin, and we had just passed the Boeing alley, and all of a sudden, it's registering in her head that, oh, hey, did you see these boxes? So I had to turn the car around, and I went all the way back and talked about each one and why it was there and why it was chosen and what we're doing. And so the fact that we're here tonight, and she was extremely, she just thought it was a brilliant idea, and so it was just really cool. This is great. I think location is important. I think it is as simple as if you put the baseball out on 580 or Keene, the only comments we're going to get is, why is it there? Why isn't it on Alton and 19 and Michigan? And so which will take away from the beauty of the art and the fact that it's anywhere in the city, so I think location is important, because it also brings up the idea, because it's a discussion point, right? We're talking about peacocks and a peacock farm, and no way, yeah, way, and everything that happened throughout their history. And so, and it is, it's just a nod to yesteryear. And again, for everybody, and we all do, we all love Dunedin, and it's like, oh, if you would have grown up in this era, you know, just a cool time. Anyway, thank you, Mayor. Commissioner Sanborn. No, I appreciate making the streets look a little bit better. I'm not going to go on and say any more than that. Perfect. I love this. Thank you. Awesome. Commissioner Dugard. Our streets get us from one place to another, but now we've added art to that journey, and I think that's a great ad. And I had the pleasure not too long ago to go to a replica of the Chavez Caves, which is 35,000 years old, and the cavemen in that cave, and women, decided to put art on the wall. That art is phenomenal, because it represented everything about their lives that was important. We're doing a little bit of that here. I think it's great. Thank you. And, yeah, I mean, this project, early on, I didn't really want it, because we were going to do wraps like you see in every other community, which I thought some of those can really just actually add clutter. And I just think we turned this around, we're doing it the Dunedin way, and I love it. I think it's fantastic. And it just, you know, I haven't talked to anybody that didn't love it, you know, the ones that we've already had up there, and just the historical significance. I mean, it's just kind of the Dunedin way, and I just, I think it's great. So, thank you guys for the work on this, and, you know, so I will go to roll call vote. Commissioner Dugard. Aye. Commissioner Sandbergen. Aye. Vice Mayor Gow. Aye. Commissioner Walker. Aye. And Mayor Franey. Aye. And that motion passes unanimously. Okay. Thank you, ladies. Thank you. Okay. We're going to go to 3C, Resolution 25-20, authorizing execution of amendment number three to the loan agreement with the State Revolving Fund, the SRF, construction loan agreement WW-5202C1 for a one-year time extension with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for various wastewater projects. Jen, could you please read Resolution 25-20 by title only? Resolution 25-20, a resolution of the City of Dunedin, Florida relating to the State Revolving Fund Loan Program, making findings, amending the Resolution number 21-25, approving the form, and authorizing the execution of the Third Amendment to the loan agreement. That was Resolution 25-20, read by title only. Thank you, Jen. And could I have a motion to adopt Resolution 25-20? So moved. Second. I think I have. Definitely. Commissioner Dugard. And Commissioner Walker, you might have been second? No, I think Commissioner Sandbergen. I'll take it. All right, Commissioner Sandbergen, I'll go with that. Okay, so we have staff presentation, Clay and Les, or Clay and Nan. Okay, there you go. Okay, I'll take that too. I think that's good. All right, that's left. Yeah, he did his part now. He'll be back. He's out of here. He'll be back. He'll be back. He's got to get a good night's sleep, right, for tomorrow? He still has to do the ACFER. Oh, oh, oh, yeah, that's right. Okay, there you go. Anyway, Clay and Nan. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Commission, Clayton Watkins, Utilities and Engineering. Also with me today is Nan Bennett, our Utilities Operations Manager. Item 3C is Resolution 2520, Authorizing the Execution of Amendment 3 to the State Revolving Fund SRF Loan with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, FDEP. Excuse me. This amendment, Amendment 3, is a one-year extension to the agreement. One year, unfortunately, is the maximum amount we can extend the loan at a time. Or excuse me, the agreement. This, excuse me, the SRF loan was originally adopted by the commission in June of 2021 for an amount of $15.5 million. Amendment 1 was in September of 2023, which added $7.6 million. And then Amendment 2 was April of 2024, which changed the oversight and monitoring of the loan to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. This $23 million SRF loan helps fund the recently awarded wastewater treatment plant electrical upgrade, the wastewater treatment SCADA upgrade that was awarded in July of 2024, 2024, and also the citywide lift station electrical and SCADA upgrade that was awarded in April of 2022. And as a part of that electric station upgrade, the electrical components and the SCADA system and the systems on our lift stations that are in vulnerable areas, we are lifting those above the FEMA 100-year flood elevation. And with that, that is all that I have for you today. If you have any questions, we're here for any answers. Okay. Nan, are you looking rested there? Aren't you back from a, yeah, I thought so. You look refreshed, ready to go, girl. Okay. Anyway, do you have anything else to add before I go to questions? The stress is off. You do look rested. Okay. Questions. Let's see. Well, he doesn't look so good. I think I'll start with you, by the way. It's not been a good day. Thank you, Mayor. Clay, this is a one-time extension. It's a time extension to do what? What's the expectation that gets done in the next year? So all of the construction projects that I mentioned to you in there, the lift station, electrical upgrade, the SCADA, and the lift station, all of that, this will actually, we'll be in front of you two more times for this same one-year extension. We're only allowed to extend it 24 months, or excuse me, 12 months at a time. So we're giving the maximum amount. We'll be back again in front of you probably in April to ask for another year, because we're expecting the wastewater treatment electrical to go about three years. It was a 30-month process. And so the max one year is one year at a time? Yes, correct. Unfortunately, we have to do it one year at a time. All right. And it's going to be about three years. Is that the fastest we can do that? Or is this just a matter of this is how long it takes? Or are there other problems that we're having? No, this is, now that we've got the, literally the end of this project, the last project on this list will be the wastewater treatment electrical. It was just awarded, I think, the last two meetings ago. And so once we get going, we probably really aren't going to see real hardcore construction until the beginning of this year. So it'll be 30 months from that. So we'll have to keep extending. And if things arrive that we need other things, we could attempt to try to, you know, add more funding and more time to it later down the road also. Because we are getting a pretty phenomenal rate on this. Thank you. That's all. Mr. Sandberg? So then the terms and conditions all stay the same? They did add a couple of conditions to the agreement. One was regarding some telecommunications, which does not affect any of the SCADA stuff because we do operate on a cellular note. And there was another one, I think, that we made sure that we have to follow the Civil Rights Agreement from the 1960s, which we are. So that was the only other terms that were added to this agreement. That was a great answer. Thank you, Mayor. I'm good. Commissioner Walker? Yeah, and I just, just to confirm, really, I think I know the answer to this. But this state revolving fund is at a very low interest rate to us. Yes. The first $15 million is actually at 0%, and the second $7.6 million-ish, plus or minus, is at 0.4%. Doesn't get much lower than that. Thank you. Sure doesn't. Okay. Commissioner Dugard. Can they help me finance my next car? I have the same, yeah. This would be nice, wouldn't it? We should ask for more money and put it in the bank and make a buck or two. So, we will continue to seek extensions in the future? Yes. And we expect at least two more, maybe three? Yes, at least two more. There's a possibility there'll be a third, yes. Okay. Once we're through the extension period, what is our repayment cycle on this? So, we have a, was it? It's 20 years. It's a 20-year term. And I believe, I've re-readed this today, I believe it's two payments a year for 20 years. Okay. All right. I have no further questions. Great job. Okay. And I don't have any questions. I will open it to public input if anybody in the audience wishes to come forward to speak on this issue. Seeing no one, I'll close public input, and I will go to Commission comments, starting with Commissioner Dugard. This is part of our infrastructure approach on Dunedin, and it is critical. I think that what we're doing here is exactly right. First of all, we're being good stewards of our taxpayers' money with such an interest rate, and improving our wastewater treatment is critical for us in the near term. Just find us more recycled water during the dry season. That's all I have. Okay. Commissioner Sandbergen? I have nothing else, Mayor. Okay. Vice Mayor? It really is all about the infrastructure, and it's the basic reason we exist, and the idea that we keep it maintained is critical. Commissioner Walker? No additional comments. Thank you. Yep. We've got to do the infrastructure, and this is a great way to do it, so no other comments than that. So I will go to roll call vote. Commissioner Walker? Aye. Vice Mayor Gao? Aye. Commissioner Sandbergen? Aye. Commissioner Dugard? Aye. Mayor Franey? Aye. And that motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Well, I'm glad we at least got one or two questions to Nan, so that was good. But, Clay, thank you very much. It wasn't enough to take the smile off her face. No, it was not. Let's hope that stays there. Okay, 3E, award of bid number 25-2523, Marina East Wall Replacement and North Wall Repair to BDI Marine Contractors, LLC, BDI of Hobe Sound, Florida, in the amount of $3,047,451. And, let's see, somebody we haven't seen tonight. It's Clay. Yeah, staff presentation. And, Lori. Okay. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Commission. Clayton Watkins, Utilities and Engineering. And also with me is Lori Ferguson. Our Harbor Master. Online, we should have Timothy VanderWalker, our Project Manager with Tetra Tech, and Casey Long, our Design Engineer with Kimley Horn. Item 3E is the award of bid number 25-2523, excuse me, for the Marina East Wall Replacement and North Wall Repair to BDI Marine Contractors, LLC, of Hobe Sound, Florida, in the amount of $3,047,451. This project was competitively bid with two bids received on the June 24th bidding deadline. The bids were in a range between $3,047,451 and $4,628,520, excuse me. City staff has reviewed all the bids and determined that the lowest responsive bidder was BDI Marine Contractors, LLC, of Hobe Sound, Florida, with a bid amount of $3,047,451, excuse me, $3,047,451, which met the requirements, the minimum requirements of the bid specifications. Staff has subsequently checked the company's references and received satisfactory feedback. Construction is anticipated to start as soon as possible. We will probably reach out to them tomorrow to see when we can start moving with the hopes to have construction started in late August, with a substantial completion 150 days after the NTP. As such, staff hereby recommends award of bid 25-25-23 to BDI Marine Contractors, LLC, of Hobe Sound, Florida, in the amount of $3,047,451, as detailed herein, and we are here to answer any questions. Okay, questions. We'll start with Commissioner Walker. So, I noticed that BDI is a small business, and I'm just curious as to the methodology of how their proposed approach. So, I was- Because there's a few different ways to do this, and you can keep it at eye level. I'm just curious. Correct. We're not allowed to have- I've not been able to have a conversation- I can't have a conversation with them until after you approve this, so I'm not sure how they plan on actually approaching the construction, and now I know we have- we've set a phase that we would like- a phasing plan we would like them to follow. So, they've- so basically all we can- all we do is once we've received the quotes is in the bid package there, they give us projects that we should reference, so we've reached out to all of the municipalities that they have done work with and have received excellent recommendations. So, unless we find something that they did wrong, I really can't sort of reject the bid. Yeah, and I- I'm not- yeah, and I said- I'm not using the small business in any derogatory fashion. I- I- I think it- you know, I'm a big proponent of small business. What other municipalities have they- Some of the work they've done. One of them we specifically sort of checked on because they were doing work- a very similar project in the city of Green Acres, and we reached out to- they have a consultant engineering doing some of their- their- their city engineer is a consulting- consulting engineering firm, so we reached out there and they were very satisfied with their- the way that they responded to RFIs and then their approach to making- solving issues and problems as the- as they arose to the project. No further questions? Okay, uh, Commissioner Degard. Thank you, Mayor. Um, a couple things. Uh, first of all, this was underneath what we had budgeted by a significant amount. Yeah, our original- our estimate for this was 3.5 million. 3.5. Um, I think one of the most, um, important aspects of this is completion on time or before time. Can you give me any information about this, uh, provider on that particular issue, on time? The- the- all we have is that in the- you know, we asked the question in the bidding package that if they can meet our- our schedule that we're requiring in the 150 days, and they said they can. Okay. I think that's fantastic. Um, and if they don't, is there any provisions for penalties? We do have, um, we do have- why can I not think of the word name? Um, yes, we do have liquidated images in our contract. I don't remember the exact number we put in here. I'm just glad we have that because that makes it more important for them to get it in on time. I have no more questions, Mayor. Okay. Vice Mayor. Uh, thank you, Mayor. Um, 150 days to complete, and we're anticipating starting in August? That's the goal, yes. That's the goal. Is- how hard is that goal? Or is that- So the- that goal is, it's- we're pushing the limits. I was- I'm- and I thought I was- we were pushing the limits to be sitting here today. Um, so we're- we're hoping we can stay on track that we've planned. Um, it's going to be- it's going to be tough, but a lot of the reason we phased the project the way we did is a lot of the long lead items are in outer phases, so we can get them to come start working on the north wall that doesn't require getting the piling and that lead time. So while they're- they can get those ordered, work on phase one of the project on the north wall while they're still in production for the piling to- to build the seawall on phase two. Okay. And so working on the north wall is part of this- part of this bid? Correct. Okay. Very good. And at- at the end, when it's all done, is FEMA involved in this? Is this is all FEMA reimbursable? Yes, we are hoping so. We're- we're- that is our intent, yes. That's the intent. That's the intent. I don't want to use the word hope. That is the intent. All right. And I- well, I think it's important that the public understand that our goal is just not to be our money, but to be the state's money. Um, that's all that I have. Thank you. FED's money? FED's money? FED's money. Yeah. Good. Which is our money, but it spreads a little thing. Yeah, that's true. Commissioner Sandberger, questions? What we're- you know, what we're about to start on here, I'm going to- I kind of go along with what Rob said, I'm a proponent of a small business, but this isn't really a small project. Is there any alternative materials to construct that wall other than concrete? Is there anything today more resilient? So the actual proposed design on the eastern wall is a steel- we'll drive steel pilings down, and then they'll have the- there's a concrete coating over the front to help protect- it'll go down to the sea level, so help against corrosion. It will need to be coated also. It is coated steel. Okay, so that $1.1 million in steel- Yes, that's that number. Okay, that'll stay, and then that will be some- concrete, or what will be applied to that? I missed what you said. So the design- the steel is coated. Okay. And then the cap is designed where- today you just sort of see that square cap on the top. Okay. This one is designed to sort of- it extends down below- around the sea level, excuse me, mean tide that level. I can never get that right. I'm sorry. So it helps against- as the waves get action and such. And going forward, will there be any change in the depth that this wall versus what was already there? I'm trying to think of when the next storm comes through. So this wall will be six- it'll only be six inches higher. We sort of have- and it'll be about a foot to 18 inches seaward just to try to work around the existing seawall when we- to try to drive the pile in front of where the existing seawall is. We sort of had to keep that same footprint a little bit with the FEMA regulations. The six inches will actually help us get the sidewalk- how it happened today is sort of that little roller coaster. This will be- it'll be flat and it'll slope away from the seawall and you'll have a curb and gutter on the parking spaces on that side and we'll have- that way we collect the rainwater with the drainage with some catch basins and some pipes, not to have that sort of sea- that wall water- wall of water running over it like we did and still the rest of the old design has. Okay. Oh, yes. Thank you. And then, yes, thank you, Jorge. The steel is driven to refusal in bedrock so that we- it's- it's- it has a small tieback, but generally speaking, that's- that's the structure. And was our project manager comfortable with all of this? Yes. Do you have any ideas or suggestions? Tim- Tim should be there. He's one of the people who, unfortunately, have my name out there. Yes, I'm here. This is Tim VanderWalker with Tetra Tech. We've had regular meetings with Kim Lee Horne, the design engineer, to go over the alternatives available and how to approach it in the best way. And we are comfortable with- with what's being proposed and- and the intent of the design. Okay. Okay. In the bid, I- I guess there's a couple of things I just- there's maybe more clarification, but I'll make it into a question. So, you know, they're talking about traffic. Was that something that the city staff will- I'm assuming that's the daily traffic in and out the restaurants. Is that- will that be up to us to control or will the contractor control that? The contractor control that. And a lot of that sort of maintenance of traffic in this is more maintenance of pedestrian because we are intending to leave a walkway for the- the boat slip renters to be able to get into the slips. Okay. We're going to keep that in operation unless they're right- working right where that area is. So, a lot of that is more of the barricades and stuff to allow everybody to have accessibility to that. In this questionnaire, it indicated no subcontracted labor, but yet they're going to do work on curbing's, sidewalks, and trees. So, first of all, did he consult with the Dunedin Arborist? And secondly, his crew with no subcontractors is able to do the asphalt, the curbing, the tree removal, the tree trimming? I mean, are we comfortable with that? That is what they are saying, yes. And as for- You've read it then, yeah. And as for- I've had conversations with Rick about what- the city arborist about what we should do with those trees. He is very much in the order of, you know, if you can save them, that's great. If they're- if you're- we- the plan is if they can take them, put them in some place and relocate them, and we can put them back, that's great, if not new trees. So, we sort of gave the option and the cost, and Rick is very much- whichever one is going to be fine with him. You know, that's- I'm not- I'm not going to go on all night, but- so will the concrete wall- will that come out, what's currently there and damaged? Yes. Can that be recycled? They will- yes, there will probably be some- I mean, the contractor's responsible for hauling it away, and they probably very well will send it somewhere to be recycled. We've heard a few comments tonight about- I can never say the word right- gabions? Did I say that right? Gabions, yes. Gabions, correct. Gabions. So, that concrete that's being removed and crushed, is there any spot in Dunedin we could move that to- to use? I think the- the way that we have the contract written, a lot of it is they're- we're giving them the- they're taking the material away. Okay. Okay. And lastly, when I was looking at their schedule of equipment, they have a 100-ton crane, an excavator, and a backhoe. I just did that off the top of my head, so I probably missed something. Which one of those pieces of equipment is going to drive that sheet metal into the bedrock? Which one was it? You said the crane? The crane will probably- it depends, because there's multiple- there's multiple ways to drive the- Okay. To drive those, you can sort of hammer them in, as you might have heard the driving of the neighbor, the Hedgewater Arms, all last week, so you- so you could sort of- you can use a crane that will pick it up and drop it. There are ways to do it mounted to other machinery that sort of vibrate it down. Okay. There's- there are several ways to install these. Okay. And this is my last one, I promise. You did. This wasn't from me. I wish I could. This came from somebody I know. Why on day one didn't we just build a coffer dam at the entry, drain it, dredge it, fix it, and let the water back in? I don't- the problem would be is we can't do- I don't think city staff has the ability to do that type of work, so we need to then- if we're going to bid something out, we have to have a design for it. The whole process has to be followed. Does that make sense, what I said to you guys? Yeah. Damn it? Damn it up, I should say. And we want- Drain the water and fix everything at once. And that's sort of what we're doing, but the problem is, especially when it comes to the FEMA reimbursement, we need to follow state regulations when it comes to the whole bidding process and all that fun stuff. I thought it was a great question. Well, we also have to get a permit from Pinellas County for their water and navigation permit also. Okay. So, yes. Wow, that's it, Mayor. I've been waiting all night for that. Thank you. Was that a Wednesday afternoon discussion, or- No, I mean, interesting questions. I mean, it is. I mean, everybody's- yeah, so that's good. So, again, you're confident that the projects that this small business has done is comparable? They're up to it. There is a- yes. One of their- there was three projects, one of them very much specifically. They're similar, but one is very simply, like, it's pretty much what we're doing. So, we feel confident. Okay. And then, and then again, so 150 days, does that mean, worst case, February 1st, it's done? Yes. Okay. Okay. I'm- we're- we're- we're hoping, yes. Okay. Yeah, there is- I mean, weather permitting, we, you know. Yeah. And how does that fit within the scheme of our overall timeline? I mean, is it- are we on track with what we told people? I believe we're very close. August was the start date. August was the start date, and we had finished the construction the first part of the year. So, yes, they- this actually was the meeting that I had always hoped that we would have this on, so. Yeah. We're- we're still staying on track. And I know the pedestals are in, so- They're shipped today. They're shipped. Yes. They're shipped, so those should be- you know, we- I think we said the end of the month, right, by the end of July? Yes, those were shipped today, and I- But we'd have them up by the end of July, right? They take two to three days to get here, work days. So, we're hoping for Monday or Tuesday to arrive at Buell Electric. He's putting the team together already to come in and bring the pedestals. He's got to unbolt them. We've got 17 pallets coming. You've got to get them all unbolted from the pallets, get them put together, and he's going to start bringing them over and installing them. My intention, depending on how they unpack them, is to do the biggest boats first, all the way down to the smallest boats, for reasons that the bigger boats need the power now, as fast as possible. So, in the meantime, they're going to have a crew that's going to relocate the power panel from the pier and put it onto the sailing center slash pram shed. And so, that's going to power up that side of the marina. That one was destroyed in the storm. Okay. Okay. So, yeah, we are- we're moving along. Great. Well, my kitchen just got put in today, so- and the appliances aren't in yet, so we're- you know, we're moving. You know, okay, so I think Commissioner Degard had an additional question. Thank you, Mayor. As I recall, our original east wall required a positive pressure in order to keep its integrity, and that part of the reasons the wall collapsed the way it did is because we had such an evacuation of water that that pressure ceased to exist. I want to be sure our new east wall doesn't have that requirement of structural integrity. Yes, the way this one is designed is sort of what we refer to as a cantilevered steel piling. So, that steel piling is driven down into the bedrock to refusal, and then there is a little bit of a- it's a- I forget the name of the actual anchor that sort of sits a little lower that they tie in, but it's not the same system where we rely on a deadman or an anchor that's set behind it- behind this thing to help with- oh, excuse me- to help keep the- the top of the wall sort of from- from tipping over. I think, you know, and so the idea is that it's built to restain what's behind it, not with the help from what's in front of it. Got it. Thank you very much. Everybody else good? Okay. Okay, so I need a motion. So moved. Second. Okay, so Commissioner Walker, Commissioner Dugard. Okay, so we'll go to Commission comments, and I will start with Commissioner Walker, maker of the motion. Yeah, well, I'm really happy that you brought this forward at this particular time, because yes, starting in August was the date that we committed to in February, and I'm also very happy by virtue of the fact that the bid came in a half a million dollars less than what what we budgeted for, and as for the timeline, you know, there were- there were several dates put out on February 25th, I believe, and for the most part, we- we are on track on all those dates, and, you know, I've been- I've been tracking, and the- the only outlier was the pedestals, but we're on- we got a beat on that, too, so- so far, so good. Thank you. Commissioner Dugard, seconder of the motion. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I'm- I'm excited about where we are. I was really seeing the calendar being awfully ambitious, and, um, it's incredible that we're on track. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Congratulations to you and your team. Vice Mayor? Uh, on time, under budget. No, it's- yeah, you can't ask for more. And- and especially being on time, under budget is absolutely wonderful. We'll take it when we can get it. Uh, but there are so many people that are just waiting for this to be done, and the fact that we're- we're- we're showing them the timeline that we set up, and that we're sticking to the timeline, it is achievable. Uh, and, uh, so thank you. Thank you for working as hard as you are. Great. Uh-huh. Mr. Sandberg. I really wish that, um, we'd have had a representative from that company. You know, it's three million- three million dollars. It's not exactly like, you know, asking him to come out and paint the inside of the building here. Um, I mean, I don't want to- I don't want to be a speed bump in the middle of getting this done. Did the guy ever offer to come and do a presentation about his company? We are not allowed- I am- purchasing is, but I am not allowed to have any conversation with them until you approve their- their- their- their- approve their contract. I'm going to come in silence until- until the- till you say yes. I mean, I don't want to be the one that holds up the marina, but I- I'm- I'm skeptical. Very skeptical of this. I- I'm gonna try- I'm trying to get by it, but, uh, that's- I'll just leave it at that for right now. Okay. Um, anyway, uh, my final comments are just, uh, again, I'm glad we're where we are. I mean, I kiddingly said that about my kitchen today, but, you know, you go on my street, you know, one of the, you know, three or four subdivisions that got hit worse with the storm, um, just got back in my house, and many people are not back in their house, in their building, or it's turning over, or it's been torn down, waiting to get lifted. So I think that we're doing good, and I think it's, you know, it- it- it- it- it- it- was complicated, um, and I think we got it on track, and now we're living up to what we're telling people, and I think that's good. So I appreciate the work on that, I really do. And, um, okay, so, uh, let's see. So we have the maker of the motion, the seconder, so I can do a voice vote- vote. All in- sorry. I'm sorry, what? Public input. Oh, sorry, here we go. Public input. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to come forward and, uh, speak on this issue? Okay, seeing no one, I will close public input. And now, I will go to all in favor. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? And, uh, motion passes unanimously. Aye. I hadn't voted. Oh. I'm sorry. Okay. That was a slow- that was a slow yes. There you go. That's why you do a zero nay. There you go. I'm going to pause for nays in the future, right? That's right. Mayor- Mayor- Can you record the struggle? I know. Just really quickly. Yeah, because, um, this has been a- It was a heavy lift, um, to- to get this item to you today. It really was. So, and- and, you know, I'm grateful to staff, uh, purchasing clay, um, and- and Lori, who- and I don't often have her here, uh, but, I mean, we're getting the slip-renter agreements at, you know, 12 o'clock at night. The minute they're on her desk, she compiles the whole thing and sends it on. I'm really, really working hard to get the marina open and operational. Um, she's- she's, you know, out in the field, uh, sweating away. On a weekend, I'll drive through and- in my, you know, in my golf cart and she's there and, you know, she's just doing a super job. So, I just wanted to acknowledge that while she's here. That's great. And it is- it is complicated because, you know, city staff has lots of pressures in a lot of different areas. So, um, so we appreciate it. We really do. Thank you. Okay. Um, all right. We can move on with that. After the hesitant. Yes. Okay. You can go now. All right. Um, so we're going to go to the, uh, fiscal year 2024. I don't know how to say that. ACFR and audited financial statements. What's the acronym say now? ACFER. Okay. ACFER. I got to use that new one because they just switched it around. So, okay. So, we're going to go to that and we're going to go to staff presentation. So, Les, I'll let you kick it off. Great. Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners, Les Tyler, the finance director. I just want to make a few general comments and I'll turn it over to Jeff. Uh, happy to be representing our ACFER, which is our audited financial statements for 2024. I'd like to recognize the finance team that worked on this document and the primary person is, uh, Tanya Duffy. She's our accounting manager. She's been with us for two years and done a great job, uh, uh, taking care of that division. Also, Vicki Pickrell, our senior accountant, uh, also worked on this document as well. And they're not here tonight, but I wanted to recognize them. Uh, it's a very large document, financial document, and this shows our position at the end of September 30th, 2024. We have Jeff Wolf with the audit firm who's going to present the audit and I'll turn it over to Jeff. Hi, Jeff. Good evening. Jeff, did you press the button on your microphone? Is it green? Okay. Thank you. I'll just repeat that again. Thank you. Thank you again for allowing us to serve you. Thank you. So that, um, first you should have a handout required communication letter. Um, auditing standards, governing auditing standards requires us to communicate certain things of governance, which would be yourself as the board. Um, I'll briefly just kind of touch on, walk through the letter, but I mean, it can be kind of standard driven, so I won't spend too much time on it. But first, you know, it kind of just, it goes over our responsibilities, which our main responsibility is to perform an audit in accordance with, uh, the applicable standards to render opinion on, on whether your financial statements are materially correct. Um, as, as Les mentioned, it is a very large document and that is management's document. They are responsible for preparing the ACFER and making sure controls are in place that those, uh, those amounts that are, are reasonably correct. Um, we, we, we do, uh, evaluate internal controls over financial reporting and compliance. Um, it's not to render an opinion. We don't render an opinion on controls, but, um, we do help it. We do do it to, um, um, assist with planning our audit, meaning, you know, if we, if we were looking at payroll and we, we saw issues of internal control, that would impact how we audit, you know, that area. Um, I'm happy to report there's no unusual accounting policies, no unusual transactions that didn't meet, uh, accordance with GAAP. Um, no difficulties at all with during the audit. Um, Les team is, is, is great to work with and always very responsive. Um, we had no audit adjustments during, during the process. And I think that's always important to note because I'm sure you're always, you know, requesting financial information. So you can kind of take some comfort that, you know, you are getting reliable information when you get that. Um, so again, you get, you know, no difficulties. And, and, um, with that, I'll go right into the deliverables. Um, first is our independent auditors report. Um, that is our report, whether your financial statements were materially correct. Um, we had an unmodified opinion. Um, I know that doesn't sound anything spectacular, but that is the highest level of assurance you can receive that your financial statements are materially correct. Um, the next report is our report, report on internal control over financial reporting and compliance. Um, again, there's not an opinion, but if we had a material weakness in controls or significant deficiencies, we would note that in this report. Um, again, no findings, no issues noted in that report. Um, our next is our single audit reports. Um, this year you met both the state and federal single audit threshold, meaning you had $750,000 in federal awards, $750,000 state. Um, the federal award was, was again, once again, the ARPA funds that was audited as a major program. And your, your, your state program actually was just a, a reimbursement from expenditures two years ago for the, the property purchase. So it was really just a grant came through and you got reimbursed, but, um, no issues on compliance or controls as it relates to your single audit. So again, that's, that, that's a clean report. Um, our next report is our independent accounts report on compliance with Florida statutes as it relates to investments. Also, we would just look at your investments, make sure you're following your policy, your diversification. And again, um, no findings, no issues noted with that report. Um, lastly is the auditor general, uh, required management letter. And this letter really does a lot of things. Um, it's kind of almost turned into any, um, item that Tallahassee kind of wants information on the city. They, they stick it in there and require, uh, us to report on it. So if there's any financial emergency, um, any, um, deteriorating financial condition, we would note that and report, um, obviously there's no issues here at, at Dunedin. Um, there's some, some, some new disclosure. Uh, if, if, if you were involved, if the county, any, any, any, um, if the PACE program was involved in the county, um, that's a new disclosure that that's, that's not part of Pinellas County. Um, if, and we had any other communications we felt necessary, we would include in that, this letter. Um, but again, uh, nothing additional to add, um, to report in the management letter. So briefly, I'll just hit some, some, um, high level financial information. First, this is a citywide analysis, meaning full, cruel, long-term assets, long-term liabilities, probably not what you're used to seeing as you're going through the budget process that are more of the fund level statements, broken down into two, the government activities, which, you know, think that's your, your police, your fire, your, you know, where your taxes go, um, parks, rec, um, and then your business type, which is, which is really supported by your user fees. Um, you can see, I think the net position that you're positive in all categories. Um, not every municipality can say that. Um, so that means your, your long-term liabilities aren't, aren't weighing down the city, your pension liabilities, your OPEB liabilities, and ultimately your, your current ratio of, of both are strong, you know, so your ability to meet your current liabilities with your current assets, with the government activities being 5.5 and your business type being 3.5. So from an NTU wide, as if the city was a business, um, you know, they're pretty strong financial condition. So onto numbers probably you're more used to seeing the, the general fund, which is obviously your main operating fund, um, comparison current year to this year. And I, I, I, the number I'll go down to is your assigned, unassigned fund balance as a total of, uh, total expenditures and other financing uses. This is really your ability, your reserves. Um, I was listening to your, your, your meeting earlier, and I know during the budget, there was some talk about reserves. Now we include assigned just because assigned is, is, can be re, reappropriated. I mean, it has a specific use, so that why, you know, you're seeing a number higher than probably what you were told earlier. Um, so if you take out that assigned fund balance, you're more at like 30%, um, a good strong number. I mean, I remember five, six years ago where it was 15% and it was pretty thin and I, I, I wouldn't want to be in the position, you know, with the hurricanes, um, being that low. So I think you should be really proud of where that fund balance is, um, you know, at that 30%. And I, I will say part of that though, is also some ARPA funds that, you know, were spent on public safety helped that number. So, you know, you may see that number really dropped more down to the 25% or lower as you, as you're accustomed to seeing, but, um, but overall still a very strong financial position. Well, lastly, just on some general fund budget, um, just some comparisons, uh, your revenue came in about 1.6 million higher compared to your final budget. Um, half of that was, um, due to the investment returns, which is kind of common. You, you, you tend to be conservative on your investment returns. So that came in higher and then the other, uh, another big portion was your parks and rec, uh, charges for service came in, uh, higher than budget. And then, um, on the expenditure side, you came in 6.1 below budget and actually half of that was, uh, parks and rec. So I will say maybe that was your retired, uh, parks and recs director giving one last gift to the city. Um, I usually don't say parks and rec is driving the, the increase in budget and being below. So maybe that was Vince, just one last thank you. Um, so overall, he had a positive, uh, variance compared to the budget of 7.7 million. Um, so I think, you know, overall the takeaway, um, you know, it was a, a, a strong clean audit and, um, you know, the city again remains in strong financial position, but I'd be more than happy. I know that was brief, but more than happy to answer any questions you have. Okay. Questions? I'll start with vice mayor this time. All right. Thank you, mayor. Yeah. The only real, excuse me, the other real question I have is, uh, the current ratios of 5.5 and 3.5. Where does that sit in the industry? I mean, it's like, you know, with your positive, with, with not having your big drag on some of your pension liabilities that your, your pension plan, pension plan is well funded. And also you don't have, uh, the multiple pension plans. It's, uh, your, your government side is definitely very strong. Um, it's actually, typically we see the business type activities being a little bit higher. Um, but, you know, so I think business type, you're probably maybe slightly under, you know, what, what others, but, but in a, in a very comparable range. And I think your governmental activity is, is, is, is very strong again, you know, with, um, you know, just at 5.5 is pretty strong. Okay. Thank you. That's all that I have. Great. Uh, commissioner Sandbergen. No, you went through that so quick, um, and so positive. Any changes, any improvements, anything you could suggest to us that we could do to improve ourselves? Well, I mean, I think, you know, I've, um, the, I, I think important, you know, the, the hurricanes obviously was a big impact to the, to the audit, but I, I think, um, you know, just to maybe help with the timing of coming a little bit sooner is, um, you know, the, the preparation of, of the ACFA is a really, really large process. And I know that's always been a real tough thing for that, for that position, for that, for, for, for Tanya, your accounting manager. So, um, I, I would consider possibly looking to, um, you know, right now it's just, you know, it's an Excel word file, you know, potentially, um, looking to outsource that. So maybe, you know, we could, um, you know, alleviate that stress on that position and also maybe, you know, you know, probably be back to being, you know, reporting to you in, in April, from March or April. Nothing else, Mayor. Good question. Good answer, too. Um, okay. Commissioner Walker. I, uh, I really don't have any questions. Uh, Commissioner Degard. Best summary of 212 pages I ever heard. That's right. Um, I have a question. We've just recently experienced a, um, situation where fraud, uh, became an issue in this body. I, I'm convinced that our staff did all they could, but I want to be sure our checks and balances, and I know this is not in the period, but nonetheless, it is important for us to have a discussion about what you found in checks and balances and whether you think that's getting strong enough. Yeah, um, you know, obviously I'm aware of it, and I know it's a very sensitive issue, ongoing, um, issue. Um, I, I have looked at the, the additional procedures. Um, I, I think they're definitely stronger. I, I did make a recommendation to, to strengthen those, and I, I, I believe, uh, you're looking into with the software vendor about adding that additional, um, strength, and then part of, obviously, our, our 25, uh, audit, we will, we will be doing a deeper dive in that area. I have no more questions. Thank you, Mayor. Great. Okay. Um, I don't have any additional questions, um, so I'm going to open it up for public input. Anyone in the audience wish to come forward and speak on this issue? Um, seeing no one, I will close public input. I will ask for a motion to approve. So moved. Second. Okay. Vice Mayor and Commissioner Walker. Okay. And then we'll go to commission comments, and I will start with Vice Mayor. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, I live and breathe this every day. So, uh, Vince, or I'm, I'm sorry. Les, thank you very much for, I know the time, the effort. I know what it takes to put this book together. Uh, and all this is just a culmination of what you do during the year. So, so thank you for what you do. Um, I'm also kind of convinced that, uh, the business activities in that ratio of 3.5 doesn't help justify the need to increase utility rates. And where we're focused on, um, what we want to do with our water and wastewater. Uh, so it's nice that it's kind of reflected here in, in another form. Uh, but, but well done. And Jeff, thank you very much. Appreciate what you do. Okay, Commissioner Sandberg. Oh, I'm sorry. Actually, the seconder is Commissioner Walker. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, only, only comment I have is, is, you know, I look at the current ratio of the 5.5, 3.5. Those are strong numbers and, um, that again, testament to the job that you do and good job. Commissioner Sandberg. I'm just, boy, I'm having a good night. Commissioner Dugard, I need to go home. I can't come up with a, I can't come up with a good question as Commissioner Sandberg has. Yeah, I, I, obviously. And by the way, he comes off the wall with some things. I'm amazed. It's good stuff. Okay, we're going to wash this this night down here. And I just found out he gets outside help, which, uh, yeah. Commissioner Dugard. All right, thank you, Mayor. Um, yeah, I, I have nothing but compliments for both the work of our, um, audit firm and our staff. Um, I want to get into not only his professional skills, but also his gift at working with, uh, people. If you've ever been in a meeting with Les and someone throws a question at him, you'll always hear these words come right out of his mouth, that's a good question. I don't care what it is. And he just pulls on the question and takes it to a place that it needed to be rested. And so I'm impressed with your leadership as well as your skill with accounting. Thank you so much for what you do. That's all I have. So I really should say Commissioner Dugard. No, just Commissioner Sandberg. No, just thank you, Les, for everything you do. Thanks for the city. And Jeff, nice to meet you, man. And thank you for what you're doing for the city. That's all, Mayor. Great. Um, so I like the issue of the timing, trying to get it sooner, but I know the staff's had a lot going on. And, uh, and obviously strengthening every way, getting every piece of advice to strengthen us against fraud is, is really important. So, um, but I am going to tack on to, um, because I was just saying this at the luncheon with another community the other day. I was saying it to their town manager as I was sitting there and I said, oh, Les, I mean, we've got a great finance director and, um, and I'll be honest, I actually said to him, if you're leaving, I'm not running for mayor. So, but he said, I'm not leaving. But I mean, I, I honestly mean this. I mean, and you know, not to upset anybody who's been finance director here before, but I consider, you know, I've seen a lot of finance directors, you know, I just have so much faith in you. You're just one of the best finance directors I've ever seen. And it's because you're very objective and you don't have an agenda. And I think that's how finance board got turned around. I think the credibility of you and, and, and your skill set. So, um, I really do appreciate all you do. And thank you, Jeff, of course. Appreciate it. You got to keep modest still though. You're not honest, but you know, keep mine to ask, but he's, he's, he's, uh, we're lucky to have you, Les. So, okay. So, uh, we're going to go to voice vote. Uh, all in favor. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Just, just checking this time. Okay. And motion passes unanimously. Okay. All right. Uh, thank you. Okay. I would give Les a little love, but I don't think that's necessary at this point. Yeah, no, he's gotten a lot of love. Yeah. Yeah. He's had his five minute break. That's it. That's it. Yeah. Okay. We are going to go to, let me just get my agenda pulled back up here, guys. Okay. So we now have, I guess, a start item, which is the proposed agenda for the August 5th, 2025 workshop. And, um, is anybody have any additions? Well, first of all, we have to vote on the start item. So, do I have a motion to approve start item? So moved. Second. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Okay. Motion passes unanimously. So now to the item. August 5th workshop proposed agenda. Uh, any comments, additions, deletions? Are we good with that? Okay. If we're good, then I just need a motion to approve. So moved. Second. Okay. And all in favor? Aye. Aye. And any opposed? And that motion passes unanimously. Okay. And then we go to 3-8th, proposed agenda for the August 7th, 2025 commission meeting, which I think is, uh, spiraling up to be quite potentially a long meeting. Um, anything that we need added, taken away? Are we, are we good with this? Anybody? Any comments? Okay. If not, if I could get a motion. So moved. Second. Okay. And, um, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Um, motion passes unanimously. See, I'm trying to pause on that now, Commissioner Sandberg. Okay. Okay. I think then we are to informational items, I believe. So commission discussion and comments. I will start with, uh, Commissioner Walker, who we're so glad you're back in town, sir. And I know you were doing good work in Washington, so. Thank you. I, uh, I really don't have anything for the, for the group here, but I am very, very happy to be home. I miss you guys. Yeah. We're glad you're home. Um, Commissioner DeGuard. Um, it has been a while since we've had the Fantastic Five all together. And, um, and, uh, and every time one of us is not here, it doesn't feel right. Yeah. You're right. It's just, there is a, uh, connection between all of us and I really appreciate that. It's good to work with people like you guys. That's all I've got. Thank you. Um, Vice Mayor. Uh, yeah. I really don't have anything. Okay. Well. It's, it's, it's summertime. There you go. Okay. Uh, Commissioner Sandbergen. I, I, I had just a couple of things. Uh, I don't, all of you know I really enjoy being out in the community. That's where I really learn and hear and come back with stuff. First of all, uh, I want to say thank you to, uh, not just Jory, uh, not just Danielle, but the entire group that helped put together that 4th of July celebration. Uh, you know, we sat there for the golf cart parade. We were ready to launch and mother nature decided that we weren't going to have it. Uh, I think, uh, Jen, you really led us through a good rebound. You know, I even that whisper to you, get ready to, you know, figure out an alternative because this isn't going to work. And I think the people that came back on the 5th had a great time. Uh, I was contacted by a couple of merchants that would like to have their downtown Halloween on October 31st, but I understand it's possibly been moved up to 24 of October. Is that correct, Jen? Or is that still up in the air? So, so we were looking at a number of different dates. Okay. Yeah. And so, um, we haven't really solidified them yet. Okay. Um, so we were looking at the 25th, but I even had, even had a chance to really have that conversation. So I'm not exactly sure why, um, you know, people are approaching you on a date. I know because of the things that they're planning to do downtown, right. You know, for years we've promoted to get the kids out of the neighborhood, keep them downtown where they're safe and corralled. And then someone came back to me and said, Oh no, no. You know, I want the kids to go back into the neighborhood. So I, you know, mine are all growing. So I just thought that was very interesting that there are people that are wondering what day the city is going to recognize the downtown. And I know it's only July, but. So it's a downtown trick or treating you're talking about specifically. Yes, that is correct. Okay. And, and the, and the last thing, and if there's anybody still listening and it's for us, it's for all of us and anybody listening. And that is a community harmony, man. I'll tell you what there, I, you know, I, and I, I, I will commit myself to work as hard as I can to bring together and discontinue some of the anger and the hate that's spread at us as a community. And I don't, and, and I mean, I don't want people to feel like we are picking on them and I don't want them picking on us. And I, I, if I had the answer, I would probably be sitting somewhere other than here tonight. But, you know, as a city commission, our job is to represent the city and to try to find harmony in the right thing. And, uh, I know sometimes it's, it's not there, but I just, uh, we really need to focus going forward on resolving, you know, what it'd be long time code enforcement issues, you know, problems amongst business people, uh, citizens versus citizens, you know, even tonight, listening to a couple of these speakers, you know, it's right away accusations, shame on you. You did it and I'm going to do something about it. And I, and I just somehow wish that we could all work together and tame that down, bring that down, turn that heat down just a little bit. And, uh, with that, I'll go ahead and jump off my soapbox, but I just wanted to get that off my, off my chest. And that's good, but that's going to put me on my soapbox. And, uh, no, and obviously I respect your comments because we all want the harmony. Um, and, um, but you know, I, I sometimes Facebook does it at negativism and, and sometimes you're always going to get these issues that come up and, and we want to resolve them as much as we can. But I actually said this to Jennifer, one of the greatest things about when you're running for election and I literally, so I was walking at this time last year, I walked thousands of houses in Dunedin, literally, and I would go to doors and I started out by saying, um, you know, announcing myself. And then I'd say, um, so do you have any concerns about Dunedin? And what started to happen is people were like thinking, like overthinking because they couldn't think of anything. So then I thought, you know, I need to start changing the question because I'm asking it in a negative way. So I said, no, do you, do you have any concerns or, or, you know, pro or con about Dunedin by far, I mean, 25 times greater people would say, well, no, I mean, we love Dunedin. We love Dunedin. I love Dunedin. We love Dunedin. I feel safe in Dunedin. I, it was so, and that's where now, and then, yeah, I got some of the, you know, we're overdeveloped. We've got too many townhomes. You guys got to get control of that. Uh, you know, the noise thing with the downtown was kind of higher in the radar, but I was amazed by just the average citizens in Dunedin, how dramatically, number one, before any of the, the concerns, and not that I'm not taking away from the concerns because they're important. Um, we love Dunedin. So I just think I get what you're saying because obviously we want to do the best we can to keep the harmony. Um, and I think Facebook can sometimes be hard to, you know, keep us sometimes not go down that hole. Um, but again, always within our group and especially with our businesses, we want to keep that. But I thought, you know, that was just a little of my perspective too, but I certainly respect what you're saying and we always want to keep that harmony. Um, the, um, so I just did want to say that tomorrow we've, at 10 a.m., we've got our budget workshop and, um, unfortunately staff, they had time to set up the room for us to be down around the table, but not to really test out all the sound issues. And of course we don't want to have sound problems where people can't hear us, you know, um, when we're, you know, on, um, uh, streaming. And so, um, but, so we'll be up here, I think in the future, just because of this quick turnaround, that's why. But in the future, um, uh, we'll be, we'll be in the circle. Um, but I did want to say like, you know, dress in golf shirts. I mean, we, we still try to be casual because it's a long day and, um, and we want to make sure we're comfortable. It is. So I just, yeah, I say that. So anyway, and, uh, if I may, you are going to call for public input at 4 p.m., correct? Uh, yeah, actually we had a request for people not sure when they could, you know, give public input. They don't want to sit here all day. And so, um, they, um, you know, so we set public input for 4 p.m. So if anybody else talks to you guys and they want to give input, you know, add that. We'll tell people early in the day so they don't have to sit here all day. So, um, but that's, that's all I have. So, um, so city clerk's update. Okay. Uh, city manager's update. I have nothing. Okay. And city attorney's update. I have nothing. Okay. Well then, uh, this meeting is officially adjourned. I'll see you at 10 a.m.