City of Mexico Beach Meeting Minutes TUESDAY APAIL9,2024-9,00AM  The City of Mexico Beach City Council met ina ar regular meeting on Tuesday April 9, 2024, at 9:00 am at the Public Works Building in Mexico Beach. Mayor Miller and thet following Councilmembers were present: Linda Hamilton, Jerry Smith and Richard' Wolff. Adrian Welle was absent. Also present were City Administrator, Chris Hubbard, City Clerk, Tammy Brunson and Interim City  Attorney Tim Sloan.  Call to order: Mayor Miller called the meeting to order at 9:00 am.  I.  Consent Agenda  Minutes from the March 12, 2024, meeting were brought to the table. Mr. Wolff motioned, and Mrs. Hamilton seconded to approve the meeting minutes from March 12, 2024. Motion passed unanimously.  II.  Scheduled Appearance:  1. Tommy Davis presented the Employee of the Month award to Randy June, January Bertaccini, Josh Tucci, Aaron Yoshimura and. Jamie Fenn for their hard work on the Under the Palms Park renovation. 2. Jennifer Ward, Chairman of the Charter Review Committee talked about some misinformation in regard to Referendum #2 on the ballot for the upcoming election. She stated this referendum does not include or have verbiage the states citizens will not vote for Mayor if this is passed. If passed is does not mean a mayor would be appointed by Council members. Per the City Charter the post/position of Mayor will always be  voted on by the citizens.  III. Ordinances:  2. Ordinance 835 (Second Reading) -I Incorporating Compactors and Rates was brought to the table. Mrs. Hamilton motioned, and Mr. Wolff seconded to read Ordinance 835 by title only. Motion passed unanimously. Open public comment at 9:14 am. No public comment was made. Public comment closed at 9:14 am. Mr. Wolff motioned, and Mrs. Hamilton seconded to approve Ordinance 835. Motion passed 3. Ordinance 836 (Second Reading) - Amend Ordinance 818, adjusting current sanitation rates was brought to the table. Mrs. Hamilton motioned, and Mr. Wolff seconded to read Ordinance 836 by title only. Motion passed unanimously. Open public comment at 9:21 am. No public comment was made. Public comment closed at 9:21 am. Mr. Wolff motioned, and Mrs. Hamilton seconded to approve Ordinance 836. Motion  unanimously.  passed unanimously.  IV. Other Business:  1. Consideration to auction the old dredge was brought to the table. Mr. Hubbard explained that we have inquiries from parties interested in purchasing our old dredge. Mr. Wolff motioned, and Mrs. Hamilton seconded to declare the old dredge as surplus and auction it off for a minimum bid of $75,000.00. Motion  passed unanimously.    City of Mexico Beach Meeting Minutes TUESDAY APAL9,2024-9:00AM  IV. Other Business Cont.:  2. Consideration to increase the City Clerk's salary was brought to the table. Mrs. Hamilton commended Mrs. Brunson onaj job well done and supports the increase to $60,000.00. Mr. Smith agreed. Mr. Wolff wasa little concerned with the 14% increase but agreed with her performance. Mayor Miller suggested 6% increase now and once Mrs. Brunson receives her certification, another 6%. Mrs. Hamilton motioned, and Mr. Wolff seconded to approve a salary increase to $60,000.00 per year for the City Clerk. Motion passed 3. Discussion regarding Internal Control flow chart was brought to the table. Mr. Hubbard presenteda PowerPoint presentation on the City's internal controls. He was open for any questions. 4. The monthly Financial Report was brought to the table. Mr. Hubbard went over the monthly financial report and answered questions. He explained that since the 2022 Audit is not complete yet, we have receiveda 5. Discussion for at future Finance Director position was brought to the table. The mayor commented that she sees this position being on the same level as the Administrator: and City Clerk. Position reporting directly to Council was brought up. Mr. Hubbard stated he prefers the Director to report directly to council for many reasons. Open public comments 9:55 am. Lisa Logan said she supports the Director reporting to Council asi it did in the past. Shelby Bush asked who has the final accountability between directors. John Harrell said let's look back at mistakes made and red flags and: see if we can correct them going forward with this new position. Cindy. Jolley stated with the red flags if we can give appropriate responses timely, accurately and factually the reasons will be considered. We don't want tol lose our credibility or our integrity. Closed public comments 10:06 am. All agreed to bring the job description to the next meeting for approval and posting.  unanimously.  letter stating we could lose some of our state tax revenue.  V. 1. 2. 3.  Department Reports:  Tommy Davis talked about the new beach rake, walking track at Under the Palms Park, fixed street on Hwy 98, washout at the canal, newi flagpole at Sunset Park and replacing trash cans at all beach access points. Glenn Davis talked about the sewer overflow at the canal, water usage increasing due to thet time ofy year Chief Walker: started by talking about the floating dock with the jet ski oni it and how it worked well for an emergency call. The ladder truck is waiting on one item to put the trucki in service and maintenance training will take place soon. He also hired a newi firefighter. He reported the revenue for the docks is down sO far Lt. Williams gave the Sheriff's Department statistics. He also talked about thet traffic at 27th St and the new  Citizens asked questions about street repairs and excess sanitation pickup. and al DEP mandated flushing and valve exercising program.  this year.  4. 5.  Chris Hubbard gave the statistics for the Code Enforcement Officer. sheriff's boat that will be ready to go fort the summer.    City of Mexico Beach Meeting Minutes TUESDAY. APAL9,2024-9,00AM  V.  Citizens Comments:  Jeff Bacon, 5th St, asked about the water quality in the gth St canal and what testing is done to ensure it is safe. Bill Hamiton asked to move the council comments before citizen comments and wanted to know who applied for the grant for new sidewalks along Hwy 98 and with what authority. Kristy McElroy asked if the comp plan has a conservation plan or element. Kwyn. Jenkins asked if there was ay year-to-date total fori the legals fee's for Sniffen & Spellman. She also thanked Jeniffer Ward for clearing up the misinformation on  Referendum #2. VI. Mayor Comments:  Mayor Miller apologized to Mr. Hubbard for accusations made at the workshop last night. She thanked everyone for all their hard work and the citizens coming together to make this a great city.  VII. Council Comments:  Mr. Wolff asked if Mr. Sloan would be attending the Planning & Zoning meetings. Mrs. Hamilton asked about  street repairs due to the water & gas lines being hit, specifically at 3rd and Oleander.  VIII. Staff Comments:  1. City Administrator - Mr. Hubbard thanked everyone for showing upi for the blood drive. He said the Egg- stravaganza was awesome. He said he will be addressing the re-read issue as a budget item for next year. 2. City Attorney - Mr. Sloan said he appreciates the opportunity to assist the city moving forward. The audits are very important, and you will always have findings on an audit due to the size of city staff SO don't get  discouraged.  IX. Adjournment: Mrs. Hamilton motioned to adjourn the meeting at 11:11 am.  H  By:  Attest Dommy Bwvon City Clerk, Tammy Brunson  A Mayor, Richard Wolff