TOWN COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES  TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2024 7:00 P.M. OAKLAND MEETING HALL  CALLTO ORDER:  This meeting was held in-person and livestreamed as a Zoom webinar. Mayor Taylor called the regular meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. This was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and  Invocation by Marilyn Mack. ROLLO CALL COMMISSIONERS PRESENT:  Commissioner McMullen Commissioner Polland Commissioner Ramos Vice Mayor Satterfield Mayor Taylor None  COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: PRESENTATIONS:  Eryn Russell - FLC Award Presentation  Eryn Russell from the Florida League of Cities (FLC) presented the Town of Oakland and Oakland Nature Preserve with the FLC Environmental Stewardship Award. On behalf of the Oakland Nature Preserve, Managing Director Jennifer Hunt accepted the award.  Chief Esan - PD Second Quarter 2024 Awards  Chief Esan presented the Oakland Police Department Second Quarter 2024 Awards to the  following individuals:  Officer Andrew Ricks - Officer ofthe Quarter:  Chief Esan said that on May 29, 2024, Officer Ricks responded to a phone call. call of a missing elderly male with failing mental acuity. The subject had been missing for more than four hours and concern was growing within his family. Officer Ricks had only one other officer to respond and assist with this call. Recognizing the gravity of the situation, Officer Ricks summoned the assistance of the Orange County and Osceola County Sheriff's Office for additional resources. He was able to summon a helicopter and a bloodhound from those respective agencies, as well as distribute the information regarding the missing person to area agencies. The search resulted in the male being located on the east side of Ocoee, where he was recovered in good health. Due to his professionalism and knowledge of additional resources while remaining calm throughout this call, Officer Ricks was able to  facilitate the safe return of the male to his family.    Chief Esan said that in addition, Officer Ricks took time to examine the house check procedure, which is currently a part of the daily routine of officers within the department. He was able to independently think about the current process and come up with a more efficient method of tracking these house checks, which has resulted in a streamlined process where information is able to be tracked and passed on electronically instead of being handwritten on a card where the cards are sometimes misplaced or held by officers from Chief Esan added that Officer Ricks takes on the additional task of being the Lead Trainer for the department. The responsibility comes with many tasks to include developing training classes for the rest of the agency in order to ensure each officer satisfies state requirements in the area of high liability topics. During this quarter, Officer Ricks was asked to develop a Defensive Tactics course due to the agency not having this course for almost two years. Officer Ricks delivered a Defensive Tactics course which not only addressed the required competencies but went further to incorporate case law, where he conducted his own independent research to include the most recent items necessary to ensure professional policing and best practices from around the country are adhered to within the Oakland Police Department. For his professionalism and ability to resolve a situation involving the health and safety of a missing elderly person, Officer Andrew Ricks has been awarded the department's award of commendation. For his willingness to create lesson plans, ensure effective training, and the ability to examine current practices and develop better practices, Officer Andrew Ricks is also being recognized as the Department's Officer of the Quarter for 2024. For the award accommodation, he gets another ribbon for his uniform, which he'll be able to put on his Class A uniform and for the Officer of the Quarter, as you guys have seen with other previous quarters, he's awarded this plaque, as well as the Guardian Angel light for his vest with a holder for it. Chief Esan said that the things that he does, he doesn't get anything extra for this. He writes his training plans; he does all these things out of his desire to just improve every day and be a good police officer. So, this is exactly the exemplary performance that we look for in Oakland and that we have in Oakland, and we love it. Wet Officers Michael Almodovar, Anthony Edwards, and Colten Horne = Chief Esan said that on June 27, 2024, we were notified by our IT vendor that the internet and fiber lines were down at the police department. Officer Colton Horne was contacted as he was one of the two that were working, and he was able to open the server room in an attempt to assist our IT vendor in identifying the issue. Officer Horne worked for several hours with the IT vendor to remedy the issue. During this time, Officer Horne was training a new hire and was able to accomplish both providing training while also assisting with this problem. This problem continued to Saturday, June 29, 2024, where Officer Almodovar was called to allow Spectrum employees to access the building. Officer Almodovar was able to work with Spectrum while communicating with Venture regarding the details being provided by Spectrum. With the internet being restored, Officer Almodovar was able to recognize that our current records management system (Smart Cop), was not working. This is critical  previous shifts.  truly appreciate what he does for the agency and for everybody here.  Commendation:  2    because it's how police officers complete all reports and where all reports are stored. He was able to pass this information on to ensure that Smart Cop's system was repaired. Due to his assistance, the Oakland Partners program was restored. On Sunday, June 30th, Officer Anthony Edwards worked with Spectrum to have the fibers restored. He was able to communicate effectively between Spectrum and iVenture to facilitate the repairs that were necessary. Once repaired, Officer Edwards contacted Winter Garden PD and established a line of communication with their IT employee to get the Smart Cop program up and running. He was able to pass on information between Winter Garden and iVenture, eventually getting. the program back online. During the 72-hour period in which the system was down, officers did not have access to the computer system, which allows them to view the calls that were dispatched, as well as type any police reports. All reports from that weekend were handwritten and would later have to be manually entered. While addressing this problem, all officers involved managed to provide necessary assistance as well as answer all calls for service, providing police services to the residents within Oakland in a timely manner. Chief Esan said that for their willingness to adapt to a technology nightmare, as well as their ability to effectively communicate with multiple entities, Officer Michael Almodovar, Anthony Edwards, and Colton Horne are being awarded the department's Award of Chief Esan ended by saying that this issue, while it doesn't sound like much to the layman, was a disaster for the police department. If this happened in other jurisdictions, he doesn't know what would have happened, but safety was affected, and we were able to make sure that everybody stayed safe. All reports got handled and all calls for service were answered.  Commendation.  PUBLIC FORUM:  Public comments were as follows:  Trillshun Bacon, 510 W. Henschen - Trillshun wanted to pass out flyers for the Remembrance Day on Saturday, August 3rd at the park over there on the west side. There will be free food, a book bag giveaway, and the mayor will be there along with some commissioners who will be there speaking SO he wanted to invite everyone to come out, have fun, and fellowship. Please see attached flyer for  additional information.  CONSENT AGENDA:  a. Minutes - 7-9-2024 Town Commission Regular Meeting b. FDEP Alternative Water Grant Agreement - OACS School Campus and Facility Security Policy d. MOU between Orange County Sheriff's Office and Oakland PD Mayor Taylor announced the items on the Consent Agenda.  e. Manager's Report  3    MOTION was made by Vice Mayor Satterfield, seconded by Commissioner Polland to  approve the Consent Agenda.  AYE: McMullen, Polland, Ramos, Satterfield, Taylor  NAY: None  OTHER POLICY MATTERS  Revision to Tree Section of Land Development Code  Assistant Town Manager Hui said that as has been discussed in more than a few Town Commission meetings, there is a need to revise Section 14 of our Land Development Code too comply with Florida Statute and add the penalty section back in that was removed when the Land Development Code was revised in 2020. Town Manager Stewart and Assistant Town Manager Hui have worked on revisions to Section 4.11.5 of the Land Development Code, these revisions are attached for consideration. We are waiting for feedback from Contracted Town Planner Brad Cornelius and once we have that will run the revisions through the town attorney for approval prior to bringing an Ordinance back to commission  for public input and final commission approval. Town Commission discussion was as follows:  Mayor Taylor said he has been following along with the revisions to the policy and it will have a little more bite to it, more sO than what we had before which was almost nothing SO we want to try to get it out as quickly as we can with the development that  is happening around us. Building & Safety Fee Study  Town Manager Stewart stated that in November of 2022, previous management realized that the Town of Oakland had developed a surplus of revenue in the building department. This surplus had developed over time due to the established permit fees, which were higher Municipalities are required to establish fees that cover the costs of building departments but are not allowed to generate revenue, develop reserves or provide financial support to other municipal positions not directly tied to building activities. Therefore, Town management The current fees were developed by the previous Assistant Town Manager and were presented to Willdan for feedback. The Town's Building Official, Mark' Vasquez, advised staff that the fees presented were low and recommended a fee study be performed and adjustments made prior to adoption. However, the proposed fees were not altered, they were presented to the Town Commission and adopted on January 4, 2023. Town staff realized by spring of 2023, that the fees collected monthly were significantly lower than the cost of building department services and the surplus was decreasing at a rapid pace. However, staff were unable to adjust the fees to compensate for the deficit due to a  than required to support building activities and oversight.  decided to reduce fees to eliminate the development of excess revenue.  4    Senate bill adopted on April 17th, 2023. This legislation prohibited municipalities within the disaster area of Hurricane lan and Nicole from altering building fees until October 1, 2024. Staff are requesting approval to perform a proper fee study to correct current building fees. The study will allow the Town to adopt a more sustainable fee schedule and balance the building budget. The staff's goal is to create a fee for service program as required by Florida  State Statute.  Town Commission discussion was as follows:  Vice Mayor Satterfield asked if it will be October before we actually get to look at a Town Manager Stewart said it may be a couple months past October, but they are going to do all the research, consult with our building official, look at all the costs, and then they develop the fee structure based off of all those different factors. He said he thinks it will take four to five months to complete but we  new structure.  should have it close to the new budget year.  MOTION was made by Commissioner Polland, seconded by Commissioner Ramos to approve the Building & Safety Fee Study with Raftelis in the amount of $35,700.  AYE: McMullen, Polland, Ramos, Satterfield, Taylor Motion passed with a vote of 5 in favor; 0 opposed. Tentative Millage Rate Increase/Fire EMS MSTU Rate Increase proposed budget with no increase to the Town's millage rate of6 6.3.  NAY: None  Town Manager Stewart stated that on June 25, 2024, the Town Commission approved a However, on July 12, 2024, the Town was notified by Orange County Fire Rescue that the Orange County Board of County Commissioners voted to support a tentative millage increase to the Fire Municipal Service Taxing Unit (MSTU) rate. The existing millage rate of 2.2437 is proposed to increase by .6, bringing the new MSTU rate to 2.8437 for the upcoming FY 2024-25 budget. The Orange County Board of County Commissioners will hold two public hearings scheduled for September 5 and 19, 2024, at 5:01 PM in its chambers to The Town currently contracts with Orange County Fire Rescue to provide fire rescue and prevention services to Town residents through an interlocal agreement between the Town of Oakland and Orange County. The cost of these services in the interlocal is determined by applying the millage levied in the MSTU to the ad valorem assessment. The budgeted cost to provide these services in the current fiscal year was $1,543,584 while the proposed new cost in accordance with the interlocal agreement would be $2,065,081 for FY 24/25. While the Town's existing millage rate of 6.3 provides for the absorption of gradual costs as property values rise each year, the budget simply cannot absorb an increase of this  officially adopt the final fire millage rate for FY 2024-25.  This represents a total dollar increase of $521,497.  5    magnitude in one fiscal year. Therefore, Town Staff is recommending adopting a higher tentative millage rate of 6.9 to be included as part of the Truth in Millage or TRIM notice to The increase in the Town's proposed tentative millage rate of .6 is directly attributed and contingent upon the actions of the Orange County Board of County Commissioners. Town Manager Stewart provided a presentation on the proposed tentative millage rate.  cover only the proposed tax increase from Orange County.  Please see attached presentation for additional information. Town Commission discussion was as follows:  Mayor Taylor said he can discuss his opinion, which is that he doesn'ti L think this is the correct thing for them to do to us right now. He said it is not that he is opposed to increases to the fire service, we get great service from the Orange County Fire Department. He said that they have been a fixture in this town for a long time, since he has been here and in fact, his father-in-law worked here at the old station, right here where Public Works is, when they first moved in. Mayor Taylor said that he has already been in communication with the fire department, Fire Chief Fitzgerald, who runs the fire department there, and expressed to him our displeasure in receiving this notice that came out without, number one, maybe coming to the municipalities and talking to us previously to let us know. Mayor Taylor told Fire Chief Fitzgerald that would have been very helpful for us when we were setting up our millage rate when we first had our public workshop meeting. He said that second, we're going to have ongoing conversations, and he wants everybody to know this doesn't just affect Oakland, it's anybody in Orange County, unincorporated Orange County, and in any municipality that utilizes the services of the Orange County Fire Department. Mayor Taylor said for example, they have a call Friday with the cities of Edgewood, Belle Isle, and Eatonville, because they all take service from Orange County and he said he can tell you right now, just the brief conversations they have had, they all feel the same as we do. Mayor Taylor said that there are a couple ways that we're negotiating this. You could pay it as a lump sum. It would have been nice maybe to negotiate and this is one of the options we're negotiating which is to talk about an incremental increase over a certain time period that the town can absorb and not have to do this instead of taking it all in one shot. He said that's kind of the direction that we're all leaning to doing is trying to go that route but there's a whole bunch of different scenarios that can play out here. Mayor Taylor said that our goal is to not increase, that is what we're trying to do. He said we all live here, he lives here, everybody at this table lives here, and he doesn't want to pay any more than he has to live here. Commissioner Ramos said he wanted to second what Mayor Taylor is saying, not all the cities, towns, or villages are created equal in Orange County. He said there should be some leverage for us to negotiate the percentage towards a smaller town like us, sO he knows that Mayor Taylor is going to do great doing that. Commissioner Ramos said that he has heard we have very little time to do this, they sprung this up on the 11th hour, which of course is not fair for a small town. He said Mayor Taylor mentioned Edgewood, Eatonville, and Belle Isle, they're about the same size as ours sO he is sure if Mayor Taylor is there with the other mayors  6    talking, they can negotiate something. He said they could negotiate it as a five-year plan, orj just drop the percentage on us because we don't have that big of a city. Mayor Taylor said that is true and that's the issue. He said for a little town, our town is two square miles, it is a million dollars a square mile what they're charging. Mayor Taylor said that he has already asked the fire department if they can break out what our services are. He said maybe there's a way we can work together on this, maybe there's a pro rata share that we pay towards it. We have a joint venture with them where they utilize the public safety building with the fire department and the police department together. He said he doesn't believe the other municipalities have that particular setup with them, sO we find ourselves in a unique situation with them and we also find ourselves in a unique geographic situation with Orange County in which we're surrounded by Winter Garden to the east and Lake County to the west and there's this little Orange County pocket that they serve. Mayor Taylor said that there's all different ways of looking at things but yes, we're going to try to hit as hard as we can, and we're going to try to do what we can to not get it up to that 6.9. Mayor Taylor said we have been talking to our county commissioners and all that good stuff. Mayor Taylor said he passed it to Town Manager Stewart to put this presentation together because he knows there's a lot of stuff going around about what is the town's fault, but it is just something that was sprung on everybody, sO we, just want to get it out there  to the open and make sure everybody's clear on it.  Mayor Taylor opened up the floor for public comment. Public comment was as follows:  Marsha Strong, 201 Briley - Marsha said that when she hears cut in services, it is concerning for all of us who live here. She asked if there are examples of where those Mayor Taylor said that we are very skinny on the budget right now so when you start cutting, you start impacting staff, you start impacting services to the town, and that is definitely something that we don't want to do sO we have to look at different means. Mayor Taylor said that Town Manager Stewart has put something together, preliminary, for the commission to look at but they haven't really sat around and talked about it yet but there is something there that could happen to get us down to keep the millage at 6.3 but it is very drastic. Vice Mayor Satterfield said the goal is that we don'thave to do any of that and the 6.9, we all need to keep in our heads that is out there in case nothing else happens. He said he thinks once everybody puts their heads together that they will figure out that this isn't an equal situation and maybe something equitable could come for us and none of that has to happen. Marsha asked if they told Mayor Taylor why they are doing this. Mayor Taylor said it is basically to keep up with the services they have, they do provide great service, he is not disputing that and if the fire truck breaks down, they bring another fire truck in to help us out. The helicopter and extra help are not services you really want to do without in this town, if there is an emergency, you want to have somebody that can come there and take care of you. Mayor Taylor said essentially the reason for the increase was essentially  cuts might come from that will affect everyone.  7    that they haven't increased rates in 17 years, and it's been going on for that long, and it's a matter of, well, we want to continue those services that we have. He said that if you go on to the Orange County government website and look at the tentative budget for Orange County for fiscal year 24-25 that's upcoming, same with what we're doing for ours, keep in mind our budget's looking at a little over $9 million and Orange County's at $6.9 billion. Mayor Taylor said the budget for the fire department this year, ori fort that year, is $322 million dollars which is 40 Oaklands if you want to look at it that way. Town Manager Stewart said that they're looking to try to doi the same thing that we're trying to do here in the town. He said we're trying to take care of our employees, we're trying to build the town, grow the town, make improvements to the town, improve our parks, and take care of those that are working and doing the job here. He said he thinks they're trying to do the same thing and he said as a Town Manager, having managed small towns his entire career for the last 20 years and having developed every budget personally for the last 20 years when you look at a large increase like this and the impact that it has on the residents all at once, it is hard to balance. Town Manager Stewart said iti is hard too, because we're trying to take care of the town at the end of the day and the town has lived within their means. He said we have had the same millage rate for the past 10 years, probably longer than that and sO he thinks their needs are just as much as what our needs are here. He said it is up to Mayor Taylor said if you want to educate yourself just a little more, ify you go to the Orange County Property Appraiser's website and you go there and isolate your house, type in your address, you can see a TRIM notice. Mayor Taylor showed what a TRIM notice looks like when you see it and explained that it gives you the valuation of your home property from the previous year and this year and you'll see the breakout of the millage rates and it includes everything from local, the boards, and Orange County General. He said Orange County General is services that Orange County provides the town and everyone, every municipality, Winter Garden, everybody pays the Orange County General. Mayor Taylor said then you have Oakland which has its millage rate. He said we keep talking about 6.3 right now and going up to 6.9 and inside that Oakland millage rate is the fire department's rate. He said if you take away those two, Oakland's really at 4.3 or something like that. That Oakland number pays for town services, that includes the police department that you have, the roads, and everything else and staff, and everything you enjoy in town, everything from the Heritage Days to the holidays to decorations and all that, that's included in that. Mayor Taylor said then you'll have the County Library as well on that, and then of course St. John's Water Management District that everybody pays into sO if you go in there, you'll find it, it's on that page when you find your house and you locate it, there's a little percentage sign, you just click that tab and that will pop this out right here if you want to look ati it. Mayor Taylor said unfortunately, he thinks we're at a point where it's something that we have to do at this point in time just to cover ourselves, and let's pray and  the commission as to where we go from here.  8    hope that the negotiations work, and we go down and we can come up with Commissioner Polland said that they did say they want to fund 163 more Commissioner McMullen said yes, their service area is increasing, and they are dealing with the same thing with police too trying to increase their budget, soi iti is the whole county, police and fire, is coming to all those that utilize those Vice Mayor Satterfield said he thinks everyone is in their right to do what is best for their individual stuff but until everyone sits and talks together about it, level heads seem to win out in the long run so hopefully as Mayor Taylor meets with them or maybe we can get them here to talk somehow with resident input tot them, sO this is kind of a team effort between residents and the commission Commissioner McMullen said that is what September 5th is for. Mayor Taylor said that he was going to say the same thing. You can go to Orange County downtown to the Orange County Chambers on September 5th at 5:01 p.m. and you can be heard and tell them what is going on, but he hopes Scott Gordon, 70 Millholland Street - Scott said in the last five years, the historical costs roughly increased by 120%. He said he gets that is based off valuation and Oakland has had exponential growth over the last several years. Scott said but looking at that, if we've increased what we're paying Orange County 120%, he gets that they're looking to add new firefighters, they're looking to add new stations, but again, Oakland's a two-square-mile town sO have we received any additional firemen ino our fire station, what is the increase in call-outs for our fire station, and is that proportionate to what they're actually charging us? He said if we asked for that data, are we looking at it? He gets that the rest of Orange County is growing, but we've Mayor Taylor said that those are all good questions, and those questions were posed to Orange County Fire when Town Manager Stewart and he were on the phone originally with the fire chief about our geographic location and where we're at as far as Horizons West, that area is growing very quickly, and that's probably where they need the services. Mayor Taylor said that was one of the questions he asked them and request he made which is in the Town of Oakland proper, in those two square miles, how many runs a shift are you handling in the town not talking about helping Winter Garden out or going to the Turnpike or Deer Island because Deer Island is in unincorporated Orange County, does that make a difference? Mayor Taylor said it might, he doesn't Scott asked if they have provided the data to us though? We requested the Mayor Taylor said not yet, they're supposed to get it to us next week sO they're pulling everything together because he knows that we were the first to reach out to them. He said that when he got the letter, he met with staff, and we were the first to reach out to them and say we've got questions and we've got  some sort of amicable solution to what we're doing here. firefighters and open up four new stations also.  services.  to try to talk them down a little bit.  that we can negotiate something that benefits everybody.  increased 120%.  know but maybe gives them something to think about.  data, but have they provided it to us?  9    problems. Mayor Taylor said we then reached out to the other municipalities, and they said yes, we've got problems and we've got questions as well sO Scott said his other question is that he is hearing that we're looking at our budget, we're looking at where we can make cuts to our existing budget to offset this increase, what other options are we looking at as a town, as a commission, like are we looking at breaking the agreement with Orange County, are we looking at partnering with Winter Garden? He said we're a two square mile town right next to' Winter Garden. Are we looking at insourcing and maybe bringing the fire department in-house? Scott said we have an amazing police department that's in-house, can we replicate that with an internal fire department? He said it's $2 million a year and he knows it's a high NRE cost up front but says we're going to recoup that in the long run because now we Mayor Taylor said all of the above, we're looking at all of the above. He said he can tell you that right now and it could be with somebody else or in-house, but he agrees with Scott about that cost of two million dollars, and if you're going to pay that, maybe that's a consideration to control and bring iti in-house. Mayor Taylor said that's something that we all need to talk about and discuss once the negotiations and talks are happening and figure out what we need to do but he doesn't believe it's a fast process. He said there's a lot of moving parts with the fire rescue and the rescue part of the operation as well that they provide with the local agreements, and we have to do all the coverages. Town Manager Stewart said the reason we have our own fire department is to help reduce the insurance rating for the town sO on your homeowner's insurance, you get a decrease there. He said on the rescue side, it's more like paramedic and transport things sO he knows that it does cost quite a bit of money to run a fire and rescue department. Town Manager Stewart said that there are benefits with the county because you've got all the assets of what Orange County has, but we are looking at it, like the mayor said, it's just we haven't had the time. He said the first thing on the agenda was to make sure that we could generate funds to offset the increase ift this tax increase does go through and we weren't able to negotiate any type of agreement. Town Manager Stewart said his first thought was to protect the town and let the town residents know up front that this is a cost that we are passing on to the resident and then we can come back if residents don't want to pay the .6, we can come back and cut our own services. He said that's not something that he necessarily wants to do personally because he has the needs of the employees that work for the town to consider. Town Manager Stewart said we went from 52 to 50 employees, and we doubled in size. He said he can sit down with any resident here on a $9 million budget and he can show them that we are living within our means and anything additional that we would cut would be service, sO his initial thought was to just put it out there. Town Manager Stewart said he knows tax increases aren't favorable, but we have got a lot to work out between now and when the county adopts their final millage rate.  that's the conversation Friday we are going to be having.  can control it.  10    Scott said he appreciates what Town Manager Stewart said but to please keep inn mind that Oakland has one of the highest millage rates in Orange County as is sO whenever residents hear an increase, it really gets people's attention. Vice Mayor Satterfield said that's what brings us here sO early on, but even sO far out-of-the-box type thing that you might get to, maybe it's something, this isn't simple, a volunteer fire department and we hire out the EMT services in the county. He said that might make a difference, he doesn't know but you got toi think about everything, though because there are towns where it does work. Vice Mayor Satterfield said he is not a firefighter, sO he doesn't know but you Commissioner Ramos said that Scott brought up very great points, and he is sure that we're going to repeat that when we're negotiating. He said Mayor Taylor is going to do a great job, but we have a really small window, and the next step ist to negotiate but what's tos say in thet future that we do have Oakland firefighting in our own building. Commissioner Ramos said that we're very unique tot the rest of the towns and the rest of the cities, very unique and that's the leverage we're going to use when we negotiate. Step one. Step two, we may end up with our own fire, we don't know. He said that they're all up on the Donna Reed, 100 Vandermeer Donna apologized, she said she wasn't laughing at what Vice Mayor Satterfield said, she was kind of chuckling at the fact that we could maybe use volunteers. She said she will tell you right now, that will not work. Donna said if you want your insurance and your ratings to go up, it will go way up. Orange County just got their Class 1 rating a few years ago, sO you get that benefit. She said many years ago, when the Fire Department took over, they checked with Apopka, they checked with Winter Garden, they checked with Orange County, and everybody else was going to charge more than what Orange County was, because Orange County charges you what they charge every other citizen. Donna said they don't upcharge it. She said she is not saying she agrees with it because she doesn't, iti is a big chunk of money to swallow at one time, she understands that. Donna said when Orange County first took over the Fire Department here, they had a fire engine with three people on it, since then, the state laws have changed, and now you have to have a minimum of four people. She said if you don't have a minimum of four people on an engine when you get to a fire, then you can't make entry because you have to have two in and two out sO with that a lot of other fire departments, she thinks those around here are all at four now, but at the time they weren't, and a lot of other places didn't increase their staffing. Donna said they increased the staffing in Orange County, but we never saw an increase for that. She said then in the last 10 years or when the rescue came here then they have four people on an engine and now they have two people on a rescue. Donna said to get rid of a rescue truck, because that was possibly, if they want to make cuts is where they're going to look at cutting. She said that would be kind of a typical thing that, you're not going to have that speed of service, and she said that speed of service is important ifs somebody's having medical issues sO there's a lot that goes into this. Donna said does she think Oakland can run their own fire department for $2 million? She said she does not, she absolutely does not believe that because everybody kind of looks ati it like well we just have an engine  have to look at everything.  table.  11    and a rescue, and we do have a woods truck up here which is important in this area, and we have the capability and access to 50 other stations coming if needed. Donna said it is not just the fire truck and the rescue and it's not just the engines and stuff that you take care of but you have to set up a whole command structure and then you have to have training and then you have to have everything and you're not going to get a class one rating from the state with just having one engine and one rescue here and all of the mandates and all of the laws that you have to follow. She said a volunteer station with a paid rescue service would be totally out of the question and will not work in this area. She said if we were in some of the areas in the Panhandle and some other areas of Florida that they still do have volunteers and they rely on them, it could work but it is not going to work here. Donna said she knows a lot of things have changed since she left the fire department, but she spent 31 years at the fire department, and she knows what the MSTUS are, and she knows what it takes to run the fire department and what goes into it and she doesn't think it's changed that much except the fact that there's probably more regulations and more laws now than there were 10 or 12 years ago when she left. Donna said she does think we need to look at other alternatives. She is not saying don't go to Winter Garden, go to Winter Garden and take al look and see what they have to offer, buti if somebody comes back and says, we'll provide it to you, but we're not going to staff it here in Oakland, but they're just right down the road, that's not the same thing. Donna said she thinks a lot does go into this and since Orange County took over, the staffing has gone up by double and the units have gone up by double, plus the woods truck that they command if needed. She said we have Lake Apopka here, we have Johns Lake here and Orange County has very highly trained divers, and they just bought a number of Marine-type units, sO she thinks we get great service from Orange County. Donna said she does understand that that is a lot of money, she is going to pay a lot of money herself and not only do we have this, pretty soon, we're going to have an increase in our garbage, and then they're going to raise the cost of the valuation on our houses, sO then our taxes are going to go up there, too sO it's not just this that's going to go up. Donna said but that being said, it's going to go up in Orange County for every citizen of Orange County, not just Belle Isle, Edgewood, Oakland, and that Vice Mayor Satterfield said that is why you throw everything on the table and Donna said she thinks you have to throw everything on the table except we should never be talking about being volunteers in her opinion. That would be Commissioner McMullen thanked Donna for that explanation and said that Mayor Stark had been talking about the fire issue for many years, that has been something we have been trying to figure out because we know that is one of our largest items. He said like Donna mentioned, the garbage pickup is another item that is coming up soon and we have been able to control it in the past. Commissioner McMullen said we are always trying to figure out what to dot first. Do we work on infrastructure to help to bring down the taxes, or do we work on these budget items. Those are the things that the commission has been dealing with for the last 10 to 15 years and that is why it is sO important  sort of thing.  then you work your way backwards. the only thing off the table.  12    that the citizens are present to hear this because this has been a budget conversation as long as he has been here especially with the fire and the Donna said unfortunately, or fortunately, however you want to look at it, when you're looking at town and city budgets, people are going to be the largest portion of that, and then you have police and fire. She said police and fire, you cannot do without, or you only can do without it until somebody's house burns down, but she said when you vote to make the fire department go away and next week there's at fire and somebody's house burns down, or somebody dies, you don't even know what kind of hell is going to be unleashed on that. Mayor Taylor said he doesn't think anybody is pushing for the fire department to go away, it would be great to keep it like it is, and it would be great to have them with the state-of-the-art service that they have and all that stuff, but Donna said she thinks for the Orange County Commission to come up after they haven't had a raise in 17 years, she gets that, we've been lucky for all this time, but for them to come up in one time and ask for such a large increase for every citizen of Orange County, that's not good government. She said what were they doing in the last 15 years, sitting on their hands?  commission cannot do it themselves.  there's got to be some give.  MOTION was made by Commissioner Polland, seconded by Commissioner Ramos to  approve a tentative millage rate of 6.9.  AYE: McMullen, Polland, Ramos, Satterfield, Taylor Motion passed with a vote of 5in favor; 0 opposed.  NAY: None  ORDINANCES  ORDINANCE 2024-09 - AN ORDINANCE OF THE TOWN OF OAKLAND, FLORIDA, AMENDING CHAPTER 14 OF THE TOWN OF OAKLAND CODE OF ORDINANCES TO CORRECT SCRIVENER'S ERRORS AS TO SECTION 14-183, "IMPACT FEE SCHEDULE"; PROVIDING FOR CODIFICATION AND AUTHORITY OF TOWN OFFICIALS; AND PROVIDING FOR CONFLICTS, SEVERABILITY, AND AN EFFECTIVE Assistant Town Manager Hui read the Ordinance title for a record and then stated that the Town Commission authorized Raftelis Financials Consultants, Inc. to prepare a Parks/Recreation Impact Fee Study Update in 2017, a Transportation Impact Fee Study Update in 2018, and a Water Impact Fee Study Update in 2019 and adopted those impact fee study recommendations on March 20, 2017, November 1, 2019, and December 10, In 2022 the Town Commission adopted Ordinance 2022-20, setting forth an impact fee schedule intended to be based upon the above-mentioned Impact Fee Studies; however,  DATE.  2019.  13    were several scrivener's errors in the impact fees to be charged, and such scrivener's errors results in lower impact fees than were justified by the Impact Fee Studies. Ordinance 2024-09 is being presented solely to correct such scrivener's errors. Mayor Taylor opened up the floor for public comment. There was no public comment. Mayor MOTION was made by Commissioner Ramos, seconded by Vice Mayor Satterfield to approve the First Reading of Ordinance 2024-09. The Second Reading and Adoption will be  Taylor closed public comment.  on August 13, 2024. NAY: None  AYE: McMullen, Polland, Ramos, Satterfield, Taylor Motion passed with a vote of 5 in favor; 0 opposed. TOWN MANAGER/DEPARTMENT HEAD REPORTS:  Town Manager Stewart said that the Town of Oakland will be conducting a dirt road survey to gather information from Town residents to aid the Town in the decision-making processes regarding road improvements. There was additional discussion about how the survey will  be promoted. A link to the dirt road survey can be found at: nttps:/lp.constantcontactpages.com/v/qke.70n  Chief Esan said that after the MOU was approved at the last meeting, the Vose Law Firm met with the Erin De Young law firm who looks after legal issues for municipalities around the county. At the request of Mr. Young, they wanted one paragraph added to page 3, subsection 5, just to clarify the DUI responsibilities when an officer goes into the county. He said there's one small paragraph just clarifying that a city police officer will be allowed to go outside their jurisdiction to further a DUI investigation. Chief Esan said he has the new copy and believes the commission has been provided with a copy and that will need to get signed Public Works Director Parker introduced Assistant Public Works Director Nathan Brown. Public Works Director Parks said that Assistant Public Works Director Brown is definitely a big help to him, he has been spread pretty thin here lately, SO he's a big help. Community Outreach Manager Dattolo said that we are in the middle of our summer series for the Farmer's Market. This Thursday is the next Farmer's Market, and we bumped the time up from 10 to 2 to 9 to 1 because of the heat. She said we also incorporated kids' activities for the summer, SO this Thursday, we'll have a petting ZOO, and the ponies coming back. Community Outreach Manager Dattolo said that was a big hit a couple weeks ago, or two months ago when they came SO make sure you, if you're available to come out. She said we're also in week three of partnering with the Orange County Library for Countdown to Kindergarten which is a reading readiness program for pre-kindergarteners, and they meet in the meeting hall on Friday mornings at 10 o'clock. She said it is a six-week program  and certified again and then we can get it returned to the sheriff.  14    that they're doing SO if you have neighbors or know of anybody with pre-kindergarten kids, 10 o'clock this Friday and then two more following Fridays ending on August 9th. Community Outreach Manager Dattolo said then last but not least, their team has been working really hard for our next exhibit, which is going to be telling the story of Lake Apopka, how it became one of the most polluted lakes in the state, and where it is today and how it's become a tourist destination. She said they are going to tell that story with art and history and opening night is Friday, August 16th at 5:30 p.m. They will have it blasted on Facebook, the town's website, and probably the water bill as well but feel free to reach out if you have any questions. For opening night, Gatorland is going to be here with some live alligators SO  it's going to be a really cool event and we hope to see everyone there.  COMMISSION REPORTS:  Commissioner Ramos just wanted to reiterate what Mr. Bacon said about the Remembrance Day Celebration and he hopes to see everyone out there on the west side at Willie Welch's  Park.  Commissioner Polland - Nothing additional.  Commissioner McMullen said he knows we are in this time of budget crunches, but he is SO glad that Public Works Director Parker has some assistance. He said that he has been talking to him a lot, and he just wants to make sure that we know that we really need this department as much as possible. Commissioner McMullen said as we start getting ready to get close to that budget time, we really need to figure out how we want to save this department because Public Work Director Parker's not going to be here forever, and we'li definitely have a backfill him. Commissioner McMullen said that was at the top of his mind, as we think about all the issues and the challenges that we have in the town. He said Public Works Director Parker is the one who's kind of quarterbacking everything, with his dirtroads, with his moss in the trees, the canal, whatever it is, SO we really have to sure up this department and make sure that we take care of this department, because if we don't, we're Vice Mayor Satterfield said that the commission should have received invitations to come to Mayor Taylor said we are starting back up this month on August 7th with Meet Your Mayor ifanybody is interested in coming. He said for those who haven't been there, it is just a very informal get-together where we meet and answer whatever questions residents have about  really going to have some challenges in our town. the Back-TO-Schoo BBQ on August 7th at noontime.  the town. Some staff are there as well, it is open to anyone.  15    ADJOURNMENT  There being no further business, Commissioner McMullen adjourned the meeting at 8:19  p.m.  TOWN OF OAKLAND: SINIE  ATTEST: Swishi ELISE HUI, TOWN CLERK  16    FATHERS OF AMERICA  1G1  presents  REMEMBERANCE DAY  Saturday,August 3, 2024  llam - 2pm  425 W. HULL AVE., OAKLAND, FL THIS IS A FREE EVENT TO PROMOTE COMMUNITY TOGETHERNESS BY REMEMBERING THE PAST AND  BUILDING FOR A BETTER FUTURE  ACTIVITIES INCLUDE: BOUNCE HOUSE, BACK-PACK GIVE-AWAYS. FREE FOOD AND RAFFLES  FOR MORE INFORMATION TRILLSHAUN BACON 689-291-7084 01FOA.COM    7/23/2024  Oakland  FLORIDA  Tentative Millage Rate Increase  Timeline  ( OnJune 25th, 2024 the Town Commission adopted a tentative millage rate of 6.3 based on a balanced budget of $9,149,168. "On Friday July 13th, 2024 Mayor Shane Taylor received a letter from Orange County, notifying the Town of an increase to the Orange County Fire Municipal Service Taxing Unit (MSTU). Existing rate was 2.2437 to proposed rate 2.8437  2  1    7/23/2024  OKE CY  FY:2024-25 ofA for Fire Town  Currenty YearR RealProperty. Taxablev Value ApprovedF FY2024-2 25U UrbanF X(adjustmentforn mills) Subtotal: tober remitted: TotalE Estimatedf forFY2 2024-25:  $785.075.955 2.8437 0.001 $2,232,520.49 92.5%5  onI BoardorCounty Commssioners sel othe FineN Municipals The 2024-35budget. hy 06. bnng hes The inerease tos that wecans provide hat xisting fires tations. expect. replacinga new fire mecessary to the rigors af our Insurance Services Office (ISO) andA All-Hazansk Responsel Firel Deparment. Taxable sstimate ValueDR- otalp payment providing thisi uiluble Assessment sompuesl. anlers dsupportin remainsa agreat Sincerely. QeR Ph.D. Deputy Director  16. Officeor Weare 2024. wheni FV 034-35 hes Reviseu budget. Rempitulation andwew valueouru umgomgpitive thee services yours thaty deserve und lfyouhavea anys questionsr regarlingth theM net. s  3  Budget Impacts  - Town is currently in an interlocal agreement with Orange County Fire Rescue The new Orange County proposed Fire Tax would represent an increase ini the amount of $521,4971 from the current fiscal year. The Town currently pays $1.5m to Orange County for fire services. The increase represents a cost of "The Town's millage rate of 6.3 includes the MSTU interlocal agreement with Orange County Fire. Each year fire service and rescue services increases have been absorbed ini the budget as a result ofi increasing property value.  for Fire Prevention and Rescue Services.  $2m.  4  2    7/23/2024  Interlocal Agreement Historical Costs  FY20/21:5760,958 FY21/22:$ $901,461 FY22/23:$1,286,320 FY23/24:51486,029  FY24/25: $2,065,081 (Tax Increase)  5  Truth in Millage  This law is designed to inform taxpayers which; governmental entityi is responsible for the taxes levied and the amount of tax liability taxpayers owe to each taxing authority. The property appraiser sends this information, known The TRIM requirements also provide for maximum millage levies for counties, municipalities, and independent special districts. Millage rates can only be decreased after TRIM notice is certified and anyi increases cannot exceed  as the TRIM notice, to the property owner.  maximum millage levy on notice.  Property Appraisers sends TRIM notices in August  3    7/23/2024  Tentative Millage Staff Recommendation:  Set the tentative millage rate at 6.91 to allow ther necessary offset of expenditures in the Re-evaluate final millage after Orange County public hearings scheduled for Orange County Board of County Commissioners willl hold two public hearings scheduled for Authorize the Mayor to make ai formal request and alternative recommendations to the Orange County Board of County Commissioners ande express concerns of Town budget  budget.  September 5 and 19, 2024, at! 5:01F PM. cuts related to the tax increase.  7  Oakland  FLORIDA  QUESTIONS/COMMENIS  8  4