#6(c)  CITY COUNCIL MEETING September 5, 2024 = 7:00 P.M. MINUTES  1. CALLTO ORDER: Mayor Tyson called the meeting to order at 7:00p.m.  2. ROLL CALL: Mayor Tyson  PRESENT: Council Member Herrera, Council Member Hernandez, City Manager Mathes, Attorney Dill and ALSO, PRESENT: Utility Director Kevin Burge, Grant Administrator Laura Hammer, Finance Director Claudia  ABSENT: Council Member Salgado  Alvarado, Public Works Director Andy Shelton, and Chief Keith Touchberry  3. INVOCATION: Mayor Tyson gave the Invocation. 4. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Thel Pledge was recited. 5. SWEARING IN OF COUNCIL ELECT:  (a) RESOUIONNO.202+78/ ARESOLUTONOFIHECIYA OF FELLSMERE, INDIANRIVERCOUNTY,FLORIDA. DECLARING THE UNOPPOSED QUALIFIED CANDIDATE AS THE WINNER PURSUANT TO SECTION 101.151(7), FLORIDASTATUIES: DIRECTING THE CLERKI TOI ENTER THE RESULTS OF THE SPECIALE ELECTION IN THE OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL; PROVIDING FOR REPEAL OF RESOLUTIONS OR PARTS OF RESOLUTIONS IN CONFLICT HEREWITH; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE Mayor Tyson introduced the Resolution and Attorney Dill, readi Resolution No. 2024-78 by title only.  DATE.  Manager Mathes stated he nothing to add.  Being no further discussion Mayor Tyson entertained ar motion.  MOTION by Council Member Herrera SECONDED by Council Member Hernandez to approve  Resolution 2024-78 ALL. AYES:  MOTION CARRIED: 3-0  (b) Swearing in of Council Elect Ben Baker (a) City Council Meeting of August 15, 2024. minutes for the August 15,2024 City Council Meeting. (a) Hunger Action Month-Treasure Coast Food Bank  City Attorney' Warren Dill swore in Ben Baker as Council Member.  6. APPROVAL OF MINUTES:  MOTION by Council Member Hernandez SECONDED by Council Member Herrera to approve the  ALL AYES: 7. PROCLAMATION:  MOTION CARRIED 3-0  Mayor Tysoni introduced the Proclamations and Attorney Dill read them ini its entirety. Sherry Sigrid, Director of Client Services fort the Treasure Coast Food Bank, Volunteer Maureen Pringle, and Tristan thanked Council for their continued support and for the Proclamation on behalf of the  Treasure Coast Food Bank.  1    8. PUBLIC COMMENTS: record.  Mayor Tyson asked if anyone from the public had a comment to state their name and address for the Susan. Adams - She congratulated and welcomed Ben Baker to the City Council. She isl looking forward Mayor Tyson asked if anyone else from the public had a comment to state their name and address for  to working with him.  ther record and hearing nonel he continued with ManagersMatters. 9. MANAGER'S MATTERS: Manager Mathes continued with! his matters.  Manager Mathes began his parting words, focusing on the City's strengths and weaknesses. He emphasized the need for better outreach and communication with residents, businesses, and partners. He discussed the city'smodel of government and the need forr more social services and recreational programs. Hel highlightedi thei importance of maintaining the city's vision andi ther need EPAI Public workshop Grant! He asked permission1 to applyf ford agrant tos support community outreach during the evaluation or appraisal report. This grant will allow a community like Fellsmere to go out and get help in running those community outreach meetings and doing that kind of stuff needed for a valuable public input process. And even though it might be a new initiative, it is something that the City is going to have to do anyway. Council agreed. He added that will come back ina Old School Space needs-He updated the Council on the needi for additional office space due to growing staff needs. They have started a process of conversations with the City's tenants in the basement, Literacy services and Kindergarten Readiness to hopefully work with them to find another space in Fellsmere. He has started a conversation with the library system of the county to see if they are willing to share the Marion Fell Library with Literacy Services. And then that historic building has been donated to the City, they willl hopefully be looking for some money to relocate that next to Marion Fell Library, and they could relocate Kindergarten Readiness in that historic building. And if we could get them out of the basement, then they would obviously renovate that space for expansion of staff needs. He just wanted to give them an update on that they are still Old School Windows - They will be returning the grant, but they have a great price to work on the Vacancies on two Citizen Advisory Committees - Mentions the need for volunteers and to please 9/7 @ 8a-H Hall Carter. James Cleanup sponsored by the Fellsmere Progressive League  for a comprehensive plan review.  formal resolution.  working on thati thati is a yearlong process, iti isr not something immediate.  windows.  see City Clerk for more details.  Hep provided updates on upcoming events and meetings- 9/12 @10a-FWCD Meeting at Fellsmere Auditorium 9/13 @10a- City of Fellsmere Open Enrollment He also updated the active Capital projects list.  10. MAYOR'S MATTERS:  Mayor Tysonstatedi thath hei is amazed that thes space needs are almost all used up. He thanked Manager Mathes for helping and keeping the City straight, the City has sO much ahead of them in the next few years. The one thing thati they have done, and he has people questioning! him all thet time abouti it, they have to make sure that they are not going to have anybody changing the downtown area. And he keeps telling them, those people do notr realize this, that 20 years ago, the Council startedi the CRA, and they locked in everything with surveys. They surveyed the land marked off the area as part of the old town district, sO that they cannot do that. But there's nothing saying that ar new city council can come  2    in and abolish alli those ordinances and change iti the way they want to. He didr not attend Council of Local Government meeting.  Interim City Manager Matters:  Noah Powers stated that Finance Director Claudai isl leaving at the end of September, whichi is when the City's fiscal year ends. He has begun conversations with the CPA firm to help close out the City books that havel been done within 60 days aftert the close oft the physical year. He askedifitis is okayt to continue Manager Mathes added that if the price comes in higher than his authority of $15,000, he will actually Vice Mayor Herrera- He: stated tol Manager Mathes that as ar resident as ac Council Member, he wanted tos say thank) you sO muchi for all that he has done for the City. He has leared al lot from him. He did a great job for the 15 years as a City Manager and Code Enforcement, and he has worked with him all those years. Andi they never had an argument, never disagreed, and they worked everything out. And Council Member Baker- - He: stated that hei isi interestedi tol lear more about the under the pipe withi the Manager Mathes stated that he is not saying that's what they are going I'm just saying it's an option. And again, it would probably be up toi the Fellsmere Water Control District becausei itist their ditch. They Thati is a strange lash upi too, because that is a county road. But wel have an agreement we do all the mowing andi trending andI landscaping agreements andu understanding, because the county'sp position  tor negotiate with someone to doi thati task fort the City. Council agreed.  have an agenda item to dot that. 11. COUNCIL MEMBER'S MATTERS:  hei thanked! him again for all thath he has done for the City of Fellsmere.  holes.  willt tellt the City what they have to do, sO they may not have as say.  is they mow once ar month,  Council Member Hernandez - She stated her meeting was cancelled for August. She congratulated Mayor Tyson on his 92nd Birthday. easy to work with him and hopefully everything will go good for him.  Shei thanked Manager Mathes for all the years he puti into the City. He did a great job, and it was very 12.CITY ATTORNEY'S MATTERS: Attorney Dill stated at thel last Council Meeting, Manager Mathes mentioned the relocation of the Surf Park to Mesa Park. He has received a couple phone calls from the attorney for the owner. Apparently, the owner has some concerns about processing the applicationt throughthe city. In the City ordinances and resolutions, they become effective upon adoption. It is not like the county where they! have toy wait, the City's become effective virtually immediately wheni it is adopted. Occasionally he has put provisions ini the City ordinances, but they are there fori the benefit of the City when the City needs tol have a delayed effective date for some reason on something they are doing, but there is nothing to say that they cannot accommodate this owner if the Council wants to doi that. Hei isj justh bringingitupt to Council's attentioni tonight for a consensus. The owneri is going tol bet the actual applicant, but he isr nervous about the buyer. They would like 30 days after the after the ordinances or resolutions delayed effective date. And during that 30-day window they are supposed to be closing. Andi ift they do not close within that 30-day window, the owner will be told he will file a request with the city to withdraw the application. If he withdraws it before it becomes effective during this 30-day window, then it does not become effective. Iti is not before them anymore, and they! have notr rezoned it. Basically, they are not given the final development plan approval, preliminary development plan approval, which! basicallyi iti is like they have not taken no action. Itist the status quo. Attorney Dills stated he does not have ap problem doingt that. He willl be getting some paperwork from the owner, requesting the City to put this ini the ordinance so iti is clear that this is coming fromi them, noti the City. He askedif the Council thinks they would like to go along with this. This all presupposes that they approve the application, ift they deny it, well, it does not make any difference, they willr notr need the 30-day period.  3    Buti if they are agreeable tot the concept, he would like a consensus tonight, and he will relay it to the Manager Mathes added that Warren's is not asking Council to make any commitment on approval of afuture project. Hei isj just asking themi thati if they are okay with that whenit comes to them, it willl have (a) Approval of Audit Agreement with Carr, Riggs & Ingram for the audit of the Fiscal Year 2023-2024 Manager Mathes asked Financel Director Claudia Alvarado to come to thep podium. Hes stated that the Citynormally does af five-year cycle before they goout andr rep pickaneworgiveanopportunty Manager Mathes askedi the Finance Director what year the City is on int thei five year cycle. Finance Director Alvarado responded they havel been engaged since 2017. Manager Mathes stated that thati is beyond the five years and asked what is the normal redo? Finance Director Alvarado responded that they usually do an RFP after the five years before that, they would schedule an audit committee, and obviously an employee of the city would not be able to rate, but only there to answer any questions. And upon receiving the RFPS, anyone that Manager Mathes asked why they did not meet that five year cycle this time around, because we Finance Director Alvarado stated that they can renew. There is no law that prohibits the City from Manager Mathes askedi ifati this point it ist too late tos start that process for this year. Finance Director Alvarado stated thati iti ist tool late, andi that RFP's usually take about 60 days justt to get an RFP out there, review it and form a committee because they do not have a formal committee right now and also, she would discourage that at this point in time because of her departing. The City has 60 days from September 30 to closet the City books. Andi the auditors come Manager Mathes stated thati it will bel beginning in 90 days fromnow, and the RFP process will take longer than 90 daysi to do. He wanted Council tol heart the background and certainly they can start that forr next year and bring ar newi firm, ift that thish howi iti turns out to play. Finance Director Alvarado stated that Christine was present ifi they had any questions. Council Member Baker asked if they canget a different auditor a different person? Christine Noll-Rhan stated she is a partner. She stated that they actually change out someone on  attorey, and that will go backt tot the owner.  acondition of a 30 day late effective date. Council agreed.  13. NEWI BUSINESS:  City Financials. to pick ar new firm.  answered to the RFP, then an auditor would bes selected.  are: seven years now.  doing that, itisj just a City practice.  inafterwards.  thei team every year.  Manager Mathes asked if there is any carryover of any body.  Christine answered that she has been here, and they typically change out the staff because they are the ones actually looking at thei invoices and questioning everything, she is reviewingt their work, sO this way they are not too familiar with it. And also, just one thing you mentioned they do not  4    come out till 90 days. They actually want to do prep and planning before Claudial leaves. They are hoping to come out mid-September because the City has new software too. She knows their processes will change. They wanti to make sure they knowi that from the old to the new before she departs with alli that knowledge.. Andj just to make it as smoother transition al little bit easier because Noah's also going to be new, and Mark will be gone, ands so they just have Idi and the rest of the staff. They can change people every year, sO they are not too familiar. If you wanted to change partners or other people, they could do that too. They have three audit governmental partners in  her office, a whole bunch more int thet firm.  Being noi further discussion Mayor Tyson entertained ar motion.  MOTION by Council Member Baker SECONDED by Council Member Hernandez to approve the Audit Agreement with Carr, Riggs & Ingram for the audit of thel Fiscal Year 2023-20241 City Financials  ALL AYES  MOTION CARRIED 4-0  There was a consensus to direct stafft to go out for an RFPf for next year'saudit. (b) Approval of Yearly Insurance Renewal with Florida Municipal Insurance Trust (FMIT)  Finance Director Alvarado stated that they are presenting we are presenting the two proposals they received for our insurance, general liability, workers comp, and tonight they have a representative from Brown and Brown, Kyle. And they also have the team from FMIT present. She shared the comparison of the two proposals received. One came in at a $55,000 reduction compared to what they have currently. FMIT presented a point eight reduction in what the City Manager Mathes addedt thatitiso a difficult decision tor make ar recommendation this year, because they do have someone willing tos savet the City quite al bit of money, but they! have certain things in there with which they were not happy, And one of the things is an unknown, a cap on the pool. Because of that unknown, and because of the $10,000 deductible, which the City hits on a lot of their smaller claims will hit that sO they do not have any deductible on FMIT, sO that savings could bel losti in two or three years by those $10,000 deductibles. There is a cheaper version, staffj just think FMIT is a better version at this point, better to the point where staff is willing to recommend it over that $55,000 savings. Brown and Brown have been around and they are good, but they are not ready to take that risk at this point. He added that Interim City Manager Noah Powers has not had an opportunity to get too involved in this, butr next year, he has al lot of background in this kind of stuff, and het think he would be able to guide them well, ift therei is achange next year with this type Kyle Stokel from Brown and Brown Public Sector presents the insurance quote from PIGET, highlighting significant cost savings. He added that the City of Fellsmere was with that insurance carrier from 20041 to 2017.1i is one of the other large insurance pools in the state. He pulled public records a couple of months back, and saw the city's current policies, and when he went through them, he kind of realized that the city'srates and premiums were woefully out ofl line comparedi to their neighboring communities andi to what they were delivering toi their clients as well. Brown and Brown are offering an 18% savings, which is over $50,000. From a service level when he was the agent fori the city, and during the 2016: 2017 policy period, he actually took the finance director at thatt time, got himi inr my truck, and they drove aroundt to everyl location that theyl knew that the city owned. Andi they made sure that our schedules reflected the exposures that they! had. Now when hel looked at the city's policies, through FMIT1 for 24/25 they were: still missing the welcome center, it was never on the city'si insurance policy since 2017 was not covered. Her made staff aware of that andi they went back, and theyf fixedi it, andi they addedi it on. Thati isk kind of at testament to thel level of service that they provide. He thinks that is important as the City is transitioning staff, that they need somebody in place that is going to pay attention toi this. His job as al broker is to benchmark their rates to make sure they are competitive against other entities.. And the City is not, right now  currently has, and staffi isr recommending staying with FMIT.  of option.  5    they are at $1.38i inp property rate. Thati is very drastic. In comparison they are at a72-cent rate. They analyze the City's coverages; they ensure that the City's exposures are adequately protected. He appreciates the comments from City Manager, however, some of that is not quite accurate. Yes, they are both govermental insurance trusts. They are formed under Florida! Statute governed by a board of elected officials. FMITI has a $350 million property limit for about 18 billion ini insured assets throughout their membership. PIDGET has $330 million limit for just over 12 billion in insured assets. That is a very responsible excess limit. Both carriers are very financially sound. No matter which wayt they choose, the coverage isr relatively thes same. Looking at PIDGET structure, these are both governmental pools, there is a limit there for both of them, his is a per occurrence limit. It reloads after every loss. They city has about 17 million exposures, its limits are $330 million, sO they have the coverage there to cover that. Since the inception of the trust, since they have been providing insurance to Public Enemies in Florida, not once have they ever reached that limit. And have they ever had to reduce their payment to an insured, to a municipality, or not able to pay a claim because they ran out of limit. They have never not paid an entity because they exhausted all of theirl limits. Ther minimum deductible that theyr referenced, thati is only ar nameds stormminimum deductible. If ahurricane comes through, andi the city's damages have to exceed $10,000for1 their coverage to kick in. That is their minimum, just for a named storm. FMIT is 5% they do not have a minimum. Theyl have provided insurance coverage throughHurricane Charlie for the city, provided coverage from Hurricane Irma, when City Hall was damaged. They have been there, and they have provided support and paid claims, very familiar with how the city operates. He is just questioning the recommendation, why the city would the reasoning behind foregoing $50,000 in insurance savings, as well as kind of an enhanced insurance program and an agent that is willing tomake sure that everything is insured adequately. He thanked the Council for the opportunity: to Tyler Dunahan, a representative from Florida League of Cities and FMIT emphasizes the financial Tylers statedt that theyhave! been partnered" withi the Citys since 2017 andt there'sao couple differences that he would like toj just go over really quickly. First, they have beent through a period of hurricane trauma for the State of Florida since 2017 everybody has seen rates increase. Brown and Brown cannot say that they have not increased rates for their members from 2017. On that deductible, thel big difference withi that minimum deductible is that 62 ofi the 73 city owned assets would beh hit with minimum deductibles at $10,000 in the event of al hurricane. Thati is the difference of $400,000 to your city if they were all damaged. Soi that is at that is a very large difference. FMIT also are the only ones who are able to offert the synergy, turnkey recovery program, which comes out ando assists the Cityinr mitigating and recoveringt thosel lossesint the event of thats storm.. Just as BrownandE Brown said, they also do ride along and check out all of the city's assets. There was an asset survey completed in 2022 which will bel last fund year, where they surveyede every single asset that the city owns, and reviewed those assets with the city. Now there's decisions made on why certain assets do not geti insured and why some do, but they dot take thet time to go over all of those assets with the city. In addition to that, they did help with the transition from Putnam to Claudia, and hopefully they are ablet to help with that transition onto ther nexti finance director when that takes place. The only other thing he wanted to add to that is that they have returned $12,000 in safety grant funds to the city, and hopefully they will be returning more money to you in the future on safety grant funds. He appreciates working with everybody here at the administration, and look forward to  provide this quote.  stability and coverage of theiri insurance program.  working with them again,  Manager Mathes asked ift they also have a pool limit?  Tyler responded that they dor not have as shared limit oni their policy program, they offer dedicated  limits.  6    Manager Mathes asked ift the cityi isi int full, complete destruction of $17 million in assets, andt ther rest of the state had complete destruction of over three 330 million in assets, and does the city still get  thei full 17 million.  Tyler responded that those dollar amounts yes. Manager Mathes asked about their deductible.  Tyler responded that their deductible is a 5% named storm deductible. Otherwise, iti is a $1,000 all other perils, deductible. There is a substantial difference for 62 out of the 73 owned assets by the city, that 5% could be anywhere from $50 ona$1,000 asset to ar millon-dollar asset being a $50,000 deductible, but on that million-dollar asset, they are going to have the same deductible. It is all those, the 62 of 73 assets that are under $200,000 where there is going be a vast difference ini the deductible application. He added that they are the Florida League of Cities. They have a reputation to uphold here, and he stands behind everything he has said, that they provide Kyle from Brown and Brown added that ther minimum deductible! is ane event minimum. Itis an event minimum, the $10,000 is ar minimum deductible per event after that, this works the same between both of the companies, it is a 5% per location deductible. Yes, they do have a minimum, but itis only for the entire event, the city will still get paid out on those other locations once they exceed that. He added that they also have a $5,000 matching grant each year, sO that is available to the The City Council discussed the difference between the two options, including deductibles and The City Council decidedi tot table the decision ati ther nextr meetingf fort further review and discussion. MOTION by Council Member Herrera SECONDEDI by Council Member Baker tot table thisi itemi tot the  adequate limits and an adequate program for the city.  city. coverage limits.  Being noi further discussion Mayor Tyson entertained a motion.  September 19, 2024, Council meeting.  ALL. AYES  MOTION CARRIED 4-0  (c) Approval of Renewal package from Gehring Group for Annual Renewal ofE Employee Group Finance Director Claudia Alvarado stated that this is the city's renewal package for all of the benefits offered to city employees and council members. The coverage pretty much stayed the same for dental, vision, life insurance, no changes in premium, no changes in coverages. The only change they are having this year is they are recommending moving from Cigna over to Florida Blue. The Cigna renewal came in at a5 50% increase. Staff askedi the Gehring group to go outt to bid and look for coverages that are pretty much similar ini nature. They came back with, believe it was seven options. And staff are recommending moving forward with Florida Blue, which is a 3% increase in premiums. They are keeping the same network. In conjunction with the change in deductibles, they embedded in the budget increase to the health reimbursement account to Manager Mathes added their goal wast toi findi the one that was most likely matched, bothi int terms Council Member Baker asked Claudia if she has ever reached out to the county to get into their  Health, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance, and EAP Coverage.  subsidize that increase in deductibles.  ofnetwork, so people do not to change doctors, as well as cost.  insurance.  7    Finance Director Alvarado responded that they do their own insurance, and they do a pool. The only other option, Ibelieve, is FMIT, andi they would not even accept the city because they are a small entity, and one catastrophic claim brings up the cost of insuring the city. So usually, they are denied any pooled insurance. She added that they were toldi that the 50% increase was due to only five claims. Itt tookf fivel health claims tol bringitup5 50%. Sher recommended approving the entire  package with Cigna Option 2.  Council Member Baker asked what does she meani the entire package.  Finance Director clarifiedi thati thist the packagei includes also the dentalrenewal, the visionrenewal,  lifei insurance and short term liability.  Being noi further discussion Mayor Tyson entertained amotion.  MOTION by Council Member Herrera SECONDED by Council Member Hernandez to approve the Renewal package from Gehring Group for Annual Renewal of Employee Group Health, Dental,  Vision, Life Insurance, and EAP Coverage.  ALL AYES  MOTION CARRIED 4-0  (d) Abatement Request for 171S. Magnolia Street Codel Enforcement Lien.  Manager Mathes stated this is a long-standing case from 2013 where ar man allowed his carport to get a little dilapidated and structurally unsound. They started code enforcement, and the city worked with him to try to save it, but he had to rebuild it, and he just could not find the resources and the people to help him. He was finally convinced that tearing it down was the right thing. He didi tear it down, and thent they! hadi to go back andf forth on whether or not he needed tor remove the slab. Normally, they would remove thes slab, butitisnot creating ahealth ands safetyi issue. There is no rebar sticking out, so they let him keepi it and close the case. They finally made that decision, and it has just been sitting there resolved for a1 few years now and the demo happened in 2018, and they were just waiting for him to come up and ask for his abatement, but he is busy with life. And SO Council Member Herrera is helping us out to clear out some of these old cases and asked to push this forward on behalf of the ownert to get this abatement done. And because it satt forso long, it adds up to al lot ofr money. But again, if you go withj just your cost and initial penalty, itis isj just slightly over $300. Cost andi initial penalty is $323.23.23. Anything above that would be his share of the daily fines and interest that he owes. If they wanted him to pay the whole thing, it is close to Council Member Hererai recommended only the Administrative fees because he hast been working  $35,000.  withi the city on! his case since day one.  Being no further discussion Mayor Tyson entertained ar motion.  MOTION by Council Member Baker SECONDED by Council Member Herrera to approve the  abatementi int the amount of $323.23.  ALL AYES  MOTION CARRIED 4-0  (e) RESOLUTION NO.2024-77/ARESOLUTIONOFTHE CIVOFFELLSMERE, INDIANRIVERCOUNI,FLORIDA AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND CITY CLERK TO EXECUTE ANE EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT FOR NOAH M. POWERS, III TO SERVE AS INTERIM CITY MANAGER; PROVIDING FOR CONFLICT; PROVIDING FOR Mayor Tyson introduced the Resolution and. Attorney Dill, read Resolution No. 2024-71 by title only.  ANE EFFECTIVE DATE.  Manager Mathes stated that the only entry needed ish his pay.  8    Attorney Dill clarified thati is the amount that he wil be paid during his interim period which is six  months. This was seti fors six months and at three-month review.  Mayor Tyson askedi if at thei three-month review, they could change the salary. Manager Mathes stated that he recommended that they do it with the review. Manager Mathes stated that he is making $125,000 and he started at $115,000. The scale for this position is $100,0001 to $150,000 and Mr. Powers does come with some experience. Mr. Noah Power statedi that he did want top point outi that he isr not asking for any of the benefits, no insurance, no health subsidy, and no retirement. And based on what Manager Mathes is making with all the benefits he is somewhere in the 180,000. He asked for his pay to bei in the 80'sfori the six The Council discusses and approves the Interim City Manager contract, setting the pay at $85,000 Manager Mathes stated that the ofher thing they have to decide is whether or not they need to amend the SOP. Allow this because the SOP has a pay scale that caps out of 150 per year. Hei is effectively making 1601 170p pery year, ands sO they wouldr needi to adjust thep pays scale asp part oft their budget presentation, or either that, or at least puti iti ini for thei interim, sO thati they have a slot that allows them to pay them. They have purposely chosen not to raise the pay scale of directors because they don't have a deep pockets. And if they did pay scale adjustments and included directors every two years, they would not be ablet to affordi it. Probably should! bring them upi to the next pay scale and reconsider that, because they kind of stayed at that same level for a good number ofy years. Butf fort this particulari thing, itr needs to come with an SOP amendment soi that we Attorney Dills stated that he didr not have to amend the SOPsf for this. Thisi is only as six-month contract, Finance Director Alvarado stated that this is thei time to change it otherwise they will have to bring itback via resolution to amend the salary scale. If he becomes a permanent position, hei is going The Council decides to defer the amendment oft the SOPI for thei interim cityr manager's! pay tofuture  months. fors six months.  have the SOP in line withi this decision. andi it is $85,000, iti is well below $150,000.  tol be at al higher scale, because hei isr not receiving those funds vial benefits.  negotiations for a permanent position.  Beingr noi further discussion Mayor Tyson entertained ar motion.  MOTION by Council Member Hernandez SECONDED by Council Member Herrera to approve  Resolution No 2024-77. ALL AYES  MOTION CARRIED 4-0  Mr. Noah Powers thanked Council for their generosity.  () Approval of ARPA Amendment.  Manager Mathes stated thisi is their quarterly update. The changes werel highlighted and are pretty self-describing. What willl likely happeni this quarter, Claudia willi take the monies that are left over. She will usei it to pay for staff salaries so that they meet their obligation to spendi it or contract it by the end of this year. l's not meaning that they are not going to take the money they are saving in the general fund and not keep tracking it. They are going to keep tracking it just because iti is no longer ARPA funds and now it is general funds that we have saved, they are still going to tracki it  9    and still going tot follow thisl listuntilitiso all spent, but we are) justr relievingi themselves ofi the obligation  to worry about that December obligation.  Council Member Baker asked about the deletion of CR512 lefti turn lane.  Manager Mathes responded wel had the left turn, and we were going to do it on our own, but we could not get a permit from the county because they did not have the traffic report for Legacy Landing, because they kept changing their development scheme. So, they finally have a traffic report but by the time they end up getting the permit from the county, Legacy Landing will be Mayor Tyson asked how much of the frontage road is the city doing from Dollar General to the Manager Mathes responded thati they only doi itt for properties that develop, because the City does not own the land until they develop. And Council directed him a couple of months ago that part of the widening of 512 is not going to include buying more right of way, sO that frontage road will never be complete untili the last parcel develops. Each parcel develops their piece, and when the last one develops, it has all done. They can always change at any time and get acquisition or donations or dedications of that land and move forward quickly but their process has been over  ready tol buildi it themselves.  dump?  time tol buildit as the property is developed. Attorney Dill asked how thel left turn lane going tol be paid.  Manager Mathes statedi that more thanl likely it will bet built by the developer Legacy Landing. And it will not only be a condition, buti it will probably be a condition oft the county'sr right of way permit, because they will probably exceed the number of turns that the county allows before they force youi to have at turn lane. But even if they do not meet that threshold, the city willr make sure itisa condition. And that is not a condition that gets them impacted credits. That is considered a site  access improvement. They dor not get impact fee credits. Attorney Dill asked ift they are aware of that.  Manager Mathes responded that they are aware of that, and if the city were to build it, the city  would have put a condition that they pay the city back. Being noi further discussion Mayor Tyson entertained ar motion.  MOTION by Council Member Hernandez SECONDED by Council Member Herrera to approve the  ARPA amendment. ALL. AYES  MOTION CARRIED 4-0  (g) Approval of South Central Planning andl Development Commission also known as' "My Government Online" (MGO) software for the Building, Planning and Code Enforcement Departments. Kevin Klepac from the Building Department stated that the software we are using right nowi is with one of the city'soutside agencies that they recently removed from all of their services, butt they are still using their software. It is extremely complicated, it is hard, it is extremely frustrating for himself and for the permit technician. Over the last six months, since he has been in the city, they have been researching different programs and talking to other counties. The MGO software, is actually being used by Indian River County. He talked with them extensively, and they love the software, it issuper user friendly, which is what theyr needi in Fellsmere. The city needs their citizens tol be ablet to easily use their phones, mobile apps, ands stuffi like that, tol be able to request permits and go ont for inspection. Hei is asking for approval to actually get this software. The way i#'s actually going toy work istl they are not actually going to be charged right off the bat right now, the reason he is trying to  10    push for itr nowi iti isi ini for my budget for next year tos start, but it's going tot take a couple months of onboarding for them toi take all of the city's old software's information, for all of our permits, to get iti into the news system. Theni it will probably take another month or sO1 for them toj just get trained in it, becausei iti isr notj just goingt to dot thel building department, itis also can doe everything forp planning and code enforcement. Iti is a little more costly than what we are paying right now, little bit over double what we are paying right now, but for everything they are getting with it, he does nots see any negatives. Het thinksitisag great investment, especially for his department andi thep planning and Manager Mathes added that the choice of venue will be Indian River County and that has been Attorney Rhodeback stated that the credit goes to Kevin he reached out to them to make that  zoning just CDD overall. resolved.  change. The agreement ist fine from al legal perspective. Being not further discussion Mayor Tyson entertained ar motion.  MOTION by Council Member Hernandez SECONDED by Council Member Baker to approve the South Central Planning and Development Commission also known as "My Government Online"  (MGO) soffware. ALL AYES  MOTION CARRIED 4-0  (h) Discussion andi to provide direction of Proposed Land Development Code Changes.  Manager Mathes stated that this ist thel last go around on LDC's. City Planner Bob Loring willb bet the lead coming forward. Andj just like code, staff has al backlog ofl LDC changes, what staff does over time as they come to Council if they would bes supportive of that change. Itj just takes staff a while to get the paperwork caught up, because again, therei isj just al lot going on in the city, Council has also asked him not to do it all at once. He does notl like tol bring them to Council fort thet first time in acomplete package at their hearing and always gives Council a chance as a discussion item. He stated that the details of all of them are in the Council packets and are tracked changes. He discussed the highlights and wanted to make sure they are on the right page sO at the public  hearing they have it correct. Design Standards-  Reducing thet fill permit requirements: fori incidental fill, sO they are defining incidental fill as no more than two dump trucks, which is 30 cubic yards, has to be placed at least five feet off the property line and cannot alter the drainage pattern. They will notr need to pull a permit. Creating additional parking for single family homes on small lots. The city's code currently has parking for mulfifamily but if Council continues to entertain smaller lots, less than 60 feet in width, they would ask for an additional .25 spaces peru unit as guests. Because usually wheny youhaves small lots parking on the streets is not an option, because you have driveway after driveway, and they just do not have al lot of room for on: street parking, ands SO you do not have guest parking. Allows small commercial usesl lessi than 100t trips a day tol back ontoap public right-of-way an example Allows for self-certfication of fence installation. That does not mean that the city will not pay attention and does not mean the city cannot go after them if they do it wrong. And so, it gives them an option to certify on their own thati iti is meeting our standards andi is on their land. The city can still do inspections if they choose, but it is an opportunity where the city could just file the  is 12N. Elm Street.  certification.  11    Subdivision- things withi this.  Manager Mathes stated that Attorney Dill wanted him to remind Council that they are doing two One oft themi ist the resetting oft thet time. Andlmentionedi this because the County recently didt that. Ithoughti it was a nice idea. It resets the clock, right nowi the city code says that ify you split your lot already once: since 1956 you cannot doi it again. The city isj just resetting that to a current date, sO now they can: split it again. Obviously, anytime they split it, ith hast to be a legal lot. The othert thingt they are doingi is they are redefining what as subdivision is. Most places, subdivisions are any division of landi into more thani two pieces. Staffi is asking Councili to consider changing the definition of any division of landi intor more than three pieces. Soi that way, they can give an owner of a 225-foot lot in Fellsmere, and believe it or not, there are some 225-foot lots in Fellsmere. They would allow that owner to split iti into 3 75-foot lots without the need to got hroughasubdivsion. Subdivision is 15to $20,000 at a minimum. Now that is often noti the ways subdivisions are defined.I would agree, normally they are fine as anything overi twol lots, but iti is Council's authority to define what subdivision is, and he isr recommending they redefine it to anythingr morei than 31 lots. They are They did an analysis that Attorney Dillr recommended they do tot take a look at the number of lots int town that could potentially take advantage of this, andi it is about 150 which sounds like a lot, but 1200lots, soi it's about 10% of our lots. And again, ify youbuy: 225-foot lots oft times, you arel buying withi the expectation that when your move on, your landi is your retirement, buty you cannot get the  all legal lots. They are not creating illegal lots.  value out ofi it, because iti is going to cost you $20,0001 to split it.  Landscaping-  This willf formally eliminate treer mitigation on! historic platted lotss since protection oft treesi isi impossible  duet toi the need to raise lots by three feet for flood mitigation.  Supplemental Uses- Food Trucks-  This code changes are adding to the city code foodi trucks as accessory uses.  The city already has a code DD food trucks as principal use. Food trucks as a principal use are examples like 81 North Broadway, Yolanda's food truck on North Broadway and 6 North Elmi that was) just recently approved. Those are permanent foodi trucks. They go through as site plan process, they get formal approvais, they meet city code, they pay impact fees, and for that reason, they don't have to come and go. They can stay there. They are not subject to the accessory unit requirements. The city did not have accessory unit requirements because the state recently changed their law that basically forces the city to let them into our community, the city needs to have boundaries of how they need to operate in the community. And sO that is what this new An accessory use is any use that isi in addition toi the principal use. Soj just by calling accessory use, it implies you cannot putt thist type ofr mobilei foodi truck ond a vacant lot, because there isr noy principal use on a vacant lot. They can only be on developed lots. That isi thet first thing. If1 they are a mobile food vendor that comes int the day and leaves at night, they have tol be on a developed piece of land and they have to have the permission of the Owner, and they cannot have outdoor dining. Andi thati is straight out of Florida! Statute. They can't have extras signing. They are allowed one menu  sectionmobile food units as accessory use does.  board potentially.  12    Basically, they are goingt tol be an accessory use they come, andi theyl leave, and they come during the hours of the business, and they leave during the hours of business. or there is an option, if the Thel big thing ist that with! bothy with the accessory use as well as the principal use, ist the spacing. And right now they are at 500 feet on a permanent principal use, and they are proposing to change that to 1500f feet.. Andi they are using that same 1500f feet under the mobile food vendor units, 1500 feet. The unique part about that, though, is for the mobile accessory units, it is not 1500 feet from other mobile accessory units, it is 1500 feet from any other accessory or principal mobile food vending truck, and 1500 feet to any established restaurant. Because what they want to do is to avoidi the overabundance oft foods service establishments: that are taking away fromi ther mom-and- pop businesses. And sO the spacing is way to do that. It creates a limitation on the number that could! bei inc our community. And sO, ifthey do that, they are pretty much capped out onther number ofi foodi trucks yous are going tol have between' Willow and Broadway. Andi they might be ablei toi fit one more west of Broadway and then maybe one or two east of Willow, and that will probably be it. And whether they are permanent, or accessory does not matter. It is the same spacing, sO This is reallyj just a confirmation that that 1500 is where the Council is looking ati int terms of spacing, and if they are okay with some of these other accessory conditions that they have discussed.. And again, they tried to follow state: statute directly, which is basically, the city has to leti theminift they are coming and going and not having seating there, but the city can tell them where in the community they can go, that's the city's zoning powers. They can go only on developed commercial property. They cannot be on ar residential piece of property, wnemnerrsmutomiyo:  business has weird hours, that you cans goi from seven ini the morning till 9pm.  whoever gets there first,  single family, it hast to be on commercial. Mayor Tyson asked about Annie Mae'son' Willow Street. Manager Mathes responded that foodi trucki is permanent.  Noah Powers askedi ift that was statutory language, he asked about 5a, andhow about gas stations Manager Mathes stated that the city does have establishments that are not restaurants but yet they serve prepared foods. In his opinion if they have a business tax receipt for food preparation servicei they would qualify as ar restaurant. Hes suggested adding restaurants and other food service establishments. He added that mobile foodi trucks willr not be allowed on North Broadway but that  thatr might have food.  permanent may be allowed.  Mayor Tyson asked about the Food Truck next toi Marsh Landing.  Manager Mathes stated that they are in violation, andi if the city does get a code officer, they are going to be reminded they are in violation because they should not be operating any foodi truck on that property. They have decided they are not going to doi the permanent food truck that the city approved, and Warren has created some rescinding documents that the city will need to process pretty soon to take that away from them, because they have asked, they dor not want to  doit. But yet, oni the weekend the other day there was at food truck there. Mayor Tyson asked about thes sandwich shop on Broadway, Manager Mathes confirmed that they are about to open.  Manager Mathes stated that an existing, legally approved mobile food eating unit that no longer meets the spacing requirements as code shall be considered legal conforming uses. The problem ist thet tacot truckh hast takeni four years to get as site plan, andi they stillh have not made an application. Ats some point the city has to decide how much leeway they are giving this person that has been  13    operating illegally for 20 years. His understanding is that they are not going to be a food truck operator. The application they are going to be submitting is for a real restaurant, a permanent building. He recommended continuing to work with them and not giving them al hardi time. Council had no additional directions for changes except for the one change to the restaurant Mayor Tyson stated that the city needs to do a charter review, ar review has not been done since Manager Mathes encouraged the city to roll that into the city's evaluation and appraisal report, because iti is really a vision document to some degree. Itish how you are going to run your city. Itis  terminology. Andi this will move forward as ap public hearing.  John Little and him wrotei it 25 years ago.  the charter of your city,  14. ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business Mayor Tyson adjourned the meeting at 8:56 p.m.  These minutes were approved by the City Council oft the City of Fellsmere this_ Hooyo of September 2024  sllaui aulendes MariaF. Suarez-Sanchéz CMC, City Clerk  COXT2A0XO3MINUTESDOC  14