Minutes from the City Commission meeting called September 11, 2024, at 5:30 P.M.  Page1  WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11,2024 CITY COMMISSION MEETING-5:301 P.M.  Present:  Jesse Nelson, Mayor Sam Peebles, Commissioner Pat Perno, Commissioner Jamie Warrick, Commissioner Judy Vandergrift, Mayor Pro Tem Vickie Gainer, City Manager Deputy ChiefEnfinger, Sergeant at Arms Amy Myers, City Legal Counsel  Item #1. Call to order.  Mayor Nelson called the meeting to order at 5:30 P.M. Item #2. Invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance. The invocation was given followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.  Item #3. Public Commentary.  Mr. Walker 1106 Michigan Avenue - He said he is here on two points. Firstly, no information is considered misinformation and mentioned that some of what he had spoken about at the last meeting was not included in the minutes. He spoke about how over time the place on the agenda has been changed and caused some confusion SO that during public commentary on agenda for the previous meeting the citizens who had listed to speak at item 12 did not have the opportunity to speak. He went on to elaborate what had transpired at the previous meeting, however his time Ms. Parker - Rett Place - Also wanted to discuss the last commission meeting. She said she is disappointed in each oft the commissioners who were given actual facts. She said she understands that those who wanted to speak on item 12 only get to speak after a second to the motion, but there was not a second to the motion, SO no opportunity was given to the public to speak on that item. She said she feels the things Ramie has done in the past are wrong and they are allowing it to Ms. Smith - 1702 Massachusetts Avenue - has raw sewage coming from the next-door neighbor at 1704 Massachusetts Avenue and shel has had no resolution from the utilities department or code Mr. Langford - Said that at the last commission meeting he had asked the commission to address three things. First about Chief Ramie and to look at themselves through an evaluated lens about what two things they could have done better and what one thing they would do a different way. The other thing was about the individual he had heard about whose water meter was broken for three years and is only now paying the correct rate, and the recent request for money for sewer repairs, and a recent vote to increase the fees for water and sewer. He said we need to set our own rates based on our own city, but we cannot because we. have inaccurate data if wel have individuals Ms. Moore - Amhurst Place - Very glad about the 9/11 Ceremony. Wonders if the city would consider doing a Memorial Day service. Said that regarding the last meeting, item 12, the public that did not get a chance to speak. Secondly, she feels that due process and future employees will use the Ramie situation to get away with poor behavior. Thirdly, she spoke again about Chief  expired.  continue.  enforcement. Mr. Lightfoot took her aside to sort it out.  who are not] paying the correct rates.  Ramie's suspension.    Minutes from the City Commission meeting called September 11, 2024, at 5:301 P.M.  Page 2  Ms. Miller- Georgia Avenue - She has lived here 73 years and has never: seen anything like this. Even if Ramie has been adjudicated, he should be terminated. She said that their children are looking at someone in power who broke the law and got a slap on the wrist. She gave Commissioner Warrick 100% for his dedication to Lynn Haven. She said the Mayor and commissioners should be ashamed of what they have done to Lynn Haven, especially to James Mayor Nelson thanked for all who attended today's 9/11 Ceremony. He spoke further about the heartwarming ceremony and thanked the City Manager and all who coordinated the efforts. The Mayor went on to address the commentary by Ms. Parker - he had not met with her, sO he wasi not sure what she meant. He addressed Mr. Langford - thei rates we havel been updating those meters as quickly as we can. Regarding the rates, they are: not based on what other cities do, but the question was asked whether the water department can stand on its own or needed to borrow from other departments. It was not something taken lightly. It is also the Financial Review Committee (made up of5 citizens) that recommended the actions to take and the plan that is laid out. He said that as far as he is aware none ofthe current commissioners have had anything to do with the Anderson and Finch trial which happened before any of them were voted in. Commissioner Peebles Thank you to the city for the 9/11 ceremony today that was fantastic and ab beautiful ceremony thanks to those who made it happen and those that came outi in the rain. He relayed a personal story of visiting the memorial in NY. Thanks to all the first responders and the Commissioner Perno Thanked everyone for coming out for 9/11 ceremony that was great. Thanked Ms. Miller for her comments and apologized ifl he hadn'tdone enough. Estuary program is doing a 5k for the Bays 8.30 at the wetlands conservation park PCB as a fundraiser for the estuary program. The aim is to get the estuary program as a national program. Spoke about the budget and the future sewer plant expansion, and the idea ofe eventually doing aj joint venture with Commissioner Warrick - echoed the sentiments about 9/11 and thanks the city for the ceremony today. Kudos to LHPD for their involvement in apprehending the armed fugitive. His time with the commissioner is 21 September at 11.30 at Taco Way and ifthey cannot attend feel free to reach Commissioner Vandergrift - Spoke about the 9/11 ceremony, and remembered the day that parents arrived in droves to fetch their kids from school tol keep them close. We: should be careful we don't Deputy Chief said it was one oft the younger officers who noticed him and called for backup. This The City Manager said the fall ball series had started, the sidewalk project on 8th & Florida isi now complete. Thanks to the communications department who do al lot to put together our events, Ty's department who set it up, police and fire who assist. She said there was a great turn out today and  Finch and Margo Anderson. She cannot wait for the next election.  Item #4. Mayor's Report.  Item#5. Commissioners' Reports.  city staff.  the County.  out to him.  destroy our country from within by being divided. officer was 81 months old when 9/11 happened. Item #6. City Manager's Report.  The Mayor spoke about the fugitive and invited the Deputy Chiefto comment.  thanked everyone for coming out today. A. Warrant list. There were: no questions.    Minutes from the City Commission meeting called September: 11, 2024, at! 5:30 P.M.  Page 3  B. Public Workshop - Tentative Budget - opened at 6:08pm  The City Manager explained the reason the workshop is held during her report is because citizens find it difficult to attend sO many separate meetings. She thanked Ms. Roman and her team for their hard work ont thel budget. She spoke about various highlights relating tot thel budget as reported in the agenda at the various department budgets. She said the process followed for this meeting Ms. Roman said she had met individually with each of the Commissioners. Ms. Roman then went Commissioner Peebles - with the grant writer, what type of funding will this person be focusing on. The City Manager said the Sewer department mainly, but also looking for many other grants that will help our other departments tol help us increase and renovate our infrastructure, sO the city does not have to spend that money. Commissioner Peebles said his hope is that over time it will allow the city to do things like lower the millage rate sO we can use grant money to cover things Commissioner Vandergrift - queried the enterprise impact fees being transferred to other areas. Ms. Roman said it is the water department and some other departments that the commission had Commissioner Vandergrift asked for clarity on the disaster recovery fund needing to bei funded by the general fund at some stage. Ms. Roman explained thej process the city has used to recover: from Hurricane Michael, that the debt taken on: for this is going to need to be serviced annually once the Commissioner Vandergrift asked about the SCADA - Mr. Lightfoot said it is for the lift stations that currently do not have SCADA on them. Commissioner Vandergrift expressed concern about Commissioner Perno - wanted to restate that they are looking at a 4% COLA and he doesn'tthink itr matches inflation. It is the tightest budget he has ever seen. The millage is only 4.05 and if we did a 4.1 millage, we would have more money to work with. What are we going to do about phase 5oft the sports complex where we would have the football fields and soccer fields, and he is being told the money isj just not there. He feels there is room to decrease and increase and get some stuff in the budget to get things going. Ms. Roman said that about three years ago the budget for the football fields was about $3m. Commissioner said that will be aj job for the grant writer toi find the money. Ms. Roman answered the question about the library and the City Manager said thel budget Commissioner Peebles said out goal really should be to lower that debt SO that payment can eventually go towards paying for the soccer and football fields instead of on interest. Mayor - disaster bond - certain things we paid for out of the disaster fund that FEMA did not cover. Ms. Roman said the ECS invoices were $5.3m, plus the half million in legal expenses for  will be page by page.  through the budget page by page.  etc.  approved.  disaster recovery funds are used up.  the headworks project causing stress on other budgets.  for that was just over $4m.  our insurance payout, the temporary facilities etc.    Minutes from the City Commission meeting called September 11, 2024, at 5:30 P.M.  Page 4  City Manager = reminded that we were anticipating getting $23m from insurance and we did not anticipate having to litigate for it and pay halfai million dollars for attorney fees and get a lot less that we were due. Ms. Roman reiterated we only collected $18.8m from insurance.  Public Commentary:  Mr. Langford - queried the sewer department and is curious why thei rates were increased, and the sewer department budget was decreased. Mr. Lightfoot explained it is because we do not have the entire amount of funding for the projects that we need to do sO that money is being put off until Janet Walker 1106 Michigan Ave - asked is this the first time the commissioners have had the ability to question the budget? The Mayor said no, Ms. Roman stated at the beginning that she met with each commissioner individually. She asked ift the public were invited to those meetings. The Mayor said no because they were not public meetings. She asked ifs she would be able to take the document home and review it and them come back and ask questions. The Mayor said the budget Ms. Moore - feels the City Manager cannot compare budgets from 2019 to budgets fori today. The Mayor said she had simply referençed the debt in relation to this budget. Ms. Moore asked how much was spent on this building. City Manager said the bid was $13.8m for construction and the rest added up $18m. Ms. Moore said she is glad the debt has gone down from $65m to $38m. Are there any estimates right now for the rebuilding of the sewer facility? Ms. Roman - $50m is the latest number wel have used in-house. The City Manager clarified that she only referenced the debt Ms. Parker = the city was projected to receive specific funds, how much has the city received and how much of that has been paid off on the debt. The bond should have been paid off. Ms. Roman said she believes she is referencing the Surtax funds, and both of those bonds were paid off last  adequate funding is available.  will be reviewed again at the next meeting.  of2017 and the addition ofthe debt taken on for the Hurricane.  year in January.  The Public Workshop closed at 6:58 P.M. Item #7. City Attorney's Report. ordinances to bring to the commission soon. PUBLIC. HEARING OPENEDAT6:S8PM CRA Budget for FY2023-2024  City Attorney Amy Myers - said she has been working with staff to prepare a handful of Item #8. Discussion and possible approval to adopt Resolution 2024-09-437 Tentative  City Manager Gainer read the resolution by title only. The Mayor opened the floor for comments. There were: none.  Motion by  Commissioner Peebles to approve Resolution 2024-09-437, adopting the tentative CRAI Budget for  FY 2023-2024. Commissioner Vandergrift  Second to the Motion:    Minutes from the City Commission meeting called September11,2024, at 5:301 P.M.  Page5 On Vote: Peebles Vandergrift Perno Warrick Nelson  aye aye aye aye aye  Motion passed: 5-0  PUBLIC. HEARING CLOSEDAT: 7:00PM PUBLIC. HEARING OPENEDAT 7:00PM Millage Rate for 2025' Tax Roll.  Item # 9.A. Discussion and possible approval to adopt Resolution 2024-09-438 Tentative  City Manager Gainer read the resolution by title only. Mayor Nelson opened the floor for discussion. There was none.  Motion by  Commissioner Vandergrift to approve resolution 2024-09-438, tentative millage rate.  Motion dies for lack ofs second.  The Mayor asked the commission to provide direction for the Finance Director.  Commissioner Perno said he would like to see: more money in the budget sO would like to see the Mayor asked Ms. Roman ift the millage is raised to 4.1 what projects can we include. Ms. Roman Commissioner Peebles - and if reduced to 4.0? Ms. Roman said that is about $74k. Commissioner Peeples said he is never going to be okay raising the millage because it is a percentage. Feels we should find a way to get a grant writer and cut $74k somewhere else. Maybe cutting some events until the grant writer can get funds to cover those. Ms. Roman said her calculations are based on the property appraisers information on homes in the city at that specific date and time. The Mayor asked if we could get better statistics about where our accounts are as compared to last year. Ms. Nickell said about $10,300 but she would need to verify and confirm Commissioner Vandergrift - how much money are we talking about on a $250k house with a homestead exemption at 0.05? Commissioner Peebles said we're looking at an extra $16 per year. Commissioner Perno asked Commissioner Vandergrift if she would make her motion for the  millage rate go up.  said the rate of4.1 would allow for an additional $74,549.  that number.  Commissioner Perno said we are. looking at $31 per year at a 4.1 rate.  recommended 4.05 again. Motion by Second to the Motion: Vandergrift Perno Peebles Warrick Nelson  Commissioner Vandergrift to approve resolution 2024-09-438, tentative millage rate. Commissioner Perno  On Vote:  aye aye no no aye  Motion passed: 3-2    Minutes from the City Commission meeting called September 11,2024, at 5:301 P.M.  Page 6  PUBLIC. HEARING CONTINUES. AT 7:12PM  Item #9.B. Discussion and possible approval to adopt Resolution 2024-09-439, Tentative General Fund and Enterprise Funds Budget in the amount of$47.415.591 and the tentative  FY2025 Disaster Recovery Budget in the amount of $4,685.222. City Manager Gainer read the resolution by title only. Mayor Nelson opened the floor for discussion. There was none.  Motion by  Commissioner Perno to approve Resolution 2024- 09-439, tentative FY2025 General Fund and Enterprise Funds Budget in the amount of $47,415,591 and the tentative FY2025 Disaster Recovery Budget in the amount of $4,685,222.  Second tot the Motion: On Vote: Perno Vandergrift Peebles Warrick Nelson  Commissioner Vandergrift  aye aye no aye aye  Motion passed: 4-1  PUBLIC HEARING CLOSEDA AT 7:14PM  CONSENT AGENDA  Item #10. Approval ofMinutes dd 08/27/24- Regular meeting minutes. Item #11. Approval for a final RV Extension for an additional 6 months on property 1212Texas. Avenue for delayed reconstruction post Hurricane Michael. Item #12. Approval to declare asset BUSH HOG-13883 surplus and auction off.  Motion by  Commissioner Peebles to approve the consent agenda, to include the commentary referenced by  Mr. Walker.  The Mayor said that the minutes are: not supposed tol be done verbatim.  Commissioner Peebles asked Mr. Walker if there was al key item he had not seen in the minutes. Mr. Walker started speaking and giving his opinion about record keeping and the comments he had made were not: fully explained. Thel Mayor asked Mr. Walker to be more specific about which part oft the: minutes he is referring to. Mr. Walker said thel beginning - she didn'tinclude the whole thing. Commissioner Peebles said that based on the fact that it is just that it was not recorded  verbatim then he would rescind the former motion.  Motion by Second to the Motion: On Vote: Peebles Perno Vandergrift Warrick Nelson  Commissioner Peebles to approve the consent  agenda asi is. Commissioner Perno  aye aye aye aye aye  Motion passed: 5-0    Minutes from the City Commission meeting called September 11, 2024, at 5:30 P.M.  Page7  NEW BUSINESS  Item #13. Discussion and possible approval of Resolution 2024-09-436 setting the Stormwater Service Assessment Roll and stormwater assessment fees for FY2024-25.  The City Manager read the resolution by title only. Mayor Nelson opened the floor for comments.  Commissioner Warrick asked what the shortfall would be if we kept the rate the same? Mr. Lightfoot said we would not be able to cover the salaries, culvert replacements and repairing inlets etc. We have not reduced the budget money wise we have simply reduced the projects we are spending money on sO we can build a reserve. The. ARPA: funds in the past have helped with these projects. This budgetonly covers the day-to-day functioning oft the department. So, without raising Commissioner Vandergrift = we promised the citizens last year that we would look at this every year andi not increasei it automatically. You're saying we still need to raise the rates? Mr. Lightfoot said yes, otherwise we will not be able to continue the day-to-day maintenance oft the stormwater. Mayor - four years ago when we adopted the assessment by Stantec, we stopped it a few times. Have we reached that point where we don't-need to take money from sanitation? Mr. Lightfoot, we will have an ongoing shortfall due to the fact that we have not increased the rates as Stantec had recommended. Ms. Roman explained that Stantec's original recommendation would have balanced us, but the city kept pushing that off, so now we will take in $1m short ofwhat we needed toraise. As oftoday, the: stormwater departmenti isi int thel hole by about halfai million dollars today, ifyou do not approve this increase it will only make that increase worse. Mayor, what are we doing to cover that shortfall? Ms. Roman said we are taking from yesterday'si money to cover this budget. Commissioner Peebles-isnot: a fan ofthei non-ad valorem method but understands their reasoning. He has done some research and the math around it and has created another system to: make it more fair to the citizens and raise the income for the city. If anyone wants to see this for our future budgets, he would be happy to share it with the city manager to pass it on. Ifanyone out there is Commissioner Warrick - how much extra will this increase bring in? Ms. Roman about $300m. Commissioner Perno - asked the City Manager to share the presentation with them. The Attorney said that it is fine for the City Manager to: forward it on.  the rates we will not be able to do any projects.  interested in seeing his information, he is happy to share it.  Motion by  Commissioner Perno to approve ofResolution 2024- 09-436 setting the Stormwater Service Assessment Roll and stormwater assessment fees for FY 2024-  25.  Second to the Motion:  Commissioner Vandergrift  Mr. Langford - said he will ask for the same two things he asks every year. 1) why is he paying the same: rates for a vacant piece ofland that hei is paying for his house?2) when is thist thing going tos stop? He said he did the calculation based on the potential 10,000 accounts. He would like them to take the previous rates each year and compare them to now. He believes it is astronomical. He went on to discuss the history ofthe special ad valorem then asked sO, what is enough? Where are we now, and where are we headed? The City Manager said that the first year the stormwater brought in $1.2million. The second year did not increase sO it remained at $1.2million. the next year was $1.5million. sO that second year when we didn't follow the plan we are now having to play catch up. With the work the city has done on the stormwater issue already we can see itis working and homes are no longer being flooded. Now we need to continue to improve our    Minutes from the City Commission meeting called September 11, 2024, at 5:301 P.M.  Page 8  infrastructure to ensure we keep up as the city grows. Ms. Roman - we: must remember wheny you are talking about how things were years ago, before the hurricane the trees were helping us with the flooding. Until the growth comes back, wel have to mitigate it. Since the hurricane wel have had ai number of rain events that had a bad impact on the citizens, but recently with the work we have Mr. Walker - 1106 Michigan Ave - He said he's been at this for 20 years and no one else was here. He went on to speak about his understanding ofthel history oft the assessment and his opinion  done using those fund sit has improved.  about the assessment. On Vote: Perno Vandergrift Peebles Warrick Nelson  aye aye aye aye aye  Motion passed: 5-0  Item #14. Discussion and possibleapproval. ofDevelopment Order Extension Requeston the Development Order to expand the M & MJ Market located at 1201 Ohio Ave. Parcel#s: Mayor Nelson opened the floor for comments. Commissioner Perno said he knows them and they are good folks and he knows they've had the best intentions. Their property is also where the American Sand people have staged their gravel and equipment, sO they let them use their property  10010-000-000: 10009-005-000: 10009-000-000; 10007-100-000. The. Director of Planning & Development explained the item.  to stage these on.  The Mayor asked ifv we could actually grant it for a year. Ms. Richard said yes.  Motion by  Commissioner Perno to approve Development Order Extension Request on the Development Order to expand thel M&MMarket) located at 1201 OhioAve, Parcel #s: 10010-000-000; 10009-005-000; 10009- 000-000; 10007-100-000, for an additional year.  Second to the Motion:  Commissioner Peebles  On Vote: Perno Peebles Warrick Vandergrift Nelson  aye aye aye aye aye  Motion passed: 5-0    Minutes from the City Commission meeting called September 11,2024, at 5:30. P.M.  Page 9  Item # 15. Adjourn.  There being no: further business the meeting adjourned at 7:45 P.M.  APPROVED THIS 245 DAY OF Sepbeybey 2025  Jesse  Aadt  Vickie Gainer, City Manager  ZA  prepared by Cicelia Rushing