TOWN COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES  TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2024 OAKLAND MEETING HALL  7:00 P.M.  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. ROLL CALL  COMMISSIONERS PRESENT:  Commissioner McMullen Commissioner Polland Commissioner Ramos Mayor Taylor Vice Mayor Satterfield  COMMISSIONERS ABSENT:  PROCLAMATIONS/PRESENTATIONS:  Proclamation - Week of the Family - November 2-9, 2024  Mayor Taylor read the Week of the Family Proclamation announcing November 2-9, 2024, as the Week of the Family in Oakland. Victoria Laney, on behalf of the Week of the Family,  accepted the proclamation.  Proclamation - Veterans Day - November 11, 2024  Mayor Taylor read the Veterans Day Proclamation announcing November 11, 2024, as  Veterans Day. PUBLIC FORUM:  Public comments were as follows:  Marilyn Mack, 511 W. Postell - Marilyn said she has been here since 1984, and she loves the Town of Oakland, she loves the people of Oakland, she truly loves Public Works Director Parker, and she loves the everybody. She wanted to say thank you especially to the Police Department, the Fire Department, and our commissioners because she didn'thave lights for a few nights and days. Marilyns said when she called into the police department and they asked her what she needed or wanted, they brought her some hot tea because she wanted some hot tea. She said she doesn't  Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes  October 22, 2024. - Page 1    take these little things or big things for granted SO she wanted to say she loves Jon Hammerstein, 306 E. Vick Ave - Jon asked where we are at with the roads, he said he knows there are some things going on, but he never heard the results oft the  everybody and thank you. survey that went out.  Mayor Taylor said that the survey was a 50-50 split.  Assistant Public Works Director Brown said that as far as an update on the road is concerned, because of the hurricane, the contractor wasn't able to rent all the equipment they needed. He said that everybody's using skid steers a lot but the week after next, they are hoping to start on the experimental road on Gulley which is where we are going to be doing the reclaimed asphalt, and we are hoping that ends up being something we want to implement Jon said that is good because from his perspective, in his opinion, the project that the town did around his neighborhood is not really worth pursuing. He said that is his opinion, he doesn't know what the rest of the people feel about that. Jon said it is a mess to drive on when it is wet, it is a lot of maintenance, and it is not working. He said he would suggest doing a survey differently and that would be to take an area where there may be some complaints, like Oakland Shores, and survey that area and see what those residents feel about paving their roads versus a general consensus from the whole town. Jon said he knows it is an emotional topic butt that would give us a better sense of what the people that would be impacted with or without the asphalt would really want in their area. He said he knows Oakland Shores is pretty much surrounded by asphalt SO it would be a nice place to complete that in his opinion. Jon said he wants to echo Marilyn Mack about getting through this hurricane and the job the town did, he really appreciates it. He said to see how the town got rid of all the trees and debris quickly is amazing and he really appreciates his neighbors. Jon said his neighbors are fantastic, they know how to do stuff and they're willing to do it. He said as a more senior neighbor, he really appreciates that SO thanks to them and the town for what they did. Jon said for the experimental road project, he was going to suggest that if we are going to go forward in certain spots with that, we actually come up with a plan, a timeline, a budget that lets us follow through instead of just  throughout the town.  talking about it.  CONSENT AGENDA:  a. Minutes - 10-8-2024 Town Commission Regular Meeting  b. Town Commission Holiday Meeting Schedule for November and December  Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes  October 22, 2024 - Page 2    Mayor Taylor announced the items on the Consent Agenda.  MOTION was made by Commissioner Polland, seconded by Commissioner Ramos to  approve the Consent Agenda. AYE: McMullen, Polland, Ramos, Taylor OTHER POLICY MATTERS Selection of Solid Waste Provider  NAY: None  Town Manager Stewart provided the following information:  On July 26, 2024 & August 22, 2024, members of the Solid Waste Advisory Committee met to review the proposals for solid waste collection. We received a total of four (4) proposals. We would like to thank John Schmidt, Carlos Esquivel, Steve Stanford, and Ed Kulakowski We currently bill residents $17.97 per month under waste managements contract that is The group reviewed the proposals and ranked them based on letter of interest, qualifications, scope summary, total fees, & references. The group discussed the pros and To keep the current level of service in the Town the Bids ranged from $28.95 to $43.11. The group's selection saves money by reducing the collection days to once a week, however itd does provide town-branded rolling trash and recycling carts that will be owned by the Town at the end of the contract. The Town will be split into two separate routes / collection In accordance with Town Code, if the RFP is awarded to Waste Pro the Town Commission will need to adopt a Resolution establishing a new solid waste rate which typically includes Ed Kulakowski, Chair of the Solid Waste Advisory Committee, provided the following The Solid Waste Advisory Committee was formed to evaluate responses to the Solid Waste  for their time commitment during this process.  ending on Jan 31, 2025.  cons of each company and gave their top selections.  This would include twice a week collection using residents' carts.  days. This brought the monthly rate down to $25.58.  an administrative fee. information:  Services Request for Proposal issued by the Town.  Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes  October 22, 2024 - Page 3    Bottom line up front - The Committee recommends Waste Pro as the new solid waste contractor, and that we utilize their Option 4, which has once a week pickup of household waste, yard waste, and recyclables. Residents will be supplied one (1)95-gallon mainstream trash container and one (1) 95-gallon recycle container. The residents will have the option of requesting smaller 64-gallon trash or recycle containers along with paying a rate for additional containers as needed. These bins will be owned by the Town at contract The Committee met twice with Mike Parker and Nathan Brown to review the proposals and  completion.  generate this recommendation.  Background:  The RFP solicited bids to contract for solid waste pickup and disposal beginning at the termination of the current contract with Waste Management in February 2025. The bid package asked for a description of services and corresponding prices to exactly replace the existing service, and for alternate services that may be beneficial to Town residents.  Responses:  Four RFP responses were received from bidders Coastal Waste, FCC Environmental, Waste  Management, and Waste Pro. Analysis of the Proposals:  Coastal Waste was dismissed as not being a serious bidder - They addressed their response to the "City of Tamarac, RFP 24-01R". This lack of attention disqualified Coastal Waste. The three remaining bidders were all deemed qualified to provide service to Oakland. Each bidder included several options. Since all were evaluated as qualified, the committee shortlisted two bidders: Waste Pro, the lowest price bidder, and Waste Management, our We submitted additional questions to each short list contractor regarding sizing of the containers to be provided, handling of "overflow" trash that may occasionally not fit in the supplied bid, and supply of larger/smaller bins, pickup of yard waste and "White Goods". Both short list contractors responded to the follow-up questions. Since both were fully  current provider.  qualified, the lowest price bidder, Waste Pro, is recommended.  Proposed service summary:  Service will be provided by two new compressed natural gas-powered Rear Loader trucks and one pickup for supervisor use. These trucks include innovative service verification GPS-enabled cameras that record and verify waste collection activities  and manage anomalies like missed pickups.  Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes  October 22, 2024 - Page 4    Mainstream solid waste service will address the Town in 2 parts: half the Town will  be serviced on Tuesday, the other half on Friday.  Recycling collection will be accomplished by one truck on Thursday. Yard Waste collection will be accomplished by one truck on Wednesday. Bulk Waste collection (furniture, etc.) will be accomplished by one truck, half the Town will be serviced on Tuesday, the other half on Friday (same as mainstream White Goods (appliances) collection will be accomplished by one Supervisor truck on Waste Pro will provide wheeled mainstream waste bins with imprinted Town name and logo for all residents. Residents will have a choice of larger or smaller bins to suit their needs. Bin selection, large or small, will be identified by residents via survey Waste Pro will provide wheeled recycle bins with imprinted Town name and logo for Service will also be provided for annual hazardous waste pickup events, public  trash collection). Tuesday and Friday.  prior to the start of service. all residents.  facilities, and Oakland Charter School.  Overall, the committee feels that Waste Pro offers the best value for money for Oakland and  recommends contracting with them. Public comments were as follows:  Kris Keller, 2511 Stone Creek Court - Kris said she is curious about the need for new bins. She said she thinks it is a lovely idea to have our logo on them, but she is sure everyone in town has bins currently SO is it a requirement to have the new bin for automation, is it like the ones that they lift into the truck, SO it has to be a specific one? Kris said her second concern is that she only has SO much room with a much larger bin and then neighborhoods with HOAS, they can't leave their bins outside sO have to make room for them in their garage. She said the bin that she has now is just going to end up in the trash, SO she is assuming like a lot of other people, this becomes waste that is not necessary, SO she is asking if there is an absolute need for Ed said that he could tell Kris about the discussion that the advisory committee had, and they talked about several things, number one being the use of the containers. He said that Waste Pro's trucks are set up with these specific containers SO the guys don't have to do it, it is an efficiency move for them. Ed said they can go faster, and he thinks it will result in better service. He said he knows in his neighborhood, people do have smaller bins and there is always stuff on the side that doesn't fit in the bin SO they are hopeful that the larger size bins will be able to contain the trash, and they will be able to be lifted efficiently by the trucks. Ed said as far as the old current existing ones are concerned, they can still be used for yard waste, and they can be transitioned tos some other use like that, or they just become more solid waste.  new bins.  Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes  October 22, 2024 - Page 5    Kris asked if it is possible to have a recycling bin for anybody who wants to dispose of their existing bin because she doesn't have room for the one, she has plus the two new ones and she is sure, like a lot of people, she will just want to get rid of it. She said she would hate to just have them all end up in Regina Caronia of Waste Pro said that they can provide an open container and put it somewhere close to the office and if residents want to drop off their Commissioner Ramos asked Ed if after the survey is it only one type or can it be a Ed said that it will be individual SO if you wanted the 95, you'd get that and if Commissioner Ramos said that question was for Kris if she wants to have a Ed: said that is for both mainstream trash and for recycling. He said that you can have two 95's too if needed, there will be an upcharge for additional bins because the proposal he read was based upon one mainstream trash and one Ed: said no, iti is an additional service fee monthly because they are picking up Jill Cox, 301 Walker Street - Jill asked what the town is going to do about the animals that get into the garbage sitting there for a week, and they are going to get to get into the garbage. She said the trash cans are not lockable, and she said she is not going to put that stinky thing in her garage, sO it is one the side of her house and instead of the garbage disappearing twice a week, it is going to be a problem, because they see that up in the mountains. Mayor Taylor said that is a good point. Jon Hammerstein, 306 E. Vick Ave = Jon said that he doesn't know if it is in the contract or ifi it is an OSHA requirement but is wondering if the truck can go down one street once and get both sides or do they have to come down the other side to get the other side. He said he doesn't know if that is a logistics thing or how they  the landfill somewhere.  garbage cans, they can just put it in the open container.  mix of some with 95 and some with 64.  you want 64, you'd get that, iti is not one size fits all.  smaller one.  recycling.  Kris asked if iti is a one-time cost to buy an extra bin.  more than one can.  plan their routes.  Regina Caronia of Waste Pro said that they ride a specific route because it is safe for the driver and the helper too. She said it is not that they drive down to the end of the street and turn around and decide they are going to come down this other street. Regina said that the way it is routed through the route Mayor Taylor said the big takeaway he sees are changes in the trash cans, everybody gets a trash can. He said there is a change in the days SO instead of Tuesday and Friday, now iti is half the town on Tuesday and half the town on Friday. Mayor Taylor said that recycling is now on Thursday instead of Wednesday and instead of the bin, you will have an actual can. He said he thinks the inclusion of white goods is good.  optimization tool, it will route everything right-handedly.  Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes  October 22, 2024 - Page 6    Town Manager Stewart said they just need approval from the Town Commission to authorize him to execute the necessary documents in order to contract services with Waste Pro for the one day a week garbage collection which was just presented to the commission and Commissioner Ramos asked how long is the contract? Town Manager Stewart said we are going to have to work out all the details. He said it gets a little bit more specific when we get into the contract itself, it will talk about cost of living, CPI adjustments and all those things, and we can work out the terms as well during that time. Town Manager Stewart said MOTION was made by Commissioner Ramos, seconded by Commissioner McMullen to authorize the Town Manager to execute any necessary documents in order to contract  then we will bring that back before the Town Commission for approval.  typically solid waste contracts are seven years.  services with Waste Pro for one day a week service. AYE: McMullen, Polland, Ramos, Taylor  NAY: None  Public Parking and Traffic Study - Oakland Avenue Charter School Town Manager Stewart provided the following information:  At the September Town Commission meeting, Town Manager Stewart presented an overview of some possible parking improvements that may help alleviate traffic for morning drop off at Oakland Avenue Charter School, as well as providing some additional public parking for events and providing some additional parking on Sundays, which is where we're starting to see a large influx of parking as a result as it relates to our local churches. On October 2, 2024, Town Department Heads met with local churches to discuss and gather input about the proposed study as well as traffic issues in this area. The consensus gathered at this meeting was that most of the traffic concerns were being experienced on Sunday's as well on weekdays during student pickup and drop off times att the Oakland Avenue Charter Town staff propose utilizing Myra Planning and Design to provide recommendations and schematic designs to explore improvements by utilizing a portion of underutilized land at Oakland Avenue Charter School. The end goal of creating a conceptual plan will provide the Town and Oakland Avenue Charter School with a schematic design and road map to begin working towards improvements that benefit the surrounding residents, the school, local churches, businesses, and the town. School safety will also remain a priority in addition to maintaining a relatively low impact on the Oakland Avenue Charter School operations.  School.  Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes  October 22, 2024 - Page 7    The proposed agreement would be funded in the current budget under the road resurfacing line item and proposed funding for the project is to be determined upon completion of the evaluation and schematic design. Town Manager Stewart said we are looking to provide some additional parking and possibly reduce the drop off and pick up times at the Oakland Town Manager Stewart said that the Scope of Services Agreement with Myra Planning and Design covers different task orders and the scope of services to include permitting, draft schematic design, final schematic design, and hosting meetings necessary with all department heads to make sure that everybody is providing their input as well as the town commission. Town Manager Stewart said that any residents that may have some input, she will be more than willing to listen to them as well. Town Manager Stewart said that town staff recommends approval of the scope of services with Myra Planning and Design in the amount of $7,500 and then the goal would be to bring back the schematic design of the area that we are looking to make these parking and transportation improvements and then be able to come back and provide the commission more concrete costs for those  Avenue Charter School in the morning and afternoons.  improvements.  Town Commission discussion was as follows:  Mayor Taylor said that looking at Myra's proposal, it looks like she's going to provide the permits to remove the drain field that's there and then we'll have to hire a contractor to remove the drain field. He said she'll draw up some schematic plans and final plans and hold meetings and it also says on here that as far as sub consulting, we need a survey for the property. Mayor Taylor said that he doesn't know if we already have one or if it is actually even necessary to do one, you just Public Works Director Parker said that he thinks that Myra was proposing a topographical survey just SO we can get the lay of the land. He said we do Mayor Taylor said we are going to leave it grass right, He said we are not Public Works Director Parker said that we do have some drainage concerns back there SO Myra just wants to make sure that it is taken care of. Commissioner Ramos said he is assuming that after they move the drain field, they may change the topo again, SO either bring more dirt or not SO we don't have water stuck. He said that is what he is thinking the topo is for. Mayor Taylor said SO do we wait until the drain field is removed and then get as survey? He said that way you have somewhat of an area, we've got to get the cost on that. Mayor Taylor said is a Geotech report necessary if the only thing you're doing is removing the drain field and backfilling it and compacting it, sod it, seed it, however you want to do it. He said he doesn't know if a $2500 or $5000 Geotech report is worth it. Mayor Taylor said that how he is looking at this is how they are doing it like Lakeside parks on the ball fields  need a simple plot plan.  have a boundary survey, but it was a topographical survey.  changing any elevations.  Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes  October 22, 2024 - Page 8    that is essentially how he sees this being except for there's a few more gates and some fencing that has to go in there. He said it seems very simple to him Commissioner Ramos said he agrees with Mayor Taylor on that part. He said once you get the height of it, once you remove that and you know the level of Public Works Director Parker said that he thinks the Mayor has a good point there about Geotech, he thinks that we could easily delete that. He said the survey, we really need it for the drainage because that is the drainage for Starr Town Manager Stewart said that we are looking to relocate some of that fence there behind the property owners on the west side there, SO probably it would Mayor Taylor said that he thinks a lot oft this will be used by Lakeside, probably, with their congregation on Sundays, as well as Anointed Church which uses mostly the parking lot at the charter school. He said he has driven by there on Sundays and seen cars parked there, which makes sense because they can walk right across the street. Mayor Taylor said he thinks it will make residents happy for not as much parking to take place on the ball field. He asked if the Public' Works Director Parker said that we had talked about it being either way, Mayor Taylor said he his thought is that it is just a grass lot that is there. He said he believes the thought from Principal Dwyer was that it could be utilized by the school if it's not being used on Monday through Friday for parking and Commissioner Ramos said that he thought it was mentioned also that it could be used for the fourth and fifth graders drop off Monday through Friday. Town Manager Stewart said yes, we're looking at all those options. Commissioner Ramos said SO we can maximize not just Saturday and Sunday. Town Manager Stewart said that is correct and then we would have the school look at that to see if that's an option SO that's why we were hiring this Commissioner Ramos said maybe we could alleviate some of the traffic on Oakland Avenue by putting fourth and fifth graders drop off in another area, Town Manager Stewart said that we have to look at school hardening sO all that has to be looked at depending on where that could take place. He said there was brought up that we could possibly make that a drop off area and that would hold a lot more cars in that area and get them off the roadways and if you are dropping off half the students at a different spot, it is half the drop off time and half the pickup time but that would be something that he would like to get with the school and let them look at that as well.  to do sO he is just curious if all these are needed. it, you don't want to have water stuck there.  Street and everything that runs through there. be good to know what land belongs to the school.  right-of-way that runs, will that just be gravel paved.  itcould be gravel, it could be dirt.  things like that.  consultant.  SO we are just checking into that for now.  Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes  October 22, 2024 - Page 9    o Mayor Taylor said that hei is good with the study, the other stuff he just doesn't think we really need to waste our effort and money on doing that. He thinks we could possibly get to the schematic design before we do any type of survey  or permitting and spend any money on any of that stuff.  MOTION was made by Commissioner Ramos, seconded by Commissioner Polland to approve the Scope of Services Agreement with Myra Planning and Design LLC.  AYE: McMullen, Polland, Ramos, Taylor  NAY: None  TOWN MANAGER/DEPARTMENT HEAD REPORTS:  Manager's Report  Town Manager Stewart said that he just had a lot of thanks from himself to the town staff during Hurricane Milton. He said that Elise, our Assistant Town Manager, took the helm during that time and did a fantastic job and he heard there was a lot of help from the mayor as well, SO he really appreciates the town department heads and staff for that. He said that what we just approved this evening, in previous years the town hired consultants to draft these RFPS because they are quite extensive, but they're all cookie cutter type RFPS SO we did that all in-house. He said we bid it out competitively and went with the lowest bid SO Assistant Public Works Director Brown took that as his personal project and then led the charge there with the committee, SO he appreciates all his hard work on this.  Department Head Reports  Community Outreach Director Lovejoy provided a recap on Hurricane Milton, please see attached presentation for additional information. Highlights of the presentation were as We communicated to residents through a couple of different platforms, one was our website. We posted a banner at the top with storm info that was included on all pages of the website and then we also had a news flash that was at the bottom. Our website traffic during this time increased and we had about a thousand more people visit the website during the week of the hurricane. On an average day the charter school is the most popular click on our website, but during the hurricane it was Hurricane Milton, specifically sandbags. The ladies at the front desk, thanks to Public Works, gave out over almost 3,000 sandbags during that time frame. It was busy in Town We also had email communication. We've heard from the Commission, and we've heard from residents about increasing our communication efforts and one way that we've done that is through emails. We sent out four emails during the storm, two emails pre-storm on sandbags, road closures, or town closures, and important  follows:  Hall.  Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes  October 22, 2024 - Page 10    information for residents, and then one encouraging email from the mayor, and then one post-storm email that was on debris pickup. Our average open rate for Hurricane Milton emails was 68%, which is about double our current normal open rate. We: sent that to 1,950 residents, and those are mostly households because it's attached to their water account or their utility account. Sometimes there's two emails on that Facebook was another place where we communicated with residents. We did a total of 23 posts with three of those being videos of the mayor, and during that time, about 17,600 people saw our posts. Now obviously we don't have that many people in Oakland, SO Facebook actually tells us where those people live. The majority were in Oakland, then it was Winter Garden, Clermont, and Ocoee who were seeing the information that we put out. The next interesting number is the interaction which are people that actually clicked like, love, or shared it SO we know that they actually saw, they read it for the most part and interacted with us. On an average week our interaction is 150 people and during the storm, we interacted with 1,600 people, mostly in Oakland. During Milton, we reached 17,000 people and we usually reach about 200 people on average per week, SO it was a huge increase. Facebook also shows us what our top performing posts were. The top performing post was our road closure post, which was the first post after the storm when everybody was waking up and looking to see what had happened. Nearly 10,000 people saw that post and 87 people reacted, commented, and liked the post and then we also had 37 shares on that post. The post was being shared by news outlets, residents, community members, and then we had 24 comments. There was a great picture that Chief Esan was able to snap for us when he was driving around town early that morning that you may have seen of a branch in front of Historic Town Hall but that narrowly missed itb by just a few feet. And then of course the solid waste update is always a popular Community Outreach Director Lovejoy said that she put together a page of the presentation specifically for the department heads, especially in our post Milton Storm debrief, it's just a snapshot of the residents that said thank you. There's a lot more that also said thank you. Thank you for the debris pickup. Thank you for communicating. She said SO much that her team does relies on the other department heads to share information with us, and it was a wonderful exchange of information where we were all meeting frequently and having that information dialogue SO that we could communicate with residents. Community Outreach Director Lovejoy said that hopefully everyone found the information that they needed useful and that it was helpful to receive updates, SO she thanked her colleagues that helped her  account, but for the most part, it's one resident per account.  post.  communicate. She said hopefully it was well received.  Community Outreach Director Lovejoy said that it feels like a long time since Music Under the Oaks because we have been through a lot but thanked everyone that came to that great event. She said that we have lots of exciting things coming up including Trees of the Season  Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes  October 22, 2024 - Page 11    and Christmas is right around the corner. Community Outreach Director Lovejoy thanked Public Works Director Parker said the biggest thing going on is the debris cleanup, we're asking residents now to stop putting out the big piles on Friday. He said Friday will be the last day for those to be picked up, theoretically, we'll see how that works but we'll be picking up the debris for probably another month. Mayor Taylor asked if that is for the grapple truck that comes through to do another swing through and grab everything? Public Works Director Taylor said yes, even though we're asking residents to pause on Friday, we'll have a grapple truck here next week. Jon Hammerstein said that he knew his neighbor had a lot of fencing come down and spent some time getting all the piles out there. He said it's not a tree and itis not garbage. Public Works Director Parker said SO all the green debris, the trees and the limbs and stuff like that, that has to be kept separate from that. He said that we are picking that stuff up, too but it just may be there for a little while. Public Works Director Parker said we're getting all that stuff, all the debris will be removed, it goes to a different Chief Esan said the 5K with the 5-0 has been rescheduled until November 17th, Hurricane Assistant Town Manager/lown Clerk Hui said she wanted to acknowledge the team that did a great job during the hurricane. The mayor was over at the police department with the emergency operations center, and they did a fantastic job. Public Works Director Parker spent the night there and Police Chief Esan and all his crew were there SO, you know, they had their eyes on Oakland and put that as priority over their own families. She said she just wanted to acknowledge that it takes a special type of person to do that. Assistant Town Manager/Town Clerk Hui said that. Jessica just did an amazing job with all that posting that you saw. She said that all came right after Music Under the Oaks, and it was like, bam, bam, and she was on it. She said she just really appreciates the staff that we have and the work Ed Kulakowski asked if we have any statistics about power performance and power outages within Oakland. Mayor Taylor said that he knows that a lot of people lost power, but he knows that power got put back on in areas like Winter's Landing and some sections on Friday, and in his neighborhood, they got it back Saturday. He said he thinks the whole town was back up by Saturday. Public Works Director Parker said he is pretty sure. He said the water plant was off for like 69 hours, something like that, SO we didn't have power over there, but we have generators, iti is a good thing we didn't run out of gas. Mayor Taylor said he thought Duke came more quickly than he thought they would. Ed said quicker than they have in the past. Mayor Taylor said he agreed and again, they had 16,000 people staged there at different locations. Commissioner McMullen said it was weird because if you looked at! 50, 50 lights were on, but right there by the turnpike were off sO there was kind of weird grid in his community. Chief Esan said that they were on because somebody from the police department powered up the generator for those traffic signals until he found out that all that gas was coming out of his budget. He said the true issue was the DOT inspector. Chief  those that are decorating Christmas trees.  location.  Milton ran it all by himself on October 12th.  that they do.  Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes  October 22, 2024 - Page 12    Esan said he passed him at 6 in the morning, he was going around inspecting and taking a report and he didn't realize that we powered up those two sets of lights. Chief Esan said he thought they were working SO he skipped them and that is why he told his officer not to do that because DOT had to know that those lights were down. He said those two intersections were actually being powered up by generators. Commissioner McMullen said his portion lost power until Saturday and that has never happened in his 20 plus years being here. Commissioner McMullen said the majority of the community had power but right where he was, along towards the turnpike, they didn't have power until Saturday afternoon. Mayor Taylor said since the water plant is critical infrastructure that he did talk to Duke about trying to get a direct line number to dispatch SO that they can free up and get something out here to us. Public Works Director Parker said that's great, the number that he used is a direct line right to their North Carolina office and there is a person that always answers the phone SO that's good. Mayor Taylor said they are aware of it and said they're going to try to be better next time. Public Works Director Parker said that a little tidbit that he found out during the storm which he didn't know after 12 years here, but the Clermont Duke Energy branch serves up to Tubb Street and the Winter Garden Duke Energy serves up to Tubb Street. He said the dividing line is Tubb Street. Mayor Taylor said it was not Lake County, you would think it would be the county line. Public Works Director Parker said that is what he always thought but even though there's just a little bit of work that needed to be done on this side, the Clermont guys couldn'tdoi I it. Commissioner Polland said but we have got linemen coming  from out of state that can work anywhere. COMMISSION REPORTS:  Commissioner Ramos said extraordinary, extraordinary job to the staff, team, police, everyone, communication, mayor, thank you commissioners, everybody, it was great. He said just to echo Ms. Marilyn Mack, thank you, thank you, thank you. Commissioner Ramos said it could have been worse for all of us, it went well. He said he witnessed the showing of neighborly love in our town with neighbors helping neighbors, which he was really honored to see play out. Commissioner Ramos said that after seeing everybody kumbaya at the Music Under the Oaks and hanging out, he was looking around, asking himself if this will recur after the hurricane. He said he was wondering if everybody would be on edge, but everybody carried on that same, that spirit of the town, and helped each other. Commissioner Ramos said he saw it play out, SO it was really great SO thank you, thank you, Commissioner Polland said first of all, Friday is Pumpkin Glow at the Preserve from 5:30 to 9.30 p.m. Mayor Taylor asked ifi it is just one day. Commissioner Polland said, yes, just one day because the school has an event, and they need parking space, SO they can't do it both days. He said for the Oakland Nature Preserve update on the storm, they probably lost about seven dozen trees at the preserve, they had some damage to the fish cabin, and they had a lot of damage to the boardwalk. Commissioner Polland said that they had eight areas of the boardwalk that were damaged and some of it's pretty severe. He said that some of the trees right along the boardwalk blew over, and the roots kind of pushed the whole boardwalk  thank you.  Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes  October 22, 2024 - Page 13    up in several places. Commissioner Polland said it is pretty extensive damage and the boardwalk is going to be closed down for a while; they are getting an estimate for repairs now. Commissioner Polland said they are right at the beginning of their fiscal year, and they put a dent in their budget already for tree removal and all that other stuff. He said that they are going to be planning to do a fundraiser really soon, they are looking at Giving Tuesday and are thinking of advertising that pretty heavily. He is hoping by the next meeting he will have some more information as to what they are looking at, and everyone can spread the word to help them out, because they are going to need some money. Public Works Director Parker said that if Commissioner Polland could get with him after the meeting, he thinks that is all possible FEMA reimbursement. Commissioner Polland said Managing Director O'Brien has already filed the FEMA paperwork, but they can't count on getting reimbursed Commissioner McMullen said he had a quick thank you. He said when the hurricane came, they had a big tree down, and he reached out to Public Works Director Parker, Assistant Town Manager Hui, Chief Esan, and Town Manager Stewart. Commissioner McMullen said Chief Esan and Public Works Director Parker communicated right away that they were working through the town and coming over there. Commissioner McMullen said it was a big tree that fell on someone's car a few houses down, and SO, even though they were over on the other side, it was like, yes, we're on it, we're on our way, sO he just wanted to say thank you. The other piece is that he didn't report last time because he wanted to wait until Town Manager Stewart was here, and of course, a lot of people know he is very involved with the Florida League of Cities SO during this time, Florida League of Cities is creating policy messaging to the state. Commissioner McMullen serves on one of the committees, it's called the Development Code Compliance and Redevelopment Committee. He said all the different committees are coming up with different policy positions and some of the potential policies that the Florida League of Cities is going to be lobbying the legislature on our behalf, along with us coming alongside them are things like affordable housing, which is a big one, vacation rentals, unlawful demolition of historical housing, structures and farm worker housing. Commissioner McMullen said there is a lot of housing around the Southwest and around the country where farmworkers are living in them in high numbers, they are essential persons but some areas are really concerned about that. He said the one that is going to help us is impact fee utilization. He said that Town Manager Stewart gave him some talking points as it relates to trying to see if we can use the impact fees for other services, i.e., hired grant writers. Commissioner McMullen said this is very important because we were vetoed in the budget this year, but the reason Governor DeSantis vetoed a lot of those infrastructure projects is because there are grant dollars, SO he's asking a lot of cities and towns and villages to go after grants. He said we're a small town SO if we can hire someone or a grant writer to use some of their services to go after these grants, itll make it a whole lot easier for most of these small cities and towns throughout. Commissioner McMullen said that it is a potential policy position, and he wants us to realize that having Town Manager Stewart on board and having the staff on board to help us may be one of the main points that's going to be lobbied towards the legislators to help us, because if we can useour  because they don't know if they are going to get that or not.  Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes  October 22, 2024 - Page 14    impact fees for other services, it can make a lot of difference, especially when it comes to some of the infrastructures and the things that we're trying to do in this town. He said we may not make the number one priority for our committee, but we are in the conversation, because he was one of the ones who presented based on some of the notes that Town Manager Stewart gave him, and this is an issue statewide. Commissioner McMullen said that a lot of cities and towns want to use their impact fees for other services, and when he made a presentation, there were several cities and towns around the room that were chiming in saying that this is a challenge for them, and that they could use their impact fees for grant writing or for other things, as long asi it's going towards the infrastructure. He said whatever impact is being made on the growth of the town, it can really help those cities and towns, because most of the cities and towns in the state of Florida are small. Commissioner McMullen said that we're in a conversation and they have two more policy committees, one inN November and one in December. He said that we may not become a main priority, but we are part of the conversation, SO anyway we can have our voice heard along with other cities and towns that can help us fiscally and at the same time grow, he thinks is a good thing, and he wants to say thank you to Town Manager Stewart for giving him those talking points to be able to present. Mayor Taylor said he agrees and he thinks that there should be something in there that says you can use your impact fees, we have two million dollars of transportation impact fees in there right now SO if a grant writer sits there and says it is going to cost you $30,000 for them to write this grant that could possibly get you two million more, it's worth it, and impact fees can only be used on certain items. He said you can'tuse it to repave a road, you can use it to improve something, but repaving a road has to go, its taxes collected, and it's got to be in a budget, but he thinks it's like a no-brainer to do that. Commissioner McMullen said he knows that every committee can only have one policy, but you can have a subcommittee and a sub-policy, and this will be a part of the conversation statewide, because there were several cities that, even hiring someone to manage the grant, that was the discussion, okay, you got somebody who'll write the grant, but you still need a human that's going to be able to do the reporting, do the follow-up and all that, and Public Works Director Parker does it all. Mayor Taylor said that's right because when you write a grant, you might write the grant, but then there's this whole reporting thing and if you had ag grant for two years, you had to report every quarter for the two years that we spent X, Commissioner Ramos said that the impact fees cannot be used for new roads, but to improve the roads? Town Manager Stewart said no, only related to growth or capacity, there's a lot of gray area. He said because Commissioner McMullen was pushing this through, it would require a change to the state statute, a law change, basically, to allow that to happen. Commissioner Ramos said to improve our dirt roads, not new asphalt but to improve the dirt roads. Town Attorney Velo said that she thinks our exposure to the litigation might be Mayor Taylor said he would just like to echo what everybody said about thanks to the staff. He told Town Manager Stewart that his staff is extraordinary, and he is very, very proud of  we did this type of thing.  high in that case and she is not sure how that would shake out.  Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes  October 22, 2024 - Page 15    how they handled the situation. Mayor Taylor said that he thinks the storm could have been a heck of a lot worse than it was, but when you're in there, and this is his personal experience in there with them and sitting in the EOC meetings and all that stuff, and just hearing them and seeing them in action, every resident should be very proud. He said thank you, Chief, Mike, Nathan, Jessica, Elise, and everybody else for being there and caring about  the residents of the town, his hat's off to you, thank you very much.  ADJOURNMENT  There being no further business, Commissioner McMullen adjourned the meeting at 8:03  p.m.  TOWN OF OAKLAND:  SHANEYAYOR,MAYOR   ATTEST: Hwihi  ELISE HUI,TOWN CLERK  Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes  October 22, 2024 - Page 16    HURRICANE MILTON  TOWN OF  Gainesville  DaytonaBeach FLORIDA SpringH /Orlando Tampa-  Oakland  FLORIDA  PalmE Bay PortSaintLucie  CapeCoral  FortlLauderd: dia    WEBSITE  G 6 oaklandilgov  News Alert & Banner Run on all  S SirusXM Sayfic FloridaHlouse ofRe.. de TheFloridas Senate- Myfloridacom Ho- Floridal Departmen.-- National RevicwOnl- RA Slceveless lec Drcss.. Scp  Information on Debris Pick-up, and Post Storm Updates  POST STORM INFO Find out more Create Wobsite Account- Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress andn more.  Oakland  Government  Services  Community  Business  How Dol  RIDA  pages  Pre-Storm Info Starting 10/6  Post-Storm Info Updated 10/10    WEBSITE TRAFFIC  3  Website Overview Sep 22, 2024- Sep: 29,2024  €  Website Overview 0e16.024-04113.2024  Totalusers Newusers Sessions Views 1,392 1,133 1,842 3,520 00:02:33  Averages sessionduralion  Totalusers Newusers Sessiuns Views 1,737 1,493 2,402 4,599  Avelage sessiondulatic 00:02:36  Device category tapiet  Total usen 761 067  Devicecategory moble desktop labiet  Tolalu users 1075 685  Page patha and screen class Paget tito  Vlews * 413 281 194 145 14S 123 80 72 64 3,520  Pagep patha ands screen class Paget tiue aspa Sea  Omicia wepsite NewsFiasn updateso onMimonsSanobags News Flasn on Town. OakiandA Scnooil Seaicn- OahlandFL CiwcEngaye Soloy wasle andRecycingi OaanoFL CwcEngage PolceDepastment: 1OaniandFL Menusa Fees IOaNlandfL  NewsF Fiasn- Seaicn- CivicEngage BuiongPermts! Soigy wasle andRecycingi OaNAnGFL Communty Eventsl IOasandFL Grandtolal  To    EMAIL COMMUNICATION  Pre-Storm 2 Emails Topics: Sand Bags, FAQ's, Town Closures, Emergency Resources  Oakland Hurricane Milton Update #3  Sent B Email Sent Oct 9,2024 at 1:00pm EDT  1.950 sends . 1153(66%lopens - 201%.clicks - 195.10%l.bounces - 1(1%_unsubscri  Oakland Hurricane Milton Update #2  Sent a Email Sent Oct 8, 2024 at 3:51pm EDT  1 Email  1.950 sends * 1245.79opens - 45/3%)clicks * 196.10%lbounces 0(0%)unsubs  Encouragement from Mayor  Oakland Town of Oakland - Hurricane Milton  Post Storm 1 Email Debris Clean-up, Duke Contact  Sent B3 Email Sent Oct7,2024 at 9:45am EDT  1,952sends . 1203.(68%lopens : 57(3%)clicks 194.(0%bounces : 11%unsubscribs  Sent to 1,950 Residents & Business Owner  Open Rate 68%    FACEBOOK  October 6 - October 13, 2024  Performance Reach e  Daily Cumulative  23 Posts 3 Videos  Content interactions e Followers e Link clicks e  17.6K T 142.6% 1.6K 1 104%  Lifetime 3.6K  30 * 67%  Viewed by 17,600 people in Oakland, Winter Garden, 15K Clermont, Ocoee 10K  20K  Reachbreakde Total 17,579 1 14 From organic 14,887 1 70: From ads Oct13 2,726 T 100%  5K 0  1,600 liked, commented or shared  Oct7  Oct9  Oct11  Reach From organic From ads    The top performing post was Road & Parks Closure Post  PERFORMANCE  Title  Date published 14 Reach 0 *  Likesa and T4 Commen reactions 87 Reactions 6 Reactions 85 Reactions  CLOSURES! # e ALL Public Parks including the Ten... e Town of Oakland. Florida  9.2K  24 Comments 7 Comments 11 Comments  Boost Thu Oct 10, 7:42am Reach  No Recycling' Wednesday a Waste Management.   3.4K  e Town of Oakland. Florida  Boost Tue Oct 8, 1:28pm Reach  6 Earlier today staff from all departments showed U... e Town of Oakland. Florida  2.9K Reach  Boost FriOct1 11, 7:25pm  Post:" a No Recycling Wednesday a  Boost unavailable Tue Oct 8, 1:30pm 2.7K  B:  Reach 2.2K  Beginning Monday, Oct. 7.2024 In preparation for H.. e Town of Oakland, Florida  14 Reactions 121 Reactions  7 Comments 22 Comment  Boost Sun Oct 6, 3:58pm Reach  a Wel know many of you are asking. "Willl Thave run... e Town of Oakland, Florida  2K Reach  Boost Tue Oct 8, 11:40am    RESIDENT RESPONSE  Author Town of Oakland, Florida  Andy Kelly  MOmI  Thanks for contacting them, and thanks for the update! I'm proud and thankful of how our town and its employees have managed this storm.  Charlie Robinson we apologize that it took longer than expected. We have heard from Public Works that it has all been removed. Stay safe!  4d Like Reply Jenny Seachrist  6d Like Reply Charlie Robinson Thank you!  Beverly Amerman Follow Stay safe our wondertu.Oakland staff  Town of Oakland, Florida you folks are awesome!: 6d Like Reply Send message Hide Admin Group expert in Planning +1 6hours ago 6  Thank you for all of the prep you did to make our town safe! The very idea that we had power until 1 AM was  Shaun Fulton  insane!!! Very appreciated! 5d Love Reply Send n e Top fan CarolAnn Dooley  rd like to thank our Mayor (Shane Taylor) for his regular communication, before, during. and after Milton. The Town of Oakland, has, and continues to do a stellar job getting things back to normal, thanks Andy and your whole team. By all accounts, this level of engagement keeping Us up to date andi informed, is new and  Terry Skornik Thank you for update.  Thank you!! It was a welcome sight to see police and cean-up crews already at work at 7AM. Amazing response!! Best I've ever seen in the  was not delivered in the past. Good things!  Kenneth Waddell  Your time. : concern, and making this video/post is greatly appreciated. We are all in this together.  Regan Krech Trampe isure took a pic of this, thank you  community!