TOWN COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2025 OAKLAND MEETING HALL 7:00 P.M. CALL1 TO 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 Commissioner Ramos. ROLL CALL COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Commissioner McMullen Commissioner Ramos Vice Mayor Satterfield Mayor Taylor None COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Vice Mayor read the following prepared statement for the record: "My name as you know, is Mike Satterfield. Ihave been your town commissioner/vice Mayor for 27 years now, with 3 or SO more years on various boards and committees. Ih have given 3 decades of service to this town, and it has been my honor. Those of you that know me personally know my passion for this town and that I would never do anything to hurt its reputation. I love our town. It is my home. There have been and still are several false accusations thrown out there in the past year or SO that are completely untrue. Iwill clarify them for now. This will be my only statement on the matter, and I will consider the matter closed. I have been accused of not living in this town, falsifying documents, and literally stealing from the town, and falsely claiming homestead exemption here cheating the town Let me assure you they are all false. First, Oakland has been my residence since 1995. That is when I filed homestead and registered to vote and that has not changed to this day. It has always been my home and my heart. It has always been my intention that this is where Iwill end up the rest of my life. I have never hid the fact that my businesses are in Brevard County or that I have multiple homes in Brevard County. That has been true my life before Ieven came here. Ihave always been very open about that. The statement that Ionly come to town for meetings and photo ops and that my truck is only seen here on Tuesday nights for meetings is amazingly untrue. I'm home every week regardless of meetings. That is unless I'm on vacation and out of state. I also have interest in North Carolina, again, of which I have never hid. In meet with the Town Manager every week whenIam home, Ir ride the town with Mike Parker and discuss what is happening in town regularly andIa am always out of even more money. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 1 at the school as it is one of my responsibilities, of which II love by the way. All of this can always be confirmed by the town staff. You see there is a lot more to our jobs than simply As for the financial accusations, any reasonable person that looked at all my personal information that has been spread across the social media and such will also come to the conclusion that will all my properties and businesses, I certainly don't need the money or health insurance provided by the town. As a matter of fact, I have suggested several times over the years that the five of us should really do away with the pay. I serve our town out of sheer passion. And finally, as to my homestead exemption, it doesn't even enter into the picture of my commission seat. IV would homestead here whether I was Vice Mayor or not. This is my home. Just in case Ihave not made this fact clear yet, Ilive in Oakland. Couldn't To town residents, It thank you for believing in me all these years. Your support has always been incredible. I promised you Iwill always do my best for you for as long as I hold this seat. You are the ones who have kept me here for over 25 years, and I can't even begin to Lastly, Shane, I know you can't stop folks from speaking their piece, none of us can. However, I am asking you to get involved in talking to people that seem to be spreading info that is tearing this town apart. Help bring us back together as one. You have a lot of influence, and your words mean a lot to folks here. Please use that and try to show people that we are in this together and elections are the time for making changes if deemed necessary. Iwould appreciate any help that you can give to this effort. Thati is it, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you again for the last three decades and as I said before, I promise as attending meetings and showing up for photo ops. be any clearer. tell you how much I appreciate you. long as I'm here, Iwill do the very best of my ability." PROCLAMATIONS/PRESENTATIONS: Trees of the Season Decorating Contest Winner Community Outreach Manager Dattolo stated that this was our 4th annual Trees of the Season event. She said we had 16 trees, and she thinks they were the best trees ever. Community Outreach Manager Dattolo said that we had an opening event on November 16th in which we had 223 people attend just that one day to see the trees and vote. She said the Trees of the Season event went from November 16th through January 4th and we had a total of 2,288 visitors during that time and of those we had a record number of votes of 1,267 votes. Community Outreach Manager Dattolo said that it was actually a pretty close contest and with the top four teams, it could have been anybody's ballgame, but she is proud to say that we have declared a winner. She said if you follow us on Facebook, you can see pictures of the trees and see the winners and we also chose some honorable mentions this year because we just had SO many fantastic trees. Community Outreach Manager Dattolo said our winner is here tonight and the first place went to Atlas Injury to Health Chiropractic who Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 2 had a phenomenal tree. She said if you came to visit, it was the train tree and it was really awesome, and Dr. St. Louis is here as well as Lou Lambros who crafted the tree and did an amazingi job. Community Outreach Manager Dattolo: said thatt they are going to be a recipient of a sponsorship; for the first time ever, we had a local Oakland company choose to sponsor the event and they were going to sponsor the winner with the ohundredanotty-dalar cash prize and Jimi and Elizabeth Klein from Refinement Auto Detailing are here to do that tonight. She said that Refinement Auto Detailing is a local business in Oakland and as awesome as it is that they are sponsoring the event, they also are adding a little bit more to itand she invited Dr. St. Louis to come up and Jimi is going to present him the check and then he has a little surprise along with a plaque from the Town of Oakland. Dr. St. Louis thanked the town for the awesome award and said they couldn't have done it without Lou because he was the mastermind behind the whole tree. He said what they decided to do with the $250 is donate it back to the Oakland Nature Preserve and the sponsor is adding an additional $150 SO iti is a total of $400 that they are donating back. Community Outreach Manager Dattolo said this is what community is all about and this is the reason why we do this event. Mayor Taylor said that every time he was up in the Heritage Center, every kid gravitated toward the train, it was the train that put the tree over the top SO good job with the out-of-the box thinking. Proclamation - Martin Luther King Jr. Day - January 20, 2025 2025, as the Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Oakland. Mayor Taylor read the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Proclamation announcing January 20, Proclamation - School Choice Week - January 26 - February 1,2025 Mayor Taylor read the School Choice Week Proclamation announcing January 26 - February 1, 2025, as School Choice Week in Oakland. Proclamation - Celebrate Literacy Week - January 27 -3 31,2025 Mayor Taylor read the Celebrate Literacy Week Proclamation announcing January 27-31, 2025, as Celebrate Literacy Week in Oakland. CONSENT AGENDA: a. Minutes - 12-10-2024 Town Commission Regular Meeting b. Contract for Legal Services - Town Attorney . Municipal Interlocal Agreement for Mutual Aid Mayor Taylor announced the items on the Consent Agenda. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 3 MOTION was made by Vice Mayor Satterfield, seconded by Commissioner Ramos to approve the Consent Agenda. AYE: McMullen, Ramos, Satterfield, Taylor NAY: None RESOLUTIONS RESOLUTION 2025-01-AF RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN COMMISSION OF THE TOWN OF OAKLAND, FLORIDA, APPROVING RESOLUTIONS FOR EXTENSION OF CREDIT AND INCUMBENCY CERTIFICATE; MAKING FINDINGS; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE Town Clerk Hui read the resolution title for the record. Town Manager Stewart explained that resolution is a housekeeping item to where we need a signatory and somebody that can conduct business with PNC Bank. He said this is the bank that holds the bond for the Charter School, so it is simply housekeeping. Town Manager Stewart said that Mayor Taylor did come into the office yesterday and recommended that we add two more signatures and people that can conduct business on behalf of the town SO we will add himself and the assistant town manager. He said the town staff recommend approval of the proposed agenda item for PNC Bank. Town Attorney Velo said that with the town manager and assistant town manager being added, she would suggest that the motion be to approve the resolution with those changes, with the additional designations of Town Manager Stewart and Assistant Town Manager Hui as individuals who are named on the agreement to do MOTION was made by Vice Mayor Satterfield, seconded by Commissioner Ramos to approve Resolution 2025-01 adding Town Manager Stewart and Assistant Town Manager DATE. business on behalf of the town. Hui as signatories. NAY: None AYE: McMullen, Ramos, Satterfield, Taylor RESOLUTION 2025-02 - A RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN OF OAKLAND, FLORIDA URSUANTTOCHAPTER 42-230FTHETOWN CODEOFORDINANCES RELATINGTOSOLD WASTE IN THE TOWN OF OAKLAND AND ESTABLISHING A MONTHLY SERVICE CHARGE FOR SOLID WASTE COLLECTION AND RECYCLING SERVICE AS SET BY RESOLUTION; Town Clerk Hui read the resolution title for the record. Assistant Public' Works Director Brown explained that the purpose of the resolution was to establish a monthly service charge for solid waste collection in the Town of Oakland. Assistant Public Works Director Brown said that as background on July 26, 2024 & August 22, 2024, members of the solid waste advisory group met to review the proposals for solid waste collection. He said the group PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 4 reviewed the proposals and ranked them based on letter of interest, qualifications, scope summary, total fees, & references. Assistant Public' Works Director Brown said that the group discussed the pros and cons of each company and gave their top selections and on October 22, 2024, the Town Commission selected Waste Pro of Florida Inc. as the Town's new solid Assistant Public Works Director Brown said that the Town will be changing to once a week pick up effective February 1, 2025, and providing town branded rolling trash and recycle carts and that the Town will need to adopt rates consistent with the rates received in the bid documents. He said that town staff is recommending an automatic rate increase of 4% October of each year to cover the costs of increases related to CPI and/or changes to tipping fees over the life of the contract with Waste Pro. Assistant Public Works Director Brown said that the Resolution also provides for a 4% administrative fee in addition to the bid amounts received by Waste Pro to cover the Town's administrative costs associated with billing, customer service, and administering the solid waste collection for the Town. Assistant Public Works Director Brown reiterated that the proposed Resolution and rates will take effect February 1, 2025, and we will be rolling out a lot more information in the upcoming two weeks in regard to rolling out the new carts and scheduling. Mayor Taylor said that he believes the rate schedule starts at $25.58 a month for that service. Assistant Public Works Director Brown said that is correct. Mayor Taylor said then you have your 4% administration fee, which is about another dollar so the total per month that people will see on their bill will be $26.60 a month SO everybody gets a heads up when you start seeing that. Assistant Public Works Director Brown said, actually for the first bill, it will be half a MOTION was made by Commissioner Ramos, seconded by Commissioner McMullen to waste provider. charge or a pro-rated charge because of the billing cycles. approve Resolution 2025-02. AYE: McMullen, Ramos, Satterfield, Taylor NAY: None ORDINANCES EMERGENCY ORDINANCE 2025-01 - AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE TOWN OF OAKLAND, FLORIDA, MAKING LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS; DECLARING A STATE OF EMERGENCY AFFECTING PUBLIC WELFARE; PROVIDING FOR APPLICABILITY AND PURPOSE; PROVIDING FOR PROCEDURESTO. APPLY FOR: INSURANCECOVERAGE FORTHE PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY'S FEES AND COSTS RELATED TO ETHICS COMPLAINT; PROVIDING FOR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY; PROVIDING FOR PROVISION OF LEGAL SERVICES BY TOWN ATTORNEY OR DESIGNEE AND REIMBURSEMENT OF REASONABLE ATTORNEY'S FEES AND COSTS; PROVIDING FOR RESERVATION OF CERTAIN SECTION NUMBERS; AND PROVIDING FOR CONFLICTS, SEVERABILITY, AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 5 Town Clerk Hui read the ordinance title for the record. Attorney Velo explained that the purpose of this Emergency Ordinance is to set forth procedures which shall govern in the event thata a town official determines that he or she isi in need of the assistance of an attorney to respond to, and defend against, a complaint to the Florida Commission on Ethics. She said that the Supreme Court of Florida has established that public officials are entitled to legal representation at taxpayer expense when defending themselves against litigation arising out of their public duties and serving a public purpose, and that such entitlement is a common law right that exists independent of any statute, ordinance, or charter. Town Attorney Velo said that to sum that all up, the right to compensation for reasonable attorney fees exists in these cases, regardless of whether you adopt an ordinance providing that right or not. She said that ordinance before the commission tonight does not provide any right to compensation for attorney fees; it simply provides procedures which would govern in event that such a claim arises and allows the town to essentially get ahead of such a claim. Town Attorney Velo said that we can alert our insurance company and our insurance defense counsel to the existence of a potential claim and then we can have some say in which attorney might represent a commissioner, which can have some impact on the overall cost. Town Commission discussion was as follows: Commissioner Ramos said if there is an ethics complaint toward one of the commissioners, or the way he reads it was also officials or staff, will the town attorney Town Attorney Velo said at the first instance, the ordinance requires that the potential claim be forwarded to the town'sir insurance carrier, and the insurance carrier can determine at thatt time whether or noti it wants to appoint insurance defense counsel. She said that if the carrier appoints insurance defense counsel, they can certainly work with them and if the insurance carrier denies the claim, then it essentially moves to the town attorney's office and they would, within their discretion, either represent the commissioner or designate Commissioner Ramos asked after an attorney is designated for the case, who Town Attorney Velo said that would come out of the town's budget. Mayor Taylor said this is strictly busy and not a personal issue. He asked why is this coming to the town commission that this constitutes an emergency order if one person is why we are in this situation where we have to pass an emergency order if there are already protections for the person that are already been established? Mayor Taylor said he is not asking Town Attorney Velo to speak on the specifics of what that complaint was because that is between attorney and client privilege, but he said his problem with this is that we are setting this up as an emergency ordinance. He said he doesn't believe that it is an emergency. Mayor Taylor said when he thinks of an emergency ordinance, he thinks of something like a natural disaster. He said that represent the official if this ordinance is passed. an attorney to represent the commissioner. pays for that attorney? Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 6 would constitute an emergency ordinance SO why are we doing this and who Town Attorney Velo said that the question of who determines whether it isan emergency or not is up to the town commission. She said that it is the finding that is set forth in the ordinance should you choose to adopt and approve it. Town Attorney Velo said that speaking more general about why the matters of an ethics complaint could result in an emergency, she will just say generally without discussing anything that could be covered by attorney-client privilege that if a complaint were filed right now without this ordinance in effect, the town doesn't have any right to demand advance notice of that claim and potentially would lose out on the ability to loop in the insurance carrier. Mayor Taylor said that if the person gets a complaint and gets notification that there is a complaint that has been filed again you, at that point, that person would bring it to the town and the town would forward it to the town attorney. He said isn't that the time, that's enough notice to sit there and say, how do you want to handle this, and do we need to notify out insurance carrier that this complaint has been filed? Mayor Taylor said looking through Town Attorney Velo'sn notes, there is a certain time period and an outline of how that whole process works, isn't that enough notice to tell the insurance company Town Attorney Velo said in that case, you would essentially have one commissioner asking the town staff or town attorney or whoever it may be to forward a claim to the insurance carrier without the knowledge or consent of the rest of the town commission and it just leads to a more confusing set of facts that she fears could only be worked out in litigation. She said that is one of the things that we hope to avoid by adopting these procedures. Commissioner Ramos asked if we need an ordinance to loop in the insurance Town Attorney Velo said without all of the insurance documents before her, she can't answer that question but she can speak generally and say that the earlier that we do loop in insurance, the better chance that they are going to Mayor Taylor said that his fear is if you go through with this and we start getting emergency ordinances like this, which again, he doesn't believe is an emergency, what is to stop somebody else from coming in like a developer or whatever saying they need this to pass right away, it needs to be an emergency ordinance. He said he feels like you are painting with a broad liberal brush, and he feels this ordinance opens us up for other instances. Mayor Taylor said depending on what this ethic's complaint is, he is sure the state is going to do their investigation if that is what they do. He said that he thinks there was something brought up about ethics complaints and when he thinks of an ethics complaint, he thinks of things like you are taking a bribe from determines that this needs to be an emergency situation. tos stand by this could end up in a case? and this is what we are trying to do procedurally? cover the claim or not deny coverage of the claim. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 7 someone or you are talking about what you are not supposed to be talking Commissioner McMullen asked if we need to have something like this in place? Town Attorney Velo said that without something like this in place, if a commissioner has a complaint filed against them, they could theoretically go out and get their own attorney at $500 an hour, incur huge amounts of attorney's fees, and then come to us at the end of the day saying hey, Ihave this large bill that is due, can you cut me a check. She said while we may not need it, it gives us the ability to have some discretion with what is going to happen at the beginning of when an ethics complaint is filed and it also provides that if a commissioner fails to abide by the procedures, that the commissioner is no longer entitled to compensation for attorney's fees. Town Attorney Velo said there is some benefit in the town in that it will not have to compensate commissioners or employees or whoever the case may be when Commissioner McMullen said thati if we don't do an emergency ordinance, what are our options. He said in this litigious environment, we need some kind of ordinance like this sO what is the other option. Commissioner McMullen said thati if we don't do this, what is the other process to get some kind of ordinance Town Attorney Velo said that the only other alternative she can think of, and she doesn't think it would be advisable for the town, would be to remove the provision dealing with insurance carriers and an insurance defense council and for the town attorney's office to take control of the situation at the beginning. She said that would remove the ability for the town to be able to assert that itdid loop the insurance company in at the beginning at therefore the claim should be covered. Town Attorney Velo said this ordinance is really helping us Commissioner McMullen said that every commissioner in the State of Florida has to take a four-hour ethics course every year and this course really lays out all kinds of things that can happen. He said sitting there right now, anyone in the room can ask for his paper to see what. Joseph McMullen has been writing, itis just that simple. Commissioner McMullen said it is not that simple, there are SO many scenarios, he takes notes in the meeting just to make sure he can remember some of the notes that happened. He said it is really here to protect the residents in town. Commissioner McMullen said they all take a 4- hour course every year SO that they don't mess up, SO this issue is very important. He said this is not something that we just push underneath the rug because if he were to be out in the street and Commissioner Ramos and he were out there smoking cigars because they both love cigars, someone could take a picture and say they were over there discussing what was going on in the town and they could technically have someone bring some kind of case against them. Commissioner McMullen said there is a thing called Sunshine about like town business when you are sitting around. the procedures aren't followed. like this in place. try and get insurance coverage. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 -] Page 8 Law, other states don't have the Sunshine Law meaning if you serve on a board, you cannot meet and just talk about anything. He said you can be together, like he could go to Commissioner Ramos' house and watch football but that can give a little idea that something is going on that is not right, SO he wants everyone to understand that this ethics protection is huge, it is nothing to play with. Commissioner McMullen said that he has known Vice Mayor Satterfield for 20 plus years, and he has known Commissioner Ramos for a long time, and they can't talk offline because someone may think that they are doing something wrong. He said this is really serious because there are not one or two different scenarios, there are many scenarios, and anybody can question anything the commission does out in the field and that is scary. Commissioner McMullen said he can walk out this door and Commissioner Ramos supports his nonprofit. He said that he stopped doing things in the Town of Oakland because he didn't want the residents to think that HAPCO is benefitting from it. Commissioner McMullen said he does concerts now through HAPCO in Ocoee, Apopka, and Fort Myers, he purposely stopped doing things inc Oakland, SO we won'thave this issue about if Commissioner McMullen really making money from the Town of Oakland through his nonprofit where he is helping thousands of kids every year. Commissioner McMullen said what he wants everybody to understand and when the mayor takes his first ethics class, a 4 hour live one, you can really see the different scenarios that you see around this state that has gotten people put in jail, just by going to something that they shouldn't do. He said there are: some people that do some crazy stuff and they need to be in jail but he can't go to Commissioner Ramos' house and smoke a cigar and watch tv because they are buddies and they can't go to church together and sit next to each other even though they both love the Lord SO please understand that this is not something that is really small, this isa major situation and if we don't have this in place, anyone can say something about any one of them and the next thing you know they are coming out of pocket. Commissioner McMullen said that they make $599 a year to serve. He said that when he goes on trips for the town, he uses his job PTO to help serve this town SO he is not making any money, he is losing money and he is taking time away from his family sO asks that the residents please understand that nobody on the commission is doing anything that is going to cost the residents any money but at the same time, please help the commission, help the residents protect our town. Commissioner McMullen said please keep them straight, keep them honest, make sure that they don't make mistakes but at the same time please don't make this some kind of litigious situation that any and everything can happen and not have some protection Commissioner Ramos said that it is a big loss for the Town of Oakland what Commissioner McMullen did and started here with HAPCO. He said he brought a lot of events that we all enjoyed and put the town on the map with HAPCO for somebody who is making $599 a year. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 9 for years. Commissioner Ramos said that' Vice Mayor Mike Satterfield sacrificed for the town for over 25 years, and he wants to thank him personally. He said thank you Vice Mayor Satterfield for all your service to our community, and all of your time sacrificed for our town. He said he doesn't know if everybody knows but since the late 90s, Mike Satterfield was cutting grass here in Oakland, when there was nothing here, because Public Works did not have help. Commissioner Ramos said they didn't have enough staff because we didn't have the budget we have now, and he did a lot for free for the town. He said that he has been Santa Claus for 25 years, just about every kid in Oakland has sat on his lap for 25 years for free; he has done a lot, and he wants to thank him. Commissioner Ramos said this goes on beyond the Town Commission, this is the staff, this is all of the committees that they are putting together, the waste committee, and the charter committee. He said this is going to fall on someone else whoi is going to say hey, you guys can't talk, and we are going to take a picture of you and go after you. Commissioner Ramos said we are going to limit that, and this is a protection for all of us not to violate that as a whole and have the town be covered through insurance and have the insurance take care of the claim and the lawyers. He said if every individual has to put their own lawyer out there and bring the invoice back to the town, it is going to cost the town and the citizens more money. Commissioner Ramos said that unnecessary claims are going to spend money Vice Mayor Satterfield said that after all we have been though, he will say this ish how easy things can go south. He said last Thursday morning, days after Rick Polland left the commission table, he, Rick, and Rick's wife went and had breakfast, and it wasn't even that afternoon that he appeared on social media with someone wondering why the commissioners were having breakfast and exactly what they were planning and why they moved from Satterfield's secret meeting house to Eggs Up. Vice Mayor Satterfield said that is how fast Mayor Taylor said for the record, he already had four hours of ethics training. Commissioner McMullen said it is not the two different scenarios that he Mayor Taylor said there are multiple scenarios that come into that class. Commissioner McMullen said that what Mayor Taylor presented to the audience that ethics means this, and this is deeper than these one or two Mayor Taylor said absolutely, there are a number of scenarios. Commissioner McMullen said what Mayor Taylor said to the audience is that Mayor Taylor said there are a numerous amount of scenarios in the ethics class that you take. He said the Florida League of Cities has a great class that he took for four hours and on top of that, for the past 13 years, he has served of the taxpayers here in our town, this is needed. something like that goes. mentioned. items. ethics is one and two. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 10 on the Planning and Zoning Board, and he has done ethics training there as well as Sunshine Law training there. Mayor Taylor said that he doesn't believe this emergency ordinance is necessary and it says in this ordinance, whereas, and iti is already established, the Supreme Court of Florida has established that the public officials are entitled to legal representation at taxpayer expense, when defending themselves against litigation arising out of their public duties and serving a public purpose and said entitlement is a common law right that exists independent of any statute, ordinance, or charter. He said again, this is not an emergency situation when something already sits there. Mayor Taylor said this is great that you guys talked about Vice Mayor Satterfield, and he is proud of Vice Mayor Satterfield serving the town as much as he has. Mayor Taylor said for the record again, he has zero influence on anybody posting anything or doing anything and for the record, he does not communicate with anyone who posts, he doesn't go on social media, he is not there. He said that he sees it as much as you see it when somebody sends him a text and says, do you see this? Mayor Taylor says he looks at it, shakes his head, and moves on. He said again, he doesn't believe with this document that there is a public emergency that exists, it is not affecting public welfare. Mayor Taylor said an emergency ordinance needs to be used for an emergency. He said we can talk about this all you want, you can have an emergency ordinance, and then you are going to try to bring it back again in 60 days, for what reason? Town Attorney Velo said that would be SO the ordinance can be adopted for Mayor Taylor said then why wouldn't they just talk about it at that point, why now because when you put something like this in front of you and in front of people, questions start coming up and questions start arising. "What is going on? Somebody's got something going on. Something's happening." Mayor Commissioner Ramos said that this is an emergency because it is going to cost Mayor Taylor said it will cost the public money regardless; it is already written. He said the Supreme Court already says if we go and somebody gets caught and you are in the right and not in the wrong, these fine folks here, including the commission because they are residents will have to pay your legal bill. Mayor Taylor said if you get caught and you are not in the right and you get Commissioner Ramos asked when the claim goes into the insurance, and can ito come without this? He said that Mayor Taylor is correct on what he mentioned, but if there is a way to make a claim to the insurance, the lawyer will pick up the tab from the insurance. Commissioner Ramos said right now it will be our lawyers, whoever we pick, and we bring the invoice to the town to codification. Taylor said it is a stretch is what it is. the public money. int trouble, iti is on you to pay. pay sO that is a cost to the public, is it not? Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 11 Town Attorney Velo said yes, this ordinance ensures that if a commissioner knows that an ethical complaint has been filed against him with the Florida Commission on Ethics, he has a duty to let the town staff know immediately when he finds out about that claim SO that information can be forwarded to the town's insurance carriers as a general matter. She said as a general matter when insurance carriers are late to the party, they tend to deny coverage because their position is that they could have appointed insurance defense counsel to participate in this and we didn't allow them to have any input in the litigation to assist with defending the claim at all, SO they are not going to Commissioner Ramos said that through the Supreme Court, we have the entitlement as common law for us to go ahead and get our lawyer but that would be $500 or $1000, whatever lawyer we decide to pick and if we win, we bring that invoice for us SO that the citizens would pay for that versus putting itt through the claim of the insurance and let the insurance pick up the tab to their lawyer. He said that would save the town and the citizens money and he Vice Mayor Satterfield said he is going to tell us why it is an emergency. He said it is all common public knowledge that there has been a Florida Ethics Commission infraction filed against him by somebody here. Vice Mayor Satterfield said it is now, it is here, and it needs to be dealt with. Mayor Taylor asked if anything has been filed with our insurance company to Town Attorney Velo said she is not aware that anything has. Mayor Taylor said according to what Town Attorney Velo wrote in the memo, upon the receipt of the act of this complaint, the officials will notify the town attorney of such complaint within five days of the actual physical receipt of Vice Mayor Satterfield said it refers to receipt of the complaint from the Florida Mayor Taylor said it is in no case later than 30 days after the service of the Vice Mayor Satterfield said that is right and that is why it hasn't been filed. Mayor Taylor said the town attorney should treat such communication and any documents related thereto as confidential attorney client privilege or matter. He said that the town attorney shall contact the town's insurance carrier once you receive that document and place a claim for coverage if requested by the official. Mayor Taylor said once the town attorney learns whether or not the town'sinsurance carrier has accepted coverage oft the claim, thet town attorney shall notify the official. He said that is what the document says soi ifVice Mayor Satterfield hasn't received anything, the clock has not even started ticking yet SO to him, this is not an emergency ordinance situation. Mayor Taylor said we are opening ourselves up to emergency ordinances and they may go through cover it. thinks that it is an emergency to save the citizens money. date? such complaint, but in no case later than 30 days. Ethics Commission which he has not received yet. complaint by the Commission on Ethics. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 Page 12 and look at this and say this is not an ethics problem and then this whole thing is done but yet, we just set precedence to say anything can be an emergency Town Attorney Velo said that as a legal matter, adopting an emergency ordinance as to one matter to deal with one matter does not obligate you to do that to deal with another matter in the future, and SO you would be welcome to say that we found that something was an emergency back then and we are not going to find it now. She said from the case law she added to her memo for the agenda, the Florida Supreme Court found that if a public officer is charged with misconduct while performing his official duties and while serving a public purpose, the public has a primary interest in such a controversy and should pay the reasonable and necessary legal fees incurred by the public officer in successfully defending against unfounded allegations of official misconduct. Town Attorney Velo said that the idea that the Supreme Court of Florida has ruled that the public has a primary interest in this controversy is what is underlying the emergency nature. She said it is not simply that it is a financial matter, it is a financial matter of great public Mayor Taylor said iti is already case law; iti is already there SO what he is saying isify you want to bring it back to the next meeting and let's just talk about this as a regular ordinance, we can talk about it like that. He said he is trying to get to the point here, this isn't an emergency situation. Mayor Taylor said that we are painting it with a very broad brush here about setting emergency ordinances and we already know, every single one of us who serves in a public capacity knows that anybody could point a finger, that is part of being here and that is just one of the liabilities of sitting here. He said every citizen has a right to sit here and question and take action and do whatever they want, it is their First Amendment right and they are allowed to do that, SO you have got to have tough skin if you are going to sit up here. Mayor Taylor said ifv Vice Mayor Satterfield is not doing anything wrong sitting there eating breakfast with Commissioner McMullen, take him at his word. If Commissioner McMullen and Commissioner Ramos are smoking cigars together on the front porch and they say they are nott talking about anything, take them at their work, het trusts what they are saying but if they are wrong and they have taken a four-hour course for several years, they know what is right and what is wrong. Town Attorney said she did not mean to debate with the mayor, she was merely trying to explain the reasoning behind why this ordinance is being Mayor Taylor said he understands, he has read it and looked at it and spent several nights since it came out Thursday going back and forth thinking about itand to him, he just doesn't see a reason why it needs to be an emergency ordinance. importance, as deemed by the Supreme Court. presented to you in the way that it is. ordinance. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 13 Commissioner McMullen said do we have this in place, do we need this in place, that is where he is trying to land. He said ift the only thing we are sitting here discussing is the part about it being an emergency, he thinks we just wasted a lot of time. He said what should have been done, what would normally have been done, is if there is an item that is on the agenda that feels uncomfortable, any one of us would have called the attorney and the town manager and said, hey I understand this but let's talk about this being an emergency or not. Commissioner McMullen said at the end of the day, it is needed, but to get this far and say we are focused on a word, he thinks iti isa disservice to everyone that is in the room because at the end of the day, we know in the last 24 months, we need something in place just to make sure we are all comfortable. He said the only reason it is here now is because something that has been floating around has finally landed and has been presented and is being discussed. Commissioner McMullen said that the fact that we are dealing with the word emergency that's it SO if we need to save this for another time, that's fine. He said we need to make sure that something like this is in our books for the future. Commissioner McMullen said that his is his personal feeling, and he is not going back and forth but we are out here just dealing with the word emergency. He said his main concern when he asked the question was do we have anything like this and what do we need to do to get in place for anybody that is on any sort of committee, or Mayor Taylor said to jump off what Commissioner McMullen said, is this necessary at this time if it has already been known and it is already covered that each person sitting at the table as an official which is designated as the Assistant Town Manager or Town Manager or anybody who is a town official isalready covered. He said it is already known that your expenses if you follow this procedure that has been laid out are covered. Mayor Taylor asked if the ordinance for this is even necessary since it is already in law. Town Attorney Velo said that the ordinance isn't necessary in the sense that itwill give any commissioner a right to compensation that the commissioner wouldn't have otherwise but it is necessary if the town wants to have a say in how a claim for attorney fees is going to be handled. She said it is necessary to that otherwise the alternative scenario that she wants to lay out is what can happen without an ordinance like this protecting the town. Town Attorney Velo said that you can have a commissioner that has a complaint filed against him and he goes off and secures his own private attorney to represent him, the fees for that could be $200 an hour, they could be $500 an hour, they could be $700 an hour. She said the town will have no discretion whatsoever in who represents that commissioner, she would not have the ability to represent the commissioner because she wasn't directed to do SO by the commission and she is not their personal private attorney SO at the end of the day, we would potentially have a very expensive legal bill that would come out of the town's commission, or staff. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 14 budget rather than being covered by insurance and which would be significantly higher than it would have been had the town attorney's office Mayor Taylor said that instead of creating this ordinance why wouldn't we go back and create something that says the attorney's fees are only going to be Xand the town is only going to pay) X, Yand Z for whatever attorney fees that you incur because right now this document doesn't give you a cap. He said the insurance company could sit there and say they will pay it, or they will say they are not paying it, and iti is on you to go and pay sO why couldn't we come back like Commissioner McMullen said and table this because we are going to have to pay it regardless, that is just part of how the law works. Mayor Taylor said we are going to have to pay it, it doesn't matter if we have an emergency ordinance or not, if he goes through or somebody else goes through, you are going to have to pay it. He said why can't you come back with a cap and say that the town's only going to pay up to $300 an hour in attorney's fees. Town Attorney Velo said that would be within your discretion, this ordinance ism merely the procedure thati is being proposed but she can'tsitting there right Mayor Taylor said that we could direct the town manager to work with the attorneys and try to come up with something that has a cap to it and then we can all agree on that it says if you get in trouble, and you are found not guilty been able to intervene early. now say that they couldn't do that. that we are going to pay up to a cap. Mayor Taylor said yes, an hourly rate. Town Attorney Velo said by a cap, you mean an hourly rate. Commissioner Ramos said let's say you do win the case because you are innocent, does that mean that after the cap, any one of us is going to float the remaining bill? He said if someone on a committee like the charter review is sued, and if it goes over $10,000 but the cap is $2,000, the person is liable for $8,000? Commissioner Ramos said he thinks having insurance lawyers kick ina and take care of it is best. He said, the town is going to benefit from the ordinance not worsen SO can we table this for later or can we do an ordinance Town Attorney Velo said that in order for these policies to be effective today, they have to be adopted as an emergency ordinance otherwise we would have to adopt it as a regular ordinance with a first and second reading. Mayor Taylor said he thinks that if you want to bring this back and look at it, he thinks we need to rework the wording that is in here. He said you should have some protection in there not only for the commission, but also the taxpayers. Mayor Taylor said you don't want to sit there and say, well guess what taxpayers, it is $750 an hour where you would find a lawyer and say, you can only charge us, representing the Town of Oakland, $300 or whatever the number is you come up with and then you know that it is the cap. He said without the word emergency in front of it. the insurance company will either accept or deny the claim. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 15 Commissioner Ramos said if the insurance lawyer denies it then you are Mayor Taylor said that is absolutely right and then if you get a letter that Commissioner Ramos said if we had the insurance lawyers take care of every one of us, and they deny a claim, it means most likely you're guilty therefore, you wouldn't have to pay the bill. He said without the insurance lawyers, we'd go get a lawyer, whether it's $350 or $1,000 an hour, and the bill would come tot the town because a good lawyer will probably find you innocent. Town Attorney Velo said these procedures were adopted to deal with a variety ofi insurance policies SO you could have insurance policies that would cover this type of matter, and you could have policies that would never cover this type of matter, regardless of when they were notified of the potential claim. She said that this is really crafted to try and be applicable, regardless of what type Commissioner Ramos said we still have to table this and rewrite the ordinance without the word emergency since we are hanging everybody up right now with the word emergency, and rewrite this and make a proper ordinance for Town Attorney Velo said yes, to do it not as an emergency ordinance, we would have to bring a new draft before the first reading, potentially at the next meeting or whenever we have that ready and then we would have to have a Mayor Taylor said he is proposing we go that route and table this and if you want an ordinance, come back with something that is a little more defined. Commissioner Ramos said that the only thing is that when he hears our attorney say that an emergency ordinance is not indicative of this being something that we can rinse and repeat for future emergencies. He said this iscustom to this, and every time there is an emergency ordinance, it is custom Town Attorney Velo said yes, precisely and in this case, again, the Supreme Court has rules that the public has a primary interest in such a controversy when a public officer is charged with misconduct while performing his official duties and while serving a public purpose. She said this factual scenario that this ordinance was crafted to address is very different from a developer coming and asking us to adopt some sort of development order as an emergency ordinance. Town Attorney Velo said this is not a matter that has been deemed by the Supreme Court to be a matter in which the public has a primary interest sO we could completely in good faith say this is not at all like the attorney's Town Manager Stewart said from a town's insurance standpoint, typically how he has handled it is once there is a claim filed, he will forward it to the town's insurance company. He said once there is a claim on behalf of the town that probably guilty. means okay, we are going to go and look at this. of town's insurance. us to redo. second reading on that as well. toi its subject. fee situation. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 16 is going to cost the town money, he typically sends those to the insurance company. Town Manager Stewart said that the town does have public official liability insurance SO if you are acting in your official duties, you will send that to them and then they will either deny the claim or they will approve the claim and assign an attorney. He said he has never been in this situation but once there is a claim filed versus accusation, he would then forward that to the town's insurance attorney or insurance company. Town Manager Stewart said that he can put them on notice that there is a potential claim, they usually give you a grace period that they allow 60 to 90 days SO ift there is a claim filed again the town by an employee that gets injured, we have a certain period of time that we have to file that claim and if we don't, they can deny it just because they weren't aware of it or weren't involved in it from the beginning. Town Manager Stewart said once there is a claim filed against the town, we would forward that to the town's insurance company. He said if there is an accusation then that is not something that we would necessarily do until there isa claim for some sort of financial damage against the town. Tonw Manager Stewart said once there has been a claim filed; he will send it to the insurance company. He said they won't have any issues with us sending a possible claim that is out there SO he can send any possible claims that come against them or any accusations that have been filed with whatever agency or whoever attorney or any of it. Town Manager Stewart said he doesn't mind sending that to them to put them on notice but as far as he is concerned, there is no claim that will be denied based on a grace period that we have expired. Commissioner McMullen said that we definitely need this but in the 27 years he has been around, he has never seen anyone that was on commission have an ethics complaint on them SO this is the first time we are dealing with this. He said this has happened in other cities and towns and county governments; this is the first time we have had this in the Town of Oakland. Commissioner McMullen said that no one said everyone here is perfect or without fault, but we are dealing with something that we never dealt with before. He said social media has changed the whole landscape of every city and town and government in the entire county. Commissioner McMullen said, "Please protect them, keep them honest, but at the same time please understand that this is the first time that anyone that he knows of that has served the Town of Oakland has ever had an ethics complaint." He said if we can put something in place because one of the residents may be up at the table in the next two, four, eight, whatever years, we want to make sure you are protected as well. Town Manager Stewart said if the commission would like, he can have somebody from the insurance company talk about the public official's liability Commissioner Ramos said he would like to take advice from our attorney that this is only going to better us and protect us and it does not set precedence for emergencies or future emergencies of different scenarios. policy and what that covers. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 17 Mayor Taylor said that if you accept this, there is no cap, there is no dollar figure on there which is why we are trying to go back to them and have them come up with something that adds something that talks about protection to town residents and how much dollars they are going to spend on attorney's fees per hour if the insurance company does not picki it up. He said that is why he thinks this should be tabled, it should be recrafted, redrawn, and brought back through normal channels of ordinances and then adopt it if we agree and Commissioner Ramos asked what would be the ideas of a cap if there were Town Attorney Velo said she would have to do some research into that. She said that in the realm of defense of an ethics complaint that has been filed with the Florida Commission on Ethics, she can say that there are true experts out there who are intimately familiar with the Florida Commission on Ethics. Town Attorney Velo said they have all of their opinions, this is what they do, and they aren't municipal attorneys or county attorneys, they are attorneys who defend ethical complaints. She said she is not sure; she would need to try and figure out what an approximate ballpark figure to hire one of those attorneys would be, but she does worry about the idea of a cap because that takes some discretion away from the town attorney's office. Town Attorney Velo said that we may decide that an attorney who is more expensive by their hourly rate will dispose of the case faster because we have determined in our discretion that they are the expert on this matter and it may very well cost more money and a less favorable outcome when we hire a "cheaper" attorney to kind of slog through everything and is more unfamiliar with it. She said this isreally meant to guard against the type of fast-talking attorney out there who may be able to convince individuals that he's worth more than he is. Town Attorney Velo said that the town attorney's office has attorneys who deal with these types of matters, and we can figure out who those individuals are and who the true experts are probably a little bit more easily, because it's what we Commissioner Ramos said that if there might be an expert who can help our town go through this faster, we may be limiting that expert lawyer. Town Attorney Velo said that if the hourly rates were to be, say, $300, and that attorney wants $400 an hour, we could be prohibited from hiring that attorney, if the commission were to impose a cap. She said she is just trying Mayor Taylor said we are talking when we don't know what the cap would be at that point. He asked for somebody to represent an official, what is the Commissioner Ramos asked if we have to put a price to make this ordinance then go from there. one? do for a living. to present pros and cons. average? go through? Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 18 Mayor Taylor said if you don't, what's stopping them from coming in and trying Town Attorney Velo said the ordinance provides that if insurance coverage is denied then either the attorney may represent the commissioner in defense of the ethics complaint or the town attorney will designate another attorney SO the town attorney would have some discretion on who that attorney will be Mayor Taylor said who justifies thati is an accurate rate that we are all agreeing Commissioner Ramos asked Town Attorney Velo, wouldn't they be the experts Town Attorney Velo said yes, they would be finding an attorney, and they would be determining whether they are really worth that hourly rate in their Mayor Taylor said you know what kind of attorney to get SO you would kind of call that guy and say who did this, what is your hourly rate, and we would set that already. He said maybe you have a cap where it says $400 an hour with Commissioner Ramos said you already have that, if you have something going on you already have that. He said ifi itis a developer or another case, we don't put caps on you because the town attorney is there to defend us, and they will find the right attorney for us and the situation that we are in. Commissioner Ramos said why limit them if they can get someone to defend Mayor Taylor said he is not opposed to them not getting someone thati is better that can defend our town or defend any officials sitting up there, what he is opposed ofi is if that person they get sits there and says it is going to be $1,000 after the insurance company says they are not covering you. He said that is the key, if the insurance company says we are not covering this and then iti is on that person to go then and say okay I am going to go through with this and ends up winning and then the attorney comes in and says Ic covered you, Igot you out of this mess, iti is $1,000 an hour and Is spent 40 hours on it, that Town Attorney' Velo said that if an insurance carrier denies coverage, it doesn't necessarily mean that the commissioner is guilty of whatever has been alleged. She said insurance carriers are notorious for attempting to deny coverage even when they really should be covering a claim and that is something that can only be sorted out with litigation which can sometimes be protracted and take years and in the meantime, we would have a public official with a pending Mayor Taylor said this person is continuing to charge you by the hour even if too charge you $1,000 an hour? and therefore over the rate. top pay. that they rely on to find someone for them? judgement. ap percentage ifi it goes over. Town Attorney Velo said yes. our town for the best of us. is $40,000. ethics complaint. ittakes years. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 19 Commissioner Ramos said what if the person at the end is innocent. Mayor Taylor said the taxpayer is paying regardless. Commissioner Ramos said that is good, if you are innocent, you want to be Vice Mayor Satterfield said that everyone knows everyone's opinion on this now and we could keep going like this forever SO we've probably all said everything that we wanted to say, and it is getting repetitive. He said if we want to turn it over to the community at large at this point, we should do that claimed innocent. and then get back on track. Mayor Taylor opened the floor for public comment. Public comments were as follows: Kris Keller, 2511 Stonecreek Ct. - Kris said she is speaking to everyone here, commission and town members. She said a couple of things that she is taking away from this, but first and foremost, yes, we have a right and we should always question anything that we have concerns about our officials of our town, but one of her big takeaways from this is what this is going to cost the town. Kris said she would encourage us as residents to hold our officials accountable, but she also knows there was a lot of animosity in the election last year, and there's a lot of things that came up, and she has always tried to be the voice of reason when she comes up here, and she is going to try to be that again, and just say, let's be mindful. She said again, if someone's doing something wrong, we should hold them accountable, but if we see someone having breakfast, maybe they're just having breakfast, and is it really worth having this discussion about what it's going to cost, ultimately, us to defend this person, right or wrong, whether they were just having breakfast, or doing something inappropriate. Kris said she is saying, hold them accountable, if need be, but she knows a lot of things came out of the election, and people were upset, and she doesn't even know what this accusation is to be honest, but let's just be mindful. She said a quick example, in her neighborhood, she hears people always that we have a new neighborhood with a new HOA, and people are like, we're going to sue the HOA. And I'm like, yeah, and you're going to end up paying for your own lawsuit and that's basically what we're doing here SO again hold people accountable but be thoughtful. Kris said she knows we've got elections coming up SO let's use our vote and our upcoming elections to solve some of these matters as opposed to possibly costing all of us as residents what could be a significant amount of money when we need things like money for our fire department which we just had that big increase. Kris said she would encourage the commission to think about rules, she does think we need the rules, and there needs to be some guidelines but the state has already spoken. She said we are going to pay these attorney's fees; it's part of what the state Supreme Court has already ruled SO we just need to make it the rules. Kris said from what she just heard, she doesn't think any actual claim has happened yet, SO it sounds like from the timelines that have been discussed, we have time to do this right. She said Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 20 forget about the word emergency or not and let's take the time to do it right. Kris Carlos Esquivel, 1408 Planted Pine Street - Carlos said his question would be what are other municipalities doing, and did they do it in an emergency and get it in the books right away, or did they follow a normal ordinance? He asked if this is something we are doing because of what is happening to us or is it something we are doing because the Supreme Court ruled this way, and other towns and municipalities are doing similar things or did they already have that stuff in their books. Town Attorney Velo said she can't speak as to what other municipalities do generally because she is just not aware, but she can say that these types of Kurt Gies, 409 E. Henschen Avenue - Kurt said that the reason of an emergency, in his mind, is that it is something that happened for the first time in 27 years of our commission and if we don't do something tonight, somebody gets a complaint tomorrow, they can go hire their own attorney at any rate they want. He said if we do something tonight, they are now obligated to come to the town, they take it to the insurance company for a claim, if it is denied, the attorney at the town decides who that attorney is going to represent at a rate that we feel is reasonable. Kurt said the gap is whatever that person goes out and hires versus what our attorney can find for us. He said we can table this but if this comes in tomorrow, that person has no obligation to notify the town, and they can go run up a bill that he as a taxpayer are going to have to pay and he thinks that it is trivial that the commission is worried about the word emergency. Kurt said it is an emergency; we have something happen to our town that has never happened before, and we need to stop this at the head Jimmy Wiedeman, 707 Regina Circle - Jimmy said he just has a couple of questions and that is that we are having a lot of discussion here now and that isj just our group, and that would kind of indicate that maybe there is more discussion that needs to be had. He said he is in agreement that if it is an emergency, it is our fault it is an emergency. Jimmy said he made the comment that we had 24 months to deal with this, and we didn't and in his business, if they make a mistake and have to pay a little bit to make it right, then they pay a little bit because it is their problem, and they made that problem. He said he does feel like there is more that we can look at before we make the ordinance. Jimmy said we said that we haven't looked at other municipalities and what they have in place SO he thinks it is worth a look at that to see what they have in place that we didn't think of or that may be out there and is an option for us. He said he doesn't think we need to be rash right now and adopt this resolution without having some discussion about it. Jimmy said the main thing here is that Vice Mayor Satterfield is respected by everyone here, it seems like he has done a good job, we enjoy his service, and Jimmy doesn't think he is going to take advantage of us. He said he doesn't see the fact that this gentleman is going to go out and rack up $50,000, he doesn't even think it is going to go that far, we don't even know that right. Jimmy said it can go to the commission and the commission said she would implore the commission to do that. ordinances are in the books in other cities in Florida. before this gets up to a bill that we can't afford to pay. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 21 could look at it and decide it is not worth going ahead with it, and that is a definite possibility. He said that when they go to the commission, he would imagine that the commission doesn't automatically say they are going to prosecute, they have to look at it and see if iti is even worthy of that. Jimmy said in the worst-case scenario, he doesn't think this gentleman is going to take advantage of us just to rack up the bill. He said he thinks there are plenty of people that he would have available to him to represent him, that we would have picked ourselves. Jimmy said he doesn't think we need to deny ourselves the ability to maybe do the right thing and not just because we are afraid something is going to happen. He said he just doesn't think that we Jeff Sandy, 90 Demens Street - Jeff said there are towns that probably have been faced with exactly what we are looking at. He said he thinks that Winter Garden will be a place to check and talk to the attorney, find out what the protocols are, and how do we do it. Jeff said there are counties that have been faced with this issue of ethics complaints, and it goes not only to the commissioner, but it also goes to the employees of the community. He said when they are charged with something, they go to their boss, or their boss tells them there is a complaint. Jeff said the attorney is brought in and the manager is brought in and anybody else that is involved in it. He said there is a protocol and steps that have to be taken. Jeff said from what he has heard, nothing has been submitted to the town as far as any kind of legal charge has happened and to start throwing money at it because he knows everybody is concerned and that it scares you. He said that when you have someone accuse you of something, you want to go get an attorney and fight it. Jeff said that if nothing has been actually submitted legally to the commissioners, then it is all just conversation, and he doesn't want to stack up a legal bill unnecessarily until something actually starts the ball in motion. He said before that happens, we need to find out what are the steps, what is in place to protect everyone that works for the town. Jeff said that when he was in an auto accident, he had great insurance and wasn't worried about a thing and then all of a sudden, this person says he put her in traction, and she has been to doctors and this and that. He said he heard about this from the insurance company and the insurance company's lawyer said he will represent me unless I want to get my own attorney and then I am on my own. Jeff said he said he will trust the attorney because he represents the insurance company who is going to have to fork out the bucks and anything over that, I might be held liable. He said there has got to be something that the insurance company is going to say like this complaint, and this complaint, and this complaint, aren't even part of this but this one is and instead of protecting the whole thing, this one complaint is where we fork out the big bucks. Jeff said he doesn't know if he made himself clear, but he thinks we need to wait until you hold the four corners of the paper, you look at what Kevin Cox, 301 Walker Street - Kevin said that the issue seems pretty simple to him. He said it seems like all the officials and people that represent the town need to as part of their agreement agree that if something is filed, they notify the insurance, have that fear. the complaint is from the state, and then you move forward. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 22 that they are required to notify the town and the insurance company within a very short period of time, whatever that it. Kevn said that seems like that would solve a major issue with this which is the risk of someone hiring their own attorney right now Norine Dworkin, Ealto-inChefofvoPopul. - Norine said that they covered the issue of an ethics complaint against Commissioner Satterfield, and one of the things that she found most interesting as she was sitting here listening is that the government attorneys that they spoke to didn't think that it rose to the occasion of an ethics complaint. She said they didn't think that the Ethics Commission would be at all interested in this, SO she is surprised that he hasn't heard anything from the Ethics Commission. Norine said that they did reach out to the town attorney's office, and were unable to get a response back, but they did speak with other attorneys who said that this, while not correct, this is the same ethics complaint in terms of residency in Oakland while spending time in Satellite Beach. Norine said that it might go to your point about it being an emergency situation, although also to the other's point that this is something that you might want to take a look at. She said the question that she had for Commissioner Satterfield is that residency is undefined in your charter, and hopefully that's something that you guys will address with charter review, severely undefined. Norine said she is going to ask Commissioner Satterfield to define residency, and how many days would he say, since he says that he lives in Oakland, how many days would he say that he spends in Oakland for the year. Vice Mayor Satterfield said he spends half of his time here in Oakland. Norine said that she appreciates that answer and wishes that he would have given it previously SO she could have included the article. She said that she appreciates that Commissioner McMullen said that we can question everything that you do because that is our right and privilege to question what our commissioners and elected officials do. She said it is their right to ask what's on your pieces of paper and on your laptops when you are doing town business, and she was very disappointed that Commissioner Satterfield did not yield upt the scoring sheets when you were doing ther nomination for seat three. Norine said she would have liked to have seen his scoring sheet, but he didn't turn his scoring sheet in and neither did Commissioner Polland and that's the going bigger than what they should have done. public's right to see that. Mayor Taylor closed public comment. Additional Town Commission discussion was as follows: Commissioner McMullen said that when he referenced the two years, he is talking about the culture of the town that has changed over the last two years and really a little bit longer than that. He said this issue really. just came up but the town culture and how residents and the commission interact really started around COVID. Commissioner McMullen said he has sat in this meeting, and he has heard someone say when someone else goes up to speak, "Go get them." He said how does that feel Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 23 that he is sitting there serving and someone is telling that to another person. Commissioner McMullen said that it is an attack, that is a threat, someone telling someone else to go get me at this table here makes him feel threatened that your job is to really be combative as opposed to working together. He said he didn't know that he had the support of legal counsel because he really never even thought about an ethics coming against him. Commissioner McMullen knew the town did, but he said if he got an ethics complaint, he thinks he has got to get his own lawyer. He said people are saying let's work together because at the end of the day, whatever we do Vice Mayor Satterfield said that his main concern here isn't that he has done something wrong, he is 100% sure that if it was to go all the way through that he would win this. He said his concern is for the Town of Oakland and all the crap, itis ac darn shame that we are even in this position where we even have to be against each other that much because what most of them are feeling up there is threatened and it hasn't stopped and it has to stop, one way or another. Vice Mayor Satterfield said that his main concern here is for the Town of Oakland and he will get through it one way or another, but the Town of Oakland won't, it just goes on and it goes on. He said all people talk about now is "What the hell is happening in the Town of Oakland." Vice Mayor Satterfield said that is what he hears and that just makes him Commissioner Ramos said he is going to speak for the volunteers that we were hoping to have when we set out this year. He said Mayor Taylor and himself both said that we were going to have committees and people were going to get involved and we are happy to have this whole room filled up but if we keep on going in this direction less and less citizens are going to want to volunteer like we are in any of the committees or any help because they are going to feel like they are a target from certain people and they are not going to want to get involved. Commissioner Ramos said he knows that for a fact because he talked to a lot of citizens all year about getting involved, he invites them to a lot of events, from one side of town to the other, and a lot of them are saying this is just too much, there is a lot of drama in this town and we don't want to be a target and that is sad. He said that is what we are giving our next generation of our kids, for them to say they don't want to be part of this town, look how it is. Commissioner Ramos said this is community, we have to think globally as a community, who we are as Oakland next to our neighbors. He said Mayor Taylor said he would agree, it gets exhausting. He said there is an election coming up in 2026 and that is the time he thinks to voice your opinion and your concern and if you don't like the direction that is going, you can do like he did and now is setting precedence for future generations. sick to his stomach. its saddens him. run, and he is sitting up there today. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 -) Page 24 MOTION was made by Commissioner Ramos, seconded by Vice Mayor Satterfield to approve Emergency Ordinance 2025-01. AYE: Ramos, Satterfield NAY: McMullen, Taylor Ona a vote of 2 Ayes and 2 Nays, motion failed to pass. Town Attorney Velo said the ordinance did not pass, SO it is not approved and none of the procedures are effective as of today. Mayor Taylor said that if this is something that we need to pursue which it probably is, then town staff should get with the attorneys and start drafting something that they can all look at and go through and adjust as they feel necessary. OTHER POLICY MATTERS Additional Finance Position - Finance Operations Specialist Human Resources Director Oliver explained that historically, the Town of Oakland's Finance Department has operated with a team of two to three staff members. However, with recent staffing changes--Renee Mullen's retirement in May 2024, Gabrielle Leon's promotion to Finance Director, and her own transition from Payroll to Human Resources Director-the Finance Department is now left with only the Finance Director. She said that this shift has created a significant gap in staffing, which is impacting the department's ability to manage its operations efficiently. Human Resources Director Oliver said that to address the growing demand and to ensure the continued smooth operation of the Finance Department, we are recommending the creation of a new position: Finance Operations Specialist. She said that this role will provide essential support in managing financial operations and help maintain the high standards of financial reporting, compliance, and service for the Town of Oakland. Human Resources Director Oliver said that the proposed Finance Operations Specialist will be placed within Pay Grade 107, with an annual salary range from a minimum of $45,000 MOTION was made by Commissioner Ramos, seconded by Commissioner McMullen to to a maximum of $66,897.57. approve the creation of a new position: Finance Operations Specialist. AYE: McMullen, Ramos, Satterfield, Taylor Discussion of Charter Review Commission NAY: None Mayor Taylor stated that Assistant Town Manager/Town Clerk Hui handed out a packet of Charter Review Committee applicants to each commission. He said that the deadline to be an applicant for the Charter Review Committee ended on January 10, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. Mayor Taylor said that there are currently nine applicants on the list and once the Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 25 commissioners review the applications, if they feel inclined to call each application and talk to each applicant, they can do that. He said that at the meeting on the 28th, they will appoint four people because we don't have a fifth commissioner yet so they will appoint four people to the charter review committee, and they will then get started in the process. Mayor Taylor said the Vose Law Firm will be spearheading that operation and guiding those committee members. He said as the last commissioner get appointed, that last commissioner will then take a look at the application list and select that fifth member from there. Assistant Town Manager/Town Clerk Hui said at the next meeting, she will go around the table and ask the mayor and each commissioner who their appointee will be, and they will announce who that person is. Commissioner Polland Resignation/Seat #1 Appointment Process Mayor Taylor said that Commissioner Polland served the town well and he chose to resign on the 30th of December SO we wish him all the best and we will have him at a meeting very soon for praise and thanks. He said that there will be an appointment process for Seat #1 and applications are open right now with the deadline being Friday, January 17th, by 5:00 p.m. SO if anyone is interested in putting in an application for the Seat #1 Town Commission sea, the deadline is this Friday, at! 5:00 pm. Mayor Taylor said that right now there are three applicants SO far. He said that his thoughts are to have a public workshop prior to the 7:00 meeting on January 28th and then they can go through and interview the applicants and then at the 7:00 meeting is when they can select the new commissioner. Town Attorney Velo said that the charter merely requires that the appointment be made within 30 days, and it is silent on the process to use SO whatever process the commission is comfortable with is fine. Mayor Taylor said the 30th day from resignation is Wednesday after the 29th and ift the appointment is not made by the 28th or the 29th then the governor will select someone to fill that seat until the next election cycle happens. He said what we will do is gather the information, do the workshop, go into the public interview, and then at the 7:00 pm meeting we will select the new Seat #1. Mayor Taylor said that there will be a new commissioner seated that night and then the four charter review people that night. PUBLIC FORUM: Public comments were as follows: Jill Cox, 301 N. Walker - Jill said that on January 5th, there were large fireworks or a bomb that was set off somewhere north of her house and it shook her glass. She said that she doesn't think we have an ordinance that says that we can only set fireworks off on the 4th of. July. Jill said we have Wounded Warriors' houses, and she thinks that we need to protect them. She said she thinks there should be an ordinance that says if you set off fireworks for several days, that you are going to get a fine or Mayor Taylor said he wants to make sure he understands that Jill is not something. opposed to 4th of July or New Year's Eve. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 26 Jill said that she thinks that is great, it is the time in between that you would think that ify you have people doing something, maybe a police officer goes up. She said for the Wounder Warriors, they know on July 4th and on New Year's Eve there are going to be loud explosions, this was on January 5th. Carlos Esquivel, 1408 Planted Pine Street - Carlos said that he agrees with Jill, he said he thinks several people called the police that day and it was huge. He said he wanted to thank Mayor Taylor for the great job that he has done. Carlos said since becoming mayor, from doing the get to know the mayor to just being prepared and being very knowledgeable in every meeting, he thinks we are in good hands for the coming years. Carlos said he hopes with the appointment of the new commissioner that it is an open process. He said it doesn't have to be a female; he thinks the most qualified person should be appointed however ift that person happens to be a female, he thinks that would be good to obviously add a little flavor to the commission. Carlos said he think that it is good to bring a different perspective, without knowing who has stepped up to the plate, hopefully some of the women out there will apply. Ryan Walley - Ryan said he is Cubmaster of Pack 978 from 218 East Oakland, at the Oakland Presbyterian Church and he is here once again to ask the commission for their support in the annual Pinewood Derby. He said he knows Commissioner Ramos has built a car, or at least raced a car with them last year and he knows the police department has done one too, SO he is at the meeting to invite anyone on the commission, as well as anyone in the public. Ryan said the date will be February 1st, doors open at 11 a.m. and in the afternoon the races are at 12:15 or 12:30. He said he has some cars available for anyone. Ryan said he can drop one off for the town. He said Commissioner Ramos wants to do one and if anyone else would like to take the onus and burden of it, it is just a simple wood car, and you can cut it down however you want to. He said there are some rules, but he will say the defending champs are the police department and they will bring a radar gun. Ryan said they do have rules for the community race, but it is a community race, and it is fine. Ryan said if anyone needs to reach him, you can reach him at 407.440.1314 or Jean Robinson, 16 West Vick Avenue - Jean said that the new street signs are being put up and the sign on her street says East Vick Street. She says she has had a couple of people now that are confused with the signage sO she doesn't know if the sign can get fixed. Jean says not only does it say East instead of West, but it also says Street Kurt Gies, 409 E. Henschen = Kurt said the mayor said earlier tonight that he had no way of influencing others however in his opinion, the number one role of a mayor is to unify everyone. He said by standing by and not taking action, you are actually hurting us, SO he is pleading with the mayor to step up and lead and talk to his neighbors, his friends, and the people who voted for him and let's bring this town back together. He said he heard what Commissioner Ramos was saying earlier about talking to people about volunteering and getting involved and they don't want to do cubmaster.pack978@gmail.com. and not Avenue. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 27 it. Kurt said it is not because they don't want to serve, it is because they don't want to get involved in this mess SO, please lead and help us. Mayor Taylor said absolutely, he will be happy to do that. He said there is nothing you want more than to walk down the street and not have people sneer at you. Mayor Taylor said that he walks by Kurt's house every morning with his dog and sees Kurt out there and Kurt's dog runs up to his dog, they both wave hi and exchange pleasantries and move on soit iti is unfortunate what is happening. He said he thinks Commissioner McMullen said it best in that it seemed like when COVID hit after that, it kind of all just started unraveling at that point but he will do everything in his power to try to bring this town that we believe is divided back together. Mayor Taylor said that we will start back the Meet Your Mayor events in February SO that is a good chance to come out and talk, it is a good opportunity for people to come out and ask any question they want and talk about anything, nothing is off the table. He said he will tell residents what he knows and what he doesn't know, we will find out for you. TOWN MANAGER/DEPARTMENT HEAD REPORTS: Town Manager Report Town Manager Stewart said thank you to the town staff, we continue to work hard every day for our town and to handle business the right way. He said thank you to all the department heads that are present this evening and can tell everybody that we are set up for success in 2025. Town Manager Stewart said the thinks that the Town Commission is going to see the finances improved for 2024. He said we all know that it takes money to make the world go around and make improvements for our town and hopefully one day we will be able to reduce our millage rate and reduce what we are paying out of pocket to live here and continue to make improvements in the Town of Oakland. Town Manager Stewart said he thinks you are going to see drastic improvements in our finances this next year. We are beginning to do the audit process SO in April and May the town commission will get a copy of the audit and be able to look at the town's finances and see how much we have improved in two years. Town Manager Stewart said that we discussed paving Henschen Avenue at our last meeting and the Town Commission wanted him to get some quotes, SO we are getting quotes, we try to get at least two or three quotes and then we have to compare the quotes and make sure each of the contractors are bidding apples to apples. We have not gotten two quotes back for Henschen Avenue from North Starr to Winter's Road, thati is approximately 850 linear feet SO we: should be presenting some oft those quotes back to the commission at the next meeting on January 28th. Town Manager Stewart said in addition, we also have gotten some asphalt millings ordered at Public Works and we are going to start putting those down on some of the dirt roads, the dusty roads, to see how that works. He said we have already done a different application on Gulley but this time we are just going to spread a little bit over the dirt to see if that helps with the dust issues. Town Manager Stewart said that we would like to go ahead and continue that once we see Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 28 how that lays out on the roadways, but we don't want to go ahead and do it all, like half of the town, and then have to take it back up either SO we are going to start putting down some of those asphalt mills as well and then we will be able to compare the cost of the millings versus the paving. Town Manager Stewart said that we have received some complaints recently about traffic for the Briley Farms Development Project coming through town and we have reached out to the developer, and we are going to put out some signs on Oakland Avenue that provide for a construction entrance. He said that residents that live int the town must realize that these are public roads, and they are open to everyone. Town Manager Stewart said that everyone has a right to travel on the public roads SO we are trying to do our best and get the developer to tell the: subcontractors coming to Briley Farms to utilize Jefferson, but law enforcement has no legal recourse to tell somebody that they can't use a public road. He said that it is part of growth, part of development, but we are doing our best. Town Manager Stewart said on a positive note, we have received the 2024 Tree City USA once again. He said we just got that notice several weeks ago and this given out by the Arbor Day Foundation and the recognition is a testament to the community's commitment to planning, care and celebration. Town Manager Stewart said that we are going to order some oak trees. He said the students at UCF have put together a GIS system on our sidewalks and in some of the areas it shows the lack of oak trees. Town Manager Stewart said the student are going to come to one of our meetings to show the town what they have been working on at not cost to the town and then we are going to turn around and plant back some of the trees that we know have been lost during the hurricanes. He said that developers are required to plant back more trees than they take down, but we are going to plant even more, and we are going to do our best to continue keeping Oakland full of oak trees. Town Manager Stewart said that Jessica Lovejoy, our Community Outreach Director's last day with the town, will be at the end of January. He said she has done an outstanding job of bringing the community together and her staff has made our events just that much better for the town. Town Manager Stewart said she is going to be very hard to replace and even the events that we have had at the Arts & Heritage Center have been excellent and very diverse. He said it has been part of the culture that we have here, and she has definitely enhanced that. Town Manager Stewart said she is going to go on to some opportunities and we wish her the best. Department Head Reports promotion ceremony. Deputy Chief Bryant wanted to thank the Mayor and Vice Mayor for attending the official Community Outreach Director Lovejoy said Meet Your Mayor is February 5th at 6:00 p.m. in the Arts & Heritage Center. She said Oakland Heritage Day is January 25th and she will still be here for that and is looking forward toi it. Community Outreach Director Lovejoy said that if you haven't signed up for the 5K, it is a free 5K by Healthy West Orange on the West Orange Trail, and that is still available to sign up. She said we will be having fun all day in Speer Park that day and be sure to stop by the Arts & Heritage Center; Lynn has done a Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 29 wonderful job working with local artists David Minichiello and Joe Warren for our new exhibit which is "Our Disney Journey and Beyond". Community Outreach Director Lovejoy said that Joe and David are local Disney Imagineers and they'll be talking about some of the lands they have created at Disney and have influenced, as well as displaying their art. She said one final thing that her team was able to set into motion is a partnership with Uptown Stitch who is a local Oakland Business, and we are going to be unveiling some official town merchandise from the community to be able to buy as well. Community Outreach Director Lovejoy said that they will have some for sale at Oakland Heritage Day and then they will be unveiling some of the merchandise in their store too. COMMISSION REPORTS: Commissioner McMullen said that on December 11th, he was in Tampa at the Florida League of Cities board meeting, and they talked about all the things that they were doing. He said as he mentioned before, they really have a lot of financial programs SO when he was at the meeting, they mentioned they were going to reach out to Town Manager Stewart to share Commissioner Ramos said he wanted to thank Commission Polland for his years of service to the community as a commissioner as well as his six or seven years on different committees. He said Commissioner Polland has got at least two decades of doing all that and everything he has done for dark skies, SO he just wanted to thank him. with him all the other financial programs that they have. Vice Mayor Satterfield - nothing additional. Mayor Taylor said that it was a pleasure for Vice Mayor Satterfield, Town Manager Stewart and himself to attend the Police Department Promotion Ceremony. He said that for those that aren't aware, there was a promotion ceremony for four officers in the Oakland Police Department; two of those were promoted to corporal and two were promoted to sergeant. Mayor Taylor said that Curt Crews and Barry Strykowski were promoted to sergeant and Anthony Edwards and Justin Gau were promoted to corporal. He said it is a good thing that happened, it provides that leadership conduit for that next generation, that next group to step up SO we do appreciate everything our police department does for our town and for our residents. Mayor Taylor has asked staff to start the process that we looked at a couple of months ago, in gathering and engaging land planning and engineering services to start our streetscape program that we started working on back in 2021. He said town staff have started to work with engaging land planning and engineering firms to see those plans come true and once we get information gathered for that and details are provided, we are going to bring them to commission and residents for input. Mayor Taylor said that one January 1st there was a homeless camping ban that was put into place, and it is a homeless camping ban in public places. He said that fortunately, we don't have issues like some of the other municipalities are dealing with. Mayor Taylor said that last Friday, he met with Town Manager Stewart, Chief Esan, and Deputy Chief Bryant and asked them about this ordinance that came in and what provisions the town has in place for something like that. He said Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 30 what it covers is camping in public which means if a homeless person is sleeping or camping in the public park, or in front of town hall, or on the sidewalk in a public right-of-way, it is against the law for them to do SO. Mayor Taylor said in talking to Chief Esan and Deputy Chief Bryant, their policy isnota an automatic arrest policy, it is to go and talk to those people, try to get them some help, and provide them with resources for that help. He said that each officer is equipped with a resource guide that will provide them with everything from how to find transportation and how to find housing; some of these homeless have pets SO some shelters will not take them, but the resource guide has shelters that will take you if you have a pet. Mayor Taylor reiterated that the new law only applies to public property, it does not apply to property like where you may see woods on 50. He said ify you think about the Town of Oakland, we are the last little piece with woods along Highway 50; everything in Winter Garden or Clermont is developed, SO everybody's migrated here into town. Mayor Taylor said the only enforcement that can be done on private property is if the private property owner calls, other than that, there is not really much you can do. He said he knows Matthew's Hope goes there to offer assistance to them as well as some churches. Mayor Taylor said homelessness is probably not SO much a crime as it may be a mental illness in some instances SO we need to talk about the assistance that we can give, and he is glad that our police department has seen that and that is the route they are willing to take at this time. Mayor Taylor said that he, Town Manager Stewart, Public Works Director Parker, and Assistant Public Works Director Brown had the pleasure of meeting our new state representative, Leonard Spencer, on Friday. He said that Representative Spencer came in for a visit with staff and asked about what the town needs and what he can do to help us out in Tallahassee. Mayor Taylor said staff overwhelmingly told Representative Spencer that we can use help with our infrastructure, our septic to sewer, and that would tremendously help this town grow, both environmentally and economically as well. He said his argument to Representative Spencer was that we are sitting at the hill of Lake Apopka that is below us and everybody on this side is on sewer which is leaching into the ground and as that stuff starts reaching down the hill, it is going to hit the lake. Mayor Taylor said as much money has been spent on trying to rebuild that lake and clean that lake up, you would think that in the state's wisdom, they would try to get us some dollars to ty to help sO thati is what we are pushing for. He said that he also told Representative Spencer that it really opens up the door on the commercial viability in the town. Mayor Taylor said that restaurants and businesses are going to be hard to open up in town on sewer. He said that Public Works Director Parker did a great job in presenting the appropriations request and each commissioner has a copy of the request, and it talks a little bit about the areas that the grant is going to, and also the funding that we ask them for to help get that together. Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 31 ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Commissioner McMullen adjourned the meeting at 9:16 p.m. TOWN OF OAKLAND: SHANETAYLOR, ATTEST: wia ELISE HUI, TOWN CLERK Town Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 14, 2025 - Page 32