come up, he's from the first Baptist Church, a place like Alfred, he's gonna give us our invitation and then I will ask for the pledge. Thank you Mayor for asking me to do this. I've counted the privilege to do so. Shall we pray? Heavenly Father, as we are here this evening and we have this impending storm that is before us, we know that anxiety comes over, worry, and Lord, we just pray that you would give us peace and comfort knowing that you are in control of it all, and Lord, we pray that if it be thy will, that you would dissipate this great storm that is headed our way, and it would just go out into the ocean and be no more. But Lord, we pray for the preparation of those who have been working for the past few days and those that will be working tomorrow for the protection of our city, for our homes, and Lord most of all for those who live here in this community. Lord, we pray for safety upon each and every one. We pray that your hand would be upon them. Lord, we pray that you as our Almighty God would hover over us and give us the peace that passes all understanding. Be with our first responders through this storm as they go out and answer the calls. We pray your protection upon them. We pray for our police department, our firemen, and those city workers that will be out cleaning up after the storm comes through. Father, we pray that you would be with our leadership. Lord, we pray that you would be with our leadership. Lord, we pray that you would give them wisdom during this time and through this storm. And afterwards, the things that will be coming upon them, Lord, we pray that you would give them a strong mind that is only known by knowing you as Lord and Savior. Father, thank you for this opportunity that you give us to call upon your name and invoke it upon this meeting who asked it in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all Okay, this time I'd like to ask city clerk Linda Bushwa to call the role please Mayor Fuller here vice mayor daily here commissioner Commissioner Eden, Commissioner Dehrman, Commissioner Malzby. Okay, and now we'll have City Manager Ryan Lymn good to the announcements for the Seabing meeting. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The Thursday October 10th, that would be this week. Ridge League of City City, St. Diner and Hunter Haven has been canceled. The Fireball Fest, which was scheduled for this Saturday, has also been canceled, we'll look to reschedule that. Our next city commission meeting will be held on Monday, October 21st, and that will be at 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 24th. The City of Lake Alfred will host the Gardener House Historic Marker Unbamming and Dedication Ceremony and this will be at 10 a.m. over at the Gardener House and we'll have a brief reception, AcroBoard. Update on Hurricane Milton, so this came out of the most recent update from Polk County, so you can see us kind of right there in the in the path. The benefit of being a little bit inwind as expected to be category is that category five now 180 mile an hour is 85 sustained winds. Last we heard it may drop down to a three as it reaches kind of landfall and then probably will be effectively too as it passes over us. That subject to change we do have a noon daily noon conference calls with the county and all operations. So I will continue to update the commission as things changes. As of now the county is going to be closed operationally Wednesday and Thursday. I will put out the email tonight but also the city will close the city will close Wednesday and Thursday and then depending upon conditions Friday will kind of be tentative. If we've got a lot of road issues or power outages, we may potentially stay closed, but we'll play that one by year. All departments are ready. As much as we can be, as you can tell, as you walked in today, everything's been boarded up. All of the generators have been checked and gassed up. All the equipment's ready to go. We've got crews on standby. Public safety is running at double the triple staffing, starting tomorrow in anticipation just so that we can respond. We will run emergency calls up to about 50 mile an hour, sustain winds as a matter of practice. Beyond that, it will be that the chief's discretion depending upon what the call is as to whether we run it or not. So that's kind of where we're at overall on the hurricane preparation side. Not much more that we can do now other than wait. I know I don't normally do this during the announcement side, but are there any questions from the commission or potentially the, and I guess the public could come up during the public Q&A portion, but that's kind of where we stand at operationally from the city side. Okay, good, very good. All right, I'll continue again. We'll have a noon call tomorrow. I'll put out any additional information. We are putting information out on the website. The sandbag operations have been running consistently. We will have a new pool for the Gardner House because we've dug a hole in the backyard there to keep the dirt coming. Once we ran out of fill dirt, I appreciate John and staff just doing whatever we can to keep that established. We've got additional sandbags from the county. So I think most recently we got what over 7,000 new bags that were delivered. So we will continue. I think the counties looking to close and winter havens looking to close their operations. We're just going to keep it running up until conditions get bad and then that way anybody who needs sandbags can get it and we'll keep it stock with the good old gardener house soil there. Still brought still here by the library. Yeah, still right over here by the library. Kind of in that vacant lot that we have right there at the corner. And there's been tons of cars all day. So that's glad we were able to keep that going. And that is all that I have. No other announcements. Thanks, sir. OK, and now we'll ask city attorney, Seth, to give his announcements, sir. Okay, and now we'll ask city attorney, Seth, to give his announcements, please. Yes, and I'll have something to add tonight, other than the usual. Before you received the amended agenda, there was an item on the agenda and the consent agenda, which was an addendum to the CCNA agreement, pursuant to RFQ 2301. The reason that that was pulled from the agenda was that the attorney who is practicing that at North Carolina, we were unable to get a hold of one another, essentially to finalize some of the more finer points of the adeptum. The CCNA that we had adopted, which included the agreement, as part of it, was intended to cover a broad spectrum of services by professional consultants. So there were some terms in that agreement that had to be generally applicable. So the addendum is intended to be more specific to the consultant's specific services. So it's not substantively changing the services that are applicable pursuant to the CCNA, but is maintaining consistency with forward of law and making certain provisions tailored towards the type of service that's offered by the subject consultant. Now, I have had a conversation right before the meeting with the attorney we have come to terms tentatively on the points that were friction or there was some friction on. And I would ask that the adenda be added back to the regular agenda as a discussion action item for a conditional approval. So that way we can have this adenda in place at the same time as we consider the task order number one for for utility rate study. I can answer any questions that you may have during the discussion action, but it would be my request that we add it back for conditional approval. Okay. I move we add it back in for conditional approval during our regular agenda items. Second. So that will be added as agenda item number four. Yes, okay. All right, we have a motion at a second, all in favor. All right. Okay, all opposed? Okay, that's. Okay, thank you, Seth. And as that all you got to say, and other than that, we remain grateful to represent the great city of Lake Alfa. You may be grateful to have you with us, sir. OK, at this time, I'd like to have your recognition of citizens as a user for items that are not on tonight's agenda. If you've got something you'd like to bring to our attention, please come up to the podium and state your name and your address. Hello, my name is Aaron Nambo. I live at 1440 Melrose Street Lake Alfred. You guys probably remember me from last month. I was talking about the canal and the Lake's 2 subdivision regarding the violations in the building code, the hill that's over 5 feet tall and too steep. We already experienced an erosion that I've patched many different times. Ryan's been nice enough to talk to me this evening about it and give me a little bit of an update, so I greatly appreciate that. Thank you, Ryan. But at this time, I've also come to talk about our drainage issue. It's like something I didn't address last month. I'm speaking not only to bring this to your awareness, but also to have this all on record with the city so that when it's time to release their bond, the city will play close attention to the inspections of these issues. It's come to my attention and the neighbors that live on the canal that the HWA will be responsible for repairing them and maintaining all the stormwater drainage systems. I do not believe our drainage system is in very good shape. For example, currently the culvert at the bottom of our hill, which is the drains, the day of 2021 contract that the City of Lake Alfred has with Clayton Holmes, references environmental resources permit number 4402-5769. I obtain that permit and item number 21 states the retention areas shall become dry within 72 hours after a rainfall event. When it comes to that drain and the culvert, it's never ever been dry from the first time that it rained after that drain was put in. It's kind of like a bowl effect. You look at the drain, it's a four foot width at the bottom of the drain. And you look down, you have rocks that are coming up, but as you look down, it's a bowl. It's a bowl where you just have all this water just sitting in there, always sitting in there, never disappearing, never draining away. So that is a big problem. Furthermore, this particular drain is infested with castor bean plants. In case you don't know what these are, castor bean plants are not very good. These plants not only grow over 20-foot tall, but they're also extremely toxic. The toxin in-caster seeds is called a ricin. One of the deadliest natural poisons estimated as 6,000 times more poisonous than cyanide. The contract with the city identifies cancer plants as a nuisance plant that the builder was required to remove and eradicate. The builder has attempted to remove these plants from this particular drain several times in just this half a year that I've been living there. But it continues to grow back likely because all the water that in the drain never dries up because again it's like a bowl. It's never you know the purpose of the drain is to drain water away to make it a dry section. It has never been dry. It doesn't drain. Considering how expensive repairs are to these systems, it could be paid much in taxes as homes outside the HOA where the storm water systems are covered by the H.O.A. where the stormwater systems are covered by the city. So I'm interested in the pros and cons of the option for H.O.A. and even if it is an option. In the summary, you have to where the city can take over the drainage system. And I guess the H.O.A. that would be responsible for that. I was told that in tracks run in three of the lakes, see other two neighborhoods, that they dedicated their storm water systems to the city. So I want to make sure that that's still an option that's, you know, flyable for our HLAA as well, to make sure that the city would be responsible for the draining system, not the people that live in the neighborhood. But that's about it for the moment. And I will be looking further about the plan. I know I take walks around my neighborhood, and I'm seeing the pond front. And I can see tons of the same plants growing there as well. And it's just a thing that needs to be gone. But the drain itself, I just can't stress enough. The purpose of a drain is to drain water away, not to keep it there forever. Mr. Mayor, I had a question, please. Where's this drain located exactly? Right behind my house. So, like hands and... Yeah, if you're facing the front of my house, it could be further on the right side of the house. And it's a four foot drain that goes all the way under the road in side of the house. And it's a four foot drain that goes all the way under the road in front of my house, cross the street to another pond type area that looks like it keeps water in. I don't know if it's supposed to or not, but there's always been water in that as well. And according to the plans I've seen so far, it looks like it's okay to have a little bit in there. But it's never enough to where it should even push it towards my drain. Because it would actually have to go really high if you look on the other side, you'll see this big steel thing that the water is supposedly supposed to go that high before it drains into that system, which would go across the street into my drainage area. But it's never gotten that high, it ever even drained into that. It's just natural rain is going into that drain. It's a bowl effect. It's feeding the plants and you know you look at and let me see what we're talking about. It comes to the plants. These are the drain. This will be entered into the water. So records. So is it next to the canal or is it in that trench that? No, it's right now. The canal. If you're walking the line of the canal. You get towards my property. You see the drain on the bottom of the hill. It is on the bottom of the hill. They might have given them like an easement. But yes. But again, in the picture you can even see all the rocks and everything. But you go down from those rocks and it goes down immensely to where that water will never come out of there. So, anything you guys can do, look into, always great, appreciated, and but really I do not believe the builders should ever get their maintenance bond back until things are corrected. They've done the right way. I would hate to see our HOA down the road all of a sudden do a special assessment. Everybody in the neighborhood got to pay a ton of money because the builder didn't do something right. So thank you very much. Thank you for coming up. Okay. Is there anybody else that has anything they would like to talk about that is not on tonight's agenda? My name is Deborah Maltzby and I live in 817 Expermination mode and they call for it and I Have a septic tank You know we have septic tanks and I made my name good. And I've been dealing with septic problems forever, which is my responsibility. But, and I'm your bright and front of the university. And I was wondering, because, you know, they are part of Lake Alfred. Since I live on the Experianization Road, is there any way I can do an early annex and hook up with their system? Because I know, at one point, my neighborhood, the people in my neighborhood, they have to sign some type of petition in order to be annexed into Lake Alfred, but they can't get passed at low 20 and 25-hour water bill. They think that if they be annexed into the Alpharet, and then their bill will be what, 80, 85-hour a month, but they don't realize that their taxes will go down. You know, on the back end, it's a benefit for us and then the maintenance on those safety tanks are astronomical. So it's a benefit for us. Maybe I should go and speak to them during the door, huh? But I was just wondering, is there any way possible to see someone that street right next to the university I can be and next to you with film? Is that possible? I mean maybe you all can look into it. If I may Mr. Merritt, John, do we even have lines down there yet or not? Yeah, if you would. The big thing is going to be the sewer availability. We can provide service whether you're annexed or not. Now you pay a surcharge though, but it's more of, I think it's a bigger question as this the availability. How does something we have pipes down area? John, the public or director, we do not, you're on Experiment Station Road, and Experiment Station is on City, Suber. They have their own list station, a private list station that they maintain, and it's in, well, we maintain it, but it's in their property. But it's, we'd have to lay a line from your home all the way to that station to even tie in they we don't have a System that we could hook to or she off of Experiment station what would have to be done out there is an infill project with the underground with some manholes with another lift station To pump it into the force main. The reason for the one-hole limit would be cost ineffective for you and the city for that one home. To run as far as we would have to run. But an infill project we have looked at in that section on before the city managers looked at it, we looked at it and you're right the residents out there they have to be a part of it and it kind of didn't didn't move but that is an integral project that would happen. We're closer now than we ever have been just because of the other growth in the area so we'll probably be within I'd call striking distance to be able to serve that community and when we do though then typically you don't have to be in the city for us to provide utilities, but you would have to sign the annexation in order to come in. And then one enough people did, and it was contiguous, or there are enough people that were interested in coming in, then we would go through that annexation process. So I think now the women in factor is in that you're annexed. It's that we don't have the sewer lines and the lift station close enough yet to be able to serve that community. But that is a part of our long term goal and we're slowly chipping away and in-chain and getting closer, you know, pretty much. But if not by the day, at least by the year, we're getting closer to be able to provide that for you. I will add one more thing. That area, due to the fact that it's next to wetlands, those septic tanks do struggle in that area. So I think if we was to try to go back out there, maybe more residents might be open to it, because I know there is issues out there, especially on the back road, closer to the wetland area and you're up on experiment and having issues but how many units about there John do you think altogether the houses back there maybe 50-60 homes I don't think there's that's about do you think all three roads I would think so eventually when we get closer to that we could look at it but then also to every For the bond covenants every every one that connects to the city has to pay those connection fee charges And so now we've got a program where we pay for that um out of our funds But they still have to be paid so we got to pay it from unrestricted in order and then go into restricted. So you got to figure out every house that comes on, you're looking at $6,000 each for sewer and then also another $6,000 for water. So we, and again, it's asking someone to pay $12,000 to connect and then, oh, hey, congratulations, now you're also got to pay the $100 a month bill. That's a tall order and we and we knew that that's why we created that program. But if we were going to do that, we would either try to either get an appropriation, maybe a grant through DEP or some combination or if that didn't work, we'd have to sell funded and we would just need to set aside, you know, potentially 500,000 in order to pay those, you know, connection fees, but we would try to work with the state and get a program because the state in state law they have a that everyone's trying to get away from septic and especially with all the growth that we've got coming, you know, the environmental impacts that are associated with that, it probably won't be too much longer to where it might have a phase out requirement or something. So I'd like to think that that would be an eligible appropriation or something that we could get a grant for to meet that state determined unit priority to get folks off the septic. So if you sign up to V and X, will these programs, you know, they're sitting in place to help you get anything like that? So for the people that don't sign up, they still fighting it. Will they be included in the program? Will they have to come out of their own pockets? They would have to come in. So the only thing that we have in the city that you know could be, you typically, if you, once you start getting a bill from us and the only way you can get a bill from us is if you've either connected to water and sewer or if you've annexed and then you pay like the trash bill. We have something called like an availability fee. So if the line runs by your house, but you don't want to connect to it, you still have to pay, I think it's like half the base rate every month to the city. Now, they don't annex. I don't have any, we don't have a mechanism in order to build them, nor will we try to go after them. So we try to make it as voluntary as possible. If you want to connect to the water and sewer, you can, but you have to sign the annexation petition when you do so. And then we just annex it at some point down the line when it makes sense. When we've connected enough of the dots, so to speak, then we'll do the annexation. But if you sign, you could connect. When we have the line and the lift station available for you to connect. But it would probably be, it might be a million dollars for us to invest in capital just to be able to get to the point of being able to serve them. And you're talking about a million dollars, maybe, to take up 50 units. So we need to wait for more development to occur, to basically bring down the cost of us to kind of jump that to clear that hurdle. Okay. I have another question. This one is not one of the cost of the $1. Okay. Okay, I have another question. This one is not one I'm gonna call some $1. Okay, I coefficient a lot in liquor offering. And the liquor offering liquor in Williams Park, I had already called about the sand on the ramp. And I can tell they came out and moved some of the sand off the ramp because I have a four-rangeer small and I get stuck in the lake trying to get my boat out because of this so much sand and plus another thing the lake is you know it's kind of shallow and I can't back my boat all the way in and to the water I have to actually get out there and push it off the ramp me and my son in order to go into the lake. And just the opposite, I have to pull my wits all the way out, has the trailer to pull my boat back up on the rail. They came out and moved the sand, but but they moved it all to the left of the ramp and you know, I think they need to move it all off the entire ramp. And then plus I walked all the way out to the deep part and my feet I can feel the ramp in the end and they still a lot of sand out there as well. We can put in a request of the canal commission because they'd normally maintain those and kind of drag it there. Thank you, ma'am. Okay, is there anybody else that has anything that we'd like to bring up or ask questions of? Mr. Mayor, if I may, just one of the responses to the earlier comments. So regarding the storm water retention, we took over maintenance of the infrastructure for one and two. That was a unique situation to where their storm water infrastructure was actually integrated into a pipe that went under Makai Boulevard and so they were kind of connected to our system and theirs and so that was kind of a unique situation. That's the only time that we've taken over stormwater maintenance out of all of the subdivisions in the city. So that was kind of a unique one off there, typically the HOAs, they kind of maintain their own internal infrastructure and we're not really set up for big large scale storm water maintenance. If you look at your utility bill I think what you pay like two bucks you know because we don't really have storm water infrastructure per se in the study. One of the things that we're looking at is a stormwater master plan to evaluate this types of things but most of the stormwater infrastructure that you see in town is either tied to a county system, the state FDAT system, you know, or just the internal subdivision thing. So that was kind of a unique situation there. I do have the residents contact info and I'll start including them in emails and I do appreciate the information on the permit with the 72 hours, you know, not having water in it. That just gives me more teeth and ammunition. But as I told them and suggested to the commission, we won't be releasing the maintenance bond on that until, you know, those issues have been satisfactorily addressed. And I've got the city engineer and the building official involved. And so we'll try to set something up here after the hurricane and get some traction on that issue. Okay, and the two documents that were presented to us have been entered into the record as well. We've got that too. Great, so appreciate the improvement. Oh, he's gone. Oh, they take out. Okay. Well, I appreciate them coming and giving us info. Okay. Okay, without anybody else having anything to bring to this, to us at this point, we're going to move on to employer recognition. And this time I would like to defer to Chief Bowdenheimer. Good evening, Commission and Citizens Chief Bowdenheimer Alpher Police Department. If I could have Alster Gettel step forward with me. So tonight we celebrate Alster Gettel's 20-year anniversary. You can stand on a period. Alster Gettel started as queer Lake Alpher Police Department on September 1st in a messed up because it was 20-04, I put, 2024, that's you know, you're 20 years older. Walter Gettel was hired after prompting from Captain Densfield, you all remember about his time spending the Army and his conversations with Walter Gettel. Walter Gettel is one of our night shift patrol officers that is also responsible for our alcohol intoxicizer inspection program and he does a great job at keeping us on board with that and keep us in line. So congratulations on reaching this remarkable milestone of 20 years of dedicated services of police officer. Your unwavering commitment, courage and professionalism have made a lasting impact on the community you protect. Your years of service are a testament to your integrity and tireless effort in upholding the law and serving the safety of others. Thank you for your continued dedication and here's to many more years of exemplary service. Thank you all for your gathering. We'll present this up there and he also gets a plaque. Let me read it to you real quick and grateful appreciation for your 20 years of dedicated service to the City of Lake Alvin. Would you like to give a speech? No, I'm going to give a speech. I appreciate the citizens that want to keep me going and the kids in the community. And thank you for your time. Let me be here. And there's no such thing as retirement here. Well, it's been done. Oh, guess what? Oh, no. No, not at all. But, I'll be back. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'll be back. Move it down. I'll just move up it down a little bit. Move it down a little bit. You can see what's all of this. Where is it tonight? You just go over it. Oh, really? That's what I wanted to say. One, two, three. Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to say something about us to get us. If I may. He is an officer here in Lake Alfred that the citizens love. I observe him. He goes around and he talks to the citizens. And he talks to kids when they're doing wrong and try to tell them when to do right. I have observed him do that. And if he sees something about to go wrong, he's that cop. I'm going to call him like my grandmother to say old school cop because she said I love to watch the heat of the night and she said you love watching them old cops So I'm gonna he is just like the cops on the heat of the night because he give along with everybody I must say that about him I can't leave what I say about him because he is a very good cop We need more officers like him In every city and he he's just a good hearted person. I mean before he let things he see things happening he try to fix it so it won't get so far to hand and make his job easy and to save the citizens from getting in trouble. I must say that about him. I have observed him. He is a very good person. I've been knowing him for quite a while And I've never known him to be having me hard at all So I had to say that about him when you have to say some of my Person when you know they're a good person and that's all I wanted to say We got the family. I'll see you later. He was a big wife of a polar bear. You're a big fish. I don't know. He's a big wolf. He has a big wolf. He has a big wolf. He's a big wolf. Are you? Thank you. Thank you. There's a lot of dogs in this town that love Anthony as well. He has a little supply of dog biscuits in his car. Okay. Now, we have a proclamation for Fire Prevention Week. And... Let's see what you saw. Yeah. Yeah, I knew it. Okay. Yep. Oh. Yeah, what's it? Yeah. What. Okay. Yep. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. Oh. Yeah. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Chief Hulley. That was a very serious interview. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. We have a proclamation tonight for Fire Prevention Week. Whereas Lake Alfred is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all people living in and visiting the city, fires a serious public safety concern both locally and nationally. And whereas according to the National Fire Protection Association and FPA, home fires killed more than 3,790 people in the United States in 2022. And whereas the 2024 Fire Prevention Week theme is smoke alarms, make them work for you. And whereas having working smoke alarms in the home reduces the risk of dying at home fire by more than 54 percent. And whereas residents should install smoke alarms in every bedroom outside each separate sleeping area in the hallway and on each level in the home. In addition, residents should test the smoke alarm at least once a month and replace the smoke alarms over 10 years old. And whereas Lake Alfred's first responders are dedicated to reducing the occurrence of home fires and home fire injuries through prevention, protection and education, and now therefore be it proclaimed that the city of Lake Alfred formally recognizes on cover 6 through October 12, 2024 2024, as Fire Prevention Week in the City of Lake offered and encouraged all citizens to check their smoke alarms monthly. In witness there, I have under here set my hand on the seventh day of October 24th. So Chief, thank you and have a word with the folks. Well, you know, education is he was talking about starts with our preschoolers, kindergarten and first graders. And you know, we didn't have you guys's support to make sure that we're able to get the job done. And you know, I've been in this city almost 20 years and I worked for where haven't before I come here 24 years and I have never seen a city this size with support that we have gotten since I've been here. I appreciate everyone here. I appreciate the city manager for standing behind us. I've not had him that when I've gone in there with something that I need that he's not we can make it happen. So I do appreciate the support of the commission and the support of the department heads because we all work together and we appreciate all. Thank you so much. I just want to say you guys are top notch. Anytime I have interactions with them, they're always there to support our city, our people, and they're just professional all the way around. And that's for all of us. Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to go back to the next room. That's it. One, two, three. Thank you. I got it. Okay, we did. Very much. Thank you. I'm going to. I'm not cheating. I'm not cheating. I'm not cheating. I'm not cheating. I'm not cheating. I'm not cheating. I'm not cheating. I'm not cheating. I'm not cheating. I'm not cheating. I'm not cheating. I'm not cheating. I'm not cheating. I'm not cheating. I'm not cheating. I'm not cheating. I'm not cheating. I think he was very high-cutty. He was a helicopter. For example, it was right. I wrote it on exact, but the helicopter came to all of them. And I heard it. Thank you so much. Chief I'll take you some steps why don't you stay up here with me. I'd like to have all the city employees there and the building here this evening to come up and join me for this next presentation. That was yeah. Brenda, did you like something? Did you like the picture of Florida yet? Yeah. Since our photographer is going to be tied up. I am. Where do you know us? Do you know who we are? Okay. We need to charge by the picture. We'll make our heart. We charge by the picture. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. As the city government is the government closest to most citizens and the one with most direct daily impact on its residents. And whereas the municipal government provides services and programs that enhance the quality of life for residents making their city their home. And whereas the city government is administered for and by its citizens and is dependent upon public commitments to an understanding of its many responsibilities. And whereas the city government officials and employees share the responsibility to pass along the understanding of public services and their benefits. And whereas Florida City Government Week offers an important opportunity for elected officials and city staff to spread the word to all citizens of Florida that they can shape and influence the branch of government. And whereas the Florida city, the Florida League of Cities and its member cities have joined together to teach citizens and students about municipal government to a variety of activities. Now therefore, be it be proclaimed the City of Lake Alfred, formerly designates the week of October 21 through 27, 2024 as Florida City Government Week. The City of Lake Alfred encourages all citizens, city government officials, and employees to participate in events and recognize and celebrate the Florida City Government Week. It witnessed where I have here under set my hand and the city seal on the seventh day of October 2024. So I'd like to give you a hand. I'm going to give you a hand. I'm going to give you a hand. I'm going to give you a hand. I'm going to really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really Thank you. I think you bring us in front of the lens. Thank you very much. Thank you all of you. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you all of you. You know we love our employees. They make us look good. Thank you. You know we love our employees they make us look good. It's always a great opportunity to recognize the citizens of this city and I would like to take a little opportunity here as mayor to ask Ryan if he would give just a little excerpt. You know, we talked about in the proclamation the opportunity we give students to come in here and we've talked about this in our kind of our round-up sometimes of what we've done in this room with kids in this school. Ryan always talks to him about, you know, who's the president, who's the senator, who's your governor, and so forth. And he kind of makes it known who you all are in a kind of an interesting way. So I'm going to get in there. For the comparison to the business? Yeah, no compared to, you know, you know, your president. Oh, no, I said just, and I think I've mentioned this before, but I always have fun with the students. The leadership group that comes in and I always ask them, okay, who here know this, who the president of the United States is, and everyone raises their hand. And then, okay, who's the governor, and 95% if not 100% know who it is? And then I get, okay, now get ready for the next one, because go it's going to get hard because I got a vastest question now for 12 years and no one's ever got it who's the chairman of the the Board of County Commissioners for Polk County and it's always crickets after that and then I go okay here now you already come if you're in Lake Alfred you're kind of cheating because you already know who the mayor is because we just entered we just introduced them. But I go, who here lives in Auburndale, or Winter Haven, or Haines City, and maybe like half of them raise their hand. They go, do you all know who the mayor is of Winter Haven, or Haines City, or Auburndale? And none of them have ever got it to this day. And so the point is, I always tell them, we fixate so much on federal politics and state politics and we've got all the campaign ads in our faces but I go all government is local government because no matter where you are, some what you're in a state, you're in a county or you're in a city and I go and we care we see we think that we care an awful lot about what happens in Washington or Tallahassee and they kind of bait us into a lot of that. But I can promise you if you can't back out of your driveway because the roads closed or if the lights traffic light something work or if the water doesn't come out of the faucet or if you can't flush your toilet you're going to care an awful lot about local government very quickly. And so that's kind of the irony of local government is that when we do our jobs best we're completely invisible and taken for granted by the average citizen. They just expected all the work. The trash to get picked up, the 911 calls to get answered, and when it works, it kind of fades into the background of our day to day life. It's only when those services are challenged or disrupted that day become very much in the front and center, and then you really don't care what's happening in Tallahassee or in Washington if those basic services aren't provided. So I always like, that's always kind of my summary or kind of how I, when I've speak to different groups, I always talk about that. We're one of the few services when we do it right, you don't really know we're even there. Amen. Well, and again, I wanted everybody to hear that again because it is exactly why you're all so important to this city and to this commission. And you know, we've got a lot of things coming our way in the next 24, 48 hours that are gonna test some of our patients and some of our skills and so forth. So please just pat yourself on the back, tell your co-workers that are not here tonight, how much we appreciate them. Most of the directors that are here can take that back to their people and express our thanks for their work in our city. Okay. Consent of Genie and Gender. So we have two items that we're going to recognize tonight on consent agenda number one city commission meeting minutes for September 19th 2024 and city commission announcements. So these since we're in a public meeting here are there any comments or questions about either those two items? Okay, seeing none, any commission comments? Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion that we approve the consent and gender one and two. Okay, we have a motion and a second. I don't know, you like that, like me. Motion in the second. All in favor say aye. Any opposed? I thought she was going to say something. I did. That motion is carried. Okay. She's correct. On our agenda tonight we have agenda item number one, ordinance 1549-24, elections. I'd like to ask Seth Clayter, City Attorney to read ordinance 1549-24 elections. I'd like to ask CESC later, City Attorney to read ordinance 1549-24 into the record please. Thank you mayor. Ordinance 1549-24, an ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Lake Alfred Florida and Mending Chapter 26 of the Code of Ordnances, City of Lake Alfred Florida relating to municipal elections, and Mending Section 26-1, Elections 2 to be conducted as provided for state and county elections, section 26-2, types of elections, section 26-3, canvassing board, section 26-4, election certification, and section 26-5, both of office, and establishing section 26-8, determination of persons elected and drawing of lots. And Section 26-9, ballot instructions, providing for the incorporation of the titles, providing for conflicts, providing for severability, providing for the administrative correction of the governor's heirs, providing for codification, providing business impact estimate and providing for an effective date. Thank you, sir. And now we'll ask City Manager to read his comments into the record please. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The City of Alphabet Periodically Reviews existing code to ensure consistency with state law and other applicable election codes. And the past few years changes to state law have occurred. They need to be addressed in the city of Lake Alfred Code of Ordinance. The amendments or the corrections are as follows. The canvassing board shall have two appointed alternates. Also, we've got a signature match verification training is required. The certification of the election results meeting time was amended to accommodate the Cure Affidavit deadline. Drawing of lots also in unusual circumstances. We also provided ballot instructions that required my section 4.04 of the city charter. And then also just a general cleanup and clarifications. Appreciate Linda kind of taking the lead on this one. She'd kind of collected all of the various things that needed to get addressed and not that she had much downtime, but she did it anyways. And so Linda, I appreciate you. You following through on this one. If approved on first reading, the ordinance will be presented for second and final reading at October 21st, twenty-first, twenty-four city commission meeting. Staff recommendation on this one is to approve ordinance 1549-24 and staff would be happy to answer any questions. Thank you sir. Okay this meeting is a public meeting and anybody that has any questions or comments regarding ordinance 1549-24 elections is welcome to come up and speak at this time. Okay, seeing none, I'll close that opportunity and we will move on to city commission comments. You are already free, but I just have a question about section 26-3. It says the canvassing board shall consist of the city commission except the elected officials running in the current election. Then it says there shall be no less than three regular canvassing board members. Now in the situation that three seats were up for election there would only be two left over to be the regular canvassing board people. And I believe that's where the alternates come in because it goes on to say that the chair can appoint the alternate to serve on a regular members absent. Yeah, that's part of the reason for the change just to actually see the gammas in the chair or his or her does need must designate which alternate member will serve as a member of the canvassing board and the place of a regular member who is on that. Okay, got it. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Any other comments? Anybody have a two entertainend or ten of motion, please? I would like a pool of all of this. No, 15 for an add 24. A pool of second. Okay. We have a motion of a second. All in favor say aye. Any opposed? That motion is carried. We have Emotion as second all in favor say aye in the opposed That motion is carried Okay Agenda item number two agreement Lake Lowry right-of-way maintenance Like to ask city manager to prevent present the analysis on this piece, please Very good thank you, Mr. Mayor the whole county has your jurisdiction over and maintains Lake Lourd roads a part of the road system and the city of Lake Alperds requested to maintain the improvements in the right of way such as landscaping. This maintenance agreement allows the city to maintain the areas at a higher standard of frequency. The agreement provides the city with releases and indemnification and holds harmless protections for the landscaping. During the development process for Lake Lowry Hills, the city wanted the portion of Lake Lowry Road that was going to be improved by the developer to be built to city standards in order for us to accept a road from the county. However, since the road was a county road, at the time of the development, the county could not require the developer to bring the road to city standards. So this kind of created like a catch 22 situation of like, okay, you're improving it. The city's not going to accept the road from the county unless it's done to city standards, but the county can't require the developer to build it to city standards because it's a county road. So yeah, that summary there took six hours that I want back at some point. So the agreed upon compromise was for two intersections that he built to the requested city standard of a roundabout versus a T intersection. This will help improve safety as well as flow of traffic. These are not the mini-bouts that we tried to do a couple of years ago on Pierce. These are full on roundabouts. So they will work as intended. The developer, so the compromise is that the developer will see transportation. In fact, fee credits for the cost difference between the T and the roundabout. And then the city will take the maintenance of it, because the county didn't want to maintain the roundabouts. I wouldn't let the county maintain a roundabout because I know how often they mo and we want the roundabouts will have good landscaping and things like that and it will not only be functional and safer, it will actually be an aesthetic of many to it too as well. So staff recommendation on this is to approve the Lake Lowry, Rotterweight Maintenance Agreement. And I think I might have mentioned this before in an update, but the solution going forward. So this is kind of all lessons learned for us as well. When a development comes in and they go into construction plans when they first submit, we will now accept the roads from the county and then that way. And I've told new developments that are in the process. Hey, just go ahead and do it to city standards because we will take those roads and we will make you go to city standards. And so now everyone's kind of on the up and up as of the process going forward. So we've corrected it going forward. This agreement, Tana, is the compromise solution for this and against that recommendation on it is approval. And just to put it in perspective, the city, when we have a development come in and they want to perform any type of work or maintenance in the right of way that's been dedicated to the municipality. We require very similar, probably more stringent, hold harmless and identification provisions. So because the city will be performing some form of work and maintenance within the county right of way, this is a very standard contractual arrangement that you would have with the county or municipality, depending on who has jurisdiction over the subject right of way. Yep. So this was all similar to 557 projects. Yes, I was Commissioner Dermont. I was just going to use that as an example. So when the county comes through and they do the 557, now we're never going to take responsibility of the road and that's not what this is, this is just for maintenance of the landscaping. But when they do the roundabout there at the Y, I don't want the county to maintain that. And so we've already talked with them about landscaping that we want and then we might even be able to put like an entrance sign there and make it look like a grand entrance top-tier landscaping and so there will probably then be a similar maintenance agreement just for that roundabout again we're not taking the road we're not taking the whole stretch but those key areas it makes sense for us to take it. Okay thank you. Okay this is a public meeting. So anybody that has any comments or questions on this particular item has an opportunity right now to come up and discuss that with us. OK, seeing no one, I will close for that opportunity. And now move on to commission comments. I just want to say I'm glad to see this because twice now, in at least the last month, I've had to alert the city that there was some county right of way where the grass was so tall and alongside the road that the people couldn't drive out. They couldn't see they had an inch out past in a dangerous situation. So there was one over on Experiment Station Road and one on 557 and the city went up and their crews went ahead and made it safe, but we don't want to have to depend on the county to keep up with that. And plus, you know, we'll make it look nicer too, so. Yeah, I think it's a sunny way. Exactly. They don't know. So I'm glad to see that we're doing this. Okay. Any other comments? Mr. Mayor, would like to make a motion that we approve the agreement on the Lake Lover's right of Way Maintenance. Second? Okay, we have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Seeing none, the motion is carried. And I agenda item number three, Ref Tellus, task order number one, utility rate Study. I'd like to ask City Manager to present the analysis please. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The City Previously Performed Day Rate Study in 2022 to the DAPD at a 5-year rate schedule designed to prepare for and accommodate for the increased expenses related to the city's commitment to alternate water supply projects. Due to the volatility surrounding the cost estimates and associated with the project, general operating costs and with growth, it was known that we would need to update both the rate, impact and connection fees approximately every two years to make sure that fees were accurate and reflective of updated data. The proposed task order was for our FTILIS Financial Consultances for 30,000 to perform an updated rate study analysis that will analyze the city's utility rates and levels of service. As the parks and facility master plans are completed, an additional task order will be generated to update those associated impact fees as well. Rafft Ellis will present the study results in a report that will serve as the basis for adopting changes to the utility rates and structure. The report in ordinance language will be presented for consideration during the fiscal year of 2024, 2025 fiscal year. And so just to kind of give some perspective as some of the volatility that we've been experiencing. And so just to kind of give some perspective as some of the volatility that we've been experiencing, this was a previous, the 60 percent line here. I don't know if this or I got a new phone and the phone just keeps. All right, I've silenced it. Yeah, you got anyone to. So this was a previous projection that we had based on cost estimates. So how this works is that the Pope regional water cooperative every year in their business plan, they kind of do updated numbers. Mayor Fuller will be familiar with this as we, the September meeting that we just sat through probably two, three weeks ago, gave us the updated numbers. So last year these were the numbers that Lake Alford was going to experience for alternate water supply costs. We were slated to be at 468,000, 275, and then kind of jump up to 2 million. And then you can see it's pretty consistent there on out right at that 2 million range. And the 2028 that was going to align up to when the water was actually going to be online. And so for additional background on it, the City of Lake Alphard's current water use permit is for 1.3 million gallons per day. That's how much that we can, the water management district permitted us to use from the upper floor and aquifer, which I call it the cheap water. That's the traditional water supply. Now, as of today, we're pumping, is it two or more, 2.2? We're pumping 2.2 million gallons now. When we went into the alternate water supply thing, we signed up for 1 million gallons per. When we went into the alternate water supply thing we signed up for one million gallons per day and that had a significant price tag. I think it was probably like at the time even with the district paying half it was probably like $15 to $20 million that we would have to pay over a 40 year period plus the operations and maintenance. Now though, we've been given updated costs. And so you can see everyone kind of had a little bit of a sticker shock because now our costs going in the next year are going to be much higher. A million, eight hundred thousand from two million to two point seven. And you can see the percentages over here. So over the over this period, which is a seven year period, our total payment would have been 11.7 million. Now it's jumped up to 16.5 million. And so that's a four, basically a 5 million increase over a seven year period that they've now kind of estimated. Part of that is due to inflation and just costs have just been continuing to rise. The other part of the problem is that when we first got involved with this, the water management district committed to paying 50% of the project cost, but they capped their contribution at the dollar amount they gave at the time. So all of the cost increase that we've been hit with we're paying 100% where they've ca the time. So all of the cost increase that we've been hit with, we're paying 100% where they've capped theirs. Now, the district, they're under state pressure, they don't state doesn't let them go to the rollback rate or they are forced to go to the rollback rate. Every year, so the district has budget challenges. We've drafted a letter on behalf of the whole cooperative, the whole board agreed to do it, to basically advocate to the district that, hey, you all need to, you know, we need help here, we need more funding. I'm sure there will be lobbying efforts at the state level as well to try to get additional funding. We've gotten tens of millions already in additional grant funding but when you're looking at a $600 million dollar project a $10 million grant like a drop in the bucket so that's that's kind of where we're at on it overall. Now the silver lining in this and why it's not all doom and gloom is that it's actually a good thing that we got the growth when we did because the Central Florida water Initiative that went through and basically said this is all Study all the water for a five county area of the all the aquifers basically After 2025 no one's gonna be able to get new upper floor and allocations. So that 2025, when the ball drops on 2025 and we ring in the new year, everyone is either going to be an alternate water supply, conservation, or they are going to have to have some type of offsets in order to get additional allocations. Offsets would be like when a grove well comes offline, you might be able to eke out 10% of what the grove well was. Why that's so good that we're pumping 2.2 million today is that we can actually get that in our permit. So because we had the growth before 2025 we're a good chunk of it we can probably we were in the process now of increasing our permitted capacity of the upper to the 2.2. If we didn't have the growth and let's say we grew in 2026 you're at a look. We would have been capped at the 1.3. So that 1 million gallons that we're trying to get in the upper permit, that's probably worth $30 million to us. And so that's a good get. That's going to help offset some of the sting of this. But at the same time, there's so many moving parts and there's so much volatility. Like I'm pretty good with Excel. We're not going to be able to do this on the back of the napkin map. We need to bring Rath Tillison and just say, hey, we've got, we just did the right study a couple of years ago. We've got these major cost increase, but at the same time, we're probably going to get a lot more upper allocation. And so we've got things that are bad news, things that are good news, and we really just need them to come in and reassess it and see where it kind of falls. And we're probably going to need to do an updated rate study. We probably will need to do it again potentially in another year, just to make sure that we're dialed in just because there's so much volatility. And who know, at some point it may even be able to come down slightly if these numbers stabilize and or if we can get the district to commit additional funding. So I spoke a lot on that but that's kind of the long and the short of all the things that we've been dealing with with the co-op and all the cities are dealing with this. And we were very fortunate and very good that we did it when we did because we caught the growth swing on all those houses that were built out there. They paid at the time. We were the highest connection fees in the county for water. And I think for sewer two, when we updated, Winter Haven just adopted theirs. Now they're the highest in the county. So anytime anybody updates, it's kind of this wheat frog effect as everyone kind of dials in these costs. They comment from the Winter Haven City Manager and the utility director after they got these updated costs. They're like, we just did our study. We're gonna have to go back and do it again you know a month after we adopted it so we got two years out of ours which is probably better than most and now we just we need to update. So that's it on that staff recommendation on this is to approve the task order number one with Broughttillus financial consultants for 30,000 and SAP will be happy to answer any questions. And I know I want to work quite a bit. Yeah, I was going to call you on that five minute clock thing. I just want to bring to your attention one thing. Brian and I went to a meeting in Daytona last week, week before last, when it was, week before. And I got a five and a half hour master's class version of what he just said to you. And it's, it's a, when you first come on to a committee like that and then the role that Ryan got me into. It's alphabet soup. Everything is acronyms. And I thought State Farm and then I thought, you know, NASA and I'll run a lot of they don't have a they don't hold a candle to how the government uses acronyms to figure stuff out. So I'm getting through the acronym part of this, but that's just my two cents was Ryan represents this this city and our our needs extremely well is extremely well thought out for his ability to think that out and he provided that same level of expertise to my fellow mayors at a Florida League of mayors meeting that we had in Daytona where I was allowed to bring a guest and Ryan was the, he was the star pupil that day. So I want to thank him again and that's kind of off the base with it. It's really a lot to absorb. If you don't understand and Ryan, I think did a pretty good job right there telling you how really much better shape we're in than we would have been had we not been anticipating what he did for us. So anyway, this is a public meeting and you don't need to hear me talk anymore. If you have any comments or questions regarding this last, this item, please feel free now to come up. Seeing none, I'll open it for City Commission comments. I just have two questions. This bound of money that doesn't count any of the treatment that's only just to purchase the water. This is both. So this is anticipated to be a blend of the capital and operations and maintenance. The way that we've set up our rate structure is to where we, and I can't remember the percentage, I think it's like 84% thereabouts. So when we collect all this collection or this connection fees from all the houses that are built, we're basically building up a big war chest. And then 84 cents out of every dollar that we collect from those houses we're going to use to pay these down. But then the 16 or 7 and I'll find out what it is exactly. I think it's like 20% that's left that that can't be attributed to growth and so that's got to be paid for out of the rates. So the rate study is just trying to dial in on that. But we're trying to minimize the impact of the rates as much as possible. But now there's just so much volatility in the numbers we need to update the rate study. Does that amount include? It does. It does. It does. It does that amount include? It does. It does. It does. It does. It does. It does. It does. It does. It does. It does. It does. It does. It does. It does. It does. It does. It does. It does. It does. It does. It does. It does. or winter haven and then the age of the airplane, once they pay all that money, they don't even know for sure whether that water is gonna be drinkable after they get it out. It will be drinkable. It'll be drinkable because it's gonna go through reverse osmosis. So that's gonna be- But it's gonna be given everybody diseases. I don't think so. My concern is more of the science behind the recharge of the lower aquifer itself. Because they're treating it. They're like, if you put the straw down here, well, we ran out of water here, so just put the straw down even deeper, and then we'll draw from there, and then we'll give you a permit for that. That's basically what they're near. Again, that hydrologist would just be boiling me right about now. But it would be that's my understanding of it. Where does it put this straw deeper because there's a confining layer between the upper and the lower floor and aquifer and then they'll give us a permit for it and then and because it's a lower aquifer the water is more like brackish full of like chemicals and acid and well that most, the water is more like brackish, full of like chemicals and acid and... Well, most of that water is untouched, so it's just brackish from being like close to salt water and just sulfur and all these other things just because it's lower. But my question is, okay, we're going to give you a permit for this. Well, how does that water recharge? It's got to recharge from somewhere. So either it's coming from way out here from the up or going into the lower and coming back in, or it's seeping up from under the ocean or something. I don't understand it. All I know is that's what they're willing to give us a permit for. And so we've got to kind of play their rules. The irony is we're not responsible for the water supply for the state of Florida. We're not. That's what the water management districts do. We're just users. So because we've got the customers, they may guess do all the heavy lifting. We do all the modeling. We got to do all these rate studies. I remember when this thing first came up 10 years ago, my old mentor Bobby Green was like, why are we even doing this? You all build the damn plants and just pump it to us. You know? Because, but no, they make us do the heavy lifting for them because they got that piece of paper that has the permit capacity. So we got to jump through all the hoops and we've got the customers and because the district and the state doesn't want to tax, they put it all on the backs of rate payers. And my I've said this from the beginning, I haven't been shy about it. They're putting it on the back of Ag and Industry. They're putting it on our backs too because this whole CFIWI thing, they're not touching any Ag permits. I can promise you that. And then the district's over permitted. They're over permitted by almost, they probably give impermits for twice the amount of the water that's actually available. So any time a grove turns into a housing subdivision, the district's probably clapping because they didn't have the water to give to that grove. And then when that grove goes away and it turns into a housing subdivision, they don't give us the credit for the well-grove. And then they count the subdivision against our water use permit and then make us do alternate water supply projects to the tune of $15 million to solve their problem. And then they had the goal of capping their contribution. It should have been them paying for the whole thing in the first place. They should have paid for all of it. And when we first started, I was the representative on the cent water cooperative. And it was 10 years ago. And I remember they were just starting the conversations. And this man came in and said, I'm a geologist. And I'm telling you, don't do this. He was adamant that this was a terrible idea and he since passed away and he would come to all the meetings and say, this is just not a good scientific leading, not a good idea. The district is permitted and the way I look at it is, the deep well is basically just desalination but we're not on the coast. If we were on the coast we would be talking about desalination. And that's what happens. They put that, the same process that they do at the coast is what we're doing here. It's called reverse osmosis. So they push that water through a membrane and what comes out is actually molecularly pure water. There's nothing in it other than H2O, which is actually very acidic, because most water that we have here, there's nutrients and minerals that are in the water, but when they push it through, it's molecularly pure water, and so it actually leaches things out, because water is inherently like acidic, so it's goingly pure water. And so it actually leaches things out because water is inherently like acidic. So it's going to pull things out of things. So they've actually got to put nutrients back into the water after it goes through the RO. So I'm not worried about people getting sick over things like that. I think the science is clear there, but it's very expensive. It's just very expensive for doing it and it's basically just a desal. But they just put the straw deeper into the ground. There are other projects that they looked at. There were like 200 projects that they vetted. One was like a piece river, reservoir, you know, winter havens trying to do like a sapphire necklace project like with re-oquefort recharge. So there's a lot of different things that are out there this is just the one that was permitted and approved and that everyone committed to they didn't do enough with conservation and they didn't they had talked about doing reservoirs and I'm telling you the next three days we could have filled up three reservoirs with the conundering that we're gonna get and they didn't build them well and just like how Tampa Bay water is doing and how to next three days we could have filled up three reservoirs with the commemorating that we're going to get. And they didn't build them. Well, just like how Tampa Bay water is doing it now to where they have this D-cell plan and they have this reservoir, this plan over here, we're in the beginning of the Polk County or Polk Regional Water Cooperative. Even though we formed it like 10 years ago, it's in its infancy. We're talking about two projects, the Lakeland Deepwell and the Southeast Deepwell. 20 years from now, if there's even twice, who knows, where we're headed growth wise. We might need five projects. We might need the reservoir, two deep wells, and a massive recharge conservation project. So it'll continue to go from there because everyone that moves to Polk County now, their water has gonna have to come from an alternate water supply project. And the good news, Vice Mayor Daly, is on the conservation side. We are not only Polk County, but Lake Alvarse specifically, we are ahead of the game. Because the commission had the foresight to adopt the Waterstar standards, all of the new construction that's been built over, well over a thousand homes at this point has those Waterstar standards which forces conservation. Because the irrigation systems are much smaller. They're only in the front yard. They've got the micro jets and they've got all of the fixtures and appliances inside the house that are lower flow. So we've, I think our per, I think our per capita numbers, I believe now for water usage have already met the standard. What we are goal that was set in the CFWI process for the water management district. We've actually met that we're already there on the per capita right out of the gate. And so we're doing everything that we can. Thank you. Okay. So are there any other city commissioners? No much. I'd like to make a motion to approve, test order number one with Reptiles for Initial Consoles for 30,000. Second. Okay. We have a motion in the second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? And as a side note, I would just be curious. I hope there's some environmental agency just monitoring big storms like this, the impact of recharging the aquiferous. And hopefully it does have a positive impact, like the only thing that comes from it. I was just curious when I was listening to that. Okay, that motion is carried and kind of a side note I had a water school schedule for this Friday and next Friday that they've just canceled but that would have been interesting to see some of the just how they handle what we're getting but it's been re-schcheduled to the 25 now. I'll send out that when that comes back up. Water school is neat. I think everyone should go to it at least once. Okay. Now we're the one we've added to tonight's agenda is item number four, for the for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for resolution this is just to sort it all this would be a conditional approval subject to city attorney approval and also authorizing the city manager to enter into and execute the addendum on behalf of the city that would be the motion to be made. Just to give you some background on this on March 8, 2024, Rat Tell Us was one of the first consultants to enter into the CCNA agreement with the understanding that we would eventually be bringing this addendum back to the Commission for approval. So the work in relationship that the city has with Reptellus and the product that they provide, there's no question there and we were great with Reptellus. So this has been a very collegial process but because we had engineers, surveyors, financial rate consultants, we were trying to address a very broad array of professional consulting services within our RFQ. I say I were the city of like Alfred's RFQ. And so that's why some of the terminology and the terms and provisions and the agreement, they were drafted very general in nature. So now when the professional consultants come back and they're like, well, you know, this and the provision doesn't necessarily apply on all four corners to a rate consultant. We would recommend that language similar to this be used. And so that's what we've been irony now. There are no real sticking points. And then speaking with Council this afternoon, we have worked out in the final three sticking points. So that's why I wanted to get this back on the agenda so we can finalize it for Rat Tillis and the city and moving forward with this task. We're number one. And so that's why I would request a motion for conditional approval. Okay. Is there a need to go to the public? Yes. Beforehand. Okay. This time again, because we are in a public hearing and a public meeting. We were comments are welcome at this time. Seeing none closing for public comments. Any city commission comments? Mr. Tony the on you were talking about just or the three red. So part of that will, yes, so instead of saying a rising out of a related to it's going to be related directly to these services provided by reptilis. As a rate consultant they have issues with their insurance carrier if anything is relating to or rising out of so there's just like I said there's some idiocycacies that are specific to that particular field of practice. Also, they like to have language in their talking about intellectual property and trade secrets. Obviously, we are a public entity. I made sure I explained to Council very clearly if you provide to the city it is a public record. So anything that we provide in our agreement we're fine with the language, so long as it's subject to chapter 119 and Florida law. So you're not talking about major changes there, right? But we're just trying to tailor the addendum for the agreement specific to that particular consultants field. Okay. Any other comments? Okay. Would they like to entertain a motion please? Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion that we approve, Reptila CCNA 2324 on first reading. That was your one. That's the conditional approval, the motion that was made at the beginning, would you like me to restate that for the record? Perfect. Sure I do. I will restate it this for the record. This would be a motion to conditionally approve the CCNA at Dendum for Rafft Tell us financial consultants' ink subject to city attorney approval and authorizing the city manager to enter into and execute the Dendum on behalf of the city. Yes. So moved. Okay, let's take it. Okay, so we have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, motion is carried. That completes the last presentation. Awesome. Okay, we had time for another recognition of citizens and again we'd invite you to come up and if you've got any comments or questions please let me your comments to five minutes and if you do come up please say your name and your address. Anybody want to take advantage of it? Nope. Oh, you've already had your time. Start that clock now. On the 45th of this history, I just want to say, as I always say, y'all doing a great job for the Cedar Lake Africa. I like the way things are going here in Lake Africa and keep making us look good and keep doing a great job. All right, so if I saw that, and I wanna congratulate the chief, the chief, what's the best on it? Because both of them, they get out there and they help with that tractor again in the morning time and with the storm coming, it was troubled this morning and chief had an officer out there and he was doing a great job. I don't know him, but he did a great job by writing a traffic because it was here this morning. So I like to give you, again, your points, what points do? Okay? Good night and everybody stay safe and we will keep you there by the umbrella. Yes, Brenda, we want to thank you for all of your great words and it's just always appreciated that you take your time and you thought to bring that to our attention. Anybody else have anything that I'd like to step up and comment or question on? Okay that being said I will now go to Commissioner Questions and Comments. And I'm up first. Good meeting tonight. I appreciate everything you know having the opportunity to recognize our city, our employees, and the job that we do, and the job that we're going to be expected specifically to do in the next 72 or more hours, depending on how well we're treated but I drove around town today and just at every turn I made I saw a city vehicle whether they were helping with the sandbags whether they were right a block down doing I don't even know what they were doing they were just everywhere to be seen today and I think they're all busy. So John, again, attribute to you and your people and just thank you again for what you do. I had an opportunity to go to a meeting last week in Orlando for a committee that I'm Vice Chair on now for municipal operations and I'll be the chair of that same group next year. There's a lot of good things coming and we're starting to put our thoughts together now for the next legislative session I think which starts in March of next year but got a lot of interesting things that they're talking about putting in in front of the legislators. So it's going to be interesting to see what we can come up with and wordsmith into how we would like things to represent at least our wishes and so forth. So that we may be more information in November after our November meeting, which will be three days after the election. So, you know, that's going to be interesting to see how some of the things are represented or how that all works out. So, anyway, that's really all I've got to say. And thanks again to the Chiefs. You're going to be busy. Anything at all we can do to help you. You let us know. Next, we have Commissioner Deerwin. Thank you Mayor. I too attended that legislative meeting and it was very well. I received when we knew some of our fellow citizens or people couldn't come because of the storms. But very productive on the first meeting which we always get information on things and looking forward to the future of that. Just pray for this week, you know, we all have high anxiety about what's coming and just pray that everybody will be safe and I appreciate all of you and all the staff and your minutes worked hard to be prepared and we are prepared. Jack, just for the information to the record, I'm on the municipal official. What committee are you? I know four or the five of us here on that. Mine to hard when I say it's now, they just changed all of them. I mean, the name of them, but it's an essence. It's land development compliance. It has different components. Now, my committee is mostly with things like impact fees that's part of the state and what else? I'm going to think what else now? You blanket for a four-page party no comforcing some of it's more uh... shoot sovereign humidity was on it and it's what i'm that's on yours to think what else it was okay i need to know what's my right here it's what might be a wake up ready for your answer uh... but it'm sorry about that. No, yeah, but it was a good conversation and we'll be ready for the next meeting next month. That's all I have. Thanks. All right, let me hear you. Thank you, Mayor. And as always, I want to thank both Chiefs in the back. I'm actually rooting for you guys right now as well. And all the first responders and thank you for all the staff you guys always do such a great job. As well I was at the policy committee and ranked the finance and taxation committee. And I mean there's always several things that could be more potential things but one of the things that really the whole state is gonna be focusing on, I guess there's a drive and probably, you know, it's been going on for years, as far as like the homestead exemption that's going, but the interesting part of this one, and really, as I even asked a good question and the chair didn't know the answer. So I think someone's just really kind of, and nobody like Texas, don't get me wrong, so I think we're all kind of feel for that. But I think they're really kind of driving at that. But they're trying to potentially do the homesteading exemption, which I understand part of it, you know, just it from inflation every year based on the CPI. But when I said, well, is there a limit? Because for example, you know, with, you know, our homes to the property, I think we have about 3% cap, not mistaken, you know, overall, and they said no. So I say, well, that would be something to push for, you know, for instance, if it's 3% cap, like no more than half of that or something like that, if it even passes, hopefully, you know, it doesn't, but the point I'll bring up is that there could be potentially a challenge for the whole state let alone us. Because we use that a lot of time just to cover inflation. So we understand that it's a cost to open everybody at the same time. We don't want to do that just to raise property taxes because then that, you know, either way it's going to happen when we're going to have to cover our costs. So what's the point of doing that to do that? So is the juice for the worth of squeeze, right? And other than that, I just hope everybody stays safe during the storm. Maybe Ryan, if Ryan has got their, you know, at Telehassy and just get the hold of the juice for the squeeze, that would probably be enough. I'm all for creative ideas. But that one is, without some kind of cap, you know, can kind of go bonkers for the quick list But anyways, that's all I have and again everybody stay safe Ernsthorn. Thank you All right, thank you commission. All to me. Oh Everybody you tell And you do the same Alrighty and we'll wrap it up with Vice Mayor Daley, please. Thank you. I also went to my policy committee and I actually brought up a name of it is called Intergovernmental Relations, Mobility and Emergency Management Committee. So that's a lot. I brought it up. They all had a memory. Well, I wouldn't have been able to remember that. It used to be just transportation. And I've done a lot of work with transportation over my years on the commission. But that was the one thing that I had in the last couple weeks that wasn't canceled. This coming week, I didn't realize how busy I was going to be, but what's been canceled so far is the discovery governing board meeting Governing Board meeting, the TPO meeting, the MPO meeting, the Mayors Roundtable had a doctor's appointment that originally a city's dinner and the fall fast to fall up and cancel just in the last, like, for the next few days. And some of them are rescheduled, some of them they just say, and never mind, we'll just do it next time. So, it's just really disrupting everybody's lives and everybody's schedules. And, you know, hopefully, you know, we will dodge a bullet here and not be as bad a shape as some of these people we have to think about the people up in North Carolina and the people over on the coast. Imagine they've already had a terrible flood catastrophe and now they're going to have another one and they're in the middle of trying to clean up and all that trash is going to turn into missiles and it's going to block the drains and it's just going to be a mess. So hopefully everybody stays safe and they heed the warnings and evacuate and hopefully everybody here in like Alfred. Are we going to have any shelters in like Alfred open? No the county has announced shelter activations they've activated I think quite a few of them just an anticipation but not the elementary school this time? Do you know what our closest shelter is? Our closest shelter that's activated with Auburn, no high school. Okay, there's one in Hanes City too, I think. But anyway, everybody be safe and that's all I have. Thank you. All right. Well, before you do that, Mr. Mayor, I... Yes. ...is development, code compliance and redevelopment committee. I had to do a I just wanted to throw something out there, especially for the committees that you were on, and then also you were mentioning sovereign immunity. I'm sure that Ryan will attest to the fact that I have had sparring matches in stable rattling matches with many of attorneys on a lot of those issues, especially with the sovereign immunity. There's been a push over the last five years, and it almost passed last year to raise the sovereign caps. What Matt's going to do in conjunction with the tort reform bill that we just had is it's going to increase litigation at the municipal level because if you raise those sovereign caps there's more money available in the event that they were to sue a municipality. There's always a purpose behind some of this policy and at any time any of you would like to individually meet for lunch and talk baseball I would like to do that on my own time if there's anything that I can give you as far as materials or I can help you understand the concept I would like to do that on my own time if there's anything that I can give you as far as materials or I can help you understand the concept. I would be more than happy to do that because let's be honest, home rule is something that we're grasping at right now trying to hang on to and you don't really see the force for the tree sometimes when you're talking about these issues in a vacuum. But I would be more than happy to give you whatever time that you would like to help educate you. You might educate me, but if I can give you any information, I would love to do that. I don't want to throw that out there. We appreciate you. Thank you, now. I know in my case they specifically asked that I get together with you and just discuss what your thoughts. So I will do that. I'll set time with you next week. Absolutely. Okay. Thank you so much for your availability to all of us. Alright, anything else? Pretty good at this city. God bless us all. Be safe and have a safe trip home tonight. We're adjourned.