... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... You've got a big lift. I have to go. I have to leave. It's not like sleeping in a corner. Are we all ready? Let's do this. Good evening, everybody. Welcome to the City Commission meeting of Monday, October 7th. At this time, I would like to ask everybody to please stand up for the invocation that will be brought to us by Pastor Douglas Poole from Cypress Meadows Community Church. And then please remain standing for the pledge to the flag. And thank you for being here tonight. Thank you all for being here. Father in heaven, there are these moments where we realize how just incredibly powerful the forces of nature can be. And the moments when we feel, we understand how limited our control is. And in these moments, we also understand how much we need your grace to sustain and to keep us. And because we know this storm is terrible, tearing apart not just a lot of the fabric of our land, but the fabric of our souls. So I pray that grace would abound to those who are worried and concerned in this moment. Your grace would abound for those who are trying to flee the area and those who are hunkering down, that your grace would be large enough to cover it all and small enough to get in the cracks in our hearts and to speak peace into our souls. And so now, Lord, we... I ask that your presence would be upon this meeting and give the kind of guidance and direction and insight to our leaders to take us into the kind of future that we're all hoping we get to experience. And everybody agrees with that. 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. Thank you, Douglas. Be safe. God bless you all. Thank you for all for what you do for the city, everybody. Thanks for coming in. All right, so we have a presentation on the upcoming hurricane and debris management. So, Mayor, this part will be the hurricane debris management update. And then later in the agenda, we'll talk more about Hurricane Milton. OK. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Commissioners. Hurricane Helene caused massive destruction in our county's beach communities and took its toll on Safety Harbor. Our residents experienced power outages, downed power lines, downed trees, and loss of business revenue. Residents also experienced a large amount of debris, and I'm happy to have Public Works Director Renee Cooper here to give us an update on the management of all of our Helene debris, which includes vegetation, white goods, and construction debris that has specific management requirements from FEMA for reimbursement and is different from our normal garbage service. Thank you, Renee. Good evening, Renee Cooper, Public Works Director. So let's talk about response first. Public Works staff have a roster of personnel that are assigned to our annual storm team. These individuals are from streets, stormwater, water, sewer, and fleet. And they stay in the city during a storm to provide emergency services to citizens of Safety Harbor. Staff also complete safety assessments and first push operations to open roadways to travel. Public Works staff also hosts sandbag distribution sites for residents. So following Hurricane Helene, staff completed citywide assessments looking for downed trees, power lines, damaged homes, debris, erosion, and the overall functionality of our utility services. And you'll see a list of some of the things that we have recorded. So one thing that was helpful, PRIOR TO THE STORM AND DURING THE STORM WAS THE MODEL GUIDANCE PROVIDED FROM THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER. AND THIS IS THE STORM SURGE MAP THAT WE UTILIZE TO REALLY HIT CERTAIN AREAS FIRST. SO PUBLIC WORKS INSPECTIONS DURING AND AFTER THE STORM INDICATED THAT THE SURGE INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER WAS ACCURATE. THIS INFORMATION ESPECIALLY FOR THE CURRENT STORM MILTON CAN BE FOUND ON THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER WEBSITE. SO DEBRIS REMOVAL OPERATIONS. So do the type and volume of debris. The city opted to utilize one of our disaster debris management contractors as well as a debris monitor. You can't do the disaster debris collection with a private contractor without having a monitor to monitor the debris contractor. Is that a city monitor or? So it is a contracted monitor through one of our emergency contracts. So the city reauthorizes our temporary debris site, which is at Public Works. And we have to reauthorize that every year with DEP. However, for this storm, we usually only authorize it for vegetative debris because we haven't seen a storm of this magnitude. So we had to go back to DEP and get it reauthorized to include mixed debris, which is where C and D, your and your wife is, along with the vegetative debris. So the city submitted our site plan for approval. It took a couple of days for DEP to get our approval back to us. The city also agreed to share our site with the city of Oldsmar, our neighbors. as their sites were not able to be authorized following the hurricane. They took in a lot more water than we did, and their sites were not viable. So on Saturday, September 28, Public Works staff assessed the debris volume, debris type, hazardous street conditions, reviewed all of our streets and sidewalks for obstructions, and then the status of the power outages. The city's contractors started coordination and work in the city on Monday, September 30, in preparation of a late week debris pickup. It's important to note that the city has never hauled hurricane debris to Pinellas County solid waste facility. It's not been allowed. They don't have the proper permitting like what we do for our temporary debris site. They don't have the permitting for disposal either of that type of debris. The city maintains our temporary debris sites for disposal, and then the contractor works with other vendors for final disposal. So the contracted companies THE CONTRACTED DEBRIS REMOVAL COMPANY HAS CONTRACTS WITH OTHER LANDFILL SITES THAT DO ACCEPT THE STORM DEBRIS. SO LET'S TALK ABOUT THE DEBRIS REMOVAL TIMELINE. THERE'S A LOT OF DATES UP THERE, EVEN THOUGH IT HASN'T BEEN THAT LONG. THE CITY WORKED QUICKLY FROM STORM PREPARATIONS THROUGH ASSESSMENTS TO CLEARING ROADWAYS. THE CONTRACTOR HOPED TO BEGIN THE DEBRIS PICKUP ON OCTOBER 3, BUT THE SUBCONTRACTORS WERE A NO-SHOW AND FOLLOW-UP INDICATED THAT THE TRUCKS HAD BEEN CONTRACTED BY THE STATE. So on a second note, we were doing sandbags today, and two of our dump trucks full of sand were diverted to state resources to pick up debris at the beaches. Wait, our city owned? No, as in the contractors. So we had purchased sand, and those trucks that were supposed to deliver sand to us had been redirected by the state for debris pickup elsewhere. So alternate subcontractors were called, and the alternate subcontractor was sent to Gulfport. Calls continued to be made to additional resources, only to find out that the state had procured nearly all of the available resources in a multi-state area. Now keep in mind, this was a multi-state event. Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee all experienced impacts from Helene. So we started, as in the public works staff, we started certifying our trucks. We have three claw trucks. We utilized two of them on Sunday to start picking up debris. We left one in reserves, and it was a good thing we did because we started busting hydraulic lines the longer that we stayed out and picked up debris. So we had to come back in, use that alternate truck, and then shut one truck down. So during the course of our day, we had two hydraulic leaks. And we were today picking up with only one claw truck. I don't have the staff to man all three of them. and we still had some that had to be repaired. So today we were running on one claw truck and we just picked up vegetative debris. The vegetative debris is lighter than the C and D sitting at the curb. So we felt it more prudent to pick up that type of debris rather than the C and D. So debris prep, what are we seeing out there? So some people will see us go by their home and we don't pick up their debris and that's for a reason. And that's because the debris is not separated the way that we need it to, or it's next to an obstruction. So it's really important to make sure the debris is separated. We have found some piles that were C&D, but under the C&D were appliances and refrigerators that were full of food. So if our claw truck goes to try to pick that up and you hit that refrigerator, now you're breaking an entire truck. So we look at those piles first to make that determination of whether we're going to pick it up. And some of the piles that have been left out there are because they have not been properly separated. So I want to give a quick comparison for debris pickup. Hurricane Irma, we completed debris pickup with in-house staff in 30 days. And that was my city staff working seven days a week. And we were working 12 to 14 hours a day to pick up that debris in 30 days. Hurricane Debbie, we picked up that debris in 14 days. So the difference between those storms and this storm is the type of debris that we have sitting at the curb. We have not had a level of C and D like what we have now. And unfortunately, we're expecting more following Milton. So please keep that in mind. And with that, I'll take any questions. So just so I understand, the trucks that you're talking about got diverted. Were they diverted to predominantly here in Pinellas to the barrier islands? They were diverted to the barrier islands, correct. None of the other, from the phone calls we've had, municipal phone calls, the other communities are asking for the same resources we are. None of them have them. Nobody's picking up debris unless they're picking it up by their own forces. So clear water included? Clear water is utilized in some of their own forces, correct. but if you look around the county, just so our residents who've been kind of probably inquiring of everybody up here, why this pile needs to be picked up, this and that, it's because, number one, the subcontractor backed out, and number two, we don't want to break all our machinery picking it up because we don't necessarily have the machinery to pick it up. Correct, and we don't have... the amount of equipment that we would need, nor the personnel to operate that equipment, to do nothing but debris removal processes. I still have to maintain my water and sewer systems, my streets in storm, and I still have to pick up regular garbage. So we don't have that availability to do that level of cleanup. So at this point, I mean, we've got another hurricane coming through. It's potentially direct hit right around us, or give or take 50 miles, whatever they say. So essentially... to convey to the community, it's going to be at least 30, 60 days before we can get to people just because the hurricane coming. And then another one on top of it. And waiting in line with all the other cities for contractor. Correct. And we had to go through the city and actually document what it looks like today before the storm with the debris that is sitting out. Because FEMA is going to want us to separate what debris is new what debris was existing. So then we'll have to go through the process of identifying whether this was debris that was already at the curb for Hurricane Helene, or is this new debris that's at the curb because of Milton. So we have to go through that process as well. And with the pier, I know we are going to do some work on it coming up. It looks like we almost have to start from scratch. Is that, again, is FEMA going to, I guess, Just look at it, you can tell, but is FEMA going to be assisting the city with any reparations? So we won't know until we start going through those pre-application type meetings with FEMA. But we are working with a contractor actually out of Texas on what it would take to remove the underwater debris that's there, some of the debris that's washed up in the mangroves, and remove all of that before we can start the reconstruction process. From what we've been told, is that since the current pier poses an environmental hazard as well as a life safety hazard because it's debris sticking out of the water and boats can't really, they don't see the pier anymore, it's not there. So they could damage their marine vessels with the debris that's sitting in the water. So we've been told that that is a coverable expense. We'll find out as we get started going through these processes with FEMA. Yeah, so I think it's important that we let But the residents know that they need to separate their debris. On 6th Street South, and you probably know the house, that is the most ridiculous and disrespectful thing I've ever seen in my life. You know, this one little house has got piles that are about 15, 20 feet. What he did is he gutted his whole house. He's thrown couches out there. You know, he's taking advantage of the situation, and he's renovating his whole house. And I mean, it's so, if you have a chance, take a ride over there. It's like, how can all this debris come from this house? Well, actually, there's a picture back here. There it is, right here. And I think it's growing. I think it is, too. I drove by there today, and that is just like so, I mean, that's the kind of one individual thinking that he owns the city, that everything you do belongs to him. So I will tell you that the neighbors have indicated that he had a contractor there that was demoing the house and putting it at the curb. He's taking away resources from other residents is what's happening. Is there any way to basically let them know that they're going to have to clean it up and the city's not going to clean it up? So we have had staff going door to door with a flyer that is right there. We've had staff going door to door downtown and handing those out and letting people know when they see it. When our staff sees the piles that are intermingled, they go to the door, they knock on it, or they leave the flyer on the door, letting them know that they need to separate their debris. And bags. You can't have bags and debris that's going to be picked up by a contractor or ourselves. Bags are meant for the trashmen, for garbage. So some residents have bags, some of their debris, and we can't pick that up because we can't see what's inside the bags. What I meant was if this gentleman's taken advantage of a situation and he got his house during this storm in order to have the city pick up his stuff versus the contractor paying to have it hauled away. Do we need to have code enforcement go out there and kind of take a look? So we have to go look at his, if he's got a demo permit. If not, he should be filing for one after the fact. And we can go, we can start from that route. And then you have also people that are still putting garbage out on the curb, even though they know another storm is coming. IT'S UNBELIEVABLE, THE LACK OF COMMON SENSE. SO WE HAD ON SOUTH VEY SHORE, WE HAD, AS WE WERE PICKING UP VEGETATIVE DEBRIS, AS WE WERE PICKING IT UP, WE HAD RESIDENTS TRYING TO THROW LAWN FURNITURE IN THE BACK OF A TRUCK THAT WAS PICKING UP VEGETATIVE DEBRIS. THEY WERE JUST HAULING THINGS OUT OF THEIR GARAGES AND TRYING TO THROW IT IN THE TRUCK. MY STAFF WAS SAYING, YOU CAN'T GO IN THIS TRUCK. WE CAN'T PICK IT UP. SO THEY WERE INSISTENT IN TRYING TO THROW THINGS IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK. So I'm looking at the background. Let me back up a second. Sure. How many subcontractors have we gone through that have been redirected? Probably four or five that have been redirected to the state. Correct. Four or five different contractors that the state has redirected. OK. And this is probably an issue with local, other surrounding communities, Oldsmore, Tarpon. Oldsmore doesn't have the equipment to pick up any of their debris, so all of their debris is still sitting on the ground. At least we started to make somewhat of a dent, but they haven't been able to pick up that one piece of their debris. And you said something earlier that all cities are using, you kind of said it to Andy, he asked the question, I didn't catch what you said, all cities are using I thought you said all cities are using their resources to pick up debris. Not all cities, because they don't have the resources. They don't have the trucks or the equipment to pick up the type of debris. But there are some that are utilizing their trucks. But not like Clearwater and the beach communities, because they're getting stuff redirected to them, contractors. Correct. So it's more like the Olds Mars and the Safety Harbor Dunedin, like the non-beach communities. Correct. South Pasadena. South Pasadena. Garga. Gulfport. All of them are minus resources. Governatorial order. That was to direct all resources to the beach communities. Mayor, if I could add, Renee, sometimes we get notifications of contractors, local contractors, what we do with those. Can you talk about what we do with those referrals? Sure. So we have gotten some local contractors that would love to pick up debris for us, but they have to go through that process of getting hired as a subcontractor to pick it up. There's a certain multi-page contract that FEMA wants you to sign and has all these stipulations in it. And I will tell you, some of the contractors have hesitancy in signing such a contract. but we're trying to work with some of the local companies that wish to haul some of this debris. Now, mind you, they don't have the size trucks that these larger national companies do, but any help is help. So here's the question, then. So after Milton comes through, we're going to have a whole other debris situation, and there's going to be a lack of resources. It sounds like there's a bottleneck with FEMA with regards to we're trying to get approval for FEMA to get reimbursed, but... I'm wondering, like, we have these reserves. We used to talk about a rainy day. Is this a situation where there may be a rainy day where we're not focused on FEMA reimbursement and we just want to spend the money to get this stuff done? That is a possibility if you wish to do that. And, yeah, then it would not be reimbursable. Right. So we would pick up debris outside of the FEMA requirements and we would not file for that reimbursement. And you're looking at... EPA issues with pickup. So I think it's a whole... So our site has been certified by FDEP and actually had an EPA inspection as well of our site. So we can still continue to utilize our temporary debris site and then it comes down to final disposal. The city would have to contract with outside landfills somewhere outside of Pinellas County in order to dispose of the debris and to haul the debris there. And that's where the resources of a debris management contractor have always been... Exceptional, because they have those types of contacts, and they have those contracts, and they've had them forever. This is something I've never seen with the state coming in and really mandating that any available resource is utilized by the state. I've never seen that before. How do they legally do that? Is that a thing? I've never heard of that either. By executive order. Executive order. I have a question, too. if some of these folks who want to help us go through that certification process, go through that subcontractor approval, then they are just subject to being grabbed right from under us anyway. Absolutely could be at that point, correct, because they've kind of entered that queue. So it's a catch-22. It really set us up to fail without any recourse because it's an executive order. Correct. Like I said, I've never seen this happen ever before when it comes down to a storm. All of these storm and these debris management contractors had plenty of resources. Well, we were hit multi-state. So that was the number one issue, hit multi-state. So all of these states need the same resources that we do. This was a far reaching storm. So now you've already limited the resources as you get into the multi-state. And then as we come to our state, when the governor decided that all of those resources need to be pushed to the beaches, then we have zero resources. And neither do the debris management contractors. regardless of how many people they've worked with in the past and the relationships they have and the contracts they have, a lot of their contracts have been voided and terminated by these debris management contractors because they weren't providing the service that they had signed up for. The trash that we picked up today with our clogged trucks is reimbursable. Yes. The way we did it. Done by the book. And we keep that in mind just with our vacancies we have in public works. There's still opportunity to hire staff to discuss a plan to do it internally. So we could work to get as much FEMA reimbursement as possible. But we just throw that caution out there if we were to deviate. There may be some other bottlenecks and issues along the way of what you do with the debris and not being able to get reimbursement for it as well. But we can do it ourselves. It's just going to take long. Well, and staff. It's not going to matter because there's another storm coming. Who knows? What do you mean? Are you talking about Milton? Yeah. Okay, I didn't know if you said that. I thought you meant there's another one behind Milton. It's going to be a very fun FEMA paperwork nightmare, if you will, between the two storms because we are still in the midst of recovery. One, when now this one is hitting. So dividing those storms is going to be difficult. and very time consuming on the paperwork side. So I'm looking at the graphic up there. I'm looking at it on my screen. There's one, two, three, six categories. And we have the regular sanitation, which I believe is still scheduled for tomorrow, right? My sanitation staff, even though city facilities are closed, we're still picking up garbage tomorrow. We are not picking up garbage on Wednesday, nor are we doing recycling Thursday, Friday. We're hoping to do Wednesday's garbage on Friday. if a storm allows. So we'll see what kind of condition we're in on Thursday. So everyone's familiar with the sanitation, the garbage and recyclables, the five other categories. So they need residency to segregate these five categories, put it on the curb. But now, because Milton's coming, they need to actually bundle it up, secure it, maybe bring it in. Correct. But outside of that, after Milton, there's going to be these five categories. And they're going to see trucks driving, but maybe you have a truck going to just pick up yard waste. I don't know if a truck picking up yard waste can also pick up vegetative debris. But I imagine a truck picking up yard waste is not going to pick up furniture or C&D or white goods. So people may be confused and maybe irritable when they see these trucks driving by. Because honestly, a few years ago, I may not have known the difference. Like, why are they not picking up my stuff? So we got an education. So it's very similar to your regular garbage. We have two trucks that drive by your houses every single garbage day. One is a side loader that picks up your automated can, and one is a rear loader that picks up the bulk material. So we often get phone calls that your truck drove right past me and didn't pick anything up. We're working on, in public works, changing the colors of our vehicles so that when you see the side loader, it's white. Did you see the white truck or did you see the gray truck? In that case, we'll be able to tell you which truck it was and the fact that there's another one still coming. That's good. So it's very much the same as the separating the debris into the categories. I have a question. I'm going to tell on myself. Because if I'm doing this wrong, people need to know this. I have been sticking my debris in my big can. That's good. And it went away last week. Now I didn't want my neighbors to have debris sitting So I got their debris, I hauled it in the backyard, and I stuffed it in my big can again, and another side can. So I have intentions of putting this vegetative debris outside tomorrow, my Tuesday day. That's fine. So the guys will take the can in one truck, and the claw will take the big truck. And I'm doing that correctly, right? Correct. So we encourage homeowners to put their vegetated debris in their large cans or in bags. And then we put those in the garbage truck. The landfill, even when the storm hit, told us that they would still accept what they considered to be regular garbage. And we consider the small debris, not large tree trunks and branches, but the small debris to be regular garbage that goes into your garbage can or in bags that we pick up with the rear load truck. Now one trunk is about five feet tall, but it fit in a can. Perfect. I'm covered. You're covered. All right. Thank you. So if you need help for this next storm, are we able to go out and subcontract on our own as long as we pay from our own reserves? We can. We would have to terminate our contract with our debris management contractor. I would prefer to keep the monitor to keep track of the debris that we have so we can pay the subcontractors because that's what they do to keep track of what truck, how much you delivered to the site and which drivers were driving the truck and where did the debris come from. Monitors are good to keep on staff for that reason. So if we were doing it all by ourselves, I know exactly where it comes from and I know what trucks it came from. but if we have outside contractors, then we definitely need to keep the monitor. Is it possible to ballpark how much the cleanup from Milton might be, just so we start thinking about it? Well, we can either ballpark it or we can just give a number, how much we're willing to go outside, go within our reserves. We're talking about a million plus to pick everything. Well, I would also add what's the time frame you'd want it picked up in because that's going to dictate the cost as well. So the pickup will not be as expensive as the disposal. So once you pick up the debris and it comes to the Public Works temporary debris site, then we let it sit there until ready and the vegetative debris can be mulched or can be hauled whole to a facility that will dispose of the actual material. So it's It comes down to the disposal and disposal costs and the cost of hauling all those goods to the disposal site. Could you segregate it and segregate the pickup with one contractor and then have FEMA reimburse for the disposal? Not really, because they'll want, they do cradle to grave is what they say. We do cradle to grave. Where did this debris come from? What address did it come from? Who picked it up? Where did it get set in the debris management site? And where did it get disposed of? And what did the disposal company do with that debris? So we have to answer all those questions whenever we do any type of debris activities. So if we had a goal of having everything cleared up, picked up, disposed of in three weeks after Milton, we wanted to do it on our own without FEMA, could we ballpark that? The issue is going to be the capacity of my site. We were going to run into capacity issues just with Helene. We were probably looking at over 3,000 cubic yards of debris coming into my public works yard for just safety harbor, not including Oldsmar. Oldsmar has a little bit more C&D, so it's a little more bulky. So we were going to be close to capacity at the site just with Helene, and now we have this other storm. I don't believe we'll have that capacity to handle all of that debris at the same time. So what we have to do is haul some in and then haul some out to make room. So it would be kind of a convoy type of situation of having to have somebody to haul that debris out, somebody to haul it to, somebody that's accepting it. Now keep in mind, some facilities here in Pinellas County are gonna be affected by the storm just as much as what we are. One of the facilities in Largo actually caught fire the night before we were supposed to start picking up debris. So there's other issues that go along with trying to dispose of that debris and where it can go. It's complicated, this debris. It's debris business. I mean, when you're not thinking about debris all the time, you just think it's simple. You pick it up, you send it to the dump, and that's it. But there's six different kinds of pickups. There's temporary sites, there's permanent sites, and different EPA and FEMA regulations. I mean, this is a- Well, and some of the issue, too, with the beaches is debris, they're challenged with also getting to the debris is they had to remove the sand. So they couldn't get to the debris until they cleared out all the sand on the beaches. Everything was just dedicated there, trucks to even clear out the sand, bulldozers that are used to help remove debris. So some circumstances may change in a week, and items may be freed up. Items may not be freed up. But we're more than happy to look at some ideas if you had a time frame of what, if we're saying even with a FEMA, going the FEMA route where we have the contractor and go for reimbursement that it's 30, 60, 90 days, And if the board feels like they'd like us to entertain some options to do it in 30 or 60 days, by all means, we could work on some plans and what it would cost internally. We could work on some, we have a couple things going on this week, but we could work on some proposals of what it would look like if we increased internal staff, waited on FEMA, or contracted out, but there's so many variables. I mean, if Andy's right, and it's a million. That's a lot of money to take out of our reserves for something that could be, if we're just patient, we can get reimbursement. We were talking about additional equipment, repairing equipment. I mean, it's going to be monumental for us to take something like that on, and then you're competing with the rest of the municipalities throughout the whole county just to contract with someone to come haul it away. I mean... I think if you take a look at it, I think your eyes are going to bulge wide open because I think you're going to be pretty – I just remember when we did that study of the bay, we were talking about just taking all the muck off and where are we going to put it and what's it going to cost. And so at the end of the day, I mean, Helene's nothing compared to what potentially we're facing right now. I mean, if it doesn't hit here, great. But I just – to ask staff right now before we even know. I mean, we could have an emergency meeting and kind of sit down and kind of weigh, like, which way we want to go. But until we see is there going to be a lot of devastation or is it just going to be, you know, another Helene that we can maybe deal with, then, you know, I guess you've got to wait and see. And I'm not saying we do that. But it's just information because I'm getting the emails and comments. Exactly. It's a communication tool for residents to say, well, our other option, instead of going through this protracted process, is to do it on our own and spend $2 million in raising your taxes 20%. When people have a choice like that, it's like, OK, maybe I can be a little more patient. I think the biggest thing, too, that I've learned, it's not normal sanitation service. It's not normal recycling service. I think that's what a lot of people are accustomed to. We haven't been in this situation since Irma. 2017, where it took a while. So I just think it's hard for people to have that reference point or that perspective and patience being the big thing. But, you know, I think we've done a, you know, appreciate Renee and keeping myself so I can keep you all in the loop of what's happening out there, what we're hearing and what the reality is with our trucks and where they're going. And we'll continue to do that in real time and provide you some options as we move through this. And as Vice Mayor, as you said, if this is You know, if debris is the main issue in a week, I'd rather be dealing with that. I also think that it would be good to wait until after Milton passes to see if the state starts releasing these resources from their contract. So I think that would be a good idea to see what we end up with. We might have a flood of contractors all of a sudden after Milton because the state says, okay, we're done on the barrier islands. So we may want to wait and see if... All of a sudden, we have an influx of resources. And our debris contractors here in the county is not leaving. He's at the Oldsmar EOC. He's at the Oldsmar EOC, correct. So there's three of us that have the same debris contractor. It's Safety Harbor, Oldsmar, and Gulfport, all the same debris management contractor. So he is staying here local in order to monitor what is happening and, once again, to continue to work on contracts and procuring those resources. Okay. I'll chime in just to kind of agree with kind of both sides here. First off, I think we wait. I think we stay the course with what we're doing, especially as much work as you've put in to document what's existing and what our own resources have been doing so that we can get reimbursed. I get nervous that if we go outside, it's going to cost more than just the contractor to finish it up, that it's going to kick us out of any reimbursement for what we've already set ourselves up for. Is that how you feel too? Okay. Right, because then you're starting to merge debris piles from what was picked up as per the FEMA guidelines or those that we picked up on our own. So, yes. All right. Well, I think having that option in our back pocket to say we can diverge and spend some money and make something happen would be great, but I'm inclined to stay the course like you're doing. Thank you for keeping us in a good position to get reimbursed at the end of it. Just for the record, I'm with you. I'm inclined to stay the course. I'm just kind of curious. It's worth asking the question, but I'm inclined to do what we're doing. And I have another compliment to say. I'm also inclined to stay that course because the vast majority of people are being extremely patient. I mean, we're not hearing from 17,999 people. We're hearing from a couple people. Maybe they're saying, well, there are many, many people behind us saying you speak. But I think the vast majority of the people are looking at North Carolina. They're looking at the places that were just socked, Cedar Key and Cedar Island. And they're saying we are just so fortunate. So thank you for what you're doing. My neighbors and friends that have reached out to me directly are all just asking the question, like, is it going to get picked up or is it not? Just so that they can plan. Nobody is. Nobody's upset. When I explain to them what's going on, everybody's understandable. So I agree. So while I have the mic, I want to mention one thing about, sorry, Mr. Dinklage. I want to mention something about our upcoming storm, Milton. This storm is expected to have a greater storm surge than what we saw in Helene. So what does that mean for me in public works? Some of you recognize or know that we have some sanitary sewer pump stations, one on South Bayshore and one on North Bayshore. If we get the projected storm surge that they're showing, those two stations will be underwater. That means we will shut those stations off. And there will be limited sanitary sewer operations, meaning you try to flush your toilet, it may end up back in your bathroom. So if I have to shut off the South Bayshore station, there are numerous other smaller stations that are local to that station that pump in there and then we pump that out. So a good majority of the city would be without really everything south of Main Street would be without sewer service if I have to shut down those stations. So when we put out the Facebook post today that said, please be prepared for loss of electricity, sewer and water service, that's what we mean. So if that water comes up, we have to shut the station off in order to protect the integrity of the equipment and the electronics that are in those stations. So we do that out of caution to where we can get that back up and going as soon as the storm has passed. We get our water through Pinellas County. Pinellas County will dictate what they do with water service. As of right now, they plan to keep it on. Except for some portions of the beaches, they may actually pressure of the water system to prevent any further damage to the system that's already been damaged. So that's what we know right now when it comes down to utilities. Expect those power outages and long-duration power outages and the possibility of not having your sewer service. So you may still have water. Don't use it. It'll end up back in your house. So that's the warning I wanted to give with the upcoming storm surge. I have a surge question. If that happens, do you turn it off? People use their facilities. I've often heard have buckets to use for flushing. Will that just come right back up? Is that what you mean? It will come right back up because the sewer system will be full at that point. You'll be able to use your sewer system to a point. Those pump stations take everything from the gravity system and put it in a wet well. And that wet well lifts it up and pushes it out to the next system. So when the gravity system is full because that pump station is not pumping any water out, there's no more capacity. So once that happens, all of that's coming back in your house. Okay, so that whole bucket. We'll not work. Because if you're using water, it's going into the sewer and helping to fill up that gravity system. And the gravity system only has a certain capacity. Thank you for explaining. So if you're in the evac area, now's the time. Any more good news? But even if you're not in an evac area, you won't be able to use your toilet. Correct. If that happens. in certain areas, depending upon the stations that we would have to shut down. If you look at the current surge map, we will have areas under a tidal surge all the way up Phillippe Parkway. In Helene, Phillippe Parkway actually flooded. We had some roadways in North Bay Hills that flooded because the water comes across and comes up. So we have some areas that will flood. And if it happens to reach one of my pump stations, then we will We will monitor that throughout the day, throughout the night. And if we see that water starting to get close, we're just gonna do a preemptive shutdown because eventually we're not going to be able to reach that station because of the amount of surge water. So we have to make that call at some point because I won't be able to get staff back there. And we're talking about pump stations that cost a million dollars to rebuild. So it's something we don't want to really do post storm. So we'll take that action. What happens if a pump station goes bad? I mean, does an entire chunk of the city lose the ability to have sewer? So good news. Over the years, you all have approved purchases for bypass pumps. So we do have a host of bypass pumps that we can set up for a station. They're not as efficient as the actual pumps that are in the station, controlled by a control panel. But they will get us by if we have to. If you've gone up 9th Avenue to our master pump station, We actually have a bypass pump that's sitting out there, and the reason for that is we actually, during Debbie, lost two of our three pumps in that master pump station during Hurricane Debbie. So we were down at one pump pumping stormwater, seawater, and wastewater out of that pump station. We now are operable on two pumps. We have one pump that is still down, but we have the bypass set up on the outside. to where if we have to flip the switch, we can, and we're not risking what they call an SSO, a sanitary sewer overflow, which was reportable to DEP. Those are the emails you get from all the other cities. Correct. And if you've noticed, I'm not sure how lucky we're going to be in this storm, but if you've noticed during Tropical Storm Debbie and, well, Hurricane Debbie and Hurricane Helene, we are one of the only municipalities in the county that did not have an SSO during those storms. My staff worked hard. Throughout the duration of the storm, we went out, even at high winds, to set generators to get those pump stations back up and running. And we were without SSOs, which is fantastic. But if the surge comes up and I have to shut pump stations down, that will result in an SSO out of that station. What's the best way for residents to find out when that happens? As long as we have communications, meaning cellular service, we'll get that posted on our Facebook page and all the other social media on the website and also do the Nixle. So if residents have not signed up for their Nixle text alerts, they should do so via our website. Because that information will come out as an emergency alert in a text message saying, by the way, don't flush your toilet. And maybe we can talk more about this when we get to our state of emergency, but it wouldn't affect the entire city if you shut it down. It depends. It depends upon which stations are coming close to being underwater. So if I'm going to start taking on seawater, I'm going to shut those stations down. It's a very sophisticated system, and they don't like saltwater. So the systems will be shut down just to protect themselves. Would you be able to put that in the alert, this specific area? Yes, absolutely. We have our basin maps that show exactly what gravity systems dump into each pump station. We have 24 pump stations in the city. It's quite a bit for our little town, but we have 24 of them that we operate and maintain every single day. And then we do it through the storms as well. So I have a staff of 10 people at Public Works writing out this storm and checking on the lift stations. We do have alarm systems at the lift station. They're also cellular. So if we lose cellular, then we'll have to go out there and manually check every single station. to make sure that we're either online or we have to take it offline. I just want to say this presentation has renewed my admiration for all that you and your team do with regards to public works and keeping a system that we don't generally give a lot of thought to, just making me a little more grateful for everything you all do. So thank you. Thank you. Appreciate that. I won't steal any more time. Great work. Okay. Yeah, thank you very much. So moving on to the next presentation item, we have a proclamation for Whispering Souls African American Cemetery Month, which is October 2024. You all want to come up? I'll go ahead and read this, give you a chance to say a few words, and then I'll come down and present it to you. Thank you all for coming out. Thank you. So again, we have a proclamation in recognition of Whispering Souls African American Cemetery Month. I got to switch from my doom and gloom to a more joyous tone here because... But whereas today there are only 20 visible... markers at Whispering Souls, of which 14 have legible markings. However, some lists show nearly 130 interments in a 2018 ground-penetrating radar survey of most of the site by the University of South Florida and Florida Public Archaeology Network shows nearly 100 anomalies that indicate likely graves. Whereas indications are that informal maintenance of the site by community members continued over the years, and in 2017, a new group of volunteers banded together to look after the cemetery. In 2018, the nonprofit Whispering Souls African-American Cemetery, Inc. was formalized and the group's intention of long-term care for the site. And on June 24th, 2021, Whispering Souls African-American Cemetery, Inc., with the generous assistance of attorneys Herbert Donica and Andrew Zadru, secured clear and legal title to the cemetery site, fixing the hazardous issue of unclear ownership. And Whispering Souls is partnering and working with other projects to identify, restore, and preserve lost, erased cemeteries, and is a member of the African American Cemeteries Alliance of Tampa Bay. Now therefore, I, Joe Ayoub, Mayor of the City of Safety Harbor, and on behalf of the City Commission, do hereby proclaim the month of October 2024 to be Whispering Souls African American Cemetery Month in the City of Safety Harbor. So again, thank you all for coming out. I hope everyone remains safe, but I just want to really thank the city commission, you esteemed members of the city commission. You have been supporting us since we first had our first meeting here, right around this table, 2017. It was just an idea of what we wanted to do. And with the help of, you know, safety harbor government and dedicated citizens of Safety Harbor, we've been able to move our mission since 2017 right down the road towards restoration. And it's an amazing feat. The whole forgotten cemetery struggle started at Safety Harbor. Once we shed light on it, then the next thing you know, all over the state of Florida, Tampa Bay area, state of Florida, People were saying, there's a cemetery in our street. There's a cemetery here. There's a cemetery here. No one was talking about forgotten cemeteries until Wisdom and Souls got together. And it's a community-based organization. Not a lot of people had people buried there. We all came together and decided as a group that this is what we wanted to do as a people. It's just amazing how it happened. And I always tell everybody, our success is because we're everyone. We represent all of Safety Harbor. Northeast, South, and West, different racial denominations, ages, religious beliefs. We just have in common that we wanted to restore this hallowed and sacred ground. And that's what we've done. So thank you. We're very honored. Thank you. You make a great point because until you all started with, you know, little old whispering souls, the Tampa Bay Times was never doing anything on that. And then all of a sudden, they're doing story after story about this lost African-American cemetery and other lost African-American cemetery. And I just want to point out, you all are doing this out of the kindness of your own hearts, your volunteers. A lot of you probably don't even have relatives there. It's just a very... inspiring to see the community come together and just take up such a worthy cause. And I would just like to add to that. I mean, I say this a lot because I've gotten a lot of, I do a lot of interviews and everybody says, how were you able to move this so fast? And when we sat at this table, the first question Matt Spohr asked me was, where'd you get these people from? And I said, a bunch of safety harbor people said they wanted to help. And then the next thing you know... It moved because there were people generated. We didn't start getting grants until we were a 501c3 years later. So it was community that was supporting us. And everybody kept saying, how are you doing all that? It was the community. So I had never seen a community come together and make such a difference. But the county recognized us and said, no one else before you guys. You all were number one. So I remind everybody all over Clearwater and all over Tampa, that we were numero uno, and it started right in the little safety harbor. So October 19th, we're having our dedication, our memorial dedication. And the city of Clearwater has helped us put up a fence. I'm so glad. I see Public Works. I've never met Renee. And she's been helping us all along with our garbage for years. And just like support kept us going. And now we're at the stage where we're having this big event. We've got this big, beautiful fence. $100,000 memorial, whoever thought. And we're going to get a lot of attention from that. But I tell everybody, it starts right in Little Safety Harbor, right at Maddie Williams Neighborhood Family Center, where the idea came about. So we're really special, and we're really honored. And I tell my friends here, the board people, that never forget our humble beginnings. Never forget, no matter who we meet. We know a lot of people, all kinds of people. But never forget our humble beginnings. because safety harbor has made us and put the lost forgotten cemeteries on the map. Thank you. You all are trailblazers. Thank you very much. All right, so moving on to audience to be heard. If there's anyone from the audience that wishes to be heard on an item that's not on the regular agenda or that's on the consent agenda, please come forward, state your name and address, and you'll be given three minutes to address the commission. No one, all right. I know you're a nickel every time I skip an item and you have to remind me. All right, so moving on. See, I almost skipped the consent agenda. So moving on to the consent agenda, we got three items. First one is approval of the September 16th City Commission meeting minutes in the September 25th. City Commission special emergency meeting minutes. Two, approval of the Granicus Support and Storage Renewal Agreement. And three, approval of the City Holiday Light Installation. Does anyone want to pull any of these? Do we have a motion? So moved. Second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passes 5-0. All right, so public hearings. First item is approval or denial of Ordinance 2024-14 on first reading. ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SAFETY HARBOR, FLORIDA, PROVIDING FOR THE ZONING DESIGNATION OF RECENTLY ANNEXED PROPERTY CASE NUMBER 2024-22AN-CO, LOCATED AT 2374 ROGEL AVENUE, SAFETY HARBOR, FLORIDA, FINDING THE REQUEST CONSISTENT WITH THE REVIEW STANDARDS OF SECTION 226.03 OF THE SAFETY HARBOR COMPREHENSIVE ZONING AND LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. AND THIS IS PRESENTED FOR FIRST READING. ALL RIGHT. GOOD EVENING, MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS. For the record, Cecilia Chen, community planner, GIS analyst. For you is a zoning assignment after annexation. This property was recently annexed, but it doesn't have a zoning designation yet. So today we're applying a zoning designation to this property. We need to swear you in. Oh, yeah. Rachel. any disclosures just before? Any ex parte communications? No. I actually did speak with the developer about this in just asking some general questions about it. So this property is located west of Philippine Park. This is Philippine Park over here just west of it. This is Rogel Avenue. THIS PROPERTY IS DEVELOPED WITH A SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL. IT'S ABOUT 1.028 ACRES AND FUTURE LAND USE DESIGNATION IS RESIDENTIAL LOW. THIS PROPERTY IS CURRENTLY INCORPORATED AND DOESN'T HAVE A ZONING DESIGNATION YET. IT'S PREVIOUS ZONING IN POMELA COUNTY IS OUR THREE SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL. SO WE WOULD LIKE TO DESIGNATE R2 SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL TO THIS PROPERTY BECAUSE ALL THE OTHER PROPERTY WITHIN THE SUBDIVISION THAT WERE CURRENTLY INCORPORATED ARE ALL DESIGNATED R2 SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL. SO WE BELIEVE THAT IT'S APPROPRIATE ZONING DESIGNATION. WE ALSO CHECK THE FUTURE LAND USE. IT'S RESIDENTIAL LOW. IT IS R2. IT IS CONSISTENT WITH THE CONSISTENCY MATRIX STATED IN THE LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE. SO THIS ITEM TODAY IS THE FIRST READING, AND THE SECOND READING WILL BE ON THE 21ST. THE 20th IS ONLY MORE REVIEW OF THIS APPLICATION AND UNANIMOUSLY RECOMMENDED APPROVAL. SO TONIGHT, THE CITY COMMISSION MAY APPROVE OR DENY ORDINANCE NUMBER 21414 ON FIRST READING. THANK YOU. JUST A QUICK QUESTION, NOT THAT IT HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH HOW WE VOTE TONIGHT OR WHATEVER, BUT THE DEVELOPER, I guess the applicant, was that the developer or the homeowner? It is the developer. I believe they already purchased this property. Joe Fah. Or maybe Joe Fah, not Beta Bay. I don't know. There's a distinction. We have been in contact with Joe Fah. And I believe they already purchased this property and is ready to move forward. It may be a side project. That was it. I was just curious. I think the future plan is to divide this parcel into two parcels and develop two single-family residences. So it's an appropriate use. And real quick, I noticed on the map when you showed the R2, are the gray areas that you showed on that map, are those the unincorporated areas that exist? This is a very interesting area because only half of it are incorporated. Yeah, my brother-in-law used to live on that street, and he was unincorporated. ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? THIS IS A PUBLIC HEARING. IS THERE ANYONE FROM THE AUDIENCE THAT WISHES TO BE HEARD ON THIS? DOES ANYONE WANT TO MAKE A MOTION? MOVE APPROVAL. SECOND. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SAY AYE. AYE. MOTION PASSES 5-0. THANK YOU. NEXT UP IS RESOLUTION 2024-21. A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF SAFETY HARBOR FLORIDA PROVIDING FOR TEMPORARY PERMIT FEE WAIVERS providing for emergency permitting and providing for an effective date. Good evening, Commissioners and Mayor. I'm Carol Strickland, Community Development Director. We've been talking this evening a lot about disaster response. This is part of disaster recovery and how to make the community whole following Hurricane Helene. One of the principal roles of the Community Development Department is that recovery role. And one of the best practices we're aware of is to help residents and businesses get back to normal by encouraging them to obtain permits for damage that has occurred to their property. So this resolution before you this evening is first directing staff to expedite permitting for storm damage structures, and then requesting waivers of certain permit fees. Of course, in Safety Harbor, we rely on Pinellas County for our Florida building code permitting. We're not in a position to waive those fees, but the local fees for city-only permits or the city portion of the permits that go to Pinellas County, we do have the ability to waive those fees. And so we're basically looking at fences that were storm-damaged, accessory structures, signs, screen enclosures, those type of structures that would have been damaged in Helene and going forward with the event that's coming towards us. Emergency permitting is also a provision where... we will not penalize people who have to make emergency repairs. So if they're getting an after-the-fact permit, they go ahead and make a repair to their home or to their business, and they come in for an after-the-fact permit, we're not going to double-fee them. This is the code requirement. And then for removal of storm-damaged trees prior to permitting, we would not assess penalties for tree replacement. Currently, the code says if you remove a tree without a permit, when you have to do tree replacement, you have to quadruple the amount of tree replacement. Then we're asking that that be waived. This is for a period of 60 days. And it is a means of just encouraging the community to recover, focusing our staff's attention on making sure that we're there as the community needs us to get back on track. And I'd be happy to answer any questions. I have a question. I've got no problem with this. I think it's a great idea to move forward with it. Are we able to figure out, I mean, Commissioner Diaz spoke about some of those around the corner from him, renovating and kind of taking advantage of the situation. Are we, with staff, able to determine that it is a storm reparation versus someone who's taking advantage of the situation. You know, because I think it's great. I mean, myself, I'm looking at a tree I wanted to pull because I'm worried it's going to fall on my house during Milton. I'm afraid to pull it down before getting a permit. Certainly, you know, the thoughts there of, hey, I got to protect my house. I don't care. I'm going to pull it down. I'll suffer the consequences. So I think I see the goodness, but I also want to make sure that we're going to be able to kind of fetter out, like, you know, who's really in need of this and who's trying to abuse the system. And the resolution does authorize the city manager to prepare administrative policies and procedures. and that is something that we can take into account in terms of ensuring that people aren't using this as a reason to avoid tree replacement fees that they've utilized. Not just trees, but I mean, if someone's gutting a house and there's a hurricane coming and they're trying to basically bypass or get their permitting through quickly or what have you or skip paying fees, I mean, I think there's goodness, but I also think that Did Commissioner Diaz convey the prime example of something that's just not right? And the fee waivers do not include interior renovations at this point. And one of the reasons is Pinellas County and the Florida Department of Emergency Management are very, very focused on storm damage structures for interior renovations. There's a whole process they have to go through to determine if that structure has been SUBSTANTIALLY DAMAGED BY THE STORM, THE STATE COMES IN AND CERTIFIES THAT, AND THEN THERE'S A VERY DETAILED PROCESS THAT YOU GO THROUGH FOR PERMITTING. SO WE WANTED TO STAY AWAY FROM THAT INITIALLY UNTIL... WE'RE DOING MORE FENCES. YEAH, THESE ARE SIGNS, FENCES, POOL CAGES, THOSE TYPES OF THINGS. DID YOU SEGREGATE THOSE ITEMS BECAUSE THAT'S THE STUFF WE DO IN HOUSTON WE DON'T HAVE THE COUNTY DO, OR IS THAT STUFF THAT THE COUNTY MAY ALSO DO, BUT IT'S JUST SIMPLER? FOR THE THINGS THAT ARE BOTH CITY-COUNTY, WE'RE WAIVING THE CITY'S PORTION OF THE FEE. But, you know, anything that is county only, like some re-roofs and things like that, we don't have any control of what they do. Okay. Yeah. Anyone else? Anyone from the audience wish to be heard on this item? Do we have a motion? Move approval of resolution number 2024-21. Second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Next up, fiscal year 25, City of Safety Harbor pay plan. So this is different from the pay point study. This is the pay plan for, just added to the current pay plan for this current fiscal year. The City of Safety Harbor maintains a paying compensation plan within the city's personnel rules and regulations. The portion of the plan, the pay portion of the plan includes a table of basic pay rates and a schedule of pay grades for each job title in the classification. Amendments to the pay portion of the plan shall be considered when changes in responsibilities of work, living costs, availability of labor supply, prevailing rates of pay, the city's financial condition policies, or other pertinent economic considerations warrant such actions. Amendments shall be approved by the city manager and then presented to the city commission for final approval and adoption. City Manager is recommending a 3% increase to the minimum and maximum of each established pay grade, which is in conjunction with our already implemented 3% COLA for all staff this past October 1st. This is consistent with previous pay plan adjustments. The pay plan was last fully updated on October 1st, 2023, and the adjustments have been budgeted for fiscal year 25. It's my request for the Board to review and approve consider approval of the fiscal year 25 City of Safety Harbor pay plan effective October 1st. Was that part of the pay study, though, to determine the mids and maxes and how much we need to move to be competitive? No. So this would be – and I know it's on the – it was originally scheduled to be on the same night. And, you know, I apologize for what could be – you know, a lot of – for any confusion about it. If the pay plan, the hope would be that the pay point plan would be being described at some other point, but I'd like to get this one in because October 1st has already passed, but the city has done this every year from the city manager. But from my point of view, this is not, this is a separate issue from the pay point study. So this is more of a COLA issue? So city staff has already gotten a COLA for October 1st. It would be wise to move the min and maxes at the same point that you've also given city staff a COLA. So basically you're moving the mins and max 3% based on CPI, is that? Correct, which we have decided is 3%. So this generally is not, we're not giving anybody, you just... increasing everybody's grades, the grade scale. It only takes the people at the min or max though, right? So it's not all employees. Correct. And those at min have already gotten a 3% COLA. So there would be no effect to them. For people at the max, they're budgeted when their merit comes around. Right now, they get up to, if so, if they got up to a 4% merit, they would just get a lump sum if they're at the top of their pay range. So this will allow them... to get a 3% movement at the top, but they were going to get that lump sum already when they get their merit. As far as financially, I'm sure if you're proposing it, you understand, I guess, how it's going to affect as far as a budget. I guess, what's the cost? Yeah, I don't have that exact number, but it has been budgeted. So we don't need to make a budget adjustment for it? No. We were budgeted for a 3% cull and a 4% merit increase. So that really shouldn't change. This is just going to slide the scale so that somebody that might have been at the top of the range can now fall within the scale. It's still going to be the same amount of payout that we budgeted because we budgeted regardless of the pay scales, the mins and the maxes. So this slides it to match what we're doing, right? Yes, sir. This doesn't impact anybody who's below a grade that now you have to readjust them? So everybody still stays in the same grades that they're in. And this won't have a compression? This won't cause any compression issues? In other words, if you're increasing the mins, then someone's already above the min. I think it may help the compression issues because it's moving the max a little further. So it's allowing the top to move along with the bottom. But what if you're not at the top? What if you're somewhere in the middle? It doesn't matter because you're still going to get the percentage. Until they get their merit. And they would move the same amount anyways if they're not going to hit the ceiling. Yeah, that's the one thing. I don't know. I mean, yeah, it was unfortunate that the pay study thing was canceled. But there was, and I guess. When are we going to have the pay study? I don't have a rescheduled date with them yet. But the one thing, the one thing that's, You know just going over this you know the state point study and all this stuff and everything like that is that and being on this commission for a long time it seems like for the last 10 years that we this body right here has been the responsible party to give people raises all 180 200 employees. You know so as like you know the proposal comes out you know Matt Spohr before would say, let's do a 3% COLA and a 4% MERIT. We would come here, look at the numbers, and maybe at the end we would agree, disagree. We'd go three and three and stuff like that. But then my understanding is that everybody just gets it, especially the COLA. Everybody gets the COLA and the MERIT. Most people get the MERIT. In my opinion, the way I've always been accustomed, ever since I started my first job when I was 14 or 13 or 14 years old, the only one that would give me a raise would be the person I directly report to, the person I'm going to work with. So I don't see where – I see that the commission here is reaching out too far and taking too much responsibility in giving people they have no idea. raises, you know, and I think that the responsible party, you know, to give raises, whether merit or even call us and call it to me is like, you know, we should just roll it all into one merit, just do a one merit, right? I think the supervisors, the department heads, right? The person, you know, whether there's a department head with a various supervisor or a supervisor with various people reporting to them, I think that direct report should have the responsibility to determine how that person has performed within the past year review and give that person that merit. And I think from that aspect, it really empowers your department, the supervisors, and your department heads. And it also creates a I think, a more positive relationship between, you know, the employee and the supervisor or the department head. I think that's the merit that exists that way now, and I think it's discretionary based upon the input of the supervisor. Yeah, I think we need to take a look at that. I think we need to take a look at that, and this is not the conversation for it, you know, but just put that in the back of your head because... I like to discuss it more with everybody else as to put it kind of right to ship or right to process on how to do this. Because I just don't feel very comfortable with the way it's working out. I think there's a lot to be said about the COLA and not what we said the COLA. and it's just annually to keep moving income up as things cost more, inflation goes up. And I worked for the state years ago, and I remember getting a 3% or 3.5% COLA every year. I've never had a problem with that. I think it's our duty to kind of implement that. But the merit, I think it's up to 4%, and I think the input is from staff, supervisors or staff. to kind of... We could talk about it. This conversation may take a couple hours. So we've got a storm coming. Mayor, I could come back with this agenda item with a total cost if the board desires a total cost with or without the 3% edit on 10-1 if the board would like to see the difference on that and or tie it in with the pay point study as well if you prefer. I don't necessarily have a problem with it. I just wanted to see what... We already set aside a budget for the COLA increase, right? Well, did you mention, too, that people have already received their 3% increase October 1st? So there's a possibility that somebody's maybe outside of their window now. Correct. So for those at minimum, all city staff got a 3% COLA who were employed. So their minimum went up 3%. So... by moving the minimum of the pay scale three percent it just matches them so we've already this board has already approved that uh... we've already edited those pays those who are currently maxed out uh... who are now hitting if they have an evaluation between now and say at this point they're at the ceiling if they receive a four percent merit we budgeted for them to get a four percent lump sum so If we move the ceiling 3%, they'll get that money, and then they'll get 1% of that as the lump sum. They'll get a raise. They'll move to the top again of the ceiling, and then they'll get whatever's left over as the lump sum. We can spread some of our payments out. They've got their 3% now. They've got 4%. They'd only get an extra percent. It sounds like if they get their 4%, We're going to either pay all of it all at once, or we're going to raise their salary 4%. Correct. Right now, if somebody's at the ceiling, and if they get a 4% merit, they just get the money all at once on their merit day. 4%. Correct. If we raise the ceiling 3%, they would get a 3% raise to their salary, and then the remainder they would get. Either way, they're getting the money. Either way, they're getting the money, and that's why I didn't have the number, because we, and that's my fault, but we had... It had already been budgeted. And let me be a little bit more clear. Those within the range who've already gotten their 3% COLA, it doesn't affect them. So we're just shifting that min-max. But for the min-max, they're getting it one way or another, whether it be a lump sum or whether their salary is going to be adjusted. Correct. To me, it's sensible that if we gave a cost-of-living increase that the window increases by 3%. Correct. Because we're keeping up with inflation here. Which, not to bring up the pay point study, but I think that's one of the issues of why we haven't, why there is maybe some discrepancies is because we haven't done that all at once at the same time by moving the COLA, by moving the min-max at the same time that we give the COLA. And where it can hurt some of the people at the top end is we're giving them a lump sum, but keeping them there, so now that's all they can get is a lump sum next year, too. Whereas if we're stepping their salaries up, we increase their... Their percentages. Yeah, the percentages based on. But the COLA is the COLA, and the mins and max is a little bit different than the COLA. The COLA is to keep up with inflation. The mins and maxes are to keep up with inflation. But it would still make sense for the mins and maxes to travel with the COLA. Correct. Yes and no. Yes, that's across the living. So you're supposed to if you did. Well, it's actually going to be where we're at right now with the pay point study. Ten years from now, they're going to say we're at the. 40% percentile. And we're just giving people a 4% bonus every year. Yeah. But keeping them where they're at. All right. Anyone from the audience wish to be heard on this item? Any further discussion or a motion? Move approval. Move approval. I'll second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passes 5-0. All right. So now we... Let me just go back. So from now on, do we need to establish something that The MINS and MACs just keep, every time we do a, MINS and MACs improve with the CPI every year. Is that something we should just? We're going to look at it and we'll come back because I have a feeling that this is probably outside of your scope as a commission. You approved the budget, but I think it may have been brought to you as a habit and just, but I think compensation of employees is within the purview of the manager. And so this may really fall under there. So it's a little tricky when you've got a budget and the budget implications. So I just need to see if there's some policy maybe that has been adopted at some point. Right now this approval came up because it's in the current established policy and the personnel rules. Yeah, and I'm not sure. We'll look at it. I'll get with Josh. We'll look at it and we'll see. Sometimes they may just come as updates to you as a board. But we'll look. Just to make it easier, because from what you're saying, you guys have a role, and there are things in the charter that say what your role isn't. But I know, and it's not uncommon in jurisdictions, that there's certain practices that kind of are on that line. So we'll look at it. We'll come back. We'll have fun. Yeah. I'm looking at my feelings. Okay. Okay, so we already passed that, so we'll move on to Resolution 2024-22. A resolution of the City Commission of the City of Safety Harbor, Florida, declaring a state of local emergency pursuant to Section 252.38 of the Florida Statute, waiving procedures and formalities during the period of such emergency. authorizing and directing the city manager to take whatever prudent actions may be necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the community pursuant to this declaration, providing for an effective date. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Commissioners. As of 8 p.m. this evening, Hurricane Milton was a Category 5 storm traveling north of the Yucatan Peninsula and then scheduled to travel east-northeast in hot Gulf waters toward the west coast of Florida. At this time, I'm sorry, this is already outdated. At this time, it is still at its Category 5 strength. Our area should be ready to start feeling the impact of Hurricane Milton early morning Wednesday. Hurricane Milton is expected to continue to grow and strengthen over the Gulf of Mexico with hopes of degrading as it makes landfall, still though at a projected Category 3 storm with winds exceeding 100 miles per hour at center. There is a danger of life-threatening winds and storm surge along the entire west coast of Florida. The Pinellas County area is projected to receive a storm surge of 10 feet. heavy rains and extreme winds. These storm conditions will cause power outages, trees to come down, flooding, and make outdoor conditions extremely dangerous at times. Our ground is already extremely saturated. Residents and guests are encouraged to monitor local news stations for the latest storm information. Residents are reminded that they need to prepare to be self-sustainable for three to seven days after Milton leaves the area. This means no power, blocked roads, damage, and reduced, if not unavailable, government services. Residents are also reminded that the time frame to remove debris following a storm of this magnitude could be greater than one to two months. Over the past 48 hours, the City of Safety Harbor has implemented its Hurricane Emergency Operations Plan. All staff members and all city departments have been doing their part to ensure life safety and property conservation during this storm, as well as working to clear debris from Hurricane Helene. City facilities will be closed starting tomorrow and will reopen again, are planned to reopen again Friday morning. Additional questions, comments, or concerns can be directed to Pinellas County Citizen Information Center at 727-464-4333. This past Sunday, the governor declared a state of emergency, and the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners did the same this morning. The county has issued an evacuation order for those residents located in a Level A, B, or C evacuation zone. People in those areas need to evacuate now. All residents are reminded to hide from wind and run from water. Our goal over the next couple days is to ensure everyone gets through this storm alive. The county currently has five shelter locations open and will remain open for the event. Dunedin Middle School, Oak Grove Middle School, Palm Harbor University, Gibbs High School, Largo High School, and Palm Harbor University. The approval of this local resolution will raid the procedures and formalities to perform public work and to take whatever action is necessary to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the community. enter into contracts, incur obligations, employ permanent and temporary workers, utilize volunteers, rent equipment, appropriate the expenditure of public funds, and participate in the statewide mutual aid agreement for giving and receiving emergency assistance. Thank you, Mayor and Commission. I'm happy to answer any questions, comments, or concerns you have at this time. Did you say how long will it last for? Uh... The latest report I have is we should start to expect... How long the state of emergency would be? Oh, I'm sorry. Sarah, do you have that? The date in here... It's until the expiration of the governor's unless terminated sooner by the city manager. Sorry, I wanted to leave it open. That way it's either consistent with the state because we don't want to have to reconvene an emergency meeting. TO HAVE THEM EXTEND THE EMERGENCY. ANY QUESTIONS? COVERED A LOT WITH RENEE. ANYONE FROM THE AUDIENCE WHO SHOULD BE HEARD? APPROVAL OF RESOLUTION NUMBER 2024-22. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SAY AYE. AYE. MOTION PASSES 5-0. THANK YOU. So commission reports, Commissioner Burnett. I want to say thank you to Whispering Souls. What an inspiring talk that was tonight. Really enjoyed getting to hear them. Look forward to potentially getting out there and seeing the ceremony should it come. We thank Public Works and all of the city workers since Helene. And we're going to thank you again for being prepared for this one to hit. Also, the I'd like to just kind of state we've had some communication come in from really frustrated citizens of this city that I think had unrealistic expectations on what we were going to be capable of between that storm and this. So I just want to reemphasize that the city's gone above and beyond what I think would have typically been possible to try to keep everybody safe, get it cleaned up, make our city look really nice, and I just want to reiterate that and ask all of the citizens, if anybody were to happen to see this, to please have patience. Do what you can to support the efforts after the fact. There's just a lot of work and a lot of focus going on, and nobody's trying to pick and choose where they go. It's a lot of prioritization, and we'll apologize if your property did not fall within the priority you expected. I would like to ask for those residents that are staying put and after the fact, if people want to help when this is over, where can we direct them? Sure. So what we'll do is we'll make sure that I know our Leisure Services Department has organized some volunteer cleanups post-storm, but depending on the scope of the emergency, We'll ensure that we have a central call number and ability to take in those who want to assist in any needs following the storm. And we'll make sure we get that published and posted as soon as possible. Fantastic. Thank you. That's all I've got. Thank you. Vice Mayor? Thank you. Attended the Maddie Williams expansion gala along with Commissioner Diaz, Commissioner Besor. It was a good gala. I think you were there also, Jacob. No? No, I missed that one. I don't want to leave anybody out. But you were still gone, right? Yeah. I was back, but I thought it was the – I don't know if it got rescheduled, but anyway. Yeah, it got rescheduled. Yeah, so anyway, it was a good gala. Everybody had fun. My wife walked away absolutely amazed. The amount of money that they were able to fundraise within a matter of 30 minutes, I think they raised $24,000. It's a worthy cause. I would just say thank you to everybody who volunteers there, everybody who made the expansion happen, the county. It's just a worthy cause helping. helping people that just need a little helping hand. And it's a great resource for kids in the community. So again, I was pleased to be able to partake and join with the gala. It was fun. It was a good time. Today is one year anniversary of the invasion of Hamas in Israel. So my heart goes out to those families whose family members are still captive, held hostage. We all certainly like to see peace in the Middle East, and I wish just Hamas would release these folks back to Israel. Just basic, you kidnap someone, give them back. It's just a sad situation, so my heart goes out to all those in the Middle East that are suffering and all those that continue to suffer in Israel as a result of this. Lastly, thank you to Public Works and all the staff in the City of Safety Harbor. who kind of weathered the last storm. I think I will say I spent my lifetime in Florida and this is like the first time I've ever been uptight about a hurricane. I remember 25, 30 years ago sitting in a bar on Davis Island and one of the local TV stations was out interviewing people about the hurricane coming and I was like, Just another day in, you know, Tampa Bay. It's just not going to hit. And if they were to interview me today, 25-plus years later, I'm just really nervous about this one. They're pretty – the news reports have been pretty straight on, and they're very consistent about this is where it's coming, you know, give or take 50 miles. And I think that's a pretty serious calling. And if you look at – the damage done by the hurricane that didn't hit us, I would just say to everyone in A, B, C zones, get out. And I would say to anybody living on the water, the force of water. And I can't remember. I saw it on the news the other night. It was like a cubic square yard of water is like 1,700 pounds. It's the force of water. It's no joke. You know, getting whisked away with that current and just being pulled down to the bottom, I mean, it's just, it's horrific. So I would just say to all those who are down by the bay, move inland. You know, just pray your house is there when you get back and just get away from the water. It's a really serious thing. I mean, the other thing that scares me is this 175, I don't know if it's going to go down, but 175-mile, 180-mile-an-hour winds currently, they say it's supposed to go down to 125, 130. I mean, that's what they say. But still, with all this debris flying around, I just say stay safe and prayers go out to everyone again. Look forward to the restoration after and hope it's not. not as bad as we anticipate, so thanks. Thank you. Commissioner Basur? Yes, thank you, Mayor. I also attended the gala, and I was also astounded at the generosity of people just opening their wallets just in that quick clip. I want to hear $1,000. I want to hear, wait a minute, no, let's start at $2,500. And people rose to the occasion. So it was just really wonderful. We saw a really great side of Safety Harbor. Another great side of Safety Harbor is that Harbor Dish is helping the Rotary at Noon group do hurricane benefits and food. clothing distribution or collection, et cetera. And the Harbor Dish is just one of the places. Brightway Insurance is another that's in my mind. But the Harbor Dish one is right there at the Bayside Church. And so people can go to the Harbor Dish entrance and donate. People can take things down to Pinellas Hope, down 126, which is off the Bayside Bridge Road. It goes down 49th Street. They pretty much lost a lot, and people don't have anything anyway. So if you have clothes and you want to do something, you might get overwhelmed because there are all these appeals and there are all these ways to help, and you might think, how can I fit? But sometimes a little way helps. will make you feel wonderful. I'm thankful to the Parks and Rec Department. I'm thankful that I got the goat report, that the goats were fine, and I'm sure the goats are going to be fine going forward. I'm thankful to the people who showed up at the park cleanups and dragged debris and heaped it up, so that is just wonderful. It's not just Public Works helping to get that debris after it's stacked, but it's staff, too, working with volunteers, Parks and Rec staff. I lament the demise of our ear tree. I fought kicking, screaming. Mayor knows I wanted that tree, I think, Commissioner Diaz. You were up there too. But I am also so thankful that City Manager Stefancic took that leadership, took that responsibility, listened to that arborist, made those calls. That was a hard call, I'm sure to be, because I was just, no. But it had to be, yes, and I'm very grateful it's gone. I believe they might have hauled the last of it out today. And no one will get hurt from that tree in this upcoming storm. Speaking of which, a neighbor of mine has her tree gone, thanks to Safety Harbor, thanks to Renee Cooper, thanks to Josh Stefancic. Her tree was damaged. It was determined it was going to be our responsibility to get it off the right of way for her. And it's off. And we had to get the bids. Time had to pass, and she was anxious. But you comforted her, and it's gone for this storm. We welcomed five habitat families, and that was also just so moving to see people so excited to join us, so excited to be part of Safety Harbor. We welcomed Aaron Stewart's United Barbecue, and we greeted him and wished him success. And I just want to say that I hope everybody stays safe. And I was privy to some screenshots. FROM SOMEBODY WHO'S URGING ME TO LEAVE, AND I AM. I'M LEAVING. EVEN BEFORE SHE SENT ME THESE, I DECIDED TO LEAVE. BUT SHE SHOWED ME HOW THERE WAS A POINT IN TIME AT THE LAST STORM WHEN THERE WERE SO MANY CALLS THAT COULD NOT BE ANSWERED BECAUSE THERE WERE NOT FIRST RESPONDERS OR THERE WAS NOT EQUIPMENT TO MATCH UP WITH THOSE CALLS. SO WHEN YOU CONSIDER WHETHER TO GET IN THE CAR AND GET OUT OF HERE TOMORROW, A, B ZONES, A, B, C, Think about that. Think of our first responders. It's wonderful for us to give them food and give them pie and say thank you so much later when things are quiet and good, but let's think about them in the next couple of days. Let's think about the fact that they are stretched and they're doing the best they can, but I think it's 45 mile an hour winds or above where they have to suspend. Am I correct? Yes. They have to stop? We just simply can't send people out into that danger. So there are tragically, according to my friend, tragically intense calls, 911 calls, where someone is just screaming, my neighbor is on the sidewalk dying. Do CPR, do the best you can, and then hold that person's hand and let that person go. So you might have to be the one by your neighbor if you decide to stay, and such an intense event happens. when we can't get the responders out there. So I don't mean to be overly dramatic, but I think it's very important to be dramatic and to think what is the best thing to do for the safety of myself, my family, and our community. So thank you very much. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Yeah, it's very sad about the ear tree. You know, we kind of pushed it to the final limits, I think, but I guess it was time. Last week was a busy week. Can you tell you're being sincere or not? You don't seem sincere about my tree. Well, the thing is there's some history about it. I'm trying to pull back here. You felt it. You felt it too, didn't you? I did feel it. I was trying to keep a straight face. Oh, my gosh. I'm sorry. No, because a few years back, Matt Spohr, he got a report from the arborist that the tree was dying. And Matt Spohr was trying, you know, said, well, let's cut the tree down because it's going to get – you remember that, right? I do. And we decided not to, you know, in the commission. And basically Matt was like – I guess he wanted to really cut the tree down because he really felt that the public safety was, you know, going to be harmed. Something was going to happen. The tree was going to fall on a car or something like that, you know. And it – I pulled him aside and said, Matt, that's not going to happen, right? That tree is going to last. It's going to last another 20 years, right? And he's like, you know, he gets all emotional and he comes up, he says to me, he goes, I'll bet you $20. I'll bet you $20 that tree does not last four years, right? And I go, all right, I'll take you on. I'll take you on. I think it lasted six. Oh, yeah, it lasted, yeah. He texted me like four years later, right? He texted me, he says, I owe you $20. And that's why I was smiling at that. Yeah, last week, Habitat for Humanity, that was a great event. Very happy, five families, young families, great families, sweet families. You know, they get a new chapter in their life with the house. And the great thing, you know, I'm just thinking that they're going to be able to all these, every single house has got kids, and they're going to be able to play. And, you know, it's just a great scene. And that's what it's all about. You know, in today's world where, you know, homes are very expensive and out of the reach of, you know, the working class, especially around here, you know, we were able to provide a, you know, a chance for working-class families to prosper and enjoy everything that we enjoy here in Safety Harbor. Also, United Smokehouse, I've eaten there before. It's outstanding. They've done a great job to their facility. They've got to revamp their whole bar area. And, of course, the food, if you like proteins, that's the place to go and eat up. A lot of parking, too. And they have a lot of parking. I heard they have collard greens, too, and veggie that are delicious. Yeah. I'm sure it's going to be a great addition to the city's culinary. As far as this, of course, and the Maddie Williams Gala, that was great. It was great to see everybody out there. Great to see a lot of people I haven't seen in a while. It was a lot of fun. And I think they should do this every year. But as far as the hurricane is concerned, I urge people that, you know, don't try to rough it out. You know, just get out. I'm evacuating, and I evacuated for the last one. I'm evacuating for this one. There's no reason to be a hero because when that water comes or those winds start howling, and this is a major hurricane. Nobody's been through this. I mean, at least I've never been through this. through this one at all. And I really just plead people just take it safe. And public works, you know, take it one step at a time. You know, one step at a time. Don't get ahead of yourself. And you're doing a great job. Just one step at a time. And you'll do a great job. Thank you for everything you've done. Thank you, Commissioner Diaz. So I'd just say I was also at the United Smokehouse Ribbon Cutting. It was a great event, and they got some great food there. And I saw a lot of you there, and I think they'll hopefully be very successful over there. So with regards to this Storm Milton, y'all were talking about it. So I saw Dennis Phillips say, it has been 103 years since Tampa Bay has been hit by a Category 3 hurricane. So we're not, like you were talking about 25 years ago, it's oh yeah, another day in Florida. Sometimes it's easy for all of us to adopt that mentality because we haven't been hit directly by a major storm in any of our lifetimes. So we don't know what it's like. But I'm with you all. I'm taking this one pretty seriously. I'm evacuating. And I just want to reiterate my thanks to Public Works, to Park staff who are out there. you know, cleaning up from the last one, and we're going to be out again doing cleanup efforts on this storm. I want to thank the entire team of City of Safety Harbor employees. Everybody's got extra duties and are working extra hard, whether it be permitting or cleanup or looking after lift stations, whatever it is. I know you all are working hard. Thank you very much. Yes, we are getting some feedback from residents, of course, in a time with two back-to-back storms in less than two weeks. There will be some emotions, and There will be some frustrations, that goes without saying. But I'm confident you're all doing the best you can. And that's the message that I convey to residents that sometimes get frustrated. This is unprecedented. Safety Harbor, if you compare us to our peer cities, whether it be Oldsmar, Tarpon, Largo, whatever, we are right there doing as much, if not more, as any of these other cities are doing. So that's how to judge us. And I'm confident we'll get through this one like we do everything. But as everyone's saying, please, if you live in zones A, B, or C or near a waterway, please do evacuate and find a safe space to be. So that's all I have. Josh? Sure, Mayor. Thank you. Just so the board's aware, myself, Chief Hawkins, and Renee Cooper will be here for the duration of the event starting Wednesday. Wednesday morning we'll be here. We'll be working throughout the day tomorrow with public works. We'll have a skeleton crew. There may be some parks crews in as well. And obviously the fire department will be here. I hear the comments on, not comments, but feedback for our recovery plans. We'll work at volunteer coordination as well as identifying and keeping an eye out for non-permitted work going on at homes. And then Commissioner Brasseur did just briefly bring up High winds and what happens with services, I just want to briefly touch base on. There are times where the fire department emergency services does suspend emergency response and respond to 911 calls, and that's due to high winds. Those calls are sent to each fire department in that room. It's the chief officers who make the determination on what to respond to, and that's based on current weather conditions. So the reason we do that, you may have sustained winds of 60 miles per hour hour in St. Petersburg, but only at 40 or 45 in Safety Harbor. So we could still respond to calls. But there are moments we did it during Irma. We did it during Helene for a couple hours. During Irma, it was for about eight hours. We just held the calls and did not respond. So yeah, just another reason that if you could safely evacuate from those zones, it would be a good idea. So thank you, Mayor. Appreciate it. You bet. Sarah? Nothing at this time. All right, everyone, be safe. And naming all the departments, I'm staring right at our fire chief, and obviously our firefighters and first responders are right there at the front of everything, responding and working overtime just as much as anyone else. So thank you to you and your team, too. So with that, meeting's adjourned. Thank you. Do we have something to sign? Joe, do you know David Goodman from CNN? Did he send you an email asking you to... I just sent that back to Josh. I was like, I think if anybody's going to talk, it should be...