City Council Meeting

Yeah, camera. Her computer's not upgraded. Mine never does. It's not refreshing. Yes. And I turned it off. How are you? Good. How are you? You got my back, right? Mine's doing the same thing on camera. Yeah. I'm sorry. It It won't pull up today. It's because we have to update our password. I did that. No, apparently out of town. Did it pull it up? Yep. So, what do I do? Sorry. Okay. Wait a minute. Here it is. Rob had it pulled up for me yesterday. Thank you. I'm so sorry. It work. Oh, thank you. You're welcome. And if you just the city.com. It'll be right there in the middle. Don't go too Don't go too far. He's No, this is my This is my This is my This is Rob's operator here. Madame clerk, are you ready? Good morning everyone and welcome to the Braden City Council meeting Wednesday, March 25th, 2026 at 8:30 a.m. at City Hall Council Chambers. At this time, as we always do and will always do as long as I'm mayor, we'll do the invocation and the pledge. And Father Mike Brady with Christ Episcopal Church will come forward and we'll do the invocation. And thank you for coming. Father, good morning all. Let's take a moment and put ourselves in the presence of God. Lord of the nations, grant your wisdom to our mayor and city council. Give them courage to apply that wisdom with integrity, clarity of purpose and compassion. That not the extremes of party politics or posturing blind those who govern or motivate those who oppose so that we may all honor one another and seek the common good. Father, we pray for our city of Bradenton. Strengthen what is good within her and teach us to cherish it. Strengthen these our leaders and guide them to do what is best for the people and give them the courage to argue for a future that will bring about the flourishing of our community. Lord Jesus, in your earthly life, you shared our toil and respected labor. Be present with those where they work. Make those who carry on the industry and commerce of this community responsive to your will. And give us all a pride in what we do and a just return for our labor. Kindle in every heart the true love of peace and guide with your wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth that in tranquility your dominion may increase until the world is filled with the knowledge of your love. Help us all to renew our commitment to one another so that in our daily lives we may bear one another's burdens and rejoice to share one another's joys. And at this moment, Lord, we ask you to watch over those who work, watch, or weep this day. Give your angels charge over those who sleep. Protect all who serve our community and law enforcement and first responders. Cover them with your presence. Guard them in their duties and give them hearts of compassion to ensure the safety and well-being of everyone they encounter. Tend the sick, Lord Christ. Give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, and shield the joyful. We pray this in the name of your blessed son, our savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Father. Join us in the pledge. 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. We'll call this meeting to order. Madame Clerk, the first item on the agenda this morning is a proclamation for Autism Awareness Month, April 2026. Whereas autism spectrum disorder is a complex developmental condition affecting millions of individual individuals worldwide characterized by challenges in communication, social interaction, and behavior. And whereas individuals with autism contribute significant, excuse me, significantly to their communities, demonstrating unique talents, perspectives, and achievements. And whereas increasing awareness and understanding of autism is essential for fostering acceptance, inclusion, and support for individuals and families affected by autism. And whereas the month of April is dedicated to promoting autism awareness and encouraging action to address the needs and rights of individuals with autism. And whereas organizations, advocates, and communities work tirelessly to provide resources, education, and support for individuals and families affected by autism. Now therefore, be it resolved that I, Gene Brown, as mayor of the city of Bradenton, Florida, do hereby proclaim April 2026 as Autism Awareness Month, and encourage all citizens to join in spreading awareness, showing support, and fostering a society that embraces diversity and inclusion. Sign, Jean Brown, Mayor. Thank you. And who do we have accepting this today? Welcome. Good morning. Morning. I have notes because I tend to ramble. Good morning. My name is Margie Hedland. We are here on behalf of Responding to Autism. Responding to Autism is a Florida nonprofit made up of my amazing family. This is my husband Martin. He's 36 ret 36 years retired from law enforcement. This is the reason, the heart and soul we do what we do. This is Martin and Dalton. They are 19 years old and they were both diagnosed with autism when they were two and a half. We also represent the Autism Society of Florida, a wonderful organization that we work with and we also do their law enforcement trainings. Um, coming to Bradington's like coming home. We've been coming here since 2020. We were here like a week before the pandemic, y'all. got right in before, you know, the world shut down. Um, and we've been coming ever since. We joked with the chief earlier that we go to the hotel and it's like coming to Disney. They're like, "Welcome home." Because they know us so well. Um, we want to not only thank the commission, the administration, the chief, the fire chief for welcoming us. Um, but you have a foundation in your community called Bradington Blue, and they have just been such amazing hosts, so kind to us, generous, and the woman that started everything and brought us here, uh, Captain Valerie Knight. She's just, she's amazing. Um, and it's thanks to the city of Bradington and y'all that we met the organization known as FLA PAC. That's the Florida Police Accreditation Coalition. So thanks to you guys, we got invited there and through that we've already trained in we've got upcoming seven more communities. So what you guys do so well is making other communities better. Look, we've been everywhere from military bases in Pensacola to fire departments in South Miami Beach, but we've been here the most. This is our home. And I follow you on social media. I meet the amazing officers throughout the years. And you guys are doing it right, impacting communities. When you guys have an event, everybody's welcome. You have inclusion. You guys should be incredibly, incredibly proud of how you make your residents and your surrounding communities feel welcome. And that's our goal, right? We want everybody to be welcome and everybody to have a seat at the table. And I don't know another city that does it better than Bradington. So, we are so grateful for you and we just look forward to the next time we get to come back and be with you. Thank you so much. Thank you. We appreciate um you doing what you do and and helping um others as well as the families. So, thank you, Councilman Schustler. Yeah, I I I just wanted to say that uh these programs and um the incredible work that you all do supporting children um teens and adults um and their families uh who live in the area. And you mentioned responding to autism, Autism Society of Florida, uh Bradenon Blue, and many, many others. I I recently had the opportunity to tour the Haven in Sarasota um and the work that they're doing with uh both in the adult community and with the children um and many of those families live in Bradenton and it truly is God's work and to see uh to interact with the community and and see the achievements um it's just a really special thing. So thank you for everything that you do. You can see in your community, everybody's welcome, whether you guys are having an event specifically for autism or just an event in one of your parks. There's always that thing that you guys have in place that everybody feels welcome and and you have some pretty amazing first responders. I got to tell you, we've gotten to know a lot of them over the years. Just really great people. Um, yeah, y'all should be very proud of yourselves. Very proud. Thank you very much. Let's say just say hi. Hello. Hi. Hello. Hi. Hi. But these these are definitely the guys that get all the credit. It's it's it's uh it's because of them, for them, and um we're incredibly proud. Thank you so much. Can we get a picture? You guys turn around and we'll stand up here behind you. All right, everybody. You guys seems to work better. We can see everybody. I'll just Sure. Y get them all up. Especially Miss Manager Knight. Manager Knight. Y All right. But I don't want to block. Don't block the commissioners. No, we're good. Squeeze in a little bit. Are you sure? That's Don't worry. We're good. Yeah. Squeeze in everybody. Squeeze in. That's okay. Wait, wait, hold on. Thank you everybody. God bless you guys. Thank you for everything. We'll see you soon. A great day. Madame clerk left it there. Our next proclamation is for sexual assault awareness day, April 8th, 2026. Whereas the theme of this year's no voice unheard event is see my strength to bring light to support and hope available to survivors. And whereas in the first six months of 2025, reports of AI related child sexual exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children soared to over 485,000, up from 6,835 in the same period in 2024. Some projections for 2025 estimated around 240,000 cases of child sexual abuse with 93% of victims knowing their abuser. 433,648 Americans 12 and older are sexually assaulted or raped and 18,900 military members experienced unwanted sexual contact. And whereas sexual violence is not just a problem of stranger danger. While strangers commit 19.5% of sexual assaults, 39% are committed by an acquaint acquaintance. 33% are committed by a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend. 6% are committed by more than one person or the victim cannot remember. And 2.5% are committed by a non-spouse relative. And whereas sexual assault is the most under reportported crime with only 310 out of every 1,000 sexual assaults reported to police. It is critical that all victims know they have services available to them. And whereas Centerstone is one of Florida's 29 certified rape crisis centers providing services which include criminal justice advocacy, forensic medical exam accompaniment, information and referrals, crisis intervention therapy, support groups, 247 crisis helpline, victim compensation and relocation application assistance. And whereas Centerstone remains committed to their goal of a community free from sexual violence through ongoing prevention, education, and awareness for all citizens. Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Gene Brown, as mayor of the city of Bradenton, Florida, do hereby proclaim April 8th, 2026 as Sexual Assault Awareness Day in Bradenton. Signed, Gan Brown, Mayor. Thank you. Who do we have coming forward everybody? Thank you. Welcome. Thanks. Uh we have our uh SART team here, Manatee County Sexual Assault Response Team and also our Centerstone victim advocates from the rape crisis center. One of our core services we have to provide is uh facilitating a um sexual assault response team for the county we serve and we are very uh grateful for Bradenton City of Bradenton their police department who uh has representation on our start team. We also have Manatee Memorial Hospital here. um Manatee County Sheriff's Office advocates, Many Memorial Hospital, SA Freedom, um and we do have other um participants on our SART team, but today is our usual monthly meeting, and so we have our meeting here. Um and thank you so much for uh proclaiming this day. This year will be our 25th um sexual assault awareness day um event. It's called No Voice Unheard. And we'll be bringing out artwork where survivors from our community of sexual violence have created different um communications through art over the years. It's like going through a museum. Um our victim advocate team and some of our SART members also come together with other volunteers to display all the artwork from 25 years. And it's like walking through a museum in the gymnasium at the 13th AV Dream Center. It'll be on Wednesday, April 8th from 5 to 6:30 and the whole entire community is invited. It's a familyfriendly event. Um, and it's just an opportunity for us as a community to show support uh for sexual violence um survivors to show that um we do acknowledge that sexual violence occurs, but we also acknowledge there is hope and healing for a future um for all that have been abused. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So we appreciate and it shows one of the things to me is what what our community is about collaboration and without collaboration even sometimes when you disagree with somebody you still got to collaborate in a way to help others and that's one thing that we have in Manatee County city of Bradenton is collaboration is so important so we appreciate every one of you taking more of your time just even off work hours it's about how you help others so thank you for that appreciate it. Are we taking a picture? Yes, we're going to take a picture. Yep. So, we'll get our picture now. Okay, perfect. Just give over to the clerk there. Either way, sorry, you're fine. If you want to give those to our clerk and we'll put some out in front too as well. Okay, if we can get a picture. You want to get in the middle and hold the proclamation open? It's a good Thank you. Appreciate all your effort and work. We're good. Madame Clerk, the next item on the agenda is citizen comment. All right. At this time, we'll have citizen comment. It will be accepted during the citizen comment portion of the meeting on any non-aggenda item, agenda items, future agenda items or topic of relevance to the city. Comments will be accepted on the public hearing hearings at the appropriate time. Um, at this time I only have two citizen comment. First is Cecilia Hernandez and you'll have please state your name and city of residence and you'll have three minutes and then next will be Annie Rousini. Uh, good morning, Cecilia Hernandez. Um, Bradington, Florida. Um, good morning, Mayor and Council. I am here regarding CottonMouth and the continued closure of the back dining area and new requirements. As of this week, Cotton Mouth is a restaurant and it remains a restaurant. Dave is not here today. He had a family emergency, so I'm I'm here to speak in his behalf. Dave is not asking for a change in use, and he is not asking for an increase in occupancy. The backyard has been used as a dining space for approximately eight years, including by the prior occupant of the property. The rear structures were added to support outdoor dining during inclement weather and year-round restaurant year-round restaurant operations. A red tag was issued for unper unpermitted rear structures. Uh that is the issue Dave has been working on to correct. In response to the city's direction, Dave has obtained the life critical safety plan requested by the fire marshal. He has added an additional points of egress. So there are now two means of exit. The permit the permitted documents are ready for submission and a general contractor is in the process of final registration with the city. To be clear, Dave is not asking to occupy the backyard before the structures are permitted. He intends to comply with the fire marshall's inspection report and the red tag requirements. What we're asking for is a straightforward uh what we're asking for is straightforward. Once the rear structures are properly permitted and approved, they should Dave should be allowed to resume occupancy in the use of the backyard dining area as a part of Cottonmouth's existing restaurant operations. After substantial time and money have have already been spent responding to the issues identified identified by the city, additional requirements are now being raised and we still do not have a clear answer as whether the backyard or whether the backyard may reopen after the structures are permitted. Uh that ongoing uncertainty is causing real financial hardship to lo small local business. The backyard dining area is meaningful part to Cotton Mouse operation and revenue and every additional delay makes hardship worse. So, I'm respectfully asking for a clear forward path. Um, and I'm requesting if the structures are permitted and approved um that Dave be allowed to reopen and occupy the backyard dining area. Um, thank you. Thank you. Next is Annie Rini. Good morning. Good morning, Annie Rousini, Village of the Arts. Um, as you know, I've been in the village now just ending my 27th year. Hard to believe. Scary really. Um, I'm here also to talk about uh David and a situation that's arisen since we were here last in January. I think 28th. Uh David uh is still having music in the Village of the Arts a couple of days a week, usually Friday, Saturday. We've moved all the big music to Flamingo Bay as I think you already know. I know a couple of you have at least one of you has already visited down there. Um and we're happy to share that experience with them and get them off the ground and it's working out really well. Music in the village of the arts. There's uh many um places that you can go for music in the village of the yards, but this one place uh Cottonmouth is um every time there's music. Every time there's music, the neighbors are still calling the police. So, we have three cop cars come every single time there's music. I don't care if it's bluegrass um or if it's um the blues or country or you know, any kind of music. Uh two people, three people. We don't usually have more than three people there anymore because we've moved our big groups to Flamingo Bay. This is disconcerting to our customers and literally tables of patrons have actually gotten up and left their tables. These days, we're in a climate in America where law enforcement showing up in mass can be very intimidating and scary to people. And we literally have lost people. They have gotten up from their tables and left because mind you, only two police cars can actually fit in front of that little tiny place and there are three. So, it really feels like you're surrounded. It's bizarre. Sunday brunch. Uh, and I just wanted to note that we're just having music 6:30 to 8:30 or 7 till 9ine on Fridays and Saturdays, sometimes on a Thursday. Sunday brunch was at 11:00 every uh, Sunday for many, many years. And as you know, the yoga place was closed down for many years since um, March 13th of 2020. And they've wanted to restart their business, changing the name, etc. And um so David has accommodated them by changing his brunch time from the usual 11 o'clock for the last 5 and a half years to now 12:30 because uh Preston Whe uh student that he wants to have there from 11 o'clock until 12:00 every Sunday. But as you know here in this room, Carrie, his wife Carrie um um oh gosh, what's her last name? Preston. Thank you. She has told us that she will not uh ever um um compromise in any way. That has not been our uh way in the village of the arts for the last 27 years. We all have managed to do this. There are six other businesses I said that are restaurants and some of those have music. Everyone's doing fine everywhere else. It's just in this little tiny corner of the village of the arts. Uh, additionally, I would say that Carrie has told me uh personally that under no circumstances will she stop um calling the police and stop trying to close down. Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. This time I have no other citizen comment. So um I'll close citizen comment and then ask uh Miss Singer the the email we got of course has responses from you and Mr. Dong and then obviously we got the fire marshal here. So, is there any comments you want to make now or you want to just get with them and try to Yeah, we'll continue to work with them. I think um our main concern um fire safety, ADA access uh and any kind of sanitation uh adjustments that need to be made in terms of the occupancy and the number of bathrooms that they need to have. That's mainly what we're trying to get worked out. I think right now we're disputing whether or not they we could have them go in front of our DRC because everybody's in the room and we can get a lot of things adjusted. Um, and their contention is that they've already been using the back area for seating area for the restaurant. So, we're working with the fire marshall to iron out some of the last issues. I think they're going private provider on the actual structures. So, um, those won't be subject to city review. Okay. All right. And mayor. Yes, sir. I I I've spoken with Miss Singer about this. um she's requested that they come in and talk to DRC about these issues. And my observations, and they're only my personal observations, is that this council has been very gratuitous on this issue. And I think it's important that these folks have to come in and work through the fire inspector because of the fire protection, fire danger situations, work through the building department, because of health community and buildings building safety. And that's really where that has to start. I would I would just urge basically all of us to make sure we have a consistent um uh direction that that should be the case. And I believe Miss Singer staff has also utterly accommodated everything they can within the various codes and provisions and ordinances and rules of the city. And I thank you for doing that on behalf of this one entity when you have so many other entities in the city. have Vice Mayor Coker and then Councilwoman Barnaby. Yes. Um Miss Singer, thank you. Um during COVID there were a lot of and I don't know how we accommodated all the restaurants to allow them to have the outdoor space and I don't know if I've seen a in fact just this week I noticed that there are still quite a few restaurants that still have the same thing left over from CO which I think is great. I mean, that's why we're here in Florida, to enjoy the outdoors and everything. So, I I mean, to keep a level playing field with everybody. I don't know if we need to readress what we allowed during CO or um you know, but just not to make it harder now just because we're out of that pandemic. Um I just want to make sure we have even even playing field for everybody. Okay. Thank you, Miss Barnaby. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. missing doesn't every business doing any kind of work whatever you want to however you want to describe it everybody comes through and goes through the process meeting with the I'm sorry DRC review committee okay because and and I know that I've had people contact me about wanting to open a business in the city at a specific address or what have And I've recommended that they talk with your staff and your staff tells them even before they open a business to come in and let's look at the facility that you're talking about using to see if it's if it's doable, if it's compatible, what are you going to be required to do to bring it up to code. Um, and this is this is not just something for Mr. Shiplet. This is something that we've asked just about every business that is doing any kind of um coming into compliance or possibly expanding or whatever the terminology is that you want to use. We ask them is that not correct? That that is correct. Yeah. Change of use um almost always goes through the DRC. And so I think their contention is isn't a change of use that this has been used as a restaurant in the back for some time. I think um I don't really have evidence of that, but we're looking we're looking to see if there was evidence of that they were already using it to that capacity. And I think it's also an occupancy and capacity issue because of the number of patrons that would now be sitting in the back if they're offering musical entertainment together with the restaurant in the back. So, it's more tables uh at greater capacity and that that takes on some other issues. So, right, I think Barnaby, thank you. Um, I think one of the things too, you say change of use. Um, we had a little thing called Milton that came through here that really adjusted what he could do back there because of the big tree being taken down. When they had the big tree, it was probably 20% of the back area. So, that's something that, you know, I don't know how we look at that, but that, you know, probably needs to be factored in um because of a national disaster. Yeah. Yeah. So, all right. Well, I appreciate it. Thank you, Andelle. We'll keep working, obviously. Thank you for the comment. At this time, I will move on, Madame Clerk. Item six is the consent agenda, and I'd like to note that item 6A is going to be pulled today and brought back to you at a later date. So, staff has requested approval of items B through R. Mr. Perry. Mayor, I've had the opportunity to speak with council about the consent agenda and to address any questions or concerns that individual counselors may have expressed. Uh there's just a couple of items that I'd like to maybe expound on a little bit. Um items B and C, which are our fire um uh unions contracts, the agreements with the Sun Coast Professional Firefighters Paramedics International Association within items B and C. Um with us today is Mr. Huffman from the local IIAF is the representative of our local and uh Mr. Salvatorei who is a member and the vice president of Florida professional firefighters and a former Bradington firefighter as most of you know. Um it's so good to have that type of expertise and connection in working with these contracts. I think it's been really important we have a protracted or rather lengthy negotiation session and uh these guys do really good for their memberships. The two memberships that they represent is the rank and file which consists of about 70 firefighters and then the uh supervisory unit which consists of about five. Those are the two contracts before you. Um a lot of times with union contracts people want to know what are wages about and compensation. That's the key component. But I can assure you that these two individuals go far beyond the wage and compensation article to look at a number of different things that are important to the community, to the department, and to the administration and mayor. In this particular case, we look at various staffing platforms that bring about the best fire services delivery uh for the protection for the firefighters themselves. as it relates to personnel. Um, we had provisions for professional development and we also have provisions for training related there too. In this particular case, there's some really great stuff with advanced life support. So, we're going to be trying to take our firefighters, get them trained in advanced life support so that they can basically push drugs and incubate and a few other of these medical procedures. Um, ultimately we have to have a medical director um sign off on all these procedures. the training is considerably more than what we typically do under what's called basic life support. Um, and really the citizens when they're having a medical emergency, they want the most advanced life support they can have as fast as they can get it. It makes sense if it was your family member, you know, or or anyone else's. And so really in year three, we're going to be able to implement where we put those advanced life uh support services on our fire trucks so that the first responder, whether it's it's EMS from the county or whether it's uh Bradenon Fire Department, can provide those advanced life support services. That's a big plus. It really is. And uh we're working toward hard towards it. Cost us a little bit of money, but we think that it's worth it. There's a multitude of other items in these contracts. The vote was overwhelmingly, when I say the vote, the ratification vote from the firefighters, and I don't know if Mr. Huffman and Mr. Salvator want to talk about that, but they were overwhelmingly supportive. Um, and the participation uh as it relates to the vote was overwhelmingly engaged. So, my hat goes off to working on this excellent contract. It carries basically a three-year term. Um, and this is the second contract I've done with IIAF as I remember. Uh, the first one was when I first got here. This will take us pretty much all the way till I think 2029 or 2028 29, right? And it really sets the future. You know, we're in a business with police or fire where we compete with other public safety agencies over a number of different uh a number of different uh kind of levels that deal with compensation and equipment and and and a whole host of other things and everything. And we think this does help us, you know, really match up comparatively with our surrounding fire districts. And there's challenges. Um those fire districts are independently funded through a a special tax for the fire district. Whereas a municipal department such as ours has to be basically drawn out a general fund. And when you look at the general fund between the fire and the police, it represents about 65% of the general fund. And so these are tricky things to do. Um we had we work with really pros and and and my hat goes off to them. My thanks goes out to them. Thank you, Mr. Perry. Um, any other questions or chair will entertain a motion for consent agenda with A being pulled? Well, I'll make the motion that we approve the consent agenda from B through R and then we can Mayor, there's just one more. Let's get the discussion. Yes, sir. Okay. We have a motion by Miss Barnaby with B through R, second by Vice Mayor Coker. Uh, Miss Barnaby, did you have any further comment? No. Okay, good. All right. Mr. Yeah, I just wanted to comment really quickly and and thank Mr. Perry and Mr. Huffman. my we've all had an opportunity to read through this contract and I just wanted to I I think it's great work that was done in the environment uh given the current tax environment and looking at what may happen with ad uh um you know it's it's uh no no small task and so you know just wanted to acknowledge a great job. Good. Yep. And I know that um thank Mr. Huffman, Mr. Salvatore for working see him in there a lot with you, Mr. Perry and Mr. Williams and that. But thank you for working with us and for us and all that you've done for our community even though both of you are kind of retired from the local day-to-day operation, but we appreciate what you do every day and and obviously working through it and you know getting to this point so to make it whole. So appreciate it. All right, hearing no further discussion, we'll start the vote. Oh, I'm sorry. Can I address one? Let me get to Mrs. Moore first. Well, I just wanted to also reiterate what um Councilman Shusler just brought up because I think it's a great educational opportunity for residents to hear that um I thought it was even more than 65% of our budget, but I would I'll need to confirm that. But it's being, you know, as we talk about that kind of um action, I feel like it's notable that we're able to step up services and I want to point that out to people that we're able to actually increase the value of our services. Perfect. Thank you, Mr. Perry. just briefly on item 6R which is basically the Kingston Estate uh water main improvements and and uh I want to just quickly talk about this particular project and we have of course have fire marshal Chris Melzer who's here um in lie of Chief Gear who and deputy chief Kennedy who's who's out um kind of at other things today but this particular um item before you I want to really talk briefly about the project itself it's about 3500 linear f feet or 3/4 of a mile of really um piping that needs to be replaced in the Kingston Estate area. The Kingston estate area is one of the most critical um areas for fire protection where we believe that there has not been uh that that that there's been aged infrastructure that is insufficient to fully service the area according to today's modernized standards. Uh we're replacing a 2-in aluminum pipe with an 8 in basically pipe. There's problems with the cross-section and failure in the piping system. And we've worked closely um with with this is in Ward Five with with with Councilwoman Coachman um to ensure that this area receives adequate fire protection. The nature of the area itself is fairly combustible when you look at other areas, right, that probably was developed a little bit later and and less density and the like. So, we were looking at various areas as far as how to put together our CIP plan for fire protection for the next 10 years. And with the help and expertise of the fire marshall and the public works people, this was designated as the most critical. And I if if fire marshall Melzer wants to go a little bit further on that, that's fine. We're looking at about a $ 1.5 million expenditure. Uh we once it's it's approved today, we'll get the notice to proceed out about 180 days to completion is estimated time. Thank you. All right. Um seeing no other discussion, we'll start the vote and ward one. Yes. Two, yes. Three, yes. Four, yes. Five, yes. Carries 5 to zero. Madame clerk, item 7A is the second reading and public hearing for ordinance 4069. An ordinance of the city of Bradenton, Florida, amending the City of Bradon land use regulations and form-based code to establish a process for the review and approval of certified recovery residences and for the consideration of requests for reasonable accommodations from local land use regulations as mandated by section 397.487 487 Florida statutes amending chapter 4 of the land use regulations to create a new section 4.3.15 relating to certified recovery residences. Amending chapter 10 of the land use regulations related to definitions. Amending article 12 of the formbbased code relating to definitions. Amending article 4, table 4.7 of the formbbased code relating to specific functions and uses within transact zones. Amending chapter 4, section 4.3.6 of the land use regulations relating to group care homes and group care facilities. Amending chapter 3, section 3.2 of the land use regulations related to standard land use district regulations. Amending chapter 3, table 3.2.1.1 of the land use regulations relating to residential districts permitted uses and special uses, providing for severability, providing for repeal of ordinances and conflict, and providing for an effective date. Good morning, Miss Singer. Uh, good morning. Robin Singer, planning community development director. Um this is an ordinance to incorporate uh um recovery residences, certified recovery residences into our code um in accordance with what the state uh currently requires. Um this will define recovery residences and reasonable accommodation. Uh amend the definitions for group care homes and group care facilities to include certified recovery residences. Provide for group care homes and group care facilities in the formbbased code. It currently doesn't address that use. um classify recovery residences as group care home or group care facility and establish a procedure for applying for a reasonable accommodation as a recovery residence including appeals and revocation. So by including it with um uh defining it first and then including it with group care homes, it's basically afforded the same opportunities for approval that you would for other group care homes. and other group care homes might be um uh adult congregate living facilities and it might be other kinds of care facilities, nursing homes and the like. Um and so this just prevents us from being discriminatory in our practices and approval process. So first of all it defines it um and then it also provides for a reasonable accommodation. Now we already have um approval process for other kinds of group care homes and group care facilities and so this will be afforded those same opportunities for approval. But where that doesn't um afford them the opportunity for approval and they want to dispute that they will have a reasonable accommodation process uh that they will need to follow. And so the definition of group care homes we already had in the definition in the land use regulation um uh recovery homes. We're just replacing that with a certified recovery homes as defined by the statutes. And why is that important? That is important because it is a regulated um facility as opposed to something that wasn't really defined or regulated under the code. And then my my qu reason for asking that question is because if I live next door to a house and that happens to that house, what if there's issues, what um would be the avenue to take care of those issues? It depends on the issues. If it is had been approved as one, typically you're not going to see it in single family. Um but we do provide for group care homes um in in single family under certain circumstances as as mandated under the statutes. But um but if you do see one coming in, there is a process for approval just like there would be for any other and that may be a local process or it may be a state certification process. And and we're in in cases where they would be allowed by right. And so the only districts that um I believe we allow by right would be um our uh P professional district and our um industrial district. So in most cases you're going to see them go through a special use process or the reasonable accommodation process. Thank you. Um formbbased code again uh you see those two uses provided for at the bottom. uh our single family district is really the T3 and we are not listing any of those. Um however for group care homes there are some uh statutory provisions for allowing them for six or under. Um but in other cases it's a special use um for these uses and T4R is does contain some single family as well but um it's more of a mixeduse district. Um so the uh certified uh recovery residents may be classified as either a group care home or a group care facility under the land use regulations and sub subject to review and approval in accordance with the applicable provisions governing such uses. So again they're going through the same process as other kind of group care homes and group care facilities. Um and then they may request a reasonable accommodation. So, it's just provided for um in the code um alternative reasonable accommodations. If the city council determines that the requested accommodation will impose an undue financial or administrative burden on the city or require fundamental alteration of the nature of the city's land use and zoning regulation, the council may consider whether an alternative reasonable accommodation exists which would effectively uh meet the um disability related need. uh an alternative re reason accommodation may constitute an approval of the requested accommodation with conditions. So in other words, city council is still going to have oversight on those. It's not just um they ask for it and they get it. You know, you you do uh have the opportunity to um adjust and and make stipulations on the use or send them through an alternate process. Um so the procedures they would apply for um uh the application is required there's departmental review and there's final determination um to city council within 60 days of receipt and so that's if they're asking for a reasonable accommodation. Um most of them as I said would probably go through a special use process and then there's other kinds of limitations and and stipulations on when we have to act on these promptly within 60 days. So, um, with that, um, it's we not making any changes since first reading. And if you have any other questions, I don't know if the city attorney wants to, um, add anything. Wax poetic. Well, no, but I'm happy to answer any questions. Yeah. Any questions before I go to public hearing? Seeing none, we'll go to the public hearing or open the public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak? Anyone wishing to speak? Anyone wishing to speak? Hearing none, close the public hearing. The chair will entertain a motion. If there's no further question, let's get a motion then if there's any further discussion. Motion to approve uh 4069. Ordinance 4069. Second by Councilwoman Coachman. Any further discussion? just make a quick comment that I said earlier or we said last time upon the first reading that you know I I think in general anytime we can align our local policies with state and federal uh it creates consistency um and reduces confusion and in general it's a good thing for the community. Thank you. Can I just Yes, ma'am. Um Miss Singer, I'm sorry. Um the after the chart, those notes after the chart are are just general. I'm sorry. I'm on page Well, I'm on Are you on the actual ordinance? Uh yes. Uh after the first chart, um the notes after that chart, I think it's on p it's on page seven of my packet. Yes. If you go down just a little bit more, I think yes, right here. So, are these just generally speaking? These are notes regarding the entire chart, not specifically this one. So, just to be clear, uh, approval of a certified recovery residents home or I mean group home or facility doesn't then prohibit other adjacent or in the vicinity property owners from selling alcoholic beverages or anything like that. That's not meant to speak specifically to this. No. So, this doesn't affect adjacent property. I just want to make sure I'm looking at the right. Are you talking about in the that's addressed in one through five? Yes. Where are you seeing that? It's um I saw it's just basically one through five. it. I mean, I I think that it's I think it means that these are just notes to the whole chart. Yeah. So, I just want to make sure and and I'm I don't dispute the ordinance, but I um I want to make sure I understand the consequences of it. Yeah. That's basically it's a footnote to the chart and I'm not sure. Okay. So, it's general. It's not applicable specifically to this use. Right. If I could, Mr. Mayor, if you look at the the numbered notes there, the only language that's being added is five. It's underlined. The rest of those notes are all existing. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Hearing no further discussion, we'll start the vote in ward two. Yes. Three. Yes. Four. Yes. Five. Yes. And one. Yes. Carries five to zero. Thank you, Miss Singer. Madame Clerk. Item 8A is the contract for purchase and sale for 1108 Second Street West. Mr. Perry, mayor, council. Um, item 8A, that contract for purchase of sale is basically a surplus property that was designated as a potential for affordable housing. It's a fairly modest residential lot that is uh slightly west of of First Street. It's on Second Street. Um, and uh it had been in our inventory for quite some time. uh our policies and procedures and real property director um Corey Foron had been charged with kind of putting together a whole host of different surplus properties and we've had good success in trying to market those properties, sell them and then take those funds particularly if it's designated as affordable housing and fund the affordable housing fund which previously had been a fund set up in the city with no funds in it. And so as we sell that these properties, the the funds the money is returned to that fund and can be used for programmatic and and affordable housing development. Um this particular property again is a modest um residential lot vacant. Um it was sold for under the contract for 52,000. I think it was advertised at 55. I forget what the appraisal was, but it was pretty close to that number as I remember. Um there's no inspection required. It's an ASIS sale and it it gives us the opportunity to bring in cash for the affordable housing fund um and try to look at what we can do with that to assist in that particular undertaking and get these surplus properties that the city's holding with no particular intended use or benefit to the city off our books. That's kind of the short long of it. Councilwoman Barnaby, thank you. Uh Mr. Perry or Miss Foron, whoever wants to answer this. Um we have these um surplus properties listed on our website. Correct. Yes, ma'am. And this property has been listed on that website. Morton since for three years. Okay. Thank you so much. And I'm just going to ask, Mr. Perry, if you can just kind of give for the public a little bit um of what we've changed a little bit to make these and get these properties sold because we've had this now come up a couple times with some properties that were derelic properties and even probably could have been in some uh disrepair after the hurricanes that and and we're getting good market value for them now because why um we we really changed the process um of of how we market and advertise and really dispose of the properties, solicit interest, and then dispose of them. And and a lot of these properties have been on the city's property roles for quite some time. They had been previously advertised um consistent with with Councilwoman Barnaby's point for multiple years, and we really didn't get much interest at all or if we did, we got I wouldn't sub fire sale offers like $100 for Yeah. I mean, some of them were kind of ridiculous in my opinion. But what we did do was we enlisted the help of the urban group which is a specialty group. They've worked with the county and their acquisitions of properties for um different types of projects that the county was doing. And so they their appraisal skills are good. We have all the properties appraised. We've been coming in very very close or at appraisal and sometimes even over appraisal. Um and we've been getting a lot of interest. A lot of these properties are very unique. Sometimes it's dimensionally unique to the extent of they're narrow or not deep enough or too wide or you need assemblage of a property nearby. So I think that's kind of the problem in in some of the cases. You know, they're not what you would call probably premier development opportunities and the like. But, you know, in this case, when you think about $52,000 for a a modestly sized residential lot, um, w with comparable home values in the area, and I believe that the the purchaser is intending on building a a home there, residence, um, it it it meets a lot of our goals and objectives. So, we've had some good success, and you know, Corey does a lot of that, and everybody knows she works really hard down there, but, uh, that's another one of her expertises because she comes out of that real estate law background. Perfect. Thank you, Councilwoman Coachman. Thank you. I I just wanted to comment, but you did touch on it, Mr. Perry. Uh, a lot of times lots such as the one we're speaking of because of the location and also the size of it. There's some unique there's some unique lots. I I actually remember the home that was on that lot. It was one of my dear friends um her mom and her sister and all. So, it it kind of gets me a little bit, but I'm happy to see that we are doing what what that fund is there to do. You know, we're now, you know, funding it so that we can maybe give some incentives to have more home more affordable homes built in in that area because that's so needed. not only needed because people need homes, but also because we need more actual ownership, home ownership as opposed to 70% rental. So, it's great. Thank you. Thank you. Do we need a a uh a motion to approve or is this just for comments? I think we probably do. Okay. So, move. So, moved by Councilwoman Coachman, a second by Miss Barnaby. Councilwoman Barnaby. Any other discussion? Hearing none, we'll start the vote in W three. Yes. Four. Yes. Five. Yes. One. Yes. Two. Yes. Approved. Five to zero. Mr. Perry. Or I guess you got another on the Yep. Under item 8B, which is the city administration's request for approval to solicit a tax tax exempt revolving line of credit for utility bridge financing purposes. This is a project that was kind of brought to us by some of our consultants that both from the finance side and from the construction side felt that because we are in the process of doing a multitude of different projects that have various different reimbursement sources that uh we would need basically gap or bridge financing capacity commonly known as a line of credit. I asked Mr. Williams and his team from finance with Heidi and and David Lindsay and host of other folks with the city that has that type of expertise to take a look at that. They contacted Julie Saint Marie who is our financial consultant that said typically what happens is we go to the banking industry. You're a municipal borrower for short-term credit and uh you would be taxexempt on these projects so you get a preferable interest rate as well. Um we took a number at $10 million. We looked at a couple different variet options, but we thought $10 million is probably pretty pretty reasonable um for the number of projects we have, the type of projects, and the typical funding. When you say, well, like what's what's gap financing or bridge financing? We will get an, you know, basically an award letter that has certain certain terms as it relates the ability to draw funding and reimbursement from that fund. But a lot of times we at the same time on the other side of the ledger have contractors that are putting in what are called pay apps or we're pre-purchasing items uh so that we can basically meet um timelines and might get caught on a supply chain situation where work has to stop because we can't get electrical switch gear whatever it might be. There's a multitude of different reasons why we need that gap financing. Now, um I think we definitely need it as an administrative slashconstruction kind of component to our overall program that'll be used and mostly it's it it's related to um to utility improvements. But I I think also when I put in here that I intend to bring to you a debt policy and this is really not approving any us to borrow $10 million. It's approving us to go to the market to try to and solicit the ability to get um an offering that would give us a line of credit for $10 million. Ultimately, we're going to have to put a policy in place that allows some flexibility to make those payments in a timely manner, but at the same time give council the ability to kind of um approve the allocations of those amounts is what I'm I'm contemplating. We had something like that where I previously worked. We had a very a very extensive debt policy and um you know it can run the gambit on the types of debt, the purpose of the debt and everything else. This is more related to utility bridge financing for construction projects and we'll probably start with that within the debt policy itself. So again, I I just want you to understand that this is just to move forward and Mr. Williams can probably answer questions better than I can because he's been the nuts and bolts of this. I'm gonna make a comment then we'll go to to Vice Mayor Coker and then Mr. Schustler and Mrs. Moore. Um, one of the things that I think that that you know we're all very uh fiscally responsible up here and one of the things with us getting and moving forward with with so many projects that we don't want to miss anything because we don't have that financial support behind us. And sometimes you have to pay it out before you get it. and Mr. Perry and Mr. Williams have um built a staff of what can we get from other governments, other entities to do some of our work without having to tax our citizens for it. So, I think it's important to to give kudos to your whole administration, Mr. for going down the line and making sure that how we're going to make sure these projects get done. And I mean, one that probably is the most public is over in Mrs. Moore's ward and getting it done. And one of the things with the grant, there was some timing issues that if we didn't do it, we would lose the grant. But coming up with ways to pre- purchase, to pre- get things, and now it's fully under construction, and now it'll be the neighborhood construction. So those are the type of things that I think this really shows fiscal responsibility to make sure we are facing and fixing what we have but also having the financial means to get it done. So Mr. Perry, you want to comment on that anymore before? No, I think it's a really good point that you need agility. I I I think that's probably the best term to use is some agility to do it particularly when you have multiple projects. Um and you gave a great example of of lift station 13 and and three. Um, I mean, I don't think it was 18 months ago that some of the neighbors and folks were saying this is not going to happen timely. Um, and and a whole host of other types of things. And when you look at it, I think this week temporary list station 13 went live completely on its own. It took out of service probably one of the most failed compromised pieces of infrastructure perhaps in Manatee County, you know, let alone the city of Bradon. And uh it's a I think kudos to to to Councilwoman. She said, "I never thought I'd say this about a list station, but it's beautiful." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I like that. I thought that was cute. Um and of course, we're working on three, but but three is a good example that you pointed out. And that's the type of agility we need. Just a perfect example of it. Yep. Thank you. And we put internal controls in place. I assure you. That's important. Vice Mayor Coker. Yes. I I think you you got a great team here at the city and very fiscally um the flexibility I think is definitely paying off for all of us. But um you discussed putting together a policy and I like I think that's a good idea because we don't know who's going to be sitting in all the seats down the road and we wouldn't want to get put into a bad position either. So is that something that a lot of other municipalities have in Florida? I know you said you had it in Albuquerque, but um I I think that it's a really good question. I I think the detail of that policy to deals with maybe the size and the sophistication of the of the government. I would imagine the county has a has a pretty good debt policy. I haven't looked at theirs and I'm going to start by seeing what's out there off the shelf comparatively. Mhm. I'm familiar with Alana West and and everything, at least the generics of it from a long time ago, but um but really I think to answer your question, some do and some don't. And I think the larger ones and more sophisticated municipalities do because they have to. And for the very reasons you said, it isn't about one particular administration or one particular individual or one particular council. It's good policy to have guidelines that transcend time and provide fiscal and financial responsible accountability and oversight. I don't think anybody would argue with that. Right. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Schustler. Yeah. I I I just wanted to say that um I think that you know this specific uh issue is about cash flows and I think that it is a good thing. Um I had a chance to talk to Mr. Perry in depth about this and you know my experience mainly on the corporate side uh albeit different is somewhat similar in that I agree with what Jane said that a debt policy if I understand it correctly and we spoke about this previously the city was pay as you go um and an issue came up well we're in a much different time with everything that you looked before us infrastructure-wise so you know when we looked at these sort of things on the corporate side we would build bond ladders of different credit ratings, um, maturities, interest rates, uh, and and this to me is very very similar and I think it's it's prudent. It's a, you know, a debt policy. I I I look forward to seeing it. We are in a different time. I think it makes things clear and transparent. Um, and that is uh what I have to say about the matter. Thank you, Councilwoman Moore. Um I I have one question, but um we we did talk about it at length and and I also think that that agility, that's a good way to put it, um is necessary for the scope and magnitude of projects that we're dealing with right now. I think it's notable that uh we can try to obtain a product that has the interest and costs forgivable. So the public might be interested in hearing that that's what we're hoping for. So to the extent that we're borrowing and to the point of being fiscally conservative, I think that that would um definitely be my preference. Um and then the other the question that I had though is I guess not maybe related to the debt policy, but for this particular um bridge loan, are we does it go into a designated fund so that we know that that is you know like there are certain projects that have That's a good question. um it will and and we'll have to set up the accounting for that frankly that that's more of an accounting issue that you're referring to and it's a really good question because you want to segregate those types of funds so that when you take money out or borrow money when you get the money back it goes back into the fund and the accounting of that we'll have to study a little bit frankly but right now remember what it's about is going to the market this request before us. Yep. And I think one of the biggest things is is everybody said is this is setting us up to succeed, right? Where it's not something that you're going to look at and say, "Oh my gosh, we got $10 million we owe now." It's saying that we got $10 million that we're going to be able to bridge that gap until the federal, state, or local reimbursement grants come in. That's correct. And and that's that's, you know, and it does cost a little money to to make money or get things done. And I think we're showing very aggressively how we're making it better and doing things in the areas. I mean, I'd have to study it, but when you look at utility projects as it relates to the face it and fix it projects where either repair, replacement, or, you know, or or complete revamping, um, I' I'd venture to say we're leveraging probably $2 of local enterprise money for every $10 of different outside funding that we get. Whenever you can build something that costs a hundred million dollars and you only have to use our taxpayer or rateayer in this case uh funding for for tw you know 20 um it's a pretty good deal and it's really the only way a local government can get ahead of the game because you can't rate your way out of this. I mean you just can't it it's too much. And this kind of relates to that to the extent of we could pay some of this these cash flow bills out of enterprise reserve. That's typically what we do. If you say, well, what would you do if you didn't have this? How are you doing it now? That's how we're doing it. But that's really not what the intention of the enterprise reserves are. And and and when you start co-mingling that, it gets even more complicated. So your point about segregating a separate um uh short-term payment you know fund and our account and handling the accounting for that and the banking and the reimbursement of the financing costs because a lot of these financing costs actually can be reimbursed even if we have interest payments for a 12-month period 18-month period um that can be absorbed in some of the grants depending on the grant language. Well I think you made a great point there. These are shortterm fixes. We're gonna try to get it done, fix it in 12 to 18 months, and then reimburse the the close out. I mean, what we do is when we close ou