Welcome to the regular meeting of the Cape Coral City Council. Today is December 3rd, 2025. This meeting now comes to order. Please stand for the invocation and pledge of allegiance by Council Member Long. >> Thank you, Mayor. Good evening. We come here tonight to celebrate the beauty of this city and the beauty of the people who live here. We celebrate the fact that we have a government in which we have a voice in which we can speak and make suggestions. We celebrate tonight a government in which we can elect our officials and are hurt. Please join me in the pledge. >> I pledge algiance 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. Madam city clerk, please call the role. >> Mayor Gunter >> here. >> Council members Donnell >> here. >> Kaduk >> here. >> Kil Rain >> here. >> Last here. >> Leman >> here. >> Long >> here. >> Stanky >> here. >> All present. >> Thank you. Just a reminder any residents wishing to speak during citizens input tonight. Uh just a reminder to fill out a comment card over on the table uh right before citizens input. City clerk will gather those cards and call you up by name. Just stay where you're seated until you hear your name called. Uh, next item on the agenda is uh changes to the agenda. Uh, do we have a uh any changes or I'll entertain a motion to adopt the agenda as presented. >> Motion to adopt as presented. >> No, I have a change. >> All right, Council Member Leman. >> Yeah, I'd like to pull 35422. When we get to the consent agenda, >> on the consent agenda, >> when we get to that, I'll be more than happy to come back to you so you can let me know that. >> That's fine. I just wanted to make sure you heard me. >> Yep. We're going to hear you twice. >> Thank you. >> Do you want me to read a motion? >> Yep. So, uh, >> a motion to accept that. >> Second. >> All right. Any other discussion? Seeing none, madam city clerk, please call the role. >> Donnell, >> I. >> Venttor, >> I. >> Kaduk, >> I. >> Kilra, >> I. Blastro >> I >> Leman >> I >> Long >> I >> Steini >> I >> eight eyes. Motion carried. >> Okay. Item seven is approval of the minutes. Do we have a motion regarding the minutes of the regular meeting of November 19th, 2025? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? >> Seeing none, all in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next item on the agenda is eight. Uh 8A is consent agenda. I will now uh open the consent agenda for any council members to pull any items uh for discussion. And for some reason, I think council member Lehman has an item she wants to pull. >> You got it. I want to pull 35422 for disc for further discussion. >> 35425. You mean >> 354? >> You're right. It is 25. Excuse me. I'm sorry. I wrote it wrong. >> That's okay. So, that's item number 11 uh on the consent agenda. >> Motion to accept remaining. >> Hold on a second. I got a few more lights lit up here. >> Uh, Council Member Stikey. >> Thank you. I'd like to pull uh item number 10 344-25. >> Okay. And uh, Council Member Kadoo, >> I'd like to pull item number seven, resolution 330-25, >> and item number 17, resolution 365-25. >> Which one? >> Uh, item seven, which was resolution 33025, and she said number 17, which is resolution 36525. >> Oh, the first one was >> all right. So, all right. Got everybody written down here correctly. We got uh Council Member Kaduk pulled item seven. Uh Council Member Stanky item 10. Council member Leman was item 11 and item 17 was council member Paduk. We have a total of 18 resolutions on the consent consent agenda. So we have one, two, three, four items that are being pulled. So I will entertain a motion for the remainder resolutions on the consent agenda. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> All right. Any other council discussion? >> Seeing none, madam city clerk, please call the role. >> Dell. >> Center. >> I. >> Haduk. >> I. >> Kilra. >> I. >> Last. >> I. >> Leman. >> I. >> Long. >> I. >> Stanky. >> I. >> Eight eyes. Motion carried. >> Okay. We have resolution 330-25. Council member Duke. uh uh kaduk for this particular uh item. So I'll turn the floor over to you now. >> Thank you, mayor. So I guess my question really comes from our e comments this evening. These items were clearly known prior to our fiscal year 26 budget approval. So why were they not in our proposed budget to begin with? >> Bill Corby public works. Uh so there's really two components uh to the budget. There's the design and the construction. So the construction will be included the increase in the construction will be included in fiscal year 27 budget which is forthcoming. Regarding the design uh the AM the asset management plan which we submit as part of the budget is due in January. We worked through the budget workshops with city council uh going through August. And our last budget workshop was August 5th of this past year, uh 2025. Uh moving on into September where it was introduced to council for final uh for hearing on 911. Final adoption 925. We received the final scope and fee from the engineers uh on September 9th. So having started that process in January, we didn't have the the extra information there. So um regarding those soft costs though, there are other soft costs which we have yielded savings on uh in North One West and so we are working you know that does offset you know from the bottom line. uh but it was not incorporated due to that timeline related to uh development of the asset management plan, introduction and workshopping with council and then of course the initial and final resolutions. >> Okay, thank you. >> Okay, I see no other lights on. I entertain a motion for resolution 330-25. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Any other council uh discussion? >> Seeing none, madam city clerk, please call the role. >> Donnell. >> Hi. >> Gent. I >> Kaduk >> I >> Kilra >> I >> Lastra >> I >> Leman >> I >> Long >> I >> Steini >> I >> eight eyes. Motion carried. >> Okay, we move on to resolution 344-25. I believe council member Stanky pulled that item. I'll turn the floor over to you, sir. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh the reason I pulled this uh uh has nothing to do with an objection to it, but in full support of it and uh wanted to make sure that uh it gets public recognition. Uh it's a it's a great example of uh the comm community coming together uh to contribute to the city um and uh and do things that we that we couldn't necessarily put into our budget. We've seen things like this cut before. Uh and so when when the citizens get together and form organizations uh to help contribute toward the beauty of our city, I think it uh deserves acknowledgement uh and uh and very happy for it. and also a plea uh for those that are in attendance or those watching at home. Uh for those uh that would like to help participate uh in uh in this uh tree trust uh you can contact Don Apping. Don Apping uh is actively involved and leads the group. Uh we have several that are uh residents uh not only here in Cape Coral but other places in the country uh that are involved. Uh so if you would like to uh be involved in it as well uh certainly reach out to Don Don Akang or you could you could uh reach out to me as well. So um uh that being said I would like to make a motion that uh 344-25 is approved. >> Second. >> Any other council discussion? >> Seeing none. Madam city clerk please call the role. >> Donnell I. >> Venttor >> I. >> Kaduk >> I. >> Kilra. >> Hi. Last >> I >> Leman >> I >> Long >> I >> Steini >> I >> eight eyes. Motion carried. >> Okay, we'll move on to resolution 354-25. Council member Leman, you pulled this item. I'll turn the floor over to you. >> Yes, I did. Thank you. Um I did because personally I think it's an a frivolous expenditure. I don't think we need flags and banners hanging down Cape Coral Parkway to be changed three and four times a year. Uh we're trying to cut the, you know, basically pull the belt in, not spend extravagantly. And I feel this is an extravagance we don't need to spend right now or in 26 with the UEP and with everything else going on. I think we need to pull back and I think this is a prime example of what can be pulled back. Thank you, Council Member Kadoo. >> Thank you, Mayor. This was also an item that we knew would be an expense. So, I don't know why we wouldn't include this in our budget and it's requiring a budget amendment. And also, why is it not funed through the CRA? I thought we spoke about this in the CRA. It's coming out of the general fund. Mr. City Manager, that sounds like a question. >> Yeah, it is. >> I I'm going to have assistant Moren Bice discuss >> Moren Vice assistant to the city manager. Um the CRA board elected to um change this program to a city council city program. Um then we had a committee of the whole discussion and the city council um in that discussion staff provided the the costs and the um recommendations. The city council elected um to follow staff's recommendation. This occurred after the budget budget was approved. So this occurred at a recent city uh account meeting. >> So why can't it be funded through the CRA? because the CRA board recommended to the city council that the city council that this program be a city program, not a CRA program, >> citywide. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Sure. >> Just one quick question for me. Um can can you advise what the CRA was expending uh on this uh program? I see here we got 214,000 uh that we've uh dedicated for this particular program. Did the CRA uh have any type of expenditure uh to operate this program? >> We can get exact numbers for you, but these costs haven't changed. By changing it from the CRA to the to the city, it hasn't changed the costs. It still requires multiple staff members. It still requires a lift a lift truck. So there's no change in the in the costs, individual costs to put it up or take it down, per se. >> So basically, because we transferred it basically from the CRA over to the city. We are pulling those funds from a different bucket basically instead of coming out of the CRA budget. Then it'll have to come out of uh I guess probably the general fund >> primarily. Yes. With the exception of um the cost for any new banners that may be needed. >> Okay. All right. Council member Lasker. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um Miss Fice, can you also just for the public uh reiterate in terms of what those banners will be hosting like? Um, will they be celebrating our city events? Will they be celebrating holidays? Could you give us a an idea? >> In accordance with the discussion that we had at the committee of the whole meeting, we included in your resolution um a schedule. If you look at the exhibits there, you'll see a schedule for the um the planned themes for each of those. There's there's holiday messaging. There's um uh veterans military appreciation type messaging. So, um that's included in the resolution. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Okay, I see no other lights on, so I entertain a motion uh regarding resolution uh 354-25. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Any other council discussion? Seeing none, madam city clerk, please call the role. >> Donnell, >> I. >> Gunter, >> I. >> Kaduk, >> I. >> Kilra, >> I. >> Last, >> I. >> Leman, >> no. >> Long. >> Hi, >> Stein. >> I. Seven eyes, one nay. Motion carried. >> Thank you. We'll move on to resolution 365-25. Uh Council Member Kaduk, you pulled this item. I'll turn the floor over to you. >> Oh, thank you, Mayor. So 365-25, while it doesn't require a budget amendment, I was wondering about staffing for the dredge and transport for the dredge and how that's being funded. If it's not a budget amendment, how are we paying for the additional staff? Um, are there projected costs? Just wondering what we're doing and if that's going to be a budget amendment later. Thank you. >> James Brafield, deputy public works uh director. All of the other components that you spoke of are in our existing capacity. So, we have personnel that will be assigned to this uh with their additional their normal duties and all equipment for uh function support transport and launching uh recovery of the vessels. >> We already have transport for the dredge. Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Just one quick question for me. Um, is this a replacement or will this be an additional uh piece of equipment? >> In the past, all of the dredge equipment was uh sold off. Uh, so this is now the initial piece of something coming back that's more for a small maintenance purpose than for wholesale dredging. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other uh discussion? Seeing no other lights on, I entertain a motion for resolution 365-25. >> Motion to approve. >> Madam city clerk, please call the role. >> Donnell, >> hi. >> Gunter, >> I. >> Kaduk, >> I. >> Kil Rain, >> I. >> Last >> I >> Leman, >> I >> Long >> I >> Steini >> I >> eight eyes. Motion carried. >> Okay, move on to item 8B, appointments to boards and committees. First of which is uh the grievance committee. Uh, we have one applicant um and I'm assuming one vacancy. Madam city clerk, >> your honor, with the grievance committee, every two years we put out advertising for as many applications as we can receive. It's an unlimited amount of vacancies. Um, this year we had um a response from Mr. Mark Mirthth. >> Okay. All right. So, we have one applicant that's applied. Uh, we got the one vacancy. Uh, do we want to hear from that individual? I think we all know exactly who that individual is. Uh, so I think, uh, council member Donell can put a face to a name. So, uh, with that, I'll entertain a motion. >> I have her. >> Go ahead, sir. >> Comment. Um, I, you know, with this motion, uh, I I think that, uh, it's a shame that we have to scrape the bottom of the barrel for someone of this caliber. No, all due respect, I think the marks are certainly has done a great job and has been a a strong contributor across the ways and I I strongly support his appointment. So, thank you. I'd make the motion for his appointment. >> Second. >> Any other discussion? Seeing none, we have a motion and second on the floor. Madam city clerk, please call the role. >> Darnell, >> I. >> Gunter, >> I. >> Kaduk, >> I. >> Kilra, >> I. >> Last, >> I >> Leman. >> Hi. >> Long. I >> thank you. >> I >> Eight eyes. Motion carries. >> Okay. The next uh item on the agenda, we had the charter school uh authority governing board. Uh we have four vacancies and I believe uh as of tonight we have four applicants. Uh we have two individuals that withdrew um and that is a Dwayne Moore and a Judith Thomas Fernandez. So that still leaves four other applicant and uh four positions. Is that correct, Madam City Clerk? >> Your honor, that is correct. Um >> I know there's some complexities that I was going to mention after this. >> The complexities are um we have basically uh a couple different openings. We have a business community opening. Uh unfortunately, the two applicants that withdrew kind of fit the criteria there. Uh so I would I would assume madam city clerk um we can uh revertise that position. >> Yes sir. >> All right. And then that leaves us two other um specific categories. One is the educational community which two of the individuals fall within that category and then uh community at large and of course the other two uh applicants uh fit that criteria as well. So my understanding uh we'll address the educational community first where we have two applicants. We'll have a discussion uh with the council and eventually a motion and then whoever the other individual uh that isn't picked in the educational community will automatically drop down and we will have three applicants uh for those positions. Correct. >> Community at large. Yes. >> Yep. >> Okay. Um All right. So, uh, why don't we start with the educational community specific category? There's two applicants. Uh, do you know if they're here tonight? >> They are both here. Yes. >> Okay. And we usually do one minute for each applicant to introduce themselves. Is, uh, the board okay with continuing with that process? >> Sure. >> Yes. >> All right. Madam, city clerk. >> Rendelin Amacher. Good evening, mayor and council members. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. My name is Rendelin Ammer. Um, I've met you before in this chamber. Um, I am a recently retired elementary school principal with 35 years of educational experience. I have my bachelor's degree in English, um a master's degree in English as well from Nova Southeastern University, and I'm currently a law student at Florida State University at the School of Law. I have um taught on every educational level, um the elementary level, kindergarten, third, and fifth grade. In middle school, I taught um language arts, sixth through 8th, high school, I taught English. Um, I've taught adult education in the ESOL program and I, um, have also been an adjunct professor at Broward College in Broward County. I have my professional certification. I have it in English, journalism, Esau. Oh, that's a whole minute. Y, >> thank you. I appreciate the um, opportunity to serve. >> Thank you, >> Sarah Keen. Good evening, council. My name is Sarah Keen. I currently hold the education seat on the charter school governing board. Um, this would be my opportunity to be appointed in my own right my previous the past year I have finished Mr. Peas's term. Um, I have a son who is in the first grade at Oasis Elementary North and I also have six years of classroom experience with both middle and high school math um, with Lee County School District. my time in the classroom, I feel, as well as now being a parent, has given me um valuable insight into what those students need from their teachers and what those teachers and staff members need to be successful and I just look forward to an opportunity to continue to serve the Cape Coral community and the Oasis community. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, they're the only two uh individuals for the educational uh community specifically, correct? >> Yes, sir. >> All right. So, uh I guess what we'll do is we'll go down our voting order and each council member can pick uh which particular item or I'm sorry, individual that they uh support for that position. Donell, >> Gunter, >> uh, Katine, >> Kaduk, >> Kil Rain, >> Katine, >> Lstra, >> Amir, >> Leman, >> Long, >> Katine, >> Stein, Kine. >> So that's three for Amiker and five for Kine. >> Okay. I'll entertain a motion to reflect that. >> Motion to approve as the vote came out. >> Second, >> which is Miss Kim. >> Cine. Yes. >> Okay. Any other discussion? Seeing none, madam city clerk, please call the role. >> Donnell. >> I. >> Gunter. >> I. >> Kaduk. >> I. Kil Rain. >> Hi, >> Lstra. >> Hi, >> Leman. >> Hi, >> Long >> Hi, >> Stein. >> I >> Eight eyes. Motion carried. >> Okay. And Miss uh Amaker, she'll go ahead and move down uh to the community at large. So, we'll have three applicants there. Uh we have two other individuals. Madam city clerk, would you like to call them up for their one minute uh introduction? >> Misha Atacelli. Hello, mayor, city council. I've got this one minute. Oh, that goes fast. Um, I my name is Misha Adiselli. I have had the absolute privilege of serving on the Oasis board since uh April 20th uh 2022. Uh, and since I was appointed to the board, I graduated um with my masters of social work. Uh, in my day-to-day um, job, I have the privilege of standing with families and youth who are impacted in our criminal justice system. Um, and I believe that that experience helps me to understand many the importance of school and how Oasis impacts this community. I I think that that having that experience and understanding is a perspective that I bring to the board and I I would be very honored if you continue to to consider me uh for an additional term. Thank you. Thank you, >> Christopher Jackson. >> Good evening, mayor and uh city council members. My name is Christopher Jackson. So, as the current chair of the board, I'd like to respectfully request your consideration for reappoint. Uh over my term, I've built and maintained a strong working relationship with our charter school staff and administration as well as with various city departments, uh directors and community partners. Uh I'm deeply committed to continuing the collaborative work that I've helped our schools thrive and remain focused on advancing initiatives that support academic excellence, student success, and community engagement. My goal is to help guide our charter schools toward continued growth as a high-erforming A-rated institution and I'd be honored to continue in serving in this capacity and to see these efforts through to completion. Again, I'd like uh thank you for your consideration uh and I'd be open to any questions that you may have. So, >> thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. All right, Madame City Clerk, it looks like we still have three positions open and it looks like uh three um applicants that are still left to choose from. Is that correct? >> Well, it's actually two in the community at large category. The other vacancy is under the business category. >> Okay. All right. And could you uh uh Mr. city attorney. Can you uh explain uh because I know uh if I recall correctly, this is recently changed. Uh or was that another board that was uh recently >> back there was recently changed. >> Um is the uh makeup of the board is that kind of set in stone? Uh is that a uh >> this one is >> this one is the other? >> Yeah, we changed the one for the youth council. >> We allowed a little bit of flexibility to address the >> Okay. >> All right. So, we basically have three applicants for two positions at the community at large. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, with that being said, um Madam City Clerk, if you could uh go down the uh the voting order again and and we'll pick two individuals. >> Donnell, >> Jackson, >> Jackson, >> and Jackson. Gunter >> ch children >> Gunter. >> Uh my two picks will be for reappointment for both individuals Jackson and Estelli. Kaduk >> Estelli and Jackson >> Kra >> reappoints for uh at the cell and Jackson >> last >> Estelli and Jackson >> whatever >> whatever >> Leman >> and Jackson >> Long >> ate and Jackson >> Steini >> ate and Jackson. >> Okay, that's eight for Adiselli and eight for Jackson. >> I'll entertain a motion to reflect that. >> Motion to reflect that and Jackson to be the accepted members. >> Second. >> Appointed members. >> Second. >> Any other discussion? Seeing none, madam city clerk, please call the role. >> Donnell. >> I. >> Gunter. >> I. >> Kaduk. >> I. >> Kilra. >> I. >> Last. >> I. Leman, >> I >> wrong. >> Hi, >> Steini. >> I >> Eight eyes. Motion carried. >> Thank you, Miss A. Maker. I think you're an excellent uh candidate and I wish we had a position for you. Um but please keep us in mind for the future because of your credentials. I think you can sit on this board very easily. Thank you for applying. All right, let's move on to uh the next item on the agenda. um which is the ratification of the chair and vice chair of the community redevelopment agency. Uh back on a November 12th uh of this year, the CRA uh approved uh Commissioner Lra as the chair and Commissioner Kil Kilra as the vice chair. So as a result of that, that has to come before city council to be ratified. Uh Mr. uh city attorney. Can we do that under one motion or do we have to do each uh the chair and the vice chair? >> Do you can do it under one motion just a ratification? >> Okay, >> one motion sufficient. >> All right. So, I will open up uh for a motion or any discussion. I'll make the motion uh to appoint uh the chair and vice chair as um Lastra and um Kra >> and it's just a ratification of the action taken by the CA CRA board regarding Commissioner Lasser as the chair and Commissioner Kra as the vice chair for the CRA board for the period of the year 2026. >> That's what I said, Mr. Johnson. I'll second that. >> I'll second it. >> All right, we got a motion, a second. Uh, so with that being said, madam city clerk, please call the role. >> Dell, >> I. >> Gunter, >> I. >> Kaduk, >> I. >> Kill Rain, >> I. >> Last, >> I. >> Leman, >> I. >> Long, >> I, >> Steini, >> I. >> Eight eyes. Motion carried. >> Okay. 8C is unfinished business. C1 is follow-up items for council. There's none listed. Follow-up items for city management. None listed. Uh D is new business. There is none listed. Item nine is ordinances and resolutions. Uh item 9A is quasi judicial hearings. We do not have any listed tonight. 9B are legislative public hearings. Uh first of which is ordinance uh 62-25. Madam city clerk, please read. Ordinance 62-25, an ordinance of the mayor and city council of the city of Cape Coral, Florida, approving the first amendment to interlocal agreement between the city of Cape Coral, a Florida municipal corporation, and Lee County, a political subdivision of the state of Florida, to add fire station 13 as an authorized fire station to house Lee County Emergency Vehicles and Personnel, authorizing the mayor to execute the first amendment to interlocal agreement, providing an effective Okay, thank you. I'll uh have staff uh go ahead and make a presentation. So, good evening, Chief. >> Good evening. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Mike Russell, fire chief. For your consideration tonight, we have an amendment to our existing agreement with Lee County EMS. This would provide for a transportation unit uh and Lee County provides all of our transportation services um in our fire station. So, this would add an additional uh to station 13. This is very important for the operational considerations of the city as station 13 is located near the area of Delpra and Pine Island Road, one of our busier corridors. So, this would add an ambulance at station 13. Uh, we maintain a great relationship with EMS both administratively and operationally, and we would ask for your approval of this amendment tonight. >> Okay. Thank you. I now open up public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on ordinance 62-25, please come forward. Seeing none, public hearing is now closed. Is there a motion regarding ordinance 62-25? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> All right. Uh just one quick thing I wanted to add to Chief uh Russell's comments. About three years ago, uh I'm guessing about three years ago, uh myself and uh Chief Lamb at the time met with the county uh manager uh as the uh city manager at that time was with us. One of the things I was advocating for was to get additional EMS units uh to the city of Cape Coral. Um at that time we only had five uh that was assigned to uh the city of Cape Coral. Uh Chief, correct me if I'm wrong. I believe this will make number 11. Is that correct? >> That's correct, sir. >> So, we've made great strides since then. One of the one of the agreements uh that we had with uh the county was we would allow them to be housed in our in our uh fire departments. And I think uh as you can see to go from 5 to 11 in such a short period of time to me that was a no-brainer uh because we have over double the coverage today than we did three years ago. So, and that's a testament to uh Chief Lamb, Chief Russell, uh the two city managers uh getting together and uh trying to make sure that uh you know, EMS, which is about 75 80% of our calls here uh in uh Cape Coral. We want to make sure that uh we had the proper coverage, not to mention uh the rescue units that we've also implemented and put in place. So, great job. Uh I would definitely support this. Uh see no other lights on. We have a motion and second on the floor. Madam city clerk, please call the role. >> Donnell, >> I. >> Venttor, >> I. >> Kaduk, >> I. >> Kilra, >> I. >> Last >> I. >> Leman. >> I. >> Long. >> I. >> Stanky. >> I. >> Eight eyes. Motion carried. >> Okay, let's move on to uh ordinance 64-25. Madam city clerk, please read the title. Ordinance 64-25, an ordinance of the mayor and city council of the city of Cape Coral, Florida, amending the city of Cape Coral, Florida Code of Ordinances, Chapter 29, Economic Development and Business Incentive Programs, Article One, General Provisions, Sections 29-2, 29-3, 29-4 Regarding the Goals and General Program requirements and guidelines for the economic and business development incentives amending chapter Chapter 29, Economic Development and Business Incentive Programs, Article 2, Incentives, Sections 29-7, 29-8, 29-9, and 29-10, regarding modifications to certain economic incentive programs providing for codification and resolution of conflicting laws, providing for severability, and an effective date. >> Okay, I'll turn it over to staff. >> Good afternoon, mayor, council members. Sharon Woodbury, economic development manager. I'm here today to discuss or before you is the proposed amendments to the chapter 29 economic development incentive programs. Uh these um changes were presented to uh you during the October 15th committee of the whole meeting. Um I have the presentation here if you'd like to review it again. Um otherwise I can stand by for any questions. Okay. Um, everyone uh recall the uh presentation that we just had and the backup material is okay. >> Sure. All right. >> Yep. >> All right. I will open up public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on ordinance 64-25, please come forward. >> Seeing none, public uh hearing is now closed and I'll entertain a motion regarding ordinance 64-25. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Is there any other council discussion? Seeing none, madam city clerk, please call the role. >> Donnell, >> I. >> Gunter, >> I. >> Duke, >> I. >> Kilra, >> I. >> Last >> I. >> Leman. >> I. >> Long. >> I. >> Steini. >> I. >> Eight eyes. Motion carry. >> Hey, just a reminder, if you want to speak for citizens input, you haven't filled out a card. City clerk is over there collecting the cards now. Please make sure you get one to her. Uh item uh 10 is citizens input time which is a maximum 60 minutes set on the input of citizens on matters concerning city government. Three minutes per individual. Please remember to state your name for the record. Please remain seated until your name is called by the city clerk and then you'll come forward. Use the podium to my left, your right. Madam city clerk >> Donald Hazlet. I'd like to feel like this isn't a waste of my time. I mean, you know, corruption is very horrible. To be dragged out of my driveway at gunpoint by police officers and not a single soul actually give it. >> Sir, you can't use curse words. >> As much as I've been to respected, I really do not need you to tell me what I can and can't do. having a first amendment right to speak how I choose and I'm being very polite >> and consider considering the things that I have been through and no one has nothing to say. You guys just think I'm going to go away. You think this problem is going to disappear? It's not. Far from it. You know, I don't need the whole three minutes if y'all ain't got nothing to say. That's clearly a waste of my time, but I would think that it would be a consideration of yours not to be a waste of your time. What about the citizens of this city? I happen to be one of them. And I don't really care for cowards, right, Michael? I am so tired. I'm very been abused by this system and then to drag me across the river and through that court system. It It's disappointing. When does any of you guys stand up for us? We are the people, aren't we? Isn't every dime that you're spending ours? I mean, you rubber stamp things like it doesn't matter. You know, I've been here 14 years. I've watched it grow. I used to enjoy the peace and quiet and the people and everything. But thanks to a chosen few, I can no longer do that. And it isn't my fault. I'm an innocent man that's been abused. There's no other word I can use. Human rights violations for God's sakes. And none of you all care. You come at me like I've done something wrong to any one of you. And I haven't. In fact, I don't know any of you. You know, Jennifer, when I gave you my number, I was hoping that you would have called back. I really was. I was hoping that somebody would care, but obviously no one does. And mayor, that is your fault because these are your employees. You're responsible for the whole shooting match. Everything from the top to the bottom. And when citizens are standing in front of you begging for help, it's not between me and the police department, sir. It's between you and your police department. I'm a victim and I damn sure do not deserve to have one more ounce of being victimized by anyone. >> Thank you. You three minutes is up. >> Thank you, sir. >> We're having a little trouble with our timer. We have a backup one that we're going to put on on the microphone. All right. >> Adam Gorman and Lane Jones. Good afternoon. I am Adam Garmin. This one comes a little bit after his and I just wanted to say thank you for everything you guys are doing for us. This city is beautiful. Getting back on its feet after a hurricane. Uh Darnell, about 10 years ago, I emailed you with a problem, Northgate Portal, and you came through within a day. So, uh that's it. I just wanted to say thank you and and great job everybody's doing. >> Thank you, >> Lane Jones and Kyle Laamadu. Hello, Lane Jones. I live on 36 Terrace and I'm here to address the idea of a flag pole 250 ft tall to celebrate our country's some patriotic um thing. Anyway, Mr. Iljitson is seems to want this so badly. Why don't we put that in his backyard? I think he could probably get some expedited permitting. He seems to think that that this is the cost of the puppy is the price of the whole thing. We're going to run this up and we're going to take public donations presumably from contractors and anyone else who wants to just grease some skids with a little bit of money going to a very public um effort. We're not supposed to say the word flag and stupid in the same sentence. I heard someone say that. But we can say decision and stupid in the same sentence. And we can say not being good shepherds of the public purse as a sentence which is your primary job. This is a nice to have not a need to have and it does not have anything to do with the patriotism of anyone in this community. What it has to do is the proflegate waste of taxpayer money. Again, y'all haven't learned your lessons. You're back at it. enough already. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Kyle Lamadoo, uh, District 7. Um, on the UEP, I have a question. If the UEP is we're all in my district, I think we're east or west or whatever it is and we're all paying into this. What happens if there are excess funds left over? What happens to those funds? And then what happens if there's not enough funds to pay for everything? Where does the gap in money come from? That's something I'd like to know. Um I'd also like to know if there is some type of spreadsheet that was used to do all the addresses and figure out all the charges. I'd appreciate an answer to that. Um, I'll also quickly touch on the flag pole. Again, I think it's a waste of money. Everybody, I'm assuming knows I even donated to it because I stated I would that if it's worth 100% donations, what's going to happen if the donations do not come through? What's going to happen to the people who donated? I'm curious. They're going to get their money back or are you guys going to find some other funding or are we all just going to get taxed to make it happen? Um, yacht club seems to again just be a way of money. Um, the project again keeps on ballooning out of control. Um, and I also believe that someone asked here in June if FFN was included and they were advised yes on public record and then we were told FFN is not included I believe last month on public record. So, some clarification on whether it is or is not included would be nice. And if it is included, great. If it's not, we deserve an answer to why we were told it was included. So, that's something else. Um, and then, um, you know, that's obviously, Mr. Mason, your pants are on fire. Um, and then you asked about 15% increase in spending and you said you were going to send an email and I'm just curious if I got a response to it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Christopher Jackson and Julia Atari. >> Good evening again, Mayor and Council. Um, I'm going to read my statement because, uh, I can typically write better than I speak. So, um, I just wanted to take a moment and acknowledge something that I feel is important. Um, so I fully understand that uh many of the decisions that council uh has to make are very difficult decisions and that no choice will ever please everyone. But I hope you also understand that there are constituents who see value and appreciate the work that you're doing. Uh I for one believe in investing in beautiful parks, well-maintained streets, and cutting edge yacht club that can bring new energy, tourism, and revenue into our cities. I believe in turning blight into beauty and creating a community we can all be proud of. So while some of the naysayers may be the loudest voices in the room, that does not mean that they are a majority. Many of us support the progress, the vision, and the commitments you bring to this city, even if we aren't always the ones here at this microphone. Um so with that being said, thank you for your service and your continued uh commitment to move our city forward. Again, I know that the decisions you always make are difficult ones and they won't please everybody, but don't think that the naysayers uh that come to the meetings or on the committees are uh sometimes the naysayers are the loudest, but that doesn't mean that they're majority. So, thank you for your commitment and all that you do for us. So, it's appreciated. >> Thank you. >> Good evening, Julia Tari. Take out the trash can. Call a naysayer. Anyhow, um let's put the flag pole to rest. Um everybody is fighting over the flag pole. Did we vote on moving this as a city project? I would like an answer to that tonight. Um there was no public input. There was no city meetings. Nothing held to take this on as a city project. So how did this become a city project? We have signs all over the city with barcodes saying donate to the flag. Who's paying for that? How much money is coming out of the city budget for this? You're using city workers. You're using paper. You're using util everything that you're using to promote this. I heard on the radio we have joined with the city of Cape Coral to put up the largest flag. Well, I'm part of the city of Cape Coral and I don't remember joining this club. So, I'd like to know what steps you took to make this a legal action legally to say this is a city project because I don't I come to every meeting and I didn't see any of that happen. It was a a dream of the city manager and it just went viral and crazy. But it was never approached to the city. If you can raise that much money for a flag, I think you could help the people that have no water, there's a reason why there's so many houses for sale here. They can't afford to stay. The electric, the water, everything, right down to the grocery stores. It's too much. You're spending too much. We say it all the time. But you have to follow legal channels. And I don't think just saying we're going to put up a flag pole and we're going to get donations and where's the bank account? Where's the money going? How much money have you spent on the advertising? Who's paying for that? Those are questions you have to answer. And I don't want to hear, "Oh, I have to think about it or I'll get back to you because the person that put this forward is sitting in this room." Thank you, >> Dave Callish and Dan Shepard. >> Santa's outside. So, um, Dan Shepard aka Chris Cringle. >> Hello everyone. I'm here to wish everyone a merry Christmas along with the citizens of Cape Quarl. And I have a holiday message. As we all go home and celebrate Christ's birth, um you know, remember that uh God gave us a a great gift. It's called love. So, as we're starting the new year together, let's all add some salt and light to the community. as you each of us if we all add salt and light to the community just think of what it can do. So thank you again. Have a merry Christmas and a happy new year. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Dave Kalish had to bring my sweatshirt. It was too cold the other last week or whenever. Anyway, like she said, I'm Dave Kish. Um, I'm here and no offense, but people are saying that the naysayers aren't the majority of the city. Okay? They really shouldn't be making an opinion like that. I don't make an opinion about them, okay? Everybody's entitled to feel the way they want, but it's not something that needs to go on record or you can make up whatever you want and that's what's going on. And I take offense to that. Um, okay. Just give me a second. I was kind of uh the members of the Cape Cold Charter Review Commission. Okay. They're elected by the council and the mayor from what I understand. Okay. They are going to put something out to the people as to you need you guys need to get raises because it's a full-time job. I need to understand and I make sure that the people in the city know this too. How can you guys all have a full-time job and call this a full-time job? You got to be kidding me. You can't do both. I've never seen anybody do both. So, I take offense to that. I take offense to a lot of things. You guys know that by now. Okay. You're having that meeting on the golf course. That's Thursday, I believe, at 5:30. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to make that. I really wish I could, but I'll see if I can get someone to go there so we could at least find out what's going on because everything is I mean some people gave you guys compliments and you're all not bad. Okay. But for the most part, what you guys do is it's very very very discouraging. If I could afford it, I leave the city yesterday. And thank you. Thank you. >> That's all for the comment cards. Okay, I'll open up for any uh council's uh comments regarding public input. Council member Ler. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um I just wanted to address and I'm sad Mr. Hazellet left, but I I just wanted to clarify something. I know he called me out and said that he gave me his number and he thought I would call him. And it's not that I I don't want to help. I'll help anybody that asks me for help if it's within my power. And sadly, in Mr. Hazelit's case, as Mr. city manager pointed out a month or so ago, um it's it's way above our pay grade. There isn't anything that we in this building or this council can do to help him. What I was going to suggest to him uh was to reach out to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and file his complaint of corruption uh within our police department. um they are the state uh body that handles that type of complaint and I'm going to highly recommend that he do that in the future or soon so that he can get uh clarity on on his case. Um let's see. Mr. Lamadoo, thank you for coming as always. Um UEP, I'm going to I'll probably let Council Member Kurduk handle those um answers, but I and about the leftover funds. Um, if not, we can we can get you an email and get that information to you. Um, and then again with the with the equipment and the fixtures that was brought up a few weeks ago. Um, I don't I don't have any information on that, so maybe Council Member Kaduk does. Um, let's talk flag. Miss Atari and Miss Jones, thank you for coming. um the flag. I guess I look at it kind of like with youth council, like what I'm trying to do with youth council, which is trying to raise money to bring these kids to Washington DC so that it doesn't affect our taxpayer dollars. I know that our communications department spends their time and does advertise events that we have or have had um and I don't know what the cost is, but I can certainly find that out. Um and uh you know, I think Mr. city manager pointed out very clearly that this would come from donations. So, it wouldn't affect those of us, the taxpayers. But there are valid points. What's the upkeep going to be? Who's going to be responsible for that? How much is that going to cost? What's that going to entail? I don't have those answers yet, but I'll try to get them and I'm sure as time goes on, Mr. City Manager will probably elaborate on that as well. Um, but we can certainly look into that. Um, Mr. Kaish, I hope you do come to the old golf course meeting um on Thursday. I'm I'm it's going to be right here and I'm super excited for it. Um I know there's a lot of concerns with a lot of the projects that we have going on at the same time um in terms of taxpayer money and and where are the funding sources coming from. So those will be questions that I know we can ask in our upcoming budget first budget uh meeting that we're going to have after the first of the year. So, that'll be on my list of questions to ask. Um, but uh we will we will be here on Thursday. So, I'm glad that you're coming. Um, and lastly, Mr. Foreman and, uh, Mr. Jackson, can you say that louder for the people in the back? I'm just kidding. It's so nice to hear that and we appreciate it. But, as many residents point out, you take the good with the bad. 50% will support, 50% won't. And you know, that's that's a tough decision for all of us up here because you can't make everyone happy all the time. Um, but you know, I don't think there's anyone up here who isn't committed to this city. Uh, we're all taxpayers, too. And I think that people forget that. So, increasing taxes and fees is not definitely something we all want to do to ourselves. And of course, we're elected by you. So, I appreciate your comments. I appreciate all the comments. And, uh, merry Christmas. Thank you, >> Council Member Stanky. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh, yeah, and I think I don't know, um, Mr. City Manager, if we do have someone in the audience right now that would have a quick answer to what happens to excess funds from UEP. Um I I it's a very very calculated or very very complicated calculation I know from the start to the finish and I believe it's recalculated um uh because of changing interest rates and and all the rest of things. Um but if there's if there's a quick answer that could be done to say hey at the very end when it's all over with and the money's collected and we know what the expense was um what happens to too much money or a deficit in money? gets returned and we've we have done uh we do a reconciliation at the time of the project being complete. So in a couple years when all the costs are finalized and the last check is made there'll be a reconciliation. That's the first point. And then for all of those people that are in the payment plan at the end of the term if there's a balance that gets returned. So there's there's two points. So for anybody that prepaid upfront, there's a reconciliation at the time of uh last bill out the door. And if there's if if what was assumed is not what was needed, they'll get a rebate refund. And then for anybody that stayed in the payment plan, at the end of that term, 20, 30 years later, there's another reconciliation of what was due from all the bills. And if there's funds left over, it gets returned. >> Okay. I I need to say nothing else. He did. >> Okay. All right. >> And and you need to I mean need to look no further than do a Google search and you can see over the last 5 10 years for assessments that were in the 80s 90s to early 2000s we issue refunds. >> Okay. Great. Thank you. Um as it relates um to comments about uh how can you do two full-time jobs? Uh I I would guess that there's people in this audience through their lifetimes have held two and three jobs. I have um raising three kids. There were times when I had three jobs, day job, night job, and a weekend job. I moved furniture because I needed the money to raise my kids. So um uh this uh this position does require that kind of time. It's not on it's not on a nine-to-five basis. Uh it's not on a third shift basis. It's a basically anytime you can do it. There's 168 hours in a week. Uh you figure two full-time jobs takes up 80 hours of that. Uh there's 88 hours left. Uh so uh it can be done and it and it is being done uh by those that carry full-time jobs and uh and the job required to be uh on council. Um and as it relates to the flag, um that uh I thought that was a great idea. Although from a different seat uh up here, I said um I would only be in favor if it was publicly funded. Um for those that don't remember um that actually is a part of uh the um Cape Coral Parkway um six laning expansion and the bridge expansion from Lee uh County or from Fort Meyers to here because our monument has to be moved. Uh in that effort, the monument had to be moved and during a cow, we talked about where would we want to put that? Do we want to keep it? Do we want to eliminate it? What do we want to do? And the uh the thought of of having the flag that's been proposed was a part of the movement of that monument from where it currently um sits uh to a new, if you will, park area where it could be more publicly viewed. and the idea of placing the flag there uh to commemorate us being uh Purple Heart City in honor of all of our veterans uh and and yes to draw attention to our beautiful city. Um that's where that came up. Uh and uh and so I am still in favor of it as long as it is publicly funded. Um, and I think that and I think that during that cow, uh, this this council showed support for that being done as long as as long as it was publicly funded. And the efforts that are being put in place right now to raise funds are from people that want to contribute and are like-minded uh, in that regard to be able to do that without without taxpayer dollars. Um, and that's it for me. >> Council member Leeman. >> Yeah. Um, Mr. Mr. City Manager, with regards to the flag pole, how much money has have has been collected yet by donations? I I've heard numbers like 35,000 thrown around, yet the cost of the flag is 500,000. Can you shed some light on this, please? God bless America. Let me let me start off with this. I served this country as as well as many others to give people the freedom to speak for and against anything they want in this great nation. And so I applaud everybody that has either donated or has concerns about the flag pole. We live in America. We have the right to speak and people are exercising that right. That's the whole purpose of this flag project. 250 years. Next July 4th, we're seeking to try and raise funds for a 250 foot flag pole to honor our country and everyone who served in the military for it. All the ideals and freedoms that it represents. >> Let me start with that. >> Please keep your comments. >> When right we are we are taking checks at the counter in the cashier's office. We also have a website that allows people to donate for free and we are also every other week I go on 92.5 who has agreed to partner with the city and provide the air time to make this happen. They're in full support of it. So there are numerous places that donations are in. The last time I checked across all of those we're over 60,000 publicly. what people can see is that is 30 at 30 something because that's on the uh the I think it's give butter site but we have other people that have pledged and are writing checks and then as those come in occasionally when staff has time they will try to enter in the checks they will try to enter in the people's names into the give butter site so at least they can get some recognition I the 500,000 I explained this in a previous council meeting, we have gotten unofficial quotes in the 380 to $400,000 range. We put 500 up because we didn't know if we were going to get contractors to donate inind services. We have already had several contractors. There was one in the audience the night that I discussed this who said he would donate to PA prominade. Uh my understanding from the project managers, we have somebody who has agreed to donate the electric work and some lighting. So um we are focusing all of our efforts all the way through till next July 4th to have the flag pole. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Question. No. Um if Okay. if the total cost and I understand we have a lot of people that are willing to donate their work, the electrical work, the concrete pads and whatnot, but the actual flag pole and the flags uh that are going to be used uh if the if enough money is not collected in donations, does that there's then the flag pole going to become a city purchase order in which case then it's getting paid the difference is getting paid for by the city. I'm not prepared to get ahead of our community and pre- assume what or assume what is going to happen at at some point down the road. If we do not raise enough based on the actual cost of the flag pole, then uh we'll have to make a determination what to do with those donations. >> So, it's not going to be a city purchase order to ultimately purchase the flag pole and the flags. >> City council made that very clear to me several months ago. >> Okay. Thank you, Council Member Kaduk. >> Thank you, Mayor. Regarding the UEP questions, I believe the resident was asking, "What happens after it's teed up if we didn't have enough funds, >> meaning >> I fire all my financing staff. >> We've refunded." >> Just kidding. Just kidding. >> We've refunded people charged more. So, is there um a methodology why we already have enough money and that's why people are being refunded? >> Yeah. What? So they they put as I believe um the resident asked, do we have spreadsheets? Yes, we know to the square foot exactly how many square feet each property is. We have the bids from the projects. We know exactly uh the cost allocations to what's transportation, what's storm water, what's assessment, what's uh capital facility expansion charge. We've been doing these assessments for 30 years and so it has not happened in my 24 years that uh we have run short. Um but I suppose that could happen but I I have full confidence in my all of my finance staff that that is not going to happen. >> So like myself, I received a bill. I pay it by March 31st if I prepay. I'm not going to get a bill later saying, >> "Oh, you owe even more." No, you what you were you're going to bill if you prepay the bill when we reconcile all those um based on where the actual expense came in >> final then you would actually get a refund at that time from what the what was collected >> and I guess just to get more in the weeds of that for all the people that are prepaying now that's giving finance the direction of what they need to bond out. So the more people that in in the past we actually offered prepayment discounts because the more cash we got in up front allowed us to debt fund less. Uh we don't offer that anymore but that was one mechanism in >> but we uh yeah so we that's the reason that we close the prepayment period before we do that >> so that we know >> roughly where what we need to definitely be. And I think it's important to note that the governor had a press conference today where he actually mentioned specifically Cape Coral and grants that could be coming. So hopefully we will secure some of those. Um on the UEP as well, I'm assuming it's a property appraisers website that are you're downloading all the data so that you know the size of the lots. If if you recall when we during the assessment hearing uh and you and you looked at the amount there was a payment made to the property appraiser we actually purchase data from them for every for the specific assessment itself. >> Yep. >> So we get the everything about that and we do the same thing for our other assessments like the fire service assessment. We get the detailed building information, all the all the building extra features uh on all of our assessments. We have agreements with the property appraisers office to obtain the data we need to administer the assessment. >> Awesome. Thank you. And regarding the email I sent to staff on the spending over 15% to answer your question, staff did respond to me on one of my emails. I sent a follow-up email and I haven't received that answer back, but when I do, I'll be sure to forward it to you so you can see what I asked and what they responded with. Um, to Mr. Sheepard, merry Christmas. And Mr. Kish, I know that you mentioned, "Is this a full-time job?" It is. If you want to care and you want to put into it, in fact, I implore anyone watching to go look at our very last council meeting, not tonight, but last time, and add up how much money we approved to spend. If you don't think that's a full-time job, that's concerning because we spent hundreds of millions of dollars. And all of us up here have flexible jobs. In fact, I think I asked Council Member Donnell one time, how is he doing this? Because his full-time job isn't necessarily like hours where they're flexed hours. And he said he doesn't get paid on Wednesdays so that he could serve up here. So, I do believe this to be a full-time job as well being a full-time mother and wife and working at the bank full-time. But again, I have a flexible schedule at the bank. If I were a teller at the bank, there's no way I'd be able to do this. There's it it would be out of the question. So, yeah, when you're looking at should we be paid more and if it's full-time or not full-time, our city is huge. It is what the people want. Do you want full-time representation or not? And when people get mad at us for not responding to phone calls or emails, I remind them that I work full-time and that this is my part-time job. That's all. Thank you. >> Yeah, just uh one thing I just wanted uh Go ahead. Uh >> yeah, just just one one thing added. UE uh city manager, we have a 5% contingency on all the the projects, too. So, I mean that that's right in there. So, if that's not exercised and utilized, that's part of the rebate that comes back. So, and you have not utilized all the all the 5% overages that we have built into those in the past because you did an accounting on that. I've seen the accounting and that accounting shows that there was leftover funds available. So, so that that's a key point. Uh, the other thing not not recognition of citizens input, but I think that Chief Russell missed the memo on the beards or is it the Scott Airact impact that you don't have the the beard just the mustache and city attorney was actually commenting on he probably wants to talk to you later. Thank you, Mayor. >> Thank you. Uh the only thing I wanted to uh point out, Miss Jones, that you came to the podium speaking uh against the flag and you said that we as a council should shepherd their purse and be good stewards of taxpayers money. And I think we've already done that because we've already directed the city manager not to use any type of general fund or any funding from the city that it could only be through donations. So, we've already answered the question that that you uh stated up there at the podium. So, I think we've already been good stewards of the tax dollars when we directed the city manager that we wouldn't pay for the flag, but we would support him in trying to get public donations. >> So, that's all I have to say regarding the citizens input. >> Please, you've already had your opportunity to speak, ma'am. >> Yeah, you had three minutes, but are you going to answer my question? >> So, we'll get staff to get with you. So, uh, we will move on to the, uh, next item on the agenda is reports. Uh, and the first report is Council Member Kelling. >> Uh, yeah. Uh, let me just get this real quick. Since our last meeting, uh, November 20th, Southwest Florida, uh, bigger cities, uh, talked about the communicating or ad the advorum challenge if the advalorum tax bases change and how best to communicate that with residents. I think it was a very productive meeting. Mayor chair that meeting for that group and uh I think it's it's instrumental upon all of us to understand. >> Please hold on a second. Uh Mr. Atari, if you want to speak, you're going to have to go outside. You're being disruptive. We're trying to hear the council member speak. If you want to videotape, you can go out in the hallway and do all the videotaping you want. Okay. I apologize, Mr. No problem. And uh basically, I think it was very informative. >> Hold on again. Mr. Atari, it's the last time I'm going to tell you. >> Go ahead, sir. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Um, and basically, I think it's important upon all of us to understand what that adorum impact's going to be as soon as it's cleared out. I understand they they progressed three or four bills today to the next level and cut back and only three I think at this point in time. So, they may have left a couple in the rears. among those was uh the homestead reduction bill. So that that may be part of it. Um on November 21st participating horizon council where the various uh committee reports for the year. U November 24th uh went to fire and ice at Abashon well attended and uh hats off to uh council member Stanky cheered and was MC at that night and it was very successful event from what I understand. So and they continue to outpace their uh fundraising on that. So fantastic and thank you sir for doing that. Um on the 25th uh took a tour with city manager on JC Festival and Tropicana Park. Uh and the progress uh that that I saw in those parks is unbelievable. Uh went out on the boardwalk at JC Park and that view is fantastic. It's going to be the best view that we have of the river and and the mouth of the river from from the whole city. You can see both bridges from there. Um that night went to the Republican uh club where Byron Donald's was there speaking. Uh tremendous meeting, 270 people attended. Uh a great uh turnout for that event and uh I think that man's on his way to do some great things. Um November 28th participating tree. November 29th snuck in saw a little bit of the dr the drone show. And that's that's a tremendous event. It's really starting to pick up attendance. Um, last night went to Kwanis uh and uh also met with CCCIA talking a little bit about uh some of their incentives that they they like to have done yesterday and I'll be in Orlando the fourth and the fifth. Thank you, Mayor. >> Thank you, uh, Council Member Lra. >> Thank you, Mayor. I, too, attended the tree lighting um last week. It was beautiful. Great job to parks and reccks um and staff. Um the I want to bring up two things. Uh the first thing I would like to bring up is I had committed back in June when we changed citizens input time uh to the end of our meetings that I would analyze numbers and I think you all got the numbers. Um I believe you all got this spreadsheet um that I had asked to be sent around. Um, and looking at the numbers, we're basically 85 when we had uh, citizens input in the beginning of the meetings versus 70. Um, and I committed to bring this up and I just kind of wanted to get, I guess, mayor maybe a feel by a thumbs up, thumbs down if there's any appetite from this council to look at revisiting this at a future cow next year. Um, and if there is no appetite to do that, uh, then I will commit to looking at the numbers again from January to June. >> Um, so do you how do how do you want do you want just to ask people thumbs up, thumbs down, or what do you think, mayor? >> Yeah, we'll go throughout. Council member Kaduk has her light on. Anybody wants to >> go ahead. Oh. Uh, my question would be how many people were speaking specifically on the consent agenda because I believe we got that data and it was zero. >> Zero because I can't. >> So, with that, I'm a thumbs down. I'm not interested in changing it or looking at it. >> Okay, fair enough. >> Any other council member uh interested in in having >> Yeah, just let me know if you want to bring this. Yeah. No, the only comment I would make is that I think that basically I looked at the same data and I think it's very topic oriented uh and and certainly was earlier on. Very topic oriented. So it depends on what the topic is and I'm thumbs down. >> Okay. >> Anybody in favor? Council member Lena. >> Yeah. Um actually I would agree with Councilwoman Ler, if I'm understanding you correctly, you want to see it move back to where it was? I mean, I would like to try see if there's an appetite up here to at least have that discussion in a future cow, but I don't want to just bring it to a cow if there's no consensus to even look at changing it. And so far, we have two nays. >> Um, I would be a thumbs up to have that discussion. >> Okay. >> Because I think it needs to be moved back. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else want to comment on that? The only thing I'll say I looked at the data as well and if you back out the numbers where there's a specific topic the numbers are almost identical then >> correct >> so what I did was I took the numbers and in several of those meetings there may be something with the UE or a hot top at JC Park you back those numbers out uh of the equation and then look at look at it at that perspective we're almost the same so I don't see a big detriment or advantage Okay. >> Uh either way for me. So >> exactly what I did >> that that's where my position on it is. >> Uh council member Donna. >> Yeah. I appreciate the effort because you did what you said you would do. And I think moving forward one of the things that you all have already articulated. One of the things we we talked about was the timing. And I think as we move forward to see what time that was a big thing that we can't get here be later, but I'll be interested in another column about when we started citizens input when we went to four o'clock. And that was I was looking for. So again, that data is you you know what you seek is what you find. But I think that would be integral for us to know that now that we starting at 4 if we have public input because there were some nights we would start like tonight it started like 420. Okay. >> Whether we was before they wouldn't get to 5:30. >> Okay. I can look at that. >> But I'm a thumbs down to change it based on that. >> Okay. Fair enough. I can I can add that for the next six months. >> Council member Sty. >> Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, I I would be a thumbs down to changing. I think it's it's still being effective on topic based discussions and uh but what I would encourage is you know when this is a business meeting where we come together to codify things and and where we make you know final decisions and the emphasis is on the final decisions. um all the research that's being done and the input that's gathered and whatnot happens typically well before this evening and so the so the opportunity for input prior to this meeting I think are the ones that need to be taken advantage of. I'm surprised that there wasn't more um citizens input at committee the whole where that's it's more of the discussion time and you know if if other things should be considered or other perspectives you know should be should be expressed it really should be then >> be before we get down to the to the final decision time. So um yeah I would in the effort I would you know encourage the involvement sooner rather than at this meeting and whether it should be at the beginning of the end of this meeting but more should it be before this meeting or at this meeting I I think is probably a more effective encouragement if you will is to is to have that time. >> Sure. And I and I will say that since we've changed it, the amount of of interaction with residents prior to these meetings with voicing their concerns has definitely increased and given us an opportunity to respond to them ahead of this meeting. So maybe that's helped too. Maybe they feel like they they've been heard and you know we've answered them so they don't need to come here. So I just committed to doing it. So I wanted to bring it up >> and thank you for doing it. >> Sure. Council member Leman, you light that down. >> Um, yes. Uh, I also attended the uh tree lighting. >> Wait, I'm not done yet. >> I'm sorry. >> We're We're still on last. We haven't got >> Johnson. I'm sorry. >> That's okay. >> Excuse me. >> I'm not done yet. >> She didn't bring up the consent agenda again. >> Go ahead, council member. Last. >> Okay. Last thing and this and last thing and I just I need y'all's guidance on this. So we have raised to date for Washington DC 13,17.31. I am currently $5,58269 short um to bring the the remaining kids. You heard from former council member Stout that Kuanas was willing to give us 5,000, but we would have to match it. As you can see, we don't need $10,000. We need $5,582. So, I'm getting not that I mean, I I could continue. I could I could go out. I could do a last like hurrah push end of year, please donate to this this cause. Um, and and do that. And but the problem is Miss Grigglin and I, we've got to get we've got to start booking all this stuff now so the cost stays low and we don't wait till the end. So I was going to ask um if you all would approve to do maybe a 3,000 and a 3,000 so we get 3,000 from Kowanas and then we as a council, as a city, as taxpayers kick in another 3,000. But I'm not sure where that money would come from. So do we Thank you, Mr. Mason. If we if we were to agree to do that, um would you know where where would we get that money from? Where would we get $3,000 from? >> We have enough something else. >> Okay. Okay. So then my next question would be um would you all do we need to have a vote or something if we wanted to to use that money for youth council or would it need to be amended or how how would that work Mr. Mason? >> Oh, it is. So it doesn't matter. Yes. Okay. >> Okay. That's going to be my last resort. I'm going to do one final push. the next two weeks to try to get this $5,582 and not have to dip into um our budget. So, I'm going to do one final push and then I may come back and then and then we we may go the other route. Never mind. Thank you, Mayor. >> Council member Leman, you have a report. >> Are you finished now, Jennifer? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Wanted to make sure. At any rate, um, for all the people that complain about everything in Cape Coral, uh, the tree lighting and then on Saturday night the drone show were so well attended. It was packed. Both nights was absolutely packed. They were both wonderful. And I think people need to realize that there are a lot of things that Cape Coral does that they don't do in other cities. There are a lot of things for community involvement that people need to be more aware of. Read the on the move that the city manager sends out that tells you what's going on in the city because there's such a difference. There's so many things that go on and there's so many positive things about Cape Coral that seem to fall through the cracks at times. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. >> You're welcome, Council Member Long. Report. >> Uh, no report, Mayor. >> Council member Stanky. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um I I uh attended the Southwest Florida um League of Cities uh uh monthly meeting on the 20th of November on the 25th. Uh I also uh attended with uh Council Member Kilra uh Byron Donald's uh visit to our city. Um he was very wellreceived, had a lot of good things to say. Uh and uh I was there in the hopes of catching him for a short conversation, but uh he was in and out. Uh but uh for those uh that are interested uh we uh have called upon his office to assist us with our uh need for dredging permits. Um uh there was a group of citizens that I've been uh working with uh that helped produce a letter uh that we sent uh to his office um and uh and then that was followed by a letter uh from from our city um uh authored by the mayor. uh and uh he has contacted um uh federal contacts in an effort to speed that process uh so that we can get the uh the dredging that we so desperately need uh done as soon as we can get those those permits approved. And that's it for me. >> Thank you uh Council Member Darnell. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um the one I did say Jackson, sorry. All right, get back to my report. So, >> you did it. So, >> what's great is these things are recorded. >> Excuse me, mayor. Don't I have the floor, please? You have nothing to relax. >> Port of order. >> Um, next Wednesday. Um, now, next meeting. Everybody, make sure you make plans to be here. Those Littleton Owlets, they're going to come to be doing a chorus. And I am so excited. It's going to happen at 3:30 right before the meeting. So, we're not cutting into into time. So, please going to be about 30 of them. They are so excited. Um, and I appreciate the chief um, as well as Miss Grigglin and others who worked hard to to get them in on a on a they have a process now so we don't have to deal with the with the um, noise that we dealt with. And I'm just excited about it as you can see with that excitement going on on I want to um say as you have heard the I want to give a challenge starting with me to the council and to everyone the two people that came with um the positive things I've known now I've come to the realization having sat here this third time is that people find what they seek let that sink in you find what you seek it's been very evident as we see the different people come to the podium and I had to do an evaluation of myself. So now that we're in the Christmas or holiday season, what I want to encourage everyone and challenge everyone to do is the one before you say for the next 25 days, 20 and counting. But when you say anything to a person, your challenge and my challenge, we have to say something nice first. find something nice to say about someone, something first before we get to anything of what I like to call self-improvement or things that need to be fixed. I think that's a challenge that we can do during this season. So, just know it's a challenge and I'm going to start with myself. All right? And I will start with that challenge by saying, okay, yes, I know I said Johnson and you all were correct. All right? Now, so what I wanted to go to on the last thing was this. Um, please note as you hear these issues that come up and the monies that's being spent, ladies and gentlemen, we have a professional staff. Those of you all who've ever had jobs or have a job, you're good at your job, you're an expert at your job because you live and breathe your job 40 plus hours a week. the people that we have running this city. While everybody wants to talk about how much money they make, have no idea how much time they put into it, but outside of that, they are professionals. They are qualified. They live and breathe. And it's always fascinating to me when you see someone ask a question about the budget. That budget is not something that you just sit back and figure out. This is my what 14th year going through that and still learning. But we have experts who know exactly to the penny. How do we know that? Look at all the recognitions that we continue to get, whether it's in finances, whether it's in our police. Just be comforted to know that you're in good hands in the city. And don't ever forget that we're growing council. We are growing a city in a time where everything is going up. I'll just leave you with that. Thank you, mayor. That's all. Next, next Thursday, next Wednesday, be here 3:30. Thank you. Uh, Council Member Kadoo. >> Thank you, Mayor. On November 21st, I attended the Horizon Council meeting and again, I would like to reiterate that I'm very proud that they have now added an arts and culture committee to their overall future. On November 28th, I attended the city's tree lighting and that was an amazing event. Thank you to staff and parks and wreck and the special event staff for putting that on. Um, Council Member Lashra did me dirty by posting a photo of me with my triple chin. Thank you for that. >> Whatever. >> You did not. The baby was super cute though. Hook. >> I had a triple chin. Thanks. Um, when it comes to the youth council, I don't want to sound heartless when I say this, but it really boils down to when we're budgeting, we're looking at needs of the city versus wants of the city. And I'll leave it at that. Tomorrow is the old golf course meeting. So, if anyone is interested, they should definitely attend that. And it will be here in council chambers. So, I'm looking forward to that. And also, why I'm talking about it, Mr. Kaish brought up is this a full-time job. We're doing reports right now of things that we did not sitting here as well as the prep that we have for the meeting and if any of you want to take it upon yourself to click through all the documents that we have to read to make sound decisions. It's a lot. That's all. Thank you, Mayor. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh yeah, I think it's important to mention probably the least amount of time that we uh dedicate to the city is sitting in these chairs. for sure >> the hours and hours of work that it takes just to make the decision or to sit here for whatever the length of the meeting is. That's the shortest period of time that we probably uh advocate, you know, for the city for. Um back on 11:20, I had the honor to be a guest speaker at the family initiative. Uh they had a ribbon cutting. Uh it's a great uh organization here in the cities that provides a uh uh an immense service uh to uh to our city and and surrounding uh county. Uh so it was an honor to speak at uh their their groundbreaking or not their groundbreaking, their ribbon cutting of their new facility, new building there. Uh also uh that particular day I attended the Southwest Florida League of Cities meeting. Uh also on the 28th I attended the uh tree lighting event here at city hall. uh and uh it it was well uh participated by our residents. It was glad to see everyone here uh in the Christmas spirit uh and and uh looking forward to the holidays. Uh lastly, today I had the honor uh to meet with the governor uh up in uh Tampa uh and he had a uh press conference there. and the city of Cape Coral. Uh I'm proud to announce uh that we are awarded $6.5 million from the governor's office through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection uh to support North One Utilities Extension Project, the UEP East uh reclaimed water extension. Yes, sir. >> And I think that's important uh to mention. And you know, we've heard many residents come to the podium and ask, "Hey, are you applying for any type of grants?" Well, I can tell you today's uh press conference, there were 36 projects that were identified and only 31 of the projects met the criteria. And out of the 31 projects, we had three of them that we had submitted. So, and I don't think there was any other county that I can recall that maybe had more than two. We were the the only one with three. Uh, so we are trying to find those dollars. It's tough. Uh, but we are applying for the dollars. Sometimes, like today, we got a yes for 6.5 million. Uh, some days we do get to know. Uh, but I think it's important to make sure that, uh, everyone knows that we we're trying. Uh this grant award will reduce the amount of local revenue needed to fund the north one east UEP uh to the city by the six 6.5 million while advancing uh reclaimed water infrastructure that supports improved water quality and longterm uh sustainability. The north one east UEP includes the construction of new utility infrastructure to provide central water, sewer, and irrigation services to properties in the northeast Cape Coral. The reclaimed water component is a key part of the city's strategic to reduce reliance on the midform aquifer where water levels are declining by increasing the reuse of highly treated wastewater for irrigation and helping protect uh our local water resources. The $6.5 million grant that the governor office and uh FD uh is a tremendous benefit to Cape Coral. This funding will reduce the amount of local revenue to fund uh as I said before the North One uh UEP project. Statewide, the governor's office identified approximately 112 million and grants uh within those 14 projects for water quality and alternative water supply projects, including about 50 million specifically for D alternative water supply uh grant applications. Kate Coral's award is part of this broader effort to strengthen Florida's water resources and infrastructure and to try to save uh our taxpayers uh anytime that we can uh with offsetting the expenses. So glad that uh I could attend that today and I think it's great news for our community and our city. >> Uh so that's all I have for the report. Council member Steinkey, I see your light on and then I'll go to the city attorney. >> Yes. Uh thank you, Mayor. I I want I just want to make uh note of um the value that is brought by and the hard work that is done by our lobbyists. Um, this wouldn't come about if it weren't for, um, in this case, Nick Matthews and Dane Eagle. Um, having the relationships that they have in Tallahassee, u making sure that, uh, the decision-making uh, individuals there know our needs, know our situation, uh, and are constantly representing us. It's so valuable to have them there. Uh, and so, uh, if they're watching or they watch, uh, via tape some other time, uh, Nick and Dne, thank you for your help in this effort. >> Yeah, and I will say I spoke with Dane Eagle a couple times this week, uh, and, uh, like most press conferences, uh, we had no idea exactly what or if we were going to get anything. And I know that Dne was working behind the scenes, and I'm sure Nick was too, but I did speak with Dne specifically. uh the last few days coming up to today. So, like council member Stanky said, they do a phenomenal job for our city and uh they're the workhorse of a lot of our uh grant opportunities that we have. Uh and uh you know, they're they're a tremendous asset to the city for sure. Uh Mr. City Attorney uh report. >> Yes. Thank you, Mayor. in anticipation of the uh December 10th meeting that's going to the special meeting that's going to start at 1:00 in order to discuss the potential referendum items. Uh in the past uh I know that with the assistance of the city clerk, we were able to at least get confirmation from the supervisor of elections regarding the limitations of the referendum items both on the primary and the general election. On the primary it was supposed to be five. On the general election, it was supposed to be four. Today we found out that they have altered that position. Uh we received confirmation today from the supervisor of elections that there are no limitations on either the primary or the general. I'm letting you all know that now because in up until this morning uh I have always conveyed to you uh that there was a limitation. Uh we have found out that that limitation no longer exists. I don't know what that is attributed to. We have tried to get that uh clarification, but there has been a nonresponse as of right now. Uh but I did want you to let that let you know that uh so that you have that under consideration when we do go to that December one special meeting at 1:00. Uh we are no longer hamstrung by the previous limitations that were set forth by the supervisor of elections. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. City Manager. Report. I just want to say thank you to uh all of my staff that um put together that community event. We, you know, we every time we do a parks and recck master plan, we hear the community say that their number one programming needs is usually special events. And time and time again, our community, you know, shows its support for family oriented, fun, enjoyable time together. And um for all my staff that was involved, whether it was, you know, ordering portagons to lining up vendors to building the Christmas tree to setting up, you know, public safety and keeping our uh residents and anybody who visited our community safe. I just want to thank all of them publicly because to have the turnout that we had Saturday night was just amazing to see. I have been to few of these now. Uh if you think just back three, four years ago, we had our first one right out front of city hall and then we migrated to the front lawn uh and have grown the event into something that is just remarkable and it and it truly shows that our community really does appreciate having the time to spend with their family at an event that is free. No entry. Now, yes, they they the event is not free to us at large. We pay for it with taxes, but for them and the the reception that we get is just enjoyable. And I want to again thank all of my staff for putting on uh that event for the community. So, to them, thank you. >> Thank you. Uh Council Member Ler, I see a light on. >> Yes. Sorry, Mayor. I'm just wanted to remind y'all that I'm I'm going to be uh participating remotely next week for both meetings. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> All right. All right. Uh thank you, Mr. City Manager. Uh time and place of future meeting. We have a special meeting at the Cape Coral City Council scheduled for Wednesday, December 10th, beginning at 1 p.m. here in council chambers. And we also on that particular day have a regular meeting in the Cape Coral City Council. Again, Wednesday, December 10th, 2025, beginning at 4 p.m. here in council chambers. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Some move to adjurnn. >> All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Meeting adjourn.