Zoom Transcript of the May 21 Public Hearing, Commission Meeting, and Emergency Meeting
May 21, 2026

This transcript was automatically generated by Zoom. Zoom's AI is about 90% accurate. The transcript has been updated to identify most speakers and to correct punctualtion and spelling errors.

PUBLIC HEARING

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:30:21
Okay, I call to order the Key County Beach City Commission public hearing. Please rise for the pledge.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:30:30
The pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Here's what we call it for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:30:48
We thank you for our great country and for advantage the Florida Keys and to our city. We pray for your guidance in all our deliberations as a commission. We pray for providence and intended care for all. Amen. Amen.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:31:03
Here. Commissioner Harding? Here. Commissioner DeFrancico? Here. Commissioner Diaz.

[Kirk Diehl] 15:31:11
Here

[Foster] 15:31:13
Okay, and I find cause for him to attend by Zoom, so we're good to go. All right. Approval of the agenda. One item I'd like to pull off is the 40,000 pound cradle boat lift. I've got a bunch of calls in with some some people, and I need to talk to some engineers, some DEP people also, League of mayors and try to get some some insights on this one. It's got a lot of opposition on it, and as you know, we're elected to represent all the people but I don't want to do the wrong thing either. So I like to just pull that one item out until I can get some more data on that. Do I have There's no other changes to the agenda, correct?

[Silvia]
There are no other changes.

[Foster]
Okay, do I have a motion to approve the agenda with the change?

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:32:08
Yes, make a motion.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:32:10
Second.

[Kirk Diehl] 15:32:11
Oh

[Foster]
Any further discussion? Roll call.

[City of Key Colony Beach]
Commissioner Harding. Yes. Commissioner DeFencico? Yes. Commissioner Diaz.

[Kirk Diehl] 15:32:19
Yes

[Foster]
Agenda exchange is approved. Okay. Citizens, comments and correspondence. Sylvia.

[Silvia] 15:32:29
Yes, Mr. Mayor, we received the following correspondence. May 2nd, owners at Castillo de Soul Condominiums wrote to the City Commission following up on their initial letter of opposition with additional concerns about the impact of the proposed vote list at 841 West Ocean Drive.

May 17th, Jim Howe at 91 West Ocean Drive Road, expressing his opposition to the proposed road lift at 841 West Ocean Drive, and raising concerns about the public safety hazard and setting a precedent for the coastline.

May 19th Stephen Cole and Nancy Calbacher City Commission with concerns and opposition to the proposed boat lift at 841 West Ocean. All correspondence has been distributed to the City Commission and will be included in the official minutes for today's meeting.

[Foster]
Okay, thank you. All right, do we have anybody that plans to speak today? If you do, please raise your hand and be sworn in. You may been pulled Yes. The simple answer was probably yes. I mean, but you can stay by all means. That's correct. So if you can pass the time to expand, raise your hand.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:34:01
We have the testimonies that he gets.

[Foster]
Okay, we got that done. Disclosure of ex parte communications. So I had spoken with one of the residents and I've also spoken to an engineer. And the engineer that's on this. So for disclosure, that conversation has taken place. It will not affect the vote. So just to disclose. All right.

First item up Discussion approval for variance requests for Kenneth and Ellen Jones, owner of the properties at 620. Hang on. Sylvia. I probably need to back up. Is there anyone from the citizens' comments that wants to speak on these items first? Please go ahead.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:35:06
No, no, this is citizens comments. You'll be… I'll talk and call you up when we get to this

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:35:20
So I'm going to go ahead and, your name and your address. Thank you.

[Benton]
I'm Lynn Benson. 621 10th Street. This is not easy for me, but we're not always called to do what's easy because one of the applicants, Ken and Ellen Jones, are my neighbors and were good friends before I began researching this issue. My comments are not personal and are not intended as criticism of the applicants. I simply believe it is important that our rules and variance standards are applied fairly and consistently to everyone, and that citizens can rely on those rules.

[City of Key Colony Beach]
Ms. I apologize. So just for clarification, you're speaking as a private resident and not for the planning board, correct?

[Benton]
Correct.

[Foster]
Okay. Just as a private. Okay, citizen

[Benton]
I believe it's important that citizens can rely on those rules as having a rational basis rather than being applied arbitrarily. I also believe we should foster a community culture where differing opinions are welcomed and expressed respectfully. We currently have a rule requiring swimming pools to be set back 10 feet from the mean high water line or seawall. Our sister city marathon has a similar restriction. As a result, all swimming pools in KCB are currently set back at least 10 feet, and many properties have narrow pools because owners relied on the validity of that setback requirement when designing their homes and improvements. One of the purposes of the setback, as I understand it, is to provide separation between chlorinated pool water and the canal. My understanding is that variances are generally intended only where strict application of the code creates an unnecessary hardship or practical difficulty unique to a particular property. In addition, a variant should not provide a special privilege unavailable to similarly situated properties and should represent the minimum relief necessary based on the information provided in the recent planning and zoning meeting materials, there appears to be evidence that the conditions required for granting a variance are not met here, including evidence that the lot conditions are not unique compared to many other similarly situated canal front properties and allowing this variance would confer a special privilege denied to other similarly situated property owners. If the city now deems the 10-foot setback to be an arbitrary distance and swimming pools can be installed closer to the seawall, it seems prudent for the city to determine and codify the new rules to guide all citizens, rather than approving variances when the variance hardships do not apply. Thank you.

[Foster]
Any other citizens comments when it comes to testimony, we'll we'll do that separate online. Hearing none. All right, so the 1st item again is discussion, approval, variance request from Kenneth and Ellen Jones, owners of the property of 620 10th Street, Key Colony Beach for the construction of residential swimming pools that would encroach on the setback by three feet per the recommendation of a planning and zoning Board. Ken, do you want to speak first?

[Ken Jones] 15:38:30
My name is Ken Jones on 620 10th Street. And I didn't get the note about having to wear blue shirts. So I don't know So the P&Z, at the recommendation of the the mayor and the building inspector agreed to process what was characterized as well justified variances for something like this based on recommendations, based on recommendations of the mayor and the building inspector. Ironically, I found 6 or 7 municipalities in the State of Florida that already can routinely go within the 10 foot setback. Those include Punta Gorda, Gulfport, Tarpon Springs, which I believe goes down to 5 feet, Tampa, Hillsborough County, Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, and Cocoa Beach which did in fact codify back to an eight foot setback. So to you know, to say that if we're going to do something like this, we should automatically codify some arbitrary number. I don't think that's historically the way the city has operated, and the city has you know, made variances at times, and taken things into consideration, and only after a long period of time of monitoring and testing and seeing how those variances play out do something generally get codified I'm not sure I agree with her Silicon You know, from my perspective, our lot is smaller. I've measured a lot of these lots. It's one foot smaller. That's not huge, but in a game of pools or rooms, you know, inches make a difference and so what we were simply trying to do is design a pool that ensures safety and medically pleasing for that minimizes risk for children, anyone with limited mobility, and we believe that design does that. I think also another ameliorating factor is that replacement seawalls are now constructed in front of the existing seawall, and they extend out 18 inches and perhaps more. And so the practical impact of this particular variance would be that At some point in time, our variance would be reduced to mere 18 inches. So you know, Mr. Commissioners, I respectfully submit that this is a minor variance. It's not going to destroy seawalls ripple down the canal. It's engineered to be structurally sound as attested to by the building inspector, and you know this
Modified checklist or this checklist that we've been encouraged to use, which we're happy to do. And so it's engineered structurally sound. The variance would be unnoticeable and it's positioned to maximize the safety of everyone. So, I appreciate the opportunity to come before you guys and request that you move forward with what we consider well justified variance, which has already received the support of you know, neighboring residents, building inspector and everyone except someone across the street. Thank you.

[Foster]
George, can you give us a perspective from the planning and zoning, please?

[Lancaster] 15:42:39
We met last month and the commission did approve the variance request with a couple of conditions which the building department was responsible for clearing up. And did I We didn't… they don't go back to us. I guess it would be up to okay, I'll ask. Okay. All right. So we did vote to approve it.

[Foster]
All right. Thank you. Tony Is there any open items on this

[Loreno] 15:43:15
No items I can see. Okay. All right, so

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:43:20
So we can have some discussion. Do I have a motion to approve? I'll make a motion. Do I have a second? Second. All right.

[Kirk Diehl] 15:43:27
Second.

[Foster]
He's trying to beat you right now. All right, so I have a couple of comments right off the bat. One, I also want to apologize to James Ryan, the engineer. There was a comment made about his expertise in this area based on his age and watch the video and how long he's been in. So I want to extend my apology to him because that's not appropriate. We shouldn't be doing that. I don't question engineers, especially one with a PE stamp. It just not proper. The second thing is Ma'am, we'll stop there. Does anybody else have anything

[DiFransico?]
I do. The conditions that were set at the zoning committee were the engineering conditions, correct, Tony?

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:44:22
Whether that was We were gonna make sure there was geotechnical reports, still engineering involved, there were structural engineering involved, marine engineering, whatever was necessary to be engineered involved build it properly.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:44:39
Are you referring to the 10-point list that they know?

[Diehl]
I'm referring to we had talked about engineering backup on this so we just don't have a pool contractor saying, oh, it's good. No, we have a pool contractor and the engineer that has put his seal on that pool to be built. We have an engineer that also has put his is license and his recommendation, the seawall is capable of except 2 or 3 feet within the setback.

[Colonell]
Okay, that answers my question.

[Foster] 15:45:11
Okay, good. All right. Anyone else have any discussion?

[DiFransico]
I have just a philosophical comment, and that has to do with The question of strict interpretation of land development regulations. I think the city has LDRs to protect those lost citizens from people doing things we don't want them to do like encroaching on setbacks and things like that. And it's up to P&Z Commission to enforce those for the good of the community except where there are justified variances and I think that in this case as I read it at least the justifications that's required by our procedures aren't met. That doesn't mean I don't think this variance should be go forward, but I think perhaps we need to re-look at our justifications. And for example, we have a thing that says, what are the unnecessary hardships? And in this case, the unnecessary hardships is a competitive disadvantage for renting the piece of property. I think that's a stretch to call that an unnecessary hardship. And then also there's a requirement that it not confer a special privilege on the property if we grant the variance. But in his applicants application, they say they're looking for a competitive to try to erase the competitive disadvantage against larger pool properties, but there are also smaller pool properties, which in this case We'll be at a competitive disadvantage to them. So there is in that aspect a potential benefit provided by this. So I think perhaps our specific criteria that we're using perhaps it isn't the best. And I took a quick look at marathons and Key West, and they're very similar to ours, but I would like to ask that PNZ take a look at these criteria and see whether they think they're appropriate or they should be modified.

[Foster] 15:47:32
Fair enough. And just for my perspective, we have P&Z, we have LDRs, and that's why we have P&Z. If we codify everything, I don't need P&Z. I literally don't. But that's not the purpose of that, and I just... I kind of like having the P&Z rules. I mean, the LDRs and where we have found in the past we want to codify something like the side setbacks after so much time, then we'll do it. And that has been done in this case and other cities. And just for a side note, I didn't talk to Spook I shouldn't. That's what he always tells me calling. And he's I wouldn't necessarily say that there is none in this city. I'll just leave it at that. However, comma, when I asked you about it, he said No problem. He said they're independently structured. They do not interface or interact with the seawall. He said the only thing is construction methods, but you have construction methods anywhere. As we were just talking about earlier. So I'm very comfortable with this, and I appreciate the time to have this conversation.

[Harding?]
I would like to address the commissioners requesting on me. I think these are cumbersome. We've had them since I got on the commission. They're actually rewritten about the same time as I got on the commission so that we didn't have to answer yes to some and no to some because they're all confusing.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:49:05
So I don't know how long we've had them, probably 100 years, however old the city is. And I don't know if they've ever been actually changed. They've been rewritten for clarification, but they seem cumbersome to me, and I'm I mean, they came from legal. Yeah, actually, I'll address that too, because I had the same question. There's a word in there called hardship. You can interpret it differently than him, me, him, him, everyone in here can interpret it differently. And literally, I've read some of them, and just like you it's like I could say yes, and I could say no. Unfortunately, though, that is the law. That is the way the state statutes are written. So it's why it takes common sense and interpretation and basically compassion on the part of the P&Z to take those things in consideration and make a human decision based on what information and facts that you have. We do do that. So, and I agree. So anyway, good conversation. You may. Tony is, is it an Ldr, or is it an ordinance that is the criteria. Yeah. what I would suggest fellow commissioners to again, get Georgia an assignment

[Harding] 15:50:25
I think we've walked into another one that we've done two or three like this, that somebody's rightly challenged ordinance, and it probably was set up generically in the past. I think it really should be going back to ask the ordinance to be modified to what an engineering recommendation would be and 10 feet, 5 feet, 2 feet, because next month, somebody's going to come to George and ask for 5 feet. And I think we should get ahead of that. And the thing I go back to is it costs the resident money. It costs him time. Cost all of us time and effort, and would we approve it anyways, right? So what I would recommend is take a look at the ordinance. I think Mayor, we can authorize him the work of engineering to get a recommendation. And I think, you know, based on the residence feedback, maybe we put a draft together, and we say we're going to monitor for a year, something like that, right? But… or monitor for some period of time, but I think what we should do is look at whether we should change the ordinance to reduce the time and money and and whether that 10 foot really had an engineering justifications. And that's

[Foster]
I've spoken to the engineer, and as you know, we don't have an engineer on staff so I've also talked to the engineer to try to address that because it would just make life a lot easier and help. So I agree with you. All right. So I think we've had our discussion. Sylvia, you want to put that on next month's agenda?

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:51:58
Are you going to be here? I'm here. I won't be here in July. Okay. I'll be here in June.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:52:03
Roll call. Commissioner.

[Kirk Diehl] 15:52:05
Yes.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:52:07
Commissioner Hardy? Yes. Commissioner Dipensico? Yes. Vice May Corona? Yes. Mayor Foster? Yes. And the variance has been approved.

[Foster]
Okay, the next one is identical to that. Do we need to hash this again, or can we just go ahead and I'll introduce it, get a tell you what, it's a variance request by Brian. Somebody's going to have to help me with that last name. The Liam. Thank you. Belim. I'll get it wrong. Vacation rentals, LLC owners of property at 630 10th Street, Key County Beach construct. I believe this is identical in form, fit, and function. So do I have a motion to approve?

[Kirk Diehl] 15:52:48
Motion to approve.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:52:50
Second,

[Foster]
all right. Any discussion? Roll call.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:52:52
Commissioner DeFrancico. Yes, Commissioner Dia.

[Kirk Diehl] 15:52:57
Yes

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:52:57
Yes. Commissioner Harden. Yes. Mayor Foster? Yes.

[Foster]
Okay, thank you. Thank you for your patience.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:53:08
Oh, somebody's birthday, isn't it

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:53:13
I live in the older. I'm gonna act a little more mature. All right, is there any other before the convention on this?

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:53:23
Having none, do I have an adjournment for this meeting? Adjournment. This meeting is adjourned.

---

REGULAR MEETING

[Foster] 15:53:52
All right. I call to order the Key Colony Beach Commission regular meeting and public hearing. We've already done the pledge and it's we're not going to go through all that again. So roll call.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:54:07
Here. Mayor Porta here, Vice Mayor Colonel? Here. Commissioner Hardin? Here. Commissioner DeFrancico? Here. Commissioner Dia

[Kirk Diehl] 15:54:14
Here

[Foster]
Perfect. Okay, do we have any approvals agenda or any changes or deletions from the agenda?

[Silvia]
Yes, Mr. Mayor, we have the following proposed changes on item 5, committee department reports 5C, addendum to the city administrator's report. On the item 7, discussion action items. 7F, the addendum of a proposal by KCS Technical Solutions for the installation of AD equipment at Marble Hall and item 11, Commissioner reports and comments 11A, Commissioner Harding, the addendum to the Wastewater Report.

[Foster]
Perfect. Do I have a motion to approve.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:54:58
Motion to approve the agenda as modified. Second. Second. Roll call.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:55:03
Commissioner Harding? Yes. Commissioner DeFazico? Yes. Commissioner.

[Kirk Diehl] 15:55:11
Here.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:55:13
Yes to the approval of the agenda.

[Kirk Diehl] 15:55:16
Yes, I'm sorry.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 15:55:18
Thank you. Vice Mayor Colinell? Yes. Mayor Foster? Yes. Agenda was changes approved. Okay, so

[Foster]
It's with great honor that I do the following.

[Silvia] 15:55:26
Mr. Mayor. Pardon me,

[Foster]
go ahead.

[Foster] 15:55:36
Did I try that again? It's, with… it's This is It was a little touchy for me because Mr. Chet Dunn was larger than life and he's a special man. special man to a lot of people. So just to Just to let him and his family know we're thinking of them and I'd like to do this proclamation. So Okay, see if I can't do this. Whereas Chester Chet Dunn Was a long time and beloved resident whose life reflected a deep and enduring commitment to family, community and service, and whereas Chet Dunn honorably served his country in the United States Army from 1956 to 1958, earning the Good Conduct Medal and exemplifying a lifelong dedication to duty and integrity And whereas he was a founding member and past Commodore of the Key Colony Beach fishing and Boating Club establish helping to establish a cornerstone for the community life in the city, and whereas Chet Dunn Was a generous donor to the city and active and an active involved and outspoken advocate whose voice and leadership helped shape the character of the community. And whereas His many contributions and unwavering civil spirit earned him recognition as a true pillar of the city, including being named Citizen of the Year by the residents of Key County Beach, and whereas Jet Dunn lived a life grounded in compassion, service, charity Hard work, given freely of his time to organizations and causes that strengthen both his local and extended communities, and whereas, above all, he was devoted and loving husband of nearly 65 years A proud father, grandfather, great-grandfather whose greatest legacy lives on through his family. Now, therefore, be it roclaimed that the city of Key Colony Beach hereby honors and recognizes the life and legacy of Chester Chet Dunn for his extraordinary contributions, lasting impact, and unwavering dedication to the community. Let it be further proclaimed that his memory will continue to inspire all who had privilege to know him, and that his legacy shall remain A guiding example of service, leadership, and love

Can we please take a minute to take a photo with his proclamation and give the opportunity for his daughter and his wife to speak if they so choose. Yeah. Darlene Hope you can see this. This is the proclamation for Chet. This is one of hundreds that he deserves, and it's the least we can do at this time, but we want you to know we're thinking of this. Love you guys. Thanks.

[Foster] 15:59:36
Okay, we have one more proclamation to do And this is proclamation from National Police Week, May 10 through 16 Whereas the Congress and the President of the United States have designated May 10 through May 16th of 2026 as National Police Week, with May 15th recognition as Police Officers Memorial Day and Whereas the members of law enforcement agencies throughout the nation play an essential role in safeguarding the rights and freedom of our citizens. And whereas law enforcement officers work tirelessly, and often at great personal risk to preserve public safety, protect lives and property, and maintain peace and order within our communities And whereas the city of Key Colony Beach recognizes and appreciates the dedicated professionalism, urge, and sacrifice demonstrated daily by the men and women serving in law enforcement And whereas it is fitting and proper that all citizens recognize the invaluable service rendered by law enforcement officers and honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty Now, therefore, Freddie Forster, May of Key County Beach, Florida, do proclaim May 10th through May 16th, 2026 as National Police Week in the city of Key County Beach urge all residents to join And honoring our law enforcement officers and their steadfast commitment to protecting our community and ensuring the safety of well-being of all citizens.

So Just as a side note, I'm a very, very strong supporter of law enforcement. Always have been, always will be. And please take time to So adjust yourselves accordingly If you guys would like the quick picture with her

[City of Key Colony Beach] 16:02:11
Thank you.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 16:02:14
Congratulations

[City of Key Colony Beach] 16:02:18
Thank you.

[Foster]
Okay. Now, the pleasantries are done vulnerability Project Was that roadway motor vulnerability

[City of Key Colony Beach] 16:02:56
Yeah, presentation, pulling the roadway. Where is that partner?

[City of Key Colony Beach] 16:03:01
All right, one more Sylvia, this is The third one is the proclamation on the roadway vulnerability Project.

[Silvia]
It's a presentation. Yes, sir. And I believe they are online presentation Shut under the panelists And Greg, I believe Connor, he just raised his hand And Greg, you should be able to speak You want to make them apparent to

[Greg Corning] 16:03:36
Hi, can you guys hear me?

[City of Key Colony Beach] 16:03:38
We can hear you.

[Greg Corning] 16:03:40
Okay, great. Excellent. There should be

[Silvia]
Are you able to allow him to share, please? Look at the share button on the very bottom on the screen

[Greg Corning] 16:04:22
I'm over here talking on mute for the entire time here. I was saying that Aaron Dee should also be on the panelists list there.

[Melisa Henriquez] 16:04:33
Good afternoon. Can you hear me?

[Greg Corning] 16:04:33
And Melissa

[Greg Corning] 16:04:34
Yeah

[City of Key Colony Beach] 16:04:35
Yeah, we can hear you.

[Melisa Henriquez] 16:04:37
Great.

[Greg Corning] 16:04:40
Melissa, can you share your screen? From the bottom there

[Melisa Henriquez] 16:04:44
Let's see, share Oh, let me send the request

[Greg Corning] 16:04:58
Thanks, Darren.

[Melisa Henriquez] 16:05:04
It's

[City of Key Colony Beach] 16:05:14
All right, you guys got it.

[Melisa Henriquez] 16:05:16
Perfect.

[Greg Corning] 16:05:17
Technology. Technology. We did it. Oh, there, there you go

[Melisa Henriquez] 16:05:23
Oh, perfect Erin is here

[Greg Corning] 16:05:25
Okay, great.

[Erin Deady] 16:05:25
I am

[Greg Corning] 16:05:27
Perfect.

[Melisa Henriquez] 16:05:29
Perfect. Well, good afternoon, Commission, Mr. Mayor. Thank you so much for having us today. I am Melissa Enriquez with HDR leading the efforts on the roads vulnerabilities project along with Greg Corning from WSP and with Aaron Deedy So for today, we have just a brief agenda on the project. First, Erin is going to present a quick background on the county's Resilience Climate Program and efforts so far, and how it is that we came to do these studies for the roadways Then we will present an overview on the civil rights roads vulnerability Project for direction and the proposed approach for the final plan to be approved by the Commission at your next meeting. So you'll have all the final stuff before your next meeting to be approved by then. We'll include the project status, the vulnerability and criticality steps that we took to come up with our results An adaptation plan and cost, and then some concept engineering and design. Lastly, Erin will touch on policy and implementation. She has some recommendations to move forward with if these projects were to go into fruition Go ahead, Erin.

[Erin Deady] 16:06:47
Okay Great. I want to kind of do a little level setting about this presentation, and I think kind of talking about what this study is and what it is not right up front kind of helps people understand because anytime you start putting

[Greg Corning] 16:06:49
Perfect.

[Erin Deady] 16:07:04
costs associated with projects up on the board, people start to get a little nervous, in trying to understand what that really means overall. So, what this study is, is it's modeled after an assessment that the county did, but also part two of this or phase two of this, all the municipalities joined. And what we're producing is a report that has a methodology to figure out what roads are vulnerable to flooding and when they will be impacted because it helps you use that data to make better decisions about whether or not you want to potentially adapt those roads, meaning elevate them. It evaluates different types of flood risk may impact the roads, and it looks at the roads current condition, their elevation, and other factors associated with the roads as they are today. It provides conceptual design for projects to address the flood risk that we are analyzing, and also cost estimates with drainage features to avoid flooding adjacent properties, because when we elevate the roads, we certainly do not want to shove that flood water onto residential or commercial properties that are adjacent to the road. The project also provides a prioritized list of projects based on that timeframe of projected risk. And these are discretionary for you to implement, and I'll talk a little bit about that in the next slide. And it also provides policy recommendations for the city If you choose to implement these projects, because we want to make sure that there's nothing in the comprehensive plan or the code that may prevent you from implementing the projects. Inadvertently, there may be something in the comp plan or the code is an obstacle to implementing some of these road elevation projects. So we'll talk a little bit about that as well. Okay, next slide. What the study is not, and this is important. This is not a required capital program of capital projects that the city has to undertake, fund, or implement. This is entirely discretionary, and what we're laying out for you is a methodology to prioritize what those potential road adaptation projects may be, based on science and based on an evaluation of flood risk. I always like to say it's based on science, not political science, so you have a methodology that looks at when those roads are going to be potentially at risk and what their current condition is. This is not a plan that the city has to take action upon. It is entirely discretionary. It's a list of prioritized projects For road elevation and adaptation. These are not final permitted designs for projects. You would still have to go through achieving and securing permits to implement the projects, and this project is not a funding strategy. It doesn't lay out sources of dollars, it doesn't say that you have to spend dollars on it But it provides information should you choose to decide to undertake those projects over time.

Next slide. So these are just some efforts that the county and the municipalities, by the way, have been engaging on over the past several years. The county implemented or is implementing to an extent a road adaptation program where they have similarly identified lists of prioritized projects in five-year increments over time, and it allows them to make decisions that if they should choose to implement road adaptation or road elevation, what projects are most vulnerable and when. The county has also done a vulnerability assessment, as well as the municipalities, all of the municipalities in Monroe County have done vulnerability assessments for all of their non-road assets and infrastructure as well. So you have a full array of understanding as to what's going to be impacted in your community and when it's going to be impacted. Additionally, there has been work on the comprehensive plans, your comprehensive plan has been updated. There's been suggestions about how to do that to incorporate concepts of climate planning and resiliency into the community, and there have been numerous grants that have been awarded throughout the Keys for road adaptation and other types of adaptation projects. Next slide. And so right now we're heading towards the end of the project. As Melissa said, before your next meeting, you will have the final report, the work products. You can see what those conceptual designs are for the road adaptation There is also a website, Melissa will talk a little bit about that, and what we're trying to do is brief all the municipalities on where we are at status-wise with the project right now

So the next slide. One thing that we do know, if you could go ahead and click on the graphics, Melissa, okay, great. One thing that we do know is that we are seeing increased levels of tidal inundation, and the question is, what does that look like? How bad is it going to get, and when is it going to get there we use sea level rise projections from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. We use the Key West Tide Gauge because it has one of the longest periods of record of tidal flooding data in the country So we've been able to look at 100 years of consistent slight increases in what that means sea level is over time, and knowing that these environmental conditions are changing It is a good practice to go ahead and start planning for what types of impacts are going to occur on your infrastructure and assets, and have a plan of attack. That way, when grant opportunities become available, you have projects in the queue You have a prioritized list and you know what has to be done and when you project that it may have to be done.

Next slide One thing that we know is it's not only sea level rise that's impacting flooding ability or roads to contain flood risk. We are also seeing increasing groundwater conditions, because as tidal elevations increase over time That pushes the groundwater up. Most of the drainage systems that serve roads today are based on gravity, and if we are having increasing levels of groundwater, those swale and gravity systems are not going to be as effective over time. And because of that, we're not going to be able to build roads the same way. We're not going to be able to just use gravity systems to direct stormwater into swales and expect that the roads are going to be drained. We're going to have to look at more complicated systems to make sure that we can manage, capture, manage, treat, contain stormwater to ensure that we are not flooding adjacent properties. So we are getting assaulted in the Keys from surface water tidal flooding, and we are also getting it from below In terms of increasing groundwater conditions, and all of those conditions are working together to, not in a good way to diminish our ability to manage our stormwater in the future. And so we have considered those conditions That's what this study is about. I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to Melissa to talk about what our process is. Greg's gonna talk a little bit more about stormwater, and then towards the end of the presentation, I'm gonna make some recommendations in terms of comp plan and code revisions that you may want to consider.

[Melisa Henriquez] 16:15:23
Thank you, Erin. So before we get to the final plan and that presentation list that Erin has been talking about, we had to analyze the roads and get these results somehow, right? So we had some great quality data We had Lidar for the city, WSP went out and did a pavement assessment, so we know the conditions of these roads, in addition to evaluating the current elevations versus the projections of the sea level rise. So we could identify When and by how much these roads or your roads, rather, would be impacted. We did use for the concept designs the year of 2050, which is about a standard useful life of a road project. So that are… those are the target elevations that we are using throughout So first, we went ahead and conducted a two-step process using first vulnerability and then criticality. So, the first step was the vulnerability assessment, which is more of the technical considerations versus climate, right, versus your climate hazards. So we took into account five factors, and these factors and their weights were discussed, among the municipalities along with the county, and it was decided That we would keep it uniform with the county study, so all the keys have the same information, and the process is done the same throughout. So we have roadway surface inundation, which was taken into consideration as the highest factor. We have groundwater clearance, which is how explained that we're being attacked from all fronts, so from the groundwater as well roadway inundation due to storm surge, wave impact potential, as well as the existing pavement condition, which is very important, right, of a road that's in better condition. Currently, it's going to maybe withstand a little bit more of pressure from that water than a road that's eroding or has some kind of a structural deficiency.
So the vulnerability assessment showed us what? It showed us which roads were in danger and pretty much kind of like when. So for the year 2050, looking at the vulnerability assessment, about 50% of those fall in the four and five class of vulnerability. Our scores fell from 1 to 5, so about 50% of your roadways for the year 2050 are about in the 4 to the 5 range of vulnerability. What does that mean? But these drills are going to be impacted by that water level come those years, right? So, I'm sure it's by no surprise to you all, it is an island, you know, all the canals, all the properties pretty much are waterfront So the water is coming, and that's what the vulnerability assessment tells us is which roads are going to be impacted first and then it would go from there. Then, the vulnerability score actually becomes a factor in the step two of the process, which is the criticality assessment. And these are the human considerations, the human factor, the community that we take into account. So, like I said The vulnerability score is 50% of this criticality assessment, and then we take into account the number of residential units, any areas that… or roads that are associated with critical facilities. Those are of high importance Then we have… oh, I'm sorry. Then we have the number of commercial buildings, threatened and endangered species, so we want to make sure that when we are recommending a project, we're not impacting too much of the environmental and sensitive environmental areas, so that goes in hand with the wetlands and the natural habitats And lastly, the road reclassification and evacuation route, of course, would take probably more criticality than a smaller road that might not lead to anywhere, right? So when we do this criticality assessment, we'll calculate, again, another score, and that's the final score, and it takes into consideration the vulnerability of the roadway, so the impact of these climate hazards on the roadway, and then brings in the human factor and the community factor to that So once we have the criticality assessment results, again, we're still doing five class breakdown of the criticality. And again, about 50% of those roads fall in the four to five criticality. However. One thing that is, I guess, in favor of the city is that the elevations are a bit higher than some of the areas in the Keys. So, as you'll see here in this slide, we divided the island, in 3 areas of projects, right? So Because of the engineered drainage systems that we introduced, it makes sense to split them in these three projects. And however. Some of the municipalities are seeing projects that need to be implemented. You know, they're recommended to be implemented between now and the year 2030. The most dire project in the city of Key Colony Beach is for the year 2035. So there's still some time, you know, time flies, but there's still some time Whereas some other areas, we have projects that need to be implemented a bit sooner. So, that middle area of the city, it's a bit more vulnerable, and it has, you know, serves a lot of homes, so it's pretty critical, and we recommend that for about the year 2030. And then the other two, the year 2040 and beyond. So that would be Kind of like that prioritization list that you will have, just based in areas. But again, this doesn't mean that you have to handle or tackle this area of the city first versus the other. It's just information for you to take and have if you were to want to develop some kind of project or plan in the future. So now it comes to big ticket item, which is the cost, which is very, you know, it's very high for all of these projects. When we did the county study, the initial cost estimates, you know, pretty much double after 2020. So we wanted to make sure that we are preparing you for the sticker shock. But again, you're not required to do this project. This is not, you know, binding you to anything to spend this money. It's just information that you can have when you apply for funding. So for that year 2040, that neighborhood area, it is the biggest project, so it has a big cost, about $74 million for that one. And again, that's raising the roads, implementing that drainage system with pumps and, you know, the gravity system wouldn't work, so you have that engineered system And taking into consideration your existing shared use paths, all the driveways that there are that would be impacted by the racing of the roads. Then, for those other two project areas, those two are about the same price of the one, because they are smaller and they have a little bit less of an impact And again, they take, they would take they would be needed to be addressed a bit later on. So the total for the city would be about 153 million with an average of $21 million a mile. And again, we This does not include costs for operation and maintenance, so that if this is just for a high-level, recommended design and a high level cost estimate for that design in the future. So all in all, it would address, you know, the… a little bit over 74 miles of roadway With approximately 911 residential units and or buildings, some are multifamily And that would address the three areas of the city by the years 2035 and 2040 for those impacts to to the sea level rise and the groundwater that keeps increasing. So where does this cost come from? Greg is going to talk about the recommended design and those drainage systems that are quite pricey. So you're

[Greg Corning] 16:23:03
All right. Yeah, thanks Melissa. I always like going right after the cost. So everyone's really excited about that cost when it comes up. So as Melissa and Aaron had alluded to, there's lots of different factors that go into these designs as we start to move forward. The first one is Picking a target elevation. So we look at the different types of impacts that we're going to have some sea level rise, we add all those factors that Melissa had accounted for, and we now know what our design target elevation's going to be, and then that's how we apply that to each of the roadways within your community. We use the dot. They have specific standards for all different types of things from lane widths all the way down to harmonization. South Florida Water Management District. This is really the big ticket item when it comes to these projects, which is the the engineered stormwater system, and it's because South Florida Water Management District has a requirement to ensure that we do not have any adverse impacts from the creation of these projects. So, as we start to raise the roadway If this roadway, in most cases, is the low point in the community, as we raise the roadway, we now have to capture that runoff that would come off of that roadway that's raised to ensure we're not going to cause any sort of flooding That's happening today, and any adverse impacts on those private properties. So we have to add those engineered controlled systems to get rid of that water to ensure we're maintaining those requirements. And then the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. They come into when we look at how we're actually going to dispose of the water at that ultimate endpoint. And we'll talk a little bit more about this. But what we've recommended here is some injection wells, and so DEP has the the requirement to look at those. I know you guys have done some injection wells already in your community, so you guys are well aware of the requirements that come through that. So next we're going to just kind of run through some of the the typical sections that we've looked at for these types of projects and that are applicable to your community. The 1st one being a traditional setup which is having the valley gutters on either side of the roadway The benefit that you guys have in your community is that your right-of-way is much larger than most. The county unincorporated area, some of the city areas have much tighter right-of-way, so we're dealing with potential private property easements which is always a tricky thing to have to deal with. However, what we see in your guys' community that we may not have to actually have those. So we may be able to put everything within the the city right away to control and ensure we don't have adverse impacts to the raising of the roadway. If you go to the next one, so as Melissa had mentioned, and obviously all of us understand the importance of protecting the environment down in the Keys, not only from a water quality perspective, but also maintaining that natural habitat with the mangroves So what we've actually implemented is looking at a retaining wall along the sides of these roadways that have mangroves. And that just helps again to protect those so we don't encroach further in those mangrove areas and cause further impacts
to those… to those sensitive areas. So this is a traditional typical section you have with a retaining wall on one side, and then it all kind of flows to the the other side with the valley gutter, and then that valley gutter connects into the engineered stormwater system. And then the next one is just kind of the same thing, but now we have 2 retaining walls on either side. This is where we'll have an engineered stormwater drain system along the gravity wall. When we start to slope the roadways, and then that'll all go to if you go to the next slide, the proposed pump station system, and you can just click through these animation systems, but so basically what we have is the catch basins and the inlets that are along the roadways. Those are going to capture the water that's going to gravity feed that water to that pump station area. That pump station area is going to have a water quality, which is the hydrodynamic separator, basically removing any sort of solids, any sort of nitrogen, phosphorus, other things that are contaminants that can impact the waters that are surrounding the Florida Keys, which we want to protect And then we also have a wet well. That wet well is going to have all of your pumps in them. Those pumps are going to have certain set alarms set so that they only run at certain time periods based on the design that we set for the level of service within the area And then, ultimately, those will get distributed out into those ejection wells that'll be spread out throughout the system. And then we'll also have backup generators and a system set up for these pump stations And I just want to mention that the county, I think you guys probably have already heard, Twin Lakes up in the Key Largo area is actually working on construction right now. They'll be, I think, finished up probably in the next couple weeks, I heard. So that one may be one that you all can get up and see That pump station actually being implemented and what it may look like in your community. So next I'm going to turn it back over to Aaron, and she's going to walk you through some of the policy.

[Erin Deady] 16:28:44
So what we did was we looked at the comprehensive plan to make sure that there were no policies that potentially conflicted with your ability to implement any of these projects or not. And I'll talk a little bit about what that That means as well. Policy 1.3.1 essentially says that your capital improvement schedule shall not include road or sewer line projects that serve to increase land use intensity beyond what is now platted or shown on the land use plan. And so, what I'm suggesting here is some type of exception to that, that the limitation shall not include road or other infrastructure adaptation projects to address current and future flood risk, road elevation, feasibility shall be determined considering available right-of-way, adjacent property elevation, community support, and cost. And what I'm trying to do with that is give you optionality, give you flexibility to decide whether or not you want to implement one of these adaptation projects. If you're watching any of these discussions at the county level, there's not always community support for these projects. But as Greg mentioned, some of the design is different in some of those projects because of the right-of-way constraints that many of those roads have adjacent property elevations, and just the overall design of the projects is somewhat different than what we're talking about here. The designs that Greg just kind of walked through. So we just want to make sure that you have flexibility To make that decision should you decide to pursue any of these projects. The worst thing could be that you decide to implement one of these projects, perhaps you pursue some grant money, and then you have some policy that you've adopted that may is a constraint in terms of your ability to implement the project.

Next slide. And so, here's a few more provisions within your code in terms of design requirements. So what I'm suggesting here is to add a road design component that meets or exceeds the FDOT standards, the Florida Green Book Or not. And the point of this is that you want some minimum level of design standards for your road, but there may be factors such as the available right of way, stormwater design improvements, elevations That you may exceed that because if you're designing some of these projects to the standards that we've been discussing, which is to handle future sea level rise for the life of the project and or cane tides, you're going to be exceeding what those FDOT design standards are for roads. So, you want to have some type of parameter that explains to people that you may be needing or exceeding what those FDOT requirements are. Next slide So finally, our recommendations are the implementation of some of the comp plan policies that we've suggested below, adding a policy to both the transportation and capital improvements elements that say that you may be pursuing road elevation projects to address current In increasing flood risk over time, considering those factors that I described before, which is available right-of-way, stormwater design, surrounding property, and you're going to look at this on a project-by-project basis. In some instances, the roads may be elevated to address this risk And in other instances, the city may just decide that you don't want to implement a road elevation project and that you're going to be simply continuing to maintain that road. Again, this language is recognizing that this is a decision process that the city is going to undertake, you're going to look at these projects on a case-by-case basis, and then we're also suggesting modifying that code language to acknowledge the Green Book standards will be met to the extent practicable, or you may be exceeding those based on these other factors. There's no right way or wrong way to kind of implement this. Some communities may be deciding to pursue these projects, some may be looking at design alternatives and then the decision further on down the road. Oh, that was a terrible pun. Further on down the line in terms of your decision-making to see if you can secure the dollars and to see what the road design looks like, and see if there's community support point is that you want to preserve that decision-making on both sides of the equation

Next slide. I think that's it for me. Yeah, this is back to Melissa.

[Melisa Henriquez] 16:33:57
Thank you, Erin.

[Foster]
Alright, how much water you guys got?

[Melisa Henriquez] 16:34:01
I'm sorry?

[Foster]
How much longer do you think you're going to be

[Greg Corning] 16:34:03
These are the last slides too many

[Melisa Henriquez] 16:34:04
These are the last slides. Yeah, we're done. Yeah, thank you. We do have a project website, Keys Roads Plan. We extended it to include the municipalities. So if you go to that website, you're able to click on the city of Key Colony Beach. And there we have some interactive map viewers

[Greg Corning] 16:34:06
Two minutes.

[Melisa Henriquez] 16:34:22
What do we have there? We have an existing roads elevation Bureau, as well as the recommended neighborhood areas viewer. They are pretty easy to navigate. There is a search bar that you can put in either a road or your exact address and look at the elevation in the elevation map so you can see what the elevations are right in front of your property. And then the neighborhood areas, you can do the same thing. You can either zoom into your roadway or search your address and see which one of those three areas it falls into. It's a bit easier to look at the three areas here than it is for the other cities, so… but we included the viewer there anyway. As for next steps, we just want to ensure that we're helping make the city more resilient by developing this long-term stroke adaptation plan. If you choose to, down the road pursue it. We developed the planning level cost estimates, again, as backup documentation that you may use in the future for funding resources, and we want to provide that technical information for a base of knowledge for you to have, when, you know, any need for project arises. What's yet to come is our final Task 6, which is the final report and implementation plan. As I mentioned, you will have that in your hands before your next meeting to approve and adopt the plan that we suggested or the recommendations and information and documentation that you may have. And that's it.

[Foster]
Okay, question for you. Sylvie, do we have the slideshow?

[Silvia]
No, not yet, but I'll ask Erin to provide it.

[Foster]
We're gonna need it, obviously, for some of the stuff they talked about.

[Melisa Henriquez] 16:35:59
-H

[Erin Deady] 16:36:00
We will provide that

[Foster]
Okay, please send that to Sylvia. I think you may have her email information already.

[Melisa Henriquez] 16:36:07
Yep, we'll send that right away.

[Erin Deady] 16:36:08
Yes.

[Foster]
Okay, great. Oh, I don't have any questions for him this time. I want to digest the information first. So thank you very much for the presentation. Let us take a look at it and see if we can scrape up $100 million in between And then we'll We'll figure out how we can address this, but we… we already addressing some of the items anyway, but thank you, and we'll look forward to it.

[Erin Deady] 16:36:39
Thank you for your time

[Melisa Henriquez] 16:36:40
Thank you so much.

[Greg Corning] 16:36:40
Thank you.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 16:36:41
All right, thanks.

[Greg Corning] 16:36:42
Alright, bye.

[Foster]
Okay, does anybody need ten Okay, good. Eric Still on.

[Kirk Diehl] 16:36:55
Yep.

[Foster]
All right, good. All right. Like, we're done. Citizens comments, correspondence. Any in here?

[Silvia]
Would you like me to read the citizen correspondence first? Do we have any on this part of it? Yeah, we had the correspondence by Lynn Benton on May 19th. Lynn Benton Rogers City Commission was a suggestion to implement a master plan for the city and to create a long range planning committee task was developing it.

[Foster]
Okay, thanks.

[Lynn Benton]
So my comments, I think, are then you have to introduce yourself. Oh, sorry. Lynn Benton 621 10th Street. So first, I want to thank the Commission. You guys have a huge job here taking care of our infrastructure and I know a lot of you give up holidays and Efforts are not gone unnoticed. I'm here to basically talk about long range planning and the genesis of this is my ignorance in understanding things about why

[Silvia]
I apologize. Some comments should only pertain to items on the agenda.

[Benton]
Well, they do in that I don't understand Like we're approving an ordinance for fish cleaning table, right? Is that correct?

[Silvia]
It's actually not a fish cleaning table as a bait preparation. Okay. Then that should go directly if you have comments on the later version table, you can do that. Got it.

[Benton]
Actually, no, I just

[Foster]
if it's on the cleaning station, that's fine

[Benton]
Yeah, yeah, no, you can. So that's fine. Actually, then this is, no, I actually wanted to request that the Commission start a long range planning committee, but it sounds like this is not the proper venue.

[Foster]
Not on this agenda.

[Benton]
Thank you. Okay, thank you.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 16:38:59
Okay, anyone else on the agenda items?

[City of Key Colony Beach] 16:39:04
Cindy. We have a raised hand if you want to unmute the person. Go ahead.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 16:39:11
And who is it? It's Cindy. Okay, Cindy, please state your name for the record.

[Cynthia Tucker Catto] 16:39:16
Cynthia Caddo, 601 West Ocean Drive, Key Colony Beach. technically I'm not sure if I'm in violation because I don't see it specifically on the agenda. It was on the agenda. I'm concerned about the tourism grant for the sunshades for the pickleball courts. And this grant is for 70% of $255,000

[Silvia]
Cindy, may I interrupt you?

[Cynthia Tucker Catto] 16:39:50
Yes.

[Silvia]
I apologize, you are correct, this item is not on the agenda. So, and just to explain why citizen comments, and you can actually look it up in the code citizen comments should only pertain to agenda items because otherwise imagine a 50 Revenants would come and they all wanted to talk about all different things that they've gone through their mind. You can always send citizen correspondence, and that will always be included in the record. But comments should pertain to agenda items

[Cynthia Tucker Catto] 16:40:24
Well, it does Alright. It's because I'm concerned about The Budget, which I think is always on the agenda item And this is a very brief comment. I can cut it down to

[Silvia]
Cindy

[Cynthia Tucker Catto] 16:40:49
30 seconds, but

[Silvia
Cindy, we're gonna have lots, we're gonna have… I'm actually working on our budget workshop dates right now, and I will have them out next week

[Cynthia Tucker Catto] 16:40:51
Yes. This is the current budget

[City of Key Colony Beach] 16:41:01
Okay.

[Cynthia Tucker Catto] 16:41:01
Okay I'm not sure how I'm going to get my point across But

[Some Lawuer]
Mr. Mayor, the fact that there's a budgetary issue, budgets always before you, but there's not an action item regarding your budget per se. So that this is not a matter on your agenda.

[Cynthia Tucker Catto] 16:41:23
Okay.

[Silvia]
Cindy, may I recommend that you… that you send a letter to the Commission and take it from there?

[Cynthia Tucker Catto] 16:41:31
Okay, I will do that then, thank you.

[Silvia]
Thank you. Thank you very much. Is there anybody else that would like to comment on anything on the agenda? Please use the raise hand feature online. And I don't see anybody else, Mr. Mayor.

[Foster]
Okay. Now let's try to get through this. Okay. You've already read the correspondence. That was the only one we had. We're up to is all geared at now

[Cynthia Tucker Catto] 16:42:10
I can't speak because Pickleball Grant isn't on the agenda.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 16:42:15
Now you can do that from your site

[Foster]
Okay, are we clean now? All right. Sorry for… it's been a long day for you, but I like that. Could you introduce yourself?

[Shanna Rogers]
Good afternoon, early evening, Mayor, vice mayor, and commissioners. My name is Shanna Rogers. I am currently serving as For Marathon Fire Rescue, I've been asked to attend this meeting. I've actually been here once before with Chief James Muro. It's a pleasure to be here and present the monthly fire Ems response numbers. If I may do so.

[Foster]
Please do.

[Rogers]
Okay. For the month of April, we've had a total of 14 calls Of those 14, one was a fire incident, two, a hazardous condition call, eight EMS calls, two false alarms, zero good intense intent calls, and two public assists 3rd of the 14th, and for the calendar year 2026, a total of 58. So we going up or down? I would imagine that, and that's a great question. I apologize that I don't have information. We're slowing down right now. So my guess is that we've gone down just a little bit. Okay.

[Discussion]
Okay.
Do you have a card with you that you can leave? I do not. I want to be able to come back and reach out to each of you and Spend a little bit more time having conversations. At that point, I may have something with me to share with you. All right, great. Meantime, if you could just share your information with Jamie, that way I know how to get ahold of James, but Unfortunately, James is not here. Absolutely. Thank you. Welcome, and if you ever need anything, feel free, please ask. Thank you. I appreciate that. All right, thanks.

[Foster]
Okay, Jamie.

[Buxton]
Yes, sir? Do you have any questions for me?

[Foster]
Anybody any questions for Police Department

[Harding]
Okay, I have one request.

[Buxton]
Yes, sir.

[Harding]
So, Jamie, it's a code request. I had a resident come to me and mention about concerns about safety on the beach areas on West Ocean. And my simple request is to have code enforcement just walk the beach and see if they observe any safety issues with a couple addresses. And these are items in very shallow water. That could be a safety concern to your children are playing or somebody's playing in the waters.

[Buxton]
Are these on the condo beaches?

[Harding]
Or on west ocean. Okay, got it.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 16:45:15
Thank you. You're welcome. I've had this

[Colonell]
I got some. Okay, got a minute for Jamie. Yeah, go ahead. The I know John has addressed the school bus driver. This this wasn't the 1st time that I've seen a school bus whiz down 8th Street and I mean, he had to be going 50 miles an hour. And there's no stopping a school bus at 50 miles an hour when a dog jumps out. So I don't know how it's circulating constantly, but this guy.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 16:46:10
The sergeant is going to be out there tomorrow. They're going to pull him out. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, I've seen that, too. Yeah, we're not the only ones.

[Foster]
Jamie, I apologize. I should have seen this, and I I didn't. But You have an email in here from Emily Simpson

[Buxton]
Yes, I just wanted you to have that for your reading pleasure.

[Foster]
This is the individual that had the cardiac arrest that you were able to resuscitate until the Monroe Fire Department got here. They were able to take her to Baptist North, I believe And looks like after she got out, I'm just going to read this real quick.
"So I've been wanting to write this email ever since my cardiac arrest on February 9th to properly thank you for what you did For me that day, because of your quick actions, professionalism, and calm response during the incredible, frightening situation I'm alive today." Pretty big testimony. "I know that first responders see people on some of the worst days of their lives, but I want you to know that your work had a profound impact on me and everyone who loves me. I'm happy to share that I'm recovering well, and I'm now back home in Massachusetts. I woke up from my medically induced coma n February 11th, my 34th birthday," young lady "Without any significant impairments, thanks in large part to your quick actions that they because of you and the other first responders, I was able to make it to that birthday, which truly became one of the best birthday presents I could ever receive, another chance at life. I think about how different the outcome could have been without your help that day. Your training, your compassion, your willingness to step in during emergency it gave me more time with my family, friends, and loved ones. And I will never forget that. Please also extend my thanks to everyone else who responded that day and care for me. I'm looking forward to visiting Marathon again in February."
And I was with you, and you got your presentation from the Marathon Fire Department over in Marathon. It's Little things like that is what makes What makes a police department and all the other agencies out there important?

[Buxton]
Thank you, sir.

[Foster]
Thanks. Thank you.

[Harding]
Mayor, can I compliment that with a comment? So I have the benefit of getting to see the fire and the police on a frequent basis. And there's a reason for that. And the thing that I think this really illustrates is, when people push about should we have a central police department part of Monroe County You wouldn't have this response rate. You would not have this response rate. So the thing we should all realize is having our own police department in control of it. We have a great response rate. And I would say I've had many, many times where the police have shown up. If the fire department comes in about 5 months, 5 min later, and in a case like this, 5 min is a lifetime, right? So I think it's just another great example where we have a great response rate. We've got great trained employees, but we got to remember that response rate that we all want to pay for enjoy.

[Foster]
Yeah, I had personal experience with Jamie. She come to my house and very cryptic message. It was basically my house now And she was there in Three minutes, maybe less So nice work. Keep it up.

[Buxton]
Thank you.

[Foster]
All right. Anyone got hang from Mike or any of the rest of John, what do you have? You got anything quick?

[Harding]
I do have one for Mike.

[Foster]
He's next after John.

[Harding]
Oh, I'm sorry, I'll let John go. I'm sorry.

[John Bartus]
You have my report. I'm just going to add one quick thing. I'll be happy to work with both Jamie and Shanna, who is, was late and had to get out of here. We'll be working with both of them on the big hurricane exercise A week from Friday, I'll be stationed over at the EOC. We'll have a temporary, an EOC here that we'll be coordinating with the main one, and we'll get all prepared for a 13 exercise Getting us ready for emergency season this year.

[Foster]
Thank you very much. Great.

[Harding]
And just one comment with John and Sylvia. We did submit the Florida or Florida Commerce application for the grant. So to let everybody know that applied for in John and Sylvia were very helpful. Great.

[DiFransico]
I have a quick item question for Tony. On your report, Tony, you talk about State Emergency executive order first. Oh, I'm sorry.

[Foster]
Hang on a minute. All right, Jang, that you want to highlight those?

[Harding]
You did tree trimming at the golf course. A lot of improvements with that. Mike and I talked through that, you know, I've been doing that yearly at our condo association and seeing huge improvements with that. I would like to propose that we do that again before the end of the budget year To get that in, so we have the money to do that. I would suggest up to a range of $15,000, and it could be other trees within the cities, you know, the larger trees that you guys can't get at. But I would suggest to get that lined up and get somebody in to do that before the end of the budget year.

[Foster]
You just did correct.

[Mike Guarino]
We did all the polka dot you did

[Harding]
he did the coconut, right? Yeah, I'm talking about the other. On the course, too, though. Yeah, there was some coconuts on the course that were done, but I think we could do more. I do… I do think it'd be good to get Darryl He's got some very valuable input based off of being in that area so much. So I just like to get that done before the bucket year finishes out

[Foster]
All right, thanks. Now you're done.

[DiFransico] 16:52:31
Tony, question about this state of emergency executive order permit extensions. How does that work? Do they automatically extend, or do we have to do something, or do they have to apply for it? How does that work?

[Loreno] 16:52:44
Caught you both. The contractors that were qualified for it that had open permits during that time and we found out that they did qualify. The permits have been tolled and they qualified for another 24 months extension through the state board

[DiFransico]
So we have to be on the alert for when who has an open permit when these extensions are announced.

[Loreno]
Yeah, we're being flying out. Yeah, we'll get six months. We're actually 60 days notice. [garbled] The four that we had, we found that did qualify for some other question

[DiFransico]
I see it here. You're doing 100 rental instructions a month. That's basically three a day. Is that straining your resources?

[Loreno]
Well, right now we're business in my regular inspections and plan review, and Sam is also doing inspections. So we're breaking that up. Sam's coordinating those really well. So we can, like, as a matter of fact, today I knocked out 15, but it was with one rental the agent, so we're able to knock those out door to door to door.

[DiFransico]
Yeah, thank you.

[Foster]
And we also found out on the tolling that we so we've corrected that too. Sylvia, anything from you or any of the departments?

[Silvia]
I have nothing additional, no.

Okay.

[Foster] 16:54:15
Alright, so with that said, I don't see anybody else in here. Let's go to the consent action items.

Consent action items under the consent agenda, all action items will be voted on after one motion, and a second will be required to approve, and without discussion of the Commissioner wants any action items discussed or voted on separately, the Commission member at the beginning of the open session must ask that that item be moved to the discussion. Are there any items there that you guys, need pulled out for discussion?

[DiFransico]
I have a question on the last purchase from Reynolds, but no reason not to. It's already been done. I just have a question about it.

[Foster]
Go ahead.

[DiFransico]
It says salt water is getting into drying bed. How does salt water get into the drying bed?

[Harding]
Let me

[DiFransico]
But we're basically taking the drain away from the drying bed. That's what this is, tapping the drain from the drying bed.

[Harding]
No, there shouldn't be any salt water in the dryer. No, what they connected was the drying bed to that lift station pump. So now when you put decant into the drying bed, you open up a valve And then you use the pump during that time, and then you close it out. And what was happening, groundwater, saltwater, groundwater was getting into that flood station and starting to corrode everything. So basically the inlet to the inlet to the lift station has a closure valve on it to control and then the operator just controls it. And we wouldn't have done that the lift station had to have been replaced in a couple years.

[DiFransico]
Yeah, I see that. It just seems to me that I just didn't understand how water salt was it's going to get into the drying bed if salt water is in the groundwater. But it comes elsewhere.

[Harding]
It's coming in from the bed, yeah, coming in from the bank. Yeah, it's one of the educations of the retention pond is, you know, it's some areas at 50%, some areas 75%.

[Foster]
Okay. All right, so Sylvia, do I have a motion to approve? Motion to approve. I have a second. All right. Roll call.

Commissioner Defenseco? Yes. Commissioner Dia

[Kirk Diehl] 16:57:01
Yes.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 16:57:02
Thanks, Michaelana. Yes. Commissioner Harden? Yes. Mayor Foster? Yes. Consent action items. All right, make it happen.

[Foster]
Alright, item 7, discussion approval. First one, discussion approval for a proposal by title for the electronic digitalization of indexing of records and city archives for $35,000. That keeps us from having to go out for competitive bid. It's at the threshold And I've asked us to be put on because we are in dire straits for storage. Motion to approve. Do I have a sec?

[Kirk Diehl] 16:57:37
Second

[DiFransico]
Second, any discussion? I have two things. One is, I'd like to make sure that someone goes through with a fine-tooth comb as to what the metadata is going to be. I noticed that it didn't include a search on property address It would be nice to be able to search by street number is street. Also There should be something about how we're going to continue into the future inputting data into this system and whether it's going to be Going to be there, and how that's gonna… how that… how that interface is going to work. It didn't seem to be there. Yeah, and

[Silvia]
Mr. Mayor, I believe we have one of the representatives online, and I think you made them a panelist already, Pa. His name is Tori.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 16:58:26
Is it Ori

[Silvia]
Yes, Ari is actually part of the team too. Yeah, Ori. And already we're sending you a panelist request. And then who's the other person that has the

[Foster]
do we have any questions for him? Now, we don't have any questions for him

[DiFransico]
ign the contract, you should make sure they have all all that information in the… in there as to how that's going to go forward. Okay. What the metadata is going to be specifically, make sure we got all we want, and then how it's going to interface with our future system system in the future.

[Foster]
Do you mind taking a look into that one? Okay, wonderful. Thank you.

[Colonell]
I got a question on that, too, along the lines. Is there a maintenance cost to this every year, or These are one-time hits. Is there Something going forward that we would have a contract each year to maintain all this, or…

[Silvia]
Not at this point. This point is specifically for the archives and hourglass. They have options that we're going to look at. Yeah But there are options afterwards. Yeah, the mayor's main concern is to have the garage and other commission's main concern is to have all those documents cleaned up.

[Colonell]
head. But we can look into that, right?

[Silvia]
Yes, sir.

[Discussion]
Yeah. Okay. Do I have a motion to approve? Motion. Second. I think I already had it. That's okay It's been a long day. Roll call. Vice Mayor Kulinow? Yes. Commissioner Harden? Yes. Commissioner Dia?

[Kirk Diehl] 17:00:05
Yes

[Foster]
Yes, and make sure we have Commissioner DeSantis.

[Silvia]
I will follow up.

[Foster]
Appreciate that.
Okay, next one, approval for permit extension request for 230 13th Street. If I'm not mistaken, Tony, this is the one that didn't start for almost a year after they got their, their permit to start with. Regardless, they need how much more time every year. April

[Loreno]
It's JRC Construction asks for a year. And yes, they are NOT the one that had to wait a year to do that.

[Foster]
Okay, but they need how much they need now?

[Loreno]
One year he's asking for.

[Foster]
Okay, and this is the first extension on top of it.

[Loreno]
First extension.

[Foster]
Okay. Alright, so I have a request for approval or a motion for approval.

[Loreno]
Yeah. Also want to remind you that we do have a structure in place that we can charge up to 10% of the permit fee monthly. Any contractor.

[Foster]
Yeah, I understand

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:01:10
I'll make the motion to approve. Second. I'll second. Roll call.

[Foster]
Any present discussion?

[Harding]
Yeah, one, one discussion. So feedback some time ago, Sam helped me look into this and I looked at new building construction, new homes like this home. And the average time to complete is 24 months with some going to 36 months. There was only one, only one that met the 15-month permit. So I would like to suggest that we have Tony go back to the ordinance or whatever it is, ordinance and look at with new construction, whether 15 months should be modified. I think with Sam's data, she can come up with it, what it should be modified to based on performance I think at least it should be 24 months. And I think some of these would go away. You let contractors keep busy and let them do the jobs

[Foster]
I don't disagree what you're saying. Talk to… talk to Gerard, too, because he had some… there were some reasons why he liked what we did, and I just want to make sure I find out what that was. So you got the homework. All right.

[DiFransico]
I have one other question, and that is oh, is there a reason we should charge them the extra 10% or should we waive that?

[Loreno] 17:02:33
I believe that's designed for the commission to approve that or not. But I would say it's more based mostly on if the contractor is not doing the job, if it's a stagnant job site, if it's messy, if you know there's conditions like that.

[DiFransico]
But it sounds like this contractor is doing a good job. He's continuing to work Yes, yes, do your job. So I would suggest we waive at 10%.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:02:54
I agree. Second. Okay

[Silvia]
Would you like to amend your motion to waive?

[DiFransico]
I make the motion to approve the extension would then waive the 10% fee extra fee.

[Silvia]
Perfect, thank you.

[Harding]
Second.

[Foster]
Before I do that, is there any administrative fee that you should collect on this? That maybe not 10%, but we got to make sure we're capturing your pay, your salary for your employee, everything else. I don't just want to cut off the spigot to make sure that we're doing this right.

[Loreno]
Yeah, we don't have anything in place in our system to do that, but that's a great idea. I know Marathon charges $250 to extend a permit

[Foster]
How much would it be if this was if you do the 10%, how much would it cost them?

[Loreno]
So you're looking at 10%, you're looking at $2,568.80 a month

[Foster]
That's and that's for a year.

[Loreno]
Yeah, that'd be $30,825 for the year.

[Foster]
All right. I like what you said, but I want to make one exception to it. Need to cover salaries. We need to cover our costs.

[Harding]
Which we should say $1,000

[Colonell]
I think we're just I think we're pulling things out of the air. I think we ought to study this, to be honest with you.

[Foster]
I'm not opposed to that either.

[Colonell]
I'd like to take a closer look at it. I think we send the wrong message telling contractors to take a whatever.

[Diehl] 17:04:19
Yeah, I agree.

[Colonell]
You know I think that you know, we don't want these buildings going on for 36 months. There's no reason to do that. I mean, I'm on Shelter Drive. There's an abandoned job site down here. The guy works you know, once every month, if that I don't think he works once a month. And it's just sitting and rotting away. And it's an eyesore. I think it's fair to the other residents that I think people should move on these jobs, right? Move them through. So I'd like to take more time to study the idea of waiving all the fees and and given a carte blanche to take the good old time.

[Foster]
So right now, though, he he needs an extension now.

[Loreno]
He needs his extension now.Hhe's at it right now.

[Foster]
So we either we extend it within the parameters that we have now Some modification thereof.

[Harding]
Well, if you could, we amend the motion as we approve the extension. And next month we review what the fee should be.

[Colonell
I like that.

[Harding]
And then I would say, Tony, you give us a recommendation back to the mayor's point, you know, time and effort, right?

[Colonell] That's incentive.

[Loreno]
I'd be happy to put that together.

[Silvia]
Mr. DiFransico would you like to withdraw the amended motion and make a brand new motion for the record.

[DiFransico]
I would like to make an amended motion that we withdraw your motion. Make the amended motion that we approve the extension of the building permit With the caveat that the associated fees for the extension will be determined The next commission meeting

[Foster]
Method. All right, do we have a second. Second. All right, roll call.

[City of Key Colony Beach]
Commissioner Dia. Yes Commissioner Harden? Yes. Commissioner? Yes. Vice Mayor Colonel? Yes. Mayor Fartha? Yes. Motion approved.

[Foster]
Thank you.

Okay. The condition, the continued discussion approval on the agreement with early alert. I think we've had this in front of us twice maybe 3 times. What I'll say is hurricane season is coming. Yes. Everybody else has this agreement in place. We've had the individual talk to us before you saw the fee schedules. I Time to make a motion for this and decide what we're going to do.

[Harding]
I'll make a motion to approve

[DiFransico]
Second,

[Foster]
any any further discussion on this?

[DiFransico]
I have one question for John. Sure. On page 85 of this sample proposal There's a comment that says all procurement and contracting assumed to comply with 10 CFR 200 for full and open competition. Do we have full and open competition on this procurement?

[Bartus]
On this, because we're using this as a piggyback agreement on the village of Isla Moradas existing agreement, we do not have to go through a competitive bid process.

[DiFransico]
I want to make sure we're not risking jeopardizing our FEMA reimbursement because we don't have full and open competition on this.

[Bartus]
I understand.

[Some lawyer]
The requirement is that you undertake competitive bidding as allowed in the parameters of the statute. Statute does allow competitive bidding to be done by a piggyback to another agency
we always confirmed, though, that that agency did it right the first time. So so it is valid and acceptable. So we meet the requirement. We are not going to jeopardize jeopardize our FEMA reimbursement.

[Lawyer]
I think, like I said, while we verify that we have no doubt they haven't for as long as Islamorada has done it correctly, we'll verify it for your benefit. Then this is an acceptable way to proceed

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:08:08
Okay, roll call. Yes, Commissioner. Yes Yes. Commissioner Harding. Yes. Mayor Florida? Yes. Motion approved.

[Foster]
Discussion approval to award HAACK to environmental. I got it right this time. Hack Environmental LLC for the proposal of 26-02, sludge holding surface per agreement and the utility board's recommendation. Do I have a recommend to approve or motion to approve?

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:08:41
Motion to approve. Second. Any further discussion? Roll call. Vice Mayor Colonel. Yes. Commissioner Hardin? Yes. Commissioner Deal. Yes. Commercial defense vehicle? Yes. Mayor Foster? Yes. Motion to floor.

[Foster]
Okay, discussion approval to raise the annual stormwater assessment from 80 to 84. Per the recommendations of the utility board. Do I have a motion to approve?

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:09:06
Motion to approve. I have a second. Second. Any discussion? Roll call. Commissioner Harden. Yes. Commissioner Defencico? Yes. Vice Mayor Komanello? Yes. Commissioner Deal? Yes. Yes.

[Foster]
All right, discussion approval for the proposal for KCS solutions for the installation of the AV equipment for City Hall. What you will find in the package is a list of the equipment That we sat with them and went through for this for the building and to the side of that is, I think it's $19,000 for labor so since we purchased the equipment through the city, we don't have to go out to bid for that. So the threshold for that, and we did ask for another company to provide, and to my knowledge, they never presented.

[Bartus]
They never got back to us.

[Foster]
So based on what I believe we went through, we're going to get all the equipment we asked for. And we'll be able to get it up before the ceiling goes up, which is what we're going to need.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:10:13
We need to hurry. Yes. So, do I have a motion to approve? Motion to approve. Do I have a second? Second. Second. All right,

[Harding]
question. Answer. Is this conference room and the office area going to be wireless? Or is it hard work? Or is it a combination? Is it a combination?

[Discussion]
Yeah, I believe so, yes, sir. You probably want to make sure we clarify that with hardware that we… ideally, you probably want both, but let's take ACS tell you what they recommend what we want. We want the connections over here, the wireless is for the internet, but because this is going to be a multi-use place, you have to have wire connection. No, I understand. I just… I just want to make sure that we have, I guess, back up to wireless is my point. No, okay Okay, roll call.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:11:11
Commissioner Dia. Yes. Yes. Vice Mayor Colonel? Yes. Commissioner Harden? Yes. Mayor Farka? Yes. Motion approved.

[Foster]
All right, discussion approval for a proposal by the Beautification Committee to provide a budget of $10,000 for repair to the retention pond. Dave McKeehan had written something there. I'll have my conversation after we get a motion.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:11:37
Motion to approve or thoughts like this. Second

[Harding]
I'd like to add one commenter.

[DiFransico]
Go ahead. My question is, Mike, does this make sense? Seems like an awful lot of money to me to fix a couple of ruts in the road.

[Guarino]
Yes It does, and with the upcoming pavement project on 7th Street, I think may we see how that works when we get heavy rains. Before we do the AI changes, I think

[DiFransico]
I like that.

[Harding]
I think you're right, Mike. I think with the water erosion The pavers can make a big change to that and either good or bad, right?

[Colonell]
Well, and also I believe that he's Mike's talking about we may end up eating with even more runs because of the construction So we're going to fix a rut, and then we're going to still have some guys go through there. So Probably better to wait. Yeah

[Foster]
So that's kind of where my head was.

[Harding]
And the only comment I have is I would charge this back to stormwater budget, so I wouldn't put it in general or beautification. You know, we're gonna have to maintain that property for a function. It's a functional property, it's not for, you know, there's some beauty, right? But it's really functional, so I think we just whatever we get the bill, we expense it back to normal.

[Foster]
So sounds like we want to wait. And because we still got work to be done there.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:13:06
Okay, roll call. And for the record, we have a motion on the floor to approve the beautification committee request. Both mycalena No. Commissioner Harden. Yes. Commissioner Diaz. No Commissioner defenseico? No. Mayor Foster. No. Motion failed. Karina. This was for. We don't attend until after

[Harding]
Yeah, but we could approve it and have Mike wait on even to have a clue. It doesn't matter. Okay. So I guess my point is you at least want to delay it, but I was thinking we just approve it and have Mike. Okay, got it.

[Foster]
All right, ordinance. Second, the second and final reading of ordinance 26-511, an orders of the City of Peak Colony Beach, Florida, amending Chapter 5 of the Code of Ordinances entitled Boats, boat trailers, marine facilities and Waterways Article one, operation of vessels amending section 5.9 fishing from Sadowski Causeway bridge prohibited and provided collocation repealing any inconsistent provisions, providing preservability, and providing for an effective date. Mouthful All right

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:14:26
I motion approved. I make a motion to approve. I have a second.
Second Exactly. Okay, any further discussion? Roll call. Commissioner Hardin. Yes. Yes. Vice Mayor Colonel? Yes. Commissioner Leon. Yes. Yes. Ordinance it after. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, ordinance adopted sorry all right

[Foster]
first reading of ordinance 2026 Tech 512. The ordinance of the city of Key County Beach, Florida, amending Chapter 15 of the Code of Ordinances entitled Storm Water Utility Systems and providing codification, repealing any inconsistent provisions, providing for servability, and providing for an effective date. That's basically the increase Do I have marginal proof? Motion to approve. Thank you. Any further discussion

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:15:21
Roll call Commissioner Diaz

[Kirk Diehl] 17:15:23
Yes.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:15:24
Commissioner Hardin? Yes. Commissioner DeFencico? Yes. Vice Mayor Cornell? Yes. Mayor Foster? Yes. And the second reading will be on June 18th.

[Foster]
All right, resolution 2026, pack 08, a resolution of the city of of the city commission of the city of Key County Beach, Florida, authorizing a loan and principal amount of 3 million to finance the cost of improving City Hall, and to pay the cost of such loan approving the form of and authorizing the execution of a promissory note The exempt obligation under sections note agreement with First Horizon, PEI or DE1 LLC designating the promissory notice, qualified tax exempt obligation Under Section 265 B3 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, providing certain details with respect thereto and providing for an effective date.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:16:28
Do I have a motion to approve. Motion to approve. Second.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:16:33
Any discussion?

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:16:35
Roll call Commissioner Dia

[Kirk Diehl] 17:16:39
Yes

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:16:39
Yes. Commissioner Harding? Yes. Mayor Farsha? Yes. Resolution adopted.

[Foster]
Okay

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:16:52
Thank you. Thank you, Corey

[Harding]
I will. Okay. Treasurer's report. Okay, Treasurer's report for April 30th financial summary. This is where the seventh month of the 2026 fiscal year. The plot that's on the document you can show for what our revenue was, expenses and our running balance, Good news is our running balance is running a little bit larger than we've had at this time in past years. So we're in good shape for revenue. Ad valarium's at 97% of the budget target, and we're at very good position for that for revenue. Total expenses are under budget. There's a few areas that are over budget. What's one is legislation, which is because of the lobbyists that we've hired financial administration, mainly due to salaries, retirement, and medical. I think this next budget will have to adjust the retirement medical a little bit more, and then public works as retirement and workman's comp policy. But those are fairly minor. Building funds still in very good shape, with a small positive balance. We want it to be a small positive balance at $19,450. So that's in good shape. Next page is Grant status. So Sylvia and I did a lot of homework on this in the last few weeks. So the City Hall hardening we have remaining funds of $955,000 out of the total grant. We were all a little concerned on the spending rate with the contractor. Contractors provided updated estimate of what he's going to charge in May and June. If he executes that, we're in really good shape. We'll utilize the grant, fully. It has a history of not being able to execute everything for those estimates. So we did reach out to the engineering Folks and ask them to provide an in-process bill, and so they're working on that, and I think that will get us some safety factor. So I think with the engineering, we'll have a decent safety factor. And then we have an open amount for $305,000 that Sylvia is going to add to the May estimate for the grant. So I think we'll be in okay shape now that we did some homework. And then I did do some follow up with Mike on the tax exempt bonds, and again, he educated me a little bit. So on the on the loan, what he suggested is that if you can stay away from any post office charges to pay that out of your own reserves, that's the best bet, because what the IRS looks at is Over the life of the loan, you can't go above 10% of the loan for private use. And and the reason for this is Irs is trying to make sure that this city doesn't purchase buildings for private use and then get the tax benefit. So He said the best thing is just avoid it altogether and you don't have to worry about it. So and then he did bring up that you have to think about the 15-year life. Let's say in 8 years something happens with the post office, and we want to renovate it. He said, you know, you want to have some safety factor there that you don't want to use that loan amount. So he clarified that for me. I got a better education on that. And then as a reminder, as we purchase furniture, fixtures, and equipment that we use the city reserve funds for that. And that's just based on administrative tracking for the IRS that we would, you know have to spend money doing that. So he said those 2 things to be cautious of.

And then last thing is you notice on the documents we approved for the loan. There's no specific interest rate yet. What they set that up on an equation based on the Treasury rate at that day. So we will see the rate. It should be around 4.98, 4.9, somewhere in that range. And we'll see that rate on the actual date we close but it's going to be very close to what they already recommended. But if you looked in the package, it's a formula. So the formula will be calculated, and they're going to do that They're going to have the package sent around for hard signature after closing. It sounds like that's what they're going to do.

[Foster]
You're signed for all of us, right?

[Harding]
I'm assigned and put your checking account.

[Colonell]
I got a question for you. Yes, just a quick one. I think we were already using the city reserve funds and the grant funds for funding in the building, right? We're already doing that. Yeah. The idea was the loan would reimbursed out of those funds?

[Harding]
No, so as we as we get the loan, he also clarified for me. As we get the loan in June, what we want to start prioritizing any Pedro Falcon bills Engineering bills pay for it directly out of that account and hold using your reserve funds except Some portion for the post office, and then we should have, we should have, and we should be able to utilize that loan fully by the time Pedro Falcon's done. And we have, and what's great is the IRS allows us 3 years to do that. So we have plenty of time. Hopefully be doing it for 3 years. But what he… I asked him, where do you want me to pull the funds from? And he said, make sure you pull funds straight from that fund first. I said, okay, that's what I would The final thought is that The thought with the IRS is that you're the city taking out a loan tax exempt And you shouldn't be sitting on that money thinking you're going to buy Picks up a road in two years. You're supposed to use that money because you got it as a lower rate. That's who you're supposed to use it.

[Discussion]
If I ever get 100 million. I thought it was intense.

Colonell]
One last question for you, Tom. The additional tax administrative tracking. Is that a fancy phrase for appreciation.

[Harding]
No, it's a fancy phrase for Sylvia doing a lot of work. So what it says is that you buy a light fixture and you pay for that out of the loan. Now, Sylvia has to keep a file, so it's light fixture, how much she paid, and then every year we have to submit that to the IRS, submit that to the IRS For 15 years.

[Foster]
Buy only one light fixture.

[Harding]
So the message is the message is just pay for it out of your reserves, and Sylvia doesn't have to track anything

[Foster]
Okay, thanks.

[DiFransico]
I have a question for Tom on the different subject. The notes Tom that's in here from Southern Group about the potential tax Property tax changes. Should we start looking at something in the near future? I've heard the county mayor talk a few times about how the county is doing a deep dive to take a look at how they will address this issue, and should we start looking at that, or…

[Harding]
Well What I picked up with the timing is The legislation and the governor are looking to put the focus to put something on the November ballot, right? So I think that the positive news is not a July 1st edict, right? I do have different… I have some opinions on the July 1st document and edict that's going to come out which will affect this year's budget. I think next year's budget is going to be driven by the November ballot feedback, right? What other cities are doing casually asking, you know, they're looking at what would happen if they lost 20% of their income? What would they stop doing as a risk analysis, right? I don't think we're at that point yet. And I, you know, Sylvie and I have done some homework on homestead of properties. If they went if they went down by 50%, they went down by 100%. What does that mean to us? And quite honestly, it's a smaller number than I thought it was going to be.

[Foster]
So that's good. And on top of that, though, they can't just I've talked to the senator when I was up here, and then I've talked to the lobbyist last week, especially after seeing that, and First of all, they still They still don't believe it's going to go through. That's just one piece of it. And as you know, DeSantis is the last So that's one, but two, they can't just take it away without substituting something for it. So automatically 29 counties have already told the governor they will go bankrupt. You can't bankrupt the city. It just doesn't work So you need to be mindful of it. But I think it's too early. I think we still got We need to wait and see.

[Colonell]
Maybe we need to borrow more than 3 million.

[Harding]
I thought that was coming from the mayor.

[Foster]
I appreciate that, Tom.

[Foster]
You have anything, Jamie?

[Lawyer]
No, sir.

[Foster]
Okay, I do. Your bills need to come down. Too many people are calling you, whatever the case may be, but I just signed a check where you made my hand hurt. And by the way, did you bring a check for me for $1,000?

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:26:50
I think I brought up last night.

[Foster]
Okay. For the No, I probably got a hustle when you're here too.

[Colonell]
Right, we don't want… we don't want that you're signing up for the great white, not the guppy, right?

Here, I'll double check. I

[Foster]
thought I had brought a second. But serious, for all of us, we need because every time you call, every time you send an email, and every time you send a text, there's a cost So we just need to be sensitive to that. I watch that.

Alright, that's all I had on that. Commissioner's report, Tom, you're back up with, your water sampling.

[Harding]
Yeah, so wastewater sampling, short and sweet. We're at very, very low level of COVID And we are at 0 for RSV, and obviously flu is gone, so a very minor COVID sample results. That's it. Very good. Yeah, I do have one comment on that is reading a lot of the press stuff, the CDC has now assigned 100 Engineering type of people for that projects, and they're trying to figure out what they're going to do throughout the country. And again, wastewater, you can detect it by wastewater. So, you know, we're all in a perfect position as if they ever want to push the button to do that So continuing wastewater is a great example of that. But I did read an article, they shifted 100 people to that specific virus. Okay.

[Foster]
All right, Commissioner Deal, do you have anything

[Kirk Diehl] 17:28:28
No, not at all. Nothing this month.

[Foster]
I appreciate that. Nothing more. Vice Mayor Colinell.

[Colonell]
little update on City Hall progress to City Hall. We're doing better contractor has submitted all his the requested information for scheduling. And, he is sort of stacking his trades now. I think, Chris, you're due to start soon, aren't you?

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:29:00
Next week, there are some changes on the sidewalk. But yeah, that should not hold you up.

[Colonell]
That should not hold you up. I think towards the end of next week. Okay, because I heard, you know, two weeks ago we were going to be heavy out there, and here we are so and it's important as Hard Commissioner Hardy just said that we're trying to get the billings in So, but with the roof going on, and with you on the site work for the stormwater and the sewer, electrical electrical has been resolved, the slab has been resolved. Those are all progress forward. The the new pin piles are going in the end of the month And then the slab should be poured. I believe the first or second week of June. So we ought to be looking at a much cleaner job site with the second floor progressing out in the new area. So City Hall is coming along a lot better. We have change order one behind us that resolved 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, maybe 7 items. We have a few design issues that we need to work through, but we're working through them. So I think the city hall is coming along a lot better.

[Harding]
Good. And your change orders are okay, and I'm okay with them. Like, you haven't scared me yet.

[Colonell]
Thank you.

[Foster]
All right.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:30:19
How do you even get more than 3 million, right?

[Foster]
So I understand that he wants you working here. I want you working at the end.

[Colonell]
It's never the contractor. You know that. And I didn't want to go on record.

[Harding]
I do want to go on record. He has no problem giving us a bill.

[Colonell]
Well, that's a smart man. You know, while we have Chris on the, I if I could just back up a second. I had a couple of quick questions on the sludge hall. Easy questions. Who determines the 2% solids

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:30:56
So we did get a couple loads out of there. Like our system is full of filters. So we know what we historically get at a 2% solid, how many gallons before the system's pulled. We ended up getting a couple loads out of there that were thickened

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:31:11
Was it more than 2%? Much more. We didn't test the percentage, but it cut like the volume in half. You can't process as fast as too solid. Wow. You know, so we're paying for the sludge.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:31:22
You know, we got like $400 a ton in it on the sludge when it comes out and Joby landfill. So on hauling it per gallon, I don't know if you triple the weight of the solids

[Foster]
Do you have an idea why?

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:31:38
Why? Why it was heavier

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:31:40
I don't know why

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:31:44
My question still is who determines that you? We actually haven't tested anything. I'm not going to be like testing every load trying to get an extra nickel out of it

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:31:53
But if all of a sudden it keeps getting deep that's exactly what I was worried about.

[Harding]
Yeah, let me answer Chris's question. So when Shane takes samples, he measures that. So when we're developing the contract, Shane said, well, we haven't sampled in a while, so I'll do a sample. So Shane really is based on how much he decants the digester is how thick or how thin it is. And quite honestly, it varies. It varies week to week, it varies if we have an emergency, and we got to get that tank empty If we have to get the tank empty, it's going to be 1%, and if we're down and low, and it's… we've been keeping on top of it, it's going to be much more than 2%, right? Yeah, so basically, basically the operation determines that Chris is… he just gets the result.

[Discussion]
I think you answered my question. You guys decide who determines the 2% or whatever. You know, now we hire a third party. Yeah. That's my next question. Who's paying the third party?

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:32:58
I would if I had a suspicion that it's thicker

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:33:01
you know I don't have a problem. It's not something that's automatically done. It's if he has difficulty and he's getting too much, then he's going to be forced to do it because of the cost. What happens is when the air is on, everything makes.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:33:14
You know, so if you're taking your sample, like Shane's taking a sample with the aerator on, it's gonna show a low number. Right. If you turn the air off and you let everything separate, then I'm pumping out the bottom where everything settles. Then you're gonna be sludging. You're gonna be way high. Right

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:33:29
And, you know, it's something that Shane can do on a more regular basis. It's not that difficult.

[Foster]
Well, we're talking about sewer next anyway, so. All right. Done. Anything else?

[Colonell]
Well, I'm trying to get my head around the idea of this, that Is this something that will cost the city more money?

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:33:51
So she's saying no See the boss Historically in the past where we've been able to get rid of the waste. This is going back two years ago. We went and we don't. There was no sampling, there was nothing. So for us to haul a 5,000 gallon load was the same dollar, whether it was 7% solids or 1% solid. Okay, good, good. So nobody really cares, right? Okay. Now nobody South of Orlando's taking treatment plant sludge. You know, you're getting it out of your plant because there's nothing you can do with it. It's trash. So they don't want it going into the headworks of their plant just to run through and jam everything up. So now the way we're doing it is, you know, we're mixing polymers, we're spinning it, we're pulling all the liquid out, solids are going dumpsters

[Foster]
Yeah, you're just drying it and getting rid of it, but

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:34:43
So the other problem is there's cheaper places to get rid of the sludge But it involves a lot of testing. Like you'd have to have people testing your waste out here twice a week. So we're already taking it to waste management's landfill and they'll only take it in their landfill and it's all their vehicles So, okay, good. Yeah, thank you. So we're locked in long term. But you know you can offset some of the costs, but you're just going to spend it on the other end. Okay, thank you. All right

[Foster]
Alright, for my update, I really had nothing taken long enough, so we still got one more to get through, so I have nothing. Any, citizens' comments left? Sylvia

[Silvia]
If there's anyone online that would like to speak Please raise your hand. I don't see anyone, Mr. Mayor.

[Foster]
Anyone here

[Foster]
Okay, are you a motion to adjourn?

[Colonell]
Motion.

[Foster]
This one's adjourned. Do we need 10 minutes? No.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:35:50
Huh?

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:35:52
Yes.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:35:57
Yeah.

[Kirk Diehl] 17:36:08
Take a 10-minute break.

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EMERGENCY MEETING

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:35:46
This one's adjourned. Do we need 10 minutes? No.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:35:50
Huh?

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:35:52
Yes.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:35:57
Yeah.

[Kirk Diehl] 17:36:08
Take a 10-minute break.

[Kirk Diehl] 17:41:48
16, so I didn't round

[Kirk Diehl] 17:41:52
So…

[Kirk Diehl] 17:41:58
We're able to mute

[Kirk Diehl] 17:42:08
So that would be well

[Kirk Diehl] 17:42:20
632. That's what I'm saying.

[Foster] 17:45:48
All right, we're ready. Okay, call to order the Key Colony Beach City Commission emergency meeting

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:46:02
Call to order and roll call. Mayor Foster? Yes, here. Vice Mayor Kolanoke. Yes, here. Commissioner Harden? Here Commissioner. Here, Commissioner Dia Here

[Foster]
Okay. Any additions or changes to the agenda?

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:46:22
None with the name. Okay. Any citizens correspondence? Would you like to ask for a motion to? Oh, yeah, please. Motion, motion. Second Second. Roll call. Commissioner Harding. Yes. Commissioner DeFrancico? Yes. Commissioner Deal. Yes Vice Mayor Colomell? Yes. Mayor Foster. Yes. Agenda approved.

[Foster]
Okay, so those comments. We're talking about something real exciting.

[Silvia]
If there's anyone that would like to speak to the agenda item, please use the raise hand feature. And we will unmute you.

[Foster]
Seeing none. Okay, let's get right into it. So discussion approval to address sewer plan issues. We have had Too many issues at the plant To not do something To protect the city from possible fines, retribution, whatever you want to call it. Bad letters from the DEP, the citizens. Whoever would be affected by some of The issues we've had of late. We've got a few things controlled. At least we have our pump outs controlled and we have a contract that is working well. But I think we need to If somebody else has a better idea, bring it up, but at this point, I think we need to hire an individual to one be trained, two, oversight, and three, protect the city's interests for the operation, the safe operation of the sewer plant This has been something I've been thinking about for a while and at this point, I think the city needs to put themselves in a position where we're protecting ourselves and our interests. That's where I'm at.

[Harding]
I'll add to that is we've had a number of spills Which in my history with the utility board and commission I've not seen it anywhere near this bad And that's not only affecting us potentially by health. It is affecting us financially and to the point that you know we haven't seen the fine from Florida Department of Environmental, but we'll see those finds. I think we need to take some ownership and oversight that we can directly control. So I support the mayor's suggestion I would make a motion That we allow the mayor to advertise and hire an operator that is skilled for our plant configuration and We'll continue to monitor that after the person has started and what our relationship is with the current contractor.

[Foster]
Currently, I don't know that anybody realizes how much time Commissioner Harding spends there or how much time I spend there for that fact. And we do that one, because we care, but two You have to inspect what you expect and and we're to the point where it's It's too taxing for both of us to continually to go over there and monitor coach, give feedback Ensure that reports are being submitted and ensure that the city is There are equipment in our plant is being maintained in the best that it can be. So that's my concern.

[DiFransico]
I have a question of what do you anticipate this individual doing? Do you anticipate him becoming the plant operator or do you anticipate him overseeing US water running the plant?

[Foster]
The way that I'd like to put it out there is the individual will already be a licensed operator So they will be able to operate, and they also have to be qualified in MDR system because our system is unique. There are people out there, because I've spoken to them that have the background in our system. So that's kind of where I'm looking at. So right now I have a 1st From, I believe Tom would make your motion correct is give the mayor the authority to go out and hire somebody, and and more to come, but I think that's where we're at. So if we want to continue discussion, I need a second. And we can

[Colonell]
I'll second and I have a question for you for both of you guys. I appreciate everything you're doing. I realize it's a dirty job. But I don't know how to phrase this question. I think I understand the answer. But you know I know we had a plant operator that worked here for a long time, long before I got here and he knew the system very well. And now we've been using U.S. water. Are are they not performing?

[Foster]
So I for various reasons, I kind of want to I want to keep the conversation to Right now, protection of the city for the benefit of us keep the system running. And we'll address the issues as we go. But that's kind of where

[Colonell]
this would be in addition to US water

[Foster]
correct because US water was also there when the individual was there for 29 years But right now, what I'd like to do is focus on getting somebody in here. And fortunately for us, it's an enterprise endeavor for us pays for itself. And so we're I'm not concerned about the cost of it as much as I'm concerned about if we lose that plant, what is going to be the cost to us?

[Harding]
And the thing, the thing I'd like to mention on cost is the cost of cleanup costs of repair and the costs of fines are far outweighing
an employee hub

[Foster]
So that's kind of where I want to bookend the conversation

[DiFransico]
I'm concerned that we not, what should I say? Precipitously let go of US water. Lose their expertise. I think it's a good idea to have somebody come in, oversee what's going on, making sure it's going well for the city's perspective. But I think that if we're going to get rid of the US water, we need to understand the long-term ramifications of what we're going to do.

[Foster]
Right now, that's not the discussion.

[Colonell]
So This would be an employee of the city.

[Foster]
That is correct.

[DiFransico]
Okay. To oversee US water, oversee the power of the operation.

[Foster]
Correct.

[DiFransico]
I agree with that. Okay,

[Colonell]
I like it.

[Harding]
And and I think I think the benefit. The other benefit is we would probably get extended hours of coverage that we aren't seeing today.

[Foster]
That's that's what I'm looking for. Alright, I got a first and a second, any further discussion? Barring none.

[City of Key Colony Beach] 17:53:55
Roll call. Commissioner. Yes. Commissioner Harden? Yes. Commissioner Defensekhar? Yes. Vice Mayor Khanna? Yes. Mayor Foster? Yes. Commissioner.

[Foster]
And just so you know, they're not cheap So again If we got to get the right person. All right, so we'll move on that and we'll have further discussion as time goes. All right So, with that said, there's nothing

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