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Looks confident.

Jeannie Duarte 0:20:42

Good Morning Jeannie Duarte I am here formally to request uh two actions today an independent forensic audit of the city of Palm Coast Water and wastewater system And the charter review to be tabled till this diocese is filled with elected officials The water utilities requests are based on uh Documents of evidence of undisclosed contaminants emergency chemical changes failing infrastructure sewer overflows raising costs and lack of transparency A forensic audit is not routine accounting When residents are being told one thing and documents are showing another a forensic audit becomes a duty not an option It protects the public the city and future decision makers Next the city charter is a voter's contract with the the government their government And you all have it under review Any changes affecting oversight spending authority or voter protection must be made with maximum legitimacy and public trust which is currently strained Proceeding to with the charter changes will uh while seated uh while seats are appointed and are not and or not uh in attendance undermines confidence in those uh process and outcome On behalf of the citizens of Pomcos we demand that the city council this city council table the charter review until this diocese is filled with elected councils And that this council authorizes a complete independent forensic audit to include public findings so trust can be restored through transparency and facts This is about respecting the voters and rebuilding public trust We we need clean water honest governance and full accountability And stop approving new builds the data center and zoning changes till this demand has been fulfilled The best thing that the new city manager can do is to fire His assistant She has had a knowledge of all this and she has been deflecting the truth Thank you Thank you ma'am Anyone else Yes sir

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David Preet 0:23:25

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my name is David Preet Uh my address is protected under Florida statutes but I do live in the city of Palm Coast I'm gonna stand up here today and hopefully get my point across in 3 minutes I'm gonna heap some praise on this council and Ms Johnson and I'm also gonna level some criticism that I think Can be done better things in this city Ms Thompson I wanna tell you thank you for your time It was a rocky road the last couple years You've got a strong heart and a good will to stand up here and take the beating that you've gotten from the city commission and some of the members in the audience I appreciate that it takes a strong person to do that Thank you for your time Your new city manager may or may not have their hands full Now another praise Ms Pontiera thank you for the communication on next door concerning Fire Station 25 and Chief Barry Hill I am not gonna knock you or anything on that part You were precise You asked to carry it forward in an email I didn't think I needed to because after you and I spoke or chatted on the Nextdoor app Chief Barry Hill put out a PSA about what was going on at 25 I think it could have been a waste of money It could have been a warranty issue but whatever I did a little research station being built in 2009 I got no problem with that Council members thank you for relaxing the paint codes on the houses I lived in the woodlands when I first moved up here in 1989 and I've worked in this county for this county and I was one of the first firefighters 24 hours for the Palm Coast Service District I retired out of this county in 2015 I lived in the woodlands I got in trouble for painting my house I didn't get permission by the HOA I asked my wife That was my permission I also got in trouble for having my county marked vehicle in my driveway but yet a sheriff's deputy could I asked the county I left my vehicle there Now this stuff that I don't like the throwing of money away Member Miller you wanted to give $190,000 You and I chatted on next door You want to give $190,000 to keep the Palm Coast library open That is county property I pay county taxes Now you're going to double tax me because the Palm Coast residents are inconvenienced What about the West Side residents They had to drive to Palm Coast when the Vanilla library was closed What's any different for Palm Coast residents The dog fee registration resolution come on Ms Grossman probably didn't do her due diligence Ormond Beach has a fee Daytona has a fee Orman's is a sliding scale and gives a discount for residents over age 62 A 500% increase outrageous and I apologize for my time and I'll close real quick That's not acceptable People that have 4 dogs or 4 animals that's $100 a year and you want to fund

Looks confident.

Ed Fuller 0:27:42

Good morning I'm Ed Fuller Honorable Mayor honorable vice mayor honorable councilman Uh it's a privilege to be here today on this uh sad but very very very grateful day for me and my family and the citizens of Palm Coast Uh it's a day of gratitude But before I forget uh some of these things uh I wanna thank uh Parks and Rec and uh Public Works for their help in the Veterans Day parade and this council up there for participating in it It was the best Veterans Day parade we ever had It was the largest Veterans Day parade we ever had So thank you very much My remarks hopefully uh I I'll I'll certainly try to do this Ms Johnson God bless you Thank you so much for stepping up And being the leader And cheerleader of our community There has been no greater challenge in this community than what we had in the last 20 months I'm sure when you signed up for it you figured oh my God there's no way You know what I think your guardian angel keeps up with you wherever you go and your family I want to say that to your mom and dad thank you for giving us Ms Johnson to our community You're homegrown but certainly not in the least The very best in our community and I wanna thank your mom and dad I wanna thank your family for all the the sacrifices that you made for our community You've been out at almost every event You've engaged our community at every turn You've tried to educate our employees You've tried to educate our citizens You've tried to educate our legislators And most of all we had a new council and you know what you did know and what you didn't know and what you're still learning It's been it's it's always been a learning curve Ms Johnson I understand that you were in the leadership commu uh some uh class I believe you taught the class not were a participant in it because your leadership goes knows knows bounds Uh I wanna thank you for the support you've given our uh POMCO Citizens Academy alumni group Uh it has been a real real engagement friendly uh endeavor to our citizens and our residents It's a must attend event and it's in February And we also have a surprise a national anthem singer and her last name is Duffy and then I'll just try not to give that out There are many things in life that that that make a challenge but I think Maya Angelou summed it up best I've learned that people will forget what you said people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel Ms Johnson You're amazing God bless you Thank you for stepping up You can check out any time you want but you can't ever leave Thank you so much and God bless you

Looks confident.

Holly Treat 0:30:56

My name is Holly Treat and um I'm here today I am an investor locally um in Palm Coast I have 13 rental properties They're all long-term properties Um and I have a little bit of an issue So um back in 2013 when I purchased these properties any property that became vacant the water department would um lock the meter and put it back into my name Um not the case right now I just received a 1 $186 bill for a vacant rental property When I called the um the water department they said that the new policy is to um when a tenant vacate Has the property it goes back into the owner's name They do not lock it they just leave it active um which I think is ridiculous Back in the day they would lock it Um you would pay $50 to have it reinstated if you needed water temporarily on or if um You know if or if somebody moved in Um so I guess my problem is that um $186 is ridiculous for a vacant property I shouldn't be paying water if I have zero usage Um so I when I did call them they explained to me that a lot of the citizens who owned rental properties would complain that they had to pay that $50 for reconnection I would rather pay $50 than $186 Um So I'd like you know I'd like to just ask if you guys could you know revisit how that's done Um I know that back in the day they would actually put an actual lock on the the water meter Nowadays they do not put a lock on the water meter they zip tie it I did have a situation where I had a tenant that would not pay or did not pay their water they disconnected them and the tenant went out there cut the zip tie When I received a bill for the water I questioned it because the tenant had been there for 8 years and they said that they were disconnected for nonpayment Um so that also poses you know risk to us as investors um and and rental property owners Um And when I asked them why they didn't lock it with an actual lock they said they didn't have enough locks to do that in the city of Palm Coast Um I received I have a vacant property in Volusia County as well Excuse me um in Daytona Beach the the um the bill is $27 So I brought these with me So if you wanted to to verify the $186 to the $27 So this is a non-active account it is locked Um I do have to pay I don't even know what they're charging me for on this It just says $27.58 which is just a I guess a a basic fee that is just sitting there vacant Um but I would like to ask that you guys you know visit this and and see if there's something we can do to either lock the meters once a tenant leaves or you know have a base fee Thank you Merry Christmas to you guys Thank you mystery

Looks confident.

Mark Webb 0:34:11

Mark Webb Palm Coast So we made it Last meeting of 2025 Accolades are awesome Uh acting city council member each one of you have had A trying and struggling year and here we are But what I want to do is take a moment and speak to the citizens of this city because there have been some phenomenal examples of You guys paying attention listening and reacting To the citizens So when I speak hopefully I speak for a lot more than the 7 to 10 people that are here We looked at chickens We're gonna do that again today We looked at parking Those were all citizen request issues that were brought to the council We looked at paint colors Paint colors but we move forward and you listen and you heard We almost had a petroleum facility plant farm The citizens spoke up You listened The concrete processing plan the citizens rallied spoke interfaced with you representatives of the citizens so it is imperative and I preach this constantly Citizens have a voice We do have the last voice And I want to applaud you guys in your own way for listening and trying to do the right thing and I think unfortunately the larger view of many of the citizens here is why bother I don't have a voice They're not gonna listen to me I'm not everything that they want I'm a big fan of the aquatic center staying I guarantee you the consequences of losing a facility to gain another one is gonna have its own challenges Oh you're moving you're talking you're doing you're proposing you are making effort I wanna see this room full of citizens That participate and care with everything you guys are doing so I hope you have a phenomenal break and a holiday turn off all the news and radio and get a good book and take a breath and come back recharged because I think next year is gonna be quite a bit of a challenge Thank you guys for everything you do

Looks confident.

Jeffrey Marsden 0:37:17

Hi good morning Jeffrey Marsden B section Palm Coast I just wanted to echo that point I I'm disappointed that there aren't more um citizens here this morning I wish there were There weren't very many at the uh Flagler County meeting yesterday either Um so uh just two things I wanted to bring up Um The Starlight parade was canceled last week which was a big disappointment for a lot of people here in Palm Coast and um Besides that you know I heard and I could be wrong here that uh Palm Coast was trying to charge the marina fees for boats to uh enter the parade so there were only about 12 as opposed to I think 2 years ago there were 90 something boats Um anyway it doesn't really seem like the Christmas spirit to me charging those boats to uh enter the parade Um the second thing is um you know I I saw in the newspaper and online uh the new city manager's salary is apparently $225,000 a year plus benefits Some people are saying $300,000 a year I I checked Ron DeSantiss Governor Ron DeSantiss's salary is $141,000 a year Just I'm not sure where that money is coming from you know uh the Palm Coast Aquatic Center is closed again for the winter Um so you know that city manager salary is is is affordable and in the budget but you know a a tank of LPG gas and paying some teenagers $12 an hour that's not affordable Um there's a lot of people that might want to be here to talk about that pool but they can't because they are uh physically disabled and it's very difficult They're mobility challenged and So you know there's taxpayers in this town the only exercise They can get is in that pool And when they don't have that that's 4 months of of of no exercise for for a lot of people that are disabled in this community Um and I know there was talk about a YMCA here but apparently that's um Defunct now possibly Um anyway I would beseech the council to think about the finances Um and again think about the people in this community that that get no exercise for 4 months because that pool is closed They have to drive down to Holly Hill or Ormond Beach or something like that Thank you Merry Christmas and God bless everyone

Looks confident.

David Preet 0:48:51

Good morning Mr Mayor Again David Preet We're supposed to be user friendly in the city And I didn't get a chance to finish everything else and I won't go back that further We continue to tax our citizens I'm for backyard chickens and there might be members in the back that are not That's their right and my right as well too But we're supposed to be a user friendly city We are projecting to the nation to the state of Florida we want people to move here But then we don't make it user friendly We want to continue to tax or spend The citizens' money The dog fee outrageous That is shouldered on the members that put you all in this office that pay the taxes for the city and the county Something better could be done I didn't do my due diligence and find out what the fee is for backyard chickens But a fee you're making it look like we're a communist-led city You're putting it out there because a few people don't like chickens 4 chickens I lived next to a house that I never knew had chickens 4 They were quiet They were clean There was just no smell and I got free eggs once I found out about it 4 chickens and you wanna charge me And the citizens outrageous that's the stuff I'm talking about that needs to be changed We need to be user friendly not tax and permit Every little thing the citizens have to do we pay taxes There'll be people that will turn in their pets because they can't afford a $25 outrageous fee for pets If somebody has 4 that's $100 a year People will go hungry as in me for my pets They will have a place to sleep They will eat before I do but I will not pay $25 and I will not pay a fee to have chickens Therefore my yard is clean I'm a clean person Thank you That's not a threat That is just how a citizen feels that opposes Others that don't want chickens Thank you for your day and your time

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Jeannie Duarte 0:51:19

Jeannie Duarte it's almost like you guys don't want chickens either because it's unaffordable for anyone to pay these kind of fees for what 4 chickens I used to raise chickens I raised chickens with my kids We were in FFA 4H all that Uh I grew up in FFA and 4H And to to pay all these fines and fees and and just to have a few chickens in your backyard you're not going to get The the Residents are not going to get their worth out of it It costs them money to buy the chickens It costs them money to feed the chickens and they're only going to get a few eggs out of it that are not sustainable in an emergency situation A lot of people want chickens in their backyard and vegetables in their backyard for emergency situations to feed their family and to take care of their family in case of an emergency Well you already made it uh unaffordable That's like When it comes right down to it what's the length of time that a chicken lives And does this include roosters Do you have a separate ordinance for roosters Is that even part of this But this is completely unaffordable and it makes the grocery store look a lot more uh appealing I'd rather stick them in my freezer than to have them in my backyard and pay you guys

Looks confident.

Tony Amaral 0:55:28

Good morning Tony Amaral Palm Coast So Track 17 has been this council's um elephant in the room It has been a park It has been in a commercial area It is now a brown field Why would we even consider this as a park site If it was gonna be considered a brownfield um It just kind of Makes me wonder What is the plan for 17 It has been 10 different things in the last three years Um we have costs associated with it then we're trying to recharge for it for once we wanna move it to something else We need to settle in figure out what we're doing with it The brownfield idea I understand why it will help get funding for different properties um sorry to bring in other properties and work on it to get it prepared for possibly commercial But let's just be consistent figure out what we want and make it a one-time deal not the it's something every time Track 17 comes up it is something new Thank you

Looks confident.

Diana McLemore 1:04:35

Good morning Diana McLemore the F section here in Palm Coast and good morning City Council Mr Mayor I'm not much of a speaker but I would be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to publicly thank Lauren for her dedication to the citizens of Palm Coast during her time as our acting city manager I feel that she has done a tremendous job Facing many challenges the citizens of Palm Coast have been blessed to have her in this role for this extended period of time and I think she should be applauded Happy holidays to you all Thank you ma'am Anyone else

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Tony Amaral 1:05:18

I know you're going to get tired of hearing me I want to first offer apologies for coming out a little passionate I like my city I like my living And I appreciate what you do I understand the comments of the mayor and the vice mayor On it all and I appreciate you saying we're not going to rehash it That's acceptable but I want to apologize but you've woke my eyes up and you've helped me make a determination that I'm gonna move forward just like I did when I was in the HOA And I'm gonna help guide this city or try to in a good way I wanna thank you for your time Thank you for listening to me and appreciate your comments We are supposed to be revenue neutral and I'll leave it at that Have a blessed day

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Tony Amaral 1:06:11

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my bill I fixed it Thank Tony Amaral Palm Coast I wanna thank all of you for a uh year that started off a little rocky and has worked out to be beneficial to everyone in the city We've all come together and I appreciate everything that has been done from each and every one of you Lauren I know you're probably tired of hearing about it but you have done a phenomenal job Um thank you for all the work you've put in and we look forward to still seeing you around and being part of the city Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone