REGULAR COUNCIL WORKSHOP - **Adjust Time Change

Docusign Envelope ID: 33673DA1-2D32-4924-835B-EC580B9E56A1 HISTORIC TOWN OF EATONVILLE, FLORIDA REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MEETING MINUTES Tuesday, October 21, 2025, at 7:30 PM Town Hall – 307 E. Kennedy Blvd. SPECIAL NOTICE: These meeting minutes are presented in an abbreviated format intended as a public record discussion of stated meeting according to the Florida’s Government-in-the-Sunshine law. Meetings are opened to the public, noticed within reasonable advance notice, and transcribed into minutes for public record. **Audio Recording are available through the Town’s website on the Council Agenda Page. CALL TO ORDER AND VERIFICATION OF QUORUM: Mayor Gardner called the meeting to order at 7:37 p.m. and a quorum was established by Mrs. King. PRESENT: (4), Councilman Tarus Mack, Councilwoman Wanda Randolph, Vice Mayor Theo Washington, Mayor Angie Gardner (Absent: Councilman Rodney Daniels) STAFF: (6) Marlin Daniels, Interim Chief Administrator Officer; Veronica King, Town Clerk; Ryan Knight, Town Attorney; Katrina Gibson, Finance Director; Valerie Mundy, Public Works Director; Chief Stanley Murray, EPD INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Invocation through a moment of silence led by Mayor Gardner followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA: Mayor Gardner Motions to APPROVE the meeting agenda; moved by Councilwoman Randolph; second by Vice Mayor Washington; AYE: ALL, MOTION PASSES. PRESENTATIONS AND RECOGNITION: Presentation on the New Water Treatment Plan Design – Valerie Mundy introduces the proposed New Eatonville Water Treatment Plant Vision. Ms. Mundy – We started in 2022 with funding for a water treatment plant and it was not until we got the funding to augment the $5.9 million dollars that we got from the Department of Commerce (the CDBG MIT grant) and additional funding from SRF, which allowed us to build the facility that we needed. The facility we are proposing is a water treatment plant and a million gallon ground storage tank to accommodate and build for the future. With the SRF funding we also hired CPH consultants to do the design of the water treatment plant and the ground storage tank. They developed their team and they augmented them with consultants who were architects familiar with the town. We also knew that we needed to have community engagement so we brought in NCPH to provide additional support. From a history standpoint, last year, many of us did a site visit to the Town of Oakland’s water plant which is downtown. The historic town was established in 1887 and their treatment plant downtown served as a prototype for us, because with the funding, we found out from our consultants that they were able to build a park in association with the water plant. When we visited, we saw the possibilities of what we could do with our water plant including enhancing the area around it. We are going to have CPH do the presentation tonight as well as Rose Brio who is the architect that has worked on Denton Johnson Center. They were charged to take a look at the entire campus along Ruffle Street. We had to make sure this was not random or haphazard, but instead a planned development that would grow with the work that is being done there, and it also had an 1 of 9 10212025CouncilMeetingMinutes Docusign Envelope ID: 33673DA1-2D32-4924-835B-EC580B9E56A1 educational premise to the site. We are going to begin with Robbie Gonzalez who is the project manager with CPH. Robbie Gonzalez – As Ms. Valerie pointed out, I am with CPH Engineers and the project director for this project. What we are going to be showing you here today is going to be the vision for the Lake Bell park and water treatment plant. I will be turning it over to Ruffin Rhodes who will discuss the Denton Johnson vision. He had a workshop in October 2019 and at the time, they did not have a water treatment plant as part of that vision. Now he is going to be including it. Then we will turn it over to Ms. Victoria, who is the water treatment plant engineer at record. She will go over the site plan. After that Ket West who will go over the floor plan of the operations building. From there, we will transition back to the park concept, where Malcolm Jones is working with our landscape architect, Galen, who worked on the Town of Oakland’s water treatment plant. He will be working on shielding the plants and landscaping that would go around the treatment plant, also providing an irrigation-type system that would also feed the future plant. Ruffin Rhodes – Good evening everyone. My name is Ruffin Rhodes. I am here to talk about the vision for Denton Johnson park, specifically how the water treatment plant facility will be an anchor on the site and create opportunities to further develop it. I have included this slide for those who are not familiar with Denton Johnson Park (Mr. Rhodes then showed an enlarged image of the site). The planned construction of the water treatment plant will occur south of the existing Boys and Girls Club. It will be a gateway on a western edge framing the entire park. What we want to do is make sure that we build any future developments that happen there, that we create a unified campus that seems seamless and matches everything in terms of architecture. One of the things we had to do was identify the assets. (Mr. Rhodes showed four areas of interests where opportunities occur with students and youth). There have been some discussions about possibly having a larger venue at the Denton Johnson Center at some point when funding occurs. In addition, the open area East of the water treatment plant is the perfect opportunity to build large community venues. These are just some things to keep in mind. One of the gems I really love about this park is the walk along the waterfront. People need to take advantage of that and it could be a great opportunity for education for students and kids to understand Florida’s natural environment. Lastly, no park would be complete without a recreation area, so this is a perfect opportunity to add fitness and health, a playground, and maybe it can become a hub for potential trailways and boardwalks. I have identified 4-5 methods for a unified park campus which we can discuss. First is the materiality of the potential development constructions that occur. We want to make sure that we are using similar materials so that they have a unified look, whether it is brick, masonry, stucco, or glazing. Second, the building scale: you do not want anything taller than 3 or 4 stories. The scale should match throughout the building, campus and park. Third, color and artwork are great ways to unify this campus, and so whether the buildings are painted a certain color or artwork that could be used to convey the theme or environment. Fourth, landscaping is an important part of unifying this potential park. Adding landscaping can help show how these buildings are all tied together and provide better wayfinding. Lastly, I would like to highlight the cultural and historical awareness that is ingrained in all the new developments that can occur. This town has a proud history, and so we should certainly celebrate that in every aspect of any potential development that occurs on this topic. Mr. Rhodes continues the presentation with various slides showing the preliminary visions for the development. Victoria Marochkovich of CPH consulting then proceeds to discuss the major elements of the water treatment plan. Ms. Marochkovich – The plan of the overall site will be designed to create rain outfall away from the major components. The site will be raised approximately 3 feet high, and the water will be directed to two stormwater ponds. We designed the site to maintain the setbacks from the wells and wetland. The wetland line is closer to Lake Bell so all of our facilities are outside the 25-foot setback. The town has existing wells on site but we plan to update them to increase the capacity for the system. The next main component is the tank. It will be a 1 million gallon storage tank. The tank is sized to provide 3-day storage, to support portable water demand during any emergency events, and bad weather conditions. The distribution pumps will be located in the operations building. We will also have a power supply that will be coming to site, from West Avenue, so we will go along Duke Energy’s existing easement. We will put a new generator to support the main components and provide uninterrupted portable water service during an emergency. Also, I would like to note that ponds will be sized to comply with the new regulations that are coming into effect in December, to remove nutrients 2 of 9 10212025CouncilMeetingMinutes Docusign Envelope ID: 33673DA1-2D32-4924-835B-EC580B9E56A1 from stormwater. The water plant is vital infrastructure and will be secured within the fence. There will also be cameras facing the facility. Overall, the new water treatment plant will replace aging facilities and provide resilience to the town’s portable water. Ket West – Hello everyone. My name is Ket West and I am the principal architect with CPH, and I will be the architect of record for the building. The design of this particular building will have some resiliency to the structure itself because of the essential use of the building. The building is divided into three parts: the northern portion will include managerial space and will also include a rec room and multi-use meeting space, a water-testing lab and restrooms. The middle portion will be a high- service pump room. We have identified that there will be 3 pumps with an additional pump for the future. The southern portion of the building will include heavy electric requirements for equipment required for pumps. In addition, there is a secure IT space and storage space for chemicals such as a chlorine storage tank. We are going to make sure the aesthetics of the building are taken into consideration throughout the development. Malcolm Jones – Good evening. My name is Malcolm Jones and I am in charge of the community engagement portion of this project. We have been working in collaboration with Candace Finley of Esteemed Learning and Mr. Eric Whiteside. With community engagement, it is a call to action for the town to come and have a voice and sit at the table. As you can see, there are a lot of changes coming to the park in a short order. There are some things in the grants that are directly covered programming wise, but there are a lot of opportunities for you guys to put your ideas on paper. We want to look at things like environmental-centric programming, education-centric programming and activities or murals (a call for artists). With that being said, at the stakeholders meeting on October 27th, there will be a community engagement opportunity. Ms. Mundy – Thank you all for listening to the presentation. We were fortunate not just to have the CDBG MIT funding and the SRF funding, but also the funding we received for Hurricane Ian from Orange County. The County asked us to put some funding into Lake Bell to make sure there were stormwater aspects and also wanted us to look at the trail and upgrade pavilions. We are going to use a small portion of that funding to add this part. I think we will be able to find many more grant opportunities. This is just the beginning of a number of opportunities that we are taking advantage of. We are in the 30% phase of the project. Once we move from 30%, then, a lot of the work will be expedited so that we can complete this work in the next three months. Questions/comments: Councilwoman Randolph – There was mention of community engagement, when is that going to start? Ms. Mundy – It will begin at the stakeholders meeting on October 27th. I believe it will be at Town Hall but I will have to confirm. The meeting will begin the discussion on what the park will look like. We have also begun looking at potential artwork on the water tank which requires community engagement. Councilwoman Randolph – I was also concerned about green space. There is not a lot of property there from what I recall and my experience at the Denton Johnson Center. Council members respond to Randolph’s concern and state that there will be enough green space. Ms. Mundy – A lot of the area that is around Lake Bell is not wetlands. Much of the area is invasive species that can be cleared. The CPH has identified the actual wetland sign, and we are hoping to utilize as much and clear some of that space so we can actually see the lake. Robbie Gonzalez – To add onto that, the property right now is graded as residential R2, so that it will be 40% impervious, so you will have 60% available land in the park area. That includes the expansion of Denton Johnson which Mr. Ruffin is exploring. Ms. Mundy – And Malcolm (Jones) just confirmed that it is 11.2 acres. Councilwoman Randolph – Are there any plans to accommodate for more parking? Ms. Mundy – That needs to be discussed as part of the planning process. Mayor Gardner – First of all, I love the collaboration. The second thing is in regard to the security of the building. Ruffin Rhodes – The building itself will be designed for hurricane resistance, just due to the essential nature of the building. There will be additional security and we will discuss key fobs and fencing of the site. Mayor Gardner – My final comment is not a question, but I want to make sure that credit is given. This grant began as a CRA initiative so thank you to the CRA. Ms. Mundy – And the beauty of using an experienced consultant is that they were telling us they were able to use their prototype of another water plant where they had an EOC (Emergency Operations Center), so what we tried to do is pack in as much as we could with this grant to facilitate our needs. So, we will have an EOC, it will be rated for EOC with showers, a conference room, and so I think Chief Murray would like to see that we claim EOC in the town. Candace Finley (via Zoom) – I just wanted 3 of 9 10212025CouncilMeetingMinutes Docusign Envelope ID: 33673DA1-2D32-4924-835B-EC580B9E56A1 to say, on behalf of Esteemed Learning, thank you for allowing me to be a part of this as a community resident and advocate. Let us get to work. Councilman Mack – Thank you to Ms. Mundy for everything that you bring to the table for this community as well as everyone else for your collaboration. I know we have not always involved organizations within our town to be part of something so I am grateful. I am glad we are able to put this grant money to work, and in terms of your presentation tonight, I am super excited. Ms. Mundy – In closing, with the abandoning of the downtown water plant, it will give us future opportunities for development on that site. Mr. Daniels (to Ms. Mundy) – Could you talk about the educational component that is going to be encompassed into this area as well? Ms. Mundy – Yes, and I would like Candace to mention some of the STEM and STEAM type of elements, or even Eric. Candace Finley (via Zoom) – Yes, this is one of the reasons why we want to do community engagement because one, we want to do a little bit of backwards design and see what the community interests are. We already have some kind of idea based on what kind of programming and events we have had but now incorporating funding like the playground grant. I know that we need some support in playgrounds. For example, there could be a “Design a Playground” challenge where our youth work with the engineers and go through the process. We also have aspects of interactive historical components that will be throughout the park. We also have other food programs such as a community garden, looking at hydroponics, solar farming, and orange grove restoration. And that is all, in return providing programming for the community, but also skills that we need in as far as growing and gardening, as well as generating revenue for the town. Eric Whiteside – I am excited to be part of everything. It is all about synergy and connecting with the young to the present and leaving something for the kids. We are looking at creating a trail, jobs, and training to connect youth and elders so that they can communicate and work together. I think that Eatonville can show the world. And that is why part of the objective is educating–keeping people prideful of what they know, and what they do not know, as well as the future to come. Councilwoman Randolph – What is the future capacity for the new water treatment plant in the next 10 to 20 years from now. Robbie Gonzalez – We have taken that into consideration. Currently, your wells are only doing about 600 gallons a minute. And right now, one of the wells is down. We have a hydrogeologist that is going to work with the well driller. We want to see how much additional capacity we could get and if possible, 900 gallons. If we can increase that capacity on wells, then you do not have to spend $1.5 million on a new well. So, we are all right with the wells and took into account even developing the Hungerford property when we did the master plan. The other aspect was the ground storage tank. It is going to have 3 days of storage in case of emergencies. If your wells were to go down, you would have three days of water capacity. When it comes to the chemicals, right now we know the chlorine at the existing plant is undersized. They are actually replacing the chlorine every week. It should be every two weeks, so it is going to be twice the size of our chlorine tanks, and it is going to be a safer area. If you have seen the chlorine area on the existing facility right now, it is kind of off- gases, and so we are going to have a ventilated space so that it is safe for the operators. Also, the actual building we segregated everything. We have the pumps in the middle and the high-value items south of the pumps. There will be access security as well. There is also a vision for a fourth high-service pump, so that you could have additional storage. We are planning to run a 16-inch water line which will get you 3,000 gallons of water a minute. We are trying to master a plan to take you into the future. Ms. Mundy – What about the population? Robbie Gonzalez – we are doubling the population. One thing I forgot to point out earlier is we also have Mo working on the project. She is one of the program managers for the DPSRF. We also have Fred Fox, who is the DMIT. Councilman Mack – I know that we were looking to add on to the Denton Johnson Center and expand, where are we with that (in terms of grant money)? Ms. Mundy – We have met some new people in the last several months that may be able to assist us in getting funding. FEMA, who assisted us initially with the resiliency grant, have been meeting with us to find funding for a resilience hub. That hub will give us the opportunity to expand Denton Johnson and also provide a facility that would provide backup power or shelter in a storm. We are looking at different angles. The concepts that Ruffin came up with, to put up a second story or create a larger facility, and possibly a parking garage–those are things that we need to brainstorm and see what we can do to get funding for that. Vice Mayor Washington asks Ms. Mundy about plans for recreation. Ms. Mundy – Our committee is working with the recreation department for programming. 4 of 9 10212025CouncilMeetingMinutes Docusign Envelope ID: 33673DA1-2D32-4924-835B-EC580B9E56A1 Vice Mayor Washington – I just wanted to make sure recreation programs are included. Also, what made you choose this location because I remember you showing three options. Ms. Mundy – Initially, we did have three options. We did not want to bring that detail to this meeting and confuse anyone, but we are looking at three options. (To Ket West) What were the options? Ket West – We had taken multiple options and narrowed it down to three options. With the latest plan, it was a conglomeration of the things Ms. Valerie told us it needed to be incorporated. We believe this plan is in the best interest of the project and is cost-effective. Ms. Mundy – Our project manager, Mo, is ensuring that we are coming up with cost-effective options because she is managing the grant funds. Mr. Daniels states that the purpose for tonight’s meeting was informational. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION – (2) Zari St. Jean – I am a child of Eatonville, but I am unable to be a resident of the town which is a concern for me. Councilman Tarus Mack spoke of when he was a little boy, what it felt like to see some of the land of Eatonville go missing. I am sure you know the feeling that I felt. And understand, say, and want to say in a public forum, when you spoke about what the town has done to move forward? I wanted to finish my statement by thanking you all and answering you all to say that you have invested into the youth of this community. You have poured into us, guided us, and instilled confidence in us which allows me to stand here and tell you that I have been out in the world, and I have had Eatonville in my heart and on my back. I have gone to FAMU to get my bachelor’s and I am currently at Rollins College receiving my MBA. I just recently won a presidential award from Rollins and got back from a trip to Africa. I have seen what a township in South Africa looks like. I have seen what the scars of apartheid and racism have done to a place. It gives me that same feeling that you feel–being scared, anxious and restless. Although I am only 31 and feel as though I have accomplished a lot, I still do not have enough to be able to come home. I am here to say and ask, what do I need to be able to come home? What do I need to do to prove to you that the investment that you have made into the children of Eatonville, who hope to have a future in this town, who are raised to come back, what can I do? Angela Johnson – I would like to commend Ms. Mundy and the team for bringing forth your presentation tonight. I love the question that Councilwoman Randolph asked about the capacity and taking into account future development. My question is, what is the timeline for the project? Also, am I hearing from the Vice Mayor that you are asking that they present something to you for approval, and if that is your request, is that a requirement? Because, again, we do not want it to come before you for it to be stalled for something that we know we need. They are standing before you now, giving you a project, so if there can be clarification up front now to avoid any tabling of actions. I am always going to stand before you and say that there is not a lot of residential representation at stakeholders’ meetings, they are poorly attended. For you to stand up here tonight and say that there is going to be a meeting on a project that the majority of your residents will not even understand what you are talking about, it was a disservice. So, I will appeal to you to either have something that is third-grade level, that can get out. Most people are not on social media. The only time we come out is when there is something of a controversy. This is not something of controversy. This is something that the town needs so I appeal to you. APPROVAL CONSENT AGENDA: Mayor Gardner MOTIONS to APPROVE the Consent Agenda with correction of September 16, 2025, Council Meeting Minutes date; moved by Councilwoman Randolph, second by Councilman Mack. AYE: ALL, MOTION PASSES. 5 of 9 10212025CouncilMeetingMinutes Docusign Envelope ID: 33673DA1-2D32-4924-835B-EC580B9E56A1 STAFF COMMENTS: Before Staff Comments, Mr. Daniels yielded the floor to Valerie Mundy to answer a question from Ms. Johnson regarding the project’s timeline. Ms. Mundy – We do have a target date because we have the CDBG funding, which was acquired in 2022, and they are interested in us expediting this. The planned deadline for the completion of engineering plans is the end of December/early January. We will be putting those out to bid sometime in January. We will also bring the construction contract to the town sometime in late January/early February. As for Ms. Johnson’s concerns of community engagement, there are going to be multiple community engagement meetings. We expect there to be 3 or 4. The stakeholders meeting on Monday will be the first of several. We will be looking into the different options and see what our team can do, and to be able to accommodate. INTERIM CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER: Marlin Daniels – I know about three meetings ago we talked about the importance of code enforcement. I wanted to thank Chief Murray and Attorney Hawley. We had an in-depth conversation about a week and a half ago. We know that there are two properties, both with thousands of dollars in liens. We have come up with a concept that we will be bringing back to Council since it has been at the forefront to handle code enforcement issues. It has been outlined that we can go through a process of foreclosure that falls upon Florida Statute 162.09, Section 3. We just have to verify the property and after a 3-month period, we can move the case before the Code Enforcement Board. After that, if the board authorizes, then the matter can be presented to the Town Council for foreclosure. We know that there are a couple of properties that need to be condemned, and this is the most effective way of easily being able to take care of that nuisance in the town and move it forward. We will be more than willing to listen to you all, but we are on those properties that you have stated. Public Works have been doing an awesome job. They recently completed hydrant flow testing that was submitted to the Orange County Fire Department. In Catalina Park, we are working on a stormwater and park improvement scope of work. It has been submitted to the county and hopefully, within the next 2 weeks, we should begin an agreement on that. Councilman Mack, you asked for the sidewalks to be dealt with. We are in the process now and Ms. Mundy has informed me that we will be moving forward. CPH just updated us that Well one is in the process of getting fixed. In Lake King in Catalina Park, we have drained it to help the flooding issue. In response to recreation, the security system at the Denton Johnson Center has been improved with a new alarm system and cameras (indoor and outdoor). During budget workshops, there were some statements asking why insurance is so high. We can report back that we added these features on, so hopefully that could help our insurance costs. We will be working with recreation on getting quotes on painting and flooring, to make the place more presentable. Our finance department is working on audit information. Ms. Gibson has meetings starting tomorrow. Our goal is for the audit to be done by the beginning of March and budgeting to begin at the end of March. Also, the finance department is finalizing budgets. We will be doing a comparison in the next couple of weeks and analyzing our last 3 years of financials for the Town of Eatonville. We are going to work internally, and then we may be looking at bringing other people in to help us look at cash flows and different aspects. We are also working in conjunction with the CRA on streetscape. Vice Mayor, you mentioned some of the signs in the historic areas, we will be working with the CRA to get those done. (Mr. Daniels yields to Chief Murray to talk about National Night Out) Chief Murray – I would like to start off by thanking the town for allowing me to be your Chief. This Thursday will be my two-year anniversary of being sworn in. I was a graduate of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and being the Chief of the Eatonville Police Department, I was selected as a class speaker at a seminar. So, once again, EPD is being seen. I am excited to say that we just finished an FDLE technical audit, which we passed with flying colors this year. We are in the midst of an evidence audit and the second phase will be beginning in November. Hopefully, that will be done before the end of the year. Then we will move into our records audit, which will bring everything up to speed to technology in the 21st century. We have updated our building with all of our safety features. National Night Out was exciting. Not only was it just an event for you all to come out and fellowship, but every vendor was an information or a resource. It was a great opportunity 6 of 9 10212025CouncilMeetingMinutes Docusign Envelope ID: 33673DA1-2D32-4924-835B-EC580B9E56A1 and I hope next year it will be even better. I cannot thank you all enough for those who came out. (Mr. Daniels resumes his report) Mr. Daniels – I talked to Ms. Mundy and the directors about working on an electric sign- in process for the lobby. Moving forward, electric sign-ins will be utilized to meet with different departments. We are working on an electric payment kiosk for the lobby as well. I am looking to alleviate some work from Mrs. King by implementing a system (iPad or Kiosk with QR code) to document public comment forms in our public records. We are trying to eliminate some tasks so that workers are more efficient. Lastly, Mayor and Council, tonight you will get a draft copy of Establish a Local Business Preference in Acquisition of Goods and Services. It is an ordinance we are trying to put out there. I wanted to give it to you for your reading preference, and then we will bring it back to be able to discuss. I would love to have your feedback ahead of time, so we can help facilitate this process earlier. Key events coming up are the Halloween event at Hungerford Elementary and November 11th, we will have a veteran program at the cemetery with Councilman Daniels; on November 24th, we will have the annual Thanksgiving event with Councilwoman Randolph and other community partners; November 26th we have Thanksgiving feeding with Cooking with Kim’s; and December 18th, the Recreation Department will be hosting Christmas on the Boulevard. ATTORNEY: Ryan Knight – There are no new lawsuits against the town. Just to touch briefly on the code enforcement, there are strict statutory requirements regarding notice and stuff like that. The number one goal of code enforcement is to get the property into compliance, but eventually, you get to a point where if that property is not in compliance, then you do have to go a step further, and that would be foreclosure. If we do get to that point, then we will certainly make sure all the notice requirements have been met in the statute and get those going for you when the time comes. Last month there was a case regarding open carry in Florida– McDaniels v. Florida. Our office is putting together a memorandum that we will distribute to the Chief and our other municipalities regarding how to handle that and address it in a public setting. TOWN CLERK: Veronica King – In reference to code enforcement, I would like to say something for you all to consider. We have been having some challenges with our code enforcement, sometimes we do not have a full quorum for meetings. We just had another resignation, so I would like for us to think about people who may be interested in serving on the Code Enforcement Board, and maybe even consider going into a magistrate. In addition, I will be out of office all next week on vacation, but the records coordinator will be overseeing the Clerk’s Office, so if you have any needs, reach out to her. We are campaigning for the 2026 election. Packet number one is available on the website, if you have any questions, please contact the Clerk’s Office. TOWN COUNCIL REPORT/DISCUSSION ITEMS - Councilman Tarus Mack – Thank you everybody for coming out and being engaged in town business. We have had a big loss in this community if anyone is aware who Eric Morgan is. He is the epitome of someone that showed tremendous leadership, and someone that I looked up to my entire life. My condolences to his family and friends and anyone else who knew him. Also, Mayor, I know we have proceeded to move forward with doing the VIN process, for the Police Community Center that will be located in the Catalina neighborhood. I would like to recommend that it come before the board before any construction begins. I know we are at a deadline (January 2026). I sent emails out and one to the CAO, in reference to my complaint about the bidding process. Also, we have to make sure that we are associating the CRA with the planning department in terms of the master plan. I know we are close to completion with HostDime. I just want to get an idea of when it will be finished. I know we have the fees that are accumulating. Councilwoman Randolph, I know you had spoken about amending the Deputy Chief position which I am in favor of. Regarding the water rates, I know we have spoken about this and shied away from it, but it is something that we cannot ignore. I have heard a lot of citizens that had complaints about not getting the proper payment or credit that is deserving of them to get. Maybe we can have a sit-down discussion on that. I want to make sure that we are still in conversation. Thank you for the presentation tonight. During public comments, Zari St. Jean asked, “what does it take to come back to this community?” What it takes is exactly what you said. I got a great appreciation for you having a great 7 of 9 10212025CouncilMeetingMinutes Docusign Envelope ID: 33673DA1-2D32-4924-835B-EC580B9E56A1 appreciation for me, and everybody else who sits up here. I know it looks easy, but we have a lot of tough decisions to make up here. I am flattered by everything that you have accomplished especially coming from this town–the oldest Black municipality in America–and there is so much history within Eatonville. Everything that you spoke of resonated with me, because I had an opportunity to go to college and come back to do beneficial things for the community. Also, I had a great time at the National Night Out with the Chief–I have a great appreciation for you and your staff and you guys are doing a great job. Councilwoman Wanda Randolph – Good evening everyone; what a great job on the water treatment plant. I want to thank all of the contractors and everyone involved on the project. Thank you, Ms. Mundy, for your leadership. The last two weeks I have been in historic preservation training. I would say it was valuable and very educational in learning about historic preservation and how it applies to our town. It covered all the basics about community, how to improve our community, and things that we should be aware of. Councilman Mack, you mentioned about the funds for a Deputy Chief position–after investigating, those funds have been sitting for 9 to 10 years. Chief Murray – That is not exact. Last year, we found that a lot of our guys, because they were working so many hours, had more vacation time and they were about to lose it. Councilwoman Randolph – I understand and it does not matter if it is true or not, but I know it is true that we have had that position and allocated those funds to the other officers. I believe our last conversation that we had, those funds had been sitting there ($80,000). We had talked about in the last meeting to distribute those funds so that we could bring some officers up to par. Chief Murray – I am not in disagreement–I actually applaud it. It is a great idea and I do not mind the sacrifice. I just want everyone to understand that it was not that we were not making the attempt to. At the time, I thought it was more important for them to get their vacation. Councilwoman Randolph – Just three years ago, when I came on the Council, we still had officers making $30,000. We still have a few at that range, correct? Chief Murray – We were currently $44,000 until this recent budget moved up the number, but I do not know if you know or not, but the insurance is high. Councilwoman Randolph – I will be turning over this situation to the administration to look into so that we can move forward. Also, this has nothing to do with anything agreed to with the town, but there is a local network called Strictly Business. We have a lot of businesses here, but we do not know what they do. Mr. Manny, who is the operations manager for the HostDime facility, on October 27th we will be touring the facility, which he agreed to do in April 2025. I want to open this up to the network business–we have about 40 Eatonville businesses or individuals who have already signed up. If you would like to come, you are more than welcome. It will start at 8:30am on October 27th and will last about an hour. Councilman Mack – What is the completion date? Councilwoman Randolph – I do not have that information. Moving on, a lot of the time, residents and the public think that we should be at meetings outside the town. The meetings that we are required to be at are meetings from the town Clerk’s Office that will constitute a quorum. If I do not attend a meeting at the church or community center, I am not really required to be there. I go because I feel like it is the right thing for me to do and also to have community engagement. Some of the council members have jobs. I am the only retired one, but this is a job for me. I have other obligations. When people are trying to keep track of elected officials' event attendance, we are not required to be there. The issues will come before the Council anyway. Also, Mrs. King, I do agree that a magistrate will be better for the town. I also would like to say that I am a cancer survivor and I want to thank you all for surviving cancer survivors. Please get involved in your town, learn about the issues, and you too can do your homework. Vice Mayor Theo Washington – I support all council endeavors–the ones that survive, and the ones that make it. Thank you everybody for coming out tonight. Thank you for the presentation. There are a lot of things going on in Eatonville on weekends. This weekend there will be a Caribbean themed event at Town Hall. I support all the events, but I want to make sure that we are doing them right. MAYOR’S REPORT - Mayor Angie Gardner – First, condolences to the families. There have been several losses in the community, so my condolences to all. Second, the town does have $4.1 million for affordable housing. Nothing can be given; however, Help CDC is there and they can sit down with you to know which steps you can take in order to attain housing. On the town side, as Mayor, one of the things that was done was 8 of 9 10212025CouncilMeetingMinutes Docusign Envelope ID: 33673DA1-2D32-4924-835B-EC580B9E56A1 getting the funding for affordable housing. If you get that started by the time buildings are built, then perhaps you will be able to talk. That is actionable. The third thing is that I am excited about the future of this town. I am so appreciative of everyone here. Fourth thing, congratulations Chief. We will be having a stakeholder meeting on October 27th and they have been going on for a while. If we want to ever start doing anything different, we have to retrain our people. If I tell my neighbor controversial stuff and say, “be there,” then I can tell my neighbor “hey, you need to be there because you are a part of this community.” The stakeholders meeting is important, but we can also utilize other avenues, but we have to retrain how we have done things in this town. The final thing I would like to say is that I will not be running for re-election as Mayor. I have loved it, but we lack representation at the next level. Some of the things that we have had issues with, or difficulties within the town that could have been made easier, I do not feel that we have that representation. We now have 8 districts. We are no longer in District 2; we are in District 7. And with that district, there is an opportunity for, not just the citizens of the Town of Eatonville, but other voices out there that are not heard. And if I have the opportunity to do this work for more people, then I will do this work. Because even with faults, I think I have done a good job with administration and staff. I have filed my intent to run with the county. I will not be running for Mayor and I do not need to submit a resignation because the qualification for a county seat is not until June, and that is after March. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Gardner Motions for Adjournment of Meeting; moved by Councilman Mack; second by Councilwoman Randolph; AYE: ALL, MOTION PASSES. Meeting Adjourned at 9:02pm. Respectfully Submitted by: APPROVED _____________________________ _______________________ Veronica L King, Town Clerk Angie Gardner, Mayor 9 of 9 10212025CouncilMeetingMinutes