City Commission and CRA Board Meeting

On Monday, February 10, 2025 at 6:00 p.m., the City of Wauchula Commission met for its regular meeting in the Commission Chambers at 225 East Main Street, Suite 105, Wauchula. Nadaskay called the meeting to order. Commissioners present were Anne Miller, Mayor Pro-Tem Russell Smith, Mayor Keith Nadaskay, Sherri Albritton, and Gary Smith. Also present were City Manager Olivia Minshew, Deputy City Manager John Eason, Assistant City Manager Sandee Braxton, Director of Project Management and Procurement Ward Grimes, Chief of Police Brandon Ball, Community Development Director Kyle Long, Community Redevelopment Agency Director Jessica Newman, City Attorney Kristie Hatcher-Bolin, and City Clerk Stephanie Camacho. Nadaskay declared a quorum. Approval of Agenda Miller motioned to approve the agenda as presented, seconded by G. Smith. All were in favor. Motion carried. Approval of Minutes from the January 6, 2025 Workshop and January 13, 2025 Meeting G. Smith motioned to approve the minutes as presented, seconded by Albritton. All were in favor. Motion carried. Nadaskay gave the virtual meeting statement. PUBLIC COMMENT – NON-AGENDA ITEMS No comments. ORDINANCES / PUBLIC HEARINGS Ordinance 2025-17 Capital Improvement Element – Second Reading – Public Hearing Nadaskay opened the public hearing. No discussion was presented. The public hearing was closed. Hatcher-Bolin read the ordinance by title. Albritton motioned to approve the ordinance, seconded by R. Smith. All were in favor. Motion carried. Ordinance 2025-01 Hearing Procedures Regarding Dangerous Dogs – First Reading Hatcher-Bolin read the ordinance by title. Albritton motioned to approve the ordinance, seconded by Miller. All were in favor. Motion carried. Ordinance 2025-02 Solid Waste Rate Changes – First Reading Hatcher-Bolin read the ordinance by title. R. Smith motioned to approve the ordinance, seconded by Albritton. All were in favor. Motion carried. Ordinance 2025-03 Annexation of 0 US Highway 17 North – First Reading Long explained the Hardee County Board of County Commissioners owned this property and requested to annex into the City limits for the purpose of receiving utilities for the future construction of a new sheriff’s office administrative building. Hatcher-Bolin read the ordinance by title. G. Smith motioned to approve the ordinance, seconded by Miller. All were in favor. Motion carried. CITY MANAGER/NON-CONSENT Power Cost Adjustment Minshew presented the January power cost adjustment. Resolution 2025-03 Anti-Discrimination and Relocation Policy Eason presented the resolution and explained this policy was a requirement in order to receive certain grant funding. Miller motioned to approve the resolution, seconded by Albritton. All were in favor. Motion carried. Resolution 2025-04 PTGA Grant Agreement – Wauchula Municipal Airport Eason presented the resolution and agreement to add an additional $100,000 to the current agreement for wildlife and archeological studies. G. Smith motioned to approve the resolution, seconded by Albritton. All were in favor. Motion carried. CFRPC Board Appointment Minshew explained Neda Cobb was previously the board representative for the City, prior to her resignation from the Commission. Minshew stated that there was now a vacancy on the board and, if the City wanted to appoint another representative, CFRPC required it to be an elected official. There was some discussion about scheduling and the Commission opted to push this item to the March agenda in order to get more information regarding attendance requirements. RIF Grant Agreement – Hogan Street Extension Minshew presented the grant agreement to design and construct the Hogan Street extension. R. Smith motioned to approve the agreement, seconded by Albritton. All were in favor. Motion carried. CONSENT AGENDA Resolution 2025-02 FDOT Maintenance Agreement G. Smith motioned to approve the consent agenda as presented, seconded by Albritton. All were in favor. Motion carried. CITY ATTORNEY REPORT No report. CITY MANAGER REPORT Report given. CITY COMMISSIONER REPORTS No report. Nadaskay recessed the City Commission meeting and called to order the Wauchula Community Redevelopment Agency Board meeting Approval of Minutes from the January 6, 2025 CRA Workshop and January 13, 2025 CRA Meeting G. Smith motioned to approve the minutes as presented, seconded by Miller. All were in favor. Motion carried. Krause Services Extension Request G. Smith motioned to approve the extension, seconded by Miller. All were in favor. Motion carried. CRA RFQ 25-01 Professional Engineering Services Miller motioned to approve CRA RFQ 25-01, seconded by Albritton. All were in favor. Motion carried. CRA RFQ 25-02 Professional Planning Services G. Smith motioned to approve CRA RFQ 25-02, seconded by Albritton. All were in favor. Motion carried. In-Fill Housing Newman introduced Sergio Jimenez with Rhino Construction and explained Jimenez wanted to build a multi-family residential building within the CRA district. Newman stated the CRA had funds earmarked for in-fill housing for the Seminole Street Park project however, it was likely that project would not happen within this budget year, which would make those dollars available for another project. Jimenez gave an overview of the project idea and requested the Board consider earmarking funds for it. There was much discussion regarding this project and the Board decided to push this item to the March workshop, giving Jimenez and staff time to get more information for questions they had. Nadaskay adjourned the Wauchula Community Redevelopment Agency Board meeting and reconvened the City Commission Meeting Approval of the Wauchula Community Redevelopment Agency Board’s Actions G. Smith motioned to approve the Wauchula Community Redevelopment Agency Board’s actions, seconded by Albritton. All were in favor. Motion carried. PUBLIC COMMENT Gary Delatorre was present and addressed the Commission. He stated the customer service at City of Wauchula was poor. Delatorre stated he called about an issue and was told there was nothing that could be done. Delatorre stated he owned a property at 906 S. 6 th Ave and asked to have the utilities reconnected a few years ago after a hurricane. He claimed the utilities were not connected and he had been charged monthly ever since. He also stated he owned a property on Highway 17, south of Ace Hardware, where he had given a vendor permission to have a yard sale. Delatorre states it was private property and the vendor was told to leave or would be removed if they came back. Delatorre also said he put storage containers of that property years ago and was told to remove them or be fined but then KFC ended up with containers on their property. He also noted this was a 2.7 acre property. Minshew spoke regarding the container issue, stating the containers in the area of KFC were not allowed to be there and currently had an active code enforcement case. Regarding the vendor, Minshew stated they were advertising on Facebook as a flea market and soliciting other vendors for a weekly occurrence of said flea market. Minshew stated the land development code had specific requirements for events defined as flea markets, one requirement being the size of the property had to be a minimum of 5 acres. Minshew also stated Delatorre asked about this type of use years ago and was sent a letter at that time explaining why flea markets would not be allowed on that property. Regarding the utility issue, Minshew stated the power line was pulled after Hurricane Ian but that the property had not had power for quite some time. Minshew explained City policy was, once the property was without power for a certain amount of time, an electrical inspection was required before it could be reinstated. Minshew stated water and sewer services were never turned off or unavailable and that a notification had been sent at some point to alert the customer of a possible water leak. Minshew stated the customer had only been charged for the water and sewer services that were on, not power. With no further business to discuss, Nadaskay adjourned the Commission Meeting at 8:18 p.m. Richard K. Nadaskay, Jr., Mayor Stephanie Camacho, City Clerk