The City Commission of Dunedin, Florida, held a work session on April 15, 2025, at City Hall. The meeting included a proclamation for Public Service Recognition Week, approval of consent agenda items (including a pulled item on the Cinco de Mayo celebration), continuances of two advisory committees, award of a watermain replacement contract, and approval of design services for the Gladys E. Douglas Preserve. Commissioners also gave consensus direction on reallocating a portion of Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds to the Elevate Florida program.
Hold on. Good morning and welcome to the April 15, 2025 City Commission work session. I'd like to call the meeting to the order. I did realize it's uh tax day, right? Only not in Florida. We got an extension. Okay, we'll go to Jen for a Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge of allegiance. One is under the individual liberty and justice draw. So, Jen, just out of curiosity, is the tax uh extension just for storm-related people that got hit by the storm or no? Everybody can extend it. Huh? It's an extension for everybody or just storm people. Um I know you can file for an extension. Everybody can. I don't know about this. No, no, no. There's something there is something specific because of the storms, but don't count on that for me. I'm just saying. We like your taxes. Mine's in, so okay. Um okay, we're going to go to presentations, which is public service recognition week, May 4th through the 10th, 2025. And I will turn to Commissioner Dicard to read to read that. Thank you, Mayor. This is an exciting time for a number of reasons, and it's a challenging time. And I particularly like this proclamation today, because of what it says about the people that are standing watch that are standing the tower in light of turmoil and difficulty. So it's particularly important today that we make this proclamation. Whereas since 1985, the President and Congress have designated the first full week of May as public service recognition week to honor all public employees who serve our nation as federal, state, county, and local government employees. And whereas public service is a noble calling that requires dedication, integrity, high ethical standards sacrifice, and whereas public servants at all levels of government work tirelessly to improve the lives of their fellow citizens and the well-being of their communities. And whereas public service has failed servants have faced unprecedented challenges and risks and economic challenges, social unrest, and environmental threats. And whereas public servants demonstrate resilience, innovation, and courage in overcoming these obstacles and delivering essential services to the public, providing quality of life services, and maintaining excellent public facilities. And whereas day in and day out, public servants provide the diverse services expected by the American people of their government with pride, efficiency, and integrity. Now, I therefore Tom Dugard, by the virtue of the authority vested in me from the mayor of the City of Dunedin, Florida, and on behalf of the entire City Commission, do hereby declare May 4th through May 10th, 2025 as public service service recognition week, and call upon all citizens to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of government employees at all levels, especially our very own City of Dunedin employees, and to show appreciation through the demonstrations of gratitude. Thank you very much for this proclamation on behalf of all our city employees, especially City of Dunedin employees. That was just a microcosm of the work and sipping off smoothies that our city of Daneda employees do on a daily basis. Just a few uh statistics about public employees. Uh as of March 2025, state and local government employed 20.6 million public servants. Uh four that represents 14.5% of the total U.S. workforce. Uh seventy-five percent of public servants are represented by local government. At the city of Dunedin, we currently have 414 employees. Uh as of today, we have 40 vacancies but 15 candidates with start dates. And last week we saw our largest orientation class of 14 employees. So I'm always humbled to accept this on behalf of our employees, and I know that our employees are the best in not just the city, but also probably in the U.S., maybe the world. I'll give it that. So thank you very much. Thank you, Teresa. One of the best things about Dunedin has always been its workforce. Oh, picture, yeah, we got to get a picture. Any employees just want to come up?