Dunedin City Commission Workshop - August 5, 2025
Dunedin City Commission Workshop - August 5, 2025
The Dunedin City Commission held a workshop on August 5, 2025, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:19 p.m. at City Hall. The meeting covered presentations on the new Parks & Recreation Director and Duke Energy's Broadway project, a post-legislative update, a discussion on exiting solid waste service to unincorporated Pinellas County residents, and selection of Florida League of Cities committee representatives. The business survey item was deferred to the September workshop.
Presentations
- Introduction of Tony Mulkey as Parks & Recreation Director: City Manager Bramley introduced Mulkey, who previously served as director for Tampa and Pinellas Park. Mulkey expressed enthusiasm for serving the community.
- Duke Energy Presentation: Chris Crouse (Senior Stakeholder Engagement Manager) and Katie Christian (Director of Government/Community Relations) presented the Broadway Project (Union to Scotland, 1.1 miles). The project will replace aging infrastructure with wood poles (instead of concrete) and install self-healing grid technology. Construction begins August 18, 2025, with completion expected in early 2026. Duke reported saving 37 million outage minutes in 2024 through prior improvements. Discussion included rate increases, renewable energy mix (3.5% solar in Florida), undergrounding challenges (cost ~$2M plus easements for switchgears), and tree trimming concerns. Duke stated they have not lost a single pole in six years under their storm protection program.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Ed Farmer (508 Ashley Drive, representing Waste Pro Florida, Inc.): Expressed support for the city's solid waste direction and offered that Waste Pro could take over service for the 1,200 unincorporated customers at current rates, and would collect old carts at no cost to the city.
Discussion Items
2.a. 2025 Post Legislative Update
- Strategy & Sustainability Manager Nicole Delfino and Lobbyist Laura Boehmer (The Southern Group) reviewed the state budget ($115.1 billion, $15.7 billion in reserves) and key legislation. Two of the city's budget items were funded and not vetoed. Highlights included:
- SB 180 (Emergencies): Prohibits local governments within 100 miles of a declared hurricane from adopting more burdensome land development regulations for one year; applied retroactively to August 1, 2024. City Attorney Cowan noted the vagueness and potential for attorney fee recovery if challenged.
- SB 700 (Fluoride in public water systems): Prohibits use of fluoride, effective July 1, 2025.
- SB 462 (Transportation): Clarifies local authority over e-bikes, scooters, and micromobility devices.
- Failed legislation included TOT funding changes, sovereign immunity bills, and CRA abolition bills, which are expected to return.
- Commissioners expressed concerns about vague language and executive overreach, and requested a one-page talking points sheet for future delegation meetings.
2.b. Solid Waste Service Level to Unincorporated Pinellas County
- Public Works Director Sue Bartlett and Sanitation Superintendent Bill Pickrum presented the plan to exit service for approximately 1,200 unincorporated customers (over 25 years of service). The service area includes 13 zones, with low route density (35% of homes in those neighborhoods served by the city; 9 private haulers serve the rest). Estimated annual savings: $132,911 to $166,139 by eliminating 2 driver positions (via attrition) and 2 route trucks. Revenue loss from these customers is ~$370,000/year, but expenses exceed that, resulting in a net loss. Staff recommended a 30-day notice and 5-week cart removal. Zones 13 and 1 are outside the planning area and cannot annex.
- Commission discussion focused on inefficiencies, the need for a detailed spreadsheet (requested by Mayor Freaney and Vice Mayor Gow), and the importance of communication with affected residents. Deputy City Manager Quintas noted that the county has nine licensed haulers, making the city's service inefficient and subsidized. The city also provides water/sewer to some unincorporated residents at a 25% surcharge; solid waste surcharge is currently 11%.
- Commissioner Walker, Dugard, Vice Mayor Gow, Commissioner Sandbergen, and Mayor Freaney all expressed support for the exit, emphasizing communication and annexation opportunities. Waste Pro offered to take over the customers.
- Consensus direction: Staff to proceed with the exit plan and provide the requested spreadsheet under separate cover.
2.c. 2025 City of Dunedin Business Survey Results
- Deferred to the September workshop.
3.a. Florida League of Cities Legislative Policy Committee Sign-Up
- Commissioners selected the following committee assignments:
- Development, Code Compliance, and Redevelopment: Commissioner Sandbergen
- Finance and Taxation: Mayor Freaney
- Intergovernmental Relations, Mobility, and Emergency Management: Commissioner Walker
- Municipal Operations: Commissioner Dugard
- Utilities, Natural Resources, and Public Works: City Manager or staff member
Key Outcomes
- Duke Energy Project: Acknowledged the plan; no vote required.
- Solid Waste Exit: Consensus direction given to proceed with exiting service to unincorporated Pinellas County customers. Staff to provide a detailed spreadsheet of costs and savings.
- FLC Committee Representatives: Assigned as above.
- Business Survey: Deferred to September workshop.
- Next Steps: Staff to send notifications, begin cart removal in early October (contingent on 30-day notice), and work with county on transition. The legislative update will be revisited with refined priorities.
Meeting Transcript
I'd like to call the meeting to order, and we'll start with Jen doing our Pledge of Allegiance. Okay, we'll go to presentations and we have an exciting presentation. Introduction of our new parks and recreation director, Tony Mulkey, and I'm gonna welcome him to front. But do you want to say something, City Manager? As we start very excited you're here. Thank you. And good morning, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Commissioners. Um I'm very pleased this morning to introduce um all of you once again to our new director of parks and recreation, Tony Mulkey. Um I just want to talk to you a little bit about the interview process, if I may. This is probably the first time a lot of folks are going to be hearing about how we arrived at Tony as as our our number one candidate. Um as you know, we do a 360 interview. Um we we reach out to uh every level of the organization that Tony will be um uh working with, and that's employees, frontline employees in the parks and recreation department, uh management parks and recreation department, city management, meaning the department directors, um, and also Jorge myself uh and Teresa Smalling who interviewed him uh and sat with the mayor as well, representing the city commission, which is actually very unusual to invite an elected official in on an interview of staff, but um this particular position interacts a great deal with the commission and a great deal with the community, and I wanted to be sure that the commission felt comfortable with with our candidate uh and obviously the mayor would take the lead uh in those terms. And so uh Tony did a fantastic job. Um, as as did uh the other candidates. We actually I need to start um uh a little bit farther back. We did do a uh national recruitment for the position. Uh we had upwards of 90 candidates, about 40 were qualified. And then we also, of course, had the uh Walmart cashier who thought that they could do the job. But you know, so um and uh we might be the ball thrower that's right. Exactly. Exactly. We shortlisted that um down to I think five or six, and we interviewed them virtually, and even our local candidates were interviewed vir virtually so that the playing field was level uh for every candidate. And then we invited three back. Uh and Tony was one of those. Uh Tony's resume, and uh um I'm just gonna ask him to say hello. He doesn't have to go over it again because he's done it a zillion times, but just just um just to give you a uh kind of a broad brush uh uh perspective. He is uh formerly the director of parks and recreation for the city of Tampa. He has overseen uh staff who has overseen marinas golf courses, special events, and he was in fact in charge of special events for the city of Tampa for for a period of time. Um he was uh director of recreation for Pinellas Park, I believe, um as well. So Tony really checked every box and uh he interviewed when he was interviewing. There's obviously the degree of emotional intelligence that we need to see in that position um as well. Um you know uh and I and I've said this many times that that uh a mentor of mine, a former city manager told me that there are really two department directors um who are lightning rods for you uh in the community, and the one is the director of community development, and the other one is the director of parks and recreation. And so hello, lightning rod, thank you for coming. Yeah, right, exactly. Because of their interaction with the community. Um so uh welcome Tony. I wanted to introduce him to you and to the public. Uh he started on the 28th. He will be reporting directly to the deputy city manager to Jorge Quintas. And I believe that Tony has found the coffee pot and the restrooms in the community center and and is introducing himself to staff. So thank you very much, Mayor. And Tony, just want to say hello. Good morning, Commission. Thank you, City Manager Tony Mulkey, Parks and Recreation. I am thrilled to be here to be able to meet with you publicly. I I've had conversations with all of you privately and and uh really enjoyed and had the pleasure to do so. Uh look forward to serving the community. Um lightning rod seems appropriate in Tampa Bay. So uh I I am looking forward to to kind of recalculating some of the the things I've been doing to fit the community here, and and it's been uh a real pleasure so far, seven days in and really enjoying it. We have a very talented staff, high level of service that that I hope to continue and elevate as much as possible.
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