The Dunedin City Commission held a workshop on October 7, 2025, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:33 p.m. at City Hall. The meeting included presentations, workshop discussions on a social connection survey, sustainability matrix update, multimodal transportation plan, and an informational item. Proclamations were read, a firefighter was honored, and the commission provided direction on several initiatives.
We will start with the Pledge of Allegiance by our City Attorney. Under God, indivisible with liberty and justice. Well, first of all, weak apologies to Yankees fans, but how about those Blue Jays? Come on. And uh we'll all be going blue here after we're done with the firefighter things. But uh, anyway, so okay, we are going to start with uh Florida City Week, and I'm gonna turn that over to Vice Mayor Gao to present Florida City Week proclamation. Thank you, Mayor, very very much. And while Teresa makes her way up, we need some sort of walk-up music or something for her for this. Uh you know, every day is Florida's Florida City Week, and it's great to see it on the agenda this this morning. Uh and it comes third after our our firefighters and fire prevention, which is as it should be, but it's certainly uh city government is in the top three as it should be. Uh Florida City Week, October twenty eighth to twenty twenty-sixth, twenty twenty-five. Whereas October twenty through twenty-sixth, twenty twenty-five has been declared as Florida City Week. City government is the government closest to most citizens, and is the one with the most direct daily impact upon its residents. Now, therefore, I, Jeff Gow, by the virtue of the authority vested in me by the mayor of the City of Dunedin, and on behalf of this entire city commission, do hereby recognize October twenty through twenty-sixth, twenty twenty-five as Florida City Week, and encourage all citizens, city government officials, and employees to participate in events that recognize and celebrate the week while promoting Dunedin through civic education and volunteerism. So thank you very much. Good morning, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commission, Teresa Smalling, Director of HR and Risk Management for the City. Thank you for this proclamation to recognize Florida City Week as it mentioned, a time set aside each year to celebrate the important role city government plays in shaping the quality of life in our communities. This week is an opportunity to highlight how city government connects directly to our daily lives. From award-winning water and wastewater programs to recreation centers in the library, city services directly and profoundly impact our quality of life. Every day, right here in our own community, city employees work together to deliver essential services, responding when our residents need emergency medical services, maintaining our roads, sidewalks, and parks, keeping our neighborhoods and business areas safe, and offering programs that make our city a great place to live, work, and raise a family. As we celebrate Florida City Week, we want to take a moment to recognize and thank all of our city employees, elected officials, and volunteers, as well as personnel from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office who happen to be here today for their dedication and service to the City of Dunedin. For many, their hard work often happens behind the scenes, but it takes it makes a lasting difference in the lives of our citizens every single day. So thank you. Thank you, Teresa. Yeah, let's get the picture, sorry. The odd one out. And uh yeah, I'm just gonna add, you know, the backbone of our city is our employees and um local government is closest to the people, and uh as we always look for ways to uh how we're gonna fund it. They're looking uh at that at Tallahassee. I just you know, what what makes our community special um is you know the things that we can do in our community that are you know different. Um we don't want to be the same old community as everybody else in Florida. We want to be different. So um open to all the discussion on how local government should best be funded, but I think it is very important that citizens pay attention to it because um who we are. Um, if every funding source is cut off, we will slowly not be who we are. So I think responsible financing of our government is really important, but uh pay attention to the discussions, please, because if you have to vote for it, you want to vote in a way that really you understand the give and take of it. Thank you. Okay, we are going to move to uh fire prevention week, and I will turn to Commissioner Samberg. Come on up, Mike. Good uh good afternoon, actually uh Chief, sorry. Um, uh good morning, uh, Vice Mayor, Commissioners, City Manager. Um, thank you for having us. This week, Dunedin Fire Rescue joins fire departments across the nation in celebrating Fire Prevention Week, a program that has been supported by the National Fire Protection Agency, NFPA, for more than 100 years. Each year we focus on a theme that brings us life-saving information to the residents, and this year's theme is charge into safety, lithium-ion batteries in your home. Lithium ion batteries power so many of the tools that we use in our day-to-day lives, power uh laptops, power tools, e-bikes, and uh even mobility scooters. They make our modern life convenient, but can be, when damaged, overcharged or improperly stored, can become extremely dangerous. According to the national uh data from the NFPA and the U.S. uh product consumer safety commission, lithium ion batteries have increased more than 40 percent over the past five years. Across the country, these fires are responsible for hundreds of injuries and dozens of fatalities each year, often starting suddenly and spreading rapidly. In many cases, they begin while devices are charging on couches, beds, or other combustible services, turning everyday conveniences into a life uh life-threatening event. And here in Dunedin, we take that risk seriously. Many of you know that uh the Pettygo store that was located uh just off of uh railroad um off of Main Street a couple of years ago had uh a significant fire attributed directly to a lithium ion batteries that were in the e-bikes.