Welcome everyone to the Tampa Bay Water Board meeting of January 26, 2026.

Um, Commissioner Cohen will be attending virtually today, uh, so I will be sharing the meeting.

I would also like to welcome Councilmember Peter Outman, who's filling in for Mayor Davis for the next uh few meetings.

Welcome.

And I'd also like to welcome Commissioner Seth Waitman, who's back with us?

Welcome.

The meeting was noticed in the Florida Administrative Register and on the Tampa Bay website.

The meeting is available for viewing through live streaming, and a recording of the meeting will be posted on the agency's website.

And now past Chair Oakley will lead the Pledge of Allegiance.

Allegiance to be the flag for the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, Commissioner Oakley.

Krista, can you please um have a roll call?

Yes.

Commissioner Cowen.

Do we have them?

Can we hear you?

Okay.

Okay.

Councilwoman Hanowitz?

Here.

Commissioner Aggers?

Here.

Mayor Davis.

He's excuse.

Altman present.

Yes, I have you there.

Um Councilman Miranda?

Here.

Commissioner Oakley?

Here.

Commissioner Waitman?

Here.

Commissioner Woolstock?

Here.

Commissioner Peters?

Here.

And Mr.

Altman.

Yes, man.

Thank you.

We have a quorum.

Yes.

Okay.

We open up our regular meeting.

Are there any agendas to the meeting agenda?

Any changes, I mean.

No changes?

Okay.

We move on to public comment.

Each speaker will have three minutes to speak.

I have two cards here in front of me.

First up is David Ballard Geddes Jr.

Good morning.

Hi, good morning.

David Ballard Geddes Jr.

I live on Georgia Avenue in Palm Harbor.

The residents received a mailer from the Pine Ellis County last month requiring the homeowner to replace our water pipes under our homes, stating in this letter that it's there to notify us that of the material interests of the county and replacing our water pipes on our side of the meter.

The letter is to inform the residents that every household is now subject to new material regulations affecting the material fashion of our water lines, claiming that we are required to replace our water lines, which are now the material property of the county's water system, citing that lead in our water pipes as being the reason behind the required replacement of the water lines under our home.

The county knew good and well that lead was an issue when they originally designed the water system throughout the entire county.

The Roman Empire, 600 years ago, suffered from lead poisoning in its water system.

And what about the mercury?

I made a video 15 years ago concerning the county not testing for mercury on its consumer confidence report.

The County Water Department, I feel is setting us up in such requisitioning of our water lines and is attempting to claim our property as now their property in their system of backbiding development practices, whereas the county water pipes are upwards of 80 years old and we're in need of replacement 35 years ago.

Another issue I have is the surface water assessment fee, charging us for the impervious areas on our property.

Common sense tells us that with all the old Florida cracker homes being built up off the ground and the county in its development practices building houses directly on the ground, covering the surface, paving over everything.

The county again is setting us up with its staged development practices, standing us on our heads with their improper development, intending to create such rainwater ad valorum charge.

The surface water assessment fee is not a ad valorum tax lien.

It's not even based on the millage rate.

The so-called rainwater levy creates a third-party mortgage against our property, which serves as the beginning of a foreclosure proceeding against all the residential homes tapping into the title of our property in such rainwater tax on the ad valorum as recognized in Pinellas County Ordinance 97103, Section 126509A.

That's called carpet bagging.

We're getting set up when it comes to this water issue, and we need to talk about thank you.

Good morning, sir.

Mr.

Mark Luther.

Here it says Tampa Bay Waterwise Program.

Well, I look at the landscaping you have out here, and water going to that.

Oh pathetic.

All of those plants being mutilated.

They can't grow.

How is it wise?

Not and energy management.

I remember when this building was proposed.

This was daylight.

Not look at the lighting in here.

And oh, when I came in today, I was so amazed.

Those 16 bulbs out there.

You had shining on the wall.

They're no longer burning.

Boy, you're you're so smart.

It's just amazing.

And water conservation.

How stupid.

You wouldn't know it if it slapped you in the face.

We have the headlines.

Trump EPA moves to repeal scientific finding that allows climate regulation.

Oh, we're in for hell.

It's coming, it's coming.

And I just laugh every time I read this headline.

Tampa Bay Water wins 21 million against forever poisoned producers in settlement.

Boy, you guys are good.

I mean good.

And the headline here, the world is now unavoidably toxic.

You bring that to us.

And the researchers dodge icebergs and seek ocean tipping point.

Coral reefs at point of no return report warns.

And this headline here, how close are the planets tipping points?

Well, you know all about that.

And then these species now extinct, a snail, a bird, and a shrew.

Well, you just keep bringing us closer and closer to the brink.

You're so damn stupid.

Thank you.

We have a consent agenda before us, board members.

If there are no items that are going to be pulled, I entertain a motion and a second.

Move approval.

Second.

We have a motion and a second.

Clerk, if you can please open the machine for voting.

My system's lagging a little.

I'm sorry, who was who was the motion?

I believe Wassel was first, and second was Commissioner Waitman.

Wait.

Yeah.

Oh, okay.

I can figure I can read.

And Commissioner Cohen, can we have your vote?

Um the screen's not coming up.

No, mine is.

There we go.

There we go.

Commissioner Cohen.

Commissioner Cohen, can you hear us?

Chair Cohen.

I can't he can't hear us.

Yes.

It passes.

Seven to zero.

Okay.

Thank you.

We move on to our regular agenda.

We first I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

We have eight.

I'm sorry, yeah.

I was just gonna say who did I.

Well, but he's you can't see him.

No, he would be not.

Oh, I didn't have your vote.

Um Councilwoman Hanowitz.

I I pressed my vote.

My vote was yes.

I believe I pressed okay.

I'll put it in.

Okay, thank you.

Okay.

Okay.

I can't say I'm not sure why.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

We're good.

Yes, I have it recorded.

Okay.

That's okay.

It's Monday.

Okay, we'll start off with the general manager's report, which is item B1, and it's gonna be presented by our general manager.

Chuck.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Uh, and good morning to everyone.

It's good to see you.

It's been uh a little bit since we got together.

Uh my report will be briefer than than usual because uh usually go over the operations of the agency, but uh that will come later under uh D1 when Warren gives the supply and demand report.

I did have a a couple of uh things I wanted to share with you.

Uh we did get our uh annual dividend check from the with Lakuchi River Electric.

Uh we are uh uh part of that cooperative, and so uh in December we uh have been receiving about uh close to a hundred thousand dollars for quite a while.

And so this year it was ninety-six thousand dollars in change.

So I want to thank them.

Um also the performance audit and the management study.

Uh the study we do every five years is being uh concluded, and uh it's in the final draft stages, and they are set.

Uh and I'm talking about Baker Tilly, who is the consultant you hired.

Uh they will present their findings at the February board meeting.

So we look forward to that.

Also, uh staff here is working very hard on putting together the 2027 budget, and so we do this quite early.

Uh here it is in January, but we want to get the wholesale rate to each of the members uh so that we don't not hold you up in your budgeting.

And so um they uh planning to meet with each of the staffs at each of the members uh in the month of March, and our plan is to have a workshop at the April board meeting and then uh return it to May board meeting for uh final approval of the budget.

I did want to mention uh next month again uh it would be the election of officers, so I wanted to put that out there for you to be thinking about that.

Uh we do have some community slides uh over the last two months.

Uh this is a slide of uh at the STEM Explorer Fest that was at uh Largo Central Park just recently.

Uh was uh last Saturday, I believe.

Also, uh earlier this month I participated uh with the leadership Tampa Bay Pasco County Day.

It's called was called the Power of Access Panel, along with Commissioner Waiteman was there, and our uh communications manager Brandon Moore also was there.

Uh during our recent trip to Tallahassee, um our governor affairs program manager Brant Bartlett uh met with some state legislators and some key staff to discuss uh our mission and uh also some of our 2026 appropriation requests.

As you recall, we've uh we're we're asking for a million dollars to modernize our SCADA system at the surface water treatment plant, and also uh two million dollar request to expand our regional surface water treatment plant.

Uh Danielle Kiersey, uh she's a project manager for us, uh participated uh uh with for Tampa Bay Waters Future Water Needs at the statewide workshop uh highlighted our 2023 long-term master water plan and our strategies for meeting demand.

And with that, I'm happy to take any questions.

Any questions for members?

Well, thank you so much, Chuck, for the update.

I have to say you came to St.

Pete City Council and did a presentation.

It was nice to see you, and Paul Stanek was there and also uh Brant Bartlett was there.

Um, and the City Council in St.

Petersburg really appreciated uh the update on what's happening at Tampa Bay Water.

Thank you.

And uh like I said, I didn't mention too much, but I did make all six member government uh meetings, uh finished that up just last week.

And so I enjoy doing that, and um I will be happy to participate and come to your meetings any any time you need me to, but I like to make myself available uh to answer any questions from your other board members.

Great.

And then actually in St.

Petersburg, there were some questions, and you did a great job at uh making sure that everything in Tampa Bay water is good, and we're doing a good job at keeping the water flowing.

So much appreciated.

Next up, we have item B2, and we're gonna be um hearing about this item by Brent Barrett, our government affairs program manager.

Good morning.

Good morning, Chair, members of the board.

As mentioned, my name is Brant Bartlett.

I am the government affairs program manager here.

Today I'll be presenting agenda item B2, Tampa Bay Waters legislative and grant funding program update.

Just as a brief refresher, this slide shows the makeup of our legislative team.

We continue to work closely with both state and federal consultants to monitor new legislation for implications to Tampa Bay Water, as well as to advance our funding priorities.

Joining us today zoom via Zoom, we have all of our consultants with us to give a more detailed update.

First, we'll be hearing from uh Mr.

Peter Dunbar with Jones Walker to provide an update on the state legislative session, followed by Mr.

Matthew Blair of Corcoran Partners to give us an update on our appropriation requests.

And lastly, we have um Mrs.

Mary Beth Nassif and Mr.

Paul Cambone to provide us with our federal update of Jones Walker.

So with that, Pete, I'll turn it over to you.

Thank you, Brant.

Um members, today begins our uh third uh regular week of the session.

All the member sponsored bills are now in the system.

Um, and we provided uh late last week an update status memo on those pending issues that potentially touch on us um let me summarize them briefly.

There are several water-related issues.

Uh six of those deal with the relationship between a municipal system and those customers that might be outside the municipal boundaries.

Uh it's an issue that's been debated now for several sessions in a row.

There are a couple of issues that relate to uh PFAS regulation, and finally one with regard to wastewater quality.

Um there are also about a dozen initiatives that touch on the operational procedures, benefits, retirement, and things of that nature uh on the agency.

Um and I've also in this particular report uh included a brief summary of the uh pending property tax uh relief initiatives that uh are in the house and are receiving a lot of discussion and debate up here, but candidly very little meaningful progress.

Uh safe to say that currently uh House, Senate, Governor uh do not appear at this stage to be getting along particularly well or uh uh working towards uh compromise on major issues.

Um at this stage, we have a lot of speculation that we'll be an extended session or in a series of special sessions.

Um and I note in the written report that Matthew has done a good job of timely uh filing the appropriations request.

And with that thought in mind, uh Matthew, I'm gonna turn it over to you to talk a little bit more about the difficulties we see or appear uh to uh be surfacing in the entire appropriations process.

Yes, so good morning, um chair and members of the board uh and those in the audience.

Uh the um as Pete has said, the legislative session starting week three.

This is typically the time when we will start to see the House and Senate subcommittees, appropriation subcommittees start to look at funding requests and begin that process.

And just as a reminder on timing, we have a nine-week session, and so week three is usually that beginning point for subcommittee work.

Week five tends to be when the House and the Senate hear the budget that they've uh built on their own floors and pass those, and then they uh bring those up in a conference committee toward the end of week seven through week eight, wrapping that up at the end of week eight uh and voting on it at the beginning of week nine.

That's to stay on schedule.

We're starting to hear that the appropriations uh process is moving more slowly than we would expect or is typical.

Um, I don't think it's uh more slowly than we expect.

Pete's hit on the fact that the governor, the speaker, and the Senate president and their respective leadership teams, um, the relationships are chilly uh at the moment uh between those parties.

Uh so uh we're in a posture of advocating before subcommittee chairs and with sponsors and and committees uh about our water uh about our project, but um we're not exactly sure when that real work is gonna get kicked off.

Uh, we were told last week likely the House would be looking at starting that work week four or maybe even week five, which would start to push us a little bit later than typical.

Um, and as you can all appreciate, the legislative process is fluid, so that's best information that we're hearing at this moment.

Pete's alluded to the fact that we could enter a multiple special session type of environment this year.

Um the legislature and the governor have already called a special session for redistricting in April.

And I think that many of us in the process are aware of the possibility that the legislature may not agree on a budget in the nine-week time frame.

Um, and they may choose to come back and address the budget at some later time, maybe the end of May or June, early June.

Uh so uh all the work that we do today is accredited.

Um, if you don't get through the process here at the beginning steps, uh you're likely not eligible to be part of the process, even if there is a special session on budget down the road.

Uh, we have two appropriations projects.

One's a two million dollar project, one's a one million dollar project.

As you all know, one deals with the surface water resilience and expansion initiative, the other deals with the SCADA technology update.

Um, and just for reference point, Senator Burgess is carrying both of those in the Senate.

And Danny Alvarez in the House is carrying the surface water resilience and expansion initiative, and Randy Maggard is carrying the technology um improvement there, the SCADA system upgrade.

Um, happy to answer any questions uh that you may have.

Uh, again, thanks for uh having us as part of your team.

Thank you.

Next up.

Lastly, we'll have this is uh Mary Beth Nassis of Jones Walker for our federal account.

Hi.

Good morning.

Thank you.

Good morning, Chairman, members of the board and those in the audience.

My name is Mary Beth Nassiv, and I'm the government affairs director for Jones Walker.

Today I'm gonna give you a brief federal level update and then speak about our federal funding strategy.

So Congress returned from recess earlier this month, and as of now, six of the 12 fiscal year 2026 appropriation bills have been enacted.

So basically that means half the federal government is funded.

All 12 bills passed the House, and now six are remaining in the Senate.

We anticipated a Senate vote this week on the remaining six bills, but because a result of events in Minneapolis, um, there's most likely to be a delay.

There could be a situation where five of the remaining bills passed, leaving the Department of Homeland Security for a continuing resolution.

And what that means is that the department would receive maybe similar funding to fiscal year 2025 levels.

Um that's still being worked out.

And as a reminder, federal funding expires on January 30th.

So we'll keep Tampa Bay water prized of the federal funding advancements.

In addition to monitoring the federal, you know, federal government appropriations process.

We continue to track federal legislation of importance and we share relevant updates with Tampa Bay Water through our monthly reporting documents, meetings, and weekly emails.

Now to move on to the since we're almost done with the fiscal year 26 uh federal funding cycle, we're gonna turn to 2027.

So since we began working uh together uh since last October with Tampa Bay Water, we've been strategizing on possible funding mechanisms.

One of the ways we believe we can secure a larger amount of funding over a longer period of time compared to traditional earmarks is through the Water Resources and Development Act, or this is referred to as WERDA.

And WERTA authorizes studies, projects, and provides authorization of funding within the US Army Corps of Engineers to civil works missions and areas.

And our timing is perfect.

The House Committee submissions window for WERDA opens um on January 12th, closes around the end of the month, making this an important near-term opportunity.

So Tampa Bay Water and Jones Walker have completed and submitted a request of five House members.

And we will shortly follow up with the Senate subcommissions with their submissions.

We prepared and submitted proposed bill language requesting authorization of up to 100 million under the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers and Environmental Infrastructure Program.

And this authorization would provide credibility to Tampa Bay Water to pursue future federal appropriations for water supply storage and treatment infrastructure projects across Tampa Bay Water Services area.

Any future funding would remain subject to congressional appropriations and standard federal cost share requirement, but places a higher likelihood of success to receive appropriations once the language becomes law in WordA.

So let me just explain quickly how this works.

First, the first step is to secure the authorization in the Word of Bill.

It's it's not funding, it's the authorization to spend up to that amount.

And then we would go back to the appropriations committee, having that word authorization, and then seek um the funding.

We'll continue to work with members and senators to advocate and support for these Tampa Bay water requests.

And in addition to seeking word of funding, we're also going through the earmark process.

And we've identified two potential earmarks.

Um, one with Tampa for Tampa Bay Water's capital improvement projects.

Um these are, excuse me, the service water treatment plant expansion and South Hills Boat.

South Hillsborough Water Initiative.

So we're in the process of submitting these requests, and we'll work with uh the House and the Senate for submissions and the funding requests are usually um under five million per project.

Um additionally, we plan to conduct personal visits with member offices in the spring to further promote our WERTA and community funding project request.

Um, and with that, if you have any questions, we'd be happy to answer them.

Thank you.

Board members, any questions?

I don't see any questions.

Well, thank you all so much for the update.

Mr.

Bartlett, Mr.

Dunbar, Mr.

Blair, Ms.

Nasif.

It's good to know that you're doing the work out there to make sure that we can get all the funding from the state and federal level.

And I like um the update on the Water Resources Development Act and telling us where you're on that and trying to get that's a large sum of money if we can get that.

So thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, we have B3, Brandon Moore, Public Communications Manager.

Good morning.

Morning, Madam Vice Chair, board members.

So today I'll give uh an update on the 2026 water conservation and protection mini grant program, and we'll announce the uh the grant recipients.

They're all here with us today.

So no formal action is required from the board, but at the end of the presentation, we'll invite you down to take photos with them in the big check.

So this program funds community groups, nonprofit groups, schools, and universities for activities that help conserve and protect our water resources regionally.

$2,000 to $10,000 is available per organization for projects in Tampa Bay Water Service Area.

And thanks to the board's ongoing support, we continue to provide organizations in our region with resources to make a positive impact on our environment and our water resources, uh, which is a great public service to the uh residents in Tampa Bay.

I'd like to give you just an idea of uh the impact of the 2025 projects quickly.

Uh, we reached roughly 50,000 people, and more than 13,000 of those were in-person hands-on experiences.

We included more than 60 workshops, events, webinars, and classes.

We engaged more than 400 volunteers to help make these projects come to life.

We distributed 30,000 curriculum-based tabloids to 89 public schools in Pinellas County.

And we removed nearly 10,000 pounds of trash from our waterways.

So after the board's request to expand the program in 2024, we're now in the second year with increased available funding and an increased scope that includes water conservation as well as source water protection projects.

And we're we're receiving really uh high quality applications, which is encouraging.

Um, so we're seeing the strong alignment with the intent of the program as organizations really focus on the water conservation and protection elements of what they're doing in their projects.

This year we received 29 applications requesting more than 226,000.

So it was a tough decision, but seven projects were selected to receive grants this year.

So I'm happy to announce that our recipients for the 2026 water conservation and protection mini grants are Florida Florida Polytechnic University, Girl Scouts of West Central Florida, Marine Exploration Center, Pinellas Diaspora Arts Project, Tampa Bay Times Newspaper in Education, Tampa Bay Water Keeper, and the Wellswood Civic Association.

So I'll now invite a representative from each organization up to tell you about their projects, and then once they've all had a chance to address the board, we'll invite you down to take the photo.

So first up is uh Florida Polytechnic, and they'll receive $5,000 for their water education and green outreach program.

And Dr.

June Kim is here to tell us about this project.

Also accompanied by Miss Jay Smith.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Good morning, Chair, board members, and distinguished guests.

Thank you for the opportunity to be here today.

My name is June Kim.

I'm an assistant professor at Proto Potech University.

And right next to me, Ms.

Jay Smith is the director of the Grand Administration at Florida Pali.

On behalf of the university, we sincerely thank you for this honor and for the confidence in our work.

We are grateful to the selection committee for the recognizing the collective efforts of our faculty, staff, and university students, students, as well as Hillsaboro County Public Schools of STEM teachers, students, and parents.

This grant enables the university to support Cato 12 education and advance the solutions that are rigorous, practical, and responsive to reward water challenges.

Our WIGO water education and green outreach program will focus on drinking water sources, treatment processes, and conservation practices by providing high quality, hands-on learning experiences to schools in Tampa Bay.

This program integrates three components knowledge building lessons, hands-on water treatment experiments, and guided tours to the university's most advanced water research labs as well as Tampa Bay Water's innovative treatment facilities.

These experiences will help students understand our community-based water supply system and expose them to state-of-the-art water treatment technologies.

We truly believe this program will strengthen collaboration across institutions, organizations, and industry to prepare the next generation of water professionals.

We are honored by this recognition and look forward to advancing the mission and values this award represents.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, next up we have uh the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida.

They'll receive 10,000 for the Camp Wilani Water Conservation Academy Waterwise Adventures Project.

And Renee Merch is here.

She's the chief of camps and facilities.

Good morning.

Thank you so much.

Girl Scouts of West Central Florida is really grateful to Tampa Bay Water for your support.

We own and maintain and operate four camps within our eight county footprint, including Camp Wylani, which is located right here in Pinellas County.

With Tampa Bay Water support, last year we launched the Camp Wylani Water Conservation Academy, which is a program at camp designed to teach our Girl Scouts about source water protection, source water supply, and water conservation.

And that's through different hands-on activities.

We have an edible aquifer activity, which was actually brought to us by a Tampa Bay Water staff member that became very popular.

We have a small-scale sinkhole demonstration.

We have microscope activities for the girls in the in the camps marine lab.

So this program has really become a favorite at camp.

And with this year's mini grant, we will increase the impact of the program with additional activities and events.

This year in the spring, we will hold our first Water Rise Earth Day celebration to celebrate Earth Day with a focus on protecting our most precious resource, water.

And we will also hold a water conservation academy event in the fall for all of our new members.

Additionally, we're integrating more water conservation activity camps into our summer camp program and into our everyday camp program.

Camp Waylani hosts over 7,000 visitors every year, and they each have the opportunity to participate in program during their time at camp.

So we're really excited to continue to expand our program offerings with Tampa Bay Water support to bring more activities to all campers.

So on behalf of Girl Scouts of West Central Florida, I'd like to sincerely thank you for your continued support of both the Camp Wailani Water Conservation Water Conservation Academy and your support of our mission to build girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place.

Thank you.

Thank you and congratulations.

Thank you.

If the board would like to attend any of those, you may be able to earn your water conservation badge.

So next up, we have the Marine Exploration Center.

They're receiving $7200, and Zachary Ostroff, he's the curator of exhibits, here to tell us about the Marine Exploration Mobile Aquarium.

Morning.

Good morning, everybody.

Thanks for having me.

Our organization's core outreach program, the Marine Exploration Mobile Aquarium travels to public events, school groups, and other places around the Bay Area, teaching the public about marine science, coastal ecology, and related conservation issues.

Last year with Tampa Bay Water Support, we renovated one of the displays in the aquarium to focus on stormwater pollution reduction and drinking water conservation.

It was very successful.

We reached a lot of people, a lot of campers at the very summer camps last year.

And with Tampa Bay Water Support, we're continuing that program this year to new places, new audiences, and we're adding to that display to help to target homeowners and try and disseminate Tampa Bay Water's water conservation rebates and methods to try and disseminate that information to local homeowners in Tampa Bay.

So we're very grateful for the opportunity to continue this program with your support.

Thank you again for your confidence and support in us.

Thank you and congratulations.

Next up, the Pinellas Diaspora Arts Project is funded for $8,000.

This will fund the fourth annual chalk festival with the theme of our watery futures, and Debbie Garrett is here to tell us about the event.

First of all, thank you so much.

It's amazing.

The members that sit on the dais.

Mr.

Edgar there because you're a great supporter of the arts and how the art can incorporate really saving our environment and saving our planet.

In the first three years of the Tampa Bay Chalk Festival, our environment was based on the water resources.

And we bring a unique opportunity into our community in order to help individuals and children, programs, schools, and we also create a civic process in order to help our young people understand why it's so important to advocate about our water in the Tampa Bay area.

Our organization is not just in St.

Petersburg, we're in Tarpin Springs, we're in Pasco, we're in Pinellas, we're in Tampa, we're all over.

We're very proud to receive this grant.

We had a concern about whether we would be able to fund the fourth annual Tampa Bay Chalk Art Festival.

And we are proud that we are now a partner with Tampa Bay Water.

We are looking so forward to creating programs with you all in order to bring this information into our community.

One of the other things that's really important is how we incorporate art in order to tell the story about our Florida etuaries and how our artists have an opportunity to join a panel to discuss how the artwork can be a contribution towards this great endeavor that you have here.

It's important that we teach our individuals that visually that R can also tell a story about how you can help your environment.

So thank you so much.

And Panel's Diaspora Arts Project and all of our children, young people that we work with, are excited to get information from Tampa Bay Water.

Thank you.

Thank you and congratulations.

All right, now we'll hear from the Tampa Bay Times News newspaper in education.

Their project is Citizen Science, Protecting and Conserving Water.

They're receiving $10,000 in funding.

And Jody Pushkin is here to tell us about the project.

Good morning, everybody.

My name is Jody Pushkin, and I'm the manager and curriculum writer for the Tampa Bay Times newspaper and education program.

And next to me is Steve Bedry.

She is our grants officer for the Tampa Bay Times.

We are honored and excited to be the recipient of the 2026 Tampa Bay Water Water Conservation and Protection Mini Grant.

The Tampa Bay Times, which is locally owned, has been with the Tampa Bay community for 140 years.

And the newspaper and education program has been a core part of the Tampa Bay Times since the 1970s.

Environmental issues are a core area of coverage at the time, Times, and focusing on science-focused environmental curriculum is one of the core areas of our newspaper and education program.

Our program serves educators, students, and families in the Tampa Bay region.

We provide class sets of the Tampa Bay Times newspaper, plus original curriculum supplements, teacher guides, lesson plans, and educational professional development resources, all at no cost to schools, teachers, or families.

Oops.

Newspapers are a critical tool for exploring science beyond the classroom and for developing scientific literacy and critical thinking skills.

This project that we're working on in 2026 will use the Times Environmental Reporting to create and distribute an original Florida standards aligned high school level curriculum supplement, focused on helping students understand the challenges facing Florida's freshwater resources, how those resources are relevant to their lives and what they can do to help and protect and conserve them.

The publication, which will be available in print and digital formats, will be designed to supplement and enhance school's existing environmental science curricula.

And we are also going to focus on activities that will encourage class citizen science activities that emphasize the importance of water issues to students' lives.

The print publication will be distributed to science teachers in all 100 public and char high schools in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco counties.

Additional copies will be available for other educators of any grade level as well as community members.

In addition, we are going to host a professional development development webinar, which will focus on integrating the curriculum into existing environmental curricula.

Last year we had a wonderful webinar, and we want to thank Warren Hoog again for being our representative from Tampa Bay Water.

The purpose of the project is to connect the dots between the environmental protection, healthy drinking water, and human health.

We are very grateful and very honored to have a continued partnership with Tampa Bay Water.

Thank you.

Thank you and congratulations.

Thank you.

All right, next up, uh Jordan Grard is the program manager for Tampa Bay Waterkeeper, and their project is Colors of the Bay Educational Kayak Tour Series, and they're funded for $8,800.

So Jordan is here to tell us about that kayak tour series.

Thank you.

Hello.

My name is Jordan.

I am the program manager for Tampa Bay Waterkeeper.

If you're not familiar with us, we are a local nonprofit and we advocate for clean water.

We are under something called the Waterkeeper Alliance, which is a global network of waterkeepers around the world.

There's over 350 of us, and all of us advocate for our local watersheds.

So there's 15 here in the state of Florida, and we represent the Tampa Bay watershed, so Hillsboro, Pinellas, and Pasco County.

And our mission is to protect, improve, and preserve the Tampa Bay watershed.

We do that through community engagement and education, policy work up in Tallahassee, and then environmental enforcement using Clean Water Act cases.

The funding from this grant is amazing, and I appreciate all of you and thank you so much for giving it to us.

This money will go towards our education programs.

So one of the really cool things that we get to do is bring people out on the water on kayak tours.

And we like to connect being able to live here in Tampa Bay, but also being able to use the resources that we have.

So this will go along with our junior advocacy program where we are cross-curricular teaching kids about clean water.

And these kayak tours will get them out on the water for about two hours.

And then the unique part about it is that during the kayak tour, they will get to watercolor paint whatever they're finding out on the water.

So when they're learning about the flora and fauna that we have, the history of Tampa Bay, and then basically tying everything into clean water.

They'll get to paint that.

We get to talk about it with the students, and then tie everything back into their drinking water.

So this is a really great opportunity for us, and I appreciate your support.

Thank you and congratulations.

Alright, and finally, the Wellswood Civic Association will receive $4,000 for water conscious Wellswood.

And the association president, Tina Herless is here to tell us more about this.

Morning board.

I have with me our secretary, which is Kitty Wallace.

She's also our gardener extraordinaire.

First of all, thank you so very much for this opportunity.

We really are looking forward to what this grant is going to be able to do for us.

And I'm happy to see both of our representatives here for our city council and for our county commission.

So that's an added bonus this morning.

So Wellswood is 84 years old, and over the last 10 years, we've been focusing on our renovation of it.

We had a beautiful garden club for many years, Rose Gardens, and I can't remember what the other ones are.

There was a little bit before my time.

But we've been really focusing on just reinnovating the area.

We are on the Hillsborough River, so we do have a concern really about making sure people are aware of what can go into the river, what can go down the waterways, as well as just over overall education.

We are now more focused on having our water be used properly, making sure we're using the right types of plants, because you know, at one point we didn't focus on that, so we have a lot of non native plants in our area.

So we are looking to restore our Civic Association building itself, which is our community center.

We do have a garden that we have been awarded.

So we have one of the first city gardens on one of the first gardens on city property in Wellswood.

And we've been keeping up with that fantastically.

So we're definitely making some grounds on showing other neighborhoods how they can be able to, if they have associations, of course, how to move forward and to be make better use and better plans with their water programs.

Great.

Thank you so very much for this opportunity.

We are really looking forward to it, and we can't wait to show you our panel project.

Thank you, and congratulations.

And before I believe that's our last speaker.

Yes.

And so before we get to photos, are there any comments that the board would like to make to the speaker Commissioner Wassel?

I just I just wanted to point out to the board that it was one of the um waterkeeper board members that um brought in light how many pharmaceuticals remain in water even after the wastewater has been treated, because that's just not something that we take into account.

So I'm I'm happy um to see them here as a grant recipient.

And um, I was going to tell that Wellswood people want to just um make sure that my office gets whatever you're trying to get out to the public.

We'll also make sure that the county's marketing department posts it on all of their socials when you're ready for that.

So just send it to me and we can make that happen.

So congratulations to all the recipients.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Any other comments?

Okay, with that, we can go and take some pictures.

Okay.

So thank you, everyone who worked on this.

Um, Brandon and his team, and to the recipients, congratulations again and for their partnership in helping us disseminate and educate the public on water conservation and source water protection projects.

So thank you so much.

11 years.

Giving everyone the moment.

Okay.

Next up is B4, and this is going to be presented by our general counsel, Miss Fernandez.

Thank you.

Good morning, everyone.

So this is an update to a policy that was originally adopted by the board in 2011.

It's a delegation of certain authorities related to uh primarily legal matters, settlements of lawsuits, and other real property issues.

It would originally delegate the authority, monetary authority to the general manager in the amount of $50,000.

Um that was in alignment with his purchasing authority at the time.

His purchasing authority has been revised twice, including at the end of last year, but this policy has not been updated to keep pace.

So primarily what this update accomplishes is bringing his authority under this policy related to legal matters equivalent to his authority for purchasing.

Move approval.

We have a motion by second.

We have a motion by uh Commissioner Peters and a second by Commissioner Wastel.

If you can please open the machine for voting.

Board members, please enter your votes.

Some reason yours is you know what mine is saying is probably it says chair cohen deskwai last time.

So my I'll I'll say it out loud.

Mine's gonna be a yes.

So it looks like everyone has voted.

Yes.

Where can you please announce vote?

The vote and it passes eight to zero.

Great.

Thank you.

Next up, we move to up C one.

This is presented by Danielle Kirsi, the senior project manager on this.

Good morning.

Good morning, Madam Vice Chair and members of the board.

Agenda item C one is an action item for the Cypress Creek Water Treatment Plant 72 inch valve project.

At the end of this presentation, I'll be requesting approval for the first amendment to contract 2023-029 with PCL construction, who is our construction manager at risk.

The purpose of this project is to replace the existing 72 inch valve on the pipe, leaving the Cypress Creek water treatment plant.

Additional improvements include the relocation of the in-pipe chemical injectors, new venture meter and static mixers, and approximately 300 feet of 72-inch valve pipe.

I mean steel pipe.

The design team has reached the 90% design, and to ensure materials are delivered on time and leveraging more favorable market prices.

PCL submitted the first GMP proposal for the early procurement of steel pipe and HTPE pipe, valves, static mixers, and a venturi meter.

These materials were competitively bid by the CMAR contractor, and GMP proposal number one was based on the lowest lowest most responsive bidder for each of the material packages.

The table on the screen shows the overall costs.

Staff does anticipate leveraging the owner's direct purchase program to directly purchase the materials and to save the sales tax associated with those materials.

This is estimated to save the agency more than 220,000.

And with that, staff recommends approval of the first contract amendment 2023-029 with PCL construction for GMP number one in the amount of 4,278,942.

Thank you.

Approval.

Second.

We have a motion by Commissioner Whiteman and a second by Commissioner Wassel.

Board members, please enter your votes.

Seeing that all present board members have voted, Clerk QP's tally and announce the vote.

Passes unanimously.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, we have for presentations and reports.

The first one up is the one, and it's going to be presented by Warren Hogg, our chief science officer.

Good morning.

Good morning, Madam Madam Vice Chair, members of the board.

I have an update for you this morning on the conditions of our water supplies and demands to date for the water year.

And I'd like to walk you through a few different pieces of our system.

We began our dry season early this year.

We usually have a rainy season that goes through the month of at least September, but we only received about two inches that month instead of the normal eight.

So we started in a significant deficit in September.

And we continued with the very warm, dry conditions for October November.

We did almost hit our average rainfall total for the month of December, but that happened in almost one single rainfall event very early in the month.

That did help river flows, but it wasn't enough to really shake us out of the pending dry conditions.

This uh multiple months of dry has led to a coverage of drought conditions across the state of Florida.

And our region is either in a moderate or severe drought, and we are looking at a forecast warmer and drier conditions for the spring.

It is our typical dry season going through about mid to late May each year, but when they tell us warmer and drier, it gives us information that this is likely to continue.

The water management district at their board meeting tomorrow will consider a one-day-a-week water restriction throughout their entire 16 county district.

And if if approved, that would take effect, I believe, on February the 8th.

Our area does remain in a stage one drought alert under our water shortage mitigation plan, and that's due to the deficit rainfall.

River flow in the Hillsborough River is right just above 5 million gallons a day below average for this time of year, and that's a 12-month average.

And if it were to drop below 10 million gallon per day rolling deficit, we would then move to a stage two.

The agency delivered uh 208.16 million gallons a day to the members for the first three months of the fiscal year.

Due to the the weather, that was almost 9 million gallons a day higher or 4.5% higher than the same three months in the prior year.

Our consolidated permit well fields, our running average is about 84.9 million gallons a day at the end of December.

That is well below our permit limit of 90.

But as we look out in the coming spring months, we do expect those demands to go higher, and we will work with our system to stay below the 90 million gallon a day limit, but it's going to be close.

We were in this situation two years ago, as you remember, with uh continued dry conditions, and we're back two years later.

The this graph I haven't shown for a while, but I'd like to walk through it quickly.

This is the water we've delivered to South Hillsborough County for the last 24 months.

We deliver water to that area through three different points of connection, and the different blue colors on each bar is how we delivered, either from the regional system to central, which is the north part of their system, regional water and Brandon water in light blue to the lithia treatment plant, and the differences made up by the dark blue, which is the South Central Hillsborough Regional Well Field.

As we had water restrictions in 2023 into 24, and we had a spell of cooler wetter weather, we see a decline in the 12-month average demand in this area.

That's the orange line that runs from left to right.

But since about October of 2024, we have returned to that steady increase in demand.

At the end of December, the demands were a new record high of 59.6 million gallons per day, almost 4 million a day higher than the prior December, and that's reflective of the growth in that service area.

The South Central Hillsboro Regional Well Field permit was increased in the month of November by the governing board, and it's now increased to 26.82 million gallons a day.

We are now below that permit limit on our 12-month well-field pumping.

But as we look into the spring, even with restrictions, we are going to be very close to that new higher limit, perhaps as early as the end of this fiscal year.

We'll continue to manage the water resources and delivery to make sure that we're meeting demand at all places and work very hard to remain within our permits.

But this permit, like the consolidated permit, we will approach or be very close to that limit as we move through the year.

One good benefit, two years ago we did not have our desalination facility online.

Today it is back up and running, and it's, I believe yesterday was about 14 to 15 million gallons per day.

So it is delivering high-quality water for our citizens.

With that, I would be happy to answer any questions you have.

Thank you.

Any questions, board member?

I don't see any questions.

Well, thank you so much for the update, Mr.

Hawk.

Thank you.

Next up we have D2.

It's presented by Steve Fleischhecker, the water quality services senior manager.

Good morning.

Good morning, Madam Vice Chair and members of the board.

Today's water quality update highlights compliance and current regulation with current regulations, and Tampa Bay Water's regional water quality study update that recommends treatment to comply with EPA's PFAS limits in drinking water, which were finalized in 2024, and to reduce naturally occurring organic carbon known as TOC, as requested by member utility directors and recommended in our earlier regional water quality study reports that were completed in 2019 and 2023.

This presentation is for information only, and no board action will be required today.

Tampa Bay Water continues to provide water that meets or is better than current State, Federal, and local drinking water requirements.

We're now working on our 2025 water quality report, which will be issued by April 1st in accordance with Federal reporting requirements.

Based on regulations that were finalized in 2024, Tampa Bay Water will need to comply with EPA PFAS limits in drinking water by April 2029.

EPA, however, announced its intent last year to change the current PFAS drinking water regulations by extending the compliance deadline two years to 2031 for two of the six PFAS and withdraw the remaining four PFAS.

Proposed new regulations to reflect these intended changes were expected by the end of last year, but they're still pending as of today.

EPA's delay is likely the result of ongoing litigation that began with AWWA's challenge of the 2024 PFAS numerical limits, but now involves the NAS National Resource Defense Council challenging the EPA's 2025 intended changes to the current regulations.

A court decision is now anticipated later in 2026 or possibly next year.

In response to these delays, Tampa Bay Water has developed a flexible approach to achieve current PFAS requirements while recognizing the EPA's limits and deadline may change.

Given this continued uncertainty, our approach will be to first recommend the planning and design of PFAS treatment at appropriate locations.

And then construction would not be recommended to begin before there is greater regulatory certainty.

Our staff is also working on contingency plans to achieve compliance on an interim basis if this becomes necessary.

And lastly, all recommended interim and long-term PFAS treatment technologies are identified in the now completed Regional Water Quality Study Update Report.

As presented during past presentations to this board, three of our regional delivery locations showed one PFAS per fluoro octane sulfon sulfonic acid, known as PFOS, at levels slightly higher than the EPA limit.

To achieve compliance, the regional water quality study update recommends PFAS treatment at three Tampa Bay water treatment locations, locations shown by orange stars on this graphic and identified with corresponding treatment technologies that are also shown on this slide.

Now to reduce naturally occurring organic carbon known as TOC and strength and disinfection stability, the original regional water quality study and the study update recommend treatment in phases over a period of approximately 15 years.

Shown on this graphic as two orange stars are the TOC treatment locations recommended for phase one implementation.

These locations are recommended for phase one because CIP projects will be underway at these locations, and cost savings can be achieved by implementing these projects together.

An additional benefit is that these two systems become oper uh become operational.

Performance data from each technology shown will guide the greater number of phase two TOC reduction projects.

And on this slide are the six recommended phase two TOC treatment locations.

You'll note that each of the listed treatment locations use the phase one technologies.

In this way, we'll learn from the full-scale performance data how to improve on the earlier designs from phase one.

Highlighting our recent progress in this work, we finalized and distributed the regional water quality study update report to member and distributed to member utility directors and others earlier this month.

Our team has since been working on CIP-based cost estimates for the recommended treatment options.

We'll discuss these cost estimates and review the technical details for the recommended PFAS and TOC treatment options at a workshop meeting with utility directors later today.

We then plan to come back to this board to present those recommendations with the CIP cost estimates.

Our timing of the next presentation depends on the outcome of workshop discussions with your technical teams today.

With that, I'll take any questions you might have.

Thank you.

Commissioner Wastel.

Thank you.

First year, Matt is very prejudicial to my county.

Now that the lawsuit has concluded, uh is it a good assumption to make or a bad assumption to make that the production of these chemicals that led to this are now stopped, or is that ongoing?

Are they still manufacturing these chemicals?

PFAS chemicals are still being used, yes.

Okay.

And they're still being manufactured for different types of products.

So are we going to like keep suing and then just keep getting rewards down the road, or do we know?

Has there been any discussions about like hey, we're No, I'm not aware of any discussions about future lawsuits.

I mean, the the source of the of the PFAS and PFAS from the lawsuits we are involved in should be modified so that it doesn't reoccur.

But as far as other products or other avenues that I I don't know enough to comment on right now.

My question is, I guess is the the treatments are intended to be permanent requirements and necessities, I'm assuming then, yeah.

Hey, we've sued and we won and we'll fix the problem.

It's just going to be an ongoing new expense.

That's correct.

Great.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I don't see any other comments or questions.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Next up, we have the three.

So again, Madam Vice Chair and members of the board.

Mr.

Cardin has been reporting to you in recent board meetings that our staff has been meeting and talking with the City of Tampa staff about the status of their water use permit renewal.

I would like to give you a summary of these discussions and a very high-level concept that we've talked about with the city staff in those discussions.

A little bit of background.

The permit also includes up to five million gallons a day from sulfur springs that can be used to augment the city's supply or help meet minimum flow requirements of the lower river.

And the permit also includes eight aquifer storage and recovery wells.

The continued use of water from the Hillsborough River at this historic quantity by the city is spelled out in Section 3.08 of the amended and restated interlocal agreement.

And the application requests a continuation of withdrawal of up to 82 million gallons a day from the river.

It states that additional water will be purchased from Tampa Bay Water.

And it asked the water management district to work with them on conditions to see if there's ways they could use high flows from the river to maximize the storage in their existing eight aquifer storage and recovery wells.

I mentioned we've been meeting and talking with the city staff over 2025 on a high-level concept of how we could potentially use the ASR aqui for storage wells as a regional facility.

The concept we've discussed is that the city would renew their water use permit to continue 82 million gallon a day withdrawal from the river for their potable use.

The aquifer storage and recovery wells would be separated from that permit and separately permitted jointly to the city and to Tampa Bay water.

This could make this the use of these wells and the wells themselves a regional water supply facility.

We could maximize the use of high flows in the river after the city has met their 82 or their demands for the year.

In a summer, we would then withdraw from the Bypass Canal.

But there's usually much higher flows going down the river to Tampa Bay.

If we could jointly harvest a piece of those extra high flows, we could maximize the storage in the ASR wells.

They're currently permitted for an average annual use of about 3.28 million gallons per day.

The last year of full data, they were only about 20 percent effective in storing water in those wells, and the additional high water flows and storage could help maximize that as a resource.

Under the concept, the the city would acquire up to 3.28 million gallons a day of water supply, would be above their 82 MGD authorization.

And Tampa Bay Water could have more certainty in not having to deliver spring dry season flows to the city.

The city would have more assurance or less risk of meeting their 82 million every day or every year.

It would allow us as an agency to defer the capital investment for the development of new water supplies of 3.28 million gallons a day, which would be a cost savings shared between all members.

We receive good feedback and many questions from the member governments and council.

And today we wanted to present this high-level summary to the board and allow the board to discuss and provide feedback.

Our staff do recommend that we continue the discussions with the City of Tampa, taking any feedback and questions from the members and using that to more fully develop the concept and see if it's something that the city and Tampa Bay Water would like to continue to pursue.

If our discussions are successful, we will come back to your utility directors and legal counsel with the information.

And if it turns into something that may be an agreement, we would come back to the board and present it to you so that we keep all members fully informed as we go forward.

That concludes my prepared remarks.

I'd be happy to answer any additional questions.

Board members, any questions?

Perhaps, yeah, Mr.

Commissioner, I mean, Councilmember Altman.

Thank you.

Um I'm curious of the ASR process, and I know that uh when we have the storms uh most recently in East Pascoe County, uh, which experienced so much of the slower moving storms that create massive amounts of water.

I know that was a success story for the reservoir when it was low that you have.

Uh and our river, the Pitlachascoty River in Pasco County on the west side, uh created uh a number of flood victims along it.

Uh I know we're all doing vulnerability studies.

How much does Tampa Water uh Tampa Bay water participate in some of these strategies related to you know the threat of flooding from that and it's the uh ability to use ASR sort of technology or processes?

Um is it something that might be useful?

Um Pascoe County just bought another 10 acres.

I think we have now nearly a hundred acres on the Cody River just at the area between the city and the county.

Uh they use some ELAP money to buy that.

Um so are some of these environmental land acquisitions potential opportunities if they find themselves in uh in some kind of a flood basin to capture water, both in a way of saving uh folks from uh helping to lower the level to some degree, perhaps mitigating uh some of the storm surge issues.

But in that case, farther inland on the rivers, it was really the water coming from the massive storms to the east and uh the green swamp and all of all of those threats that push the water back while the storm was pushing the water in that created uh some of the problems.

How much do you look at those vulnerability studies and action plans coming from that?

We do work with the member government staffs as requested on those studies, and PASCO County has requested that we participate with them in the studies for East uh East Pascoe County.

Uh I know this that the county is consider is working with the Army Corps of Engineers to perhaps resurrect some components of the old Four Rivers, Four River Basins project, and we've been active with this the county in those initial discussions.

So we'll continue to do that since the county is is interested in our participation.

For aquifer storage and recovery wells, the effectiveness really depends on the geology.

To be able to put water into the aquifer and recover it later, you need some confinement between the surficial sands and the limestone underneath.

When you put the water in, you don't want it to just spread out.

You're trying to create a bubble that stays relatively in that place that you can withdraw for later use.

The geology that when you get further north of the city of Tampa, it becomes much less conducive to that.

And for the just an initial reaction, the number of aquifer storage or just recharge wells to get water into the aquifer for the level of flows that were experienced on the Withlacuche, would be a massive amount of injection wells.

Uh, even infiltration basins to let the water spill onto the land and percolate into the aquifer.

That might be a more beneficial cost-effective method.

Uh, but certainly we'd be happy to continue working with the county to explore all those options.

Right.

And again, it's the Pithla Chascoty River that comes through Newport Ritchie.

And uh the salt water intrusion was a big issue for me growing up in the 70s, concerning about the amount of pumping that was happening, which is now a Pasco County water uh resource in the Gulf Harbors community.

Uh, there was a lot of concern, including from this agency on the effect of the intrusion of salt water.

So perhaps that's another line of defense to be considered.

Not sure.

It is something that we could explore with the county.

Although with the reduction in groundwater pumping from those well fields, we don't perceive a threat of saltwater intrusion except perhaps right along the coast.

But that's something that the county might consider to protect those coastal communities from saltwater intrusion.

We'd be happy to participate in those discussions with them as well if we can live lend technical expertise.

Thank you.

It's not very often I get this kind of expertise, so I'm taking advantage of the questions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, I have just a few questions.

First of all, thank you for the one-on-ones on this and and going through with me some of the questions I had, but I wanted to at least bring some of this at least at the board level just to have the conversation out in the open.

So, in terms of the interlocal agreement, um, does this concept and you know your what's your reasoning that this complies with the interlocal agreement, if you can just kind of articulate that the city's aquifer storage and recovery wells were not in existence at the time of the signing of that agreement, but they were contemplated, and the exploration and subsequent use of those wells by the city was written into the interlocal agreement because that was a project underway.

Um individual members cannot, and I'll look to Kelly for further guidance.

Individual members cannot go develop new water supplies on their own, but with co-developed with Tampa Bay Water with our operational uh coordination with them, they could be considered as a regional water supply facility, and that water delivered from that resource would go to the member under the uniform rate minus any operation and maintenance costs that the city had to operate and treat the water, similar to other agreements we have with other members where if we deliver raw water, that member treats it and there's a credit applied back for that water treatment.

We don't believe this opens up any additional risk because this specific facility, the Aqua Storage Wells, are called out in the interlocal agreement, whereas a new project proposed by a member government is not spelled out.

So for that reason as well, we don't believe that we're opening the door to subsequent projects.

We're looking for a way of creatingly creatively extending the water supply for the region at a cost savings.

If we develop this further, we will work with your legal counsel to make sure that everyone's on board that we are on solid footing.

Great.

Thank you for that.

I appreciate that.

And then in terms of risk for Tampa Bay Water, because we're a co-permittee on this.

Just if you can tell us what your evaluation is on that.

As we've discussed this with the city of Tampa, and again, it's at a very high level.

The city is used to the their integral, those wells are integral to the city's supply system.

So the city, if we work in agreement, they would continue to operate the wells.

We would have joint control over how they're operated, but the city would do the physical work and be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the wells.

If the wells do not pan out to be effective, if they're less effective in any given year, the city comes to Tampa Bay Water to purchase the additional water that's needed in the future, regardless.

If the wells were not in existence, the city would purchase that additional water from us.

So we stand ready to deliver and sell the city the additional water that they need in the future.

Great, thank you.

And the last thing is you're working on the financial terms, so there are going to be some financial terms that are just still being hashed out.

We will discuss that and bring that back to the members.

Okay, great.

Thank you so much.

If no other questions, we move on to the next item.

Thank you.

Are there any administrative matters that the board would like to discuss?

If there aren't, then I need a motion and a second for receive and file.

Second.

So I have council member Miranda.

The motion.

Any second by Commissioner Wastel?

Clerk, if you can open the machine for voting.

Seeing that all present board members have voted.

Clerk, if you can please tally announce the vote.

Passes unanimously.

Thank you.

Now we move on to the attorney client session.

I have to read some legal language here.

We are now going to move into a private attorney client session pursuant to Florida Statute 286.011 subsection eight to discuss Polk Regional Water Cooperative versus Southwest Florida Water Management District and Tampa Bay Water.

In attendance will be General Counsel for Kelly Fernandez, Special Counsel Timothy Riley via Zoom, and Elizabeth Ross, General Manager, Chuck Cardin, Chair Harry Cohen via Zoom, Vice Chair me, Board members Peter Outman, David Edgers, Seth Whiteman, Shirley Miranda, Ron Oakley, Kathleen Peters, and Joshua Wastel, and a certified court reporter.

The expected duration of this session is 60 minutes.

We will come back afterwards to conclude the session.

And with that, we are off to our adjournment.

Board meeting.

We have a motion for adjournment in a second.

Sorry.

Okay.

We don't have to vote on the yeah, there is a motion.

I'm not sure we need to vote.

How about this?

Meeting is adjourned.

There you go.

I like that.

Thank you.