Okay, good morning, everyone.

I'm gonna call to order this Monday, August fourth, twenty twenty-five regular city commission meeting.

Um, and if you haven't done so, remember to turn off your cell phones, and we will start with an invocation by the city auditor and clerk.

And if Commissioner A.

No, Mayor.

Um, for the proposed agenda schedule.

Umbrook move to approve the proposed agenda schedule.

Um, Vice Mayor try seconded if you'll vote, Commissioners.

Motion passes unanimously.

All right, we're gonna start with employee of the month, and if this isn't well deserved, I don't know what is David Smith.

Um he's our manager of long range planning and the planning department, and we are proud to recognize David for his outstanding service and professionalism in the city's planning department.

David has served the city for over 25 years.

Think about that and doing planning.

So thank you, David.

Um so this month we're honoring um to and celebrating his contributions as the manager of the long range planning, as well as his role in assisting with historic preservation during a staffing shortage.

A colleague nominated David for his extraordinary work ethic.

The nominator writes after Dr.

Clifford Smith passed away late last year.

David stepped up and took on all the historic preservation activities until a new planner was hired.

He had been continuously working on permit reviews, submitting historic preservation board agenda items, making presentations to the historic preservation board, conductoring numerous site visits, site visits, and meeting with hundreds of people at our office or in the field regarding their historic properties.

Due to the hurricanes last year, the permit and project volume have experienced a meteoric rise.

David's David has had to take on work volume that has already exceeded the previous year's totals, and it hasn't slowed down.

In addition to his historic preservation activities, David has continued to handle his regular duties, preparing and presenting comprehensive plan change applications, coordinating with the state, and handling other long-range planning activities.

While doing double duty, David has received many compliments from citizens about his willingness to reach out and work with them in a friendly, polite, and professional manner.

To put it simply, David has been assisting during one of the heaviest workload periods in the history of historic preservation and comprehensive planning.

Because of his valiant efforts to fill in for historic preservation for over for over four months, his willingness to put in extra time to make sure things are done right in all areas of his work, and his ability to always do his work cheerfully.

I'm recommending that David Smith be selected as employee of the month.

In recognition of David's dedication to the long-range planning of our city and his efforts in historic preservation, we're proud to name him employee of the month.

His contributions have made a lasting impact in our community.

Thank you, David, for serving the city of Sarasota with excellence and pride.

Would you like to say thank thank you very much?

I tried my best, and hopefully I didn't make too many mistakes.

But that's pretty much it.

Thank you.

Mr.

Cover, do you want to say anything?

Sure.

Yeah, really happy for David.

This was uh really a difficult time, obviously, when uh Dr.

Clifford Smith passed away.

Uh Dave jumped David jumped right in.

Uh just to give you an idea.

He was working on some really complicated and controversial comprehensive plan mammons amendments, one of them being the Miramar, which all of you are familiar with.

But two, the because of the hurricanes, the volume of permits and things he had to do related to historic preservation.

It was four times the normal workload.

So in addition to doing all handling all of his comprehensive planning and long-range planning assignments, he really was taking on the a volume that was far exceeded uh uh anybody that anybody expected, and he did an incredible job, uh, always with a smile on his face.

And uh I think he's really well deserving of this this recognition.

Thank you.

Commissioners.

Congratulations and thank you.

uh anybody that anybody expected and he did an incredible job uh always with a smile on his face and uh uh I think he's really well deserving of this this recognition thank you commissioners congratulations and thank you thank you all right let's get a let's get a picture here too one oh David take this with you if I sort of have that I think that's great for you to see okay and next we have our team of the month really important this is a team that's really important to all of us here in the city it's our payroll team all right um we have Sarah is it Kozick Kozick and Makissa Abner um Sarah is the financial accountant and Macissa is the payroll administrator one in the finance department so we would like to express our sincere appreciation for the finance payroll team for getting us our payroll all the time on time um and um together this small but mighty team handles payroll for over 800 employees on a biweekly basis a colleague nominated them for their assistance during last year's hurricanes ensuring our employees are paid accurately and on time is essential and the payroll team manage this task with great expertise the nominator writes Sarah and McKissa are reliable knowledgeable and willing to help prevent payroll issues in doing so they create a sense of trust and reassurance among our staff McKissah and Sarah truly exemplify the values of service teamwork and excellence and I'm incredibly grateful for all they do.

In particular their assistance during last year's hurricanes was a perfect example of their dedication while many were dealing with disruption and uncertainty McKissa and Sarah remained accessible and responsive.

They helped us make critical time adjustments to ensure employees were paid accurately even in the midst of the chaos we commend Sarah and McKissa for their commitment to Sarasota's values of integrity accountability teamwork and respect the payroll team plays a key role in our workforce and their efforts are a shining example of the city of Sarasota's values in action and thank you both and uh why don't you just say a couple words I just want to say thank you to everybody just thank you we appreciate the recognition their supervisor and I just want to say they are a great team and they work so well together and so hard on a daily basis.

I'm telling you these ladies are the most appreciated or should be the most appreciated through the city they are consistent we get paid every two weeks and they really care about their job and I just appreciate them so much as their director I don't worry about payroll because they're doing it they're doing such a great job on it and I appreciate them and can't say enough good and they're a lot of fun too all right commissioners well congratulations and thank you for everything you have thank you for you and for managing well right let's get a let's get a picture when we get this out of the way here why don't you hold on to that three two one take this with you so that's the narrative you might want to frame that thank you okay we are moving on citizens input concerning city topics and I'm gonna ask the uh city auditor and clerk to read the pledge of public conduct thank you we may disagree but we will be respectful to one another we will direct all comments to issues we will not engage in personal attacks all right uh we have two speakers and remember to state your name and whether you're a city resident uh Martin Hyde and Ron Cashton well obviously I remain Martin Hyde I um you know as a footnote to that last comment why worry about payroll it's uh other people's money right anyway Mike Twain said if you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you that

Well, obviously.

I um, you know, as a footnote to that last comment, why worry about payroll, it's uh other people's money, right?

Anyway, Mark Twain said if you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you.

That is the principal difference between a dog and a man.

Last week's double digit tax grab, fully four times the rate of inflation, proves his point.

Two days of discussion, but big issues completely unchallenged.