Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) meeting transcript 6/23/26

4:01 I call this meeting of the community redevelopment agency CRA to order in the interest of time efficiency and ensuring everyone who wishes to address
4:11 the board is given the opportunity to do so. The following will apply to all comments made by the public
4:19 in person and virtually. uh virtually participating in CRA meetings are available on your computer or smartphone
4:25 via Microsoft Teams or by telephone. You can learn how to participate virtually by visiting our website
4:32 www.climoutfl.gov and search for attend council meeting online. Each speaker will be permitted
4:40 three minutes to address the council. In an effort to res be respectful during the meeting, please make sure your cell
4:48 phones are set to silent. Thank you for participating in your city government.
4:52 [snorts] Our first order of business is to approve the minutes from April 28th, 2026 meeting of the CRA board.
5:01 I need a motion. So moved. Second.
5:05 I have a motion and a second for approval of minutes from uh April 28, 2026 meeting. Uh any further discussion?
5:13 Number all in favor? Let be known by saying I. I. All oppose. chair vote as well. Motion passes 60.
5:24 Next item up for is from Main Street and Okay.
5:34 Good afternoon. No. No. Did I just turn it off?
5:40 Red should be red.
5:43 Okay. Um, good afternoon. And thank you guys so much for the time. Uh, I just want to don't be scared by the amount of slides that you see. Most of them I'm
5:52 just racing through, but I wanted to um Oh, look. I'm controlling everyone's things.
5:59 Okay. Um, [clears throat] most of them I just want to be able to just put it on your radar that it happened in case you didn't notice. So, um, this is our
6:08 little duck initiative that we started um, giving away duck feed at Small Business Saturday last year. We're doing it periodically. So this it just
6:16 explains uh we are a nonprofit. Um I think we're finally getting to the point where people are starting to understand the difference between city government and Main Street. So I consider that a
6:25 big win. Um we are wonderful partners but we obviously have different um responsibilities and we do that through
6:32 a bunch of different ways um to make sure that um we deliver a good product to you guys and to the residents of
6:40 Clermont. So, since I was here in April, um I just thought I would throw up the things that have happened since I was here last time. Um we had our moms
6:49 on Maine, which um this lovely picture in the middle are the moms that were participating and then also the gentleman on the far left of the photo
6:57 and there was a young man next to him as well. They were both doing bouques for their mothers. So, they went around to all the shops and made bouques for their mom. So, it was a really neat activity
7:06 um to watch moms interacting with their kids or having mom's days out. Um, so we're really, really happy with how all of that went. And then of course we have
7:15 our monthly wine stroll. And then, um, thank you guys so much for hosting two of the flags for our flag walk. Um, we
7:22 do have one, um, if you didn't see them when you came in. All of the flags are 3x5. So, this is the one that
7:30 never did find a home. Um, and then it has information along with it that tells them what the history of that particular
7:37 flag was, how it was used, when it was used, who made it, and um, so great educational opportunity for people to learn. And um, it's been really fun
7:46 walking around and um, running into people that are doing the walk. And we did have a couple kinks at the beginning, but we figured all of that
7:52 out. And uh people, you only have to go and find 10 flags out of the 33 in order
7:59 to get one of these really cool um flags. And then if you find all of them plus the one fake flag that we have,
8:06 don't ask me where it is. I'm not telling you. But we have a fake flag that [snorts] looks like it used to be an American flag and it isn't. It was
8:14 made for a game. And um so if they tell Dash Sports where that is, then they're also going to get these nice little
8:22 commemorative America 250 pins, which I am allowed to give you because they're under $25 in value. So when I'm done talking, I'm going to give you all a pin.
8:32 Um [gasps] the other things we have, we also have the little pins that go along with it if they find more than that. Um, we also did put the America 250 flags in the
8:42 bulbouts and we're not going to talk about the fact that they're all gone because that makes me sad.
8:47 People thought they were giveaways, I guess. Um, things that are happening in the summer. So, um, all Main Streets,
8:55 well, all good Main Streets that are being obedient to National Main Street are having an event on July 5th, um, to
9:03 have kind of like a picnic day. So, since we already have our farmers market that day, we're combining it with that event. Um, all of the flags are going to be on the city hall lawn under tents.
9:13 So, we're going to have um a bunch of tents with the flags all hanging there in one one solitary exhibit. And then we also have picnic blankets that people
9:21 can sit on. Um we've ordered extra carnivalally kind of food um for that day so people can go and enjoy that that day. And we're also including an apple
9:30 pie contest um that Jen really wanted to do. God bless her. And she's doing that.
9:35 Um, if you don't know, farmers market hours do change for the summer. So, we're over at 1. I wanted to remind you of that. And then, um, there's just a
9:43 picture down there at the of how different people are, um, showing the flags. That one is at Sunshine Books.
9:50 And I'll give you an extra pin if you know the name of that without looking at that flag.
9:56 All right. So, different initiatives that we're working on right now. Um, we launched a few months ago our face that runs the place. And I really just wanted
10:04 to show you this slide. This is our most recent one on Cheezers. And if [snorts] you look at just the engagement that came from South Lake posting it and
10:13 tagging us in it, that is 17,000 views that they had just in the week, first week that it went out. So, I'm really
10:20 really happy with that. We have added um a YouTube page. So, all the videos are going to be on there as well. And then we also posh post them ourselves. But
10:29 that series is doing really well in helping people to get to know our businesses.
10:35 We also I told you we were going to and we did uh launch our Clermont onscreen website and so this is what the homepage
10:42 looks like and um we have the film archive done with about 25 films right now and we're still working on the others. um our partners at the historic
10:51 village um in addition to Doris Bworth having the film from the 1920s, the historic village very kindly um has
10:59 allowed us to have for temporarily the um a 1980s film that was taken during library moving day. And so um there's
11:08 all these pictures, they're the most amazing things of people just lined up down the streets and just handing books to each other. And um so we're going to figure out how to digitize that as well
11:17 and get that on the site. So, I know the more that we do this, the more we're going to start getting gems like that, and it's going to end up being a really neat collection of things. We are also
11:26 uh contacting producers of fast past films that have been done here to get um more background stuff from them, and I have somebody that's working on that.
11:36 Um community engagement. So, uh Patrick was here in the last CRA meeting to talk to you about Center Lake, and we're still having those conversations. Um
11:44 there's a lot of government agencies involved and a lot of opinions um as you guys know as government officials. So um we're navigating all that and just
11:52 starting to get things put together so that we can come back to you guys with a plan um of what we recommend and then of course ultimately that decision is
12:01 yours. Um same thing with the sketch your dream park um for the Montro tot lot. Um we want to be able to provide
12:09 you guys with information. Um, we also would love to help you with planning and grant writing for that and fundraising
12:17 for that. So, however you want us to help, uh, we are meeting with the parks department next Wednesday and we'll
12:24 start those initial conversations. But, um, when, uh, it got announced that we were starting it, we thought, well, we
12:31 better hurry up and do something. So, we got out because we weren't really going to work on it till next year, but um we got out um the Sketcher Park for the
12:40 kids because I think if we're serving the children, if this is for the children that it makes sense that they have a voice and what that means. What
12:48 has been really really rewarding for for me personally is that um our team had had a
12:55 conversation about trying to make it ADA accessible and the amount of people that are contacting us and saying that that is important to them without us ever
13:04 having announced that to the public has been really really validating. So, I think um hopefully we can get everybody on board with that and come up with a
13:12 product that's going to be really valuable to everybody. Um as we talk about community engagement, just want to remind you every fourth Wednesday we do
13:20 meet at the historic village at 9:00 in the morning for anybody that wants to come. We've been having good turnout at that and um we actually will be there
13:28 tomorrow morning and that's when we get some good feedback from the community members as well that might not be connected in other ways. Um, the little
13:36 button on the bottom is not our final product, but all of the kids that submit sketches to us of what their dream park looks like are going to get official
13:44 park planner buttons. And so those are in production right now, and we should have them by the time that we have the picnic um in in the middle of July.
13:54 Um, finally, upcoming grants. Um, these are things that are either about to begin if the governor ever signs the
14:00 budget or um have just been submitted for the next grant cycle. The hard thing about being a grant writer is you get
14:08 really excited about something and then you have to wait for 14 months for it to happen or not happen depending on the whim of somebody with a pen. But that's
14:16 okay. We're getting over it. Um what we are supposed to be starting on uh July 1st is a design guideline grant
14:24 um that covers the CRA district which is this area obviously that you guys know about.
14:30 And then um the grant that we are looking to get do for um next year, I think I might have put these out of
14:37 order, is this is um a traveling exhibit that we're doing in conjunction with the historic village. And it's going to be
14:45 on four themes: inventions, industries, individuals, and identities. And I came up with that alliteration all by myself.
14:51 You're welcome, and I'm not charging you any extra for it. Um but what we found when we did the historic structure survey was the amount of people that
15:00 invented really weird and interesting things here um is unusual and so we wanted to highlight first of all those
15:06 inventions and then um we are also doing oh see I did do it backwards this one should have gone first this is um going
15:15 to be an art exhibit that we're going to start July 1st again if the governor signs it and that will be based on historic photos I have a whole big
15:23 binder right here of historic photos from Clermont. And the artists are going to be able to pick out one that they want. They're all bisection. So, if
15:31 they want to talk about fishing, if they want to talk about shuffleboard, courts, whatever they want to talk about, they're going to pick a picture and then they're going to depict it in their art
15:39 style. So, um it's not going to necessarily be an exact replica of whatever is there, but it's going to be representative of that item. So, that is
15:47 going to start July 1st. Even if we don't get the grant, we're still going to do 25 of the 50 paintings because we do have that amount budgeted which was
15:54 our match. So, we're going to do some paintings. I just don't know if we're doing 25 or 50.
16:00 Then, um next year the art grant that we'll do will be the same kind of exhibit except it'll be all based on the
16:08 movie theater um history. So, we'll have had a whole year to flesh out things that have been filmed here and and we'll have pictures that they can do based on that.
16:20 Um, the last grant that I just applied for that would be for next year is the traveling exhibit that I just mentioned
16:27 to you, um, that we're doing with the historic village. And, uh, they helped us potentially pick out, um, how we're
16:34 going to do it. It's going to have 10 of the items of 10 inventions, 10 um, identities, and then there'll be 25
16:42 people, and we're going to have the community help us pick which people are honored. So, we're already forming a list of people that are I mean,
16:50 anybody's eligible, we might even let people nominate them, but we want to really know like who the community wants to see involved in that exhibit.
16:58 And I made that by myself. Please don't make fun of it. This is not my skill set. All right, just uh tracking numbers.
17:05 Since Florida Main Street uh reacredited us in 2022, um we've seen a net uh of
17:13 123 new businesses in the district, 220 new jobs. That number is low because um I won't actually ask the business owners
17:22 if they're employing or not employing people because I think it's rude. So, I just kind of try to pay attention. Um but I don't like putting people's
17:30 information like that in the government document. um public dollars invested is uh over a billion and then the private
17:38 is 11 and that or million sorry and that is based on the permit number. So that is an exact number and then our
17:46 volunteer hours are hovering just around 6,000.
17:52 Does anybody have any questions other than how you get your free button? Hold [laughter] on.
18:01 Did you say I apologize if you did just a second uh Miss Miss Strange? Uh before we we get to that. Uh this is a
18:08 public forum. Anyone in the public wish to address uh address this item may come to the microphone and state your name and address and have three minutes.
18:17 Anyone in the public wish to address this item may come to the microphone to state your name and have three minutes.
18:23 Seeing no one in the chamber, anyone online, sir?
18:26 No. Nobody [clears throat] on sign, so I'll close public comment. Go ahead, Miss M. Strange, please.
18:31 Thank you. Uh, did you say that you had received the letter of support from city staff for the Center Lake project?
18:39 We have not asked for letters for Center Lake or um the tot. What we asked for letters for was um the historic
18:49 structure survey um followup, which is design guidelines, and then also the um museum, traveling museum one. Um, I'm
18:57 asking related to the item on the agenda from April 28th where there was a request for a letter of support.
19:06 Oh, so that we can start getting grant funding. Yes. No, I don't have that yet. Have you requested it? No. Okay. Thank you.
19:14 That's all I have. Anyone else?
19:18 I have a quick question. is there's a little park on Montrose in 12 that's really in disrepair and I've if a I've been getting a lot of comments from
19:26 homesooled moms about that. Is it possible that Clermont Main Street can take over that and possibly bring that back into into use that the kids could
19:35 use because I think it's an important thing.
19:38 Um well I can't speak to taking over but um because that would be above my pay grade. What I can speak to is that we
19:45 are involved in getting the community engaged in what they would like to see in that park. And then I can tell you that the board has authorized um money
19:54 moving forward into this budget year for um helping us help you get that thing started. And then of course we'll help
20:01 with grant writing or any kind of fundraising to get it going. But I think um I mean your posts got I think 10,000
20:09 engagements or something crazy like that. So, people were much more interested in that park than we realized that they were going to be. Um, it was
20:17 on our radar because it's right at the corner of our main street um border. And so, we thought just for us that it was a
20:25 good thing to kind of energize that space and bring it to life a little bit too. So, we were happy to see that the community also thinks it's an important
20:33 space. And yes, as to whatever level the city wants our help, we are happy to help, but we also are not trying to take
20:40 over your property. Yes, sir. Mr. Ben Wagner, thank you. I just want to let the council know that staff will be sitting down with Main Street next week
20:49 to discuss that. So, we'll let you know what comes from that, but I just want everybody know that that's going to be happening next week. Thank you.
20:57 If we we referring to the one right down the road at the end of 12th Street across from the Elks Lords, right? Yes, sir. Yes.
21:03 Which is basically it's all all that ever used to be was a basketball court.
21:07 I think pretty much that's there. Not so much as a park, but it was mostly about slide there at one time. I know. So, but yes.
21:15 Um, I do want to make clarification.
21:17 This is my name is Patrick Bianke. I'm the board president. Um, I did work with Mr. Van Wagner and and Debbie. Um, we
21:24 did get the letter of support for the Clermont Botan Botanical Garden. So, I did look that up. There was so many letters of supports that we received.
21:32 I'm looking at the one that was signed by uh the mayor. So, that that has been completed. Um, with respect to the park,
21:39 um, yes, in our 2027 work plan plans, we were looking at all of the parks, not just one in particular in downtown. Um,
21:48 when Mr. Peterson called me and said, "Hey, you know, I heard from whomever in the community that this was an issue." Um, I got with Natalie and said, "What do you think about it?" So, we we did
21:56 put out that vote to the board. Um, the board did find interest in in that. Um but ultimately whatever it is going to
22:05 be um it'll be totally up to whether it's CRA or council or both. Um but we are meeting with city staff next week because it's my understanding there's
22:13 some dynamic there with respect to public works maintaining and managing that versus wreck and so on. So we'll get the lay of the land, no pun
22:21 intended, uh next week and then um the community will be engaged on seeing what they want there. So thank you very much.
22:29 Thank you.
22:31 I apologize for the misinformation. I've been in a computer grant portal for like six weeks now. So, all the letters are getting confused.
22:40 I was I think I was going to tell you I thought I signed it. I'm getting old and see now. So, I thought I had signed it anyway.
22:47 You are on your game. I am off my game. It's [laughter] okay. So, anyone else any other comments?
22:56 If not, we appreciate you coming in and giving us update on where we're going.
22:59 And I'm still looking forward to the uh the work around Center Lake, you know.
23:05 So, thank you all for everything you all doing and keeping the city uh downtown area and CRA moving forward. Appreciate it.
23:15 Anyone else? Any other comments? Uh for Main Street or
23:22 Good for Good for the uh Main Street. Uh yeah, I do. I understood that in January
23:29 we asked for all organizations that manage public property or accept public funds to do presentations at these CRA
23:38 meetings. I thought that the regular CRM meeting would be in July and that this meeting was being called specifically to
23:44 address the master plan contract that we had discussed at I think it was the January meeting. I didn't see it in the
23:51 minutes, but that's what I thought we were doing today.
23:56 So, I'm a little confused by what we're doing. Is this our quarterly meeting or why don't we have updates from everybody? And why don't we have the
24:05 master plan? What's going Well, today Main Street had asked for an opportunity to update us because that's
24:13 part of their contract. So, that's what this was intended to do today. and Christian and I had been talking about
24:21 the process for whether we can move forward with a contract or not. So, I'll let Mr. W answer himself on that.
24:30 Okay.
24:33 Christian W, your city attorney. Um, I thought this was the quarterly meeting myself. Um, and we had some internal
24:40 discussions among the staff as to whether or not we should have the meeting. And that was before Main Street made it clear that they wanted to
24:47 address you. And my what I thought I remembered your your collective input as being is to have more CRA meetings as
24:56 opposed to fewer so that you could handle CRA business. So, I didn't see the issue with scheduling the meeting. I don't know about the master plan. I
25:05 mean, I do remember that you took up uh an allocation of funds for the master plan, I think, at the last meeting at 200,000 or up to 200,000, right?
25:15 And so, we've also had internal staff discussions about that. It's been taken care of, I think, from a budgetary perspective, but I I don't know what
25:24 else you're waiting for.
25:27 Okay. So, if this is the quarterly meeting, my question is why aren't we hearing from everybody who manages community property and accepts community funds? We've heard from Main Street, but
25:35 we haven't heard from the other three organizations that manage community property and or accept community funds.
25:41 If this is a special meeting that was called for special reasons, it's my understanding that we need the master plan contract to be approved by this council or this board.
25:52 and and we have 3 to 500 people who are apparently
25:59 upset or requesting with ump for us to take action on downtown property because
26:07 they are tired of waiting. And so my question is why aren't we looking at the master plan or is that already signed and underway?
26:18 I'm just wondering what is going on because I I I had this conversation so the board knows with Mr. Van Wagner in April that we didn't get updates from all of the representative organizations.
26:28 They weren't advised in my conversations with them. And so I thought this was a special meeting to address moving forward with our master plan.
26:37 Why are we waiting? I guess is that's what I'm seeking. Why am I here?
26:44 Are we waiting? because I know I I too thought that was going to be on the agenda, but then obviously I saw that it wasn't and I figured it's because it's not needed because it's something we
26:52 already voted on and approved the funding for. I think I think that was the question that came up in one of the last meetings. Yes.
26:58 So I think the question was does it need to be on the agenda? So I just assumed the funding for it doesn't need to be on the agenda because we've already approved that
27:06 there's probably not much more movement on the master plan beyond that. That that was my understanding that we talked about it at the last council meeting
27:13 whether we should get together as a CRA board and whether I needed approval or not or if the previous approval counted
27:20 for the approval of the master plan. And Mr. Wall shared with me he believed that we had already taken care of that authorization and it wasn't necessary.
27:29 Main Street asked if they could go ahead and provide an update since we already had slated this time together. So I accommodated them to be able to do that.
27:39 But originally it was to approve that, but legally we were told that we already had that authorization taken place since our last council meeting.
27:49 But the contract's not signed. I'm not trying to be difficult, but this feels a little bit like I'm wrestling with a Neil right now.
27:57 I'm just trying to move business forward. And if we're going to be meeting quarterly, we need to get business moving forward. I can just tell you, Kurt Henchel, plan development services director, working with Nate,
28:06 I've seen the contract. I don't know if it's actually signed, but he was heavily engaged in getting it going. It's it's likely signed right now. I just I can't
28:14 tell you that 100%. But he is actively been working on that this past week. Nathan Norris. Yes.
28:20 So, the legal opinion is we don't have to have a meeting to approve the moving forward with the contract.
28:31 Well, first of all, I haven't seen the contract and I would really like to see it. Um, I think that would be a good idea. Um, look, at the last meeting, you
28:38 approved up to $200,000. That was I took as the form as a kind of a budget amendment. You're a CRA, so you have a little bit different financial controls
28:46 than the city does. Um, so I const it as a budget amendment. Um, and I think the the CRA has the
28:54 discretion to contract up to that amount.
28:58 Do we have to bid it out or are we doing a continuing service?
29:01 Depends on the manner. If it's someone who's on a continu So last year, a year ago, um your procurement department did something very smart, which was it put
29:10 out RFQS for continuing contracts for various professional services, but not just on behalf of the city, also on
29:18 behalf of the CRA. And that was precisely so that if the city and Sierra wanted to work together and hire a same professional, we wouldn't be bound just on one side.
29:28 Sure. Does that make sense? Absolutely.
29:29 And so that's what we did. I mean, we have I I don't know the exact number, but several different professional services vendors signed up uh both for
29:38 the on behalf of the CRA and the city. I I just thought that it was the January meeting that because I don't see 200,000 in the minutes from April.
29:46 Yeah, it was two or three meetings ago.
29:48 and and why is it not done? Why are we not getting updates? I feel candidly like the CRA like nobody's minding the
29:56 ship. That's how I feel. And I think the citizens downtown, I'm not talking to you necessarily. I don't know who I'm talking to. That's part of my problem is
30:05 I think the people who live and work downtown are fed up with government moving slowly. And when I'm getting these calls, I got to be honest. I say,
30:13 "Well, we approved this since six months ago. So, what's I'm trying to get an answer. Why don't we have updates? Why
30:21 aren't we communicating with those businesses? Why aren't we getting updates from the historic village, the South Lake Chamber, LCR, and the Women's Club?
30:31 Well, and then and that's part of why I kind of insisted on this meeting. Thank you for insisting on it.
30:37 So, I guess this is directed at my my fellow board members. If I shouldn't be bothered, I cannot be bothered. And I can tell the downtown business owners and citizens that it's just not our
30:45 priority. I can do that. I don't that's not how I feel. But I'm one of seven.
30:52 But I'm confused because we've got motions that were approved unanimously and nothing's from what I can tell nothing's happening. At best it's been
30:59 two months. I believe it's been six months and we have continuing services agreement. Why isn't this done?
31:05 You brought it up at the last council member meeting. Yeah.
31:08 And Mr. Norris has been negotiating it since you brought it up and it's almost completed.
31:13 Well, it was in the minutes from January.
31:16 I I understand that, but you brought it to the attention of everybody at the last council meeting and he has been diligently working on it since you brought it up. There has not been any stone unturned since that discussion.
31:26 I don't like the idea that this is because I'll tell you all this as well.
31:29 I've asked who's in charge of the CRA. I am told it's Mr. Hench. I'm not trying to throw you under the bus. I'm just being candid here. And so now I'm hearing it's Mr. Norris, who's not
31:37 getting the work done. Well, I spoke to Mr. Norris and I asked him if he was in charge of the downtown plan. He said, "No, he is not. I can't get a straight
31:44 answer of who's responsible because the citizens deserve somebody to take accountability." And right now, it's me.
31:52 [clears throat]
31:54 So, I'm being accountable.
31:55 I'm not having backdoor conversations anymore. I'm bringing it right to the public.
31:58 Okay. Mr. Norris, I didn't state was the CRA director. I stated he negotiated it because he has a ongoing relationship
32:07 with DPZ. So I asked him to please reach out to DPZ which he did after the last council meeting.
32:14 So why didn't the CRA director handle this after January? It's June. I don't have an answer for you on that.
32:20 We have hundreds of people signing petitions.
32:22 I understand. I understand the frustration and I get it and I don't I take [snorts] responsibility for not getting that done sooner. But after you did bring it up, I want you to know we
32:31 took it seriously and we've moved forward since then. But all I can do is apologize and take responsibility for not doing it in January. And I apologize
32:40 to the public and everybody here for not doing that. So this is my third time in six months.
32:44 At the next meeting, I would like to hear updates from Main Street. Thank you very much. From the historic village, from the South Lake Chamber, from LCR, and from the women's club since they are
32:52 handling public facilities and dollars in the interest of the city. If I'm out of line, please, board, let me know and I will change my approach.
33:02 Mr. Mayor, can I weigh in? Sure.
33:04 Um, we're dealing with a symptom of a systematic problem. And that is that we
33:14 don't really have dedicated people. We have we have in our budget, we pay some salaries, correct? We pay
33:21 for a portion. I I know all these people that work at this level and they're slammed all the time. Um I don't know if
33:30 we need another half a position that the CRA has grown immensely in the last 15 years
33:37 and and it is kind of the be stepchild and uh
33:45 we could do so much more if we had that and I don't know if it's a dedicated person, if it's a dedicated office, if
33:53 it's a person I don't I don't know exactly what the answer is but I think We ought to find a way to get a better bang for our buck with that.
34:02 Most CRAAS do have someone like an executive director who's resp I've worked with Eatenville's CRA a lot.
34:11 They have a separate executive director.
34:13 I don't know if what's better. It's what works best for you, but it is something that's an option.
34:17 Let me let me u what I just heard basically you turned this all over to Mr. North, right? Nathan North, right?
34:24 which is a new was a new hire back about about that time or so a few months ago.
34:29 So, um I took that took some of the workload off Mr. Henchel and freed it up um by giving him to and and I'm just
34:38 hearing that basically we staff kind of like dropped the ball here in a little bit here and they on top of it now. So, let's just move forward uh with
34:46 everything. I would love to, as Miss Strange say, I would love to hear updates from the historical village as well as the women's uh garden club and
34:54 everything else. Uh we also have the women's club that sits here as well as the golf club uh garden club that's
35:01 downtown. So periodic updates would be great to have. Um my it was my understanding when we made
35:09 the mo motion made for the $200,000 that was given approval to go ahead and move on with with the uh master plan. I didn't think it needed to come back at
35:17 at that point. So, um, and it sounds like is that what I just heard officially that the motion that was made and we
35:24 passed $200,000 limit correct a couple months ago they sort of and my understanding is what staff's worked out is below that limit. But
35:32 Okay. Okay. So, so the only reason it need to really come back to us if it exceed the $200,000. Correct. Okay. Thank Yes, sir.
35:40 Thank you, mayor. Um, to tie into this, I I think I've kind of felt some of the same frustrations
35:48 regarding CRA, just not not pointed at individuals
35:54 sitting up here or staff, but just how we have our CRA formed. And I asked the question of Mr. Wall several months ago
36:02 as background. Um, are we statutoily required to have our CRA board be the five city council members and two additional people? And the answer is no.
36:13 And I think it's actually potentially done us a disservice as a community to have the council be the C essentially
36:21 the council be the CRA. uh because it's not seven folks who either live and or
36:29 work and or own properties in the CRA who are focused solely on CRA functions,
36:36 functionality, planning, making recommendations. I I view it similar as P&Z making the recommendation to the city
36:45 council on matters that relate to planning and zoning and cups and and so forth. Uh they they hear it first and
36:52 then make the recommendation. when it comes to council, I I think we might be better served long term to examine how
36:59 we create our board here um and create a structure that is business owners, property owners, and residents of the
37:07 CRA making up the composition with the support of an executive director. Not saying it has to be a full FTE at a, you
37:16 know, at a six-f figureure salary, but having something to support that that meets every month, every other month.
37:24 It's not the council. So, we're not it's not no longer we have to do it right before a city council meeting. It's a separate board. They could meet whatever
37:32 time that works that the charter will allow for um and and do the business of the CRA, make those recommendations.
37:41 They come to city council. It also adds transparency. It adds uh engagement. It adds um intentionality to the process.
37:50 And so perhaps again uh we're maturing to the point where Clermont needs to look at this and maybe how we've always done it is not the best way to do it moving forward.
38:00 Okay. Uh I thank you for that insight, Mr. Bain. Um Mr.
38:06 Dan Wagner, Mr. if you all can sit down and verify legally if we if it has to be the council member do this but uh uh we
38:15 don't have time to really get in get into that discussion today. We already exceeded our time limit for the day. Uh so we need to try to uh bring this to a
38:22 close so we can move on with the uh council meeting but hopefully at the next uh CRA meeting we can have this and
38:29 allow us more time than 30 minutes to discuss this. May I ask you one question Mr.
38:34 Do you want this whole group quarterly to report? Is that what I heard you say?
38:40 I believe that's what we approved in January. Yes.
38:42 I mean, the minutes reflect what we approve.
38:45 Okay. So, I'll reach out to all six organizations if that's what you all want and ask them to have a quarterly report.
38:52 Well, and and then to go along with that, Mr. Van Wagney, if they have nothing significant to report, just so
38:59 be it. you know, if they have no real report and everything, but uh uh we don't want them just coming in here just because they have to be here. But if they they have nothing significant to
39:08 report, which some of these doesn't really do that much a lot of time. So, council member Strange, were were you envisioning a PowerPoint and somebody
39:16 standing there or if there's something less a written report could do or I think we talked about this at that meeting and whatever we decided I was
39:25 okay with and I don't remember. I don't remember if it was in writing or a presentation, but what do you remember? Yeah, I'd have to go back to
39:34 and I I think Mr. Bain makes valid points and maybe we can talk about it during budgeting when we're workshopping this stuff.
39:40 Yeah, that's when I had planned on bringing it up. So, it it just made natural sense right now and and I think I'll bring it up again in next month. Okay. All right.
39:48 All right. As I said, we don't have time to get into that, but the next council meeting, uh, yeah, be ready.
39:55 CRA meeting, uh, we a lot more time to be getting into that discussion and make determination and Mr. W, Mr. Vanw find
40:01 the legalities on all of that. Anything else?
40:05 I'll just add briefly. I know last time we had asked for a workshop for the CRA to discuss some vision stuff. Now that we're getting into the master plan,
40:13 maybe assuming that that's going to get movement quick, that could be a part of the master planning process, the vision discussion. If we're not going to get on
40:21 the master plan quick, I still think it would be good to just have like a and I know the mayor had some stuff we wanted to discuss, but I know we've had trouble
40:30 uh getting that scheduled. So whether that's a part like kicking off the master plan or it's before we get to kicking off the master plan, I do think
40:38 it would be good to have that workshop with some facilitation around what how can we get more pinpointed and prioritize the CRA funds and using them
40:46 to reinvest in down here. There's not a lot of uh focus I think when it comes to that.
40:52 Did we have our workshop in May like we agreed to do in April? No.
40:56 Okay. That's in the minutes we just approved just so that everybody knows. I think we were looking at June, but the the scheduling there was a parks and
41:04 wreck workshop at the with ABA that took precedent. I'm just looking at the minutes.
41:10 Okay. Anything else?
41:13 [laughter]
41:15 Nothing. This meeting is a [music]