🏛️ Budget Amendment, Land Use Changes, New Policies on Palm Bay Council's May 1 Agenda
Final votes on Ashton Park land use, budget items, and new city policies scheduled. 📅
Palm Bay, FL - The Palm Bay City Council is set to hold its regular meeting on Thursday, May 1, 2025, at 6:00 PM. The session will occur in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 120 Malabar Road SE. Key agenda items include final votes on several ordinances and the introduction of new city policies regarding memorials and event co-sponsorships.
Opening Proceedings and Recognitions
The meeting will commence with an invocation led by Pastor Mark Miller of Victory in Christ Jesus Ministries, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call. City staff will provide announcements, including updates on board vacancies.
Council will then present several official recognitions:
Honoring Police Chief Mariano Augello for receiving the President's Award from Survive First.
Proclaiming May 1, 2025, as National Day of Prayer.
Designating May 4-10, 2025, as National Small Business Week.
Recognizing May 11-17, 2025, as Economic Development Week.
Proclaiming May 2025 as National Water Safety Month.
Public Comment Period 🎤
A public comment period is scheduled early in the meeting. This allows residents to address the Council on matters not on the current agenda or items listed under the Consent Agenda. Speakers typically have a three-minute time limit.
Consent Agenda Items
The Council will consider approving the Consent Agenda, which includes routine items voted on collectively unless a member requests separate consideration. Notable items are:
Approval of the April 17, 2025, Special Meeting minutes.
Water/Wastewater Engineering Services (22-RFQ-25): Authorization for staff to negotiate Master Consultant Agreements with the top six ranked firms (Infrastructure Solution Services, LLC; Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc; Wade Trim; Tetra Tech; CDM Smith; Freese and Nichols, Inc.) for ongoing water and wastewater engineering services. These continuing contracts, solicited under Florida's Consultants Competitive Negotiations Act, will support various Utilities Department projects on an as-needed basis, with an estimated annual spend of $1.5 million across the selected firms. The initial term is one year, with options for four additional one-year renewals.
Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) Services Library (25-RFQ-25): Authorization to execute Master Agreements with the top five ranked firms (Wharton-Smith, Inc.; Ivey’s Construction; Heard Construction, Inc.; W&J Construction Corp.; and Scorpio).
What is CMAR? Construction Manager at Risk is a project delivery method where the City hires a construction manager during the design phase. This manager provides input on cost, scheduling, and buildability. They then typically act as the general contractor, often guaranteeing a maximum price (GMP) for the project. This collaborative approach aims to streamline delivery, improve quality, and manage costs, especially for complex projects, differing from the traditional method where design is completed before bidding.
Purpose: This item establishes a pre-qualified pool of CMAR firms to support ongoing City construction projects (vertical, civil, environmental) valued under $7.5 million. This aims to speed up project initiation and ensure qualified firms are readily available. The initial contract term is three years, with two potential one-year renewals. Future projects using these firms will involve negotiating a GMP, which may require separate Council approval depending on the cost.
Approval of a standardized/sole source purchase of coagulant and polymer for the Utilities Department.
Ordinance 2025-19 (First Reading): Amending the Utilities Code to add an application filing fee for Utility Agreements. This fee would typically be paid by developers initiating new projects requiring connection to City water and sewer systems.
Resolution 2025-19: Amending the City's Classification and Pay Plans.
Resolution 2025-20: Approving the second amendment to the Five-Year Capital Improvements Program (CIP) for FY 2024-2029. This resolution incorporates various budget adjustments made during the fiscal year's second quarter, including new grant funding, mid-year capital requests, project closures, and re-appropriations for ongoing projects. Overall, these adjustments represent a net increase of approximately $10.9 million to the City's Capital Improvement Program budget. A detailed breakdown is available here.
Approval of travel/training for Fire Rescue personnel.
Public Hearings Scheduled ⚖️
Final votes are expected on several ordinances following public hearings:
Ordinance 2025-08 (Final Reading): This ordinance represents the final step in approving a large-scale Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map (FLUM) amendment for the 133-acre western portion of the Ashton Park development, located south of Micco Road and east of I-95. The amendment changes the land use designation from Brevard County's Neighborhood Commercial (NC) and Residential-1 (RES-1) to the City's Urban Mixed-Use (UMU) category. This change aligns the western parcel with the previously approved UMU designation for the larger, eastern 1,435-acre portion of Ashton Park. The western section is planned to include the development's "downtown" district, featuring 645 multifamily units, 222 townhomes, and 300,000 sq. ft. of commercial space. The overall Ashton Park project aims to create a master-planned community with diverse housing, commercial opportunities, a school site, and extensive public green space. The Florida Department of Commerce and reviewing agencies found the amendment consistent with state requirements. An executive summary providing further detail on this item is available here.
Ordinance 2025-17 (Final Reading): Amending LDC Chapter 171 (Definitions, Abbreviations, Acronyms), including previously directed changes regarding the definition of 'fill'.
Ordinance 2025-18 (Final Reading): The second amendment to the FY 2024-2025 budget. This quarterly adjustment accounts for various financial activities, including grant revenues, mid-year appropriations, project closures, and re-appropriations. While involving numerous line-item changes across different funds, the overall amendment is budget-neutral, meaning total appropriations match total revenues and fund balance usage. A comprehensive executive summary detailing each adjustment is available here.
Procurement Action
Council will consider approving a cooperative purchase for a Claw Truck for the Public Works Department. Funding for this truck ($245,910 from Peterson Industries), intended to assist with debris collection from illegal dumping and storm events, was previously appropriated by Council on February 20, 2025. This agenda item specifically seeks approval to utilize a Sourcewell cooperative purchasing contract, a method not included in the original February memo, to acquire the equipment.
New Business Items
Three policy-related items are slated for discussion and potential action:
Resolution 2025-21: Establishing official eligibility criteria and procedures for adding names to the Sacrifice Park Memorial Wall. The proposed policy outlines that only first responders (defined per state statute) from Brevard County agencies are eligible. Honorees must meet specific criteria for line-of-duty death (DOJ PSOB approved) or, for firefighters, certain cancer deaths (post-7/1/2019 per F.S. 112.1816). The process requires the requesting agency to obtain approval from its own governing body via resolution, submit documentation to the Palm Bay City Manager's office for eligibility review, and then fund the plaque's manufacture and installation through the City's designated vendor.
Resolution 2025-22: Establishing a revised Co-Sponsorship Policy for City support of non-profit community events. Stemming from a 2019 state audit finding, the City established a policy for providing in-kind support (staff time, equipment, facility use) for free community events run by non-profits. With the current $50,000 annual cap being reached early due to rising costs, staff proposes several options. The draft resolution adopts Option 1, which would limit waivers to non-labor rental fees only (applicants pay for staff time), maintain a $50k annual cap ($10k per event), establish two application windows per year, allow administrative approval for small requests (under $1,500), and propose future fee schedule updates for certain equipment/labor. Other options range from removing the annual cap to eliminating the program entirely.
Revisions to Council Policies & Procedures: Deputy Mayor Jaffe will present proposed amendments regarding meeting procedures and public comment decorum standards. Key proposed changes include:
Granting the presiding officer explicit authority to interrupt or terminate comments deemed too lengthy, obscene, inciting, profane, or irrelevant, with definitions provided for these terms.
Shifting the general public comment period to occur earlier in the meeting, after proclamations but before announcements.
Requiring electronic media for presentations to be submitted 48 hours in advance for screening by the City Clerk for technical compatibility and appropriateness (checking for copyright issues, obscenity, incitement, etc.).
Changes to Video Broadcast Schedule (Chapter 7, Section 3.1.C): The proposed policy modifies the timing of the official City video broadcast:
Portions NOT Broadcast:
Call to Order
Invocation
Pledge of Allegiance
Roll Call
Proclamations and Recognitions
Public Comments (Non-agenda items)
Portions Broadcast:
Announcements (Broadcast begins here)
Agenda Revisions
Presentations
Consent Agenda (Approval and Consideration of Removed Items)
Public Hearings
Procurements
Unfinished and Old Business
New Business
Committee and Council Reports
Administrative and Legal Reports
Adjournment
An executive summary detailing these proposed revisions is available here.
Editor's Note: We at The Palm Bayer are concerned that the impetus for these policy changes may stem from reactions to specific individuals, rather than a broad need for revised procedures. Adopting rules perceived as targeted could unfortunately disadvantage the wider community of 140,000 Palm Bay residents by creating an environment less conducive to open public comment.
Concluding Items
The meeting agenda concludes with Committee and Council reports, Administrative and Legal reports, and finally, adjournment.
Palm Bay residents can attend the meeting in person at City Hall or watch the live broadcast via the City's website to stay informed on these local government decisions.
Curated by AI and fact-checked by The Palm Bayer.