Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 04-28-09 regular — reading text

O C O O a as SOON OW i. C m O owns d Y rt N L a d v IA low 96 O V V0 rwn d CD d C Na,. W o goo WIN 0 Wo C v u° U. ii 0 d low pp low 40- v duo V N  O`O` OO OO CC 0000 CC owow aa vv OO dd mm CC DD NN ti.ti. 00 ww QQ dd OO 7`7` owow wowo ! ! aa sasa CC CC C'C' aa 00 wowo • • oo OO ll rr 00 NN WW ss CoCo IAIA ss oo i a 33 oo aa r FA-FA- V 00 d a ii d vv aa VV Novo ww ii a 0 00000000 ss APO d dvdv upoupo 33 es.es. dd a aa coco dd ss DowDow 00 QQ 0000% 0000% F. oo cc sAA uu aa d W d 0 v D V r N  153 MINUTES OF THE REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING OF THE CITY OF FORT WALTON BEACH, FLORIDA APRIL 14, 2009 li INTRODUCTION A regular meeting of the City Council of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, was held on Tuesday, April 14, 2009, at 6: 00 p. m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall, with the following members present: Mayor Mike Anderson Councilmen: Mike Holmes, Virgil Miller, Dennis Reeves, Bill Garvie, Bobby Nabors, Bill Patterson, and Dick Rynearson. Also Present: Robert Mearns, Acting City Manager; Helen Spencer, City Clerk; Toni Craig, City Attorney; Department Directors and Media. CALL TO ORDER The Mayor called the meeting to order and welcomed everyone. He requested anyone who wished to address Council to approach the podium after being recognized, then state his or her name and address for the record. INVOCATION Pastor Michael Thorne, Abundant Life Church gave the invocation. PLEDGE Clay Allison, youth member of Abundant Life Church led in the Pledge of Allegiance. PROCLAMATION —AMERICAN INDIAN WEEKS The Mayor presented a proclamation on American Indian Weeks to Doug Reed, Musical Echoes Event coordinator. PROCLAMATION —VOLUNTEER MONTH The Mayor presented a proclamation on Volunteer Month to Viola Masters, volunteer coordinator for the Indian Temple Mound. GFOA AWARD —FINANCIAL REPORTING ACHIEVEMENT The Mayor presented a GFOA Award of Financial Reporting Achievement to Brandy Wunker, Finance Director. GFOA AWARD —CERTIFICATE OF RECOGNITION The Mayor presented a GFOA Certificate of Recognition for Budget Preparation to Brandy Wunker, Finance Director and Charlotte Dunworth, Budget & Grants Manager. SISTER CITY Sister City Presentation — Mayor Mike Anderson, Larry Sassano and Erik Stenberg. The Mayor explained through Erik Stenberg' s connections with Sweden and the tennis community conversations were initiated with Kristinehamn in Sweden to establish a sister city relationship and now there. are others who are involved and partnering in this effort. Erik Stenberg, 808 Dawn Lane, Destin, Tennis Center Manager, talked about the International Professional Tennis Tournament held in the area for the past four years run by USTA and a sister tournament " Royals Royce Women' s Cup" in Sweden, and in combination with that the effort to establish a sister city relationship began around 14 months ago. He mentioned a golf tournament will be held in Stockholm on June 3, 2009 and it is named 'Welcome to Northwest Florida." 154 Regular Council 4 -14 -09 SISTER CITY cont. The Mayor added it was not only to establish a sister city relationship through the tennis community but also for business opportunities which is why Enterprise Florida and the Economic Development Council became involved, and for educational purposes which is why Liza Jackson School supported the local tournament and the University of West Florida established a cultural and education exchange program. He explained Kay Rasmussen, Andrea Moore, Abby Brown, and Dr. Rita Crider are present to explain the background on why it should continue with the understanding that Kristinehamn still needs to approve the sister city concept. Kay Rasmussen, Economic Development Council ( EDC) spoke about how a sister city relationship that establishes a cultural awareness between two communities will have' a ripple effect of spinning off I and building business connections. She mentioned the Swedish -American Chamber of Commerce sponsored Entrepreneurial Days ( E -Days) to be held in Savannah, Georgia next week will be another stepping stone for building the relationship. She said in essence the EDC supports the concept of a sister city relationship and expressed the belief that such a relationship here, if the City decides to continue to foster it, will be very beneficial to the economy. Andrea Moore, Regional Manager International Trade and Business Development for Enterprise Florida, mentioned Enterprise was one component in the initial step taken last year to establish a sister city relationship between Fort Walton Beach and Kristinehamn. She said the objective of the outreach was, and continues to be, to increase cultural, educational, business, and tourism exchange between the two cities and the two regions within which they are located. She said Enterprise Florida alongside the local Economic Development Council is very