On Feb.10th, 2025, the city of Casselberry held its bi-weekly City Commission meeting. Regular meetings are held on the second and fourth Mon day of every month. The minutes for the City Commission’s meeting on Jan. 27th were approved unanimously without additions or deletions.
Eight items were on the consent agenda for this meeting, lettered A through H. Agenda item A was the approval for Garganese, Weiss, D’Agresta & Salzman, P.A. to practice law within the City of Casselberry. Item B was the formal adoption of all budget amendments approved dur ing the first fiscal quarter of 2025. Most of these budget amendments were approved in previous meetings this year.
Item C was the approval of Resolution 25-3483, urging the Florida State Legislature to enact legis lation exempting the public records of Municipal Clerks for fear of violence and retaliation. Accord ing to the cover memorandum for this item, Mu nicipal Clerks are the first contact between citizens and municipalities, leading many to be “targeted for threats and violence due to the nature of mate rials they are responsible for.” Municipal Clerks undertake investigations into complaints regard ing election fraud, legal enforcement of hearings related to neglect or abuse, and other activities that could lead to criminal prosecution. The resolution aims to urge the Florida State Legislature to enact legislation exempting the personal information of Municipal Clerks from public records to ensure safety and privacy outside of the workplace.
Item D was the approval of Resolution 25-3483, acknowledging Charter Amendments voted on Aug. 20th, 2024, city election to be codified into the City Charter by Municode. Every Charter Amend ment that appeared on the ballot and was voted on will now be codified into the City Charter.
Item E was the approval to piggy back the School District of Osceola County, Florida, On-Line Auction Services Agreement with George Gideon Auctioneers, Inc. to provide surplus property on line auction services. The School District of Osce ola County will mainly sell surplus equipment and furniture. The auction will generate revenue the city will use for equipment replacement, water and sewer, as well as a general city fund.
Item F was the approval for UES Professional Solutions, LLC, and PDCS, LLC, to act as primary and secondary contractors and supplement city staff in the community development department, including plan review and inspection of building constructions. The agreement begins on Feb. 24th, 2025, and will continue till Feb. 23rd, 2028. Serv ices will be provided as needed and will not ex ceed $300,000 for the entire team.
Item G was the approval of Tank Authorization No. 2 with the U.S. Submergent Technologies to clean the Water Reclamation Facility’s Surge Tank #2 and Plant #1. The Water Reclamation Facility is owned and operated by the city, including two surge tanks and two treatment plants used to re claim water for irrigation. According to the cover memorandum for this item, the cleaning will “pre vent solids from building up, which could affect the productivity of the wastewater treatment process.”
Before voting took place on the Consent Agenda, Commissioner Thomas Kirk notified the other Commission members that he believed the South Seminole North Orange County Wastewater Transmission Authority board appointments, item H, should not be on the consent agenda. “I don’t have a problem with the two appointments, but I do not believe it shouldn’t be part of the consent agenda,” Kirk said.
Commissioner Anthony Aramendia motioned to have the appointments approved; all were in favor except Kirk. All items on the consent agenda were approved.
The next item on the agenda was the approval of Resolution 25-3481 authorizing Seminole County to award the City of Casselberry’s English Estates Water Main Replacement Phase One to Mercon Construction as well as the Budget Amendment #25-012, which will fund the construction. This resolution combines two separate construction projects and amends the city’s budget to fund them. The first construction project is the English Estate Water Main Replacement Project, replacing an asbestos cement pipe in the English Estate community and along Oxford and Derbyshire Roads. This requires the con struction company to remove and replace any sidewalks, driveways, or landscapes above the pipe affected by the open-cut trench necessary to reach the pipe. At the same time, Seminole County has been designing the Oxford Road Drainage & Sidewalks Project, which will install new stormwater structures and sidewalks along Oxford and Derbyshire Roads. Both projects involve removing and replacing sidewalks and driveways along the roads. According to the cover memorandum for this item, both projects will “cause a disturbance to the community due to the need to remove existing sidewalks, driveways, and land scaping.”
The city and Seminole County will do a joint funding of this combined project. In order for the city to pay their side, they must approve Budget Amendment #25-012, which adds $873,256 to the yearly budget. According to the presenter of this agenda item, Utility Engineer Jiovani Charres, this construction project will take approximately eight months to complete.
The final item on the agenda was the approval of Masci General Contractor Inc. to relocate the city’s water main due to its interference with the Seminole County Oxford Road Expansion Project. The project plans to “include new drainage, road widening, and a surcharge to stabilize a new road being built along Oxford Road,” according to the cover memorandum for this agenda item. This surcharge, however, is being placed over the Casselberry’s water main, which would not be able to hold the weight of the soil on top of it. To rectify this, Utilities Director Dr. Kelly Brock and City Manager Randy Newlon recommended a single source agreement with Masci General Contractor to move the water main as the company is already doing work in the area, and there isn’t enough time to put the project up for a bid; which is the norm for construction projects. The company has already assured the city that the relocation will be completed before the surcharge is placed. To fund this project, the city approved Budget Amendment #25-014, adding $154,431.06 to the budget to cover the costs.
The session was adjourned by Mayor David Henson at twenty-nine minutes and twenty-one seconds. You can watch the full session and read the cover memorandums at https://casselberryfl.portal.civicclerk.com/ event/439/media.
