Council Moves Regular Meeting Time

Marco Island City Council approved several public safety, emergency preparedness, and infrastructure related items Monday night, while also voting to move regular council meetings to an earlier start time beginning in October.

The July 6 meeting included unanimous votes to replace an aging police patrol boat, build a storage structure for water and sewer generators, replace the police department generator, and update an agreement with Collier County for disaster debris management. Council also discussed the City’s police pension deficit, future budget pressures, advisory committee attendance problems, and whether to seek new bids for the City’s legal services.

Council voted 7 to 0 to authorize City Manager Dr. Casey Lucius to issue a purchase order to BITDirect for a 25-foot Bimini boat in the amount of $173,687.80. Interim Police Chief Joseph Belardo said the City’s current Ranger patrol boat is about 10 years old and has reached the end of its operational life.

“We’re filling holes in with tape, so now is the prudent time to purchase a new boat,” Belardo said.

Council also voted 7 to 0 to award a $1,658,476.60 contract to Rycon Construction Inc. for construction of an open storage structure for portable generators at the South Water Treatment Plant. Jeffrey Poteet, general manager of the Water and Sewer Department, said the project will improve emergency preparedness and storm resiliency by providing permanent covered storage for generators. He said the project is included in the approved fiscal year 2026 water and sewer capital improvement program and includes a $600,000 reimbursement grant from the Florida Department of Commerce.

A third infrastructure related item, replacement of the police department generator, also passed 7 to 0. Fleet and Facilities Director Joe Parrilli said routine maintenance found that the generator’s fuel tank had severely deteriorated. Replacing the tank alone would cost just over $105,000, but the generator was installed in 2007 and is nearing the end of its expected 20- to 25-year lifespan. Council approved a $234,070 purchase order to Genserve LLC for a new generator.

Vice Chair Rene Champagne said the first several presentations reflected a larger problem with aging City equipment and infrastructure.

“We’ve waited too long as a city,” Champagne said. “We’ve not properly budgeted for the future. We’ve had very short-term views of how to budget money, forgetting about infrastructure wearing out, and we’re finding now almost every day, every month, something is wearing out.”

During public comment on the generator purchase, resident Michael Josephs urged the City to seek multiple quotes for all projects over $50,000, saying the practice is especially important as the City faces growing budget concerns.

One of the night’s most significant changes was council’s 6 to 1 vote to move regular meeting start times from 5:30 PM to 1:30 PM with Council member Stephen Gray opposed. The new schedule begins October 5, with meetings continuing on the first and third Mondays of the month.

Council member Kevin Dohm brought the issue forward, citing concern about staff fatigue during late-night meetings and the potential safety risk for employees driving home after long days. Lucius said some hearings, including budget hearings, certain land use changes and comprehensive plan amendments, must still take place after 5:00 PM under state law.

Gray said he was concerned about limiting public access for residents who work, have medical appointments or want to attend an entire meeting before commenting. Others supported the earlier start as a compromise that could still allow some public comment after 5:00 PM if meetings run longer.

Council also voted 7 to 0 to approve use of paid public parking in the lot at the Jewish Congregation of Marco Island for an additional 28 days. Dohm said he supported the request but raised concerns about consistency, referencing prior controversies about commercial activity next to the congregation. Gray argued that the house of worship is a nonprofit, which makes it an entirely different situation, and that the arrangement supports both the congregation and community parking needs.

During council communications, Champagne gave an emotional update on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, thanking American Legion Post 404, City staff, local businesses, the police and fire departments, and community volunteers. Champagne said the memorial opened briefly on July 4 but remains a work in progress.

“What the memorial has done, in my view, it has brought this community together at a point in time when we were saying we were very divisive,” Champagne said. “This was really magic.”

Council member Bonita Schwan raised concerns about the police pension fund, saying the ordinance calls for the fund to be funded at 100%, yet the fund has a deficit of about $2.6 million. When asked, Lucius said she could only speculate about how the deficit developed, noting it began in 2022 under prior City leadership and could be related to poor investment performance, inadequate employee contributions, inadequate City contributions or pay increases that may not have been matched by pension contributions.

Chair Darrin Palumbo, who was the only current council member serving in 2022, said council relies on staff to bring forward accurate information and that the issue should have been brought to council sooner.

“Those who were not doing their jobs are no longer here,” Palumbo said. “We rely heavily on staff to bring us the correct information. ... This does not make me happy, and that’s why you see new faces here, so this does not happen again.”

Lucius said the issue will be part of the operating budget discussion and warned that the City is facing major budget pressure. Lucius said she has asked departments to cut their budgets by 5% and that the City is budgeting as if the proposed transportation bond does not pass. She said a typical annual transfer of about $3 million into the capital improvement plan is expected to look more like $7 million for fiscal year 2027, creating added pressure on the operating budget.

“If you’re really serious about funding the pension plan, you may be looking at a millage increase,” Lucius said. “And if you’re really serious about funding public safety, you may be looking at a millage increase.”

Council member Bonita Schwan also asked for follow-up on the attendance issues of an unnamed member of the Audit Advisory Committee. Schwan and Council member Stephen Gray expressed concern that allowing the member to remain, despite attendance violations, would mean failing to follow the City’s own rules and procedures. Lucius and City Attorney Alan Gabriel urged council to allow the member to stay for the committee’s next meeting, saying the meeting is important and time-sensitive because the committee needs a quorum to review the audit findings. After a lengthy discussion, council reached a 5 to 2 consensus to respect Lucius’ decision to keep the member in place for that meeting. 

Palumbo also asked whether council wanted to consider allowing Planning Board members to participate in certain meetings by Zoom. Council gave a 6 to 1 consensus for staff to have the Planning Board return with a proposal for council review.

Under council reports, Council member Deb Henry asked whether the City should issue a request for proposals for legal services. Henry said the City has not done so since 2015 and currently pays a $12,500 monthly retainer, with additional legal work billed at $275 per hour. She said invoices from the City’s current law firm averaged about $38,000 per month from April 2025 to April 2026 and suggested the City might be able to save $50,000 to $100,000 per year by comparing options.

In defense of what his firm is charging, Gabriel said the retainer does not reflect all the work being provided and said his firm has about 90 attorneys behind him, many of whom are providing services to the City in various ways. He said the City is not charged extra for some meetings and services beyond the specific language in the older agreement.

The discussion also centered on whether council should wait to see updated pricing from the current firm before going out for bids. Gabriel said he had planned to come back in the near future to request an hourly rate increase from $275 to $325, and Lucius said a legal services request for proposals would take at least 90 days to complete. Some council members also raised concerns about the amount of time the process would require and whether the final decision could fall to a newly seated council after the November election.

A consensus request to seek proposals for both all-inclusive and retainer-based legal services failed 4 to 3, though Palumbo said he was open to revisiting the issue after seeing the current firm’s numbers.

The meeting then adjourned, as no one had signed up for final public comment.