Minutes of Meeting Armstrong Community Development District The regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the Armstrong Community Development District was held Thursday, February 8, 2024 at 3:30 p.m. at the Plantation Oaks Amenity Center, 845 Oakleaf Plantation Parkway, Orange Park, Florida. Present and constituting a quorum were: Kendrick Taylor Chairman Cameron Brown Vice Chairman by telephone Christine Bowen Supervisor Jorge Vergara Molero Supervisor Jeffrey Deal Supervisor Also present were: Marilee Giles District Manager Katie Buchanan District Counsel Jay Soriano GMS, Operations Ryan Wilson RMS Deputy Tarter Clay County Sheriff’s Office FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS Roll Call Ms. Giles called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. and called the roll. SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS Public Comment There being none, the next item followed. THIRD ORDER OF BUSINESS Approval of the Minutes of the January 18, 2024 Meeting On MOTION by Mr. Taylor seconded by Mr. Vergara Molero with all in favor the minutes of the January 18, 2024 meeting were approved as presented. FOURTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Discussion with Clay County Sheriff’s Office on Clay Community Connect DocuSign Envelope ID: 79B596B5-6FDC-4C0D-AE68-7BF04E5A028A February 8, 2024 Armstrong CDD 2 Deputy Tarter gave an overview of the Clay County Connect program, how it works, the usefulness and the cost. Mr. Brown joined the meeting by telephone during this discussion. After discussion the board took the following action. On MOTION by Mr. Taylor seconded by Ms. Bowen with all in favor the purchase of the Fusus box at $200 and the connection fee of $150 was approved. FIFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Consideration of Requisition Ms. Buchanan stated in the fall we were trying to clear out the construction account, the 2017 and 2019 bonds. We closed the 2019 accounts. There was a small amount of money left in the 2017 account, but we didn’t release it because you had asked the developer to pay for the street cleaning. What you have in front of you are two requisitions, the first is to pay for the street cleaning and that is requisition 86 for $3,370. The second would be a requisition for $14,588 and this will essentially sweep the 2017 construction account and be applied towards that large invoice that was partially funded in the 2019 requisition. At that point, the construction accounts are no more and they are going to pay the street cleaning directly rather than us having to pay for it. On MOTION by Mr. Taylor seconded by Mr. Deal with all in favor requisitions 85 & 86 were approved. SIXTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Consideration of Resolution 2024-03 Declaring the Series 2017 Project Complete Ms. Buchanan stated Resolution 2024-03 declares the project complete and says your assessments are done because you have the right amount of lots based on your assessment methodology report and it finalizes the lien. Essentially, it is saying nothing is changing but the construction process is done at this point. When we call it done then they don’t have anything they can come to us for, but we also don’t have anything that we can look to them for. We want this resolution to be effective upon return of the signed completion agreement. On MOTION by Mr. Vergara Molero seconded by Mr. Taylor with all in favor Resolution 2024-03 was approved. DocuSign Envelope ID: 79B596B5-6FDC-4C0D-AE68-7BF04E5A028A February 8, 2024 Armstrong CDD 3 SEVENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Ratification of Agreement for District Engineering Services Ms. Giles stated a couple of months ago we went through the RFQ process for a new engineer and the board selected Dominion Engineer Group, often referred to as DEG. Their rate schedule is attached to the agreement and is considerably less than your previous engineer. I don’t see this as an issue with your current budget. I will work with the accountant to see if she wants to make any adjustments on the FY25 budget, but I never like to zero that. Maybe we can make an adjustment on the next budget. Mr. Taylor asked are we going to ask the engineer to call in for the meetings? Ms. Giles stated I will ask him to attend a meeting and maybe walk the site with Jay or Ryan. It is normal that we don’t have an engineer at the meeting for districts like yours that is fully developed. A lot of times questions can be answered by your onsite staff. Mr. Taylor stated I don’t think we need him to call in for every meeting if there is not an outstanding item for the engineer. On MOTION by Mr. Taylor seconded by Mr. Vergara Molero with all in favor the agreement for engineering services with DEG Planners and Engineers was ratified. EIGHTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Board Discussion and Guidance for Preparation of Proposed Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Ms. Giles stated this item is on the agenda so that we can start discussions as we prepare for the next budget season. Some items I have been keeping track of are the HVAC repair, fountain bubblers, fence, doggie waste stations, things like that. If there is something that the board wants us to get proposals for now is the time to let us know so we have enough time to get proposals, bring it to the board so that you have time to talk about and budget it. If we don’t plan for those types of big-ticket items, it won’t be in the budget and you will be tempted to dip into your capital reserve fund. If there is something now that you know of let me know and we will get proposals. Mr. Vergara Molero stated we can send to Marilee and staff the needs and wants according to our perception. We can discuss how we maintain the property and how we can improve in areas such as the ponds in the back of the property that have been a headache. We can talk about aerators DocuSign Envelope ID: 79B596B5-6FDC-4C0D-AE68-7BF04E5A028A February 8, 2024 Armstrong CDD 4 in the back ponds. The board can prepare a list and staff can come back to us before we start talking about the budget. Ms. Giles stated if you want to do that between now and the next meeting, email the list to us and we can talk about bringing back proposals for those. Ms. Bowen asked would this be the time to talk about making the roads private? Twothirds of our community is paying for our road maintenance, Phase 1 is not, they are owned by the county, the rest of Phases 2 and 3 pay our maintenance through our property taxes. It goes into the assessments and will not go away. The lady at the county attorney’s office said we had an option. This was brought from the county to the developers at the time and they chose to do that. Two-thirds of us are paying for our road maintenance and we have no benefit as far as enforcing anything. I would like to see an option of what that cost would be and then everyone is paying the same thing then we can look at enforcing a lot of the problems we have in this community with illegal parking and speeding. Ms. Buchanan stated these are all good things. The cost to repave the roads is going to be incredibly high. I don’t have a number, that is an engineering thing but nine out of ten times a community is going to want to shift to the county because you are going to be unable to grow the reserves necessary to repave your community roads. You could potentially look at refinancing your bonds, a lot of communities do that when interest rates are good. Interest rates are not good so I don’t know that you can rely on that as a financing option. That aside, if the CDD owns the roads for us to tow it is going to require that we put tow signs almost every 25 feet on your roads, it is a lot of visual clutter that most people don’t like to see. As to traffic enforcement, we will never have the authority to set a speed limit. Ms. Bowen stated it doesn’t seem right that two-thirds of us are paying for this, but we have no control over it. Ms. Buchanan stated they really didn’t put that into place until mid-development at Armstrong. It is unfortunate that you have the one-third two-thirds break and Eagle Landing has the last phase like that too. Mr. Soriano stated the county would do that work. Ms. Bowen stated in Phase 1 there are issues and the county took that responsibility and if something happens that is on the county. DocuSign Envelope ID: 79B596B5-6FDC-4C0D-AE68-7BF04E5A028A February 8, 2024 Armstrong CDD 5 Ms. Buchanan stated if you have questions, send them to me and I will try to get you a well-researched answer. Ms. Giles asked is there an actionable item or did you just want to talk through that? Ms. Bowen stated I just wanted to bring it up as something to look at down the road. Mr. Taylor stated it would be good to have some dollar figures and the additional cost it would take and what would be the budget going forward if we did privatize it. How much will it be for maintenance and repair? Mr. Soriano asked is that something they said could easily be done for the district? Ms. Bowen stated I don’t know if it is easy, but she said that is an option. Mr. Vergara Molero asked would you want to take on the research with Katie? Ms. Bowen stated that is fine. Ms. Buchanan asked were you speaking with Courtney? Ms. Bowen stated I’m not sure. I went to Green Cove and she said it was the county. Ms. Giles asked is the consensus that you are going to email us a list and at the next meeting we will talk about the items to see if you want proposals or quotes? Mr. Taylor stated yes, the same budget numbers in here for solar lighting and AC and Tree Amigos, can we put it in the next agenda package as well? Mr. Soriano stated yes. NINTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Consideration of Proposals A. HVAC B. Tree Amigos (Mulch) C. Fencing D. Solar Lighting These items were tabled. TENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Staff Reports A. District Counsel Ms. Buchanan stated some of you may get the Capital Conversations, which is a summary of a legislative update. One of the things we are paying attention to is they are looking to increase the sovereign immunity limits. Essentially, that means that if someone slips on the CDD sidewalk DocuSign Envelope ID: 79B596B5-6FDC-4C0D-AE68-7BF04E5A028A February 8, 2024 Armstrong CDD 6 and falls, they have a maximum amount they can collect from the district and that is $200,000 per person or if more than one person is involved then it is $300,000 total. That is important because that allows the district to have lower insurance premiums because your insurer knows that most likely this is the maximum amount they are going to have to pay out in a claim. They essentially are looking at doubling that next year. I’m not a budget person but I am flagging it because you have probably had a pretty steady increase in your premium cost over the years and I wouldn’t be surprised if we get hit with that again if it changed. B. District Engineer There being none, the next item followed. C. District Manager Ms. Giles stated the next couple of months we will keep talking about the budget and we will approve the budget at your May 9th meeting and adopt it at your July 11th meeting. Even if we come in high at the May meeting, we can lower that when we adopt it in July, we just can’t go in reverse. D. Facility Manger 1. Report 2. Monthly Quality Inspection Report ELEVENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Supervisor’s Requests and Audience Comments Additional Supervisors comments: significant improvement with vendors, dead palm tree needs replacement, mulch in playground, hold contractors responsible, plan for doggie stations and signage, Tynes Boulevard landscaping cost breakdown, signage for residents to wipe down gym equipment after use. Supervisors’ responsibility: Mr. Vergara Molero - landscape maintenance, Ms. Bowen - finance and budgeting, Mr. Brown - security, Mr. Taylor – amenity center, Mr. Deal – ponds. TWELFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Financial Reports DocuSign Envelope ID: 79B596B5-6FDC-4C0D-AE68-7BF04E5A028A February 8, 2024 Armstrong CDD 7 A. Financial Statements as of January 31, 2024 A copy of the financials was included in the agenda package. B. Check Register On MOTION by Mr. Taylor seconded by Ms. Bowen with all in favor the check register was approved. THIRTEENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Next Scheduled Meeting – March 14, 2024 at 3:30 p.m. at the Plantation Oaks Amenity Center Ms. Giles stated the next meeting will be held March 14, 2024 at 3:30 p.m. in the same location. On MOTION by Mr. Vergara Molero seconded by Mr. Taylor with all in favor the meeting adjourned at 4:50 p.m. Secretary/Assistant Secretary Chairperson/Vice Chairperson DocuSign Envelope ID: 79B596B5-6FDC-4C0D-AE68-7BF04E5A028A