All right, board of county commissioners of Bradford County, Florida. It's August 21st, 2025. It's about 6:50. Uh at this time, I'm going to lead us in a prayer and a flag salute. Get the meeting started. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven,
Father, we just thank you so much for another day to live. Thank you for everything you do for each and every one of us in this room. And Father, I just pray, dear Lord, as we're all gathered here tonight, I just pray that this meeting will be good. I pray that everybody will be considerate of other people. And Father, I just pray dear
Lord that you'll give us wisdom to make the right choices and the right decisions that will benefit all the citizens of Bradford County. I thank you for everything you do for us. And again, thank you so much for just another day of life. Jesus name I pray. Amen.
Pledge to the flag United States of American Gaskins. um has been working for the county for 25 years and um come on come on up
as shorty come on out. All right, at at this time we'd like to present a plaque to Diane Gins. uh says 2000 to 2025 in sincere appreciation and recognition of your 25
years of service to Bradford County. We thank you for your unwavering commitment. Thank you so much. Sure. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Oh yeah. I know the senior citizens at the uh
senior center are going to greatly miss you and uh again I thank you so much for everything you've done for the county especially at the senior center. I know they all love you down there and uh yes and and I hope you have a happy retirement for sure.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next, we're going to move to u our public hearing and uh is our zoning director. >> Chair. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. >> Uh this is a I'm going to read this
ordinance. This is on this is a companion document of the resolution the board just the board of adjustment just passed. It was Z25-02 for Tommy Alexander. Basically, it's the same parcel numbers. I'm for the lack of uh for saving time. I will skip those or should I read those? >> Go ahead.
>> Read them. >> Uh yeah. All right. I'll read it by title. Excuse me. This is an ordinance of Braford County, Florida, amending amending ordinance 96-07, Bradford County Land Development Regulations as amended relating to an amendment to the official zoning atlas
of the Bradford County Land Development Regulations as amended pursuant to an application Z25-02 by the property owner of Sid Acreage providing for reszoning from residential single family- RSF-1 to residential single family/mobile-1
RSF MH-1 of certain lands when the unincorporated limits of Bradford County, Florida, providing severability, repealing all ordinances in conflict, and providing for an effective date. And once again, we need to ask for public comments and a motion and a vote. Thank you. >> Okay. I have a few public com uh comment
cards here. The first one is uh Scott Belelfford. >> Again, Mr. Chair, uh attorney Byron Flag representing Mr. and Mrs. Belelfford. Um I will you know at the pleasure of the commission like to present whenever it's convenient for discussion on this item
want to hear public comment first and we are requesting to be recognized as an agrieved party an affected party. I've provided a affidavit from my client >> which has been placed into the record asking us be specifically recognized as an adversely affected party for purposes
of being able to uh participate in this quasi judicial hearing and more than three minutes. >> Okay. You have three minutes. >> Are we three minutes? >> Does that mean you're denying us standing as an agreed party to the >> No, I'm just saying you got three minutes.
Under the law in Florida and um I believe under your your um code of ordinances, agreed parties may participate in quasi judicial hearings and they are allowed by right to cross-examine witnesses and to present their their case and that can't be done
in three minutes. Mr. I just say that respectfully. M >> M Mr. Attorney do I can I give more to three minutes or three minutes? I mean, it's still at the discretion of the chair, but um Okay. Possibly if Mr. Flag's willing to take the time of his clients from speaking independently,
then you could combine those times. >> Okay, that sounds good. So, you you will speak for for your clients then. >> So, um can I just get a make because I do have a court reporter. I'm making a record so that we can examine the actions tonight later. So, it's my
understanding the commission is deciding that the Belelffords are not um adversely affected part. >> No, they they haven't made that finding. The question that he had for you is, can you do it in nine minutes? >> Um I'm not sure that I can. Uh it may
depend on who else testifies on behalf of the county. I would like to be able to exercise my client's right to cross-examine those people. So, that may take more than uh nine minutes. Giving me three minutes and I'm able to use my client's two three minute periods. That
would be nine minutes. >> Generally speaking, we wouldn't include cross-examination time as part of your presentation. So, if you want to cross-examine after each one of the um testimonies, then at that time, it would be appropriate you for you to come up and ask the chair. Um as it comes to
your presentation, I would um suggest see what you can present within nine minutes. If it gets to the point where it expires, then it would be appropriate to ask for additional time. >> If if that's okay with the chair, I'll go ahead and proceed. Okay, m >> M Mr. Flag. Yes, >> if you would please pull the microphone
towards you. Those things don't everywhere I go, the microphone is in a different place. >> Thank you. >> Well, I and I do respect the commission's time and all the folks here. Uh I know there's a full agenda and um you know, public meetings can go a long time and I should stop I should
get to it. Um, first thing I want to point the commission's attention to is the affidavit that uh during the break I put it in front of you at each of your um spaces there. Um, if you turn to page five of the affidavit, you'll be able to see exactly where my client's uh
property is located. Um, it's in a dark red border. It is immediately adjacent to the five uh parcels that Mr. Alexander is seeking to have reszoned. Um, so that map by itself gives you an
understanding of how close Mr. Miss Belelfford are located. Doesn't get any closer than that. I mean, they are right there next to it. And that's why we're trying to assert our rights under Florida law and under um your code of ordinances to participate in this matter
as an adversely affected party. we will be the Belffords will be more affected by this uh potential zoning change than anybody else in that immediate area because they're right next door literally. Um and uh if you look at page the following
page, page six of Miss Belelfford's affidavit, um you will see that's a snippet of your the Bradford County zoning atlas map. Um showing exactly the current status of the zoning. Um there's
a yellow circle around the area that we're talking about. There's a green arrow that points to a a little uh narrow parcel. Um, and if you look back at uh page five, that kind of helps you see exactly what your zoning map is is
pointing to. Quite frankly, the zoning map is is difficult to uh interpret. Um, it is a bit more rudimentary than than other jurisdictions that I work in. Uh, but it is what it is and I think that is
current and accurate and um I think that shows quite clearly that Mr. Alexander's property is currently zoned RSF1. I don't think we have any doubt about that. That's in fact why we're here tonight and that's why he's applying for
a zoning change so that he can legally do what he is doing already right now. Right now, what he's doing is not allowed. The way he's using his property right now, five mobile homes on five halfacre lots
is not currently allowed in residential single family zoning district. How did that happen? A legal error was made by your staff and he was and Mr. Alexander was allowed to for more than a year now to be able to develop and use his
property in a manner as if he had re received a zoning change. Now, under your law in the state of Florida, when a property owner wants to change the zoning of their property, they have to go before the elected body. you have to go to the city commission or the county
commission for a zoning change because only the elected body has the authority to actually change the zoning of land in any governmental jurisdiction. And so that's your role tonight as the county commission. As you know, you've already
heard some of the back and forth and dispute between the parties. I'm not going to talk about whether somebody likes each other or not. That's that's not a legal issue and we can just ignore all that. But you got to realize when our zoning
codes are not followed and people are just allowed to go ahead and develop, when they don't actually have the legal right to do it, that creates conflict. That creates conflict with neighboring property owners. It happens everywhere all over the state of Florida, not just here in Bradford County. You've probably
seen it in other situations. But that's why we have rules. That's why we have laws. And so even though the Belelffords have been trying to work with the county, talking to some of you commissioners in the past, talking to your your county staff, trying to get information, trying to get answers,
what's going on, the Belelffords one day saw the land was cleared and then all of a sudden soon after used mobile homes started showing up and that was never brought before the county commission, not brought before the planning and zoning board for any decision to be
made. And so they've been adversely affected in that way because they never had the legal opportunity, which the law of due process gives them, the right to be heard at a public meeting when a zoning change is required. They were
denied that due process. So, we've been working with the county staff to try to come to some kind of resolution, see if we could. I think we've avoided a lot of things, avoided going to court. Um, and here we are tonight recognizing that now what's
happening is that Mr. Alexander is finally coming to the commission to apply for the zoning change that he should have applied for or you all the county commission should have heard and decided a long time ago, probably a year ago. So, here we are now. I think, you
know, to the Belelfford's credit, they agreed that this would be a fair way to go so that they could have their opportunity and the commission could have an opportunity to hear the issues. And you've been given a staff report. Um
I thank you, Mr. Andrews, for correcting me. I mispronounced the name of the the consulting company that provided the staff report explaining their recommendation. I think there's some errors in that, too. Um, and I I do uh
want to point out to the commission um that uh if you look in your pack packet that uh North Florida Professional Services provided you on page 13 when it comes to consistency with the comprehensive plan,
what those consultants are writing in a document and remind you all they're not here tonight to testify. So, we only have this document to rely upon. And what they've provided, you know, on page 13 is a little paragraph. It says consistency with the comprehensive plan.
And it says the following comprehensive plan elements have goals, objectives, and policies that support the proposed and I want you to look at what it says. The proposed development of major impact. I'm not sure this what we're talking about tonight is a development of major
impact. I don't see the definition of development major impact anywhere in your land use code. I don't see it in your comprehensive plan. So when they're relying upon this term development of major impact to to make a consistency determination,
I don't believe that they're looking at the right criteria and factors. Um, and that last little sentence there simply says the application has been reviewed for consistency with the comprehensive plan and is found to be consistent with
the comprehensive plan goals and objectives and policies. That's a just a conclusion. That's just a conclusory statement. It doesn't give you all the helpful information to be able to make a factual finding to understand per se tonight what are the specific things
about Mr. Alexander's application that he has submitted to the county that make his application consistent with the comprehensive plan. And um I want to just quickly hit on that point
uh specifically because I'm trying to make a record with the court reporter. Um that uh when you look at the future land use map for this area, it actually designates most of this area, including Mr. Alexander's land under the future land
use map as residential low density. And also if you look at your future land use map there's small cutouts that designate some areas and I know you all know it called urban development areas right there's a couple places in Bradford County which are more urbanized
and so your future land use map is called those things out and reflected on the future land use map well why is that important because Mr. Alexander's property and the Belelfforts are all located in that urban development area. And when you look at your comprehensive
plan and you look at when you review the policies and objectives for urban development areas, there's no real mention of mobile homes. In fact, if you do a word search of your entire comprehensive plan for the terms mobile
home, the term mobile home only pops up two times. And where it pops up is in your objectives and policies for rural areas. And it says under objective 1.1 of your rural
areas element under the future element says the county shall continue to maintain the rural character of rural areas by limiting development activity to those uses and densities which are identified within the following policies. And then
the very next policy is policy I.2.1 and that and I'm reading it. It says the county shall permit agricultural conservation, recreation and public uses, public private and charter schools, the processing, storage and sale of agricultural products,
conventional single family dwellings, mobile homes, churches and other houses of worship. And that's all under the objectives and policies for rural areas, not for the urban development areas.
And so I'm not blaming anyone or saying anybody made a mistake about that. But what I'm pointing out to everybody in this room is that your comprehensive plan has only two mentions of mobile homes. and it's in a and they mention it it
mentions it in a way that seems to say mobile homes are only allowed in rural areas. Maybe the comprehensive plan hasn't been updated. So if you go look at your land development code and if you all look at and I will walk you through it because North C North Florida paying
services has provided you on page their report on page uh just one second. On page 10, they they're taking right out of your land development regulations the section for uh
residential single family mobile home one district. And that's the district that Mr. Alexander wants to get his zoning changed to. And so when you look at it, um, it makes it clear, okay, in residential single family mobile home-
one, mobile homes are obviously allowed. But if you walk through that entire uh, code that they quoted from and look at 4.9.6, six, which is right in the middle of page 10. It says minimum lot requirements in
parentheses area and width. And then under that number one paragraph, it says single family dwellings and mobile homes colon. It says minimum area for single family/mobile home district 10 acres.
I don't understand why it says 10 acres, but that's what your code says. And when I read that, if if I'm in court arguing to a judge and a judge, we're having a debate over what does the statute mean? What does the rule mean, the judge says,
will give its plain meaning. And so you read it again. Minimum area for single family/mobile home district 10 acres. But then if you go down and your county attorney referenced this earlier, >> if you go down, you see there's the RSF
MH1, RSF MH2, RSF MH3. Each one of those sort of subcategories of districts has a more detailed minimum lot area. Um, so for RSF MH1, minimum lot area is 21,780
square ft. That's a little bit under half an acre. Just under half an acre. not quite happening. So you have three different districts under the type of zoning that Mr.
Alexander is asking for. You have RSFH1 2 and three. And when you look at 4.9.6, What that code says is minimum law requirements single family dwellings and mobile homes minimum area for single family/mobile
home district that's the whole zoning district not a lot and so if someone is applying to change their property to a zoning district of
residential single family mobile home one my legal argument to you all tonight is that your code says you got to have at least 10 acres. Is that being followed consistently in your county? I don't know. All I'm concerned about is this one
proposed zoning ordinance tonight because that's what that's what my clients hired me to come here and look at and analyze. And you know, we're coming here in the spirit of not trying to argue and fight with people. Certainly, everybody has property rights. Everybody has property
rights. Even if you're not developing land, but you live next door to land that is being developed, you absolutely have property rights. And those rights are protected in the code. Those those rights are protected by the right of due process and to come and have an
opportunity to object to these kinds of things when you know that they're going to negatively affect your property. And this whole situation is very unusual because most of the time when people are coming to ask for a zoning change, people complain and try to oppose the zoning change and they're talking about
speculative uses, right? They're talking about we don't want you commission to pass this zoning change because we think this is going to happen or we know this is going to happen. Hasn't happened yet. It's something going to be in the future. But tonight, what we're talking about, we have we know
because the Belelffords have told you about some of their experiences. Yet, other folks have are have their own valid explanations and observations that are not wrong. But the Belelfforts who live right next door to this property are are suffering uh currently. And so,
we know if this zoning change is allowed, they will be affected. So, they are coming to you with their legal right to oppose this zoning change for those reasons because we don't think it's consistent with the comprehensive plan. We also think you have a vague,
confusing term baked into your land use code that makes it kind of impossible to figure out what exactly to do with Mr. Alexander's application tonight. We know from his application, it's in the record that he owns less than 10 acres, but
your code seems to say anytime someone is applying to change applying to change your zoning from from one thing to single family mobile home. It's got to have be 10 acres at least in a one of those zoning districts. Now,
trying to give your I'm going to finish up last comment. Trying to give your staff benefit of the doubt. Maybe there's an argument that well look at Mr. Alexander's property. Yeah, it's only about 2 and a half acres, but if it's adjacent to another property
that is zoned uh the same, then maybe that bootstraps it in and it absorbs it and then we've got 10 acres and then it's okay. But if you look at your zoning code or your zoning map, not all the property surrounding there is exactly uh allows
mobile homes. There's others. There's other different types of zoning there. Your your planning director can confirm that. Um, but the thing about what I just said is giving your your staff benefit of the doubt, bootstrapping in Mr. Alexander's
2 and a half acres into a bigger parcel. Nothing in your code actually allows that. So, if your staff was to say, well, that's kind of our interpretation. We think that because he can bootstrap in his 2 and 12 acres to a larger parcel
and get to 10 acres, we think that makes it okay. Well, that would be what we call an unwritten rule or an unwritten policy or an unadopted policy. It hasn't actually been adopted yet. And that's the danger of local governments
deciding these kinds of zoning issues on an arbitrary and excusious basis instead of deciding it based on what the law is, what the policies are that you all adopted. So again, so I'm going to finish up. So for those reasons, we're opposed to this zoning change. All
right. Thank you. The last and I believe this is pertains to this one is uh Wayne uh Cybert Sibert. >> I just got a couple of questions. Wayne Sabbert, I live across the street. Okay. So, the reasoning was passed tonight for
an earlier meeting for this trailer park. The trailer park already exists. He he put it in last year. These trailers have been installed. They So, were they permitted? Did they have permits for their septic, their water, their electric? You know, how did they
get their notice of occupancy? So, I mean, so has the So, has a county just been letting people do whatever they want on their property without inspections? I mean, I mean, so they put four trailers on there. They've they've connected utilities to them. Has there
been inspections? Is there a covert permit? I know I had to have a covert permit on my property. Are do you have all these permits? Are they been signed off, inspected? >> You asking me? >> I'm asking whoever's in charge of it.
>> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you got Yeah. They're not But you guys have You guys are approving something that's already there that's been built illegally. I mean, you know, and and so where does that you know, we got we got the golf course shutting down. It's shut down.
They're going to start developing that property. So, somebody going to come in there and do whatever the heck they want and then you guys will come back and approve it later because that's basically what happened here tonight. And that's all I've got to say. >> Thank you. >> Any more com public comments on this
item? >> Okay. Hearing none. Do I have a motion to approve the ordinance as read? >> Commissioner, Mr. Chair, >> yes. So again, just like you did with the last hearing, you have to make any exparte disclosures. And I'll remind you that you also have to make your motion
based on competent and substantial evidence. There was an argument made that the decision by the commission could be arbitrary and capricious, which is not the case. If I could um for the pleasure of the board just read your code under section 4.9.1 kind of outlines districts and intent for RSF
and MH residential mixed single family home and mobile homes and it reads the RSF MH residential mixed single family mobile home category includes three zone districts RSF MH1, RSF MH2 and RSF MH3.
The intent of these districts is to provide for single family residential areas of low to medium density for single family dwellings and individual mobile homes within designated urban areas as defined in the county's comprehensive plan. And I I bring that to your attention because as you talk
about kind of where mobile homes should be placed within the county, the RSF um MH whether it's one, two, or three is where those would be placed. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you. And again, I'll remind you on the exparte disclosures. >> All right, board. Again,
>> Mr. Chair, sorry to interrupt. Um, since legal argument was presented, may I just quickly rebut that uh argument with your county attorney? >> If we can just do the export to disclosures first. Okay.
Again, have you had any contact with Mr. Tell me Alexander or anyone? Anyone? >> The only person Mr. Alexander stepped up and was trying to um just explain why he was here. I I don't know Mr. Alexander.
I've never spoke to him about his land or or any of the other people, so I know nothing about it other than that. >> And like I said in the first meeting, I went out there and looked at it. Didn't talk to him. I didn't see him. And uh
that's it. same here. Again, that's my my district, so I I do know what's out there. I know where it's at, where it's located. I did get a call from from uh Mrs. Belelfford. Uh it's been
quite a while ago. Uh we talked briefly and then um as far as Mr. Alexander, I haven't talked to him at all. >> And uh Mr. Thompson, I believe you also mentioned last time that you'd gone out to the property. who went out. >> I I think you had also mentioned last
time that you'd gone out to the property >> about four days ago. >> Okay. And did any of those >> I seen nobody talk to nobody. So >> Yes, sir. But um >> I just wanted to look. >> Did anything that you learned outside of what you're considering today make it so
that you can't be fair and impartial in deciding this application? >> You all have to answer. >> I'm good. I'm good. >> Thank you. No. >> I've had no contact with either party. >> Okay. >> All right.
>> Yes, sir. >> And again, this is a lawyer's job. I know everybody hates lawyers. Um sometimes I hate my job. Uh long nights, but I got to make a record for my clients. It's my job. Um what your county attorney said is exactly right.
That's what your code says. But when you read your land development code, you also always have to look at the comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan is like your land use constitution that you all adopt and you all know you amend it and improve it every 20 years.
When you look at your comprehensive plan, what I was telling you before, it seems to me, and my interpretation, my legal argument that I'm making to you all tonight is that your comprehensive plan seems to say that mobile homes are
only allowed or only contemplated in the in the rural areas, not in the urban development defined urban development districts. And so even though your land use code clearly has an intent that mobile homes be allowed in RSF
MH12 and three that it creates a conflict or a vagueness between your what your land development code says and your comprehensive plan says. And so to me that means you got a bakedin inconsistency between your land use code
and your comp plan. It's nobody's fault. It's just that's a bakedin inconsistency and that's something that's got to be pointed out and corrected. I think that's a a legal issue that my clients will want to think about after tonight. Uh that's not a we're not trying to
threaten anybody with a lawsuit or anything like that. We're just trying to say we're looking at the code. We're analyzing it and there's inconsistencies with what it says. Um, and again, and the last thing I want to say, even though your your county attorney is
right, your ladies code has a clear intent language in the beginning of the RSF mobile home districts, you know, where they should be located. But remember, go back to that other provision in that section of your code,
4.9.6, that 10 acre limitation. But even though you have that clear intent language, you still have that 10 acre limitation sitting there, which to me is confounding, but that's what your code
says. And so it looks to me like even if you were to change, even if you were to approve Mr. Alexander's zoning application tonight, there's still going to be a question about that provision, that 10 acre location, does it apply or not? And we think that goes to
inconsistency with comp plan. It's also an issue that's not addressed by the staff. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> What's the pleasure of the board, >> Mr. Chair? I offer a motion for approval um based on the recommendation from the
planning council and not for planning um services. Um it's appeared to be uh consistent uh with the land use development in the area, consistent with other mobile homes um and surrounding um
dwellings. Um and I will call a motion for approval. >> Okay. I have a motion from Commissioner Spooner. And then just to clarify that consistency that Commissioner Spooner is referring to is that the properties to
the north are also um zoned currently RSF MH1. The very large area of properties to the south is RSF MH1 and uh council had stated that these are designed to be in rural areas. The other parts of the surrounding area are rural
residential as well as RSF-1. Thank you. >> Okay. Do we want to add that into the motion or you could >> It was just a clarification, but I think the motion was sufficient to to detail um what the findings were as part of that motion.
>> Right. So motion from Commissioner SL >> and second from Commissioner Dolby. Any other questions? All in favor by sign of I. >> I. Any oppose? Motion carries by vote. All right. Moving on to public comments.
Um, again, I thank everyone for being here tonight. Um, please bear with us. We have quite a few public comment cards as you can see from everybody in this in this room. Uh, if you would, when I call your name, if you'd please come to the microphone, uh, state your name and your
address, and you'll have three minutes to make your public comment. And, uh, the first one I have is Amber Sheepard. Is is Amber in here? She left. Okay. Second one is uh Joel Hos. >> Good evening. I'm Joel Hos live at 9246
Northwest County Road 229. I'm coming to you tonight to speak about the proposed fire cut um or estimated fire cut that is uh going to be in the meeting later tonight. I'm also one of the firefighters for Bradford County
Fire Rescue. I live here. I've lived here my entire life. Many of you I know personally. Uh if you don't know me, you know my parents, Dell and Ellahos. Um, not only would this be a terrible thing to do, um, the proposed cut would hurt
the fire response for a zone or EMS response. Um, different. It's going to make it harder. We already have six firefighters for the whole county that fight fires. The NFPA, which is the National Fire Protection
Association, recommends 15 for residential structure and between 27 and 40 for a commercial structure like Walmart or the businesses up there. Um, it is very hard to do what we're trained
to do with so little people because when you get off the truck, you're having to do multiple roles where you'd have more guys on a truck that be able to spread the workload. You most places recommend to have two bottles. We're going through five bottles. Um, the volunteer days are
over. Some people say that. I was a volunteer. I volunteered for 10 years in this county. I would not do it again. It is too liable the dangers and stuff like that to do it for free. You can't get people to show up for $15 an hour, much less for free to go fight fire. You have to have fire one. If you do fire one,
you're going to do fire two. If you do fire two, you're going to get EMT. If you get EMT, you're going to go work for a paid department. You're going to go make $50,000 a year or do it for free. Um, it's going to run up. Uh, your ISO for
that area is going to go up. People's insurance are going to go up. I know a lot of people that's a big discussion on Facebook. My house is one of those ones that they recognize ISO. Um family impacts. Now my wife, she's going to speak tonight, is going to be more worried
because now we have less firefighters to do my job to protect the citizens of the county in event of a fire. The other night we had a fire in Brooker. If the Brooker station that's proposed in the fire assessment was open, it' have been a six-minute response time, not a 20-minute response time. and it could
have probably been put out with a water can, two and a half gallon water can of water instead of burning up other stuff. We need more coverage overall, not less coverage. Um, it's it's it just would not be a good idea. It'd be a a cost
savings maybe here, but then it'd pass it on for other things. Insurance go up, longer wait times for the fire truck or an EMS agency to come. and your outcomes can be disastrous when seconds count. I
appreciate y'all's time. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Morgan Hos. >> Good evening, commissioners, and thank you for this opportunity to speak tonight. I'm the spouse, like you said, of a firefighter here in this county, and I want to um just explain a little
bit about how these proposed cuts would affect us at home. >> Yes. >> Just state your name. >> I'm sorry. Yes, it's Morgan Hos and my address is 9246 Northwest County Road, 229 Stark, Florida. >> Thanks. >> Um so um just how they would um affect our home and um our community as a
whole. But first, I wanted to share a personal experience um that we had in our home in February of 2024. Um our 14-month-old little boy experienced a medical emergency. Um he went to bed perfectly fine and around midnight he woke up unable to breathe. Um he was
gasping for air. Um his little chest was retracting and we had to have emergency services come and help us. And I can tell you as a mom those few minutes were um seemed like an eternity. And um when dispatch said, you know, it's okay. We have help on the way. Um I knew the
minute that those guys got there and those ladies got there that our son was going to be okay. Um but I couldn't imagine if they said, "I'm sorry. We only have two rescues and they're both on a call now and no one's coming to help your child who cannot breathe." Um
so for us that was that was huge to have that um response time. Um, but I also think about my community members. The 70-year-old grandpa who has experienced a stroke and his wife of 50 years has to watch helplessly as he suffers because
now our rescues are on another call. Like I said again, and when seconds count in those instances, that's when those response times really matter. Or as a mom, I think about what happens if we get in a car wreck and I'm stuck or a
mama like myself is stuck and her babies are in the back seat screaming for help, you know, screaming for mama to help them. Well, now our fire engines have been cut and now we have to wait 15, 20, 25 minutes for a response time. That is gut-wrenching to think about. That is
horrific um to think about. So, when I hear about the proposed 10% budget cut, that's that's what I think about. Um, but as a mom, like I said, of our 5-year-old and two-year-old, I have to also think about their dad um being away much longer. Another little personal
snippet um this um weekend, our 5-year-old learned how to boogie board. Um and she was so excited. And my excitement for her was also met with a little sadness that dad missed that. And um of course, that's that's part of the job. We knew that going into it. Of
course, that's just with the territory. That's what our fire kids experience. But um with those big missed events, we know um that he has a passion and dedication for the job to do it. And so we need um your support to support them.
Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thank you, >> James David Jackson. Uh, good evening everyone. My name is David Jackson. I live at 502 Southeast 44th Street in Keystone. Um, I come before you humbly tonight, not only as
an employee of Bradford County Fire Rescue, but as a citizen as well. For many years, I've had the privilege of serving and protecting the people in this county. On a personal note, I am getting married soon, and God willing, one day I will be a father. As a soon
tobe husband and one day a father, I take comfort in knowing that no matter the emergency or the hour, we have a fire department to respond. I've missed many holidays and birthdays with loved ones to serve these people. But I do it with pride because it is an honor and a privilege to serve the
citizens of Breford County. I truly believe this is an excellent department, one that works tirelessly every day to make a difference and improve the lives on every call with every citizen we help. That is why the talk of a 10% budget cut is concerning, not only for job
security, but because of safety. Every firefighter works hard to ensure the safety of the people we serve. But our main ultimate goal is to go home safely every morning to our families. Yet, right now, our department does not
meet NFPA standards when it comes to staffing levels on residential or commercial fires. Cutting a fire engine would take those numbers even lower, creating an even more unsafe conditions for our firefighters and our citizens of an event of a fire. On the
medical side, our high level of training and our advanced protocols make the our medical services one of the best in the region. And we have a plaque to prove it. Cutting a rescue would impact the remaining three rescues, making our
response times to citizens even longer. Reducing our services will also impact the quality of care we provide to the citizens. Uh it will have a far greater impact on the citizens we serve. Like most people in this room tonight, I am a taxpaying
citizen. I support the fire assessment tax not because it benefits me personally because it won't bring me a raise or give me a big bonus but because it ensures funding for this department and ensures that Bradford County Fire Rescue can continue to protect this community and ensures that my wife and
future children along with every family in this county will always have somebody ready to respond day or not. It is a truly an honor to serve and I hope that we can continue to do it safely, effectively and without compromise. Thank you. Thank you. Hope I get this right, Robert. Um,
it's like Apple. >> Is that it? Okay. Good evening, commissioners. My name is Robert Adelman. Thank you for allowing me to speak. I live at 1110 Carter Road in the city of Lahi. I'm here tonight not only as a resident, but as a
neighbor who cares deeply about safety, dignity, and the future of all our communities in Bradford County. What brings me here is a deep concern that Lahi may lose his dedicated fire and rescue coverage. And I want to speak to you not from a budgetary standpoint, but
from a human one. Because this isn't just about numbers. This is about lives. This is about the moments when seconds matter. Just last month, lot of residents were asked to accept the fire assessment, which I fully support. We were told by doing so, we would be
securing professional, reliable county supported fire and rescue services. We trusted that. We stepped forward in good faith. And now, just weeks later, we're being told that that very protection might be taken away. This doesn't just look like a broken promise. It feels
like a betrayal. Lahi stepped forward in good faith. We took the county at his word. And now we're told that we may lose the very protection we just agreed to help fund. That's not just disheartening. That's deeply unfair. A lot of residents pay the same taxes.
We're ar we aren't asking for special treatment. We're simply asking for equal protection. Our lives matter just as much as everyone else's. Cutting emergency services in Lahi won't just in inconvenience us. It will endanger us. It will delay life-saving care and
emergencies. It will put our seniors, our children, our families, and everyone who travels our roads at greater risks. And when we look at the budget, it's clear that there are other choices. This year alone, the county budget grew by over $7 million. Tourism funding
increased by nearly $200,000 and is earmarked at around a million dollars. The fleet department went from $0 to $864,000. Road spending jumped $6.5 million, a 40% increase. Yet the services being
considered for elimination is emergency response in Lahi. It doesn't make sense to me. We understand hard choices have to be made, but this should not be one of them. Public safety isn't just another line item, and it shouldn't be negotiable. It's the most basic promise
and duty government makes to its people. So tonight, I ask you sincerely to honor that trust, to stand by the commitment uh made when the fire assess assessment uh was passed or was voted on to keep Lahi protected, to keep fire and rescue
services in place. We're not just a number in a budget. We're your neighbors and we're counting on you. Thank you for your time and your service. >> Thank you. Thank you, >> Clinton Collins. Good evening, guys. My name is Clinton Collins. Uh, I live at 21924 Northwest
85th Avenue. Been there my whole life. Been a Bradford County resident my whole life. I spent 13 years working for the Department of Corrections. So, I know of a an organization that doesn't care about their people, but I can tell you Bradford County Fire Rescue is the best job I ever got. And it's the uh most fun
job I've ever had because I get to uh make differences in lives. and uh a proposed budget cut doesn't seem feasible, but uh when I went through fire school, we went through a whole
uh semester of being taught and what you're learning is on a four-man truck. You come to a fire department where you're running a twoman engine and uh you have many uh tasks to fulfill. And when you have a a fourman
truck somewhere and you see the incredible things they do, well, we're doing even more. So, what we're doing with less people is amazing. And the support that uh I ask you guys to have and the community to have on us is to
just continue uh uh putting your foot down to uh help us out because I love everybody in the county. That's why I work for this county. And uh I know that a property assessment can be tough on
people in the in the eyes. And uh but just a few years ago, I'm a property owner. I know these taxes. I I've paid it. I was thrown a dump fee and a dump fee went up. But I enjoy using the dump. I I enjoy being able to go to that dump
one time a day. And uh cuz it would cuz if you didn't have that dump fee and you had to charge for that dump fee, it would be like going to the landfill now for the tri county landfill out there in Everly Curve. So, the fire assessment does more to improve
the county's coverage and improve the uh citizens because when I go on medical calls, I'm asked to drive an ambulance around and help with medical calls and help my paramedic. And uh I just feel like every time I go to those calls, I see people in need and
I'm there to help. I didn't get that at the Department of Corrections and uh I enjoy going to work and it been a long time since I enjoyed going to work. So, uh I just ask that you know with the support and I also ask the citizens that
even opposed it. I respect everybody's opinion on it. This is my opinion as well. So, uh thank you for your time. Thank you, >> Julie Johnson. Uh my name is Julie Johnson. My address is 15620 Northeast 17th A Stark. Uh some
of you may or may not know that I'm proudly serving currently as a school board member for Bradford County Public Schools. But tonight, I'm not here to represent the school district, but instead I'm here to show my support to my husband, Cody Johnson, and the other hardworking men and women at Bradford County Fire Rescue. As I was thinking
about what I would say to you tonight, so many thoughts ran through my head about how hard it is to not only be married to a firefighter, but to a firefighter who gives 110% to this county every single day. Even though technically he's only on shift every third day in your eyes.
Not a day goes by that he isn't building a schedule, getting up from a family dinner to answer the phone, or paying for a new class on his own to further his own education. I wish I could count over the last 13 years of our marriage how many holidays, events, anniversaries, and baseball games he's missed. Last night, I asked our
10-year-old what he dislikes the most about his daddy's job. He got quiet. And then he said that it scares him sometimes knowing that every time daddy goes to work, he could get hurt. What he doesn't realize is that just a few weeks ago, his daddy fell 12 feet from the top of a ladder in full gear. And only by
the grace of God did he get up and walk away with a hurt ankle. I also asked E how it makes him feel when daddy has to miss a baseball game. His answer stunned me and honestly made me cry when he said, "Mama, I used to get my feelings hurt when daddy wasn't there to watch me hit or catch, but now I know that if
daddy's at work, that means he might be saving someone's life. And honestly, that's more important than my baseball game. A hard day at work for me, I don't know about you, is when my internet stops working or my computer deletes a file I really needed. A hard day at work for Cody means that someone got shot. He
heard someone's last breath or words. He had to stand in front of a burning house that couldn't be saved because it was too far away and his crew didn't get there in time. Or he had to tell a brand new mom that her baby died and there was nothing that he could do about it. Do you know what it's like to go home and hold your own brand new baby after
another baby died in your arms just 12 hours before that? Cody does. Do you know what it's like to see the defeat on your spouse's face when they couldn't save their own grandma when she died at the end of your shift? I do. I could also talk to you about how hard it is to take care of the house and do the work
of two parents for 24 hours at a time, two to three times a week, but I think that goes without saying. I say all of that to say these men and women are real people. real people who wake up every day ready to save your life, save your burning house, rush your family member to the hospital, and after all that,
they're expected to go home to their own families and be okay. And if I can be honest with you right now, many of them are not. This department as a whole deserves the respect and compassion that you would give them if it were one day your house that was on fire, your wife or husband who was dying right in front
of you with a slow response time, or you staring back at them through a crushed car door with no other way to survive other than them helping you out. Thank you, >> Mrs. Strong. My name is Vonda Strong's office box 530 Lahi.
While I am up here to talk tonight, um I'm going to talk about a couple different things. You guys get to hear from me a lot. Um, but tonight, um, I'm going to do something a little different. So, I'm going to be personal
because this morning I had to go to see a neurosurgeon. Um, I took a fall and I didn't call rescue when I should have and I have really good insurance
and I should have called rescue to come and get me. And these guys are really good, but I didn't want to be a bother. And because I didn't want to be a bother, I had to go see a neurosurgeon.
And I have more damage done than I should have done. And it's my fault. And it's really hard to say that it's my fault. So, they do a really good job. and we
shouldn't cut what is a good thing. So, I'm going to go past that now. We have a lot of things that need to be cut that we don't cut. I come and stand here
a lot. The cuts that we need to cut, we don't. And I tell you guys that time and time again. Just like the guy said before, fleet management, fleet maintenance. I can go on and on and on about how many
times I have said that on and on and on. They spend money, spend money, spend money. You have a department, the road department. You spend money there on and on and on. Go through the budget, go through the checks, and you pay me no
attention. But if you would take a look, because I've said it to you time and time again, you'd see where your money is being spent because I've said it. Fire department, I should have called them, but I didn't.
But what would have happened if I had? I probably wouldn't have had to see a neurosurgeon this morning. We really don't need to to to make that cut because they do a good job.
10% not in Lahi. Do you know what's on the railroad? Do you know what goes through our town? Where is the closest hazmat? Do you know? Do you know how catastrophic it would be if something
were to happen? Think about it. Think about what would happen. Thank you, Mary Van. Um, I'm sorry, Mary Man. Mary Man. Yes.
>> Yeah. >> Or Marie could be. >> Okay. Marie, man. Okay. She's not out in the hallway. Chris Codwell. Thank you. My name is Chris Cwell. My
address is 18852 Charlotte Avenue, Brooker, Florida. And um I'm a city council member for the town of Brooker. And um I'm here to urge that you not cut fire budget.
Um Brooker is already in a dangerous situation. Our community, it takes about 20 minutes for fire rescue to get out there right now. And with less staff, you you can only imagine that it would it would take
longer. Um and this is a very dangerous situation for us, especially for our seniors. Um we also have a community uh a charter school that um is growing. Uh I think the uh enrollment doubled this
year and uh so we have more children in the community being driven there and school buses and needs there that um show that you know that we we need as much uh
fire uh safety as we can get. Um our community is growing. U like I said the charter school and we also have a subdivision that uh is slated to they're slated to build about 50 houses. They built four already and those houses have
sold I believe all of them and they're I believe they'll continue to build and fill it up. So the community is growing. Um at one of our city council meetings we had citizens show up and express their concerns uh that we adopt the fire
assessment and we passed it. and I support it because we want as you know to make sure we fund our fire department uh and to be able to do their job. So I'm just asking that please don't cut uh
the fire um funding and um you know we're also hoping to build a uh fire department out there. We have funding from the state to build the facilities and we will need staffing for that department. Um and so
uh we really uh urge you to please consider that as part of your decision to cut. Um you know, as our population increases, so will the the demand for their services. Uh so funding them now is an investment
in the safety and well-being of our community now and in the future. Thank you. Ashley Morrison. >> My name is Ashley Morrison. My address is 10607 Northwest 60th Terrace, Elatchua.
Um, my name is Ashley and I'm the wife of Jeremy Morrison, one of your Bradford County firefighters. It has recently been brought up that there may be a 10% budget cut to the Bradford County Fire Rescue. This not only impacts numerous county employees, but also their families and loved ones.
Firefighters are often the first ones to res to respond in our most vulnerable moments, whether it's a house fire, car accident, or a medical emergency. If fire personnel and resources are reduced, this would cause slower response times, fewer hands available in a crisis and increased danger to both
the citizens of Bradford County and the firefighters themselves. Emergencies can happen at any given time. Seconds can make the difference between life and death. Imagine if your loved one was involved. These men and women risk their lives for strangers, often under conditions that are
unpredictable and life-threatening. The thought that they may be asked to do so much with fewer resources, reduced staffing, or limited support is worrisome and can lead to greater challenges. As a family member, I see the toll that this career already takes on their physical health, mental
well-being, and family life. They work long hours, face immense physical challenges, and bear the emotional burden of protecting others. Yet, they continue to serve their community selflessly. As a firefighter, my husband spends countless hours away from home. He misses holidays, birthdays, and
milestones. Jeremy and I have two young children who love and adore their daddy. He is constantly trading shifts so he can make important events such as school functions or games, just to name a few. While we understand the sacrifices are part of the job that we must accept as a
fire family, budget cuts would lead to a greater burden not only to Jeremy, but also to our family as he would be working longer shifts, spending less time at home. Beyond emergencies, our firefighters are also the ones who provide fire prevention, education, disaster
response, and community support. Their role extends far beyond what we see. We continue to ask so much of our firefighters. The least we can do in return is ensure they have the resources available to come home safely to their loved ones at the end of their shift. I strongly believe cutting fire personnel
funding is a short-term decision with potentially devastating long-term consequences. A well staffed fire department ensures quicker response times, more lives saved, and a safer community. When resources are reduced, everyone feels the impact. Behind every
firefighter is a family that stands with them. But we can't do it alone. Budget cuts not only affect the firehouse, they affect every household connected to it. Thank you. Thank you. >> The last one I have is uh Jeremy Morrison.
Good evening. Jeremy Morrison, uh, live at 1067 Northwest 60th Terrace, Elatchua. Um, good evening. Thank you'all for letting me speak. um want to come to excuse me come to you before tonight to shine some light on a few things that mean a lot to me not only my
family but my fire department family the recent talk of the fire assessment fee may or may not being passed then along with the proposed 10% budget cuts is only going to make things worse there's no room for no room for that unfortunately um as
some people may not know Bradford County is one of the only three out of 67 counties in the state of Florida that currently do not have a fire assessment fee. And that little assessment of 167 a year, I know has financial impact on uh
residents, but at the same time, can you really put a price on people's lives? um proposing this 10% cut. As many have said, we do lose personnel. We do lose trucks. And as some mentioned earlier,
what would have probably put out a lady's house fire and just her stove and contained her entire uh mobile home, that was a total loss due to the longer response time from Samson City to Brooker. Um, all we're asking for is just the
support. Make the right decisions um for not only yourselves, but for your residents and your uh districts that cuts aren't going to hurt or cuts aren't going to make it. We we need as many personnel as people again said the NFPA
standard um for just a residential house fire is 15 people. We're lucky if we get six, not alone eight if we include the city of Stark. We recently had a house fire there in Stark. It took all eight personnel and we included our rescues just so we can have additional personnel
to get the job done safely and completed. Three years ago, budget cuts were brought up through Bradford County and the consequence of that was we lost one of our five rescues down to four. Now, due to that, we constantly have to
call on Elatcha County, uh, Union County, um, Klay County to provide support, and you're asking potentially with more cuts, we may have to rely on other counties to help save our citizens. So, just something to think about. I mean, no matter what, no matter
the person, we're going to respond to the call and whether this passes or not, we we'll be there. And it's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you. Does anybody else else have any public comment cards?
Okay, I've I've got two more. Um >> Amy Bloom. >> Bloom. Okay. My name is Amy Blum. I am actually on the Ludy City Council. My address is PO Box um 576 Ludy, Florida. Yesterday I
received the call, a very disheartening call that Lai could be on the chopping block to lose our fire department. Um we recently signed a or agreed on a newou. I want to let you realize that Lai has
been paying the last five years utilities, maintenance, everything for the Bradford County Fire Department. We get nothing in rebirth in rebirths for it. We did anou, you correct me if I'm wrong on anything. I tell you that all the time. I'm a little nervous. So, we
have a newou. Our board passed it. M um Commissioner Spooner did come to our meeting when we were talking about the assessment. It's very important for us to get a board with that. We needed a newou. I did not think it was fair for our ludy citizens to contribute to the
utilities those maintenances if the fire assessment was going to be passed. Our board agreed to pass the fire assessment. We were told and I heard it in a meeting here. If we did not agree, we had the possibility to
lose our fire department. So now we have agreed. Now we have the possibility to lose our fire department. Again, same thing happened with Brooker. Brooker was told, "If you do not agree, you probably won't get funding or anybody over
there." It's very disheartening to know that I know budgets have to be cut. I get it. I'm in the city. I see what has to be done. But for this board to even consider taking away the fire department
at Ludy or Brooker, that is ridiculous. It does not make any sense whatsoever. Look at your numbers. I have to look at my numbers with a lot. Those are things you have to look at. But to take away services, that is not right. Not at all.
You're fixing to get impact fees. You're getting 1.6 61.7 million. If you pass, y'all pass the um assessment. I don't understand where's your 10 10% coming from. Where do you want it to cut from?
From people's lives. Take from Ludy. If you don't have Ludy down there, I think you have a agreement with Klay County. Where are they going to come from? They're going to come all the way from Stark Samson to go handle out at 218.
Where are they going to come from? Y'all need to think really hard about it. Li has been good to Bradford County. We house them still and all y'all have to do is pay the maintenance, all the utilities that but we covered those costs for five years, new appliances,
new flooring. We did that. Thank you. Thank you, Doug Wilcox. Good evening, commissioners. My name is Doug Wilcox. I live at 2324 Southeast County Road, 21B, Melrose.
Um, I'm a business owner. I own three properties here in in uh Bradford County. Um, I am strongly in favor of the fire assessment and uh, in my years in the general contracting business, I've built several
projects in Bradford County, Walgreens on on uh, 301 and 100, the uh, Windixie and uh, Brad on 21 um many projects at Camp Keystone.
Um, Bradford County Fair project. a couple projects there. One of the things I've and we work all the southeast United States. Um, but one of the things I've discovered in Bradford County is that you all are way way behind in infrastructure.
Way behind. You need to be talking about increasing the fire budget, not decreasing it. So, I'm strongly in favor of it. I'm glad to pay taxes. Um, I have never used the fire services in LA in Bradford County. Thank God. But
I I feel happy that they're there. I'm proud that we now have a man fire station on Speedville Road because our insurance will benefit from that. I'll I'll pay the county a little bit. I'll get a little pay the the insurance company a little less. So, but I'm
willing to pay and I and I believe when it gets right down to it, the members of Bradford County would be willing to pay. Thank you. Thank you. All right, that's all the public comment cards I have. Um, so we'll move on to
the uh approval of the consent agenda. And um for before we approve the consent agenda, um I would like to um get us to amend the um item E and that's the um the county commission meeting
minutes from 85 2025. Um, I've got a copy of it. If you got it, it's uh on page 44. But um, anyway, in that last meeting, there was a motion by Commissioner Dudrey, second by Commissioner Thompson
to approve the consent agenda, striking item J. Looking at the meeting minutes, we uh had a discussion. Uh, the motion failed 32. Okay. Then it was then um if you
listen to the um on our YouTube channel um I asked for a motion to approve the uh consent agenda. Then but here's where the I'm just going to read the minutes. It says it was um the first motion
failed. Then it was moved by uh Vice Chair Thompson and seconded by Commissioner Andrews to approve the consent agenda as written striking J. But then under the notes here it says after the motion and second was made.
Chair Riddick announced I have a motion for from Commissioner Thompson to approve the consent agenda and a second from Commissioner Andrews. All in favor by a sign of I. Commissioner Andrews, Commissioner Spooner, Chair Riddick
announced I. Commissioner Daldry, and Vice Chair Thompson announced nay. At that time, I turn to Commissioner Thompson. >> It just says right here, Chair Riddick asked, "Uh, you was a nay. Was was you a nay?" To which Vice Chair replied, "No."
Chair Riddick announced, "Okay." So, the motion carries 41. And all I want to do is just clear this up. Um to to you, Commissioner Thompson, I apologize. I did not hear your entire motion. Um as
you stated, to strike Jay, even though they have it in the the meeting minutes, if you go on YouTube, you can listen to it a thousand times, turn it up as loud as you want, you do not hear the motion
to strike J. uh Commissioner Thompson brought it to our attention that at that time uh Rachel Roden went back, put on a set of headphones, listened to it on the recording from the county, and she was able after playing it backwards and
forwards a 100 times pick up that we were to strike Jay. So, all I want to do, I'm not trying to argue about it or anything like that. The the first point is I guess we all really need to speak into the microphone. Um, I just wish when I repeated the motion back that
somebody would have called to my attention that it was to strike item J. And the reason I think nobody in this entire room knew that the motion had to strike J because even Commissioner Daldry voted
um >> not to strike >> not not You see what I'm saying? So, >> and I didn't hear him either. So, >> Right. Right. So, I'm I'm not blaming anyone. I just >> Well, can y'all hear me tonight? >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> And I just I just want to make sure because see if anybody else later on
reads these minutes. >> Yeah. >> It looks like there was a motion made to strike Jay and then as the chair I basically made my own motion. So I just want to get it cleared up. Please straighten that out in the minutes. So and then as you see in our agenda, we'll
move on to addressing that item later. But um so if you could straighten that out and >> just I I don't know how you want a minute, but but just basically that I didn't change the motion. You know, I did I didn't change the motion. Everybody in this room knew what the motion was, but
nobody heard it. So >> how however just to clear it up, that's all. >> Pete and Mr. uh Mr. Chair, and I think we all thought I guess with the exception of Mr. Thompson that we heard what you were asking as the motion and that's what I I heard and that's what I thought I was voting on and everybody
did >> until it was brought to our attention. So I think that part of the correction as you indicated if we are speaking into the mic articulating our motion so that everything is he heard clearly and then even with the restating of that motion
to make sure that's what we're we're understanding. >> If I restate a motion wrong, please correct me before we vote on it and move on. But but anyway, so however you want to correct it. If you don't want to correct it, it's fine. It'll be in the next meeting minutes of what I've just said. So that's fine with me. >> Well, I I want to amend it. I just want
to make sure I'm amending correctly. So I I I definitely understand what the issue was, but the minutes reflect exactly what took place. So is the amendment what we're doing is to are we making a correction? Do we
need to redo it? Do we need to do that particular motion over again? >> Well, well, that's what I'm saying. >> To do it over again because it's the next >> I mean it's the next item. It's the next item. >> I mean, that action item is done, then I can amend the minutes. >> No, I mean I I think what the chair is
asking is he would like the minutes to reflect that as he heard the motion, it was to approve the consent agenda in its entirety. If I understand what you're >> Exactly. >> Actually, I'll add that. heard it. >> I think if you hear Did you hear? No,
sir. >> I believe that. >> I did not. >> You didn't hear me? >> No, sir. >> Wow. >> So, >> I hope y'all can hear me tonight. >> That helps me. >> All right. Well, with all that being said, I just need an approval a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Motion to approve the consent agenda as
read. >> Okay, we got a motion from Commissioner Daltry. >> Can I second? >> Can Can I ask Can I ask something about this on G? What did it >> Let me get this second. I got a second by Commissioner Spooner. All right. >> Now, any comments?
>> Yeah. Uh, on item G, what is this? Uh, it went up what? >> Almost $2,800. What is that? >> Item G on the consent agenda. >> Item G is your firefighter cancer treatment insurance policy through United Badge. Um, the total annual
premium is $7,918. It I don't know that it actually went up. I'd have to look at what the last premier >> I mean right here it says 5128 >> and madame clerk maybe if I could also add this was a more recent requirement by the legislature that
>> yeah understand that >> just to understand >> I'm just wondering why it went up $2,800. That's my question. >> I think you have an earlier earlier uh agenda. I think I mean so did it >> right that the the amended agenda the the reason the price went up on that is
because the first quote that I had sent over did not have the statutoily required $75,000 death benefit included in that. >> So if we do unfortunately have a firefighter die from cancer. >> I got both of them. >> If we do have somebody die from cancer unfortunately we would be responsible for $75,000. And so the addition to that
price um would would be with reflecting with that $75,000 cancer benefit. Both of which are statuto statutoily required. >> I understand that. But what I'm saying it was 5128. >> Mhm. >> And then this new one I get is 7918.
>> Yes. The first the first quote that was sent over did not did not include the $75,000 death benefit. This one does. >> All right. >> Any other questions? Nope. >> Okay. So, I have a motion and a second. All in favor of approving the consent
agenda. >> I I motion carries 5. All right. Now, we'll move on to item five, which is basically uh the item J that we did in the last meeting. And this is for station 9
paving uh for the parking lot at $33,110. I make a motion that we approve the paving in um Samson City for $33,110. >> Okay. I I have a motion from uh
Commissioner Andrews. >> A second. >> Second from Commissioner Spooner. >> I heard that one. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Is there any discussion? >> Heard it. I just want to bring up in the discussion that what we're talking about now was what you were talking about
amending and so just wanted to bring that up because the way it was heard the first time I think was the second time but anyway we're here to discuss it now and so okay >> that's that's I just want to say that I
know we've already said it but I just want to make that clear that >> this is the same item Right. >> Okay. Any any other comments? >> Just that the funding is in the the uh budget of the fire station um of the fire department. I mean, this is this is
an issue that really I mean I don't even know why we're discussing. Um, I went around to every fire station that we have in Bradford County and I did not find one fire station that that didn't have their parking lot paved. But now
when Samson City gets finished now, we're going to leave it halfway done. This is it's just something that I'm not sure why we're discussing, but since we are, I strongly support um doing this. Okay. Well,
my question number one is a want. It ain't a got to have. And >> when you're traveling, when you're moving, let me talk. No, no, no. I I'm talking. I got I got the mic right now. Can y'all hear me? >> Uh, number one, it's a want. It ain't a
got to have. And we keep passing and spending money, spending money, spending money. Hey, we going to be broke one day. So, if it was a need and a got to have,
yeah, I can see it. But it ain't a got to have. It's got uh millet on the parking lot. >> That's my opinion. Any other comment? >> Yes. Sure. >> When we're driving those fire trucks and those rescue units across that parking
lot with holes and everything in it, that's taking really good good care of the equipment that we have. That's wrong. we need to approve it and pave it and be done with it. >> And I'll just say the reason that I opposed it and and Mr. Wilcox doesn't
have to answer this question, but when projects are being built, typically that's part of the project. >> And why we ever approved this project without paving initially as a part of the project doesn't make sense to me.
And that's why I opposed it. >> Okay? because it should have been done at that time. And if it couldn't have been done at that time, then we should have rebid the project >> because obviously at that point it was just at the budget or maybe even over
budget. So we should have been able to pave that while we were building the building. >> And I just don't see why I couple of projects that Mr. Wilcox mentioned, you know, when they did the Walgreens, they didn't leave the parking
lot unpaved. Okay. So again, this is this was my shout out to the rest of the board. As we move forward and as we do projects, we make sure that the projects complete
in the bid package that we send out so that that's included because this is going to cost more than the $33,000 because we're using our staff internally. >> Absolutely. And by the time they use their time and equipment, it's going to
be more than this amount. So, I just want to make that clear. That's why I scratched it in my initial motion, but then you all jot that down, but which is fine, like I said, but I I
want it to be clear why I said that we should not approve that. >> All right. So, at this time, we have a motion and a second to approve the $33,110 for the parking lot. All in favor by a
sign of I >> I >> I three eyes. All oppose. >> Nay. >> Nay. Two nays. Motion carries. 32. >> Good. Clear. Okay. All right.
All right. Next item is the um uh clay purchase for repairs of the uh ballpark field using TDC recreation funding for $30,000. Um, as y'all know, we have teamed up with the city of Stark
um for recreation and also the TDC board has agreed to give us 150,000 towards the improvement of the ball of the ball field, the ballpark and um the the only today in the TDC board meeting it was
approved um to fund the uh the request for 30,000. So, I just need to get the approval from our board. I will say this, um um it's not going to be anywhere near that amount, but they said
it's better to put in for more than what we need. Uh but believe me, as sitting on that board, um we've only have 150,000 to spill spend on that facility. And um I will bring you guys itemized lists of everything that's done. And um
I can assure you we're going to get the most bang out of our buck for that 150,000 to improve those ball fields. So as for right now, I just need to have a motion to approve the uh the funding request for $30,000 that again that will
come out of the TDC recreation funding. >> I make a motion to approve the $30,000 for the clay on the fields. >> Okay. I have a motion from Commissioner Andrews. Do I have a second? >> The money's coming. >> Are you kidding me? This is been
approved through the TDC board. This is part of the 150,000 coming from the TDC board >> towards the ball fields. This is what what we all voted on to agree to um to help improve those fields. And I will
tell you this, as much as I've been down there, if you've been to those fields, they're in bad shape. Uh the reason we're using TDC money, there's going to be tournaments coming in there, and you may get the tournaments in there a couple times, but those teams coming in from all over the place. If they come
and play on that field like that, you won't get them back. I just promise you. because I've been very involved in um travel ball for many many years. So again, this has not come out of the out of our board or the city of Stark board. And I will tell you this, the current
balance in the TDC fund is 96,26452 and that was came from a meeting today I was in. So the the TDC board approved to fund it. This again, this is part of the 150. they agreed to give us to improve the fields.
>> Uh I know there's her motion, but I I get a question. >> Sure. >> That's why I didn't bring forth. So with that $30,000 would be then added to um that budget for our recreation which
is already set at 150. So that makes it 10. >> No, this this has this has nothing to do with the 150 from the county and nothing to do with the 150 from the city. This is totally separate. This is the 150 that the TDC board, the tourist
development board um said they would give us to improve those ball fields so that we could bring in highquality tournaments into Bradford County. And along with bringing that in, the reason the TDC board wants to fund it because
that also puts people in our hotels. It fills up our restaurants on game days. They buy gas here. So that's why the TDC board >> Mr. Chair, let me let me second to move it to discussion. Okay. >> Okay. >> So you got a second. >> All right. I got a motion and a second.
Any more discussion? So the discussion that well obviously Miss Spooner you know had something to say but uh also want to say that I certainly approve this coming from the TDC for that but I just want to make it clear that
you my ask of the board was that we cut make other significant cuts in the budget to be able to fund recreation and we weren't able to get there. We were able to use money that was found money like uh I think some of it was, you
know, supposed to come back to us anyway and that made up a big portion of it and then there were some other things that came in there. But I I I would approve the use of the clay for the fields, but with that asterk in there that I did not
approve the funding of the recreation department. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Because we're talking about two totally >> That's right. That's right. It's coming from the TDC and if the TDC is providing that and yes and then also >> um
>> how will the the clay be put out on the fields? Is it going to be just bulk filled? And >> well, if you want more details, the only reason I'm even bringing this up because we haven't got our board fully put together, I will tell you this. Um >> um
what's what's his name? Um Jean Melvin. Thank you. Thank you. Gene Melvin was elected uh to represent the TDC board. Uh a lady named Kathy, I forgot her last name, from the city. Kathy >> Bradley is been elected from the city who sit on the board and then y'all
elected me to sit on the board. We also have out on the internet right now. We need four citizens to serve on that board. So it's the applications on the internet. I please get the word out. We're looking for four citizens that
really want to be involved to help bring better recreation into Bradford County. And um again, our our 150 and the city's 150 um to be honest with you, if if we didn't put in anything and the city didn't put in anything, the TDC board
has already said they will help fix the fields. So, that's where this money is coming from. Um it's not coming out of our budget or the city's budget. It's coming from TDC. Okay, so that helped clarify and those our parks and recreation and those ball fields does
impact our tourism and development because people do come to observe and to watch and participate. So, >> okay, >> in that vein. Okay. And please let me answer your question because I was not going to ask for any funding until we got our board in place, but I got a call
um I won't say his name right at this time, but um a gentleman offered to bring all his heavy equipment out there if we would supply to Clay. He's going to completely redo all six ball fields with his equipment. And he's got nice
equipment. He's got the laser guided setup so he can get the fields perfect. So that's why with him offering that one, I didn't want to get, let's just say, cruddy clay put out there and then in four months when we get this board
going, having to go redo it. So I wanted to make sure we got some good, high quality ball field clay. So when he said that, that's when I called Mrs. Whittle and Amanda and said, "Hey, can we get this moving since this guy's going to do it?" and I explained the same thing to
the TDC board today. So that's the only reason you're seeing this request now and before we had the actual board put together. >> Okay. >> All right. So you have a motion and a second. >> Yes. Any any other discussion? Okay. All
in favor by sign of I I any oppose? Motion carries 5. Moving on to item seven, Chief Carter, >> I hear you back there, Miss Vonda. >> Yeah, boy. Give me just a second to get set up here.
Sorry. I see if if you're back there, can you just tell me um want to make sure I got the audio on the right input here. And so All right. Before we get into the budget cut presentation, I do want to um
address just just a couple things. We had renumbered our our stations and just made a few changes there. And Miss Roden asked that we would just get that on the record, making sure you all were aware of that change. Um doesn't change any of our operation at all. It just is is simply changing the numbers of these
stations. So what was our station 20 which was Theessa is now station two. We just went to single-digit numbers on all of our station numbers. Station 40, which is Hilton Springs, went to station four. Station 50, which is Lahi, went to station five. Station 60, which is here at headquarters, went to station six.
Station 80, which will be the future Brooker station, went to station 8. Uh station 90, is now station 9, which is Samson City. Uh and then station 10, which is the Speedville station, remain station number 10. Along with that, we did change our unit numbers as well to
single-digit unit numbers. Um, I think that's a little bit more reasonable for the public to to not think that we have 90 stations out there. Um, so we made that simple change and again, no uh no real impact there. Mr. Ren, did you need anything else on that? Okay. All right.
Okay. So, commissioners, I want to be clear from the very beginning. I'm strongly opposed to any cuts to Bradford County Fire Rescue. Public safety is not a place for reductions. Every propo every proposed cut directly impacts the protection we provide to our citizens.
The safety of our personnel and the security of our community. When we talk about reducing units, eliminating eliminating supervisors or even closing stations, we're increasing response times, raising ISO ratings and insurance costs, and putting both our firefighters and our citizens in great danger. We've
worked hard to build a stronger, more reliable fire rescue system through grants, state funding, and careful planning. To undo that progress now by reducing resources would be a step backwards at the exact moment our community needs us moving forward.
We'd like to take a look at the vision statement of the Bradford County Board of County Commissioners. says, "We're a small, close-knit, rural community, and is the vision of the board of county commissioners of Bradford County, Florida, that we recognize and retain that history, culture, and identity as
we work diligently to grow and develop into a modern, streamlined, high functioning local government that strives for excellence in the preservation of health, safety, and welfare of our citizens and the promotion of unique opportunities
available in our community, which to make Bradford County a place that people want to live and work. I want to point out the word excellence there. It doesn't say that we want to strive for a mediocre provision or preservation. It says we wanted to strive for excellence.
And as someone said earlier, we've got the trophy to prove that we have accomplished that board. So I was asked to present a 10% budget cut. What that looks like is our fiscal year 2425, the current budget that we have right now, our operating budget. If you take out the grants, you take out
those other things is 8.133 I'm sorry, 8,133,000. A 10% reduction in that in that number would equal $7,319,700. Our proposed fiscal year 2526 operating budget, which mind you does include staffing for the town of Brooker, is
$8,844,12. So, our amount to cut overall out of our budget for next proposed year uh would be $1,524,42. So, in order to get to that number, board, it's going to it's going to take some hard decisions and I understand that. First and foremost, we have the
opportunity to build a fire station and staff a fire station in the town of Brooker. That was part of our fire assessment. That was everything that we had looked at uh up until this point. I understand we're not looking at funding the fire fire assessment at 100%. So I understand that. But the first thing that would have to be cut out of this
budget would be no staffing for the fire Brooker fire station. We would give that money for the fire station itself. That would be Brooker's decision. But my recommendation would be to give that back to the state. That would reduce our budget for next year by $677,436.
But we still have $846,966 to cut. currently and we looked at the way that we came up with these numbers is we looked at everything that is a non-essential function of fire rescue. So everything that we trim the fat and we say okay look let's look at what our job is what our role is and it's our job
is when somebody calls 911 that we're there to help them. We're public servants and that's what we do. Now I would argue that this is also a role a part of our job but this is something that again is one of those things that we provide to this community at no cost. So currently for we provide special event staffing for every home varsity
and JV football game. We provide two personnel per game that are dedicated to that event. So they're there regardless of what's going on outside of that. Um they are they're there at that football game and they're not going anywhere. We staff that one
ambulance there with those two personnel and we also have our MV that's on site at those games as well. We staff the Bradford County Fair for the entire week with three personnel that are dedicated to that event. We have one ambulance, one brush truck, and two MVs down there. One MV is the
fire suppression MV, and the other one is the the transport MV that the TDC had had gifted us. Um, and so we have, again, those aren't staffed with with personnel each. We have three personnel down there. And the reason we do that is because we have typically have a booth at the fair um that we do blood pressure
checks and offer EKG screenings and things of that nature. And then so if someone has to uh get called out into the field for you know into the midway or something like that or into the arena uh we send two personnel to do that to handle that and then we have uh one person left to staff the event table.
We staff the Great Pumpkin Escape. Same thing. Two personnel that are dedicated to that event. One ambulance and one MV. Strawberry Festival both days of the weekend with two personnel dedicated to the event. an ambulance, a merve, and a brush truck for the uh food trucks that are there
and the food trailers that are there. We provide again some suppression on site for that as well. The Christmas on call street, two personnel that are dedicated to the event, one ambulance and one merve. So, our options for cutting uh in that
program would be that we either bill the entity that's hosting the event, we bill for our our services, or we staff with onduty units called dependent. So that means if you're at a football game and somebody gets hurt, we get a player out there on the field, you know, if if we have no units available, we're waiting
on a unit to come from from Klay County or a neighboring agency if if they have the availability. And you may be talking you may be thinking right now like why are we even talking about EMS? But I can tell you that there is no room to cut on the fire side except for cutting units. So, if we're looking at how do we trim
the fat and how do we get to down to the the brass tax of this, we have to look at our total overall budget, which is a combined budget between fire and rescue. They're not separate. Even with eliminating the special event staffing, it only saves us $20,000. So,
we still have $826,966 to cut. Currently, prov we provide three fire rescue paramedics to the sheriff's office for swap medic staffing. Our SWAT medics have paid training, excuse me,
have paid training every other week, which they're paid overtime for. If they're on shift for the training, their training or I'm sorry, the shift is also covered by overtime. So, we pay the the paramedic overtime to attend their SWAT medic training, which is mandatory to participate in the SWAT team.
And as well as we staff whoever is on if they're on duty that day and they're off for training, we staff that with overtime also. anytime they get called out for an activation, which there were 14 last year, they're also paid overtime during that time. And again, if it falls on their shift, the person who's filling
their shift is being compensated for overtime as well. Options for cut regarding the swap medic staffing would be that we eliminate our swap medic partnership with the sheriff's office, which I again I completely disagree with. I think that it's it's something that we provide that
service to our our brothers in blue. we're we're a family. Um, you know, and I I think that it's a a a great service that we provide to the sheriff's office. Um, and the other option would be that we charge the sheriff's office for the cost. That program cost us about $58,000. So,
by eliminating that or charging, again, we cut 58,000 out of our budget. We still have $768,966 to go. Currently, if you call 911, we pick you up and you say, "Hey, you know, my doctor's over in Jacksonville. I really
need to go to Jacksonville. We're going to take you to Jacksonville. You say, "Hey, you know what? I need to go to Mayo Clinic. That's where I'm getting my cancer treatments done. We'll take you to Mayo Clinic." But by law, we're only required to take you to the closest appropriate facility. That's what this county is responsible to do is take our
PA patients to the closest appropriate facility. So, last year we had 4592 transports. 1,026 of those transports we took down here to Stark. We had 325 critical transports that
would require transport outside of of Stark. We could not take those patients to Stark. They needed a higher level of care. Those are the ones that were truly critical that absolutely could not uh be taken down here to this hospital. Which means that if you take the total transports and then you look at our
local transports that are already going to Stark and then 325 that have to go to Gainesville or Jacksonville, we have 3,241 transports that could have been redirected to here at Stark. That would have saved us 129,640 miles
with our ambulance average miles per gallon is eight. That would have saved us 16,205 gallons of fuel last year or $58,500. And in a maintenance budget of 75% per
mile, it would have saved us $97,230 in maintenance. So by taking patients to the closest appropriate facility instead of their choice where they would like to go, we would save $155,730. But that's still not enough.
We still got $613,236 to go. Before we move into this next section, I do want to address ISO. And this is in my my uh fire assessment workshops for those of of you who have seen that as well. And some people say ISO doesn't matter. Some people say it doesn't
affect me. It's not, you know, not my house doesn't look at that. That's true. Some insurancees don't look at ISO only as their determining factor of what your insurance premium will be. But there are a lot of in insurance companies that do. So just to give you an idea, the public protection classification, your PPC is
what you would see probably on your insurance bill. Um, one or on your uh insurance uh folder, the one would be best and 10 is no recognized protection. So our current rating here in Bradford County is five, 5x, and 10. And I'll show you what that means on the next
slide. So to obtain a class 5, you have to be five miles from the fire station, within five miles from the fire station. and within 1,000 ft from a fire hydrant. For a 5X, you have to be 5 miles from the station, but you don't have a fire hydrant within 1,000 ft. That puts you
at a level 5X. And class 10 means that you don't have a station within 5 miles. And no fire hydrant within 1,000 ft. This is considered no protection. This is our current staffing level. And let me explain these a little bit. So
up here in your top right you see LA5 that's Lahi that's station five no longer station 50 we have Hilurn Springs station 4 Samson city station 9 the rest of station two Speedville station 10
5 9 and 10 all have dedicated fire apparatus at those stations each one of those has an houses an engine at that station houses one of our battalions one of our supervisors every day, one of our lieutenants. And the same thing for Theresa and we've strategically located
these uh these stations here because we've got one in the northwest area of the county and then we've got one in the south area of the county. So regardless of where the emergency is, it doesn't mean that both of them are going. It just means that we can send one from this way or we can send one from this way. So option one would be to cut one
supervisor. And what that does, you'll notice that two fire stations disappeared and that would be Hilurn Springs and Thoressa. Those two fire stations went away. And that's because again our battalion one supervisor is stationed in Thoressa and we receive partial credit, not full credit because it's not a full uh engine
response out of there, but we do receive partial credit on our ISO rating because we have those supervisors at those two stations. So if we close the we would do away with the battalion one position, which would mean we would only have one supervisor on the road. So, we would
have to remove that supervisor from Hill Hilurn Springs Station and bring them more centrally located because again, they're going to be the only supervisor for the county and we can't have them at one end of the county or the other. By eliminating one supervisor, that would reduce our budget by $334,218.
But again, we still have $279,18 left to go. And that means again closing one fire station. Currently, currently we have the Lahi station, the Samson City station, and the Speedville station is our three basis of operation for fire
response. Closing any of these stations would reduce your budget by $334,218. Samson City is the most strategically located station in Bradford County. It's centrally located. We can get on the bypass. We can go north, south, we can
go to Brooker, we can get on 18, head over towards Thoressa and and the Speedville area. Um, it's also our busiest station. We have the we run the most calls every year out of that station. So, Samson City would be the last suggestion that I would make board. And let me be clear, I'm not putting
these in any specific order of which ones I believe should be closed. You heard me from the beginning. I don't think anything should be closed. Um it is not my recommendation uh based there's these are in no specific order but these are options that you have to consider. So sure when we hear from Lahi
and they say what the heck we just you know bought into this fire assessment and now you're going to close my fire station that is an option that has to be considered. So option one would option one would be the city of Lahi. We closed fire station in in Lahi. And here's why justification for that.
We do not own the fire station there. We don't own the building, but we are responsible for our repair and maintenance. And to Miss Blum's credit, she's absolutely correct. They've been a great partner with us and they have paid that utility bill for the past five years or so, right? Um and they have
been a great partner partnership there. But we don't own the building. We are responsible for all repair and maintenance. It's currently our oldest station in operation and there will be costly repairs coming to that station. Again, by shutting that station down
would reduce the budget $334,218. Option two would be that we close the Speedville Fire Station. Justification for that would be that it is our lowest call volume station and there is mutual aid close by. We have Putnham County, we have Klay County, and we have uh the town of Melrose as well
that are close by in that area. However, as you know, that's currently our newest station uh that was just opened. We do own the property, we do own the building there. Um and we probably won't have any large expenses to come from there for years to come. So it does come with a significant
impact though. I want you to take a look at this slide here. Again, this is our current staffing level receiving partial credit for the Hilurn Springs and the Theressa stations. So you either go from this coverage to now this coverage
or this coverage to this coverage. And what that means is those black circles that you see up there, those are five mile radius circles. So everything that falls within that dark circle is somebody who's either receiving a five or a 5x on their property protection
class based on where they are in this in this graph. Somebody in Lahi is receiving a class five right now. They're getting the the best rate they possibly can that we have to offer currently because of the fact that we have the fire station in Lahi and you have hydrants in the city of Lahi. Brooker if we were to open that station
would also many of the residents there would rece receive a five as well. So again closing any of these stations is going to be significant impact. Anybody that falls outside of these circles now immediately goes to a class 10 on their protection class.
But what that looks like in real world numbers and we made it right. We we've got to the point that we need to cut. We've got to the 1.5 million. But at what cost? So, this was an insurance quote that was obtained from a local insurance agent
here in town for a woodframe $400,000 uh dwelling with a $1,000 deductible and a 2% hurricane deductible. With a property protection class rating of five, their annual premium was $6,7986. They go to a class 10, their annual
premium was now $8,745.38. or $1,947.32 increase or 28.6%. And again, this is not going to be the case for every insurance company out there. There are going to be insuranceances out there that say, "We don't care. We're not changing anything." As a matter of fact, I heard from somebody in Brooker that that was
the case. But they said, "Doesn't matter if you open open a fire station out here. My insurance isn't changing." Um, and and that is the case for some insurance companies, but I can tell you it's not for all. It also means right now we currently have an average response time of 9
minutes and 18 seconds. Shutting down stations means it's going to take us longer to get there. But what it really means is more work and more risk with less resources. these men and women sitting right here and
board. You'll notice nobody in here is wearing a uniform because this was not an im intimidation tactic to bring my my department in here. This is these men and women showed up because they love this department. They love this community. They love this county and they care about providing
this service to the people and of course they care about their jobs. But these are facts. board. Firefighters have a 9% higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer and a 14% higher risk of dying from cancer than the general US population according to research by the CDC and National Institute for
Occupational Health and Safety. And I appreciate you moving forward with the your vote earlier on the consent agenda regarding our our firefighter cancer insurance because it is true. It we're more at risk than anybody else sitting in this room. The number of firefighter suicides is
estimated to be at least 100 per year. According to the Rutderman white paper on mental health and suicide of first responders, the suicide rate for firefighters is 18 per 100,000 compared to 13 per 100,000 for the general public. This past weekend, a Marian County
firefighter took his own life. He was the second firefighter in that agency to do so in less than a month. These tragic deaths confirmed our need to dig into this trend of first responder suicides in Central Florida. Investigative anchor Darlene Jones joins me live now. And
Darlene, you started researching the issue four months ago when you got a tip about this. >> Greg, the anonymous tip was simple. Three Orange County firefighters had taken their own lives in less than a year. It was a troubling trend. That's when we started asking questions. It's
the agency and firefighter you're about to hear from in this report. They're hopeful this story will spark a conversation about the need for change of the culture in these agencies. >> Medical.
>> That call came in as an Orange County firefighter tried to take his life on I4 in Altimont Springs. >> He's outside with a machete swiping it all over the ground. 13 days after that suicide attempt, he took his life. >> I just heard a bunch of gunshots and I
looked out the window and there's a guy laying in the driveway next door and the windows are all busted out. >> He's not moving. He's completely still. >> 5 months earlier, a Simino County firefighter pulled the trigger in a murder suicide. These calls are just a
small sample of the stress that first responders like Alexander Vasquez are under every day. The images that I have in my head from the 17 years that I've been here, it would it would freak people out. It would devastate them if they knew what
we saw, if they knew the decisions we had to make. We're out there in a public image, but that image is not shown completely because nobody wants to see that. >> And that's so true, Bourne.
The people that do this job know what they see and know what they take home every single day. and their spouses know that. You don't know that. You don't know that weight. And I hope you never have to see that weight or bear that weight. That's real.
And while we're sitting here talking about cuts, the state of Florida is talking about how they can support the firefighters and backing their first responders. And >> so, a bill to provide more resources to firefighters is on its way to Governor Dantis staff. >> It aims to enhance the first responders
health, safety, and well-being. News Jack reporter Brianna Brownley joins us here in the studio. And Bri, the House approved the bill unanimously this week. >> Yes, burnout, trauma, and high stress are are significant factors threatening the mental health of firefighters, which is why Florida lawmakers pushed this
bill through the capital. According to the Rutherman white paper on mental health and suicide of first responders, the suicide rate for firefighters is 18 per 100,000 compared to 13 per 100,000 for the public. The fire union here in
Jacksonville and in St. John's County have both lost. And you may say, board that this is not a Jacksonville. This is not a St. John's County. This city of Gainesville and I completely agree with you. But these things happen here, too. Those accidents don't just happen in Gainesville. Those
fires don't just happen in Jacksonville. It happens here. This was from this past Saturday. And yes, this is a fire inside the city of Stark. City of Stark has two firefighters on every single day. Imagine pulling up to that with two
firefighters and knowing nobody else is coming to help you. The county absolutely responds for mutual aid inside the county or inside the city. And we were able to respond. We were able to get to this house. This house is a total loss. It's a fat lighter house
that was built in the 60s. Nobody's saving that house. the fire. This is two minutes away from the fire station right here behind Capital City Bank. You're not saving that house. But you know what? We did save to get your house. >> We saved the neighbor's house.
It's fixing to get your house. Did you hear her say that? Had we not put a team of firefighters on that call, I have no doubt that fire would have burned down a city block of the city of Stark. And what it really means, board, I hear a lot of people say it doesn't matter.
By the time you get to my house, it's going to be on the ground anyway. We did have a fire in Brooker two nights ago. Two nights ago had a fire in Brooker. So you can't say these things don't happen here because they do. It's a reality. Took us about 18 minutes to get there.
20 minutes to get there because it was in between 231 and 100 on 235. We call it no man's land because nobody can get there quick. Would have been a six-minute response if we had a fire station in the town of Brooker. And again, we could have contained that possibly uh to just a a
smaller fire, maybe gone in and put it out with a can. But this is the reality of that. And I did remove the address out of respect for the uh for the the person as well. >> I won't address your emergency. >> Yeah. I need to find your house.
>> Yes, ma'am. What's going on? >> My house is on fire. >> Your house is on fire? >> Yes. >> Is it fully on fire? >> Okay. And what's your address? >> Is anybody else in the house?
>> No. Okay. Yes, ma'am. I'm having my unit dispatched out to you. Okay. >> Oh, good. Thank you. >> This is a double wide mobile home that's still standing and it's probably going to be a total loss because Yeah, absolutely. It burned up the kitchen. It
was an older mobile home. Uh there was there a hole in the roof. I mean there it was a lot of damage but we were able to save most of her valuables, prescriptions. She had a change of clothes that she could get into photos.
Those type things more that again those things just don't get don't get thought about and they don't get mentioned. Having a team of firefighters also means the difference between losing a shed at your business or losing your entire business. Had we not put a team of firefighters on
this sawmill fire, no doubt in my mind that absolutely would have burned down more than what it did and we still had to call Klay County for significant mutual aid. I want to leave you with this thought. Every dollar that we cut from fire
rescue does not just reduce our budget. It's reducing our community safety. 10% cut may sound manageable on paper, but in reality means fewer firefighters on the street, fewer supervisors to maintain a safe span of control, and longer response times when seconds truly mean the difference between life and
death. Our personnel are already doing more with less. And while they will always rise to the challenge, the danger of stretching them beyond safe limits is real. Asking them to cover more ground with fewer resources puts every citizen at risk. Eliminating a supervisor may
look like small savings or may look like a small savings, but it directly undermines safe span of control, jeopardizing both firefighters and civilian lives in the most chaotic and dangerous moments. Closing fire stations are reducing staff units will only worsen these problems. It's going to
increase ISO ratings, raise insurance premiums for families and businesses, and slow down our ability to respond when a home, a business, or a life is on the line. And this is especially concerning at a time when we were discussing a fire assessment fee to strengthen the department. It sends a dangerous mixed
message to the public that we're asking them to invest in more while simultaneously reducing the protection they receive. Bradford County Fire Rescue has made significant progress through state support, grant funding, and the dedication of our team. But the simple truth is this. Cutting essential
fire services is a path to greater costs, greater risks, and greater tragedies. I urge you not to look at these cuts as just numbers on a spreadsheet, but as lives in our community. Every decision made here will be felt in the homes, the schools, and the businesses we are sworn
to protect. For the safety of our citizens, the well-being of our firefighters, and the long-term stability of Bradford County, I ask that you stand firmly behind your vision. Public saf safety must remain a priority
board. With that, I'll entertain any questions. Mr. Chair, thank you, Chief. >> Yes, sir. Um, just to the rest of the board, complete transparency. I did not ask for a 10% cut.
I asked for a 25% cut. Okay. So, Chief Carter showed me what a 10% cut looks like. He showed me this. I was just blown away about what a 10%
cut looks like. And so I'm telling you all this because I wanted y'all to see the same thing that I saw. And I think our sheriff says it best when he says you never gamble on your safety.
And a 10% cut would be a gamble on the safety of the people of Bradford County. So complete transparency. I want y'all to know that. Thank you, Chief. >> Mr. Yeah. >> I'm sorry. One other thing
where I do see a cut would be when you choose where you go. I know I'd just rather get to the closest facility, but when you choose where you go and it takes the units away from the county,
that's certainly a a cost there that I just don't know how you get around that. I mean, and just telling people, hey, we have to take you to, you know, Stark or we have to take you to Gainesville or, you know, the closest facility because I can see where the Mayo Clinic and taking
a unit out of service for that amount of time could be huge to the county. >> We do have um a general rule that we don't go without outside of 60 miles. So, Mayo Clinic is pretty much our outside perimeter. Um I think it's 62 miles from downtown Stark here to the
Mayo Clinic. Uh the difference there is they they are a specialy cancer center and so if someone is on undergoing cancer treatments we will transport them to Mayo Clinic again for doing what's right for for that person. >> Okay. >> Um Mr. Chair um and Chief Carter, this
was an eyeopener in terms of the significant negative impact um cuts would have on our safety for the community. But my question is um
while this is an eyeopener refer I think it's good that we do look at those numbers and how it would be impacted. So I my question is why aren't we why are we look just looking at the fire rescue
why not ask all departments what impact would a 10% cut in the budget have for our community not just for one so then we can uh collectively and objectively look at what we can really do without or
what we just cannot not let go. When um you for the last few years there've been town hall meetings in all of the municipalities and communities um in Brooklyn um they wanted to ensure that
they had you know fire station and protection is the extreme um area in terms of distance for fire safety. the total town of Brooklyn met and they said, "Okay, we're going to do it and we're going to do it together."
So, there was commitment there. Um, Lai Loudi was ready to say, "No way, Jose. We're not going to participate." But engaging with the community, working with them, they understood the
importance of everybody working together and that we needed that. And so we had that commitment from Loi and basically gave him our word. So a word is our bond. We have to have integrity.
We if if you if your word isn't any good, what good are you? So when you put it out here like this and we clearly see how negatively our community will be impacted for safety and rescue.
But again, I'm putting out not all the department look at what impact a 10% cut might be. Maybe there's some other areas, but I I don't see um cutting services.
We cannot um risk not having services to our community. That's too risky. >> Yes, ma'am. I agree. Um also, Morton, I've had this conversation with with the county manager. I I have tried to maintain transparency and honesty with
this board throughout. Um and I I maintain that with the public as well. I'm happy to to bring my entire budget, every expense that we make laid out here on the table. Let's take a look at it. And if there's something that that people don't agree with, maybe we can explain it or maybe we can say, "Hey, this is this is what that means." But we
have nothing to hide. I'm proud of the way that we manage our budget. We're under budget. I again, I'm proud of that. So, well, Mr. Could you I know that we're we're we're going to be looking at
this next week, but if we possibly rolled back or we had some cuts in other areas, but looking at all departments, if we took a snip for everywhere, >> yes, ma'am, we uh we actually have already done that. Um, at the request of
Commissioner Andrews a number of months ago, we we took a look at all the departments and asked them to provide us with a snapshot of what it would look like if we were to cut 10% and we we have those documents already. >> But I the other point I wanted to make
it clear to the citizens there was no there's no decision of cutting services from our fire rescue departments. This is a discussion to take a look at what that would look like and how we would be impacted, but there's no decision to do that, but the people may be roused up
thinking like, oh, you know, they're going to make these cuts. >> Agreed. And I'll say board that that with the municipalities, we have a great relationship with them. I'll I'll I'll admit that the there was some tarnish relationships there with you know some
some mistrust um between between I think the county and and some of the m municipalities and I think we've done a tremendous job of of building strong relationships with both Brooker and Ly and town of Hampton as well. But um again I'm really happy with those with
those partnerships we have with them. If I may, >> um, I just want to say, um, I don't know how the the town of Brooker has been
left out of the the fire protection for, I guess, all the years that I mean, forever and ever. But when you're talking about the the response time here being four minutes, six minutes, and so and then when you get to Bricker, it's
20 minutes. Um, like Mr. Thompson said, it's not a it's not a want. They've needed a fire station for many, many years. Why that was ignored, I cannot begin to imagine. But now that we have funding, um, I
don't think that ever should we consider not building that fire station. >> Well, and I can address why it was ignored. I don't mean to interrupt you, but they had a tremendous volunteer service in the town of Brooker. >> You're right. >> Brooker had an outstanding volunteer department. >> Amen. >> As well as our entire volunteer
department for the county. >> I can speak on that because I grew up as a volunteer in this county along with many of the people that work here. And the fact that we get to serve this community now and make a living doing this is the best thing we could possibly do. We love coming to work because we used to do it for free.
>> And it's a whole lot better getting paid for it. >> Yeah. But I mean my point is how many more deaths, how many more loss of homes, loss of property is it going to take for the people of Brooker in that area
to have the same protection that's provided throughout the county? It's wrong and it needs to be corrected. So that's all I got to say. >> I don't think Ly should be closed either.
>> Did you have the facilities for them to be able to anything in that was the problem. >> I I do I do want to say one thing, you know, especially as being the chair, I I will say this to every single one of you out there. I can look you dead in the
face and tell you I did not request any of this for a 10 commit 10% cut. None of it. I already knew what a 10% cut would do. I didn't need to excellent presentation. I didn't need to sit through it. I talked to Ben and Scott
Cornne to I know what's going on and what we need. So please, just because I'm chair, don't think that I requested this 10% cut meeting because I did not. >> Oh, we know where it came from. I already said where it came from. >> Well, I started to say everybody I
didn't ask for. >> Right. And and also um just to let everybody in this room know, I am for 100% for the 100 for the fire assessment. Exactly what it is. 167 per household. Let them said you you know
what it is. You've seen it yourself. So that's for sure. I'm not backing down. >> I'll I'll also say that I don't know that this presentation was a bad thing, right? And I think this was >> and I think that was your intent was to show people what what 10% looks like
because 10% sounds easy. Sounds like not much, right? It sounds like we could do that >> no problem. If I get a 10% off of my math grade, you know, that's not a problem. I'm still made a 90. >> Got a degree, right? But >> and I think it's important too that that
you know, we we the board, we hear it all the time. Everybody wants to know, you know, even the road department, you know, where can you make cuts? Where can you make cuts in the road department? I don't know how they do what they do with what they have, you know, and and and
people start talking about Doge, you know, and it's like, come in here and excuse me, can you hear me now? You can hear me now. Okay. But when you talk about Doge, you know, and and and coming in here and we always
talk about cuts and you look at how, you know, each department, you know, some people think some departments are more important than others. Some people think the road department's more important than the fire department and vice versa. And you know, so we get asked a lot of
questions. So to have answers to the questions is not a bad thing. And again, yes, >> Mr. Sher, this has been an eyeopener for our community and for us, you know, to take a look at it. So, one of the things
that I had also asked is looking at all of our services, professional services, everything that we have. A few years ago, um, I requested that we get detailed budgets
from all departments. my friend sitting right here on the front. See, everybody complied with that, but we've kind of gotten away from that. Um, so we need to get back to making sure that we have those detailed
budgets so that we can look in detail at everything that we have to see if there's anything that can be sliced. And um I know they're still working on it on the budgets and getting that done, but that's one of the things that we need details. And I think that she
>> I'm glad you brought up Miss Phillips because I can tell you when you go into her office and you see the people standing in line waiting and there's somebody at every desk >> waiting on the people that are in there. So again, just another example of when
you say, you know, where do we cut? You know, I mean, there's certainly some things when it comes to different items and stuff like that we could look at a little bit harder, but you know, when you talk about cuts, you're talking about, you know, running pretty lean
>> in all the offices. The clerk's office is the same way. >> And the truth of the matter is every department is important. It has an important role for the functioning of our county and every municipality within our county is important. um and that we
serve and provide services to them. >> Chief, thank you very much. Excellent. >> Hey, stay over, man. Is it my turn to speak chairman or do you guys want to discuss other things? Yeah. >> Uh on the other maps, the last two or three presentations you did in a row, it
always showed the city of Stark with the five mile radius around it for ISO. And these maps didn't show the city of Stark on for the ISO purposes. Five mile radius. >> Uh I don't believe my other ones did. >> Yeah, they didn't. Some of them did.
There was there was one in a couple shots of it. >> The one you gave like three times. >> Fire suspectment. >> Yeah, I can pull that up real quick. Give me one sec. >> Uh Manny, can you put that back on HDMI 2, please?
This is the map from the fire assessment workshops. Samson City is may may have been what you were looking at. >> I thought one of you showed Stark when we proposed put Stark in there. But aren't we considered with five miles of the city of Stark even though it's out in the county just because it's fire
department? We do get we do get partial credit for the city of Stark also because we have an automatic aid agreement with them. >> Okay. Okay. Yes, sir. And that's all. That's all. >> I was to totally caught s by surprise by this night because what we had been asked to do was take and figure out what
each department of the county within the county even the constitutional officers and what portion of that budget they comprised of what we could get back to a roll back rate on. I didn't even know this 10 25% thing was going on. I didn't
I was totally clueless on this one. >> Yes. >> And because like it was 257 was what you'd have to cut to get back to the roll back rate because it's like 30% of the budget and the sheriff like was like 225. >> Well, when I looked at it, clerk, the
millage rate to roll it back and I was talking to Dana about this earlier. Uh it would essentially be this. It would bring in the same as it brought in last year. So, you know, to go and look at what percentage each department
represents. >> So, >> and then we did 10% of that. >> Just use 257, not a million. >> Well, use numbers. If it was a million dollars and the clerk's budget was 10% of that, >> right? Then, you know, that's that's what your cut would be. You'd be at
hundred,000. >> Mine was at 25,000. >> Yeah. So, anyway, >> had the roll back rate. >> Yeah. And but I I think >> I couldn't survive the other one because I'm I'm the only person I'm the only person in this county, the only constitutional officer, the only board
department that has cut two positions out of my office because I sit around and said, "I just don't need them." And I got my $15 minimum mandatory minimum wage done early, cutting fat. >> Yeah. But >> and it it wasn't that hard to do
that for me. I mean, I'm not I'm not talking about fire department. I mean, there's got to be some somewhere. >> Yeah. >> You know, we had 14 employees at the library for I don't know how many years. And I'm like, how why do we have 14 employees? Because it's fully funded. It wasn't fully funded. They burned through reserves. So, they had to lay off four.
I believe it was four employees and put some part-time status where they didn't have to pay health insurance on them and such. But, just want to let you know, I've done my part. >> Yeah. But my my point is that the roll back would not get it to where it would be significant. No, >> it would take it down to 9.11
to actually make a significant cut in again whatever your budget represents, whatever percentage your budget represents. And as I was telling Dana, not knowing what our governor and our legislators going to do right now,
we'll leave that alone for now and see what that looks like after they make their decision on repealing property taxes. >> Y that's all I had to say in that. >> All righty. Thank you. >> Good night. >> Sheriff's report.
Okay. Thank you. County Manager's Report. >> Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have a couple of things. First of all, I want to uh personally thank Miss Diane Gins. Did she leave or is she still here? >> She left. So, we are going to honor her
with a retirement party um on August 28th at 12:00 p.m. in the clerk's office. So, we would like to uh put that out for and invite the board and whoever else would like to come. Once again, August 28th at noon in the clerk's office.
Do we need to bring anything? Rachel, >> if you would like to, you can just let me know Taylor know. >> Okay. The other thing I have for the public is that um we have put together Amanda has put together a list of frequently asked
questions regarding the uh fire assessment and they're on a table out here in the hall if anybody would like to take one with them when they leave. And that's all I have, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. County Attorney report. >> I've already talked more than I should
have today, so I think I'm good. >> Thanks. >> Commissioner's comment. >> I just want to thank the citizens for their participation and coming out and being concerned about our county. Thank you all.
>> Yes. Thank y'all for coming out. M >> Thank y'all for coming. Um, it was a tough meeting as you saw. Um, but I appreciate the the discussion and and the way it was ran and um, again, thank
y'all for being a part of this. It means a lot when you get up there and you give us your view and um, I know personally I I like to hear it whether it be good or bad. Um, so thank you for being here and thank you.
Thanks. Just thank everyone for coming here tonight. Thank you for putting up with us. I know we were running late to even get the meeting started, but thank you so much. And all the firefighters, thank you again for everything y'all do. The firefighters, paramedics, thank you. And uh nothing else coming before the
board meeting. >> Amen.