##VIDEO ID:2Q83PSi8p-0## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right it looks like we're ready we'll call the meeting to order um welcome to the Bradford County delegation meeting it's great to be with everybody today representative Brandon and I started in Columbia this morning then we were in Union uh but we saved uh saved the best for last so we're this is our last meeting great to see everybody um if you'll stand R Brandon will lead us in our invocation bow your heads please Lord we thank you for this day and our our safe travels uh thus far in the nice cool brisk uh cold cool weather that we had this morning we've had two successful meetings and uh we thank we are thankful for the constituents that are here and we pray that you'll give us an open mind as we listen to the proposals that will be presented to us today and then guide guard and protect us all as we return to our our homes this evening after this meeting we pray all these things in Jesus name amen amen Jo me in the pled United States of America and to the repu which it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all all right we'll uh just start with some some general announcements the 2025 legislative session starts on March 4th uh our sessions run 60 days so it'll be from March 4th to I believe that Friday is May 2nd uh but we actually return to Tallahassee next week our session our legislative session is preceded by uh what we call committee weeks where a lot of the same work gets done we move bills we have presentations thank you so much thank you sheriff for deliver the um and so we'll have uh the next two weeks will be committee weeks in Tallahassee the first three weeks of February are also committee weeks and then we start session uh March 4th and every every two years the leadership in the house and the Senate changes so so the previous two years we had uh speaker rener uh and president pasido in the Senate uh going forward the next two years we'll have speaker Perez and and R Brandon can give you just a little background on on speaker Perez the senate senate president will be uh Senator Al Britton uh Senator Al Britton comes from watula which is a rural County in South Florida uh and if you heard his opening remarks during his designation ceremony a few weeks ago what he pledged was a rural Renaissance is his words a rural Renaissance with a real focus on Rural Florida and what rural Florida Florida communities need in terms of Economic Development uh development in a in a manner that our rural counties want uh that preserves their way of life and making sure because rural counties just simply have different considerations a lot are fiscally constrained uh and so all of those issues are going to be front and center which is not always the case in Tallahassee uh it's it's not the easiest task to get the the vote of your colleagues when rural districts our delegations are often just two people whereas in South Florida a delegation could could look like this room right and so when you're collecting votes to be president uh to to come from a very rural area it's it's a uh it's a real honor to him and a and a uh speaks volumes to the kind of man that he is and and uh so it's going to be the next few years I believe are going to be uh very good years for for Rural Florida so that's exciting uh representative Brandon and I used to for the last two years both chair the same committee uh just by coincidence in the both in the house and in the Senate and we both chaired the civil and criminal justice Appropriations Committee uh that's no longer the case because each of the new presiding officers have given out new committee assignments uh I will now chair the regulated Industries committee and as the name suggests it uh the jurisdiction of that committee is the highly regulated Industries in the State of Florida so it's your your utilities uh gaming um Alcohol Tobacco condos HOAs all of those issues fall under regulated Industries also and and I sit on Seven other committees so education education approaches criminal justice rules fiscal policy all I mean kind of covers the gamut um on on those issues but um I think it's going to be a very very productive session I'm here with my three uh three staff members over there is Katie Heffley uh she's based in Tallahassee and Tanya Shay is based in Gainesville Mary Lee is here she's in clay based with me she also is the one who handles the Appropriations in the office so she will be uh a very popular uh staff today and um and she's who you want to see for for all those she and many in this room probably have already worked with her a good deal on working on those Appropriations forms and and um she kind of helps keep those organized shepher them and and uh make sure that um we're on top of those on our end so I think I covered it Brett Brandon well thank you Senator um we we seem to be rushed getting here we we may not have always built enough time in to get from Lake City to Lake Butler to start so that's why we're running late if you you see us coming in here whatever time we got in here but um the Senator's correct and that uh I think it bodess well for our rural counties that our Senate President is is from watula if nobody's familiar with watula it's almost the same size as Stark and mclin so uh I think that'll be good for all of us our new incoming speaker is Daniel Perez from Miami who is a a good friend of mine I'm honored and humbled that he saw fit to uh ask me to join our our house leadership team which is composed of nine members out of the 120 members in the house and I'm also proud that three of those m are for northeast Florida uh rip Sam Garrison from Klay County and then uh representative Wyman Dugen from Jacksonville and and myself so Northeast Florida will be well represented on the uh on the house uh on the house side as far as leadership goes this year uh the speaker has asked me to chair Judiciary as the senator mentioned we had both chaired uh justice Appropriations the last couple years and the year before that I cheered a criminal justice policy so uh this is the main overarching uh U committee as it relates to the court system and and law enforcement and Corrections uh over on the house side in Florida uh the first uh I don't know if it's a good thing or bad thing but the first non- lawyer to chair that committee about a decade and a half in the house uh Jason's over there my Aid uh and I'll go ahead and introduce him he's an attorney and of course the Senator's attorney and here I sit in the middle so we'll uh we'll uh we'll work our way through uh Judiciary this year uh Jason is our Point person uh we're down one staff person right now but Jason will be our Point person for Appropriations and the date is what date the deadline so our appropriation drop dead deadline in our office is Wednesday I want to say it wrong it's Wednesday February 12th at 500m Wednesday February the 12th 5m and of course my uh my district Aid Jason's my legislative Aid my district Aid is Al Lisa and she's in our Lake City office and uh remember on those Appropriations you have to have them in on both the Senate side and the house side so uh both our Senate and House staffs are available to help you with those forms if if need be uh once again back to committees I also will continue to serve on the Appropriations Committee for the house which we have renamed now the budget committee over on the house side um I'll also serve on the Commerce Committee and then we've got a new committee called security and and threat assessment and it's a little unique uh with some of the things that been happening y'all saw the the events that that happened in New Orleans the other night so we're going to have a uh a security and threat assessment committee that will meet and uh not be open to the public uh so that's a little different we I've never served on a committee or since I have my time in the six years in the legislature we've never had a committee like that um I see the judge and the sheriff back there I have to pass a background check to be on that committee so um we'll see if I we see if I can get past that to serve on that but uh that's where we are we're looking forward to it a busy year and it will be here uh before you know and with that let's get to the agenda well this is uh these delegation meetings are sort of the start of the conversation for the upcoming session now we kind of we we have communication and talk with our municipalities and our counties all year long but but this really kicks off kind of our discussions about what we want to accomplish what uh we care about in our communities going through session um and so typically in a session you can have 2 3,000 bills filed uh only a couple hundred are going to pass so uh as we go forward over the next few months when you see an article about a bill that just sounds outrageous uh it may be call the office and we can kind of give you a sense of where that is in the process is that bill moving um if there's an issue that comes up that you care about please call please do not tell me after session I didn't want to bother you I really worried I didn't like this bill but I didn't want to bother you that is literally why we're here that is our job please call us and tell us what you care about tell us what matters to the community if you pass this bill we're going to it's going to have this effect that may not be immediately obvious to you if you're not in my industry please share you are never a bother um also take advantage of the House and Senate websites they are very user friendly uh if there is a particular statute if there is an issue that you care about if if there's a bill moving that you care about you can tag the bill it'll email you every time something happens on that bill it passed another committee it did this they're they're very if there's a key word hey any bill that's filed with this word in it or this phrase or this statute number it'll notify you it'll email you uh and let you know that hey something you know there's somebody that's trying to affect this one area and so it is very user friendly um and it's a good resource for uh you know nerds like us and uh so but staff is also a great um resource too just call the office if you you know you don't want to go through the website call the office we're happy to look it up provide you the bill analysis that staff prepared and uh and and kind of just make sure that you're informed and you you feel like you're up to date on on what's Happening so with that we'll get started with our agenda and our County and uh State officials uh first up is our Clerk of the Court is our clerk here welcome good afternoon glad to have you here representative Brandon and you here Senator Bradley I'm here today to ask on behalf of the courthouse and the clerk's office we have uh some serious uh security issues here uh such that somebody can just walk in my office the my most of my office is based on what used to be the Vault and there's these little cubicles back there and and such but what I asked for in this preparation half of it is for us to be able to secure that uh where we can secure our seizes screens where they're not visible to the public you know that information they can't see it but they can walk around the sides and see it um there's other things such as um large sums of money behind their desk and such right now somebody just walk in there just walk behind anywhere they want to go and people come in there Get Loud they're mad when they ow thousands of dollars in fines but anyway getting to that um we also have some Ada issues serious Ada issues we need to fix and this is just half the project so now I'll call Judge Davis up for the second half all right all right does J does Judge Davis come with the price tag he does okay I wouldn't dare kill his thund like that well well done have the judge get anywhere well played well played yeah so thank you all so much for being here thank you so much for your support over the last several years especially last two years in the Committees you both chaired it just had immeasurable impacts on the court system as you both know so um as you both also know I'm kind of living on what I can ask for without Supreme Court blessing um what I can tell you is the courtrooms upstairs are largely unchanged from 1968 when the courthouse was built there's been some modifications made in the early 90s that did a few things but that creates also some Ada issues it creates some really bad security issues for our deputies for our court staff who are ushering juries and folks in custody back and forth and so we're looking out we're not trying to obviously build a Taj Mahal we're we're a small C we understand that but we stay busy for a small County there's always things going on I would invite you both to come to a court event come to a misun court event come see judge Co on the felony Court event or a jury trial and just see kind of what we're talking about um so it is something that is needed and I'll turn it back over to our clerk now unless there's any questions y'all come come visit us one day C Court like I said and he can give you that price tag and I'll sit down goodby I notic he got out of here before the price T price tag is $2.7 million it's totally 2.7 it's totally impossible for us to do but you know half the Project's his upstairs or the judges half's mine downstairs but it it would solve some serious security issues thank you yep thank you all right next up is our property appraiser good evening good evening welcome I don't have anything to ask other than to say thank you'all for being accessible not only to our County but to our uh counties and Association you know most of our ask and concerned end up being later on when the bills get moving but um all I can tell you is y'all are very accessible and helpful to us and our association for what we need but say I appreciate youall very much thank you very good thank thank you all right we welcome our sheriff sheriff Smith I just recently celebrated my 38th year law enforcement here in Bradford County and I want to say thank you the last few years we've never gotten as much accomplished as we have with you two and Tallahassee fighting for us not only physically constrained counties uh that you know Chuck and I go way back we always laugh and joke we went the academy together so we've been around a little while in doing that but being in the position I'm in to Serve and Protect my community every time I've picked up that phone and call y'all have answered uh last year you helped us with our the Statewide communication radios which that us and the fire department I think it caught Chuck said us fire department most counties don't do that here we're small enough we're we're big enough you know um the Seria but we're still small enough to care we work together and this year I think you'll see Harris Communications coming back for the rest of that ass to to do outfit the fire trucks and cars so that'll be there but that being said I want to thank you thank you for being a part of the Monumental step in Florida that all 67 County Sheriffs are now elected that was I was down there for watching M Rosie i' butcher her last name but a strong conservative value that the citizens of Miami elected a u a woman of color Hispanic but she is phenomenal I've known her for a couple of years she's going to serve South Florida well I can't even fathom the monument but that couldn't have been possible without you representing Us in tallah has make sure that bill moved through to have that happen and thank you for all you do for Bradford County thank you thank you well the uh you said you can't pronounce her name Sheriff the speaker can't say tells me all the time I can't understand what you say and I look back I I can't understand what you say so we just we just kind of do sign language back and forth there they look at me you know you ride by places we speak English I stop there well we got a good speaker and I'm sure she'll make a good share well thank you Sheriff because the good work that our Sheriff's do and that you do here in in Bradford County is the reason why people want to come to Florida because they know they can have send their kids to school they know they can have safe businesses and uh Florida does it right our sheriffs do it right uh it's not by accidents because because of the hard work and the dedication you put in to your team uh every day so thank you we are blessed in BR County yep right there our supervisor of elections I missed no but our tax collector pH the tax collector is not here due to Phils okay all right and is chair rck is is are you speaking on behalf of the commission and any commissioner is here is welcome to speak I'm just just starting us off with our chair like we've got most of our like we've got most of the commission here all right good afternoon uh I thank you Senator Bradley and representative Brennan for uh taking the time to come here today and to listen to our request uh we cannot thank you enough for all the help you've given us given Bradford County in the past and today as you look at the requests uh from the county and the support letters um it's basically it's all Bradford County four of these requests have already been started and rather than receiving funding to start another project uh we would like to finish um what we have if possible uh starting with the Brooker fire station when completed um would greatly support the Brooker rural area and help save more lives for all Bradford County and surrounding areas the next is teaming up with Stark to improve the infrastructure um stimulating econ economic growth jobs homes uh the county is very interested in completing this project uh as we have committed 4 million and arper funding to that project the Keystone airport was previously awarded 2.3 million from Deo job Grant growth for new Access Road uh the first phase was completed primarily County resources in June of 2023 and uh on time and on budget finishing this project would be a would be vital to the economic development and growth also the other one uh the concerned citizens is another project that would be nice to get some help with uh Bradford County has previously appropriated 500,000 of oper money funding to help with the roof and some interior on the gymnasium that is also completed this is a great group of people uh that all they want to do is help the community and especially children it's just a a great group of people down there all of these requests are important to Bradford County and we know you will do your part or your best to help us we greatly appreciate it I can't say that enough we greatly appreciate it and thank you again for your time and for listening to the requests and may God bless and have a great day thank you commissioner thank you any questions we're good anybody else any other commissioner wish to uh wish to speak yes um commissioner SP we changed chairs and commissioner re became the chair this year okay but I just wanted to express my appreciation to you um Senator Bradley and to representative Brandon for your good leadership and all that BR County benefited from through your leadership for this past year and thank you for that and I thank our chair um commissioner reic for emphasizing important that we' be able to finish the project and uh particularly um my concern for my district is the RJ concerned citizens project that gym not only serve that Northeast region but the entire braffet County and surrounding counties um it provides um educational opportunities there's a Head Start program there um the young people even have a community garden um it provides during the summer tutorial programs where the children can learn about science and math and they have a a reading lab so it's important it provides a community service a hub where people Inc the elderly people who are needing um resource information it's provided there on a regular basis so to be able to complete that is going to have a great impact on the economic development for our community so and I know that it's been something that You' wanted to have done for a long time but I thank you yeah well two two quick points on that one um you have been passionate about that project for so many years um and I always appreciate when someone cares about and loves their community so much and they just don't get up and we got there we got partway there but we it's it's not finished um I will say that this year's budget when we get we we had in our last committee week we got a presentation from Amy Baker who's the kind of the state Economist does the long range planning um and so over the last several years we've been the state has really been flush with a lot of cash to the levels that the state isn't used to and most of that was federal dollars and Co dollars flowing through okay that money is is over um and so over the next year we look pretty good and then if you look about two years out two three years out it's going to start to take a dip and so what I think you're going to see this year in the legislature uh is is both Chambers and the governor's office really trying to make sure that where our dollars are going so starting new programs is going to be new recurring programs is going to probably be difficult I think that uh we are going to be looking at the programs that we already have are they delivering what are the measurables um and brand new multi-year projects may not be uh the the highest on the list of of of things but but finishing projects that are already in the works um I I think will be more will be uh better received uh by leadership of the of the by our Appropriations chairs and our Senate President um and so that bodess well for for these projects that we've got which is that you know there is county has skin in the game they're working with them they've already started um and so I like to hear this list rather than a brand new building somewhere that's another multi-year project because I'm not sure I think those projects are going to be uh would be very difficult over the next couple years I think the budget's going to be tighter than it's been just we're just setting setting expectations I think it's going to be a different budget than we've seen uh you know in the last several years but but that doesn't mean that there's not going to be projects we're going to fight for all these projects um but just sort of letting everybody know but thank you for your passion for this project we're going to continue to work on all these and um appreciate you thank you so much thank you both commissioner dirty oh sorry nope well I just want to say thank you for being here today and um thank you so much for everything that you did for us last year um we received half of the funding for the Bricker um fire station and um I can't tell you what that meant to not only me but the citizens in Brooker um this past year unfortunate we had a tragedy That Shook us to the core we had a fouryear little little boy that that drowned and I will tell you that our firefighters and our rescue they did everything they could do to get there and they they uh got there in 18 minutes which is UN heard of getting to Bricker but I'm sure to the family 18 minutes was a lifetime and um they they picked him up and got him got him to gamesfield but bless his heart he didn't make it but I want to ask for the the remaining balance um so that we can complete this and provide the um the safety to the staff or to the citizens out there and again just I know it's a tough year and I know that you have a lot to look at but I just just would greatly appreciate it if you when you are doing it just to remember Brooker because we really need that out there and thank you again thank you good afternoon thank you both again for your service Senator Bradley representative Brandon uh I know you guys have already been to some of the delegation meetings already so you're probably aware of the 2025 uh small County Coalition priorities as well as the Florida Association of counties priorities if not I can certainly email those to staff um as the cting CH uh Vice chair of the small County Coalition we appreciate your support and everything that y'all have done uh you know moving things along uh you know in those priorities also uh as the chairman of the health safety and Justice committee for the Florida Association of counties uh same thing as far as the 2025 priorities through fact and uh so we appreciate your support there um things I just want to mention as far as those priorities um one is that uh that you um hopefully both continue to support the voters uh when it comes to uh choosing the County Commissioners and not something that you know gets passed down through the state uh you know we believe in letting the voters decide who they want as their County Commissioners and the other is just uh the continued funding for you know all of our roadway programs scrap scop and I know that you know there's money's tight and uh you know even those particular areas that you know we continue to rely on you know when it comes to our roadway projects so again thank you both for your service not only to our County the other counties you represent and to the State of Florida thank you both thank you anybody else got that all right uh next our County Manager Scott corn good afternoon Senator representative excuse me first of all thank you so much for your service you guys have been faithful to us and have done so much for us over the last few years and we are very much appreciative of it so having said that um I would like to say to your point Senator Bradley that you made earlier uh there's only one ask uh only one request that we have that would be for the start of a new project and that is the renovations and upgrades to the courthouse that that uh the judge and the clerk uh articulated earlier so the rest of the ask are letters of support for projects that are already underway and have been funded to some degree either through Appropriations or arpa funding or um other means so we keep that in mind and you'll hear individually from uh the town of Brooker and the City of Stark and the Keystone Heights airport and the RJ Center later on so I'm not going to get into the weeds we'll let them speak for themselves but the uh the the project at the airport is very very important in terms of Economic Development uh we built that road with the $2.3 million Deo Grant and now we need the rest of the funding to connect the two roads the two access roads and that'll open up that Economic Development Corridor uh so that we can grow at the airport and also the road work out on 100 that needs to be done in in the way of uh turn lanes and deceleration lines and then you heard commissioner Andrews talk about the fire station in Brooker um we need the the rest of that funding so that we can get that built and then of course the city of Stark is going to ask for additional money to complete the extension of the water and wastewater project out to the bypass which is another initiative driven by Economic Development which I know is a priority for for the state so we're looking forward to that and then the RJ Center um we've already committed funds to that work has been completed but we need a little bit more to to get us to the finish line so once again thank you very much for your service thank you for all you've done in the past and all that you can do in the future thank you thank you you our superintendent superintendent Harley welcome good afternoon thank you both for being here um first off I just want to say how much I appreciate you both but but not just you guys your staff is amazing um anything that we've ever had to deal with and one of the first things things I'm going to talk about your staff was fantastic um helping us with the letters of support for the truck driving Grant um to to relocate our truck driving school and to give you a little update on that project um we actually had a meeting today um to update the timeline and it looks like we're right at the finish line of securing that Grant great so um I appreciate you and your staff so much for their help with all of that um the district has no ask for Appropriations this year um partly because we're saving it for a big ass next year oh um which which is uh the last item I just want to put on your radar um we we had a meeting with the facilities people from doe at the beginning of December they came and walked our campuses our Technical College our middle school and high school and we will be um filling out to apply for special facilities funding for a combination of all three schools on one campus um in this District we have bust students from our high school to our Tech College for 50 years which you can imagine the cost in that but also the loss of instructional time um all three of those facilities were built in the 70s some parts of the high school were built in the 50s and so you can also Imagine which they were in shock of some of the safety concerns um as as far as school safety nowadays and what you want to see which is long open hallways where you can see what's coming and going and all of the things and in none of those facilities do we have that so there are some major issues which we can get into the details we're a year away from that to ask for funding but um I definitely will be coming to see both of you and spend some time to talk about that project but uh that's on the horizon so I just wanted to put it on your radar good and engage engage your colleagues because Union County they they are ranked first now on a special facility for this year Baker was ranked ranked first last year and and they relied on each other preparing those and they will be a great resource for you um and the county as as you work on your presentation right and one one really good thing right now that we were told last week was the deadline is February 1st we're the only District that's applying so unless someone else shows up it should be right we should be in good shape good so thank you excellent right anybody from the school board here to speak that's good because we had three this year so Union was first and I think Baker was actually second in this year in U but they were First Legacy Legacy two years ago about the same right after the your other school um but we were it's always sticker shock you know our elementary was 25 me and the begin with start out and wound up at 40 and I forgot what yours yours increased a little too yeah yeah with the new uh the Middle School in Baker is only 105 m if you can imagine that well the the Union uh prek to five came in at 88 million so Bradford you're just doing great because I haven't heard anything close to 88 million today so that's good you guys get a gold star but the two North Florida schools were ranked one and two and then the Arcadia doodo County was third this year so uh uh good teams doing good projects good presentation uh judge T anybody else from the court J did you say anything else okay so we good all right Michael you just along for the ride rep com also com okay very good I put judge Bishop on notice a few minutes ago that uh uh I might had a little bit to do with it but judge Manny is taking my place in Justice appropriation so I told him to watch out that uh he said he was going to impeach some judges and I didn't know whose name was at the top of the [Laughter] Le all right anybody from our public defender office I don't see Miss Scott no anybody from State Court Administration no all right we'll move on to our municipalities our city of Stark mayor reading or all right we got mayor reading surprised me welcome thank you but he did ask that I present for the city a start perfect and I want to start out by saying uh what's already been said I we have a small legislative delegation but we have a great legislative delegation y'all have really done a tremendous job these last three or four years uh in uh bringing home projects back to our little town and our rural community uh uh way disproportionate to to the numbers we have in in the legislature and we do appreciate that the other thing that I wanted to say before I get into it is you got great staff both of you uh they are so easy to work with and they're so knowledgeable I mean they keep us when we'll miss a deadline or something we'll get a call from uh one of them and say hey hey we don't have your paperwork on X right they look out for us and I just want y'all to know that we we appreciate them and they're very easy to work with um and that's a big deal uh actually we only have two things that we are uh bringing to you and they're both things that we've already had in the hopper uh 22 three years ago it's hard to believe it's been that long we came to you with a sticker shock project of uh $15 million for the buildout of Highway 16 and of course we all agreed that we're going to have to eat that like you eat an elephant by the time and y'all have done that y'all have funded us each stage that we've come along and that's where we're at now we're getting ready to do the construction and our request and we'll give you the details on the on the bypass buildout infrastructure will be $2 million this year that will get us to the next stage we're not asking for money until we get to the place where we need it but it's a part of that buildout and the project that uh again y'all said everybody needs skin of the game our County Commissioners have put a Herculean 4 million in that project uh the city's a little bit more than that but that's because we have the infrastructure inside the town but we also have had private developers that have uh donated property and is is helping fund some of the water project that that goes with that so it's really a model of everybody coming together to to build out something that probably neither one entity could have done along and nobody has helped any more than the State of Florida and that's y'all in the legislature but also the Governor and his agencies uh the the D and Department of Commerce they have been great uh they are not bureaucrats my friend they talk to you they work with you and you can share with them if you ever talk to them how much we appreciate them and we do work closely with them and that's been a a lot of the success that we've had at building our infrastructure out it was in in pretty bad shape three or four years ago and it's still still having to be built out but but as one of our County Commissioners said if you if it's not in the ground they a't going to come around and we're trying to get it in the ground for economic development and we've been uh real successful so far and we appreciate your continuous support there the other thing that is equal to that uh we weren't going to bring but one but there's another that we just have to to say is equal to that and our commission voted unanimously to seriously support it but that's the concern citizens project at RJ uh it is such an asset to our community it it does so much more than any one thing that's where our health Hub is uh they have a day school there that the Episcopal group helps run it's got all kind of things going on that uh a little town like ours would normally not have access to to service The Human Side of our community and we would ask we did do a letter but I also wanted to mention that that is equal to our economic buildout from from our standpoint uh it's abs absolutely On a par with that so we would ask you to give that consideration but again thank you we appreciate it all you've done thank you and thank you for the good uh none of this happens by accident I mean Brandon and I work very hard we have tremendous staff uh and the counties are so professional I mean you know I talked to colleagues who just have the most difficult time getting answers getting information from their counties and their cities and everybody when you Row in the same dire Direction and everybody's not infighting and agrees on what projects to to promote uh it really helps us move the ball and be successful so it is a it is a team effort and uh anything we've gotten is a result of everybody in this room uh advocating and pushing and and working together so we're we're not fighting each other along the way um so good stuff uh next is city of Ludi anybody from City from lah how about Hampton anybody from Hampton no how about Brooker welcome good afternoon my name is Jean Melvin I'm I'm the mayor of the town of Brooker uh I've served on the commission some 45 years I'm about as old as Gordon Smith now but but as everyone has said there we appreciate the Bradford delegation for what you stand for what you've done in the past and what youve looking forward doing in the future uh the things been mentioned here today is is the Brooker volunteer or Brooker fire fire department uh I can say I've served 45 years I've seen seen good I've seen bad uh but I've seen many many houses burnt slapped to the ground it's not Bradford County's fault it's just the fact that we're 20 something miles away from getting a fire engine out there to put something out but uh we appreciate uh what you stood up for last year appropriating X number of dollars for the town of Brooker for the fire department right now Ben Carter is working on a new fire engine it's been ordered uh but we going to need the they going need the Building completed and housing for fire firemen out there but uh once again we appreciate all the work that y'all done last year and hope and pray that y'all keep us uh posted and stand behind us this coming year thank you very much very good thank you did I miss any official or anybody from a municipality that wanted to share on behalf of your government no all right we'll go into uh appearance cards public we'll start with Miss Karen Stucky feel like the Strang in room I in in my last two years as a civil and criminal justice approachs I've had the opportunity to meet uh Miss ducky who is one of the hardest working Advocates on criminal justice issues uh that will come across in the State of Florida um just dogged determination and we'll we'll call and text and we work together on a lot of issues and and you are appreciated by a lot of families whose loved ones are incarcerated uh or going through the criminal justice system and you you've made a difference so thank you uh for what you do and and you're recognized okay and um thank you representative Brandon for your work to um can I first ask ask you when are the Bills do uh our bill draft deadline um what we have several deadlines as far as bills go you have a a deadline to get it into Drafting and then there's a different deadline for when they actually have to be filed and I believe our bill to get our deadline to get it into drafting is the end of the month January 24th and then our bill filing deadline is usually closer to session first day of session yeah Friday Friday February 28th is Bill filing January 24th Bill drafting thank you and I do want to talk to you about something okay I know you do Karen I'm always here for something but I am here today to talk about my husband so good afternoon and I'm here to also save you money uh my name is Karen Stucky and I was born in Florida and I've been a voter since I was 18 and my husband Steven is a hero he risked his life to save the life of a police officer while he was incarcerated at tamoka Correctional he is serving an unjust 30-year sentence for shoplifting six DVDs a nonviolent offense yet he received the designation violent career criminal which is a cruel and inaccurate label Senator John Martin a respected former State Attorney who also served with Senator Bradley uh reviewed sav's case and publicly stated on Twitter back in June according to the court of appeals the judge incorrectly instructed the jury which resulted in the finding of robbery he further acknowledged had the judge correctly instructed the jury I'm confident the jury would have found him guilty of those two nonviolent offenses I personally think he has served his time for the Sans cff fth and he also stated he did not commit robbery or a violent Act and he said he was sorry the system failed in this case 20 years ago before his arrest Steven suffered from severe health issues including seizures and cancer incarceration has aged him prematurely at 61 he's the equivalent of an 82y old man facing declining Health with limited health care the state has wasted over half a million dollars on Steven's incarceration this pred imprisonment has had a devastating impact on us too Financial R I've spent tens of thousands of dollars on legal pH travel and expenses just in the last five years stepen lost income and Social Security contributions which amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars and then there's the human cost the emotional and physical toll on Stephen and our family is immeasurable there is nothing more valuable than your health and his care has been a constant battle there is no Avenue for compassionate release in Steven's case Florida current system offers no path it lacks meaningful mechanisms for reviewing and correcting unjust sentences there's no consideration for the individual no effective resentencing process and no parole and this just isn't just about Steven it's about the countless individuals trapped in a system that fails to recognize their humanity and correct its own errors I urge you to support compassionate release for Steven and others increase oversight of prison conditions in the treatment of incarcerated individuals and to visit at least two prisons a year one private and one do five more years is unbearable for us please send my husband home and thank you for all your prison visits thank you right next is Miss strong vunda good afternoon good evening yep good you're recognized I have a uh short list this year um it is very short I'm a citizen of uh ly and um I'm not on the board or anything but we as citizens of lahi just want the minimum we would like to have a uh caution line at the intersection of County Road 200b and Lake Street on County Road 225 a lot of traffic has started to come on 225 which is which leads from Highway 301 to Camp Landing it leads to 16 which leads to Camp Landing there used to be a caution light at that intersection as a matter of fact as a toddler I was hit at that particular intersection in the car with my mother and do placed a caution light there for some reason that caution light was removed and the citizens would like for that caution light to go back do doesn't know why it was removed the city of lah doesn't know why it was removed the county doesn't know why it was removed nobody seems to know why when was it removed it was removed at some point last year at some point last year and you can't get an answer from do why why it was removed and the City of lah doesn't know and the county doesn't know why it was removed nobody wants to acknowledge why that caution light was removed all right we we will find out why that caution light was removed yes and and see if we can uh get it put back is it the desire of L in the county to have that caution light go back the way it's been the citizens would really like for that caution light to go back there okay we we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll follow up on that thank you we would also like a speed study and maintenance I.E Paving on 225 that leads out from 301 to 16 it also 225 from 301 to 16 on 225 encompasses Bradford County to Clay County but there's so much traffic and the speed it starts at 3:1 30 miles an hour it goes to 45 to 55 by the time it gets to Clay County so it's between two counties Bradford and Clay County we need a speed study um it's it's ridiculous but someone needs to do something because of the residents and a speed study would help a lot in maintenance the trucks and everything we we need do to come in and we can't get the help that we need okay number three sidewalk repairs within the city limits they belong to do the sidewalk that's there they need to be redone I've called Dot and nobody wants to acknowledge that the side walks belong to do until someone is hurt and we've had someone that's hurt on the sidewalks and that's it all right note yourself we will call do all right we've got a few other appearance forms here we've got Alicia McMillan regarding the concern citizen project good nameing and I have thank you and we would like to thank you also for what you have done for braa County as a whole in the last two years and we want to Echo what the city and the county has stated for concern citizens we are a nonprofit organization and um we we part of that Village not only to help the young but the the youth and the elderly and we need help and I was glad to hear you say earlier in your introduction about the young man that's down in the rural country uh rural County that he is going to really be pushing for rule so we we hope and pray that this time you all can consider us and we can complete this and continue our efforts and our mission on helping Brea County as a whole thank you thank you okay I'm Glenda ruis the vice president of concerned citizens want to say we thank you especially to all of the entities that have spoken up for us who said some very nice things about our organization we are there for everyone but we put in is on our little children and our seniors um we are part of an organization and I know Alicia doesn't mind she and I are the youngest ones in the organization yes so we're not only asking we're recruiting members as well to be a part of this we are thank you for the gym and the process that the gym is going through we know that it's been held up we've been holding our breath and stop holding our breath breath but we know that it's going to come to a point where it's going to be all together and then everything is going to work like it's supposed to that gym was built in 1961 we were three years old when that bill was that building was actually built so we have seen it go into various stages and we thank everyone our County Commissioners our City commissioners our the chief uh Financial officers the Mayors everyone who the sheriff thank you for all of your lending of hands and supports when we have needed them when we've had to call your office representative they've also given us we need something else and we've got that information to them so we thank them for thank you all for all that you're doing for us to make sure that this come to the point where it's supposed to be thankk you thank you very much and the last appearance for I have so if anybody is here wishing to speak who hasn't filled one out and wishes to speak uh there's still time but the last form I have is for is uh Mr Jim eford uh with regard to the airport thank you so my name is Jim eer a new member of the Keystone height Airport Authority board uh on behalf of the board uh our chairman David Kirkland out there we'd like to express our appreciation for all the support that the the State of Florida has provided and continues to provide to the only public use airport in Bradford and Clay counties grants through the fdot aviation and space uh ports continue to be very beneficial to maintaining our Aviation Services the General Corporate and Military Aviation and aircraft utilizing the Keystone Heights Airport in a continued effort to promote job growth and Commercial development at the airport a new Access Road funded by the Deo has recently been completed opening up the west side of the airport paralleling State Road 100 for development if you look on the second page of the handout that I gave you to fully develop this area a connecting Road between the existing Airport Road and the new access road is um is essential fortunately as you mentioned earlier the importance of finishing projects that we've begun the design work for the connecting road is complete we simply need funding to construct this section and connect the new access road to State Road 100 the north Florida TPO performed a transportation evaluation to assess the existing Airport Road and the traffic impact analysis indicates intersection improvements at State Route 100 and Airport Road are warranted these improvements consist of widening State Road 100 to accommodate the addition of East and Westbound deceleration and turn Lanes at both entrances Bradford County Road Department recently performed a vehicle count on Airport Road and during a 33-day period uh counted 1623 Vehicles utilizing Airport Road in 2023 the estimated cost to construct the connecting Road and intersection improvements was valued at $3.5 million given inflationary increases the estimate is presently $4.6 million completion of this work will open up approximately 100 acres for commercial and light industrial economic opportunities within Bradford County and reedi community and improve Traffic Safety along State Route 100 thanks again for your time I'm happy to answer any questions you might have good all right we have all the information we'll reach out if we have any questions going forward that's thank you thank you for your presentation all right I didn't miss anybody going once going twice okay we have one uh one last order of business here and that is the election of the chair and vice chair for the delegation next year and uh I would uh nominate R Brandon to be chair next year there's nobody to my right I let sit it and I nominate you to serve as my uh Vice Jer very good um all right closing uh closing remarks before we adjourn um really just thank you thanks for everybody for for coming out and engaging and participating and sharing what you care about and um we take all that back staff is over over uh taking notes we've we've been in communication nothing is a surprise that was presented today it's all things that that we knew but it is uh nice to be able to see faces and have an opportunity to ask questions and um get the forms in as soon as possible uh on all those projects uh MD and Jason they will reach out if if they need more information or if staff requests more information we want the forms to be really buttoned up with all the with everything that's required on there so that um can put them in the best posture uh to kind of go through the process so without anything else safe travels home and uh you know we appreciate you thank you we're adjourned