##VIDEO ID:owMTC4CGCZc## 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 42 um uh BR Board of County Commissioners uh Bradford County Florida December 19th 2024 uh this time I'll call a meeting to order and I'll ask commissioner Spooner to lead us in a prayer and a flag Sol ladies and gentlemen as we begin to pray I want to acknowledge um several people today that have passed um one is our former County Commissioner John Wayne hery who served 46 years I believe in the National gu 39 years in the uh National Guards and he was eight years service to our County Commission um also his son J also works with our fire department here so we want to remember he and his family and also Mr Thomas Harding who is The Stepfather of our commissioner Andrews who is not here today um and also um one of our longtime Community servants um he was in the food business Mr Leroy Jackson so let's keep those families in our thoughts and prayers Heavenly Father we thank you for your loving kindness your tender Mercy Heavenly Father we know that this is a time of season of love and kindness toward one another we thank you dear Lord for sending your son uh to be born during this time that we might have eternal life Heavenly Father we ask that you comfort all of the families that have have lost loved ones those who are suffered those who are ill Heavenly Father we ask that you place your protective arms around our children in school and protect them from violence dear Lord let us remember dear Lord that we should show love towards one another and not violence Heavenly Father help us to share the love throughout the course of the year and not just one day we ask that you bless the meeting that we have tonight that we do those things that are pleasing in your sight that we help our community and we pray for each and everyone that is here thear Lord that you bless them in Jesus name we pray amen amen I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right as we get this meeting starting um commissioner Andrews is is not going to be able to be with us tonight um so we'll move on to item number two uh I'll call up Chief Carter good evening Commissioners even uh I would ask paramedic Bethany hunting if she'd join me up here please it's my honor to stand before you tonight to recognize and celebrate a truly remarkable individual individual within the ranks of Bradford County fire rescue her medic Bethany Hunsinger Bethany has dedicated 20 years of service to this department and to the citizens of Bradford County her career epitomizes the core values of our department and holds firm to our department holds firm to honor dedication preparedness and a steadfast commitment to Excellence throughout her tenure Bethany has served in multiple roles advancing through the ranks and demonstrating exceptional leadership including her time as Captain her ability to mentor and Inspire others has left an indelible mark on our department in 2014 Bethany was honored as paramedic of the year a reflection of her outstanding performance unwavering dedication and the respect she has earned from her peers Bethany's contributions extend far beyond the calls she responds to she is the chair of our health and wellness committee tirelessly working to improve the physical and mental well-being of our team members recognizing the challenges challenges of this profession Bethany has been passionate a passionate advocate for mental health serving as an active member member of our peer support team she has taken it upon herself to ensure that less tenured employees are equipped with the the tools and resources needed to maintain their mental resilience and build long successful careers in fire rescue just as she has done her compassion experience and dedication have made her a role model within Bradford County fire rescue she has touched count countless lives both within our organization and in the community we serve tonight we celebrate paramedic Bethany hun singer's remarkable achievements her Legacy of service and her enduring her enduring impact on the future of our department I thank her for her un wavering commitment to Bradford County Fire Rescue and the citizen she serves so faithfully and we have a plaque for you here it just says for your 20 years of dedicated service to the citizens of Bradford County your unwavering commitment professionalism and compassion have been an inspiration to all those who serve alongside you your contributions Have Been instrumental in upholding the mission and core values of braford County Fire Rescue with heartfelt gratitude we honor your exceptional career and thank you for two decades of dedicated service thank you that makes me feel old gra a quick photo you want uh let's actually go up here real quick no we'll go go back on conratulations anything come on she speaks for just a second first off I would just like like to thank you for the privilege and honor to serve this community I grew up next door over in Clay County Keystone so this small town is very near and dear to my heart and there I've invited a few people today and I just want to recognize that Mr Tony Brown former city manager of Keystone mayor sorry um so when I first encountered him I was four or five years old and he would bring the ambulance by my house and turn the lights on and undoubtedly plant a the very first seed of this career in this little girl's heart um obviously my mom and her good friends that prayed for me tirelessly from the time I was a little wild child because it took a village to the Wild Adult that I am and your prayers have definitely kept me safe on numerous times um my friend Michael who has been there for me and some of my hardest times I appreciate your strong soer to to lean on and then of course I would also like to talk about my chief Mr Carter and my division Chief Mr Rogers and former director Ellen Parish if it was not for those three men I would not have hit the 20 year mark that is for sure and of course I know Dr Giannis is now up in heaven looking over me keeping me safe and that just warms my heart I am very honored to continue in his footsteps and I hope to continue to honor the Legacy that he left thank you thank you we thank you so much so you started looking at the ambulances at 5 years old and then you started riding on them at [Laughter] 10 well thank you so much thank you all right moving on to item number four the public hearing I'll ask for our County attorney to read the uh resolution yes so just so we're clear it's item number three but it's um I don't know if we have a resolution number for 2024 Dash it'll be assigned later a resolution of the board of accounting commissioners of Bradford County Florida pursuant to the authority in sections 125.0 subsection H and 17711 Florida Statutes approving the vacating of lots 23 24 25 26 27 and 28 of the CJ week subdivision in the town of Hampton Southwest 1/4 of the southeast 1/4 of section 19 Township 7 South Range 22 East providing for recording and providing for an immediate effective date okay board this is one we talked about before um that Mr Andrews isn't here he is and sir we just need to open a public hearing okay is there any uh public comments ments on item number three okay and if there's none in your in your packet you can also see where there are these eight lots that are looking to be combined um in order to place a dwelling on it right and and they needed this uh for the uh Health Department to helps out for that so um pette I know you all have read it um do we have a motion I'll make a motion to vacate Lots 23 through 28 CJ week subdivision in the town of Hampton okay we have a motion by commissioner Adry second by commissioner Spooner any other questions all in favor by sign of i i i i motion carries 40 okay next we'll move on to item four the uh public hearing for the fire fire assessment um intent resolution and um um Mr Commando if you would Mr Mr Shar a resolution of the board of County commissioners of Bradford County Florida electing to use the uniform method of collecting a non- adorm special assessment for more than one year levied in Bradford County Florida to fund costs incurred by the county and providing fire protection and Emergency Medical Services each year stating a need for such Levy providing for the mailing of this resolution and providing an effective date okay at this time do we have any public comments on item four I've got three public comments here but um I believe they're all for the under the regular public comments um so no no comments on item four all right with that uh board do we have a motion I'll make a motion to approve the fire assessment intent resolution okay we have a motion by commissioner adter second second by commissioner Spooner any questions I just want to make a comment and if I can get some clarification from the county manager and the County Attorney uh this is the same resolution that we passed last year and if you could just speak a little bit to you know what this why we're doing this again now uh and what this means in the future so the resolution that was passed last January um has expired since there was no um movement taken on the fire assessment last year it has to be redone again this year and all this does is allow if we were to go forward with the fire assessment this legislation would allow us to collect it on the tax roll okay thank you um and just for the clarification for the public this does not set a fee it just says that we can move forward with the planning for it um so that that may be a question in the mind of some of the the folk out there um in the public and if I could also add Mr chairman we have some workshops that are set up that are coming up the next few months that the public will be allowed to attend so that they can you know hear more about um you know the proposed assessment and then also you know offer um any comments at that time and uh again it'll be an open workshop and we have we have three tentatively scheduled for January through March okay and we'll be publishing those dates um probably at the next board meeting okay thank you any other questions all in FA by sign of i i i motion carries 40 now we'll move on to the uh public comments first one I have is uh Mr Paul steel uh Paul still 14167 Southwest 101st Avenue start uh I emailed you earli today about uh your agenda item on the consent agenda 6i which is the Cypress Run boat ramp uh you're being asked to uh expend almost $60,000 on uh the boat ramp uh I'm not clear at this point uh there there was a grant that was out there to develop this I believe the funds uh were uh spent almost all those funds have already been spent uh that money went to drmp um I'm not sure whether uh because they did not meet the requirements of the grant uh they have returned those funds to the county or whether this is going to have to be funds that the county finds from some other source um in reading the document that was prod produced or submitted by uh thw your engineer uh there's a number of things that I'm uh concerned about it's not clear whether they're going to be designing a new set of plans it's pretty clear to me that the plans that were designed by drmp are are probably not going to be you're not going to be able to per get a permit from for those plans because they involve uh dredging uh Lake Samson on property not owned by the county and also because there is an existing U Canal that can be used and one of the criteria for getting a permit for dredging is that there's not an alternative uh out there for the dredging but also the design is uh not a good design for that particular site uh and I would urge you to remove this from the consent agenda and and possibly even uh take it uh uh table it until your next meeting so you can have some opportunity to look at what it actually means that you're doing in terms of whether you're committing the county to spend it's going to be considerably over $60,000 because there are elements that are not covered uh by the chw perment some of the engine some of the surveying work that needs to be done um you're going to have to pay for and I think it's real important that uh you spend some time uh determining whether this is actually what you want to go want to go forward with and more importantly it's very simple to make that boat ramp serviceable again all you need to do is remove the vegetation in Lake Samson and do what's called a uh maintenance uh sediment removal of the uh existing canal and a little bit of upgrade on the actual boat ramp itself and you'll have a serviceable boat thank you thank you next I have uh Monica Kish good evening Monica Kish 179 Southwest County Road 225 South Florida um I'm told to be respectable to the commission I would appreciate that to be reciprocated please I made phone calls to two of the people now I understand that maybe Miss Andrews had a a death in the family and that was why she did not get back to me but um I left messages and I have called and we're having more and more problems in my neighborhood um I had another person that was supposed to be here but he couldn't make it because of work and um my new neighbor who moved three months about around 3 months ago at 2:30 in the morning on a Sunday into his uh not dwelling but property because the dwelling is not livable um and he took about two weeks to make the property worse than it ever was before and it was deserted for a long long time and um the people were thrown out for tax reasons a long long time ago I've been there 15 years and this probably happened about 10 so what happened was there was a fire a c a week before um Thanksgiving three explosions during that fire it took the fire department an hour to put it out um I can't really see very well because through the woods but um I'm going to tell you this is this is a continuing problem and it's not going to get any better without someone helping when I left the the house he was with a chainsaw it was dark already and he was with the chainsaw sawing down more trees hopefully it's not on my property um but people are pulling up late also into the graveyard area um they're either having sex or doing drugs or both or whatever at all hours of the evening um my friend my neighbor HTS and he sees them from his property at early early hours in the morning and they're just pulling up there and and doing whatever they want to do and I would love to have that gate fixed and also gunshots at all hours at night now I'm I've C talked to the sheriff and Sheriff Smith tells me that that's a state law well if you lived next to someone that was shooting at 10 to 2 or 3:00 in the morning and it woke you up from a sound sleep let me tell you I'm sure that something would be done because I'm not being listened to I don't know if it's because I'm a woman or or what the problem is but I don't like it and I think it's ridiculous and when you're like I said when you're woken up like that it's really it's very disturbing and you don't just go right back to sleep yes ma'am so thank you for your time and Merry Christmas thank you all right next I have um Mr strong good evening my name is VI strong post office box 530 Ludy 32058 um first I'd like to say that um I would like to bounce off of something that Mr Steele said in his comments about the camores um permit earlier if the camor permit is permit it to happen or if they don't permit it to happen and the camor T um Retention Ponds are at the top of the trail r in ly their issue in lahi floods my mom's ditch at her house that's the problem that I complain about in Ludi so we need to if their issue and the Alligator Creek and the country club if it's not flooding in Stark then it's it's going to flood in ly so it's a two-prong situation so when you're thinking about their issue we need to get camores in here and have them explain why they're having issues with flooding so their ponds are the issue and what's in their ponds because their runoffs are an issue so maybe they need to come in here before this board and explain why it is they're having a flood issue because the ditches are still Yes uh the road department did clean out the ditches but there is still an area that's not clean that if they if their ponds overflow they're going to flood my mom's house because of where they have their ponds and their ponds the last time overflowed and flooded her house so they do have a problem so if they don't flood the country club and heaven forbid they flood the country club and into Alligator Creek they're going to flood ly so yeah they do have a problem but that's one of the that's one of the issues that maybe we need to have koris come in to explain to the county why it is that their their ponds overflow thank you all right that's all the public comments I have um this time so we'll move on to item number six the consent agenda do I have a motion I'll make a motion motion to approve the consent agenda you have a motion from commissioner do have a second second second from commissioner Thompson all in favor by a sign of I I motion carries 40 all righty item seven Clerk's report don't have anything to report all righty thank you item eight sheriff's report you got it covered you're good thumbs up all right IEM know uh County Manager yes thank you Mr chairman uh first off we need to talk about the proposed budget workshop dates for next year um in your packet you can see that we have four um recommended dates January 7th March 4th April 1st and July 1st so now is the time for discussion and consensus and looking at the date it looks like um they tried to schedule them so that we could have um a morning workshop and then some evenings but also considering um the other um meetings that we may have outside of those so it looks like it was reasonable right the um I will say this the January 7th I've got a meeting at 11 o'clock another meeting so um as for the uh transportation is disadvantage board and that will actually be right here okay um so would we we want to find another date for the for the first meeting is that what we're saying my meeting will last 20 minutes probably Max and it's at 11 um we just change the time of it and have it we yes sir we can um I don't want to hold you up Chris either um we can started at 10:30 I just got walk out of 11 go to another Mee and I can be back if if you want to do that this it's the beginning of the year that's fine you want to do that be all right so everybody leave it at 10:30 right and then but just know I gotta you'll have to I have to leave at 11:00 and I'll be back at probably 20 minutes okay all right so we have consensus from the board for these dates is listed okay all right thank you all right next is the proposed fire assessment workshop dates February 4th March 18th and May the 6th be evening me day and evening it be morning and then yeah February 4th is 10:30 uh March 18th is uh 5:30 and then the U May 6 is at 10:30 morning meeting could we put these on the evening meeting that way the public would you know be able to come the ones that works that' be possible right that would right so that would probably be better for these work me so that's fine but just just keep in mind that there are two more meetings in the evening after these three that would provide for public comment yeah that's the the May 15th and the June 17th that's correct right um I mean I'm one person but I would love to have them in the evening that way the public can come okay that's all five of them I mean you know that way it'll give them a chance I mean the ones that works that way they can come in and express their feelings yeah you good you good yeah but but what time are we going to set those for because we're going to have either Board of adjustment or pnz at 5:30 excuse me at 6 right so a 5:30 meeting is not going to be I don't think ample time to have a workshop to discuss something that's 5 5:00 p.m. 4:30 then where we're still cutting into people getting off work cuz they don't get off work till 5 okay well um I would say a 6:30 meeting it would be plenty can I say something real quick yes sir per half this County works shift work prison different places out of town I mean they you know this necessarily yeah but I mean a bunch of them do yeah if we alternate them have have yeah have one at night and have some in the daytime well that'd be fine so maybe have one in in the morning and one at night that's what you recommended yeah I mean it's just kind of accommodate anybody that's on day shift or night shift okay that sounds good okay so that's that's the way it's arranged right now I think you had two in the morning we got two in the morning one at night evening two in the morning and three in the evening yeah because there is three in the evening because then we have to go to May 15th and June 17th right so so yeah that would it'd be good would you be good with that leave it the way it is so if we did if we did that then it would remain as it is two morning meetings three evening meetings okay all right and all we need is consensus right you all good all right good with that all right thank you uh next is the employee evaluation training you have the proposed job performance evaluation in your packet um we have some we've been working with uh FM MIT and fact uh to come in and put on some training for not only supervisors but also uh other employees so we just need to uh need to get consensus to move forward with this um it will be a labor intensive process uh but if that's what if that's the desire of the board we'll we'll move forward with the scheduled date and I don't know what that first date is Amanda to you it's January 9 January 9th will be the first date of the training and then the second date will be January 16th um I I will say this I I remember when the gentleman came and did the presentation in fact I've got copies of it here uh where he came and gave the pros and cons of doing an employee evaluation and um and he said at at this time um that most companies are not doing employee evaluations anymore that's kind of becoming a thing of the past and actually when he was standing right there giving his presentation um his recommendation for us was was to not do employee evaluations he said we would get into more headaches yeah than than doing them so I just I wanted to throw that out there um and and also like you were saying and the the the time for all our employees to go to this training I mean that's that's that's a lot of time then you bring them in you you do this evaluation on them and say they make a perfect score and then what do you just say thank you I mean it ain't like you're going to give them a raise right then so um I I I just take a board my by listening to what what the gentleman came and spoke and um plus what I've been hearing from other people I I would recommend us uh not to go down this road I I respectfully disagree with you um chairman read employee evaluation is very important to give that feedback uh to an employee throughout the course of the year on their performance is extremely important uh I I heard what the gentleman said and I don't concur with him there most people still do evaluations um and know you may not necessarily give a raise but if the person's performance needs to improve there has to be some feedback throughout the the course of the time rather than just you know say you've done a bad job and you're fired so you need continuous feedback on a regular basis so that people know how well they're performing that's that's given for for any agency and I think it's important that our employees are trained so that they would do it properly and and make it effective for the employees but but we need to do it yeah I I just I'm just saying I I have um so much confidence in our supervisors that I feel like if somebody isn't doing a good job they're going to be they're going to be talking to them right up front I mean and and just bring it to a head and I also have enough confidence in our supervisors that if somebody's doing a great job they will they will be telling them hey I appreciate what you're doing and you're doing a good job that's um I guess that's where I'm coming from on this absolutely well I think it goes more than just a pat on the back I mean because you know if we're given raises and you know which we have in the past and you know there's got to be some sort of something in place some kind of metrics that you know if some people are meeting them then they're meeting them if some aren't then you know why does that person you know get a raise too I know that's how it is in my company you know you're based on there's an evaluation that's done and based on the evaluation we got it Bas based on the evaluation um you know that's how that's how we're for you know so um you know again not doing doing something again it's I think you're rewarding some people uh to just show up where then you have people that are you know performing and you know they're you know carrying the weight so um now going back to the time that's put into it um you know that could be another another question but at the same time you know I think that it's important that the supervisors are performing some kind of an evaluation to be able to determine whether or not somebody is U you know performing and getting a raise rather than just an across theboard raise okay all right well what's the consistence of the board I think we need to do it okay would you want me to go ahead and ask for a motion to to see and then it's really just a consensus issue I mean there doesn't need to be a motion and you know because you're missioning a commissioner you may want to wait for a commissioner Andrew I don't know okay yeah let's do that and then also you know let's also look at let's look at the process and you know if it's uh again you know if it's something that we can you know shrink down to where you know we're still doing an evaluation but at least you know there's something that you know just as Miss sper was saying you know uh folks need to know you know where they need to improve and and you know it needs to be part of a conversation you know because if not then you know it needs to be that their evaluation is done somewhere other than Bradford County so okay all righty all right so we will uh table item 9 D NE sorry C 9d is the legislative delegation meeting which is scheduled for January the 8th at 3:30 in these Chambers so please mark calendar and uh we'll have representative Brandon and Senator uh Bradley here with us uh that afternoon and one other reminder the the ribbon cutting at station 10 was originally scheduled for January 10th uh Chief Carter talked with the builder earlier today and said that we would like to push that or that he would like to push that back to January 30th that's all I have Mr chairman all righty item 10 uh County attorney report just to wish you all Merry Christmas and happy New Year thank you all right commissioner comments um Mr Thompson good I just wish you all Merry Christmas and thank you all for coming a safe Christmas and a happy New Year Mr SP yes I'm just like to also um wish everyone out safe and and Merry Christmas and also just to acknowledge the really good job that um Captain Whit um he he coordinated this it was formerly called the shop with the cop um but it was shot with the heroes and they had U all of the school children from Bradford County and even Union County Department of Correction forestry the um Sheriff deputies they at law en enforcement agencies from the surrounding areas and they had a really good time with the the kids of the children or students um at the Walmart the last two days um also to reminder that the LOI um um Christmas parade is coming up next Saturday this coming Saturday and ask um for the community to show up and support those and also to commend the um downtown uh folks for the good parade that they had in start on this past past weekend and looking forward to the workshops that we're going to be starting on this next couple of months thank you all thank you Mr do merry Christmas everybody all I have to say Merry Christmas thank you all righty all right I thank everyone for being at the meeting tonight and um I I tell you this is a very important time of the year this is when we celebrate Cate the the birth of Jesus Christ um and I'll tell you what that's um without that we would have no hope for nothing else so um I just um pray that everybody has a merry Christmas and if you want to give out the best gift possible tell someone about Jesus tell someone about what what Christmas is all about and if you don't know for sure yourself um read um Luke or Matthew and um or ask someone I mean this is this is the most important decision you'll ever make in your life and um so anyway other than that I have no other comments and uh again thank everyone for being here have a Merry Christmas and uh meetings a journ thank you thank you thank you again oh