[Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. Heat. [Music]
Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Everything. [Music] [Music]
[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat.
[Music] [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music]
If you wish to speak to any item on the agenda or during the public comment portion of the meeting, please fill out a speaker card. Each person addressing the board shall have three minutes to complete his or her comments on each agenda item for which he or she has filled out a card. The chair has the
discretion to determine or alter the time limits on any agenda item. The board of county commissioners requests that speakers appearing under the public comment section of the agenda limit their comments or presentations to matters relating to county business that are within the board's control,
authority, and jurisdiction. >> Good morning and welcome to the October 28th regular meeting for the board of county commissioners. We have a quorum. I'll call the meeting to order. We have invitation today provided by Robbie Adalgo with Teen Missions Instructional.
Sir, you're recognized. >> Like to thank the commissioners for the opportunity to pray today. Let's pray. Lord, we just thank you for the uh opportunity to be here. Uh thank you for those that are here to do business. We uh give you the glory and honor for
Bvard County and the standard that's being set here today. We pray Lord that you would uh purify our motives today when we speak. Lord that we would do so with the intent Lord to do business well here today to for the greater good. Lord we ask Lord that there would be
consensus in this room today. Lord we pray in the mighty name of Jesus Lord for those that are in Jamaica right now looking at a category 5 hurricane. Lord, and Melissa, Lord, we ask you would protect them. Lord, uh, as a county, Lord, who's received a gracious amount of rain over the last two days, Lord, we
pray you would be with those who are still trying to tend to the damage that has been done in this county through rainfall. Lord, we pray, Lord, that uh they would not weary, but that you would strengthen them today. Lord, we ask that we could set a standard in this place,
Lord, on how we deal with the water resource in this county. Lord, we pray Lord for vision as the people would suffer without it. Lord, we pray Lord it would be written down and made plain so that others may run after it. We give you the glory and honor for this meeting
at the designated time and place. We pray Lord for 100fold fruit here today in Jesus name. Amen. >> Thank you sir very much. Commissioner Delaney for the pledge. 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. Okay, commissioners, we have minutes for approval from the April 22nd regular
meeting, the August 14th Melbourne Tilman public hearing, the August 26 regular meeting, and the September 4th zoning meeting. Is there >> I have a motion by Commissioner Delaney. Is there a second? >> Second. >> I have a second by Commissioner Alman.
>> Excuse me. I'm so sorry. >> I thought you were saying motion. Go ahead. >> Um, I just wanted to say thank you so much to the staff. Um, the meeting minutes are now clickable online for people who are interested and want to read our minutes from the agenda. So, I just wanted to give a shout out to our
staff. Thank you for making that happen. >> Okay, we had a motion by Commissioner Delaney. I believe a second by Commissioner Alman. Clerk will call the role on the minutes. >> Commissioner Delaney, yes. >> Vice Chair Goodson, >> yes. Commissioner Atkinson, >> yes.
>> Commissioner Alman, >> yes. >> Chairman Felner, >> yes. We'll show those adopted. Thank you, commissioners. We're going to go on to the resolutions. We have three today. I'm going to go first.
And did I see Martha here? For Martha, you're welcome to bring your group. Welcome again. We have uh I have a resolution today for Native American Heritage Month. We'll we'll I'll read that. We'll pass it. You know the routine and then you'll speak for us.
Whereas the contributions of Native Americans and their descendants have significantly enhanced the freedom, growth, prosperity, and greatness of the United States. And whereas Native American Heritage Month was adopted by President H. W. Bush in August of 1990,
designating the month of November as a time to celebrate and honor Native Americans. And whereas the customs and traditions of Native and indigenous Americans are respected and celebrated as an integral part of a rich cultural
heritage across the United States. And whereas the celebration of Native American heritage month creates an opportune time to educate our public about the many tribes and to raise awareness of the unique contributions and challenges of native people both
historically and present. And whereas in honor of Native American Heritage Month, Native Heritage Gathering, Inc. will host the 17th annual Native Rhythms Festival from November 14th through the 16th at Wickham Park honoring the
indigenous peoples of the Americas through music, dance, arts, and cultural exhibits. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of county commissioners of Bvoulevard County, Florida, does hereby recognize the month of November 2025 as Native American Heritage Month done
order and adopt in regular session this 28th day of October 2025. I'll make that motion as there and I have a second by Commissioner Atinson. Clerk will call the role on that one. >> Commissioner Delaney, >> yes. >> Vice Chair Goodson, >> yes. >> Commissioner Atkinson,
>> yes. >> Commissioner Alman, >> yes. Chairman Felner. >> Yes, Martha. Thank you. You're recognized. >> We thank you so much for this honor today. And I'd like to introduce to you uh Claire Ellis, who will tell us a little bit more about the festival,
followed by Bart Leovsky, who will give us a little rendition of what you're going to hear at Native Rhythms Festival this year. So, Claire, come and tell us a little more about our festival.
Thank you, Martha. It's a beautiful familyfriendly free event in Wickham Park November 14th through the 16th. It's a happy place because familyfriendly in the Native American
world means there is no alcohol at a Native event. So, it's really, really familyfriendly. Bring a couple lawn chairs or a blanket. Enjoy the incredible performers we're bringing from all over the country,
the native village, free workshops, wonderful native vendors. It's a beautiful time to come and just enjoy yourself and learn more about Native Americans, and we look forward to
seeing everyone there. Thank you. And now Bart. >> Uh, the Native American flute is a handmade flute. This one happens to be made by a person in the audience here, John Ellis. And um, the woodpecker is
uh, actually part of the airflow system on the flute. It's not just a decoration, but it reflects the myth that the woodpeckers made holes in a hollow tree limb. >> I'm going to play a little bit of the Cherokee morning song.
And should I play into the mic and the commission if >> Yes, >> I think into the mic, sir. If you if you'd like for for it to be on YouTube, how's how's that? Well, okay. That's your choice. All right. >> All right. [Music]
[Music] Well done. I have a resolution for you. Okay. All right. >> Thank you again so very much. Commissioner, Commissioner Alman, sir, you have a resolution today. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, going from
Native American culture to space. Um, this month, uh, we have a week out of the month of October, we recognize World Space Week. Whereas each October world space week highlights the contributions of space science and technology to the betterment
of the human condition and offers a occasion for recognizing the diverse communities that power the space coast innovation. And whereas the Artemis accords a set of principles that promotes international cooperation and outlines practices and responsible and
peaceful space exploration by many many nations across the world. was signed by over 50 countries and demonstrates a shared commitment to sustainable space activity as a global effort. Whereas Bvard County, home to the Kennedy Space
Center, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and a vibrant commercial space ecosystem, benefits from the talents of both US and international residents who contribute to the research, technology development, launch, and operations in space education. And whereas the space
coast has proudly launched numerous international crews throughout the the years on NASA military and commercial missions. And whereas Bvard County recognizes both the US and international space professionals including NASA astronauts, scientific leaders and
policy makers that strengthen Americans space entrepreneurship and enterprise by advancing human space flight and exploration. Whereas the board of county commissioners support commission supports inclusive recognition of all communities, those who work and heritage
strength the Bvard quality of life and advance its leadership in aerospace and innovation. Now therefore, it be resolved that the board of county commissioners of Bavar County does hereby recognize World Space Week and encourages uh county department, schools, libraries, and civic partners
to highlight the contributions made by all countries during World Space Week with a focus on STEM education and community engagement. Done so in order this 28th day of October. want to mention that uh the heart of
this is the Artemis Accords and we will see an Artemis launch uh beginning of next year. Um we're excited about Artemis 2. This um um even though we do have the government shutdown and we couldn't have someone from NASA here today. Artemis is still
up and running. That is deemed to be critical. So we do have the NASA employees working on Artemis. Uh we do have the visitors still open. Uh but it's uh it's definitely at a reduced level up at the space center, but thanks for our commercial providers and the fact that they've designated Artemis to
be be mission critical. It's still in action. >> Very good. Is that your motion, sir? >> That's my motion. Okay. >> Second. >> Yes. >> All right. Have a motion by Commissioner Alman. I have a second by Commissioner Atinson. Clerk will call the role. >> Delaney.
>> That second was by Delaney. >> Well, I I heard it. I heard it in two places. Okay, there you go. >> Commissioner Delaney, >> yes. >> Vice Chair Goodson, >> yes. >> Commissioner Atkinson, >> yes. >> Commissioner Alman, >> yes. >> Chairman Felner,
>> yes. We'll show that. That passes 5-0. Sir, do you have a a group to present that to today? Okay. All right. We'll uh go on to the next one then. And uh Jack, I see you out there and come up on behalf of the family.
have a resolution this morning for Ron Demena. I'm sure as many of you know that he was the founder of Ron John's did a lot of other things in the county. Whereas Ron Demena wanted to bring surfing to the masses and was a pioneer
in recognizing that surfing and the beach captivated people everywhere. And whereas Ron founded Ron John Surf Shop in 1959 on the New Jersey shore and moved to Cocoa Beach in 1963, opening the flagship store. And whereas over the
next six decades, Ron John's Surf Shop expanded into a worldwide phenomenon. And whereas Ron with his wife Lynn founded Surfing's Evolution and Preservation Foundation, a 501c3 charitable organization that supports
missions to protect the health of Florida's beaches and address issues such as coastal pollution and beach ecology. And through the sale of the endless summer specialty license plate, the foundation financially supports programs, events, and activities that
impact protection for future generations to enjoy. And whereas the New York Times wrote that Ron was a key figure in surfing's expansion into mainstream culture with a life said to be the stuff of folklore.
And whereas Ron Demena's vision and legacy will live on for generations through Ron John Surf Shop and Surfing's Evolution and Preservation Foundation. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of county commissioners of BVAR County, Florida, does hereby proclaim
October 28, 2025 to be designated as a day of honoring Ron Demena Done, ordered and adopted in regular session this 28th day of October, 2025. And I'll make the motion for that. Is there a second? Second by Commissioner Altman. Clerk
will call the role. >> Commissioner Delaney? >> Yes. >> Vice Chair Goodson? >> Yes. >> Commissioner Atkinson? >> Yes. >> Commissioner Alman? >> Yes. >> Chairman Felman? >> Yes. And Jack, you want to say some words? >> Sure. Um, my name is Jack Hersinbomb. I'm on the board of directors of Ron
John's. Malcolm, my brother, is the chairman of the board and a trustee on the foundations board. and he couldn't be here this morning, so he sent me. You're stuck with me for 30 seconds. When Ron was inducted into the East
Coast Hall of Fame, being a man of very few words, he said, "I am honored and thank you." Because I'm a lawyer, I have to say a couple more words than that. Um, it's always an honor and a privilege to appear before this commission. And
today, I'm here on behalf of Ron and the family, Ron John's, and the foundation. Um, you all are much younger, but in the olden days, um, surfing was perceived to be beatnicks and beach bums. And then Gig occurred, and Ron was the one that
saw that Gidget was going to bring surfing into the mainstream. And he opened up a shop in New Jersey. And then when he came down here a few years later, he saw that Cocoa Beach looked just like his shore at Long Beach Island in New Jersey. And he opened up a shop.
It had dirt floors. It had orange crates for shelves and he had a few surfboards and a few t-shirts. Um, a personal note, my brother took me in there when I was 10. I bought a surfboard and I haven't stopped surfing since, but I today the
surf is really good. So, I'm going to be brief and wrap this up. Um, get out of here and go surfing. Um, Ron John's has become a national power in surf in the surf industry. When people come to Cocoa Beach and Bvard County, they think Ron
John's. And I know Ron and Lynn are humbled and appreciate this honor very very much. It's very special to them. And they say thank you. And I'm here to say thank you for them. Thanks so very much. >> And and uh I I say a couple quick
things. You're right. I'm younger um although I'm feeling older uh these days, but uh you know when I was a kid uh you know we always went to go get a spring break shirt there right away. That was the first order of business. And I kind of keep up that tradition when I have people visiting uh Bvard
County and and they have kids. I'm like, "Come on, we'll go we'll go to Ron John's and we'll get them spring break shirt." Um I didn't have it in the resolution there, but I was I was thinking reading about, you know, he was a very big supporter of the National Kidney Foundation and uh this the surfest um that's there. I knew Rich
Salic and uh I think Ron's contribution to that was very important. I have a resolution for you. Thanks for being here today. Thank you so very much. >> Thank you guys. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. Okay, commissioners, before we get into
consent, we're going to go to Jim and he's going to give us an update on things that have happened in the um this weekend. Jim. >> All right. Uh thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, commissioners. I just kind of want to go through Sunday's storm response and some of our
recovery actions. It's a couple pages if you could bear with me. Um so about in the two o'clock hour on um Sunday uh we uh the weather advisory indicated rain storm chances with locally heavy rain up to 4 ines possible. That's when we start
receiving our first notice. I I do want to add the National Weather Service is a wonderful partner. We're very fortunate to have them in our county. John's in communication with all the time, but that's when we started being aware of some issues. 5:00 John was in contact uh and John Scott is our emergency management director. John was in contact
with the weather service and texted our public works director, Mark Bernath, that we have rainfall amounts of five inches already being reported in the city of Titusville. No issues were reported at the time, but Roaden Bridge was put on alert to prepare for some early morning uh full assessments on Monday. About 8:15, John received the
first call about water in a home. Uh 8:30, John was in contact with me. I got hold of Don Walker. at 8:45. Then we received a request from City of Titusville for mutual aid, which we responded to. Um, and at 9:00 on Sunday, John acted activated the EOCC to include
representatives from public works, communications, EOCC staff, of course, Bvard County Sheriff's Office, and Bvard County Fire Rescue. Also notified was uh Parks and Recreation, Housing and Human Services, and the Red Cross in case for possible shelter actions. 9:25 public
works uh it was requested of public works mobilized the teams that we were planning to have it going on Monday uh mobilized the teams to get ahead of the anticipated issues that were starting to be reported a little after 10:30 uh road bridge mobilized teams to Titusville Coco Merit Island for damage assessment
and triage issues they also checked and and started pumps uh throughout the county throughout the night and Monday they responded to many issues monitoring staff gauges closed roads pumping water and made temporary repairs for uh roadways 10:40 uh uh communications at
3C posted on Facebook and annex the county crisis track line for represent residents to report damage if their home was damaged or uh flooded by the storm. Hang on one second. Let me get my page. By 2:15, most of the uh most but not all
those activated were released uh because they're no longer responding at that time to life safety issues. We still man the uh EOC from uh 24 hours um a day. At 7:00 a.m. uh Don Walker is at EOCC preparing the update that we submitted to all the commissioners and charter officers and county directors of our
plan response actions for Monday, including damage assessment recovery efforts and additional action items deemed necessary. Uh we posted through social media flood and safety information and monitor comments throughout the day. Uh a little bit after 7 o'clock, Mark Bernath provided you uh all a comprehensive update on
flood conditions, flooded roads, down trees, and impacts from other rain events. And I believe uh Mark also then updated y'all another three times during the day to let you know where we were. Uh overnight from Sunday evening through Monday, we received 560 flood related calls. The peak volume at the time was
100 calls to 911 in an hour. Monday morning, utility services um they were out removing, how I'm going to put it, rem uh removing excess rain water from around manholes, discharging it down streams. Crews were doing it to relieve pressure in the system to make sure the
water wouldn't come back up at the homes. Um and then so then the way they did was accessing manholes and preventing the backup in, you know, of sewage in the homes. Altogether, utility services has employed 17 4,000galon pumper trucks and one 8,000galon tanker
truck to help manage the uh the levels in their systems. Uh planning development coordinated with EOC and sent out damage assessment teams. And this is something we do after every event, any emergency event. Um we had six teams out there consisting of two people. Uh they go out and uh they've
been trained to assess damage using our crisis track software. Um includes just about everybody from the department. We've had additional help from the outside to help with us. Um, we reported that in natural resources dispatched eight storm water assessment and response team to document flood waters and potential damage to county
infrastructures. Those areas included West Coco, Merit Island, Windover Farms, Mims, Scotsmore, Port St. John, June Park Police Foundation, Lamplighter Village, and Melbourne Beach. Fire rescue moved about a dozen units north on Sunday and Monday in response to the
high water. Um then they have they list I can't even tell you all the different kinds of trucks they have listed here between brush trucks, high water trucks, different fire engines. And just a little side note, um I want to put it kind of appropriate that we're recognizing today. Today is National First Responder Day. So I mean, you
know, that just a reminder, you know, they do a lot of stuff for us, our emergency uh first responders. The Bvard County Sheriff's Office is working with the m municipalities that were impacted by an unexpected weather event. I know the sheriff was in contact with John throughout the event. Um, and what
happened Sunday and into Monday was a perfect example why we team our emergency operations center with the sheriff's office. Um, you know, we have the unified communication center. Uh, I was there seeing folks going back and forth between the two of it. But the coordination of the EOC, the Boulevard County Fire Rescue and Sheriff's Office,
that's vital to our safety and to our emergency response to our citizens. Uh, so we thank everybody working there. Our uh other responding agencies that are involved in coordination, they're great partners with us uh with emergency management, include the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Team Rubicon. They were all out in the field on
Monday, included opening of a shelter for flood victims by the Red Cross at a church in Titusville. Um Mark continue I here I mentioned earlier Mark continued to keep everybody updated. Um and we're still working on that. And then on the screen Logan has up on the screen for us, uh, for residents who may be
watching or folks that know citizens that were impacted or affected, there's our crisis track, um, uh, assessment report. We ask people that report in. We've, I forget the number, it was hundreds when I was checked yesterday, they have reported in. Um, what this does, this also helps. We're not, we don't think we're going to reach a level
of federal assistance, but this helps us with the reporting of it. And then if citizens are calling into any of your offices looking for help or they're calling any of the county offices, we ask that they contact 211 and 211 will get them the right information. So, um, somebody and I would I would love to give them credit, but I can't remember
who said it. Somebody said it was responding like a to a tornado, but I mean that's how the immediate response was Sunday afternoon. We just knew it was going to rain. We have no idea it was going to rain this much. Um, so I want to thank everybody, the coordinations, the, you know, the long hours. It was it was responding to a
tornado with rains from a hurricane. So, everybody did a really nice job to help folks out and we'll still be working this for days and weeks on. >> Just real quick, um when we talk about um help from the federal government with things like this, what what is the
threshold? What is I'm sorry, John. I don't put you on the spot. >> We have the expert here for he'll be able to tell you that. Yes. Good morning, commissioners. Good morning, everyone. So, when we talk about federal uh sponsor about federal assistance, correct?
>> Yes, sir. >> Uh so, there are two kinds of federal assistance. There's public assistance, which is on the government nonprofit side of the house. that covers things like protective actions, infrastructure, and then there's individual assistance, which is for impacted residents. While
there's no hard and fast threshold for individual assistance because it's very much about the damage to a community, when we talk about flooding, we're talking about hundreds of homes needing to be impacted for a community our side with significant water in the homes. And
what's counterintuitive for many of us, especially if you're someone who's impacted by what like what a lot of water means when we talk about federal government, we talk about water at or above outlets. So that's 12 plus inches. It's not a lot of comfort to folks who
have four or six inches to hear that described as in the federal term minor damage. We know that's significant damage to both their homes and their lives. Uh but when we're talking about how we get federal assistance uh for
these kinds of events, you're talking probably 150 plus homes with 12 in plus water in it. Um that's the general threshold for where we'll be. >> Okay. I would also add it's why it's so
important that we have volunteer groups like Jim covered because for these kinds of events which are very community focused, it really is us as a community who has to come together and sort of recover and rebuild ourselves locally.
>> Okay. I know it's unplanned. Go ahead. >> No, it's it's all right. We we wanted to we wanted to bring it up early. Go ahead. >> Thank you. Um, I'm choosing my words here really carefully because I know that our people really worked very hard over the weekend
and sprung into action and um, there was a lot of people who who worked extremely hard trying to get everything going. Um, living in it was a little different. Um it was uh
a bit chaotic. People didn't know what was happening. People didn't know um what to do, where to go. The the communication um maybe I felt like wasn't clear on the
severity. Um, I don't think that this is uh going to be the last time we see a storm like this. I think that these events are going to get more and more frequent. Um, people in my community have their homes have flooded, you know, two, three, four
times already this year since I've been in the seat. And I keep being told that it's, you know, oh, this is a hundred-year storm or oh, this is a a freak thing. And what happens when the freak things happen every other month?
And you know, North Bard cannot continue to to take the entire region's storm water. People can't afford to rebuild their homes two, three, four times in a year.
Um uh I think that we need to really rethink the way that we're um planning um not only development wise but storm water-wise, infrastructure
um emergency response. I think that we need to have um more severe language when we do let people know rather than just like flood watch, you know, that's I mean
people in Florida have heard that their whole I mean those of us who have lived here in Florida, we've heard heard that term, you know, um a thousand times and nothing's ever, you know, really come of it in this area. And but what was happening on Saturday night, I mean,
people were were trapped in, you know, window high water in their vehicles. Um I one of my my staff members had to wade through waist high water to rescue her her teenager. Um because emergency
services were dealing with flipped over vehicles. And it's it's nobody's fault. But what I'm saying is is that I think that it's I think the time has come that we need to stop thinking is of these events as
oh it's just that one's just a fluke because these flukes are happening regularly. And um I'm not quite sure how to and I'm and I'm looking at us, you know, I'm not quite sure how to
how do we get there? How do we like do we do workshops? Do we do we talk about this stuff? Do we how do we work together as as a group here to make sure that
district one is not, you know, getting slammed every time? And how do we get the the county functioning in a way that um that we're not just on survival mode all the time? Well, I have a couple thoughts. Um,
first of all, responding to changing weather events, um, you know, whether that's a new trend to your to your point there, um, you know, it is is something that you establish over over time. So to uh
like you said, you're having we're having more and more uh it's not just afternoon storms, it's afternoon storms with multiple inches of rain and and I think so we understand the severity of things. Sykes Creek had 15 inches of
rain. >> Oh yeah, >> I that's we we've had hurricanes in Bvard County. Maybe I'll go I'll suggest that in the last 15 years didn't have 15 inches of rain. So, um that's that's definitely an
extreme event. Um but you know, back to our our prior conversation about um what the state's taking up this year and our comprehensive plan and and that's all well known now that we're going to have to revisit that, but we're
we're waiting on this on the state. Um I think after that's done, we'll just have much better answers and can move forward. I I'll split it with you. I'm I'm willing to do a workshop on those kinds of issues after we've got
something that we know the state has taken up. Whether they whether they do it, they don't do it, we have some kind of definitive answer um during session. So, I think that's a that's a very big variable um today that's that's hard to
sort of work around. And I I did just want to mention one of the things is because I I've spoken to our state reps about this at length because I know that you know I myself am a advocate of property rights. I know you all are too and so are our state
reps. And I know that a lot of these laws the intention is to make sure that people's property rights are protected. And one of the things that I've kind of worked through with with some of the state reps is that it's not that
development as a whole needs to stop. It's that we need to develop in a way that the land can handle. So, and some of those things like the reasonzoning that's totally in our purview. So upping density and things
like that, I don't think that that is something that is a smart thing to do at this time when we can't even ha handle the storm water we have today. And that doesn't get us in trouble with
the state laws that are passed because it's not taking anything from these people. It's it's not a Bert Harris um when it comes to that uh type of stuff. It's only if something's zoned for a for a certain density and we're trying to
take away what they're already allowed to do. And um so I'm hopeful I'm hoping that I can have y'all's support moving forward when it comes to zoning issues specifically in my district because you know I I
represent my district. y'all represent your districts. I know that we represent the county as a whole together, but we all know our areas um you know and and what our areas can handle and uh district one can't handle
this. um they can't handle uh all this storm water anymore and um there's only very few places in Bvard County that have expansive land left and um that's one of those places is my district and
uh the water's got to go somewhere and we are going to be the next Edgewater. we're going to be the next Felia County if we don't um have a have a real plan moving forward. >> Commissioners, thank you for just going
off a little bit of the agenda to bring it up. So, I appreciate it and thanks to John. >> Okay. All right. Let's go on to consent. And um commissioners, I'll tell you after consent, we do have school board member here today. The superintendent is
here and we have some of their staff. So, we're going to after consent, we're going to go to their two items so we can return them to their workday. Is there anything to take off of consent today? >> I um just want to take off F8 just to be fair to everybody else that we've
appointed. >> Okay. I'll tell I'll tell you what. Um, let's um let's we can we can do that. Let's pass the rest of consent. Let's go to the two school items and then we'll take that up. Okay. >> Give them give them a minute. >> Sure.
>> All right. So, for the rest of consent minus F8. I had a motion to approve by Commissioner Atinson. I have a second by Commissioner Delaney. Clerk will call the role. Minus F8. >> Commissioner Delaney. >> Yes. Vice Chair Goodson, >> yes.
>> Commissioner Atkinson, >> yes. >> Commissioner Alman, >> yes. >> Chairman Felner, >> yes. We'll show that approved. Thank you, Commissioners. Now, let's do this out of I did tell the school folks we would we would um and I do have some uh
I'm sorry, some G section of the cards here. So, we're going to do those real quick. Um, I think it's Is it Conry Larson? Does that sound right? >> What is it?
>> Yeah. >> Courtney. Courtney Larson. >> It's okay. >> I have some handouts. If I could me just give these to you guys. Good morning, commissioners, and thank you for your time.
My name is Courtney. I am the founder of Isa's Journey Rescue here in Bvard County. I am not here to argue or accuse. I am here because animals in our publicly funded shelter are suffer suffering in ways that are preventable and people in our community are grieving because of it. I want to share a few
names. This is because this is personal, not abstract. Grayson, a young King Corso who came in terrified, underweight, and scarred. He needed time, medical treatment, and stability. He did not receive it. Cuddles, heartworm positive, but treatable. She
had a confirmed adopter and a treatment plan, but she never made it out. Seir Nacho, a senior dog who could have gone home, but a basic microchip and reunification steps were were not followed. That failure was not medical. It was administrative. This was
preventable. And it is not just the dogs. Some of the worst suffering is happening to these cats. We have cats leaving the shelter with infected spay and neuter incisions, with untreated open wounds, with active fungal and skin infections. And in one
documenta documented case, a neutered cat with a large open neck wound whose antibiotics were discontinued remained like that for weeks. And then there's Snowflake, a six-month-old indoor kitten spayed and ear tipped, released outside before her owner even knew she was there
at the shelter. Her family searched for her for weeks. She has still not been found. I want to say this clearly. The employees inside the shelter are not the problem. They are overwhelmed, underresourced, and not supported by the system above them. Because this is not a
funding issue. The county budget allocates $500,000 for pharmaceuticals. Yet heartworm positive dogs and sick cats are going untreated, $90,000 for animal food despite long-standing donation agreements and constant community food donations. The
money exists. The animals are not receiving the care that money is supposed to provide. That means that there is an oversight failure and right now rescues, volunteers and even former staff and val yeah staff are afraid to speak because they fear retaliation, removal of
access, targeting or harassment for raising concerns. That culture of fear prevents accountability. So today I'm asking for two actions. One, an independent review and audit of medical practices, youth in Asia decisions, pharmaceutical use, and intake/return to
field protocols. Two, the formation of a community oversight council made up of veterinarians, rescues, and residents so the public has a voice in how animals are treated in our shelter. We are not here to divide this community. We are here to protect it and protect the animals who cannot speak for themselves.
We all want a shelter we can be proud of and we can have one if we begin with oversight, transparency, and accountability. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mary BS. Morning. >> Hi, good morning. >> Good morning. My name is Marne BS and
I'm a Bvard County resident. I'm here about the Bvard County Sheriff's Office and Animal Shelter, specifically the Ethical Care, medical decisionmaking, and transparency. I first raised these concerns locally and I contacted all Bvard County commissioners and only
Commissioner Delaney responded. Mayor McDermott in Indie Atlantic forwarded my note to Mr. Sheriff Wayne Ivy and in writing the sheriff said he found quote nothing to support the issues raised and that policies will quote not be changing and that daily medical care is overseen by three full-time veterinarians under
director Joe Hillibbrand. However, there does remain a significant gap between those asurances and what citizens, adopters, rescues, and former volunteers continue to report. These these are consistent recurring patterns and not isolated incidents across unrelated
parties. The most common concerns are animals with treatable conditions not receiving timely care, euthanasia decisions made without first exhausting treatment alternatives, return to field releases without adequate medical assessment, limited public data transparency, and fear of retaliation
for speaking out. These reports align with specific documented cases. One example is intake number 988684, a domestic female shorthair named Anime. She was reportedly approved for return to field. Shelter notes attributed her
to laboring uh labored breathing due to stress and a local rescuer intervened before release and paid for thoracic x-rays at a private clinic. The x-rays showed extensive lung masses consistent with lung cancer and she had not yet been spayed at the time she was
released. This raises foundational questions. What criteria determine medical stability for return to field? Are diagnostics like X-ray or ultrasound available and use before release decisions? Who has authority to make those determinations and what training
is required? And what review mechanism exists to catch errors and prevent recurrence? If diagnostics aren't happening before outdoor release, medically fragile animals may be suffering unnecessarily or being released with lifelimiting conditions. I'm respectfully asking for state level
support in three ways. A brief 15 to 20 minute discussion with your offices about possible oversight pathways. Consideration of a third number two consideration of a third-party operational review focused on medical treatment protocols, use and tracking of pharmaceuticals, return-to field
eligibility criteria and documentation and euthanasia decision documentation. And number three, increased transparency, monthly shelter data on intake, adoptions, transfers, returns to owner and euthanasia, plain language, standard
operating procedures in a quarterly community advisory review. These are collaborative preventative steps, not punitive ones. And my goal is certainly to not assign blame, but to ensure that humane, medically responsible, and publicly accountable care in a government-run, taxpayer funded facility
is occurring. Thank you for your time, service, and consideration. >> Thank Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I do have documentation. >> Michael Branson, Lieutenant. >> Good morning. Before I start my comment,
I think this is a good opportunity based on the last two public comments to volunteer. Uh you can confirm with Chief or uh Director Wallace. Uh we have the ability to read chips at fire stations. I'm not sure the status of that program. I know in the Sunry corridor where I work, uh those programs are live and
well if you have concerns. Uh we have a machine, a book, a cheater code on how those things works and just swing by and we'll help those people out on the on the chip readers and all that type of stuff. Um my name is Mike Bmpson. I'm the Bvard County Firefighters Union President and uh I thank you for letting
me come up here, chairman, board, staff. Um it's been um as as the county manager has said, it's been a unique week. So I'd like to thank you for allowing uh all the wonderful things that have been said by the county manager in that what we would call an afteraction review
summary. It's appreciative to hear what has to happen. Uh we also acknowledge and recognize the comments that says uh uh the term was rethink. Uh the union does agree um on that. Uh we think that when you get into some of the rethinking
possibilities, you you go into prioritization. And I do know there's other items on the agenda, but I'm not here to speak on that. What I am here to speak about is um uh a couple other issues. Um I want to thank uh many of
the staff members over the past couple of months who have met with me uh to ask questions, to ask for clarification, and to verify what is the union's position and what are we doing moving forward. I'd like to then um after the county manager spoke with us offer the opportunity to anybody in the staff or
any of the commissioners to give me a call if you would like to know where we're at. If you want a different type of landscape of engaging with the union, I have uh 14 people on my eboard and we can make an arrangement for you to meet with one of them uh to get a summary of where we're at. What our concern is
going into the end of the year is short-term fixes that turn into long-term fixes. And so I just want to clarify uh what is our concern. The short-term fixes are not working. Uh mandatory overtime, third party transport services, twoman engines,
dispatch services. It's just doing so much more with so much less. Then we have an event that was unprecedented, unpredicted, and unmetricked, unmeasured. Uh it's one of these retroactive, hey, we got more water in an hour than we're supposed to get for the entire event. Uh that just that just
strains us. uh chief will come up here and talk. He's in the same position I am. So, I just want to address that if we have short-term fixes, you have to exit the short-term fixes to engage into a long-term fixes. And any of the short-term fixes that are in place are not adequate to bring public safety to
where it needs to be for the population, the needs of the the citizens of Bvard County. And I just want to um make sure that we're all on the same page and offer the opportunity for meetings and to engage and thank everybody for meeting with us. Thank you. >> I have a question. >> Go ahead, Commissioner Delaney.
>> Are you referring to short-term fixes like um the uh ambulance situation that we have now with Coastal and um Brevar County Rescue. >> That is one. So that was something that came out of April when we closed the
hospital. Uh where the tone of why there is a distant a difference in conversation about that is it is not my opinion. It is not the position of our union to think that the hospital that was closed in Rocklage was a frivolous hospital. It was critical for the needs of the people in that area. It's
critical for the needs of the people all around. We had some fantastically horrible events over the weekend. If that hospital was in place, it would have received those people. Now, unfortunately, some of the outcomes would not have changed from that hospital and some of the medical doctors can explain that, but I don't live in
that world. I live in preh hospital and uh that world means get them to a place that has the cool tools. We only have the 10-minute tools and uh we don't agree with that. And it's 6 months since that hospital and so those short-term fixes are becoming long-term and they're not adequate. Uh one of the other things
to talk about, we'll get a little bit of leniency here is uh standalone hospitals. We would we would love to see a map of that like where are they going to be? When are they going to be how much money is it going to cost the taxpayers? How much are we going to augment it? What are the tax abatements? Like we would really like to be part of
that conversation. So please reach out. I got 14 board members. If you want to engage on on a different person, a different level, we'll make that happen. >> If I could, Chair, >> um I just want to share this. I I I get messages all the time, but this one in particular, the resident gave me
permission to share. Um they their husband had a stroke in my district. Um it took an ambulance over 20 minutes to get to them. Um which we all know a stroke every second counts basically. Um
and luckily they were okay at the end of this but um I agree with you what's happening right now is not okay and there are things that are being missed and um you know
We we definitely need more people, more ambulances on the road. We need to uh you know do better here. And so I'm I'm open to any and all
communication to get this going uh in a better way. >> Mr. Chair, if you don't mind, I have one reply. >> Go ahead, Lieutenant. From my understanding and some of the sidewalk conversations I had, it does sound like uh political
um restraints have been reduced and and we're moving into a better position. It does take conversations. I think the big conversation is uh as other commissioners have said before any of you were in place uh kicking that can uh that can hit that wall. It does sound like conversations are happening and
that's why I'm here to reassure that we're here to talk. Uh, I think uh time is of the essence and we ran out of time. >> Thank you. >> I'll say something just real quick uh to you, Mike. I've talked to Health First a lot recently and they they have a
obviously they're in this with you, right? They're getting a lot more traffic to Vera Hospital than they were before. and we've talked about how they've expanded uh sort of makeshift emergency corridor
and such and um and I asked on your behalf about the amount of time holding the wall um and and they assure me that they're that they're working on that and they're also formulating some plans um for standalone ER uh type situations in
in Bvard and how also urgent care facilities can can do some of that things. So there there is a lot of conversation. I'll I'll uh I'll commit to you that uh going forward with them. I'm I'm certainly happy to include you in that.
>> I appreciate that. Just >> hugging the wall and those things that you're talking about are wonderful. We agree with them. >> But those are the short-term fixes we're talking about. Putting extra beds in the hallway, doing these type of things. All we're doing is changing the statistics of what's called wall time. Uh we
appreciate that. Um, but I mean I'm not going to pull the numbers. It it doesn't matter. This past weekend was just terrible. And and we're going to learn a lot from it. We don't need to pull the numbers, but you know, you have to then take priority, you know, and when you get into wall times and priorities, that's a short-term fix. It's not for
the best interest of the greater good, and we just don't have the resources. And so, I appreciate that inclusion. Uh, we'd be more than happy and we look forward to the sitting down and and putting this all together. >> All right, sir. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Thank you very I have >> Commissioner Alman, sir, >> you mentioned this past weekend was
terrible. What are the specifics of that? >> So, what what I why I say it was terrible, just coming off a little bit of emotion, which I bring with me everywhere I go. >> Um I I worked a couple 48s, I got another 48 coming because I too am still in the field. I'm a lieutenant on station 80 and I back fill some of the
overtimes and try to prevent mandatory overtime when we have a lot of people on workers comp holiday season. This week is Halloween. Have a lot of guys with a lot of young kids. So, I try to fill those gaps. And so, not to be morbid, but you did ask. Uh, at Shift Exchange, uh, we get a lot of we're getting a lot of passdowns. Hey, I ran two fatalities.
I ran three fatalities. I ran four fatalities. Uh, we had this terrible boating accident that has, uh, ties to the relationship of public safety. U, these things are becoming very difficult to manage. I really appreciate, especially the county managers openness
to engage with our health and wellness per uh, activities. U, we know we're getting a lot of support. we were able to put a person in position for those type of things, but you can only take so much of this mental abuse. You can only take so much when you have to cycle out. U we didn't know, we didn't expect. Uh I
know you've seen the pictures of where some of our apparatus ended. They are not submarines. They're not jeeps. They're not supposed to go to some of these places. Um, I'm not here to defend any action, but I am here to tell you in the heat of the moment when you have a call and you have a piece of paper and a computer and it says do this. You're
like, I'll take my consequences later and this truck may end up in the river, but I'm going to try to do the best I can with the resources we have. We had one truck left over after that weekend. We have one backup truck left over that I moved out of and said, "Hey, man. Where's the truck?" And our fantastic mechanics said, "Hey, Mike, what are you
doing?" I was like, "Hey, we'll swap out." He's like, "Could you swap out ASAP?" "Cool, man. We'll just postpone dinner. Everybody get a snack. We did what we were supposed to do. We shuttled the truck where it needed to be and luckily the other trucks were fixed on site. It was just an alternator. Our mechanics did some awesome stuff. Put a new alternator in it. Whatever it needs
to happen and they were back on the road. But uh you understand that all that gets funneled through not just me, our command staff, our fire chief, our public safety director. All that gets funneled to a singularity. We have 460 people with the cities. We talked about mutual aid. We talked about all this
other stuff. you talked about 200 calls that gets funneled through 911. That also goes through us as well. So, uh it was an emotional response. I didn't know how to write a different term. So, maybe a wrong term to use, but that's how I speak. >> Okay. Thank you very much.
>> Okay. Kelly cover. >> I'm sorry. Hannah cover Hannah. >> Okay. >> Coverhaw. >> All right. >> I am Kelly Coverhaw. I am a Merit Island
resident for over 40 years. I serve as the District 2 chairperson for the dredging committee and I'm also on the Bvard Marine Advisory Council. Um, I'm asking that you as a commission
look at rescending the full ordinance uh amendment 2022-13. It was put in place in 2022 and it's my personal belief that there are many issues with the ordinance and here are a few that I see as problematic.
One, term limits. Limiting appointees to a specified term is not necessarily a good idea when you look at the legacy knowledge that many residents contribute. This can be an issue when you have new residents that do not know the history of the surrounding areas.
Number two, meeting frequency. Before this policy was put in place, each committee met at the necessary frequency. Sometimes four meetings a year is not sufficient to keep the citizens advised and sometimes it is but regulating the frequency is
counterproductive. And the third uh issue that I saw with this was the time and location. Having limits on time of day meetings limits the cross type of participants. Working people that have valuable
contributions will not be able to attend meetings during normal business hours. We cannot rely solely on our retired population for these committees. While this may have had good intentions, I think that some of the repercussions were not well thought out. Um, so I am
asking you to look at either rescending or revising the entire amendment. and I thank you for your time. >> Thank you. All right, commissioners, as promised,
we're going to go to J4. J4. >> All right. J4. >> J4. >> Oh, sorry. J4, Mr. chair is the school board's direction to the board of county commissioners to call a referendum election for a renewal of the school
board's additional 1 mil ad valorum tax millage for school operations. Under Florida statutes, um school boards may direct county commissions to call such an election. The maximum time period for such a levy if approved by
the voters is up to four years or until changed by another millillage election, whichever is earlier. Most recently in November 2022, the voters of Bvoulevard County approved an additional 1 mil advalorum tax millillage for school operations for four years. At a regular meeting this September, the school board
adopted resolution 202602. That resolution calls for a renewal of the expiring 1M levy and directs the board of county commissioners to place the required referendum election on the ballot of the general election to be held on November 3, 2026. Uh the agenda item includes a copy of
the school board's resolution as well as a proposed resolution of the board of county commissioners directing the supervisor of elections to place that on the ballot as requested. In considering this item, the board's not considering the wisdom of the proposed 1m advalora millage renewal. Uh rather if the school
board satisfied the applicable statutory requirements, the board has a ministerial duty to place the referendum election on the ballot as directed. In my opinion, the school board has met those requirements. Okay, we don't have any cards in this. Are there questions? You have a
question? No. Okay. No questions. Is there any discussion on the item? >> No. >> Got a I've got discussion. >> Okay. >> By us approving this, we're not con condemning it or condoning it. Correct. >> That's correct, Commissioner.
>> Okay. It's up to the taxpayers to vote. Correct. >> Yes, sir. >> All right. Thank you. I is it fair to say Morris we're we we we simply have to go through this process before the supervisor of elections can put it on the ballot? >> That's correct. It's a statutory requirement. You're really a pass
through for the school board's direction >> and it's their right to put these issues before the voter. >> Absolutely. >> Yes. >> Okay. Any other discussion on the item? We're on J4. Is there a motion on the item? >> Move to approve. >> I thought you were going to say that. Okay. Have a motion by Commissioner
Delaney. Is there a second? Second. >> Second. >> I have a second by Commissioner Alman. Clerk will call the role on J4. >> Commissioner Delaney. >> Yes. >> Vice Chair Goodson. >> Yes. >> Commissioner Atkinson. >> Yes. >> Commissioner Alman. >> Yes.
>> Chairman Felner. >> Yes. We'll show that approve. 5-0. We'll go to J5. Morris. >> J5 is similar. The school board in this case requests that the board of county commissioners adopt a resolution calling a referendum election for the electors of the county to vote whether to renew
the half cent sales sir tax uh for school capital outlay expenditures that was approved by the voters in 2014 and again in 2020. Those were both six-year uh approvals. This time the school board's requesting that the uh certax be approved for the maximum time period of
10 years. Again, this is provided by statute. the school board and each county may levy a discretionary sales tax and may request that the board of county commissioners place the item on the ballot. I will note a very slight difference between this and the prior item in that the statutory language with
the school board's millage levy is school board directs county commission to place it on the ballot. Uh in this case we've used the lang the language request. I believe it's absolutely clear under the law that the school board has the ability to have this placed on the ballot and that the board of county commissioners has a duty to place it on
the ballot. I will note that arguably there's some authorities out there in the form of an attorney general opinion and a couple circuit court cases that are not binding on this board and wouldn't be dispositive of the matter if there were an issue. But arguably at least the board of county commissioners,
not school board, has discretion as to which general election ballot that is placed on. However, it is it is clear that it must be placed on the ballot and um and I couldn't guarantee you the outcome if the board didn't place it on the November 2026 ballot as requested.
>> I I think we understand that that's what they're looking to do. Uh, Commissioner Delaney, >> I was wondering if somebody from the school board um would mind coming up and talking to us about um uh some of the
changes with charter schools uh possibly joining our schools or or filling some of the empty space and how that um how that kind of works. >> Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. I'm Mark
Rendell, superintendent Bvard public schools. So, um the request to have the half cent sales for tax renewed is for a school capital outlay. U charter schools do get a portion of that based on their enrollment. Your question appears to be
about the schools of hope legislation, which means if uh we have buildings that are underenrolled, charter schools can operate inside those buildings. It's not really affected by this. Um this millage will be used for
us to maintain and build new facilities. is um are are the charter schools able to say to the B Boulevard Bvard County School Board um we need these capital improvements and you all have to um
provide those improvements and does it shift the need of our community schools? You know what I mean? Um >> for the charters that are operating on their own with their own building and everything, they maintain their facilities to their standards. For our
buildings, we have to maintain them to certain standards, statutory requirements. So if it was a schools of hope situation where a charter were operating inside of our one of our schools, we would still be maintaining that building to our standards anyway, which are the state requirements.
>> But they can't come in and say, "We want gold floors and now you have to provide them." >> Correct. Okay. I just want to make sure that that's on the record. That was all. Thank you so much. >> Okay. Any other questions since we have the superintendent up here? >> No. >> No.
>> I just want to publicly say thank you so much for everything that you do. >> All right. Thanks. >> You guys do a great job. >> Appreciate it. >> Okay. I don't think I have any cards in this one either. Uh we're in discussion. Is there any discussion on the item? Is there a motion on the item? >> I have a motion by Commissioner Atinson.
And I have a second by Commissioner Delaney. Clerk will call the role on J5. >> Commissioner Delaney, >> yes. >> Vice Chair Goodson, >> yes. >> Commissioner Atkinson, >> yes. >> Commissioner Alman, >> yes. >> Chairman Felman, >> yes. We'll show that approved. 5. Thank
you, commissioners. All right, let's go back to F8. F8. Thanks, everybody. Go educate our children. That's why we tried to get you out of here early. All right. Okay.
Uh, Commissioner Delini, uh, you asked that this be taken off. I'll go to you first. >> Sure. Thank you. Um, I just wanted to, uh, pull this just to stay consistent with what I've done in the past with our, um, other, uh, promotions and
whatnot. um Ian and um Billy and Wanita. I'm probably missing a couple over the past year. So um thank you Jill for uh for sitting through this, but I would like to make a motion move to approve.
>> Okay. Any no other questions or discussion? I have a motion by Commissioner Delini on F8. Is there a second? >> Second. >> I have a second by Commissioner Atinson. The clerk will call the role on F8. >> Commissioner Delaney, >> yes. >> Vice Chair Goodson,
>> yes. >> Commissioner Atkinson, >> yes. >> Commissioner Alman, >> yes. >> Chairman Felner, >> enthusiastically, yes. Jill, congratulations. [Applause]
I hope it's everything you dreamed. Okay. Congratulations. Seriously, to Jill Hayes. She does a wonderful job for the county and she's already a wonderful assistant county manager. All right, we're going to go to H1. Commissioners
H1 and I see Amanda's in the box. >> Good morning, commissioners. Item H1 is a public interest determination for wetland impacts at the Lindy plant in Mims. There's an expansion there. They'll be impacting 1.07 07 acres and offsetting that with mitigation at a
Bvard County Mitigation Bank. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. I believe the consultant is here if you have questions of them. >> All right, questions for Amanda. Are there questions for Amanda? Okay, we got two cards. We'll go to the cards. Okay,
I think it's Dory Yogling. Yos Yosling. I'm having a hard time with uh >> see that >> I might need the uh extra magnifying glasses today here. >> Derek, maybe Derek.
>> Dave. >> Okay. >> Is it just for questions? >> Just answer questions. >> Okay. We're gonna hold on to you here. Okay. Shelley Owenbrink. >> Shelenbrink. You're also here for questions. Okay.
All right. Are there questions then, Commissioner, since we have two people from the plant? Okay. Uh, Commissioner Goodson, sir. >> Yes. Uh, if you're if you're moving uh you're mitigating land, correct? And the
land is in Farmington, correct? >> Farmington mitigation. >> Yes. >> Yes. Correct. Ma'am, >> maybe you should come up so we can get this on the mic. Okay. Just say your say your name one more
time for the record, please. >> My name is Shelby Owenbrink. I'm an environmental consultant with Kimley Horn and Associates. >> Okay, very good. Commissioner Goodson. >> Okay. If you've heard during this meeting talk about flooding with new construction, correct? >> I have.
>> And you're buying mitigation land in Farmington, correct? >> Farmington Mitigation Bank. Yes. >> Yes. Okay. So tell me then, how are you going to help the commissioner in district 1 not flood adjacent land?
As the environmental consultant, I'm here to speak on the wetland impacts that are associated with this. We do have um a full civil engineering team on in the project as well that's helping to make sure we don't have flood plane um
impacts on-site or um offsite as well. So, is your engineer here today to answer questions like that? >> My engineer is not here. >> Okay. Did you have flooding in the last
weekend of all the rains? >> Did my project site have flooding? >> Yes. >> Um so, the the existing project is a filled raised platform. Correct. Um with with some percolation ponds. Um the
majority of our development is occurring on the existing fill pad with some wetland impacts associated. Those wetlands will be brought up and filled to avoid uh flood plane impacts from the future development.
>> Did it answer the question I asked you? If you're going to raise the land three feet and then do a pond, then do an overflow structure out of that pond. Did you have flooding or are you going to have flooding for the commissioner in
district one? We are designing the flood the storm water pond and the raising the site to meet all flood plane requirements for this development. We're currently in site plan application review and we are in discussions with
the the flooding department as well to make sure we meet all requirements. Um if we meet all those requirements, my understanding is we should not have flood plane impacts on our site or adjacent. I would agree you wouldn't have it on your site, but once you have a
hundredyear storm or more hurricane or tornado, the outflow of your pond is going somewhere and that's on your neighbors. Would you agree with that? >> Well, the neighbor to the south is the existing Lindy plant that is in operation. Um to the east, we have
undeveloped wetlands um which aren't planned to be impacted at any point. So water retention can absolutely take on more there. And um east of that we have the river itself. Um to the north and the west meaning St. John's or the river
meaning Indian River? >> Indian River. >> So you're allowed to outflow to the river. >> Um I'm not incredibly familiar with the the flow pattern for our development. I'm just speaking to the adjacent lands.
Aren't you glad I'm asking you questions? >> It's fantastic. It's great to meet you. >> I thought so. Is there anybody else with you that can answer questions? >> Nope. Don't. Don't. Okay. As long as District One's happy with the outflow
and the overflow of your lake into the public river or somewhere else, I have no issues. I just want everybody to understand that your water's got to go somewhere once it fills up on your land. >> Yes. And we are leaving 5 acres of
wetlands unimpacted on this parcel. Um we are we have needs that go outside of our existing footprint of a cleared and modified area. So we're doing minor impacts to the adjacent wetlands to fit everything that we need to fit in that area. But the majority of our site is
going to remain in wetlands that will be able to do the natural water retention and all of that fantastic stuff that wetlands offer us in this area. >> All right, question. You stay right there. Commissioner District One, are
you happy with this? Are you satisfied with the overflow that will occur sometime in our lifetime >> with this project, this location, this thing? Yes. >> Okay. >> Um because Amanda has also mentioned that um the natural resources is
satisfied with what they are what they're doing and um this this particular area um like you had mentioned doesn't have any neighbors really. It's all undeveloped land. Um,
and this is not a area that is um at extensive risk I would say. >> Okay. Now you ma'am just one minute. Natural resources. Could you speak to this question over time when you build a
and I'm not knocking the facility. I I'm I'm all for it. I'm just asking you. 20 years from now when a subdivision comes next door, you're not going to be able to use the excuse. Are you going to be able to use the excuse, okay, wait a minute, you can't
you can't raise it to that elev elevation. The house pads, >> so you're asking about future developments, whether they'll have to meet the standards at that time. I'm asking you, can you in future developments raise the house pads three
foot over the crown of the road to assure not flooding the subdivision, but maybe the water going right or left or going back to Lindy? I don't know. I'm just asking. >> Yeah, I mean future developments will have to meet the storm water criteria at that time and those standards are being
increased on December 27th of this year. So any future developments would have to assure >> Okay. Okay. And right now, what is the elevation of above the crown of the road? >> Um, we're looking at the design. It's a little bit difficult to to see, but they do have um a pond designed here. The
design right now is still preliminary. They will have to meet all the criteria before they can be approved. So, this is this is just a wetland impact determination. >> And you will agree that the design of the pond would have to be an elevation that the water would outflow into
somebody's ditch or somewhere else. Would that be correct? >> I'm not sure where the outflow we can't really see where the the current outflow design is. Dorsy, do you want Can you see more than I can >> but that elevation will come back for approval, right?
>> Well, it will be approved. >> Yeah. >> Administratively, not back to the board. Yes. >> Sorry, chair. May I ask another question >> for a followup? >> Okay. So, with that all being said, and I understand you're out in the middle of a cow pasture or something or what
forests and wetlands all because there's not much out there. But as you go through life and you you uh approve development there, I don't want to come back and hear you can't do it because of this, yada. Because if if they're going to do it,
they need to plan for the future. And I'm talking 40 years out. something that you're happy with, do they not? >> Um, they will have to meet the criteria. Once they do, administratively, we have to approve it. Um, so we're not really
looking 40 years ahead at this point. We're looking at the the regulations that we have in hand. >> Yeah. All right. Thank you, chair. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am. >> Okay. >> Bring the other guy next time. >> All right. >> Come with me. >> Okay. I think we're done with questions.
Okay. Um that was it for the cards. Um is uh we're in discussion discussion on the item. Anyone in discussion chair? >> All right. Commissioner, >> the only discussion I've got is if the commissioner of district 1 is happy with
her proposal. >> I think she said that. I believe she answered that, sir. >> Okay. >> All right. Okay. Is there a motion? >> I'll move to approve. >> I have a motion by Commissioner Delaney. Have a second by Commissioner Alman. Clerk will call the role. Okay.
>> Commissioner Delaney, >> yes. >> Vice Chair Goodson, >> yes. >> Commissioner Atkinson, >> yes. >> Commissioner Alman, >> yes. >> Chairman Felner, >> yes. And we will show that passes 50. Okay, commissioners, we're going to go to Juan.
>> Morning, commissioners. Um, item J1 is coming from the TDC. It's a recommendation to provide Waterway Warriors $7,500 for a project that they have on the Pineita Causeway, a barrel program. Uh
it'll pay for the emptying uh of the barrels on a regular basis. >> Okay. I consider this uh my item as well. I'm happy to try to answer questions. TDC uh took this up and the Waterway Warriors came. Uh it's no
secret. I think a lot of this group um and I think the causeways have never looked better. And so we want to keep the barrel program going. They have someone who's basically inkinding uh their service to the tune of $7,500. And so we're looking for a match uh to keep
that going. That's the item. There any questions on that or can I try to answer questions? I also have waterway warriors here. So, I'm wondering who actually is doing that now. >> Sharon,
that's okay. She can answer specifics better than I can. This is Sharon Null with the Waterway Warriors. >> Sharon Null with the Waterway Warriors. Um, who is doing it right now? The >> the contractor is right on junk removal and they are in their donation service.
>> Okay. >> Time frame. What is the the time frame of picking up the cans and emptying them? >> It is done 60 times a year. So, it is done every single weekend and then twice on the major holidays. That's due to the data that we have collected over the
last years. His schedule is is due to the data that we have collected showing that we need two cleanups on the weekends, holiday weekends. >> Okay. And that's for all the causeways. >> It's just for the Pineita >> causeway. Gotcha. Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. And so that we clarify here real
quick, their their cleanups that they do where they go out and they pick up and so when you're on Pineita and you see the bags by the sign um that that you have worked out with an FOT um contractor. So that's through FDOT. They have a contractor. They come pick it up.
So they bag it, they put it there and that's a result of their cleanups. The barrel program that they that they did is what we're talking about today. And so it's a bit much for KBB. And so they they've they've worked this out and um
that's what the $7,500 is going to um augment. Any other questions on that? No, >> I just have a comment. I I think this is great and thank you for bringing it forward. >> Okay, very good. Um Okay, I don't think
we have any other discussion on it. No, this uh I'll make the motion on this one. I'm happy to. Is there a second? Have a second by Commissioner Atkinson. Clerk will call the role. >> Commissioner Delaney, >> yes. >> Vice Chair Goodson, >> yes.
>> Commissioner Atkinson, >> yes. >> Commissioner Alman, >> yes. >> Chairman Felner, >> yes. And thank you, Sharon, to your group. Waterway Warriors does a great thing uh on behalf of the county out there every day. Thank you. We'll go to uh J2 commissioners and I
think I see Chief and Colonel Wallace. Gentlemen, >> good morning. Uh item J2. Before I get into item J2, uh to springboard off a lot of the conversation this afternoon, um I'll talk about the elephant in the
room for BCFR, the viral video of the ambulance that the union president talked about. uh he talked about, you know, what those guys and girls were doing and the response that we had this weekend. Terrible, crazy conditions. Uh we're not going after them because as
somebody I was working shoulder-to-shoulder with the BCSO a marine at the same time in the middle of the St. John's coordinating those efforts uh as we were doing a large area search, the Amarine airboat would come over to me asking for resources to send
to the north end. So, as we were doing a search and rescue mission in the St. John's River around midnight, we were still coordinating efforts with the Amarine Sheriff's Office to go north. It was uh quite a dynamic Sunday. Uh in my
26 years to be working to large events like that, uh with a awesome shoulder-to-shoulder uh communication and and work was amazing. Um, but my point to say that was the visibility uh
that I witnessed and the weather that I witnessed, I don't think, you know, those folks were doing the best they could to respond to an event with less than zero visibility. Um, and another great point by the union president is our fleet guys and guys, they worked
their tails off with those trucks going through the water and so trucks are a hard thing to keep going and we always need trucks. So that's why we are here for you today with item J2 uh requesting allocation of fire control MSTU funds in
the amount total amount of 5.5 million to approve the purchase of four class A pumpers at the at the amount of 2.9 million one type 4 wildland brush truck and that wildland brush truck is also so brush
fires and water events like this typically don't go hand in hand. So the this type 4 brush truck will also have the ability to forklift off the firefighting bed and then add on a highwater vehicle rescue bed similar
to the one Pal Bay sent us one uh up during the event. They had just p recently purchased two. uh ESO has a few uh but those the newest models of those are XS surplus military and they're 1978 models so parts and keeping them going
is getting tough. This will be a newer model of that and it'll allow us to do both things and we're fortunate enough that when there's a lot of water there's not brush fires vice versa as well as the beginning construction of fire station 27 in the Westport St. John
Fail Lake Park area. Uh request authority to the county manager to execute all necessary budget uh amendments and other administrative actions necessary to complete this purchase.
>> All right. Questions for Chief or Matt Walls? >> I have a question. Commissioner Atinson, >> um I just wanted to hear from you a little bit about the um the efforts that you're making to make sure that the equipment that we're
buying, we can have repair. So that my my question is we don't have equipment, do we? That's going to not be repairable in a few years because of the company is >> so great. I'm glad you asked that question and it allows me I didn't I felt like I was talking too much
already, but you asked a question that uh lets me put in a little more piece that I would like to. So, the uh reason for this purchase and why it's important is we're still running frontline trucks that the vendor went out of business, the manufacturer went out of business in
2006. So, the newest of those models is 20 years old. Uh so, it'll allow us to fix those and and start flushing some of those out. Although uh you you may look at our boneyard, I don't surplus those. We keep them for parts and we even help
out other fire departments that are still trying to run those trucks. Um we've become somewhat of a parts depot for the Southeast. Um but that's, you know, it's it's the right thing to do to keep these trucks going and uh do our best to save money. Uh, and that's why
these trucks right now are great because they have a 180 day or less delivery time. Uh, within the fire service community of building fire trucks and I think all heavy equipment, even for solid waste and those guys, it's taken a long time to get big trucks. Uh, 36 to
48 months is some of the standard delivery time. Uh, but another great point to what you're saying is getting parts is we don't buy fire trucks that build proprietary. A lesson we learned with one manufacturer. Proprietary parts
are terrible. >> They're costly. They're oneoff. So, um, the windshield is a Kenworth. The door handles are a Peter built. And I'm making that up a little bit, but that's that's how we purchase. Now, >> I have another question if I may.
>> Uh, she has a followup. >> I have a follow-up question. So, um, buying these now >> as opposed to buying them in four years or five years, I mean, we all know that everything bought later is more expensive. Any idea just how much more expensive could it be if we put this
off? >> I know that's not an easy question. >> So, just in the history of almost four years as the fire chief, um, buying early, we've probably we've probably saved $2 million buying early. um ladder trucks. The the ladder truck that we
bought the the first the first thing I sat up here for as fire chief was to buy a 100 foot tower ladder truck uh at the tune of 1.3 million and the one that you approved about two meetings ago is 2.2
million. So, in the time that I've been your fire chief >> and and uh an example I I remember of this too is the hazmat truck, right, that you got I think about a year ago. That was a little bit early, but uh it was on the lot and you got >> it was about 800,000 saved on the hazmat
truck that we bought early. >> Yeah. So, other are Okay, questions are the same. Now, I I'd be remiss if I didn't ask this. I always ask same drivetrain, similar drivetrain. Yeah. Okay. All right. Good deal. Okay. I don't think I
have any cards on this one, right? Okay. Um, any discussion on this? Commissioner Delaney, are you in discussion? >> Yes. Thank you. Um, I I won't be able to support this today. Um, and I just want to explain why. I
feel like um when we asked the public for um you know the the raise for our uh fire assessment and the MSTU um I feel like
we really need to fix the staffing issues. Um and until we are able to implement Kelly days or a 2472 schedule um the recruitment efforts uh you know while while everybody's
working very hard until we have some kind of work life balance element in uh that we can advertise it's we're not going to get people fast enough. And so I I personally believe we need to spend
this money on implementing those work life balance uh pieces into our um contract and that's just how I feel about it. So thank you. >> All right. Other discussion on the item? Is there a motion on the item?
>> Motion to approve. >> I have a motion by Commissioner Atinson. I have a second by Commissioner Alman. Clerk will call the role. >> Commissioner Delaney. No. Vice Chair Goodson, >> yes. >> Commissioner Atkinson, >> yes. >> Commissioner Alman, >> yes. >> Chairman Felner,
>> yes. We'll show that approved. Okay, commissioners, we're going to go to J3 and do have some cards on this one. Commissioners, Kathy, you're recognized.
Good morning, commissioners. Uh J3 is a request to acknowledge receipt of the 2025 uh county advisory board annual written report and approve request for excusal dismissal due to absences for some members. Bvard County Board uh Bvard
County Code of Ordinance provides that all advisory boards shall submit an annual written report to the board at the beginning of the county's fiscal year. This item includes all the county's 34 advisory boards. All right, questions for Kathy.
No, we'll go to the cards. Barry, sir, you're going to have to say your last name. I >> can't make it out, but you can say that when you when you're up here. >> I'm Barry Forbes. Um, okay.
>> My handwriting is not great. >> Mine's not good. Mine's not good either. Um, I serve as the uh treasurer for the uh Bvard County Housing Finance Authority. Um, and we got an opportunity to talk today, so we we we showed up.
But um, not sure how many of you are very familiar with what we do, but our primary role is to manage the allocation of tax-free bond issues for the uh, purpose of providing affordable housing
here in Bvard County. And um we do that to help support single family construction for individuals and to uh help support commercial development of affordable housing as well. Um we're not the housing authority that manages
public housing. We are the group that just manages that uh particular aspect of of helping um provide the residents here in Bvoulevard County the ability to live somewhere in an affordable way. the um
um there are a number of things that we have been able to do um over the last several years and over the last you know decades and what I think most people will remember are the first-time home
buyer programs uh the bond issues if you will and that has become very difficult to do now it's not economically feasible to do today because of where interest rates are. So, a lot of our we've we've you know, the professionals in this field have come up with some creative
ways to help. But, uh the one thing I'm here to to to urge you to do is to support everything you can to help make housing affordable in Bvard County. Um we are in a crisis situation. And I mean
the primary I mean if if the interest rate on a home loan was zero, it's not what I would term affordable. So finding better ways and cheaper ways to build housing is is paramount. So anything that you can do, I know we've talked a
lot about storm water and density and that type of thing, but um you know for the right types of projects, I think we do need to to to weigh those those things. So, I'd urge you to do that, but be glad to answer any questions that you
have about the authority. Um, but appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today. >> All right, sir. All right. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Kevin Goolson. [Music] Hello. Uh, I'm Kevin Goldston and I'm a
member of the Citizens Budget Review Committee and I appreciate your time and I thank you for your for your interest. Um, I want to talk a little bit about my experience on the board. When I joined, I had no idea how county budgets were made. I had no idea the funding cycles
and and all the different spending buckets. And the first two or three years I learned a lot about how the county operates. And just to also add to that, I'm a business consultant. I help businesses with their efficiencies and
productivity. So being able to apply my my professional skills as a member has been very valuable, I think, uh to the committee. Um we we've done some good things. Uh I think um we've looked at a lot of places
in the county budget and some of them that are notable I want to mention to you was the health insurance. We spent gosh at least four or five sessions going through and hearing presentations from that uh department. And when I
looked at the number of employees that are covered and what private businesses pay, I mean it's it's very very uh uh efficient. And I don't know how they can make it any more efficient. We looked at road maintenance. Of course, we're all driving around. We see potholes. We're
like, "Hey, what's going on? We had several meetings with the public works people." And when we started, and I've been on the board six or seven years now, there were a lot of roads that were in a bad condition and and further updates as it went through and, you know, they had that that grading scale.
They worked miracles. And in looking at the building maintenance and I'm sorry, the road maintenance, I said, "Well, what about matching grants? How does that work?" And come to find out that there really wasn't a central repository or somebody focused on getting grants.
Now, as a conservative, I don't want lots of free money. But if this federal government and the state government has allocated funds for certain purposes, why shouldn't our county get its fair share as as much as anybody? And so in uh your and you y you y'all took the
advice and you made a position about two years ago I think for someone to focus on grants. We had a presentation from this individual last summer and come to find out that uh uh they're managing something north of $30 million that it
may have come in despite the focus but the impact I think was was positive. And so, you know, I asked myself, well, what is it that we could do better? And one of the things that was mentioned earlier was this ordinance 2213
term limits and the uh only having four meetings a year. Many times we have we get into a topic and now with four meetings a year, it takes us two years to dig into it. And I would recommend to you that you change that that take the term limits off. Thank you very much for
your time. I open any questions if you have about the committee. if anybody has any. >> I don't hear any. I'll I'll I'll say to you uh sir that I do appreciate uh the many people who work for the county for free. It's hard to get people to work
for the county for money. >> It's uh even harder to get them to work for the county for free. So, I do appreciate every one of you. And I also do value the many years of experience uh that our our board members have. It's it's invaluable. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you for your time. Mr. Chairman, I sir, >> I know that's the second time I've heard doing away with the term limits. I would be in favor of doing that. I >> I'll tell you, I think that's something that we could put on a future agenda if you like to do that,
>> Commissioner. Okay. You want to do that? >> Okay. >> I um just because we're talking about this right now. The reason why I asked for this to be pulled is because this is one of the things that I um campaigned on was breathing more life into our advisory boards. And um I was planning
on bringing forward some changes, but I'm happy to >> collaborate with with the board to, you know, bring forward a um >> all the ideas that we can pull together. >> I think all those things could be future agenda items. Um whatever you're I'm I'm
happy to discuss it further. Um I it's it's my opinion and I understand it's well taken with the the term limits u because it's it's it's sometimes it's hard to get people to to be on the boards also in these areas of specialty. Uh so we
have we have many of those areas and and so I I really appreciate the folks who care enough about sometimes their industry to continue to serve on these boards for sometimes for many years. And I always try to make it open to new
folks, but uh often times it it it just is that um the folks who have worked in that for a long time are are the ones who dedicate the time to making their own industry better. We'll go we still got some more cards here. Uh Carrie Frink,
>> is it okay? >> Yeah. Oh yeah, sure. No, we we we don't like hearing from Dr. Patsky at all. So >> the men in the white coats are coming for you guys, but don't get too scared. I'm as chairman of Boulevard County Commission on Aging, I would like to
present Curry Frink, who is chairman of our advisory, our advocacy subcommittee, and he is a very much more eloquent speaker and he's the best dressed guy in Bvard County. So, I'm going to present Carrie Fink. >> And did you just have the raffle for the car? >> We did. >> Yeah.
>> It was a Melbourne resident who uh so we've been very fortunate every year. >> What was the car this year? >> Uh it's the winner's choice. AJ Hires makes seven cars available. Okay, >> the winner's pick. We don't know. They're still deciding. So, we'll put it out on our Facebook as soon as we know. >> Very good. Congratulations with that.
>> Yeah, it keeps our little charity running. I'm Carrie Frink with Helping Seniors of Bvard. Today, I am here uh to talk about the work that we do together with uh the chair of the Bvard Commission on Aging is Dr. Pomsky. Our role is we're 100% seniors all the time.
And you already know one in four uh of us in Bvard County are age 65 plus. And you also know that one in two of us are over the age of 50. So by ARP definitions, they're going to send you a membership card the day you turn 50, whether you're insulted or not. And I
always say this, >> that's the new number. 50. >> It is. >> 50 is the number. Although we say 80 is the new 60 now. Okay? It's a whole different deal. But let me just say this real quickly because we talk about this. Bvard County is gaining so many um
seniors every every day. And it happens for three reasons. Number one is that more people are turning 65. It's one every seven seconds nationally. Uh so everybody is turning 65. But the other thing is people are just flat living longer. They used to stop down a
national uh television show to honor the two people in America who turned 100. Today there are many many people hundred who are seniors in our area. And then third, everybody's moving to Florida. So our role in Bravo Commission on Aging is to expand awareness of the value of
seniors in our county and we are committed really to two goals for next year. Uh number one, we are launching a senior needs survey because we want to come back and assess what seniors are telling us. We're working with a lot of community partners, folks like Senior
Life magazine, Senior Scene Magazine. We're going to promote it. Aging Matters is going to promote it. Bvard uh Alzheimer's Foundation is going to promote it. But we want to hear what the pulse of seniors are asking us for. And then with the results of that, we're going to come back and ask you, the board of commissioners, to help us in a
process of developing a countywide aging plan as one of the leading counties in terms of aging. I would love our goal collectively five years from now is people look at Bvard County and go, these people are taking good care of seniors. So that's what we're here to do. And so thank you for this time to
share on that. Very good, sir. Thank you. Um, >> I'll use his last few seconds that the VAR Commission on Aging is co-sponsoring the 35th postaccute and long-term care
continuum. So, it's all the health care from home care to hospice to assisted living to nursing homes to rehab centers. That's going to be on November 19th. And it's a a free educational event for anybody across the healthc care continuum. Anybody from the
commission or folks would like to attend. You can register. Bvard County Commission on Aging is co-sponsoring it along with the Bavar County Medical Directors Association. And all you could to register very simple just go to bcmda.org and you can register online. Pick what
meal you want. We have a 2-hour session where we have an exhibit hall. Then we have three-hour session where we have education for folks that are in any aspect of of care of seniors in Bvard County. >> And what's the venue? Where will it be hosted? >> It'll be out the at the Rialto Hilton in
Melbourne. Okay. >> And our sheriff's department comes and presents the colors. And then we have someone sing the national anthem and we have a reverend that's you've been in the service. We try to do this right after uh Veterans Day to honor the veterans, but also before Thanksgiving
to give thanks to all the caregivers that take care of all of our seniors across Bvard County. So again, invitation and it's November 19th exhibit exhibit hall is 4 to 6 and then the program is 6:00 to 9. So again, all are invited and hope people that may be
watching this, it's bcmda.org. Thank you very much. >> You might be more optimistic about the number of people watch a commission meeting. uh than reality. But you did a good job with your plug there. >> Thank you all. >> All right. Don Dice. Dice.
>> Dice. >> Dice. Sir, >> you're recognized. >> Yeah, I'm Don Dice. I'm the I'm a member of the Saber Indian River Lagoon uh citizens oversight committee and it's an advisory board to the county
commission through the department of u natural resource ma uh management. Uh you've got our annual report and you got written comments from me. Um but the focus of our COC is to restore the
health of the Indian River Lagoon system and our monthly meetings are an opportunity for the public to to voice concerns and offer solutions. Uh each year we select projects for recommendation to the county commission to be funded by the sororal sales
certax. The committee reviews monthly financial reports, uh, project pro progress reports, project performance, uh, water quality monitoring data and system status reports. Our product is the
yearly project plan, which is like 400 pages long. Uh, I have a shortened version uh, for anybody interested. It's a brochure that explains everything. >> We appreciate that. >> Yeah, that's good. Yeah. Um and it's for
approval by the county commission. You'll receive it early next year uh for the 2026 plan. Things of significance this year um turnover uh from from um
members um term limits. Uh but we're not complaining. It's five of the seven voting uh members are new. So we spent a lot of time onboarding new members and we kept two ameritus members for as advisors. So that's an option for you in
the future. Uh new regulations have been uh passed by the by um the state uh with t time limits affecting improvements to water treatment, septic systems and storm water. So those those were were
mentioned here. Uh we have been seeing water quality improvement um improvements within the lagoon. Also uh blooms are less intense and seaggrasses are returning to some areas of the IRL system. The projects are working but we
have a lot more work to do. Thank you >> sir. Thank you very much. Appreciate you being here today. John Hopping Garden. Morning, commission. How are you? Um, I come to you as one of the
individuals that serve on, uh, advisory boards. Uh, I'm from the private sector and we're here to help. Um the discussion earlier about term limits uh I firmly believe we should keep term limits on advisory boards because we
need new people coming on the boards with new ideas, new views that we don't get when we have people that have been on boards for 10 to 12 years. It's they get really old and boring and stale. So, I would recommend that if you decide to
investigate term limits that you think clearly that term limits are beneficial for our boards. I serve on two county boards, planning and zoning and affordable housing. And I also am the
chairman for the ICO for the school district on the half penny tax. uh we just implemented on the ICO term limits because we had members that had been there since the beginning of the uh of the referendum in 2014.
Um one of my concerns um is that how the commission receives our input on items that we have for example at planning and zoning. Do you
watch the the meetings that we have? Do you review the televised broadcast? Do you read our minutes? Because oftentimes I come here during your zoning sessions and the information that you're re receiving is not what we had presented
or agreed to in our meetings. So I I'm not sure of the vehicle that you all are using to make your decisions. and it's a little concerning. Often times, uh, some of the presenters or the applicants will come up and talk a different story than
what we've heard and that's a little problematic. Um, maybe because we are the filter uh for y'all and uh and they realize that they have to change their tactics in order to get what they want. I don't know. But we we want to be able
to communicate more with you and if we can help you in making your decisions on some of the things that we advise you about uh we're here to help and uh I enjoy my time on the boards. I think that we should have u more people
involved. I know in h um in the affordable housing we just changed over the entire board with new people who are very active know what they're doing. Um, the last commission changed the makeup of the planning and zoning board. We now
have 15 voting members. Sometimes we run out of chairs to seat them. So, I I would say that uh we're doing well with the advisory boards. Thank you for your time. >> I'll I'll say real quick, John, uh I do value uh speaking for myself, uh the the
uh planning and zoning board. I always ask what what happened there. um do watch um and uh my staff watches it. Uh we usually have it playing live um and and you know I'm in this building. Sometimes I stick my head in there, but
not not very often do I walk into you know to to board meetings and such. I often describe your board uh the planning and zoning one as uh the oyster of um the the county's um planning. So,
uh, you do I think I think planning and zoning does a really good job of of filtering out a lot so that when we do get to our planning and zoning, uh, meetings as a commission where we're really getting down to the essence of it. So, for me, I I I do appreciate it
very much. >> It's our pleasure. >> Okay. A couple more. >> Uh, Tom Camemer Dinner. Perfect. >> Um, sir, I'm getting over a head cold and um, >> you got it perfect.
>> Not 100%. So, >> I just said Tom, I got up. >> It is phonetic. I'll give you that. >> I was hearing the fire chief earlier talking about his fire trucks. I have a oven from 1978 that we still have. >> I was going to say that the 78 model stuff will probably still work in an EMP
event. So, there's some irony in that one. >> Yeah, we we we keep our stuff as long as we can. There you go. So here to talk about again president CEO agent matters in Bvard here to talk about my time on Bvard Commission on Aging. Um it has been eye openening experience with working with a group of people that
dedicated to seniors of Bvard. I'm also on the Florida Association of Aging Service Providers. Um the group is cohesive in nature and we have a common cause to help um provide vital vital information and help make improvements. I'm not very well verssed at the
policies and procedures. I'm kind of like more of a bull in a china shop in a lot of cases. Um being CEO of three years, you know, kind of learning that role and then going into this role here. Um you know, we need to bring the a issues of the aging population to the forefront.
While Carrie was giving you stats there, aging matters is really we look at 60 and above and you're talking about over 200,000 people in Bvoulevard County that are 60 and above and that number is growing, you know. So we really need to take make a shift in how we think about
how we do things in BVAR County and uh you know food insecurity, affordable housing and transportation always at the top of the list. I have waiting list in every area of my agency from the home care side to the
mills on wheels program. So the problems aren't going away and the the funding is just not keeping up. But that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to find pro solutions to those problems. But also, I think that, you know, having more of that audience, that one-on-one with the with the commissioners, I think is important, and I would love to do
that in the future. Um, it just it's just vital. It's just vital that we we come to the forefront. And everybody in here has has things they want to talk about and issues and they're all important, but when you talk about housing, that's a common thing for everybody, but we want to be there. We want to be
in that conversation. food insecurity. Again, you have children, you have middle uh people of middle age, and then you have seniors. It's all a common problem, but we want to be a part of the conversation, and we want you to be a part of that conversation as well. And uh I thank you for your time, and I love being here, and I love being a part of
that commission. So, thank you. >> That's great, sir. Thank you very much. We appreciate your comments this morning. >> Uh Jared Atkins, Good morning. So, uh, I'm Jared Atkins. I am part of the aforementioned oyster
that you, uh, refer to us as. That's a new one for me. So, that's interesting. Uh, uh, I wasn't really planning on speaking, but I filled out a card and then I kind of just put some thoughts together. And so now I'm going to I'm going to try to keep it under 3 minutes. Um so I've been on the board less than a
year planning and zoning of course uh the oyster and um I guess uh I had spoken in front of that board a number of times prior to being appointed to the board.
And for that reason, I really value public input. And I think that that's a really important way to sort of gather data that were otherwise not provided with by engineers, property attorneys, what what
have you. Um, and I don't um particularly like when folks are encouraged not to come up and say their piece. Um, it doesn't happen a lot, but it it can
happen. It does happen. Um, I think that uh the engineers, the developers uh make claims that sort of go unchecked and I think that that's uh like I said, we're where public input folks that live in
these communities see what happens with weather, traffic, and whatnot. Uh I think that that's where their input is needed the most. Um, I do have something real quick here that I'm just going to read only because there's some very specific data that goes along with it,
but um, okay. Lee County versus Sunb Belt Equities, uh, Florida second district in 1993 had a ruling that held uh, state statute 163177 which states that the future land use is
a ceiling, not a guarantee. Right. Um, so there's no constitutional or Harris Act property right to increase planning allowances. Um, under Florida law, the purchase of land is generally subject to
the existing zoning or environmental restrictions. There's no property right to change them. There's another um um case that held that Freedelland v. Hollywood, Florida, 3rd District, 1961.
Um, so future land use not being a property right, that's pretty big. It's treated a lot of times as as if it were. Um, I think it's important to note that it's not. U, other than that, I enjoy working for the county for free. Uh, and I like to think of myself as the pearl
in the oyster of the zoning board. >> Also, the mayor of Scots. >> I didn't mean that in a bad way. I just mean that it's uh definitely the filter. And I and I do and I do appreciate it. But sir, if there's a pearl, you you're you're certainly one of them.
Okay. Very very good. Um was was there was there an action item on on this or to to receive the reports? Is that what we're >> Yes, Chairman. Sorry. Acknowledge receipt of the 2025 county advisory board annual written reports and approve
request for excus excusal from dismissal due to absences for some members. >> All right. Have I'm sorry. >> Sorry. I just had a little discussion. I'm sorry about that. >> All right. Commissioner Dwayne, I'm sorry. Um, so I had asked for this to be
pulled because um, I had emailed all of the advisory board members um, and uh, sent them a list of survey questions basically like how's it going? What what are your feelings about how the advisory boards are going? And we really had some
mixed um mixed reviews which I thought was great. We had, you know, some that had negative, some neutral, and some positive. and I I printed out for us all um these charts and um I it's it's up on the board and tomorrow I'll be posting
it on um my Facebook page for the public. Um, but I I just wanted to share that um there are definitely some some tweaks that I would love to bring forward to our ordinance. Um, like some of the people had shared before about um
possible term limits, the frequency of meetings, the time of the meetings. Um, and I understand that there are boards that are um more uh I mean we have everything from from EELS to to planning
and zoning to um personnel counsel all these different things. So I know not every board is uh has the same role. Um but I just really value all of our volunteers time. Um, and I just want to
try to make this the best process possible for them. And um, another thing that I had seen through my data searches is that not all of the meeting minutes get posted online and um, the audio is
kind of uh, I guess burdensome to to get sometimes when because you have to request it. It's not posted someplace. only a few of our advisory board meetings are are videoed on YouTube and um so I don't know if there's if this is
an administrative change or if it's um policy change but if we could figure out a way to get um minutes online for people and those audio recordings online somehow for people so that um not just
the advisory board members that miss a meeting but also So, the public who's interested in these different things. >> Could I for clarification um audio, you know, for for a meeting maybe that doesn't have video, but they they brought a voice recorder. So, I I you
know, not every not every room in in our government complexes have have video, >> right? >> Um but you can still put that on YouTube, right? You agree? Even if it's >> definitely >> just a picture of the county seal or something like that that's on there. Uh
so so maybe that's um worth a discussion when you you said you're going to bring some items back in the future. That might be an easy way to do it. >> Cool. And then the I guess my last question um would be would would y'all rather me bring it back as a discussion
item to where we could collaborate on all of our ideas or do you want me to bring forward like a a a policy and then we'll we'll tweak it from there? you know, I suppose if you um you know, bring it forward for
forward as agenda item with, you know, how sometimes we see, you know, we've got five things in there and then this the commission can go through each one of them and >> discuss and amend along the way. Is that >> where you going?
>> Probably the way to go would be a legislative intent item with just a few general categories of changes that um the board might like to see. Then the board can discuss it and we can prepare the amendment accordingly. >> Thank you. And I did just want to say to everybody who showed up today to speak
on your items, thank you so much and we really appreciate all of your input, your time, effort, energy. I know that everybody has a very busy life and you know this is a serious um community service. So, thank you so much for all
of your time. >> Any other discussion on the item? Last thing I'll say in discussion is uh my office I'm I'm proud of them. They do a good job of filling appointments. uh because I think the worst thing that can happen to the advisory boards is they
get together and they don't have a quorum and that happens but uh as much as possible if we if we we as a commission make the appointments that we need to that helps prevent that so I'm very mindful of that. Okay, with that
said, is there a motion on the item? >> Motion to >> I have a motion by Commissioner Atinson. I have a second by Commissioner Delaney. Clerk will call the role. >> Commissioner Delaney, >> yes. >> Vice Chair Goodson, >> yes. >> Commissioner Atkinson, >> yes. >> Commissioner Alman, >> yes.
>> Chairman Feldman, >> yes. We'll show that passes 5. Commissioners, we're going to move into board report. And so, Mr. County Manager, >> uh, nothing to add except thank you for
letting me, uh, bring up my report earlier today. >> Okay, very good. Morris, commissioners, I am requesting that the board approve the scheduling and advertisement of a private attorney client session to discuss pending litigation. The case is Watersmark Development versus Bvard
County, case number 05204CA 41947 in the circuit court for the 18th Judicial Circuit. This case has been ongoing since 2014, but it is on a trial calendar now for this December. It looks like it is probably going to trial. The
subject matter of the meeting will be confined to strategy related to litigation expenditures and potentially settlement negotiations. I would like to hold the session on Tuesday, November 18, immediately following the board's organizational and regular meeting scheduled for 9:00 a.m. that day.
>> Are there any questions on that item? And we need a we need a motion, Morris, >> or by consensus is fine. Just >> Okay. November November 18th after the meeting, we're going to be here ever anyway, right?
>> Yes, sir. Uh, just taking a quick look. I don't have anything else but that. >> That's all I have. >> I'm hearing two says calendar's okay. Three says calendar is okay. Let's say
>> my my estimate of time would be about 30. >> Commissioner Alman, sir, you uh thumbs up on that? >> Depends on how long a regular meeting goes. >> All right. So, I hear one saying they want a short meeting followed by a closed door meeting. Okay.
>> Okay. We have a consensus on that. We're good. We're all up to Morris. Okay. Anything else, Morris? >> Nothing else to report, Mr. Chair. >> Okay. All right. Commissioner Delaney. >> Thank you. Um I if you wouldn't mind bringing up my slides, Logan. Thank you.
Um so, obviously we talked about a lot of this earlier with the flooding. Um it's uh one of the things that I've been trying to work on a bit is um a relationship with the St. John's River
Water Management. Um, one of the things that I would love any help if any of the board members um have relationships there as well is I I feel like uh they need to start looking into the
possibility of dredging um because I'm concerned that the St. John's, you know, I remember when I was a kid and years prior, you could see the bottom of it and now there's it's, you know, quite a bit there's quite a bit of muck um that's in the St. John's taking up water
capacity. And a lot of the focus um that I've found is um that they're dealing with water quality, which is equally as important, but um I think that the water capacity is an issue. Um, so that's
something that I'm working on. Uh, I'm I'm asking that if anybody has relationships there as well that you wouldn't mind um chatting with them about that too. And uh, you know, uh,
with our our state legislature. Um, I know that a lot of the focus has been on the Indian River Lagoon and which again is equally as important, but um, we we need some help by the St. John's. Um, the entire region is dumping into the
St. John's and it's ending up in Mims and now Titusville. And, um, so uh, I just wanted to put that into the airwaves of anybody who might be listening to this. Um I'm I'm open to
collaboration and finding a way to move forward with people to um you know get a plan that obviously we can't stop development. We can't stop um improvement and whatnot but uh we can we
can do it in a better smarter way. And um uh yeah, this is a uh it's been a rough few days for District
1. Um, and I'm just hopeful for the future that um, you know, everybody can come together and we can we can get a plan going because our infrastructure is really behind um, the federal
government, the state government, um, our commercial partners in space. Everybody wants Bvard County to be the the gateway to to the universe and we want that too. But we need some help
here. We are operating on 1950s infrastructure and um you know we the the burden cannot fall on Bard residents solely. So, we need some
we need some involvement and help um to help get us to a place where we can um you know support these these industries that are coming to Bvard County and we want them here but we need some help. So, I just wanted to share that. Thank
you. >> I'll think of the best uh person liaison wise was St. John's for that that could come over and meet with you and you can take them to lunch at Pier 220, right? something like that. Okay. Okay.
Think about that. Um, Commissioner Goodson, you have anything today, sir? Commissioner Atinson, >> just a thank you to all of our emergency staff who spent their weekend doing what they did. Thank you. Commissioner Alman,
>> I just um wanted to thank staff for that very difficult weekend and I also wanted to acknowledge the loss of life on the St. John's River, a tragic death and I know our emergency responders work very hard on that incident.
um they uh I didn't know them personally, but they were friends of our sphere of influence and personal friends and and it was just a tragic accident to young incredible people who lost their lives
there. And I think as we move forward, we might really need to take a look at safety on the St. John's River as we grow as a community and you have more activity there. It's it's a little bit of the wild wild west out there and um it's
just a sad sad accident. Just wanted to remember those and pray for those families that were affected. I also appreciate everybody in public works and all of our emergency folks uh working hard over the weekend. I went out yesterday and uh tried to help with
um some of the assessments, taking pictures and going to different locations. So appreciate the staff uh helping me do that and uh I'm technologically behind so I had to send them a picture and they attached it to the right system
and and all of that. I did talk to some neighbors out there and um so I appreciate everybody working together on that. We're going to finish today with employee spotlight of Tori Miller and
public works and Logan My name is Tory Miller. I'm a project supervisor. I've been with Bvard County now for over a year. Road and Bridge takes care of a lot. Sidewalks, roadways. We take care of
storm water drainage. What that means for us is continual maintenance of our storm water ditches and drainage, ensuring that our pipes are clean and clear, which means we send out crews on a routine basis to go out there and clean our ditches, fix anything that has to do with storm water off of our county
roads. We maintain them. I enjoy working with a team. I get to share my experience, all the mistakes that I've made in my career, and then we get a great conversation on how we can improve on my failings, and it resonates
a lot more when you're giving someone instruction or you're trying to teach someone something that you've done yourself versus you've never had the opportunity to do yourself. And it's taken a lot better from employees knowing that I'm not just gonna tell you how to do it. I can show you how to do
it. Knowing that I started from the bottom and worked my way through promotion through promotion. But I did have to learn every job aspect that we are doing here. [Music]
I always encourage anyone looking for an opportunity and unsure about what you want to do. We are always hiring because of the vast opportunity to learn so many different things. We'll train you to learn your job, not just your job. We'll
train you and give you the opportunity to learn 10 jobs within Boulevard County. You don't have to stay with Road and Bridge. You can go to utilities. You can go to public works. You can go to mosquito control. The opportunities are pretty much
endless within the county. This job has really the best of both worlds. I get the opportunity to not just sit at a desk and take care of things behind the scenes, but also get my hands dirty. Road and Bridge for Bvard County is the place to be. Probably isn't a job better than mine as
of right now. >> Are you interested in a job like this? Apply today at www.bardfl.gov. >> Good job. And uh good and and our interns continue to help us put that together right uh in our uh communications. Thank you for that. Um
all right, everyone, safe travels home. Appreciate it. >> The opinions expressed by any member of the public during any period of public comment do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the board of county commissioners of Bvard County, Florida, Space Coast Government Television, or
the program sponsor and are solely those of the presenter. The board of county commissioners of Bvard County, Florida, Space Coast Government Television, and the program sponsor hereby expressly disclaim any and all responsibility or liability for any defamatory or slanderous statements expressed by any member of the public during any such
period. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] [Music]
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