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good morning everyone and welcome to um our morning agenda review plan of the day is we'll go through the agenda review here with h comments on this evening's meeting and then commissioner stroberg would like to discuss ol8 this morning so after we go through the quick agenda review
with any comments for this evening's meeting we will move into the discussion on the uh cow all right um commissioner Barry are you good for the invocation tonight yes yes okay um commissioner hoffberger you mind doing the pledge I would love to okay um any items that we need to add for this evening uh commissioner BR if I'm sorry madam cler mne I did the week try to brief each of you I do still Aspire today during the day to work out the
Bennington Park easement donation it's still not squared away but if I can get it squared away before 5 I will be adding that to the agenda for this evening okay um commissioner Barry okay uh commissioner strober anything you need to add okay all right good uh Jose where we on the uh ratification proclamations for this evening do we have where is it oh okay ER Gilmore commissioner
Barry you're doing Frank brandenburg's this evening yes okay I guess commissioner May is doing U Melanie mlo I'm assuming that's who we got down he can do any of them you want he's not here so whichever who's this one who's doing D so this is a ratification oh so commissioner Meo 211 got it these are not
okay so DN is not being presented tonight so we're covered on that all right anything from the clerk report no there's uh the investment report tdt uh update and then uh uh minutes and reports for acceptance by the board okay all right and as far as the agenda if you guys would like um do you want to pull anything by exception and just go that route is there any talk ICS that need to be pulled for discussion you think tonight in advance
we need to discuss you have any commissioner strober commissioner Hofer yes Melanie has put her name in for the children's trust fund and I just need to disclose that she's my Aid okay and I will pull the tdt one just because I wanted some discussion on the applicants I hope everyone has a chance to look at the applicants um and our policy because it's um we need to have a
discussion on that tonight and other than that um on the west anything that we should be highlighted that was dropped or added uh Mr chairman I think there was some discussion about 1-10 the uh HRC human relations yeah just for just for the record we got a lengthly report yesterday from the clerk in the afternoon it affected that and I would ask that you send that to all the Commissioners so they can review it and we add that to a future meeting if everyone's okay with that
okay and I'll distribute that information to the entire board during the day today but it would be better to obviously not act on it this evening I agree if everyone's okay with that we can push that to uh either the next meeting or the following M Mr chairman we'll drop car one-1 2-1 and 2-2 as they're related to the CRA we've rescheduled the CRA meeting for future okay your future date all right any other um any other changes for this evening that anyone wants to bring up for public disc or discussion I didn't have any other other than those two all right
well unless there's no no further discussion we'll end uh agenda review and we'll go into the Cal all right all right we're going to call the committee the whole Workshop Board of County Commissioners February 6 2025 it's after 9:05 uh please stand and I'll do the Pledge of
Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you um I know our first cow we had had a pretty um Health what's
oh yeah why isn't it on here oh yeah was the meeting properly advertised Mr chairman this meeting was advertised in the Pensacola News Journal on January 30th 2025 in the board's weekly meeting schedule okay we need a we don't need okay all right on our first cal um a little more than a month ago we talked about Ola fate commissioner strober uh wanted to bring it back up today I know we have will dun and I see Brian here our concern I think your concern uh commissioner stroberg was
the pro the progress of the how we're going with the contract um I'll let you take the lead and then um hopefully the county staff can give us some updates okay so good morning everybody um so although I'm new to this board um I'd say I'm not new to boards I'm not new to boards and I'm not new to NE negotiating I've said it before I'll say it again I've negotiated for my companies that
I've worked for and I've I've also negotiated for my country I can be trusted what I know from the negotiations that I've been a part of is and what I've learned from just my Graduate Studies is that everyone in the negotiation has to walk away with a with a benefit that's acceptable in that deal
that's the real art of the deal it's not coming in and you know Winner Takes all it's not that's not how it works otherwise no one's going to deal with the county so we want everyone to know that es scamby county is open for business and ready to deal again and again over and over again I'm personally satisfied uh where we are while after talking with bu Town Center yesterday and I believe bu Town Center is equally satisfied with where we are presently in these negotiations
we have a critical need and buus Town Center I think is focused on that on the critical need of scami County uh yesterday met with Chad horn and Brian Spencer of BU town center and I had a good discussion about what I expect and what I think they can deliver and that's what they told me what they can do they have provided two proposal contracts not options one which is $50 million
for essential I'm I'm really simplifying this but it's five closings and $50 million over a period of time and a second contract that was at well initially if everybody remembers back in December we started at 42 and a half it went up to 43 A2 well that is $45 million now with one
closing um I'm recommending we select one that one closing contract at 45 million and it uh I think that's 43.5 million I'm sorry is it 43.5 or it's 45 so it was it was 43.5 and there was there was an email that went out yesterday afternoon after I heard from Mr stroberg who had been told that that they were essentially offering the same terms that are in the contract proposal that said
43.5 but they were willing to up that number to 45 million our concerns with the terms of that contract would not have changed but the price that they're offering yep okay thank you ex Alison what happened to the original proposal of the 50 million I mean why why was it why was it less from what we agreed to in in a public meeting so that proposed agreement agreement they did
provide in writing um commissioner hoffberger attended a negotiation Mr Moreno and I were present at that negotiation Mr Spencer Mr dunway were also there we as the county essentially told them that their proposal for the 50 million was not acceptable to the county because it was not a one-time lump closing the concept that they came forward was with was a multi-year phased closing of five separate phases with five separate closing uh dates that each had its
own due diligence period with it it would have in my opinion have not been exactly what this board was after so we pushed back on that and I would say that that appears to be off the table at this point meaning it's not they're they are not offering a 50 million onetime closing what they are offering now is a 45 million one-time closing with the terms that they origin set forward in a $ 43.5 million that was distributed a couple of weeks ago understood
so again this this purchase sale agreement is complete and it's ready um it's not an option it's a contract uh meaning that there's no ambiguity the county uh can begin right away start to redline this contract with the attorneys for bu Town Center commissioner strober I think it'd
be useful if we had um Madam attorney tell us what are the Hang-Ups in the contract because we have changed since our last agreement I didn't like it but I still think it's we're in a good place but if we can't close we're wasting our time so I'd like to know what the Hang-Ups are in the contract now so that the Bela Center can hear them from us so that we could potentially get to yes in a
timely manner that's not really easy to do I mean right now but Mr chairman and and so and honestly I'm only yield to commissioner beer and commission stroberg you know all I can yield to and I've spoke to Mr Spencer as well is we can't negotiate this thing in public we cannot negotiate it in a committee of the whole or a board meeting I mean the standard of what's the bottomline number that we said that we were going to accept uh you know so there will be reservations for me uh in in in terms of the number that I said that I would accept uh because it doesn't matter what the
details are with the attorney in this negotiation it's the perception of what citizens heard us say on on this di of what we were going to accept and so that's why I I've continually said you know figure out how do we negotiate this outside of um a board meeting with with five people who are not negotiators to get to the what's the minimum that we would accept as a board so we don't continue to
go back and forth of here and there and so I mean you that's I mean regardless we're going to have to address you know the bottom line uh at the end of the day so um but so I'm I'm I'd love to hear from the attorney of where where was the breakdown Mr chairman I agree with well maybe you can share with us uh how you think the negotiations are going I don't you know I don't I'm in on them so you know iin can do it is here here honestly we're here to get some direction from the board
there have been two live sessions or two meetings at the first one we had commissioner hoffberger join us and the second one we had commissioner stroberg join us I would say at this point the we Mr Moreno and I have not provided a response or a counter to the proposals I would say there are at this moment two ideas or concepts that have come to us from BTC the first one is this five
phased $50 million proposal it appears to me as of Monday that that is still on the table from their perspective we have not countered that we when we met with them felt like that was not acceptable to the board the other one that they have added it came to us on Monday as a 43.5 million offer there were some issues with it I did distribute by email sort of of a one one and a half page
sort of bullet list of what the concerns that we had were similar to some of the concerns we've had previously in negotiations with BTC as of late yesterday afternoon we have it has been represented to me verbally by both Mr dunway and commissioner strob Berger that they are offering to up that number to 45 million we want we Mr Mareno and I think need direction from you all if at this point you are comfortable enough with this that we counter with some red line of the
language that is just not acceptable that I would not advise the board to buy off on do you want to call off negotiations with this group are you maybe okay with this phased $50 million proposal that didn't seem acceptable at the time we met with them but we really need some direction from you guys at this point and then we can go and meet with whomever commissioner Barry you want to make a comment yeah thank you Mr chairman um I mean the multiphase closing I I don't support that at
all I did speak with uh I did speak with bu Town Center for for a little bit yesterday as well I In fairness I indicated that to them as well I that multiphase closing I wouldn't consider um you know and what was what was asked of me was you know if we could if they could have more time to negotiate what whatever you guys want to do I mean you know 43.5 or 45 or or or 70 5 million if if the language stays as it is I'm not going to I'm not going to vote to I'm
not going to vote for the contract if it's at 100 million with the language it is because it's all we're we're not going to see that money and that's the that's the issue you can have time frames in there you could you could you could have a time frame that says we'll close in six months if another section in the in the contract says well actually the conditions to close are a through J then the six months that you referenced in one section is really irrelevant because the the
purchasers conditions to closing those are going to be the the things that have from their point of view that if we were to end up contractually obligated contractually you know partnered with these folks those are the things that are going to have to happen before we would ever see any real money and if those things stay there it doesn't matter what the number is um but what you know whatever the majority of y'all want to do if you if you want to have more time to go back and forth that's fine as long as there are as long as there are ref refences to multiple
lines in the contract that are just unacceptable personally unacceptable to me I'm not going to I'm not going to support the contract we're you know it's the same type issues that we had previously in discussions with them and you know those that language continues to come in and uh you know and you know commissioner sturer you said in your comments a couple times that it's not an option
it's contract but the when you give the purchaser the power that this hypothetically would give them it becomes an option that's all it becomes it it it may be a contract but that's just a legal definition saying it's a contract but the contract um you know the requirements that are in there for the purchaser to actually close they they control everything I mean and and this is not even and and these are my personal issues this is not even working through the bullet list that
we got out of the attorney's office which are you know some procedural things and some legal things that aren't really my forte but you know but what whatever y'all want to do if you want I mean more time is okay if the time is going to be spent getting some of this language out then then maybe it's useful commissioner stroberg and then we'll do commissioner May because he has light on if that's okay go ahead commissioner stobber so that's why we're going to we have to have a red line day and and so to be fair to BU town center and and to the county attorney on Monday when I
was asked should we begin redlining this I said no let's not we shouldn't I mean we didn't know which contract we'd go with I'm happier with one now and I think that we're ready to start redlining that and I think that they're ready to start redlining that and and then we can get to the point where we're all happy with this contract perhaps okay and and that's Steve if that's what you want to do that's fine to to be fair to the count we have redlined previous things that came
and the the language reappears and just that's but if that's what you think is the next most appropriate step then that's fine commission may thank you Mr chairman and I've certainly yielded to the two Commissioners from that district and I think that we're on a mayor go around we come here you know for the last couple years round and round we go and because the attorne is going to say well I need direction okay well they brought this proposal we have to set the criteria for the
minimum thing that we will accept and give it to them in negotiation because we're never going to negotiate something uh in it's public form I mean brother we I mean if we're looking at 50 million that's a that's a lot of money uh we we need to have negotiations where people can bring back and someone that does this I mean this attorney has a bunch of stuff that's going you have somebody that's laser focus on negotiating this deal for the citizens of esamia County and you know for me
when we started this process we said we were going to get jobs that were $60,000 plus to create jobs the second thing that was important to me was the best Roi for the citizens of esamia County so we can get money I'm not a negotiator you know I've not been privileged to be in any meeting that the attorney says other people I've not been there I've not even had this discussion uh I know uh the bar that I've set for me to find my support Steve I I I agree with you I mean you
know I'm I'm not a lawyer I'm not going to get into any of those details I know the minimum of what I said that I would accept in good faith on what I would do listen I I like all three of the developers everybody people keep saying they like all two I I like all three they're all three of my friends but there has to be a minimum and there has to be a uh reality of what we've said to the citizens and so it doesn't matter to me what's unacceptable in the wording in the contract I
tell you the citizens that I represent appreciate me uh commissioner kler getting the most amount of money that they could possibly get so they can do something in their Community if those numbers change and then I can't be disingenuous uh in talking and not opening up negotiations I'm I'm all for all negotiations if we just each meeting Alison has said I need direction Well here here's
the direction here's the minimum am that I'm going to accept and so you know that's the minimum I'm going to AC I'm I'm not going to vote for anything that doesn't create jobs that's $60,000 plus and I'm probably not going to back down off of a number I mean and because I didn't put the number out there the number was offered to me I have to accept that and so you know I don't want to I we spent countless amount of hours not just the time of everyone that's on this dies uh but our staff
and going round and round and round and I think that In fairness to our attorney and a fairness to our administrator or whatever we have give them the opportunity to say this is what we're going to accept um minimum and you know that's where we are if not we're going to keep going round and round and round and I don't think that you know and rather you at the federal government the state government or local government uh to come to a a board meeting to negotiate a contract is not efficient a time or it's not good stewardship because that's just not what
we do I mean that's why you hire attorneys uh to represent you even if I have an opinion when I'm in court I don't say my opinion I let my attorney talk for me and I advise my attorney of what I'm going to do and so that's that's that's where I'm at Mike I have a question that you brought up I'm sorry I didn't see your light angle do you does the board think that we should have outside um an owner's rep yeah yes I'm kind of wondering if if we we have the right people negotiating I I'm
not throwing anything out there but we came up at our last meeting and it's something I don't know I think it's a board decision to ask each other if if y'all want to pay to have somebody look at it that's that's fine I don't if we have pretty basic feedback from the attorney's office of items that are objectionable and shouldn't be agreed to by a County by a municipal body if we want to pay somebody to arrive at the same place okay what whatever y'all want to
do I'm these things are these these things are are very problematic not Maybe not maybe I shouldn't say nonnegotiable but a number of items are very problematic and if you want to pay somebody to to to produce a product then okay but I don't I don't know that we're even to the point if we want when we get to a point before the board maybe signs a contract and we want to have somebody review that
to make sure that something hadn't been missed maybe maybe we get there but we're pretty far from there currently right I don't we're not even I mean we're not very close my opinion I just threw it out Steve all all commissioner B all I'm seeing is that Madam attorney I said in each meeting that we've been in I need direction and you know so I all I'm I you know not to go against
anything that you're saying uh is just simply say that as a board we have to give direction and let someone go negotiate but I think she's I think we've given her Direction She's come back and said these are the problems I mean do we have the wherewithal to vote and say okay well so I want to look back to something commissioner May said and I think as a board we have to decide what our top priorities are and what order those are so we need to be real about the fact that we want to provide jobs and we want a good Roi on that property and we want top dollar I'm not sure that the ability
to develop that property and provide jobs is going to be the same developer that is going to give us top dollar I don't think we're going to get top dollar and the ability to provide jobs in a timely manner from the same developer so I think we need to decide what that's worth Comm actually I mean commissioner Holberg I mean and and and I agree with you I don't know how we get there here but I've only those have been the only two points that I've ever talked about in in 12 years
uh and I've yielded to the guy to my right and he got to my left to get there but I know that jobs are important to you they're important to all of us and then you know the maximum amount of money that we can get for the property I mean you know I'm not a developer the property is going to worth be worth hundreds of millions of dollars in 10 to 15 years you know rather the like Steve said rather the numbers 40 million 50 million 60 million I mean no developer going to go in and
lose money but we do need the money and we need it now I mean you know I mean interest rates are up I mean there's issues in your District there's issues in my district uh and quite frankly you know we all have a season of service in which we uh need to deliver to our constituents I mean we got Myrtle Grove coming up for a CRA he There's issues out there I have issues in Brownsville um we are able to take this money and make a difference in the lives of people immediately and that's what I'm interested interested in changing constituents lives now although I'm looking for
the future for jobs I want to know how do I create a quality of life today for the citizens what that balance look like yeah and what does that balance and and so I would say it's unfair and commissioner H you're absolutely right because we do have a new board of three people we've not really had that conversation to lay out and give that direction uh holistically uh we never had a a disc discussion with all of our new board members before we brought people in with presentations and
that's un unfair to the presenters and it's unfair to the citizen it's unfair to us to come in and you someone's buying a house from me and they're going to decide to me how much they're going to pay for the house that's not the way it works you know what I mean I I own a piece of property it's not up for you to tell me how much you going to pay me for my property it's up for me to tell you what I'm going to sell my property for and what I want to happen on my property you know and so I think those discussions I mean so early today you know that someone saying that we're
going to put a school out there you know I would never support putting a non-av alarm producing product on a piece of property that's there but there's discussion and I know each of us have our own silos of individually having conversations with people but collectively uh we have to have a consensus of what we will accept and what we won't accept and so that's I concur with you but I don't even know if it's where it needs to be to move this forward for me so I I guess my question
is what is everyone's top priority is it making sure that we're creating jobs in the community that pay well or is that top priority getting top dollar for this piece of land I think both for me both for me you can't both can't Rite number one that's they just can't so let me interject this because I don't seem to be getting a chance to talk because everybody's just talking over themselves and I'm trying to speak up so jobs job numbers are p the sky we're not going to be able
to determine how many jobs are going to be there and I don't think the developers are going to be able to tell us either it's got to be it's going to be the employers they're going to tell us who's going to be employed there how many jobs there going to be what type of jobs are going to be we don't determine that we just try to make the environment welcoming for them okay that's what we do we have never had an apprais on on ol f8 I don't know why I was told it was not necessary so how are we going determine what our minimum ask is for this property the developers have been telling
us and we have our we still have we still have our highest bid on this property and that's bu Town Center so we can keep talking about jobs how important it is if we don't get off our Duff and do something we're never going to get those jobs I want to sell the whole thing so we can start getting some tax revenue I want to start creating jobs there I I've said this again and again I'm an
independent operator up here I know exactly and I've been polite I've been polite I said that I think that all three of these different groups that have been bidden on this can all do a great job and that's probably true but there's only one developer that I know that I've talked to that's asked me to come see them and has showed me what they can do that I am confident
they will do an outstanding job outstanding I am happy with this developer and you know who it is so that's why I'm all in with this group I have said from the beginning I've told all of these different groups is I'm not as worried about the money that we get for the property as I am about what happens on that property what happens on that property and what doesn't happen on that property
now I think that we can we can get someplace with probably any of these developers I just want the best that's what I want I want the best I want a developer who is known for making fantastic things beautiful things and I think that's what the people in bu want too commissioner may you L on
or you done y yeah commissioner um I I I certainly respect where you are and and you want what's best for the property all I'm saying is you know I've never you know said you're right they're three great developers they could have win negotiation with all three of them as far as I'm concerned and come back with it we're not privileged to be able to hang out and talk as you said you want what's best there's no way that Ashley Steve Mike we know exactly what you want in In fairness to
your passion and I've yielded quite frankly to the Commissioners to my right and to my Commissioners to my left on this project to have a discussion of what we want to have everybody's input you know I mean there's things from conversations about a a fire station to a school uh to a swimming pool to all those things to me that you know don't make sense to me and so In God We Trust
all others write it on the dotom line and and until we lay that out it's really unfair you know what I mean it's ambiguous for us to have you know this person bringing this proposal that proposal and we have not laid out exactly what we want and so that In fairness to everyone I don't for me as said what do you want I want jobs and and I want money but certainly we have to have the vision the 20 30 year vision of where it's going to be because quite frankly you
know like Ellison field none of us will be here when that thing's fully developed none of us you know not me no one that's sitting on this di will be there when that's fully developed we have to have the foresight and the vision to see what we want that Community to look like for our grandchildren not just our children so uh I I I I get what what we said but we had had that and you know brother our vision board we had a consultant that came in I mean we've not really had that vision board to talk about exactly what we want this property to be with with everyone's
input and I mean I I'll I'll tell you I I have yielded and I will continue to yield uh to my dear friend commissioner Barry uh and to your District because you represent bu uh but I will stand firm uh on jobs and money and as Ashley said I can't have both but for me I can't take it as I can't have both I got to figure out how do I get both you know because that was the commitment to the citizens you know what I mean so I don't know I mean I may not be a to get there from this D having this conversation but in some way there's a happy medium where we can create jobs create an
Roi and I do agree with you Steve get this out of our hands because we're not developers you know so that's that's where I so those are those are those are my two points but also I mean it has to be clearly defined because once we clearly Embark upon this journey uh there's no turning around there's no going back you know and we know there's a lot of Fashions of a lot of people a lot of people have a lot of ideas of what they want out there you know I mean and we're not going
to make everyone happy uh but we certainly should make I look at this Steve and you were not on the board uh as a jail project the jail was just not a district three project it was a a board project because it's a universal project and all those this directly affects the citizens uh in in bua is certainly a a entire County project so anyway so commiss stroberg and I'd like to make a comment after you're done is it proper to have so buet Town Center's here I see them all there can
they are they you're welcome to ask him a question if you want to will you want to you want to come up well I'd like to commissioner sh I want to make a comment before will speaks and ask your questions because I didn't really highlight my concerns and I I didn't like yall changing the number on it's the night of the meeting we were led to believe I was at the time that
it was a $50 million deal and I get it we're in negotiations and it changed but um that was a little bit disheartening and you know I'm not going to go with five different $10 million plans either that's a no-go with me um I Heard commissioner Barry say that I don't know where the rest of the board is but I think that's Deb on arrival on this board um the other thing that I'd like to I I guess I need to get out there and it's either from the County Administrator the County Attorney are you able to negotiate this deal Mr chairman I I believe we are able to negotiate
the deal what myself and Madam attorney would like to know is what is accessible to the board as a window for closing is it 18 months is it 48 months is it 60 months what is that expectation of a closing time from the board because a lot of what I know we're speaking to price and yes that's important but a lot of what's holding us up is terms and condition conditions and contingencies okay and we've we have talked about those things and commissioner Barry is correct they show back
up in the contract so a lot of what drives your closing time frame is going to be those terms and conditions and contingencies do they need every single permit before they want to close the Amendments what are the amendments I don't know we've not heard yet we've asked but we haven't heard so what are the contingencies what time what is the time frame that the board expects to clo to put a closing on the table because a lot of that is going to be determined by the terms
and conditions and contingencies okay that's where we're at when we can settle those and we come to agreement on those then we can talk about price and see if the price is where we want it to be yeah chairman okay thank you so I think you tell me Madam attorney and Wes if we if we had two full days full days to redline this contract we could get it done in two full days couldn't we we could provide a Redline contract back across the table in a matter of two to three days yes
business days yes okay but if we didn't do it in 30 how do we do it in two yeah because they there the teams have to sit down together and do this together that's what they'll have to do there going to be a difference Madam attorney yeah and that was the direction that we left the last meeting with hold on Madam attorney I could hear what you said can you please a huge difference between how much time it makes how much time it takes to make a counter proposal versus they're going to want to then counter back I mean we've been through this before it ends up going
back and forth It's not that anyone's going to sit on it for months it could be contentious but we could also make sure that we're working on the same revision of the plan too that's why I'd like to have it done at the same at that moment I mean if it's more than two days then it goes to three or four but I think that if we don't sit down and have a I don't know what you'd call it a Redline day if we don't have that we're going to end up this is going to end up going 30 more days that we might 30 need 30 more I think originally when you and I had spoken last meeting we um I think
you said that you would have liked 60 days you would have liked 60 days you said they probably would have liked 90 days and we ended up with 30 days instead so it hasn't been enough um and you know something else I want to do is I should have started out this way when youall got in here I saw Rob show up I I I want to apologize to bua town center and the other two groups for the auction that happened last last meeting it shouldn't have gone that way uh this isn't this
isn't really a negotiation either but I mean but in a meeting like that that wasn't proper that wasn't proper and I thank you bu Town Center for not walking out because I thought you were going to be the first ones to get out of get out the door okay um anyway getting back to the sub in hand I I I think that we need to have a day where we sit down and we Redline and if a
commissioner needs to be there I'd be happy to be there to help um will you want you want to speak will I'd like to before you speak Wes asked how soon could you close on the property I mean it that seems to be the the question I mean what's a reasonable time that you think that if the board decided you could close commissioner um will dunway um Council for bua Town Center
um The Proposal we that we were thinking that uh 18 months could work on a single close the administrator uh and commissioner stroberg thank you for calling me up the administrator actually uh uh stole my thunder but I did want to comment on the Chairman's uh comment I just want to make clear because and again you if you're going to blame someone it it's me you I'm I'm the one to blame for any types of of delay because I'm the one who's listening to you on what you want and
then trying to interpret that and the thing we heard most clearly most clearly was that the dpz plan is what is you have to follow it in fact it was part of the motion yeah uh of the approval and in our term sheet which we had presented to you before and the Madam count uh attorney had asked me to prepare a comparison which I did which I believe you also had it said that the 50 million
was a closing phase per the dpz plan it's your dpz plan it's an ordinance it's not a suggestion it's the law it's the only 500 Acres 540 acres in the county that's zoned in the way that it is it's zoned in a very particular detailed way and it's a fiveyear I mean a five-year phase
over 20year development plan so it can't be developed any faster because it's the law but we hear and we have talked and thank you to the administrator and Madam councel who have said but we're going to make modifications we believe the board is ready to make those modifications and we believe that you want to do that and the only way we know how to articulate that is in the contract
that is the purchase and sale agreements which we have going been going back and forth it is incredibly important to point out that no one not the county and not this uh this Development Group or any other Development Group who's ever offered made an offer on this we have none of us have ever dealt under this dpz plan you've never developed anything under it you've never issued a permit under it nobody knows how it works okay but it's the law you have seen fit not to repeal
it understood but in order to move forward with the development of $45 million a developer needs to know what they can do right now the only thing is what they can do is in this plan but in our term sheet and in our purchase and agreement we have laid out a timeline that says within 30 days
we will provide you with a detailed deliverables within 90 days we will provide you with an initial site plan we need you then to approve a master we are calling it a master development agreement we made the term up I made the term up we are trying to get to something that's not the dpz plan which you tell us we're not going to build because it administrator and his staff told us we're not going to accept the $40 million of storm water infrastructure which this plan calls for
so and that was a year and a half ago I mean we so we know what we've been doing so we've been trying to develop it in 8.1 that's the paragraph of the contract which has the details which have the concerns we know you can't contract Zone we understand that but at the same time we have to have some assurances at as to what we can do because what we can do is what we're paying for
and if we can't do what we you know we want to do then we have to adjust the price commissioner May says he would never you know approve something you know development in which you don't have any adorm tax on fully 20% of the 540 acres is non-buildable except for civic entities a fire department a that whole area is Zone Civic we can't develop it so if it doesn't change it won't have anything
that is at producing adval taxes again I'm the one that you blame for that because I've been trying to articulate that in a document a contract and using a lot of words because those words matter in trying to get to how we have an organized way of progressing and we have been working very diligent but it is true that Madam Council does and your administrator does need your direction
what about the dpz plan will you um modify will it be according to the initial site plan that we uh lay out due diligence starts once you were under contract um again the only thing that bu Town Center is spending money on now is attorneys um and so again the development process begins once you get under contract and then if it turns out that
you're not able to agree to those things that's part of what a due diligence plan is with all types of um of commercial litigation but we are here we are trying to be very very responsive and in fact from the time that you approved this on the 9th you know the next day Madame Council and I were on the phone setting meetings we set initial meetings which we all met including during the
historic snowstorm we produced a initial PSA in accordance with the terms a contract in accordance with the phase five phase process of the dpz plan we met with Council and um the administrator and commissioner District 4 and you they said this is not what the Commissioners want we want you to do a different contract we we wrote a different contract and submitted it and met again Within
by February the 3D so we have that there we're interested in your feedback we're interested in your redlines if there are things that you can't um tolerate then tell us and we will agree to modify or we will look and say we're not the development group that can meet your desires and then we'll know and we'll move on but we have to know how to around or how to contract the dpz plan
because currently no one is bidding on the plan as it is enacted into law and that is the elephant in the room which I am telling you is the situation that we're trying to address in the master development agreement however we can get there that's what we are trying to do and if you and again we're trying to do it under the ordinance that you have enacted if it wasn't there we'd be
in a regular contract situation like any other piece of commercial property in a scambia county it would go exactly like every other commercial closing in this County but this one is different not because it has anything to do with the people negotiating or you you sell property all the time it's because the zoning here is unique and different and has been not and we've been told is is not going to be what the county wants so I'm here I'm very going to be very responsive I have
very clear marching orders from my bosses and my client to make ourselves available whenever and and at what time Madam council is viable and we're here well just if you may want to stand by I think commissioner May has a question but I you know I I think what you um addressed we would have the same issues with any one of the folks that I mean honestly I don't think that's unique to be Center commissioner May did you have a question no no thank you Mr chairman and and and will thank you
for your diligence and your hard work we'll just confirm where I am simply you know that it was not ready to be bid it as you know the agreement was a $50 million on the DPC that's what was said that's the minutes there's no way I can get out of that uh now if this plan uh does not Encompass the ideology of this board you know that needs to be addressed I mean if there are issues within the
plan that we can't you know abide by adhere to then you know as as he said public land I mean so you know where we are is that we took an offer based on this plan that's what we did and so now if we want to change the plan we want to modify the plan we want to do that's not in negotiation in in all fairness you set the parameters in RFQ and r RFP and said this is what we want you get this many points for this you get this many points for that you get this many points for that you
can't change that in the middle of a negotiation you can't change you know constructing a building or a house in the middle without a change order and so that's why we have to to me in my opinion define exactly what we want how we want and what plan I mean the bid specifications there's not any and so we we we we we should have had bid specifications or or criteria in which we're going to accept that's unfair to will it's unfair to Chad it's unfair to the other young man you
know to do that you know without giving people criterias points weighted measurements of how we're going to implement this because if not it's all it could be an emotional decision it shouldn't become emotional it should become based on God Merit right I mean it should be based on on the criteria and the points and the scoring that we did to make it all fair and so that's where I am I mean you know I you know listen I mean I I know all of these guys in in very supportive I don't
think we go wrong uh but for me you know we agreed to a d dpz plan and we agreed to a dollar amount I mean if there a reason why staff comes back and says you know there's a deduct then we have to deduct it uh you know I'm going to go back cuz M we'll be here all day jobs best Roi for me and how do we get there from here here I don't know I don't know if we're there tonight today commission
Hof I just want to add some detail to your remarks about how we ended up here because I do have my notes on the dates I want to start by thinking will I served years with you on the naap board I have nothing but respect for you Brian we've built projects together you buil beautiful things and I appreciate that um on January 9th at the 11th Hour you guys brought in a $50 million deal that none of us had time to read we had plenty of time to read over everyone else's proposals but yours came in after the meeting had already started so we were not granted the time to evaluate that we
voted on a $50 million deal we put in a 30-day deadline two weeks later we got your initial draft back on the 21st dividing that into five parcels and after we met on the 27th it became clear to us that there was potential not to close on those last two Parcels essent essentially dropping that down to a $30 million deal not to mention fast foring the dpz plan which would lessen
the property available for jobs and available for commercial and increasing the amount of property that would be dedicated to residential which does not give us the jobs for the community that we wanted then we moved to February 3rd the contract was submitted 15 minutes before the meeting began again not really giving Allison or west time to digest that to have a productive meeting and then last night we get another offer right before this meeting today essentially $5 million less than we
were on January 9th so I feel like the board was a little Bamboozled on this we voted on something that was never actually there and that was that 50 million offer so I'm not comfortable moving forward with this for those reasons and that timeline I I and can I just respond to Ashley since you resp comment Ash I can current agree with you just because I'm not an expert of reading contracts I didn't you know I don't get paid to read them so I mean it's hard for me to digest
and it's hard to do when it's handed to you right before yeah I mean I would have to have listen in anyway I would have to have a consultant to understand hey Will don't go anyway I I want to ask a question all right commissioner strober you're up did you want to speak Chad I I I want to ask you that early January 9th meeting when we had that $50 million offer was that for five closings was that five closings in that in that offer commissioner stroberg the term sheet that we
had indicated that our price was $50 million closing phase per the dpz plan the dpz plan is a regulating plan that has four regulating plans and then the major commercial middle that's five so the answer is yes correct right yes correct we all should know that I knew that how do you know that when you don't have time to review the contract and read we had you have to understand
the dpz master plan to start with well but hon have anything to do realize till later I'm sorry commiss the master plan the the fact that it shows a phased out development doesn't have anything to do with with title transfers and a property transaction that that's that's irrelevant the the one thing I'd like to make a comment I I totally agree with her assessment I've articulated this to both Fred and Brian the timelines um for me I wish were a little tighter I really do will because it
does seem like we're getting things late maybe it's just legal stuff um but I do think they haven't got their 30 days yet I don't know you know how much we want to exhaust this I do think we should as the board since we vote on that at least give them what we agreed to or maybe more time to uh if the board agrees to that um what's that Allison I I can I would say at this point it seem and I don't want to jump in if you're not ready no come on so I would suggest there
would be three basic routes that we would like some direction for the first one would be give us direction to redline the $45 million proposal and send it back and have us report back to this board at its March 6th meeting what the progress is if there is progress that would be a b is if you want us to look at the idea of of retaining the services of a negotiator or an attorney
or a realtor or some other outside service to deal with this on your behalf that would be a legitimate route the board could take or the third route today I would say would be that the board decide that it's not ready and it wants to look more closely at the master plan uh the Amendments that you may or may not want to do with that if you want to look more closely at your Florida West your pedc Economic Development piece of this and then decide whether there's a different route
that the board wants to take those I think one of those three routes today would be legitimate if you guys can pick one of those or maybe you have another idea strob commissioner M commission strob I think we should definitely start the redline process at least and we haven't given them I I think they need more time and I think that they won't need as much time if we start the red line process soon I I now in their defense how many actual working days did you have to do this I
mean there was the snow days there was Martin Luther King holiday so it it wasn't 30 it isn't going to be 30 days it's going to be roughly what three weeks that you had the challenge is not the drafting part challenge is they have four principles that all have you know they have to get with their attorney they have other professionals there are lots of challenges we have five members we can't make some decisions without coming to you all in an open session whatever so the challenge
is not so much the drafting part it's the other decision-making piece that goes with it well com uh Madam attorney I appreciate your Co because I I actually think that's useful commissioner M you were up did you want to so Allan Alison the sticking points and like you said I mean you can negotiate it in a day or a 100 days I mean if the parties don't agree you doesn't matter how much time you get it really doesn't matter how much time you have um you know time is is not the
issue it's getting to an agreement so what were the sticking points in not being able to land this at the agreed to I mean we agreed to the dpz plan we agreed to 50 million why didn't we land there the 50 million deal is a the closings are phased as commissioner hoffberger has point so we didn't get there because they were phased and there was no guarantee that they would have to close on all
the parcels so essentially they could have taken the top three valuable parcels and left us with the last two one of which is mostly undevelopable because of wetlands the money you would not have the money my impression has been that the board would like to have the ability to spend on different infrastructure or other projects the money that they get from this sale today there's not a question in my mind that that multiphased closing would stretch out that money over a number
of years they had I think 18 months between each phase for due diligence and my concern which I believe is also echoed by commissioner hoffberger the final two phases would be from a developers perspective the harder to develop and the less attractive pieces of that property so there were enough contingencies in their proposal which we did not Redline and negotiate with a counter but
those final two phases which would be $20 million worth my concern would obviously be that you don't get them to close on those two pieces leaving you with what really ends up then being a $30 million deal over a number of years versus a $50 million deal in one lump sum within 18 months so yeah I don't think any I know I'm not interested in that I it seems like the board isn't interested in that so I think that's dead um so can I can I to her question so Alison was there any reference to jobs
and how we partner with Florida West and and the job creation and the contract I'm going to be very Frank with this board it's apprciate that very challenge very your ability to have a clawback under a grant process like Triumph and you don't do what the med metrics that you say you're going to do there's a clawb that's easy it's way more difficult to have a black and white line for job
and job creation when you're talking about the sale of a piece of property how how that so we can't you can certainly so you're saying in in a contract the intended use of this property was for job creation and you're saying to me that I can't put anything in this contract that guarantees and provides me Assurance to Citizens that we're going to do job creation so you have to be honest with
yourselves about what you're I'm trying to be honest with myself what the propos honestly was it wasn't even the money honestly when Jim cronley brought this project forward it was a job creation project you control the zoning you control the land use you control the master plan you can certainly have conditions on how what is going to be developed there you can get involved with Triumph you can do a number of things but once you sell in fee simple a piece of property you
can have restrictive covenants even maybe but what do you do five 10 years down the road someone's already paid you millions of dollars for piece of property and let's say you're unhappy that they only developed 200 jobs instead of 2,000 jobs it's very challenging and difficult to do anything about that as far as a clawback un less and except controlling the zoning the future land use and if you've gotten involved in a grant program so it's just I think you have to be honest this is a sale
this is these are proposed contracts for the sale and closing on a piece of property so we almost it does matter about DP and we're just basically selling a piece of property and go do what the hell you want to do with it no you have the you have planning tools land use regulations we can certainly attempt to do some things to help protect the future use of that property but 10 years from now you've already gotten all the money you got the closing everyone's moved on
there are very few tools available to you once another owner has that land in fee simple and and adding and I don't think that's the intent of of myself I I I'm not going to speak for Steve I don't think it's the intent of those who sit on this board you know initially to get this property nor is it the intent of those the vision who brought that property forward nor is it the intent of our Economic Development partners and I'm not going to speak to anybody to my
left that's difficult I mean that's that's that's that's a hurdle for me uh that I don't have any guarantee on how I create jobs but commissioner go ahead just adding to that the dpz the way it progresses the longer they sit on that property the more and more of that property that will move from being zoned commercial industrial to residential so we miss the opportunity to create jobs so that is yeah that's a huge issue agre y'all this
this is government we're not going to be in the business we're going to have the same challenges with any one of these Builders and you have to look at their portfolio and decide and it's it's a risk I mean let's just be honest it's a risk we're taking a risk I mean you're not giving us Boeing you're not giving us fizer you're not I mean IBM's not coming in no one is anyone else if they did Chairman I can address the job issue is specifically well I'm I'm sorry I get the challenge Mike
here's when you put out a request for proposal that has to be outlined I get rather it's the challenge or not it's what was put for I mean it's it's a criteria I mean you know but we did in our and so I would go here because you we having this very open to meeting the moment Chad Henderson said well the number's going to move the number's not going to be at 50 you know and you know the needle going to moving you're not going to get jobs you know we unfortunately we're negotiating
a deal which I don't think we should be doing in a public form which I think is bad but the perception now is citizens are watching exactly what we do as it relates and it should be fair to Will and it should be fair to all other groups and this is the expectation and I don't know if we've been clear enough on the expectations that we want even to our attorney I mean I don't think it's been Fair she said to come here each month and say you I don't know I can't negotiate I don't know exactly what you want we we we decide I'm sorry will we just decide what we want and live
with what we want and come to an agreement and not move the needle each meeting that we have just based on a conversation so I apologize will comment and then I'll go to commissioner strober and then I don't want to do this all day I think we should come up with some co go ahead will what you think thank you commissioner um commissioner to address the issue the day after you approved on January the 9th The Bu town center team uh worked for the next 10 days we met with Chris at um at Florida West we met with pedc we met with David Bayer we met with uh Representatives on each of
those could working working through the process of job creation we heard you very very clearly the dpz plan the phased approach lays out that the development criteria is the northern Parcels for light industrial that's the phase that you're in now regulating plan one development of the North East um Corridor that is the area off of Frank Rita Road closest to the Navy Federal Park that
we met with them we told them we were partnered we our plan was going to allow the opportunity for them to continue to work with you as your Economic Development um hand to develop that for economic development because again it wasn't in the first couple of phases for the takedown when we got together with your staff that they said that's not what we want we want a single um approach a single
close a single number so we were that's not to say we're not going to create jobs obviously when we purchase the property we're going to immediately and that work has already begun contacting those folks that uh we have relationships with the bu Town Center has relationships with to bring them on board to Escambia County to take down these properties it's job creation comes with the prospect of the master development plan and the agreement that one has one happens after contract
but again we hear you on the jobs and we're working towards that can I Chris can you come up I have a question for you since at the last meeting we all agreed that we wanted PDC involved and I I'd like your take you guys had meetings with I think both them and um and tri West are you going to be able to work with them that was one of the goals the board wanted I think we can work with any developer that you know as long as they're you know we're following at least some plan to
know that we have additional property that's for that purpose yeah I mean we'll we'll work with any rules that we have to work with to put so some of the concerns commissioner May and commissioner hoffberger have on jobs you think there questions will be answered I mean I would assume you know we can definitely find the jobs it's the you know when you say numbers of jobs as the economy has changed you know a lot more automation you know projects are going to be a lot more tax-based heavy than they are jobs heavy but those jobs are going to pay significantly higher so I think
that's where for the type of projects I think that you want on lf8 that's where you are it's hard to set a hard number of jobs just because we don't know the projects that will show up you we have an idea but there's you know facilities that would hold 300 people now hold 40 but paid significantly higher Chris yes so nobody can guarantee a number of jobs that are going to be on those site on that site nobody can um we can and what we do instead is we use startup math to figure out what could go
there and how many jobs that we can accommodate on that property that's that's all we ever do right so no one can make a guarantee and nobody's making any guarantees but a certain amount of trust you know and legal ease is in place to help us create those jobs and and you can work with buet Town Center as much as you can work with any of the other groups right I would assume yeah
I would assume so too I have a I think we could I'm willing if the boards since we have chairman can I Chris Chris and and help me because we we fund Florida West and we fund it on guaranteed jobs and we we don't funded on hypotheticals in theory that you could create jobs we fund you based on you committing to to commit so many jobs rather it's St AOS space there's a commitment to commit to do so many jobs Navy Federal there's a commitment I mean blue win there's a commitment
um the tech Park the reason the tech Park hadn't been developed because you have jobs that you have within writing and and contract that you'll create this many jobs based on this project correct I mean so when we say we can't guarantee jobs we can guarantee jobs for each if not then there's going to be I mean the reason we gave back to trium the reason uh superintendent Thomas didn't take money you know when Scott Luther was there is because of the possibility
of the clawback on if they did not create so many jobs like the trium funds that they're going to get trium funds guarantees that you're going to create so many jobs correct yes sir each project we would definitely have as I think Allison had mentioned you know with the grant process there's definitely jobs that are attached to that there are certain measures that the companies have to meet both you know investment wise and jobwise so they're performance-based incentives performance-based triggers for everything um but when you look at a park and you develop it out you
look at basically the type of companies that you want to go there and estimate what those typical projects would generate per square foot and then try to you know get to there but it wouldn't be a a hard number because again within five years you can see the changes that occur um within the economy you wouldn't want to turn down a $200 million project if it generated you know Less jobs because of the tax base and the quality of job that it would bring so you have to be a little flexible in the number but your the expectation is clear that is it's making very good jobs that
pay well you know above the market um that we have for the county currently so so I I know that there are three projects Chris it was before your time it was with my friend Rick Brier um with with companies so have you uh at least shared the information with all the developers about the companies who had potential of Landing a home on outline field 8 we've not had that opportunity to get that specific so we've just talked about in concept you know how we would work together so
thanks Chris I appreciate it if the board and what I'd like to share what I would consider my option here and see if if the board agrees since they haven't met the 30 days I'd be willing to accept uh Madame attorney's first COA I commissioner Barry I know that commissioner hoffberger and
commissioner stroberg set in on the first meetings i' I'd like maybe you you seem like you have the corporate knowledge I think we all have skin in the game at the next meeting I think if you would be willing to do that if you're open to continue the negotiations I think it'd be useful to have someone else on the board so that we all see it through the prism of can we get there um you have a comment I I'd be happy to do whatever the majority of the board would like I'm also very comfortable with uh you know with with any of my colleagues sitting in there um so it if what
whatever whatever y'all would like I'd be happy to do but I'm comfortable sitting in the meeting and shepher this along because I think I'm the only one who really wants to Shepherd this thing along I don't mind fair statement at all huh yeah it's kind of want to see the project go forward that's kind of offensive actually Steve I don't think it's it's against you I just think think since it's such a big deal I I I think commissioner Barry with his time on the board has some experience could be useful I'm just saying that as a courtesy I but I know we can't do it except for
one of us but I you know I Steve if you want to defer I would say that I probably understand the dpz master plan as well as anybody else up here because I've been hearing a lot about it I know that the people in Bula understand the phased approach so I don't know why we don't so why do they and why do do the developers and we don't but I do so I'd like to sit in in that meeting well
can we what's your thoughts commissioner Barry I would have lik to have you on the board just to for more input because we need three votes to move this forward so I think all of us have skin in the game but um I mean whoever wants to sit in the meeting is is is is fine I that I mean there in my opinion there are very very bad terms for an agency or a municipal government to allow
into a contract and I'm not going to willingly allow that now well that was my thought with you being in there I thought that maybe you could negotiate those and come back at our next meeting that was my thought process but um well I mean I will I'm going to advocate for I'm C if if you know if I was in that meeting I would Advocate that meeting if if my if my comments are made here I'll advocate here but I'm going to you know adamantly advocate for uh for the best interest
of the of the taxpayers which is is is a function of the money and it's a function of the of the job development on the property but you know there's also a a function of the you know there have been there you know there have been things over the years and I will only really talk to commissioner May about this there's been things over the years that um you know if if if things that I would have done differently maybe with obviously maybe with jail construction there's you know looking
looking back there's some you know you make the best decisions at the time that you that you're told and you take people's word for it and you know sometimes things don't work out that way but um you know there's probably some things I would do differently but in in this case I'm what I'm very fearful of as a as as one of the five of us is to willingly allow us to enter into a contract that becomes the source of future ridicule for us entering into that agreement that is that
is a fear and those are the those are the terms with which I'm just I you know I only get one vote so you know but I I can advocate here just as well as in that private meeting so if commissioner stobber feels like he can be successful in there and and Advocate on the board behalf then that's fine Mr chairman and Steve since you called my name I I'll respond and quite frankly actually I think me and you are on the same page I mean uh candly
um commissioner Barry you know I think in In fairness I've I've always acquiescent to you know commissioner BOS not commissioner scherger and to you you know I would be very supportive of you sitting down at the table because you have a a lot of history and commissioner uh ber and hobber have both been at the table I do not desire to be at the table at all like I'm not interested
in going to another meeting me because this went round and round and round and round so I mean so you can take me off the list you've had two people like you want to go go Steve you want to go Go I mean I've been hopefully you know the record will go that I've been consistent no matter who the board was best Roi for the citizens in jobs that's all I've ever said I'm I'm not gotten into town hall centers I'm not gotten into the residence of BU I'm not got into uh the the contract uh and my colleague to my right who I have a a a a vast amount of respect for is probably more attentive
to uh details than I probably would ever be out well you know in candidly some of these details are the it's and you know and Steve I'm fine with you sitting in the me I don't want anyone to think that because I was in there that's why somebody's deal doesn't get done I don't I don't want I don't I don't want that being perceived so so if you want to sit in there that's fine with me Mike I I appreciate the I appreciate the comments but um well I want a commissioner in there every meeting
I'm fine with Steve I'm fine with Steve I don't have any issue with that but I I did appreciate your comments um but the issues that I have with there you know as I mentioned you know a couple of times you know I like Brian and Fred Chad horn will this and it's correlative to the Dior Horton discussions from two years ago you know I I like those guys I like Scott White Hurst you know I
like Joe I like Matt Wade I like you know a lot of my friends at Dr Horton they're to me they're they're good partners but we were it became clear we were never going to get to terms on a contract so okay then we you know we just kind of moved on but the issues with the terms in that contract are the nothing's the same the issues are similar to the issues that we're having here and um you know so it's not specific to The Entity and if we if we you know if we were to go down another path uh you know with one of the other one of the other uh prop uh proposers then and language was
in that contract no matter how I might feel about them I wouldn't support that either you know I just I don't want to have us enter into something that two years from now we look back on and we go gosh I wish I wouldn't have done that because now we have no control and the control is all in the purchasers uh it's all in their Court as to when they close and uh I just I don't think we would
see closings for a long period of time Steve just just in response Steve just in response you know candidly um so my commitment to you know the two surrounding districts uh and my commitment and and my respect uh I hope is visible and prevalent because at the end of the day if we didn't care about currency if we didn't care about traffic there was $62 million on the table for Dr Horton you know I mean they talked about that number even with me I now it would have all been up
being residential it probably would have been no jobs it would been no creation If this just would have been a land deal a land deal Dr Harden would have easily given us $62 million and it would not have been What the residents wanted but if it's just a land deal and we have no callbacks we have no control you know then we sell it to the highest bidder if we just wanted to make money 50 million is not the number we break it down we we control Zone you don't think we can break the Lots down and sell it to private developers and just let them build whatever they want to build and
we probably can make $200 million I mean but I've been very consistent in in in in being supportive and you're absolutely right in everything that you said because when DR Horton came it was not the best deal in our opinion for the citizens of camp we didn't do it you know I mean and so that we we have been very you know I have I've been very supportive of Steve of the citizens of BU whether you were sitting in this seat or whatever because I know people have to live there they have to have
traffic you know but if I just see this as a land deal I have to have an appraisal and highest and best value that's what I have to if not then it's a quality of life issue you know and there there's somebody smarter than me that can help negotiate with Brian I mean Brian has developed billions of dollars I mean him and Chan Henderson have they understand development but we have to understand where we going and if we don't have a map to where we going like Steve says regardless if we're out of office this decision will lay and rest upon us of what way that we go and so we to me you know
I know everybody wants to say oh my God it's been it's been there forever I can just tell you there have been people like adal Kelly there's been people like Jim cronley that have spent 25 and 30 years of their life on this project and who will never get an Roi I mean there are a lot of people I mean there's been multiple executive directors of Florida West that have come and have gone uh for for haste makes waste uh for me to think that I'm going to make a hasty decision about something that's going to directly affect uh my grandchildren you know I'm not going to do
that you know I will say this I'm not saying that I'm against Will O brien's deal at 42 million 45 million I know that I you mik you tried to get CH to this number and we said 50 million and now when we come to the the details and the negotiations we kind of shift it that's not in my opinion that that's going to be something that we we have to discuss and and not saying that I couldn't be
supportive but that's there's going to have to be further discussion about that I would love to see you know if you know if one meting strob Berger's in there and one meting Berry's in there it affects these two guys' district and I'm going to uh I'm going to support these guys but I'm going to hold true to where I am it's just like we we'll made a good point which is you know my negligence you know there's 20% of the land that's dedicated to you know public use I mean I don't know if I still agree with that maybe when the plan came I did you know what I mean but I mean we're I
mean we got contracts now where we about to buy buy property from the school district I don't know if I'm going to support giving property to a school district you know I had to buy property in Wedgewood from a school district I don't know if I'm going to be supportive of doing that I don't know if if the highest and the best use of of of putting a fire station in there is the best use of public property when we're going to have to maintain infrastructure we're going have to maintain Road storm water lighting all those type of things I mean if we just give we we've been we
already have 100 acres of Navy Federal that we don't get any taxes on you know and if someone gets hurt on that Park EMS still has to show up I mean there's a lot of things of consideration that we should think before we do any knee-jerk reaction and that's why to me you know you got to have somebody that's just laser focus on exactly getting us where we need to be DBZ gave a plan I mean but it's a it's a design it's kind of like you know you get Ashley's a builder I mean we get a pretty design off the computer and we take it to a homeowner to build our house they never got
the details they don't even know how big the bathroom or the bedroom is cu we never drew up any blueprints because it cost money to draw the prints it's easy for me to give her a pretty picture of this nice house with Gables and facades and roof pitches but when I get down to working out exactly you know the details of this house and how big the rooms are and how many bathrooms and how many whatever I mean it changes the price and so I just don't know Mike for me if if we're there to day for that well in interested time what I'd like to do I'm going to let Brian talk then I'm going to let I know Alison and Steve did I I mean I I was really referring commissioner Barry did I
good all right thanks are you your comments good now okay thanks Brian can you please I know you want to make a comment I'm going to allow what um if you have a couple minutes to share with what's on your mind thank you so much um Brian Spencer obviously with bu Town Center appreciate all of you um and understand the um and can empathize with your spirit of debate and Analysis thank you also whenever I've reached out to you not a single one of you have ignored U my phone calls
text um that means a lot to me as someone that once is in public service um I'm I if I get a little bit passionate it's just because if you're an architect that's the way you are um I think all of you have the timeline from almost every waking minute from after the vote
um Mr clerk was this handed out to everyone in in printed form we got that I don't know if it was printed I don't know if we got that we we'll get it from you and have time to review it okay and it it's pertin it's my backup for this speech Yes yeah thank you um because I just I think hey you can break through right there if you want okay Jose's coming down thank
you yeah thank you I I just want to make sure on in out of respect and defense of the legal team that is representing us um and that when you look at this timeline and you will see how this legal
team obviously represented represented today by Will Dunaway has not dropped the ball I just can't emphasize that enough and I want to let you know that behind the scenes um as was mentioned um by your county attorney the buet Town Center Partners had to digest what will and his team as they worked on weekends as they worked on Sundays as they worked during the historic snowstorm they
would be sending material to us my wife can attest that while it was snowing I was redlining and marking up and reviewing this team has not there has been no Moss that has grown under our feet so I just wanted to spell perhaps that misconception and then commissioner hoffberger I I just want to
appeal to you that this is different than buying a new Wash House business this is so much more complex I have done 19 projects in downtown three of which are brownfields projects it has had layers of jurisdictional oversight and to make it with some of the best attorneys that specialize in this no offense to Allison Rogers but using the best experts in environmental cleanup from
begs and Lane they still have required tedious reviews I'm literally saying looking at the ethers ores May shall because the devils are you know the devil's in the details so please understand I've done things like I created Fish House I started Fish House I started Jackson's I've done 19 projects the tax assessment value that I have developed with others including with Jim
cononley three Marriotts exceed 100 million on the county tax rolls so to say there's not a HomeTown developer on this team I definitely want to end that discussion Wonder for home team go Hometown um but this deal has tremendous complexity and Marina Jim crley is Jim crley D in any way with your group no no sir um but Marina Curry would be the first to tell you the complexity that
commissioner May that is beyond that pretty picture that you described you all paid yeah thanks dpz has provided there is so much depth of community input that is behind that colorful plan I've worked in municipalities with those Master plans they're golden if they're followed so don't
discount the value that that plan has does it have complexity yes thus will done alwayss tenacious adherence to the plan so that you all aren't faced with contradictions down the line now as for job creation and I specifically want to look to commissioner and to commissioner hoffberger please understand this country when when we step out of this meeting that started at 9:
this country will have been whipsawed by some of the latest news on a federal level that is affecting companies and jobs throughout this country just talk to the two companies that have invested over billions in comp in battery production for EV vehicles and what has happened to them in the past week and how those two towns now don't have the jobs they thought they had talk
to the investors in AI that two weeks ago felt as secure as they could be until two new AI players have entered the scene so to talk about the reliability of representation from us on the on us or whether it's anyone standing here of what what jobs they can deliver as your county attorney is trying to tell you it is going to be Market driven now are do we want more jobs do we want a thriving
mixed use development absolutely and you all know from knowing the history of Brian Spencer I am Mr walkability I have done everything to promote Urban density development mixed use development and the best highing paid High wage paying employers that are going to be attracted to
what Bula Town Center will do is it will be very much based on the quality of the Town Center that we create because the low-paying jobs they don't mind that those workers are stuck commuting for an hour and a half we have to create a wonderful attractive high density mixed use development and that's what this team does it's more than medical offices and that is
what I have spent my entire life since returning from tlane University to Pensacola to try to do and I am just telling you um what I hope we can do no disrespect to you because you've been our champion commissioner strob Berger thank you so much I want to call you out um and and recognize you but if Mr bear commissioner Barry has as he has stated many times he has what I would call and I've negotiated like I said I've negotiated for 30 years as a developer if he's got some hard
nose we want to know what those hard NOS are so if if we have to have what I would call five Redline meetings and Page Turners it's what they're what is what they are then I sat with with Ashley I'm going to use first names now unfortunately I was in Cleveland for medical reasons for the next meeting I couldn't be there for that but we want to get there we want to cross the finish line
commissioner may we want to reach that balance of money and jobs we we we want to be your partner I just can't say it any stronger But please understand we are also subject Ed and victims just as you all are as government in unexpected changes on a global level so please don't put on anyone
some sort of guarantee because we'll just lie to you we'll we'll tell you that we'll we can deliver 1,200 Jobs so we can get the five unanimous vote but that's not what's in my track record is to lie and misrepresent okay um so what we're looking for is the 30 days of extension five of you each one of you sit down let's find out what is your noo and if we get there great if we don't you
all have made progress because now you've you've learned more about one another thank you thank you Mr chairman passion is uh um impressive yes commissioner May no I was going to respond to Mr Spencer Brian first thank you I I know what you did I mean you in in your development downtown I mean so your reputation is is unprecedent and I was supportive um at the last meeting as we move forward I mean I think you know I've never been reserved in telling you that the dollar amount
in the jobs occur but you've helped today just in your statement and you know and I would challenge that to Florida West and to our friends over there uh whether it's light industrial rather it's AI I mean quite frankly um had we made a decision on yesterday it might be different than today had we made it before January 6th it may be different in the day because when we see you know the amount of dollars that will probably not be available from the federal government how you
know jobs are being redirected uh about you know the way in which economic development is being perceived by our country those these are healthy conversations uh and so I think that adding value brings someone of your caliber to come and have these open discussion that helps us defined our criteria and where we going I mean you know I I I've said this since I've been on this board if you don't have a a a mission and a vision statement you there's no way to land anywhere
you know and this helps us to get it where we need to be in no way I've been opposed to any of the developers I've just wanted to put the onus on us to give clear Direction you know and you know as you just said any developer can get up there and lie I mean that's you know they have developers lawyers politicians whoever preachers I mean whoever all of them um you could say anything but in God we trust all ofs write it on the dotted line and long after you're gone and you're not a part of the development team and we're not here on this board there has to be criteria contracts and
goals that are in place that can be easily hand off because as commissioner my friend commissioner Barry said you know all of our reputations will be on the line for what we did for this project so I yours as well and so Brian I mean you I appreciate your passion you know and and my reluctancy is is is not to uh go against anyone it it's it's for better Clarity better Direction
you know better support for our negotiating team and you have a team and you know unfortunate thing about it is you know commissioner stroberg sits one day commissioner hobber sits one day commissioner Barry sits and then commissioner C and commissioner May and we're all sitting at the table of negotiations with all all of our blinders on what's important to each of us which in some way gives your team a false sense of what's going to be accepted when we get to this public meeting because we all have our different ideologies of what we think is important and so we
have to clean that house up to me in order to make it a fair and equable uh opportunity for all Brine and so I do appreciate you and you know um I I appreciate you guys stepping up I I walked out of here and I've never hugged Coler before in my life but I said man that was 50 million man I'm GNA have a merry go round and a slide beautiful I mean and so but you know now you know so for me and and I've said that Brian you know and so $5 million is another million dollar for Steve not stroberg Ashley me $5 million means a lot you know in in my
district it means a lot in Brownsville means a lot in Monclair means a lot in Wedgewood means a lot in Lincoln Park uh to go there but if we can't get there I mean I I think that a great negotiation is fairness to all and whatever the fair number is that I don't know because I'm not in negotiation whatever is fair is right and you know and we have to make sure that it's right for the developer because you wouldn't do this if you wern't making money uh but at the same time you know we laid you know $20 million on the ground of taxpayer dollars that they deserve an Roi too
not just the people of bua but the people of all all of bamy County so thanks Mr chairman I appreciate so that's where that's where I am I a 30 second comment I'm just asking for the opportunity to continue negotiations and if you'll study that timeline please you'll you'll understand this team has been committed and and recognize time is valuable um and Lum and may
can go there for his Redline session and he can put a line through a certain figure and that's what negotiations are but if we don't continue negotiations we'll never get there yeah Madam attorney I know you I won't be negoti we have some order here commissioner Madame attorney can you add a comment earlier did you want to say something I mean I was just kind of trying to nudge ahead which is I'm reading what you guys are saying that we're going to come back on March
6 with an update to you all we're going to do a Redline counter proposal on the $45 million and well but you can make that in your in your comment with when you meet com every you'll make that are you going to meet with them I said they I don't know if that was the number do we that that's a good question do we have to make another motion to move forward with a negotiation in a lower amount technically you're in a committee of the whole so I'm just trying to get a feel for what the general direction is so I don't just get conversational just get conversational I can
Steve did I didn't hear you can you repeat what you said I'm fine with just doing a red line I was just saying we can give conversational Direction this morning they can take that I would I I do want to I know commissioner stroberg your passion it's in your District commissioner Barry I really would like you to do a red line with them just because you're experiencing being on the planning board if you you don't want to I get it but I I think it would add value for me it would and I'm going to sit down with you guys I think you should all so if we don't get there you
can't say the board didn't exhaust their efforts I I'm doing everything I can to try to make the right deal I hope the other Commissioners seem we've been here an hour and 40 minutes trying to entertain this but I would encourage every commissioner to sit down and do their what they think is their they can accept and what they can't Mike I'm I'm happy to sit down as well not in lie of someone else but I'll I'll I'll sit down and talk to them thank you I appreciate that okay so uh since we is we at the Cal I guess the discussion is we're going
to get them for legal and each of us to work with with bu Center and till March 6th is that our next board meeting our official one is that what you're asking Alison well tell us what you want you need to tell us what you need the first or the second meeting in March please what's the the the 20th of it'll be the 6th and the 20th well we have um legislative day in March so yeah it'll
be the 6th or go after that because it's spring break and legislative days yeah it so our board meeting is on the 25th is that correct the March 25th so we would still need to since the original motion and the original thing we voted on was $50 million in a 30-day negotiation we would still have to we don't vote on that C no no no but tonight we would still have to change that tonight well I think it's fair enough to say that that has failed we can certainly have if you want me to put
on the agenda for tonight a discussion item and let you guys we can have a motion that just says that that's not succeed I'm not going to move fail you can you can continue to negotiate I've not heard Brian say it fail continue if we're going to extend this negotiations you continue to negotiate with them and then bring back and see if we can accept it I mean I'm not going to take I'm not going to say to Citizens that I said we're going to get 50 million and just take it off the table it's still a part of negotiations we just extended the negotiations whatever it may it may come back
at 30 million it may come back at 50 million it may come back at 60 million negotiations that's what we going to do just extend it sorm I think that's the honorable thing for the board to do under the conditions we've had the last few weeks Mr hoffberger no if I mean I I'm happy to sit down as as Mike asked and and talk about I'm really I'm only going to be talking about terms and I'm I'm not I'm not saying I accept the 45 I'm just saying I I don't know that it even matters I mean that's I guess as as far as the number if we can't if we if we can't eradicate some of the terms that are
in the that are in the offer I mean so I'm not saying I would take the 45 but it's not even a discussion if we can't get better terms okay okay all right commissioner strober and then I'll go to commissioner man then I'd like to by 10:45 uh move forward and close this meeting if uh we can I don't know a lot of comments this morning okay because I know Alison you you're not going to be here next meeting next meeting L's not going to be here for March 6 the next
one is March 25th correct can we agree on that March 25th to do that 2th are you okay with that okay yeah and the other thing is so I'm issuing my because my I know my wife's watching I'm going to issue my uh second apology to the board here I I know we're all working on this and my passion come often comes out as anger this is why when I was a young Marine I was told I'm not allowed to touch anybody um in negotiations it was in a class I had I'll tell you about it later
but um please do I think that we're I think we're going to move along I think the progress is good and Stephen you know if if if they think that they want you know I don't I want I I hate the word diversity but if if they want you on there to kind of push it then I'm I'm happy to do that too okay I I think we got our do outs you're going to meet with all the Commissioners that are interested we're going to go through some of the things each have different skill skits with
Wes and Allison you got till the 25th let's see where we end up all right is there any further discussion on that all right so this um the next Cal in March 6 even though this won't be done I'd like to bring up the Bas Center as a point of discussion if everyone's okay with that so Wes if you could prepare with Michael caps and all the people we need to brief the board and uh see where we go I know that's a point of discussion a lot of us have concern about so Steve I mean
uh caller M do you want to just bring up the the sports arena in any way at at this same meeting I mean to me if we're going to bond things they both kind of go hand in hand I'm sorry I couldn't hear did you recommend doing sports center at the same time yes ma'am yeah that'd be great it's I don't care EX up to you want to put that a B on there there two discussions or one discussion you don't want to I don't care well what do you think St what we're I mean well there's a there's a presentation that's going to be going to TDC um I was I was hoping that it was going to go uh in
two weeks and that uh would you know we miss that firm deadline uh by a couple days so that's going to be now uh coming to y'all in April related to the NEP you know the developments in NEP um and yeah so part of that is going you know so that is going to come to it's well today's Thursday it's ready to go tomorrow but like I said there was a deadline this past Tuesday that was uh that they
that they weren't able to meet so um so that's going to be coming to y'all in April whatever else goes on you know I do see it it's it looks like it's differentiating into two distinct projects and one is you know probably not going to be as uh you know hopefully not be as controversial not be as um as much discussion as this as the part in the southern part in the southern part of the
county you know uh that leaves that's going to leave a lot of uh leaves a lot of bonding capacity for the project you know down here I'll just say down here where you know wherever exactly here is and so I think that's the bigger part of the discussion and and it seems like we've got one big discussion now if what you're talking about is the base Center and maybe in adjon facility or conference what whatever that is I I see it as kind of separate from the the the ball field part which is now a much smaller piece of a discussion but it's like said that's not
going to TDC until April April you want to just do the base Center commissioner Barry yeah and and whatever else is is the P it well I think it's good to get the brief and then we can we still can move forward it's just a informational brief um I the the base Center and whatever else might be going there you good Wes fine with me so any other discussions on the cow all right we'll meet today again at 4:30 and we're done for the this meeting is adjourned [Music]