All right. If the commissioners will make their way back to the dis, we need to convene the meeting. If the commissioners will make their way back to the dis, we do need to convene the meeting. Okay, this is most of us. We're going to call the regular meeting to order. Please turn your cell phones to the vibrating silence or offsetting. The board of county commissioners allows any person to speak regarding an agenda item. This speaker is limited to three minutes unless otherwise determined by the chairperson to allow sufficient time for all speakers. We do have more than 20
speakers tonight. So that will be limited to two minutes. Speakers shall refrain from abuse of profane remarks, disruptive outbursts, protests, or other conduct which interferes with the orderly conduct of this meeting. Upon completion of the public comment period, discussion is limited to board members and questions raised by the board. Tonight's invocation will be um led by a pastor that Commissioner Cole is bringing up. Hey, Pastor Johnson, if you'd come back up again. I appreciate you being here tonight and giving us a second prayer. Thank you, sir. Father, we thank you so much for allowing us to be here this evening. Lord, you created all of
this and uh allowing us to experience what you've created. It's an honor and uh we thank you for the grace that you have poured upon us. Lord, I pray that everything that is said in here would be edifying to you for your glory and for our good. Lord, I pray that we would use kind speech, not hateful speech. That again, we could glorify you in all that we do. Thank you for leadership. Lord, leadership is not an easy task. Lord, I pray that you would lead, guide, and direct them to do things that honor you. And Father, I pray that all of us would be able to
proclaim that Christ is king. Lord, it says in your scriptures that every knee will bow, every tongue will confess. And Lord, it is my prayer uh that everyone in this room would confess you on this side and before the other side. And father, again, we thank you for your grace. We thank you for the cross that your son Jesus Christ died on and resurrected three days later and promised to come get your church. And Lord, in the meantime, Lord, I pray that we would be about your work in making disciples of all nations. And we pray this in the name of Jesus and everyone said, "Amen." Please join me in the pledge to our flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of
America and to the stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. At this point, are there any items to be added to the agenda? Commissioner Kohler? Uh, no, Madam Chair. Commissioner Barry? No, ma'am. Commissioner May absent. Commissioner Stroberger? No, ma'am. Thank you. Do I have a motion to adopt? Move to approve. Thank you. Do we have a second? Second. All in favor 40 with Commissioner May absent. Thank you. We will move on to the commissioner
for Commissioner Coler. Yeah. Thank you, Madam Chair. And for anyone that's still in the room, I've we have a lot of things I want to discuss here over the next few minutes. Um first, I want to take a moment to apologize for my role in public conflict between myself and Representative Salsman. While it doesn't excuse my comment, I want to provide the context that motivated me to make the statement. About two weeks ago, I was informed by multiple representatives in the Florida House that Representative Salsman had become angry after discovering the House had funded the South Navy Boulevard improvement project in its budget. Multiple legislators
confirmed that Salsman is actively working to cut the funding even now and tell me that she wants to cut it because some personal animosity had she has towards me. As a public servant, I reached out to her privately and was disappointed by her action. She denied what she was doing and lied about her actions in Tallahassee. My hope was simply to hash out our differences so that we could work together towards the benefit of the county. I was frustrated when Representative Salsman indicated that she had no desire to focus on the best of our county. I let my frustrating frustration get the
better me. I never interact with another public servant who lied to my face repeatedly before, especially about a project like this that supports our base and our veterans. I want to thank the representatives in Florida House who funded the project and believe it is important every veteran being laid to rest at Branus travels that road and it's important to me and our community to honor their sacrifice. I also want to thank Congressman Petronis for his support on the project as well, including obtaining the funding in the federal budget. I bear no ill will towards Representative
Salsman and hope she can forgive me for my comment. While I have been assured by senators and representative that we do not need her support or like this project for it to be funded, my hope that it she will stop opposing it in Tallahassee and support what's best for our county. As a fellow veteran, I would love to celebrate this win together. All right, the second thing I'm moving on. As you may or may not know, I want to thank all the Santa Rosa Commission, UWF, the Chamber of Northwest Florida, our board, Senator Moody, and Congressman Patronis. As you know,
the Coast Guard was announced this week that it'll be going to Birmingham on Monday. unfortunate for us. We're still got a lot of Coast Guard stuff that'll be happening on the base with the $30 million to the to the port, but um I appreciate all the hall work that was done so that we could, you know, try to get it. I found out last week before it came out today that we weren't going to get it. Um so you you do what you can. I looked back at last meeting and wanted to provide an update for the Northwest Florida Defense Coolis visit and highlight I think it's been out there
the $12 million that was appropriated for the hanger. We still need additional funding but that came in the 25 U budget thanks to Congressman Patronis, Congressman Nelie, Congressman Dunn, Congressman Carter, Congressman Franken and the support of both of our senators Scott and Moody. And uh this funding was requested as I mentioned in February 25 visit. Our visit this last time was very informative. We've asked for several things of both counties and I think we'll see some good results next year. I received a document um I saw the document that came out this last week from
the Save Our Beaches. I read it and I heard what happened this last week and I respectfully hope the condo owners will review and give a response. I believe it's a good first step. I don't know who will lead on that. Commissioner Stroberger, if that's you, or Keith Wilkins or Tim Day, but I'm I'm optimistic that we can get to something here shortly. On a different topic, this last week, Congressman Petronis reached out to me and asked me to get him some which is related and directly some data on the um National Johnson's Beach. And thank you, Dorothy, for putting that together
very quickly for us. when you did um we sent it up to Jack and I talked to him this morning and they are working to come up with some sort of um daily rate and I will know more in the very near future. I want to congratulate all the awardees from the Scami County Fire Rescue recognition on February 21st. Sue Straw did an awesome job as always as MC. Fire Chief Harrison deserves a big shout out for all the hard work he put as well. And great job to everyone that was recognized for
heroism and gallantry in the line of duty. Last two things I want to say happy birthday to my dad. He turned 82 yesterday. He's had some health problems and I want to tell my wife I love her so much and thank you for staying with me, babe. That's all. Thank you, Commissioner Barry. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Um, I'd like to thank uh the administration and the veteran service office today. Um they were in Molino uh providing some services to uh to veterans in
district 5 and I want to let uh administration certainly miss Miss West this evening but with uh Debbie Ver sitting on the administrator acting administrator Deb sitting on the DIS with us I want to thank her for having uh having them out in district 5 providing those services. Also want to congratulate the University of West Florida. uh they recently uh received a $2 million grant for uh for a six-year STEM enhancement program, which is uh you know, which is which is fantastic. Obviously, that's the that's the way that the world is going. And I love to see uh uh you know,
certainly I think it's appropriate to say our university. So, I love to see our university having uh additional outside money come in to uh to aid that post-secary education that's going on out there. Also want to uh thank FDOT District 3 and uh uh District 3 Secretary Tim Smith. There's a project starting in just a few weeks, a nearly $15 million project that's going to really uh uh enhance Highway 97, which is the commonly referred to as Atmore cutoff between Molino
uh at the red light and the state line at Appmore. That's a it's a much needed project and it's going to do gonna do a lot of good. That's a a very heavily traveled road and I want to thank uh uh Secretary District Secretary Smith as well as Secretary Purdue for allocating those monies uh and getting that going. It's, you know, we have an ability sitting on the TPO to direct uh, you know, to direct a lot of, uh, you know, FHWA funds that come through DOT and DOT funds directly. And then there are also things that, uh, you know, kind of kind of go, uh, direct from DOT
to the just to us and our constituents. And I want to thank them for that. Um, and I couldn't read my note. Perhaps I should type them out that says Start typing them out. I should I should type them out. So that says let AI do them. DOT District 3. I was having to reread uh reread the DOT district 3. Oh, there was there was an additional note. Uh ESA South, which is uh one of our they're one of our tenants in the commerce in the central commerce park in Cantonment. Uh
they were recognized recently um as one of the top 200 companies uh one of the top 200 companies by business insider and business uh business world. Uh, I know they do a lot of defense, uh, you know, do a lot of federal and defense contracting and those kind of things. And want to thank, uh, I want to thank them for their, uh, you know, high wage employment of, uh, of my constituents and their capital that they've put on the ground in, uh, in District 5. We appreciate them. they were one of the first large tenants in the central commerce park and uh one of the things that wouldn't necessarily have been mentioned at our board but um it is full
that that first phase of the central commerce park and we are moving forward with a a master plan on another 150 acres to uh to move into the phase two of that and I don't know that we would be where we are in the central commerce park project without the partnership with ESA South over the last uh 15 18 years. Thank you madam chair. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I I want to publicly u Madam Chair, thank you for your leadership regardless. I um I I often say we don't necessarily have to all agree on every issue, but uh when there's someone who takes bold leadership, I'm certainly going to
recognize them. And thank you for your leadership as a a chairperson. Uh I certainly appreciate it. Uh and with that in mind, I I see that uh I was in Washington DC with Commissioner Stroberger uh as we were at NAO. Uh, and you know, I think the most crowded session that I attended was property taxes. Uh, and so, not only is that, uh, being talked about in the state of Florida with the House bill, uh, and recognizing that there may be a companion bill in the Senate that doesn't necessarily look like that, uh, that's a big issue as session comes to end around March 13th. And so,
I hope that we're all paying attention to how critical uh, that is. But uh with that being said, we also I had the opportunity uh through Knobco to go and look at redistricting and um there's a few people I that are here today that that helped out with redistricing. I remember as a young man I was here and and Jesse Jackson came to Pensacola and uh we mourn with his family, but Dr. Joyce Hops and Dr. Josh Longmire uh introduced me to at Greater Union Baptist Church to Jesse Jackson when I was a very young person that inspired me uh to want to be uh into community service and uh we're
certainly uh sharing the death of his family and we thank God that we had someone like Dr. Hopson uh who uh brought us uh in that room and we would forever appreciate that. And when we talk about redistricting, uh, you know, there are two people here tonight, uh, Clifford Stokes, um, who was a part of the federal lawsuit that helped to get a minority majority district. And without that, there probably would not be the representation that we have in, uh, that continued fight. Dr. Lady Samson, who I called the president, former president NAACP, uh, for her continued fight uh,
for equality and for justice uh, in recognizing that diversity, equity is not a bad word. Uh, inclusion is a good word. So, so, Dr. latest, thank you for your service. Uh Dr. Stokes, thank you for your service. And Dr. Hopson, thank you so much for your service because without you, uh I wouldn't be here to serve today. Uh so I certainly appreciate that. And as well as Derek Scott, uh our leader of uh the local Democratic Party throughout this state, uh in the last eight, nine months, uh you have traveled these streets, these roads, and these highways fighting uh without
compensation uh to make sure that laws are just for everyone. So Derek, we certainly appreciate you doing that. Uh with that being said, you know, we're excited. Um obviously next week on March 10th, David Jolly will be in town and I know Derek and his team will will probably be engaged and we're excited. Uh we are glad to welcome u throughout u the Southeast in the northern region uh to the Sunb Belt Basketball Tournament. Uh it's very rare that you get that quality of basketball in Northwest Florida. Uh we're here uh with the Sunb Belt basketball tournament uh with some of
the best basketball ever and uh we are on ESPN. Um we are being seen nationally uh as a place whether it be soccer commissioner Barry or whether it be uh basketball and tennis. Uh we are quickly becoming a region where people want to come uh and utilize sports tourism uh as an opportunity uh uh to visit. So we appreciate that. into the Pensacol Sports Association. It's very rare that um a a person or or a coach uh can be in a room uh with uh NFL players uh and Olympic
stars that they personally coach. And so Devin Weatherspoon uh Super Bowl champion Doug Bowwin, Super Bowl champion, Jeremy Reed, Super Bowl champion, Justin Gatlin, Olympic champion, who are all young men who participated uh in the program that I coach. I had the opportunity to be with them at the Pensacola Sports Association banquet where they were honored as well as Ray Palmer for his service Pensacola Sports Association. Uh so it was a great week and uh as we move forward, uh Washington High School girls basketball will be traveling to Jacksonville on next Friday. Uh
they need our support. Uh I often say these young ladies uh don't get a lot. I I I try to sponsor them uh when we can uh because they are marketing Pensacola across this state and uh we should not uh take it for granted uh that these young ladies work hard and when they are traveling uh they just as we're marketing billboards and television uh when they leave this town and and get on a bus and go to different cities to represent us in state championships, they're representing Pensacola to co to Coach Jade Brown. Uh congratulations to the Washington Wild Hat Wildcat ladies basketball team
who will will be uh this Friday in Jacksonville participating in the state tournament as well as this week WF will be playing and hopefully they win uh and we will be hosting uh the basketball game this Sunday at 1:00 if we if we win tomorrow. Uh WF Argos, Commissioner Barry and I are both former Argos. The Argos will be hosting uh the semifinals uh this coming Sunday at the University of West Florida. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Sturburger. Evening everybody. I want to remind everybody that uh dining for disaster, that's a Red Cross event that hap that's happening
on March 26. I think that's our next meeting. Um that's when uh we have local restaurants participating and they're given approximately 10% of their u uh revenue for that day um to the Red Cross and that money is used back in our community. So remember that. Um there'll be billboards going up uh soon also so to remind you where to go. Thank you. Um, is Latana Wesley here?
Latana, raise your hand. Where you at? To the left. Hi, Latana. I'm glad you're here. Hey, Lata. Okay, next thing is I went to the Top Gun Gala on Friday. I think it was last Friday. Quint Stutter was the guest speaker and he asked everyone to discuss who their mentor was. Um, in a military career like mine, um, I don't think I could say that there was just one person that was my mentor. I've had many mentors throughout all the stages of my life, but only for a short time. They may not
even have known that they were mentors of mine. I was just another student or a junior officer. Um, when I started flight school, my on-wing was my mentor. He's my he was Lieutenant Commander Reeves. The air boss on the Ewima. When it was commissioned here, that was then Cap Commander Sikmire. and later Captain Sikmire. Um he was my mentor. I was his his uh air department mini boss. Uh Captain Bagby, he was one of my mini commanding officers. Um we had used to have lots of Steve to
Steve talks. My first OIC on my uh H2B crew, H2P cruise um at that time was uh Lieutenant Commander Snyder, later to become Vice Admiral Snyder. And of course there's my dad. He was a mentor of mine. But someone who probably would not consider herself one of my mentors, the one person who has helped me and guided me my entire life has been my wife Gina. With Gina's support while in the Marine Corps, I was able to finish college in three years. Then then uh I came here to aviation
officers candidate school as a Marine sergeant with three kids. I went to flight school and by the time I got to my first operational squadron, we had five kids. That's a hell of a way to go to flight school. It was a fire hose. Um I think just five days after getting to the squadron, I was already doing workups for deployment. So Gina was home with five kids a lot. Um it wasn't easy for either of us, but it was made easier with Gina. She's always been my north star. Thank you,
honey. She's my mentor. Um, Commissioner Hofberger and myself, we attended the Admiral's Cove lunchon last week and we had the pleasure of hearing from uh the Commander of Naval Education and Training Command, CNET. Admiral Huffman, the guest speaker. Um, he was the guest speaker. CNET is the Navy's largest shore command. And he began by saying the Navy recruited last year 44,000 sailors. We haven't recruited that many sailors in 40 years. and the Navy's on track to recruit 45,000 this
year. So that's spectacular. He also talked about how we can't just have the best equipment. The Navy has to have technical masters. We already have the best technology and the best equipment. The key point is we already have technical masters in the fleet. They're in every rating. They're uh the ones that we call when things break, when inspections are coming, when the mission is on the line. We call these technical masters. But if we're serious about readiness and not just in the Navy, we must quantify mastery, not just assume it. The thing that applies here is uh or
the same thing applies here in the county, too. We know who our technical masters are here at the county. They're they're sitting over there on that side of the room. In the next few years, I think we're going to be losing some of these technical masters. Um, Commissioner May and and Barry know better than I do what it's going to be like to lose some of these masters that we have over there. I guess I bring this up just to say thank you to Joy, Chip, Jamie, Wes, Allison, and the rest of the county's technical masters. Thank you very much. Um, I'm not done yet.
Um I I wanted to read this statement that I I'd written um about the strikes in in Iran. Um it's kind of related to the tactical masters talking point. Um the recent strikes on Iran reflect what happens when a military combines superior technology and discipline tactics and relentless training. History proves the point. Has anyone heard of Operation Mole Cricut 19? Look that up.
Big deal. Israel demonstrated how this was back in June of 1982. I remember we had just come back from the Philippines. My wife, my family, my to my father when he was stationed there. Israel demonstrated how integrated air power, electronic warfare, intelligence fusion, and pilot profic proficiency can dismantle a numerically significant adversary in hours. Syrian forces at the time were equipped with advanced Soviet systems and supported by Soviet aligned pilots, yet superior doctrine and training prevailed. Israeli forces leveraged US technology effectively
because they had mastered it. Technology alone does not win wars. competency does. I've seen the contrast firsthand while working in the Egyp with the Egyptian Air Force and the Egyptian Navy. I've deployed with them to teach small deck operations, anti-ubmarine warfare, and over the horizon targeting. Their deployments were no longer than seven days. That's all they would do, seven days. When not at sea, rotor aircraft were limited to pattern work at the home base. Night operations were rare. IFR proficiency was non-existent. aircraft generally did not
operate outside the tightly constrained local area. This is not a criticism. This is an ob observation about training culture and operational standards. By contrast, the US and allied forces we train globally at night and weather across all domains. We integrate air, sea, cyber, and space. We operate with decentralized initi initiative and mission command. The United States is the only true bluewater uh bluewater navy and and that's because they can
sustain and maintain combat logistics without any allied support. We're the only ones that can do that. That's just not the Navy. That includes the Marine Corps. Our air force and army are also full have full spectrum dominance. Our air superiority and ground dominance is also unmatched. The advantage comes from being a free society that empowers innovation, initiative, and merit. One of our persistent challenges, and it'll always be this way. I maybe after um we get a new president,
we'll go back we'll go backwards in this is the self-imposed rules of engagement that sometimes place our service members at risk. We often fight with legal, political, and media constraints that adversaries don't have to share. That restraint reflects our values, but it must never become an operational self-deterrence. Our adversaries cannot replicate our culture of innovation, decentralized leadership. They cannot match our training pipelines. They frequently rely on stolen technology, reverse engineering systems, proxy forces to attempt parody. And when they
cannot compete kinetically, they instead rely on psychological operations attempting to fracture domestic support and convince Americans that their own country is the problem. That's when the the protesters mobilize, make signs, buy t-shirts. Information warfare is now central is as central as air superiority. I say this because we have we just kicked the heck out of Iran. And I mean, look at the the war that we've got going on in Ukraine uh with the Russians. No one believes
that they are a world uh power. Um and we really are the only ones that are. Um so I say this because I want you guys to have confidence in your military. be proud of our military and what they did and what we can do when we take the gloves off and we don't put sailors, marines and uh and uh and airmen, you know, soldiers lives at risk by tying their hands. Okay, one more thing.
Eric or Paul, whatever your name is. Um, I I talked about a book that I had um that was given by my wife. It was called The Next Conversation. It was It's written by a lawyer. It's about getting to the next conversation. It's talk it's about it's about having discussions without having to try to win arguments. You don't win arguments. You just try to move them along. You move the discussion along. At the front of the book, there's a quote. It's called We Just Disagree.
It's a song by Dave Mason. I just disagree. Trust me, I just disagree. So, we I can continue that way. But when you give away when you say 75 ft of your property, I'm going to take it away. That's not a starting point. That's not a compromise. So, I just want to say that. Um, the last thing I want to say is I want to I want to express my support for Commissioner Hofberger. So, I want to say this about what everybody I've heard people talk about freedom of speech. We all believe in freedom
of speech up here, but this public forum is a limited public forum. The board welcomes public participation and it protects the right to express their views. However, this isn't a sidewalk. disruptive conduct, including gestures, and we've seen those noises or actions intended to intimidate, harass, or interfere with another speaker or the orderly conduct of this board in this meeting. It's never permitted. That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. I do appreciate that.
Um, since it's been brought up, I do want to say a few things about Michelle Salsman. She has funded and supported every single public safety request we have sent her. All of the new technology, all of the new equipment, and even a million dollars for a new fire training facility. Thank you for putting our first responders first and for your support in providing life-saving funding for our community. I do want to drive that home that I appreciate that and I am thankful for that. And when someone calls 911, they are thankful for those things. Those are items that we could not
have funded alone in this county and I appreciate it. I am often asked, "So, you've been in here for a year and a half. How do you like it?" And I always respond with, "Oh my god, I love it." And I do. I love that we have increased pay for our firefighters. I love that we are building new fire stations. I love that we have better prehosp care. And I love that we have a better, more responsive EMS service. I love that we are investing tourism dollars in new ball fields on NineM Road to create an entirely new tourism vertical for our community. I love that Stefan showed up
in my office today with a room full of paper for budget work so we can radically re-evaluate how we do our budget this year. I love all of these things and I believe that our community loves them too. These are good governments and it shows what we can do when we actually work together. So despite the chaos that ensued in public forum, I still believe that we can do amazing things when we do the right thing. All you can do is make the next best right decision. So in that spirit, thank you for being here tonight and thank you for doing what you believe is the next right thing.
We have proclamations next. Do we have a motion to adopt the proclamations? All in favor? 5. Thank you. Our first proclamation is our employee of the month that will be presented by Joy Blackman.
Where'd you go? Good evening. Uh this is China Watson Ball. Let me uh present this award to Miss Ball. I wanted to first paraphrase the proclamation that we're presenting to her. Um but if I could on a personal note when I first met China in our interview process, I was caught by the fact that she was one of those folks that you need for the go-getter kind of attitude. She was the one that wanted to take on a challenge and I had a good challenge for her. I really did. And the challenge we handed
China right off the bat was um Procore. Procore as you've seen is our project management software. China took it from a box that they gave us kind if you'll let me paraphrase that way. I mean or or emulate that. It's basically was in a box and she took it out of the box and she actually put this puzzle together. And it wasn't a simple thing. She's put many hours in that and a lot of expert training as well. Now I just have to hope I can hang on to her. But truthfully, the background
that China brought to us with professional development and educational experience was a tremendous part of that process. So we really wanted to thank recognize her for that tonight. Also, it's not just that. The those those are part of the project management world that she's in, but she's also managing projects. So, she's doing a little bit of everything, and we really thank you. Um, she's also active in her community, the Washington High School Auxiliary Program, Cabbat Heights Group Home, Leadership 500, and the one I need to hear more about, the director
of the Golden Girls Dance Group, HR Chapel, AM. I need to hear a little more about that. So I pres present to you tonight Miss China Watson Ball and to Miss Watson Ball's proclamation on behalf of our board of county commissioners. We want to thank you for being such a positive impact and a vital member of our family in engineering and we're blessed to have you. Thank you.
Now this is more important. Good evening. First, giving an honor to God who is the head of my life. My heartfelt gratitude goes to my family that's here today. My friends, my colleagues, and to all of you who sit on the desk. I am truly honored to be named the employee of the month for Escambia County. I am sincerely grateful for this acknowledgement. As a project engineering coordinator and a procore
administrator, I've had the privilege of coordinating projects that enhance our roads, our drainage systems, parks, and public spaces. It is in deep reward to contribute to the growth and resilience and the well-being of our county. And again, I thank you. Work
family. Work family. All family. Mama Joy. I see you over there. Come on. She in that dance group. No, this one is You're fine. Come on. I've been in your house, too. Come on. Yes, ma'am. Come on. We'll make I've been with FA in your house, too. Come on.
Is there anybody else? Will there be one? Will there be one more? Can we Can we get one more? All right. All right. I had my eyes closed. That's a bonus. Thank you. You're welld deserved. Thank you.
Congratulations. It is welld deserved. Our next proclamation is for GF Coast well day. So I will be presenting that. I'm not as good as Joy is at paraphrasing, but I will read quickly. Whereas Escambia County wishes to be a responsible steward of the coastal environment and marine biodiversity both within our jurisdiction and beyond. And whereas local residents and visitors to Escambia County cherish
the natural beauty and the wildlife found in in and around the Gulf of America/Mexico, including shorebirds, sea turtles, manatees, whales, and whereas staff from Escambia Countyy's natural resource management department work every day to protect that natural beauty and local wildlife and support active research, conservation measures, and public education to protect whales and other marine life in the Gulf. And whereas there are around 17 species of wells that live in the Gulf
year round and swim offshore from Escambia County, including various examples of tooth wells, beaked wells, and balon wells with more commonly known species including sperm whales, killer wells, melon head wells, and pygmy sperm whales. And whereas among these marine mammals in the Gulf, one of the most endangered well species in the world, the rice well is a unique great well found only in the Gulf with a population of fewer than a 100 individuals. And whereas rice wells have
lived in the Gulf for approximately three million years and are known to spend most of their time near the ocean surface where they are especially vulnerable to humans threats such as oil spills, ship strikes, plastic pollutions and blasting from offshore drilling activities. And whereas around the world, the port shipping and fishing industries are taking actions to slow down and watch for wells in areas where they are present. And whereas rice wells contribute to the Gulf's ecological health through their role in nutrition, cycle, and ocean productivity are a symbol of our
region's rich and fragile marine heritage. Now, therefore, let it be proclaimed that the board of county commissioners of Escambia County, Florida, hereby declare March 7th, 2026 as Guff Coast Well Day. The board of county commissioners Escambia County of Florida, Commissioner Ashley Hoffberger, Commissioner Steve Stroberger, Commissioner Mike Coler, Commissioner Lumme, and Commissioner Steven Barry. Congratulations. Thank you so much. You want to say something? I not really. I don't really need to. I don't mean I I'll just say yes, we do have whales in the Gulf. That's what people ask. And yes, we have whales. 17 species. Can I get a on this side also? Just a couple. Thank you
so much for coming. Thank you. Yeah. For doing this, for reading all of that. Yeah. All right. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thanks again for reading so fast. Thank you.
Red Cross presented by Commissioner Strober. How you doing? Good to see you. Thanks for being here. Is there someone else here with us? No. Okay. All right. So, I think everybody knows how important Red Cross is this community and uh and we did this last year and we get to do this every year because the Red Cross is so important to um I don't know to everything. I mean, the way the things that
we do and and the way we can live. So, and then I'm a board member of the Red Cross, you know. So, I I believe that too because I I'm one of those guys. Escambia County proclamation. Whereas in March, we celebrate Red Cross Month by honoring neighbors who make it who make its humanitarian mission possible at Escambia County by bringing relief, comfort, and hope when help cannot wait through their acts of kindness.
This compassionate spirit runs deep in our community just as as it has for 145 years through the American Red Cross. And whereas today those who serve the Northwest Florida chapter light the way during emergencies, whether it's delivering shelter, food, and comfort after disasters, providing life-saving blood supplies for patients facing conditions like cancer treatments, child birth complications, and traumatic injuries. assisting military members, veterans, and their
families with 247 global support or empowering individuals with skills like first aid and CPR. And whereas these collective efforts are powerful reminders that the strength of our community lies in our shared commitment to one another. And whereas we mark Red uh Red Cross Month, let us celebrate our local heroes and resolve to continue lifting each other up. No one else, no one faces an emergency alone. Now, therefore, it be proclaimed that the border of county commissioners
of Escambia County, Florida, does hereby declare March 2026 as Red Cross month and encourages the citizens of Escambia County to reach out and support this humanitarian mission and join in their commitment to care for one another. Board of County Commissioners Scambia County, Florida, signed Ashley M. Hoffberger, chair, District 4. Steve Shber, vice chair, district 1. Michael S. Kohler, District 2. Lumman J. May, District 3. Steven Barry, District 5. Thank you. Yes, ma'am.
On behalf of our executive director, Terry Jenkins, in her absence today, um, Steve and I serve on the board together, so we thank you for your support of our local chapter of the American Red Cross. Thank you. Thank you. Miss Wesley, if you can talk to your husband and keep his sermons this short, I'll be church Sunday. Good afternoon, Madam Chair. U Lata, I just want to publicly thank you for the work that you Red
Cross and not only that, all the work that you and Pasalani Wesley uh do within District 3 at Greater Little Rock. I mean, right in the heart by Addis Court. Uh the ministry uh that you both have is just awesome for our community and I want to publicly thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Our next item is a presentation. It's the recommendation concerning the selection of the library services director. We do have 24 speakers on this. So, our first speaker is going to be Megan Gunner and then after Megan will be Christopher Lewis.
So, Megan, if you want to make your way to the podium. Calling once for Megan. Christopher Lewis, if you'll come up. Okay. After Christopher Lewis, Joe Vincent. I'm CJ Lewis. Since November 17th, I've been attending the library board meetings and I kind of stumbled into the library selection process and I'd like to publicly acknowledge and thank
the members of the library board for all the hard work that they've done. I think it was one of the fairest processes that I've ever seen to include anything during my military career. I also want to emphasize that human resources published a job notice that had minimum qualification requirements and Crystal Bel Rivera who's being recommended does not meet any of them and I think if you vote to approve this you're sending a very bad signal. Thank you. Okay, next we have Joe Vincent and then after Joe will be Lynn Tobin.
Hello, commissioners. Uh, my name is Joe Vincent, 1503 East Jackson Street. I'm here to urge you to reject the administrator's recommendation for library director. As the husband of candidate Bradley Vincent, I'm obviously not an unbiased party, but I am a proponent of honest, open government. I was taught that everyone in public service has the duty to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, and this process fails the sniff test in many ways. For starters, the county's own job description gives the minimum qualification requirements for the director position, a master's degree in library science and at least seven years of professional public
library experience. Miss Bel Rivera has neither. I'm also alarmed at how the administrator's office has ignored the library board of governance's role in selecting a director. When the county took over the library in 2013, BOCC resolution 2013-17 charged the board of governance with the quote administration and operation of the West Florida Public Library system, including the power to recommend a director to the county administrator. While the administrator can accept or reject that recommendation, there is no mechanism in the resolution authorizing him to bypass the board entirely and put forward someone they did not recommend. Beyond the question of legality, it's
a sign of disrespect to the citizen volunteers who gave their time in good faith for a process the administrator's office, it's clear now, never intended to honor. In any other department, this wouldn't be tolerated. This board would never consider hiring a county attorney who is still in law school. Standard processes exist because it is the public's it is in the public's interest to ensure merit-based hiring. When these standards are discarded, it is a red flag that hiring is being based not on merit and qualifications, but on personal connections. That is the most obvious explanation for what's happening in here and I think everyone in this chamber knows it. That
kind of hiring is the definition of cronyism and it is the clearest indicator of a government that does not have the public's interest at heart. I ask you today to reject the county administrator's choice and restore integrity and trust to this process. Thank you. Our next speaker is Lynn Tobin and after Lynn will be Daniel Cobb. So Lynn, you're up and Daniel Cobb, you'll be next. That was a tough act to follow. Um, thank you commissioners uh for allowing me a few minutes
to speak on the issue of the selection of a new library director. I was a member of the West Florida Public Library Board of Governance from about two years after the merger of the city and county libraries until 2018. During that time, our library board wrote the manual for policy guidance as we reviewed what the future library boards would need. We also successfully hired a new library director, Todd Humble. Those board experiences are what brought me to speak to you
of my concerns over how the current process was done. As an aside, I am a professional degreed librarian from uh URI and Catholic University uh with 30 years of experience in school, university, government, and special libraries such as NPR and also now volunteer at the aviation museum library. Navy li wives do get around. I do not wish to discuss personalities or politics,
but would like to state that I believe the recent hiring process has become invalid based on the failure of the county administrator to follow chapter six of the board's manual and article 8, section one of the bylaws. I understand that the county attorney has provided a different opinion and interpretation of the process than what was actually written eight years ago. Um, the board of governance manual states that the board of governance will provide a recommendation
to the county administrator on which applicant to hire. The county administrator will make the offer to the applicant. It does not say that the county administrator may make an offer to an applicant different than the one recommended by the board. The county attorney has written, "It is my opinion that the administrator is legally and solely responsible for the selection." Thank you so much for your comments. Daniel Cobb, you're next. And Dr. Joyce Hopkins, you will be after Daniel Cobb.
Hello, Daniel Cobb, 9720 San Piper Street. I'd like to start off by saying that both of my parents served as um uh teachers for quite a while in in this county. My father was a teacher on special assignment. He wrote grants and programs for the county for many decades. My mother was a technology specialist for the county and she also wrote many, many grants. So, I am well aware of the strict guidelines that we have to place ourselves under in order to
get that money. And I'm pleased to see that all of you today have expressed great interest in making sure that, you know, the county gets the money that we need in order to operate. And I appreciate that of of you all. And so, I'm very alarmed by this selection. I'd like to draw your attention to the state aid to libraries grant guidelines. This is just one of many issues that we're going to have with this selection. Under chapter 5, section D, subsection two, it states that the single administrative head will have completed a library
education program accredited by the American Library Association and shall have at least two years of full-time paid professional experience after completing the library education program in a public library that is open to the public for a minimum of 40 hours a week. We fail that minimum guideline. That means we will be losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in our grant money. My question for you all is that should you proceed forward with this recommendation, what is the plan for that money? Is it that we simply lose it and that the county now has to
suffer with less funds? Is it that you're going to raise our taxes again in order to provide more of that? I would love to hear that answer from you all. And honestly, my parents understood and I think you all understood that these kinds of jobs require sacrifice. They require being aware of the limits and I believe that if Miss Bel Rivera had the interest of a servant at heart, she would step down. Thank you for your comments. Joyce Hopson. Thank you, doctor. And Blaine Wall will be next.
Good evening. My name is Dr. Joyce Hopson, 10479 Milbrook Drive, Pensacola, Florida 32534. I come to you today as a concerned citizen, a retired professor, 38 years, a member of the West Florida Public Library Board of Governor. First, I want to thank you for your listening ears. Each of my colleagues and I have sacrificed, studied,
and devoted time to the following rules of fulfilling this position. And we all came to the same agreement on which candidate was the most qualified with their answer to their interview in person and Zoom, educational background, leadership skill to lead and professional experience as a library director. The question was asked
how a position how a deputy director does not have qualification as a library director. I'm very disappointed and we feel and I feel disrespected because on the board you have librarian 25 years plus you have a lawyer you have two PhDs on the board and we was not included our recommendation the board recommendation was not a decision-making process this has raised
concern concerned about the transparency and fairness of the selection making process. Thank you, doctor. We appreciate your comments. Blaine Wall, you're up. And Julie Patton, you will be after Blaine. Good evening. I'm Dr. Blaine Wall, 685 Aragon Street. I serve as chair of the
library board of governance currently. Um, I echo what my colleague Dr. Hopson just shared. When the board discovered that there would be an opening for library director, we um approached the opening very seriously. We studied our bylaws. bylaws incidentally signed off on by lawyers for the um commission and we made sure that we were following the process outlined in those bylaws. We reviewed applicants, we conducted interviews, we carefully evaluated qualifications and leadership experience and through that process, we all unanimously decided
that Bradley Vincent was most qualified for the position. As you've heard, she serves currently as a coordinator of media for Escambia County School District. essentially this the district's equivalent of library director. She previously worked at the West Florida Public Libraries for many years and served two stints on the board of governance. We believe that her training, her leadership experience, her institutional knowledge made her exceptionally wellprepared to lead the system. That recommendation, however, was set aside by the county administrator. Instead,
the candidate put forward by the county does not yet have a master's degree and has three years of library experience, none of which um as a librarian. As was referenced, statute 257.17 governs public library operating grants requiring directors hold a master's degree and several years professional leadership after degree conferral. That exists because the legislature expects libraries to be led by qualified professional librarians. And so a simple question is raised
then. Was the search conducted to identify the most qualified leader or was it simply to confirm a decision made long ago? Because the public deserves to know that leadership positions in this community are filled based on qualifications and service, not connections and proximity to power. Thank you. Our next speaker is Julie Patton. And after Julie will be Lily Eubanks. Um, thank you for the opportunity to speak in support of Bradley Vincent. Um,
I'm Julie Patton from 612 Ghart Drive in Pensacola. Um, and I want to say about Bradley that she is one of the fairest and most unbiased people I've ever met. She goes quietly and confidently about her business without sharing her personal politics and um beliefs even in the midst of contentious issues like the band book um controversy in the school system. Um I'd like to also suggest that she's one of the technical masters that uh
Mr. Stroberger referenced earlier. Um, she is just one of the few experts in our county who is really good at what she does and perfectly qualified by training and by personality to fill this job. Um, she also clearly loves books and is well trained in how to manage them and to assist learners in finding the materials they need. This effort to confirm someone who's training an experiencer
in highway safety is not supported by the process designed to choose library directors. It's eerily similar to the assaults on the University of West Florida and Pensacola State College Boards. It also concerns disturbing elements of the attacks on our school libraries. All of this overreach um by Mr. Marino um is ironically self-defeating as the groups pursuing their partisan actions in
our institutes of learning are in imminent danger of flipping Escambia County blue which I don't think is the desired outcome but it's already happened um in our last election um with one of our candidates all over the country right now voters are turning partisan candidates Lily Eubank out of office. Ma'am, thank you, Lily. And after Lily will be Jennifer Yanu Yanuzi.
I'm going to continue talking about professionalism. Uh when Mr. Marino assured the the library board of governors that the county would work coop coaboratively with the board to ensure that the best candidate would be selected. They the board believed Mr. Marino and we're glad that he was being so professional. For those of you who don't know, the process is of selection of the director of library sciences is that the knowledgeable board of governors
does all the work of searching, interviewing, and selecting the director. Then they send that name to the county commission um administrator, Mr. Marino, for his approval. and subsequent vote by the county commissioners. You guys up here make the final decision. After all their hard work, it was no problem for the board of governors to unanimously select Bradley Vincent for the job based on her having a master's degree in library science and their her 15 years working in the
West Florida Public Library System and seven years working for the Escambia School District with many of those years being in administrative position. she was the best candidate for the job, which is what they said they would do. However, despite his promise of support for the board of governors, Mr. Marino believes that another less qualified person should have the job. This is even though Mr. Marino knows that his candidate does not even have a master's degree in library sciences.
This is very unprofessional behavior given the fact that according to Florida law, if the head of the library doesn't meet the qualifications, our library will not be eligible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in state grant money. It seems to me to be a very Thank you so much for your comments. Jennifer, you're up next. And Madam Chair, sir, for can you clarify that? I've heard that multiple times. Are are we inel are we at risk of being ineligible for any grants? Are you asking me? No, no, no. I'm asking you. We don't pay you live. We
do pay her though to give legal opinion. So, I'm going to ask her for a paid legal opinion. Um, somebody else may need to verify the current status of the situation, but my understanding is that as the interim director, uh, that Miss Rivera did get a waiver from the state library system for the year in which she is serving as interim. I believe and my my question yes I do
believe it's pretty simply yeah are we eligible of losing grant money based on the recommendation because I believe that I'm not sure but I thought that she actually was awarded her MLS over December Christmas break. So she would still need 2 years of service beyond that in order to qualify under the uh state statutory requirement to qualify for the grants. There is a waiver that was given some months ago for this time while this particular person is serving as interim. Alison,
I think Debbie has some information on that too. Perfect. Okay. Well, won't Debbie answer it, Debbie? Yes, we talked to the Florida Division of Library and Information Services at the state. Um, it does not have to be the director. It has to be an individual within the library system. And they said absolutely that we could still get the grants which represent8% of our budget, but we are not in jeopardy of losing them. We're still So, we'll still get the grant. So, you're on record. So, we're not in jeopardy at all losing the grant. Okay. That's I wanted to hear that. Thank you. Thank you, Allison. Thank you,
Debbie. We appreciate you both. Commissioner May, any other questions? Okay. Thank you, sir. Uh, Jennifer, you're you're next. And after Jennifer will be Dedric Scott. Good evening, commissioners. Thank you for your continued support of our West Florida Public Libraries. As the county moves forward in selecting the next library director, I want to emphasize the importance of ensuring the person chosen meets professional qualifications
established for the role. The state aid to libraries grant application requires certification that the director has completed a library education program accredited by the American Library Association and has at least two years of full-time professional experience after earning that degree. Escambia County's own job description sets an even higher bar and we should have a higher standard. a degree in library science from the American Library Association,
accredited university, seven years of professional public library experience, at least five years in managerial or administrative leadership roles. These standards exist for a reason. Public libraries are complex institutions. They manage significant public resources, professional staff, and critical community services. We would not hire a county engineer without an engineering degree or a county attorney without a law degree. In the same way, a public library system deserves
leadership grounded in the professional education and significant experience of the library field. We should not wave professional preparation for positions entrusted with public infrastructure or public funds. While job descriptions sometimes mention combinations of education or experience, in this case there is no true substitute for the professional preparation these qualifications represent. Libraries are one of our community's most trusted public institutions. Protecting
that trust begins with qualified leadership. Ask for more than an unqualified candidate. make the next best right decision. Thank you for your time. Dietrich and Misha Phillips will be next. I just want to clear up something because you just said that you're not in jeopardy. I just want to
read from the Florida state statutes uh chapter 257.17. It says that uh under grant guidelines or public library system receiving state aid must meet certain professional standards for the single administrative head of the library system. Those standards require the library system be operated under a single administrative head which is the library director. This person must have completed a library education program accredited by the American Library Association and must have at least two years of full-time professional library experience after completing that program. This
effectively means that the person typically holds the Master of Library and Information Science from an ALA accredited program because that's per professional standards. If not, they lose eligibility for state aid funding. That's what it says. So just to be clear um today I want to rise with serious concern on the recommendation upon you before the direct regarding the director of library services as well as the transparency happening. The selection committee made up of
the board of governors alongside county officials unanimously recommended Bradley Vincent for this role. That unanimous recommendation should carry significant weight when their work is disregarded. It raises important question. Why has why have a selection committee at all if their professional judgment can simply be set aside? Miss Vincent's career as a library service library professional holds a master's degree in a library and information science which is widely recognized across the country as a standard for credential and leadership in
public library system. Her education, training, and professionalism ex professional experience align directly with the responsibilities of managing a countywide library system. For years, we have heard some of you talk about maintaining a system based on merit, qualification, and expertise. Thank you, sir. This is your time to those apply them as well. Misha, if you're going to come up and then Cindy Berdo, you'll be after Misha.
Hello, my name is Misha. I live at 5881 Pilgrim Trail West in Molino, Florida. I've lived in Escambia County since I was 5 years old and I am a taxpaying homeowner. My wife and I love to take our three-year-old son to the library from Century to Spring Street. I don't know Bradley or Crystal entirely well, but I have had experience with both of them. On a personal level, when I met Crystal, she seemed very forced, fake, and flat. Contrast that with my encounters with Bradley, who has always come across as warm, competent, and someone who serves her community. On a professional level, Crystal does not have the education or experience to perform this vital role. Her bachelor's degree
is in legal administration, and she has not completed her masters. She has less than four years of even working in a library, and has had very little executive leadership experience. She has ignored multiple reevaluation requests that I have submitted. Contrast that with Bradley's education and experience. She has a master's of library and information science. She has been in libraries for over 20 years with experience in multiple types of library settings. She previously worked for the West Florida Public Library for over a decade and combined various roles. She
currently serves as Scambia County School District coordinator of media services and this is why the BOG unanimously selected her for this position of library director. The BOCC elect created the BOG in 2013 for Pete's sake. We didn't have this problem in 2015. Why is the administration going to such lengths to appoint someone who's so unqualified? We all read Dr. Wall's email and we know what this is about. The good old boy system in Pensacola and Escambia County and the greater South must stop. They are doing a disservice to our children, our community, and our library
system. This cronyism is cheating Bradley Vincent of a well-deserved position. Stephen Barry, I live in your district. We've run into each other at the library. I know you value the library like I do. I do vote and I don't forget a thing. You and this entire board have such an easy chance to do the right thing when the county is already beyond fed up with y'all's shenanigans. Cindy Berdu and Kimberly Carol, you'll be next. Good evening. I'm Cindy Burton. I'm a resident and um I'm also a retired librarian from the
West Florida Public Libraries. I don't know what else I can say that hasn't already been said. I was totally flabbergasted that the county commissioner would ignore the recommendation from the board and as has been said, select an unqualified person for this very important decision. I guess I will speak to the fact that I hired Bradley at the public library to be a cataloger after she got her master's degree. She had been working in the circulation department.
She was an excellent choice. I grew to know her very well. She's intelligent, competent, thoughtful, and dedicated. And I thoroughly understand why the board selected her as their number one pick. It's an obvious choice and it just seems to me that a unanimous decision by the board should be supported by this commission and the county commissioner. Otherwise, it does smell really fishy. And I would, as Miss Hoff Hofberger said, hope that you do the next right
thing. Thank you. Thank you, Kimberly Carroll. And after Kimberly will be Jennifer Yanzuni. Hello, Kimberly Carroll, District 1. Um after the Escambia County Library System made the decision to distance itself from the American Library Association, the very entity that grants masters of library science accreditation which is acquired for this appointment for library director. I fear the quality of the library continues to be in
freefall, not due to its everyday employees who sit behind the desk and work behind the scenes, but by its leadership. Unfortunately, everyday workers are easily silenced, including those who took issue with library space allegedly being used to house a private social club on the second floor of the Brownsville Library. Due to Crystal's connections, as brought forward by previous speakers, it is unsurprising that Crystal Bel Rivera should be shown special treatment in the form of a waiver to make up for her lack of accreditation as a librarian. What I do find surprising is the county's willingness to do the extra work
of the waiver when there are easily qualified candidates chosen by the governance board. The ongoing erosion of standards in our library system has been going on long before Crystal's takeover, and I fear it will continue if she is chosen as director. Since her beginning at the library, Crystal has worked to control the narrative inside the library. Admin became inaccessible for discussion as she began her stint as I library uh interim director. was quick to remind everyone of chain of command over small issues, issues that were not being noticed and that we were verbally
reprimanded for bringing to her attention. This has cultivated an environment of workplace fear of ever bringing forward issues again less they end up like me. I am one of many who had a passion for library work. I no longer work there due to the current admin. Unfortunately, after working at the library, I realized that if people don't want to read, they will believe whatever you want to tell them. And the county wants to tell us that Crystal Bel Rivera is qualified for this job. Someone who allegedly has never checked out a book to a patron. We believe
that she has hired qualified people such as the library education director manager who um does not have any, to my knowledge, education experience or library experience. Thank you. It appears as if we had a repeat. So Jennifer, I apologize. You've already spoken. Linda Fel, she's not here. Okay. Thank you for letting me know. Lori Nesmouth and Carolyn Taylor, you'll be next.
Thank you, commissioners. I'm Lori N. Smith. I'm a former member of our library board of governance. I emailed each of you on Monday with the historical documents that created the board of governance. I hope you reviewed them. As you know, the library guard board of governance was created on January 22nd, 2013 by partnership of the city and the county. Here are some key points of resolution R203-17 that established the board. The board of governance shall be composed of five
voting members. Three appointed by the county commission, one appointed by the city council, one appointed by the mayor's office. That is the voice that your organizations have in the board. Your appointment of those members. The board of governance shall be accountable for the administration and operation of the West Florida Public Library system and shall establish a long reign plan of service. The board of governance shall recommend to the county administrator or designate a library director to head the library system. Upon the written
request of the board of governance, the county administrator or designate may remove and or resign the library director. So this board also has the ability to remove the library director. It's a powerful board with a powerful voice. Additionally, the board of governance shall submit an annual budget in accordance with the budget calendar to the board of county commissioners. Our library board of governance is an independent group with an with important
responsibilities. It was established this way because the city and county officials knew that it was important to have a cross-section of community input. The 2013 resolution, an interlocal agreement between the city and the county, gave the board the authority to choose and to fire the library director. I do not believe it was out it was our founders's intent to allow one person to hijack the process. Time Caroline, you're up. And John Bulock, you'll be next.
Hello, commissioners. Nice to see you today. My name is Carolyn Taylor and I live at 2520 Celtic Circle 32503. I'm actually flabbergasted. So you guys managed to pull me out of my hidey-hole up here today because of this. I would have thought at one time that the sentiment not everyone deserves a trophy would ring true to each and every one of you. Mr. May, did you not hear the attorney just now when she said maybe we would lose some funding? I don't think that it's a guarantee even with the waiver. And she did say she started to say and
then Miss Bowers um chimed in. So basically, we're going to pull in a candidate who does not meet the minimum job requirement. So I'm just going to start applying for all of y'all and everything. So when you see me unqualified, I'm going to expect a job. Okay. um you're going to give her a six-f figureure salary and then hire someone because of the waiver to do the job that she her requirement should be doing to do the grants because I I think that's what I'm understanding is the waiver would allow you guys to bring someone
else in under her to do that. Why why can't it just be one job? You know, my my spouse used to be a page in high school. She's a retired uh naval naval well she's a naval academy graduate in political science and um retired naval flight officer. So we know a thing or two about a lot of things you guys are discussing um out here today including Iran. Mr. Stberger, the library board made a recommendation for a candidate who meets every professional requirement necessary to protect our county libraries. disregarding the good judgment of professionalism
in favor of an unqualified candidate who just so happens to be the spouse of an Escambia County Sheriff's employee. That's backing the good old boys club and it's one that every single one of you must make. Thank you. John, you're up. And after John will be Robin Rashard. Commissioners, as a member of the board of governance, I participated in the review
process which lasted several months and we reviewed 22 candidates. I want to assure you that we looked at the merits of every one of those candidates. The controversy that you're hearing uh today was not part of our was not part of our review. We were looking at the qualifications because we were looking for the best qualified person. Now you've heard that uh and it is true uh the candidate recommended uh before you today does not have the qualifications
under the state grant uh based on a law degree and 40 years of experience. I'll offer my opinion that we will not be qualified. we will not be eligible for state money for the library. But the county, we were told, the county says, "Well, her qualifications are good enough." We weren't looking for good enough. We were looking for the best. The the Escambia County Library is an excellent library. Thank you all for your support of it over the year. Crystal is smart.
She is hardworking. She's ambitious. She's working hard on her degree and she will at some point in the future be an excellent head librarian, but not now. She is not the most qualified candidate. We worked for the best interests of the library and we think all of you have exactly that same interest in mind. You all want what's best for the Escambia County Library. Thank you. Thank you for your time. We appreciate it. Robin Rashard and the next will be Jamie Kent.
Good evening, commissioners. Uh, these past months have been a challenge to my head and heart. Uh, as a former member and chair of the board of governors for the West Florida Public Library and as a part of the citizens citizens, that word of this county, I'm a citizen. But I am reminded of what Mr. Marino said when his job performance was challenged was called into question last year. He thanked the citizens for being engaged. He said, "We have long nights sometimes, but you need that citizen engagement to be really successful." So I appreciate that. So my head and
heart are here today. And in full disclosure, when she applied for the director's position, Bradley Vincent asked me to be a reference for her. I gladly accept it and stand by her qualifications, leadership experience and passion for libraries. But my comments though are not about Bradley or any person for that matter. They are about this process. In the last six to eight months, there has been a sense of a sense of nibbling away at the very foundation of what good governance looks like. Eeroding that process bite by bite. Whether undermining authority, forcibly removing someone from office, or forcibly inserting someone in office.
All of these should challenge our very humanity, decency, and professionalism. If this process of engaging citizens and then ignoring the processes, procedures, and policies you have entrusted them with is allowed and okayed, it will be a victory for a select few. It will be a pirick victory. It will be a victory gained at such a cost that it brings significant harm to the county. Even worse, it means that these actions are now allowed. They become validated as standard operating procedure. They become a habitual way of operating. They become our county's character and then it becomes
normalized and rewarded. So please understand this is not about a person. This is about how the process to gain a position has been co-opted for a particular outcome. So let us be careful what we pray for. You might get that thing you prayed for, but God knows it's not what we need. Thank you. Thank you for your comments, Jamie. And next will be Beverly Perry. Good evening. I come before you.
Several of my friends uh wanted to be here, but they couldn't. So, I'm speaking for them. Also, Bradley Benson is the most qualified candidate that you have. Why even have anyone think that there's any impropriety going on? Why I think that it's possible maybe we can get our money. And why take a chance? Money is hard to come by. In the days of AI, we need libraries more now than ever. We don't need someone that's in the position using AI to find out how to do our job. We need someone
that knows based on experience, based on their education, their qualifications, how to do the job the right way the first time. I've had three sons come up through Escambia County schools. I was the Escambia County Adult Volunteer of the Year one year. I volunteered in schools even before I knew Bradley personally, which has only been about 6 months or so. I heard nothing but good things about her, her qualifications, her ability to lead, her ability to do the right
thing the first time. And that's what I'm asking you all to do. Do the right thing the first time. Don't take a chance on losing money. Don't take a chance on impropriety. Makes me think of the old days of the collar pot. Many of you probably know that. Uh don't take a chance. Do the right thing. Elect Bradley, appoint Bradley the job. And let's keep the library going as it can, improving instead of just crossing our fingers and hoping that something like that will happen.
Thank you. Thank you, Jamie. Beverly Perry. And then after Beverly will be Melissa Pino. Beverly Perry. Um 622 West Belmont Street. I'm a Scambia County resident and a library user. Um, as someone who has served on volunteer boards for nonprofits, advocacy groups,
and for community groups, I know that when asked to volunteer, people consider whether or not their time will be spent productively. While on my local neighborhood board, I've seen my neighbors and my fellow community members encouraged to participate on government boards. They're asked to get involved and of course they ask themselves, will my time and expertise be valued. Those who do volunteer do it to serve their community and make it a better
place. Disregarding the recommendations of your governing boards does not set a good precedent. and I hope you will respect the expertise of your library board. Thank you, Eric Sharplin. You'll be after Melissa Pino. Thank you, Melissa. Thank you, Chairwoman Hoffber. Melissa Pino 413 Souththeast Bobas. And here we have brought to you another fine administrative
mess in particular by Miss Bowers. And I'm not saying West doesn't have anything to blame in it. What's so sad about this situation? It's sad. It's painful. It's embarrassing. It's ridiculous. And it's unnecessary. It's absolutely unnecessary. And I want to start with with with Miss Bel Rivera because no one has spoken for her in terms of how painful this is. You know,
somebody said, "Oh, since her takeover, I don't work for her. I am absolutely friends with Ronnie. I love him. I think he's a good man. I'm sure that if if if he married Crystal, she's a good person. But this process has once again dragged everybody into the mud and people way beyond this room. It needs to be walked back. You guys need to start over. Allison and I have had our differences over the years, but when you have your attorney give you a a a clear maybe,
and then you have another bold-faced lie, as has happened over and over, both before the behind the scenes and and in front of them. This has not been fair to anyone. It hasn't been fair to the public. It hasn't been fair to the board. It hasn't been fair to the the the the governance the the library uh board. And let me walk this back for a second. Commissioner Stroberger, um, I was the editorial assistant at the Massachusetts Historical Society. It's the oldest library and publish publishing
house in the country. And I worked there part-time while I was sleeping in Widner Library at Harvard because I had to key to it because I worked in the English library. This is unfair. I feel sorry for Miss Rivera. I feel sorry for for for Mr. Vincent or sorry, Miss Vincent. Thank you, Melissa. You all need to walk this. Eric Sharplin, you're up. And after Eric will be Larry DS Jr.
Good evening, Madam Chairman. The reason I came down today was is um I was on Facebook and Rick Rick Olsen had an article and I've heard just some commissioners wives and who who actually runs your office, you or Mr. Luna making recommendations for the office? Is it you or is it her that run it? I I'm sorry. I don't understand the question. She's she's making recommendations. Is she the actual who's making recommendations? Your aid. No, this came from Wes. This did not come from
me or Melanie. Well, so did so did the story Rick Ol is running. Totally false. I don't read Rick's blog or National Enquirer, but I can tell you that Melanie and I did not make this recommendation. Wes made this recommendation. We are up here to vote on it. Okay. Yeah. I mean I mean that just and and I even heard that from a county convict's wife who seems to have been in prison. I I know I know how stories break and gossip is, but I know and people are entitled to to their opinions because I know that one one good friend of mine has said that
if it did happen it it wouldn't happen again. But anyway, I thank you for your time, Madam Chairman. Thank you. Our next speaker is Larry DS Jr. and then Miss Wal, you'll be after Larry DS. Larry DS Jr. Uh, looks like y'all uh you're not going to confirm this one. I'm just just guessing. I think uh I think that'd be a bad idea because the people just spoke. So, I mean that's that. So,
uh you know, if uh I guess probably uh the main thing is is y'all know I don't like cronyism, nepotism, socialism. I don't like most of those isms. So, let's just try to keep all of that. I mean, I know it's impossible, but at least we could keep a little bit of it down, especially when it's clear and evident and obvious like this is. I mean, there's no way around it. So, just do the right thing and go ahead and and you know, start the
process all over new again and and do what you got to do. But, uh this is a it's a lot of money for this position, too. $213,000 400 a month for a car allowance. Uh, you know, I mean, I'm not going to make everybody happy here because I don't think they they like the first part, but they don't like the second part. We might be spending too much money on this type of stuff. Uh, and they and they I just checked the library to see what if they had a book in stock called Dissolving Illusions
by Dr. Suzanne Humphre, and they don't. They don't have this book in there which could save a lot of children from corporate chemical vaccine injections. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Walcon. Hello, commissioners. Arita, welcome. I'm speaking on behalf of the librarian position and um I I it's hard to believe that Wes would even recommend someone uh with uh very little experience and
education when you're looking at a salary of $113,000 plus a car allowance and uh $400 a month. That's director. That's fully qualified individual with education and knowledge and and me sitting on uh selection board when I worked for the government, we wanted the high highly qualified individuals and to to pay someone uh this type of salary with the less experience and knowledge.
Um that's why you have the comments that you're getting tonight. So I want you all to just really think about this and and and reconsider. Um I my heart goes out to the individual who's sitting there. But uh if the experience is not there and the knowledge is not there, why would you want to pay someone this type of um unless it's favoritism and and like Larry said, he tired of this the isms and uh but that's the only thing that I could put it on if is and favoritism can't come back
to bite you in the butt. So you want the best qualified a person that that will make you shine. um that you won't get any repercussions behind hiring the less qualified. So uh just like the other people have said, do the right thing and the right will follow you. Thank you. Thank you ma'am. Commissioners, that concludes our speakers for this topic discussion.
So, it's good. I I I have friends on both sides and and and and I'm not going to talk about, you know, the people up for positions. I will candidly say that we only hire two people. We hire the county administrator and we hire the county attorney. Uh and to bring this in a public form of a hiring process, in my opinion, is wrong. I and so to Miss River, to Miss Vincent, it's completely wrong that we do a vetting of of of citizens here uh in in this public forum. Um
and to bring them out, uh they both have family, they both have children, they both have that and to to have to vet this out uh is a failure on our part. And u although maybe we have to affirm it, maybe we have to confirm it. for 10 years. We never affirmed, we never confirmed, affirmed, and we can't hire and we can't fire. The bottom line, we can't even direct employees. We can bring this, we can hire whoever we hire. Uh it would be a violation that we would end up with criminal charges if we were to direct any employee to do anything. We direct an administrator and
we direct an attorney. And they have the latitude and the ability to make those decisions. And when we become unsatisfied with their decisions, we have the ability uh to excuse either one of them of their duties. Um because I know both families because I like both families. I mean, you know, this process has been flawed. Uh it has brought to question uh the library board, the friends of the library. uh when you have this many questions, when we have an administration versus a legal team
that is not clearly on the same page about what the statute says, that in itself should cause psy. We sit back each and every day settling lawsuits that are tuned to millions of dollars. Uh because someone made a mistake and unfortunately those who make the mistakes are never in the shade meetings taking responsibility for those mistakes. And that's not in any way. I'm not a lawyer. I'm I'm not a legal mind nor am I an administrator. But I do know that even today uh we were caught uh in something that caused us to uh be in a lawsuit. Um I'm not going to ever lean anyway
on who we should hire, who we should fire because I don't direct them. Uh but I will be candid that uh when you have this type of concern, uh the process has not been fair to any other candidates. uh because in the history since I've been on this board and watched it, we've not taken any candidate, any candidate, whether it's either one of those take them to this type of public scrutiny uh to take a job regardless of the figure. That's just wrong uh to bring people uh and bring them in a public meeting uh to have these type of discussions when we don't do that to any
other director. We've not done this to any other department. Library shouldn't be any different. You know, that's what leadership is. We make decisions. Uh and so for me, you know, I well, whatever this board decides to do, you know, you know, the majority wins. Uh I'm not going to vote to hire or fire anyone, but I'm certainly not going to be able to in good conscience support the process in the manner in which this has been conducted uh in terms of how we hire a director and to put them under this. I mean because what we do when we when we do a a process like this
imagine the undermining of their troops when you bring them there that's unfair to them who have to supervise and manage people who work for them. It causes a great divide and and we as a board as a community. Uh we should be looking uh for harmony bridging uh the gap uh and supporting whoever the director becomes. Uh but when you do it in this manner uh it's unfair to all concerned. And so with that, Madam Chair, you know, I I will yell and listen to my colleagues. Uh but I I candidly,
and this is not something I've not told uh Director Marino uh multiple times, uh I was not in favor of having this item uh brought forward uh without further discussion. And and certainly I would prefer that the administrator would be on the dice because ultimately regardless, it's not Debbie's decision. Uh it is the decision of the administrator uh to make that final decision on who we're going to hire. Thank you, Madam Chair. Commissioner Coller, you're next. Yeah. Thank you, Madam Chair. First, I want to just Miss Rivera, I want you to know that you went through a lot here
as the interim. I want to just tell you, you know, I appreciate you going through this process. Miss Vincent, obviously, I don't know that person, but she obviously appears qualified. to the governing board. This is one of the things I think we fail as the county a little bit. We don't listen as well as we should to our boards, the MAC and the governing board. I feel when a recommendation comes from our citizens, the county administrator should very rarely and infrequently change that
position only if all merits equal and for good cause. I've hired and been the file person on multiple contracts in the Navy. USA jobs, you come in, you have to have your knowledge, skills, and abilities. You don't make the cert if you don't make the qualifications even to be interviewed. I don't know, Miss Rivera, if you have the qualifications or not. It sounds like you may not. I've worked very closely with you and I friends with your husband,
but if you don't have the qualifications, I don't think it's fair to someone that does to not give them the opportunity to have the job. I can't do that. I believe in merit-based performance. Um, I care about Crystal. I've been working with her on something, but if the attorney can't answer if we're going to lose money and I didn't know she didn't meet the requirements till today, Debbie, I had an interview process with you on Monday, and I wish you would have told me that cuz I was a little bit frustrated when I found that out today. And I I just we need a little bit more
transparency with the board so that we don't get caught in this crossfire and look like we don't know what in the heck's going on. And that's all I have to say. I think you know where I'm going. So may I answer may I answer that question? Yes ma'am please. Okay. So or overall I have nine directors that report to me and I hired half of them since I've been here with Wes uh and with Jamie. Um so I know what is required of a director to run a department and this is a sizable department with a
$12 million annual budget and with 111 employees. When I was asked to step into this I don't know I didn't the library doesn't report to me. So, I did some research to make sure I knew what I was doing. When I did the research, I talked to Nikki. I looked at Crystal's resume. I looked at the fact that it says or equivalent experience. And we do that in a lot of places. We look at what they what we have and it's not a if you see at the end it says or equivalent experience.
Both Nikki and I looked at that and Nikki has affirmed and I agree with her that she has that Crystal has equivalent experience. I think that she has done a great job since 22 of taken over you know as a deput which she was a deputy in 22 then she took over as the interim. Um she has kept operational continuity. She's ran the $12 million budget. She has managed 111 people. She has filled strategic vacancies that has improved the workshop quality um the workforce quality. Um,
she did get the grant funding and I'm not exactly sure what Miss Pino was saying about Lion, but we talked to the Florida State Division of Library and Information Services and were assured that not only would we be able to uh get the funding or be eligible for the funding, other library systems in the state of Florida do not have their director listed as the appropriate person to get this funding. So, we were assured that we would be eligible for the funding.
I don't want to ice that in. Deb, I don't want to interrupt you, but let me ask you a question because I hear what the attorney saying that it's kind of a a gray issue and I mean, it's one of the sticklers. So, I mean, I'm I'm not here to to to say who to hire, who to fire, but you said you've been assured. I mean, I I can tell you we we were shooting multiple things in the jail and we're paying millions of dollars. And so, does the statute are we within the statute and you would be willing publicly to say that you're 100% sure that we get that funding? I mean,
you have it in writing and you can assure us that we're getting that funding. I mean, and Debbiey's defense, nothing's 100% sure when it comes to state funding. So, well, the statute is absolutely 100%. The statute interpretation is up for legal debate. stat. Look, no, I'm not putting my spot, Madam Chair, but I'm I can't I can't have an attorney. I know what you're going at. You want accountability and I'm 100% behind. Yeah. Yeah. If the statute says it, it says it. I mean, it's just a question for me because there's so many people that ask that question. I don't know. Quite frankly, it's it's not even my lane. I'm just asking the question because so many people have come up and said it. So, I mean, are we within the statue and did we get the funding? I mean,
that's simply if if Debbie is a lawyer, Allison's a lawyer. Sometimes you get two different opinions on attorneys. So, you're right. It's so I also don't think we got two different opinions. I think Debbie had more um current information than Allison had. But I have not been engaged in any conversations with the state division of libraries. This has not been that has not been on my plate. Thank you. Okay. With all due respect, I mean, we're talking about a legal issue and we're saying we're not engaging our legal team. I mean, I don't know if that's good stewardship or not. I
mean, but and and that's fine, but I mean, we say because I mean, here's the reality of what what happens. We ultimately become responsible and then at the end of the day, there's nobody held responsible. I mean, a statue is a statue. I mean, we it's black and white. I mean, it's interpretation. Well, so it would say to me then if it hadn't been reviewed by the attorney, that puts Miss River in a bad spot. It puts the board in a bad spot. If you're saying that we're going to adhere to a statute that we don't have a legal opinion from our attorney, that's not good governance. So the statute is relevant to the grant only which is between 80 and
$100,000 a year and we're talking about two years. So this is a maximum if you're wrong a maximum loss of $200,000 over two years. Uh correct. Okay. Okay. Commissioner Barry. Thank you, Madam Chair. um you know and I know we do have legal des you know job descriptions for positions and you know often it does say or equivalent experience and you know when you say that when you you might would say when you don't meet the minimum requirements I mean I think the argument
could be made that doing the job is more than meeting a minimum requirement if you've actually been doing the job successfully and by accounts from administration she has And I don't know Miss Bel Rivera well. I don't know Mrs. Vincent well. I do I do know Joe uh you know from years back. And um I think it's unfortunate. I agree with my colleague. It's unfortunate that there's had to be so many statements made about um you know about the job and you know specifically about Miss
River. I think that's uh I think it's unfortunate that um there's been so many personal things said about her through this process. Um, from my point of view, the process is not about Miss Bell River, nor is it about uh Bradley Benson. It's about the administrator. And you know, to be candid, we have a job description for an administrator. Uh, the current administrator didn't meet that job description. And uh, my conversation 5 years ago at the DIS was the best uh, the best indicator
of whether someone can do the job is not a resume. If you have the opportunity to see that the person has been doing the job, there you go. And uh in this instance, you know, I think that Wes has done a, you know, a great job as an administrator for Escambia County uh while he didn't meet the minimum requirements that that would have uh that would have been in that job description. And when you say someone's going to have to be accountable, someone is accountable. And
from my point of view, the administrator is going to be accountable. Um, you know, I've had the unfortunate circumstance of doing multiple administrator searches on this board. Um, it's never uh it's never a great process. It's never something that's enjoyable. Um, but that's who's going to be accountable for if something goes poorly with this decision. Um, that's who I'm, you know, that that's who we as a body and, you know, me individually have,
uh, that's that's who we can touch. And if, uh, you know, if he's willing to, uh, if he's willing to put his goodwill with his board who employs him on the line for Miss Bell Rivera, uh, I've got 14 years of confidence and trust in Wes's decision-m and I'm going to support that. That's the that's the ultimate decision from my point of view. It's uh it's not about qualifications. It's not about Miss Bel River, nor is it about Miss Vincent. I uh you know,
I I as one of the speakers mentioned, I would dare say that I utilize the library more than uh you know, potentially more than anyone on the DAS, just you know, personally. Um, you know, we're in the library a couple of times a month and it's important to me how it's run and since uh since she's been in that position, it seems just as a utilizer, not as a board member, just as as a utilizer, it seems to be running well. Administrator says it is. And uh again, from my point of view, it's not about the personalities of who it is. Um, you know,
there are many claims were made about, you know, Miss Bel River's relationships. um you know the the other person has you know very deep Pensacola ties as well. There are very strong relationships there as well. So it's but so it's not about the the the people. Um it's an recommendation coming from an administrator that I trust and I'm going to continue to trust until I have a reason to not trust and at that point in time that's a different discussion for this board or from me as a member
of this board. Uh so I mean for that reason uh you know it is I guess something we have to we have to stamp and I'm willing to stamp it because uh he's willing to put his goodwill on the line for it. Commissioner May. Thank you Madam Chair and Commissioner Barry certainly uh I I was am a supporter of Director Marino uh voted for him to get his job. Uh I don't have any uh doubt. Uh I have a great relationship uh with my libraries uh with all of our libraries staff including Miss
Rivera. Um I've been very open and direct with the administrator. Uh this is a major decision. Probably the most controversial hiring director position we've had since we've been on this board. Probably one of the most. And I would I would want the administrator here because there's still questions and people are going. I'm not I'm not moving to affirm or hire. All I'm my motion is simply a motion uh to postpone this and get the administrator so at least he can facilitate and communicate. He has the ultimate and the final decision, but the citizens uh and the applicants
deserve an opportunity to have a little more further vacation because of the cloudiness of this and we have not been crystal clear in in in what has been said on this board. So for me, I would simply make a motion uh madam chair that we just postpone this uh and until um director Marino is back here in full operations. So with all due respect, I mean that's in essence saying that you don't support it. So we are making a decision about the hiring of So we are making a decision about the hiring of a director. That's I'm I don't think Steve I'm making a decision. I'm saying
I'm I'm waiting till Wes is back. As you said, we take his word. But I I think that if we're making something as controversial as this that quite frankly the administrator should be here. But you know certainly I will you know support the will of this board as always have but I certainly think the administrator should be here. Uh we do have a motion on the floor. Is there a second? I'll second it. All in favor? That would be two three. Commissioner Sturburgger, I saw you
had your light on. Do you want to say something? Yeah, I agree with Commissioner Barry. This is a decision for the county administrator. We have and and I have never heard a disparaging thing about Miss Rivera until this week. you know, the emails I received and and all the accounts that I've got is she's doing a wonderful job and she was a great choice to be the interim. And I and like I said,
it is it's it's our administrator's decision to hire who he thinks is best qualified. And I'm sure that he took everything into account and I trust his decision as well. I appreciate that, Madam Chair. Let me let me be very clear uh in and and and to my colleague that we're probably, you know, we we think alike probably 95% of the time. Uh there's in no way uh any disparaging remarks on anyone's qualification. Mr. River has done a great job. I understand. uh
and I simply said that there's a process of in which a a volunteer governing board had a lot of questions and it's just you know in my opinion the ultimate decision as my commissioner may as you've just said you we will hold director Marino accountable he's not here you know and so I mean Debbie is leading that charge and so that motion failed and I'm I'm going to be supportive but I will be on the record because men I I probably have hung out with Miss River more than I've hung out with with any library director ever and and and their friends. It's not about anybody
personal. It's certainly about people questioning the process uh that elect me and vote for me. And so I owe that to them if they wanted to have further dialogue. They've made a decision. The ultimate decision is is is the administrator and but it's been brought before this board for a public conversation. But I'm Steve I'm going to be I'll be supportive. You know, I think, you know, sometimes the, you know, and I'm not saying this is this is everything that's going on here, but, you know, just historically or, you know, some institutional some institutional remembrance for
uh for at least you and I, you know, often there's well, we just want to have more conversation or, you know, we just want to have more transparency. It it's it's not always that that's what the want is. The want is I want a different answer. That's the that's the actual I mean well I but that's that's the want and you know I'm not you know I'm not going to force a different answer out of the administrator whether he's here or not. He's will I mean again the goodwill exists. I'm
going to support it just because I support Wes. He's willing to risk his goodwill with me as a member of this board by bringing this forward. I've mentioned the same similar concerns that you have. He said, "I really want to bring it forward. She's been interim, you know, for for long enough. I want to have I want to have uh some more stability for the employees." Okay, that's him willing to risk his goodwill. as you know you and I have seen in the past you you can you know in these positions you can have goodwill once you know once that goodwill is lost I mean you don't
get it back so if he's I mean if he's willing to if he's willing to risk the goodwill that that you know that that keeps his employee that has to I mean that that means something to me as candidly probably the person that knows Miss Bell Rivera and her husband least well amongst us I I would I would dare say I know them the least well of all of us. Um and again so so it's not about them, it's simply uh simply about Wes. Well, listen and so let me be on record and and so I I the process
you know the way Miss River is being treated and the way Miss Vincent is being treated is not the way that you should do a hiring process. I mean it shouldn't I mean that it's fundamentally wrong. I do agree with that and we can put that on the agenda for another time. Um Commissioner Barry, would you like to make a motion to move this? No, no, no. Madam Chair, let me finish. I mean, we're having a conversation. I can say what I want to say. I mean, fundamentally, that was my point that that process was wrong. But, you know, I'm I'm a consensus builder. And so, make a motion. I'm going to be a consensus. And um I just not just for who the director is,
but I'm going to be a consensus builder for the friends of the library, the governing board, and those people who have been engaged in library long. And Steve, I have a long history. uh when the city of Pensacola uh when the former mayor candidate CJ was running for mayor and we've had a long history of of libraries we have we've had a long history of uh of disparities in libraries when we just had storefronts on santes so it's been a long history so there's a lot of passion and emotions that have gone into this that may not be the administrative decision but there are
emotions that were engaged and so when people have are emotionally tied to something you know I'm just going to engage them and listen to them and tried to at least understand their position. Uh recognizing that there has to be a decision made and the decision is solely on the administrator. You know, he has that ability to do it and I agree with you. You know, it's him. If he makes a mistake, he's the only one that we can fire. So, you and I are, I think, on the same page. Can I ask a question? No, ma'am. Um I do have a few things that I want to say and Commissioner Coler,
I see your light on. Unfortunately, this board overrides board decisions all the time. I sit on the TDC board and we vote something down and somebody comes up here and they ask for millions and millions of dollars, not $200,000 but millions and we give it to them. So, this is not a unique situation. Um, Miss Rashard brought up Wes and when we when I called it was me, I called for a public review. Um, and Commissioner Barry, I want to thank you for being consistent. You said the same thing at that time. you said he's been doing the job and I believe in him and
you felt like it was pretty much what you just said, the proof of doing the job and being able to do the job is the fact of doing the job. So, I appreciate that. Um, Wes and I have had a few come to Jesus conversations since then and I feel like we're making progress. So, I'm thankful that we have had the ability to move forward through that. Um, and Allison has told me several times, stay out of the hiring process. Stay out of the hiring process. That is one of the two things you have got to stay out of. Um, we we don't get to hire anybody other than the county administrator
and the county attorney. Um, and then there was a few remarks made earlier that I feel like we need to address. Someone said something about not hiring Crystal because of who her husband was. And if that is not a glass ceiling, I don't know what is. Crystal should be able to stand alone and get a job on her own or not get a job on her own irregardless of who she's married to. In addition, some people said we had so many people come and speak and Crystal didn't have but one or two people come and speak to her. This is not a popularity contest. We don't judge by the number
of people that speak. We judge by the content that is brought in front of us. Somebody did say that. Yes, because I made a note of it. Yes. Um, and then I do have an HR background and I wrote an entire article that was published about hiring the heart. And sometimes you have to hire somebody for the heart that they have for the community, for the job that they're doing. And and sometimes that is not necessarily exactly what's on the job description. And sometimes
the heart that somebody has and the passion that they have for the job that they do along with other relevant experience combines and makes them the perfect fit for the job. Wes isn't here to speak up for himself, but I would think that when he did the interview that he believed that brided the gap. So that is where I stand on that. We do need a motion to do something at this point. I move to approve the administrator's recommendation for the hiring. I second it. All in favor? That would be is that a yes or a no? You're opposed. Okay. So, that would be four for
it and one against it with Commissioner Coler against the item. Okay. Thank you. All right. Next, we are going to move on. I don't want to redo this. All we do is redo all. Did the clerk's office receive the proof of publication for the public hearings on the agenda and the board's weekly meeting schedule? Madam Chair, the clerk's office has received all proofs. Wonderful. Thank you.
I moved to wave the reading. Second. Okay. So, we're moving to ra uh wave the reading. Okay. Thank you. All in favor? Uh, okay. 50. Thank you. Um, we do have speakers on the clerk's report. We have um a speaker for item number one. Pam, would you like them or Madam Clerk, I'm sorry. Would you like them to go first? You would. Okay. Larry DS Jr., you're our first and only speaker and then I will pass it back to the madam clerk for her to give us the report.
All right, this one here is on the uh lay downs, Junior. Sorry about that. I got I got involved with that last one and I forgot where I was at. Oh, here we go. Right here. This is on the uh uh the that the board accept for filing uh with the board's minutes the investment portfolio summary report of the month. Uh are y'all aware that uh you know that we're down uh on our on our uh you
know our shortterm polio portfolio achievement uh for the yield. It's uh it's down one and a half percent over over last year's. And then the uh long-term core portfolio achieved a yield of 3.77, which is down a little over 1%. Uh do do y'all make and I know you ain't going to answer, but that's all right. Uh who who makes the uh the investments of our money? You know, it's over what
is this over $600 million here. Madam Chairman, I will actually answer Mr. DS. Oh, awesome. I love it. Well, you you've stuck around. Just to to make the comment earlier about the book, about the vaccine book. So, I guess um we we we we have a we have a third party manager, a professional manager that I think the clerk mainly interacts with, but that does the uh does the management and those those rates of return are going to match the they're going to match what's the movement the movement in the overnight rate of the of Fed funds. I mean, it's very uh they're still on the
it's in my opinion still on the very high end of performance. And uh I'm I'm pleased with I'm pleased with where we are. uh you know being down basically 100 basis points year-over-year is very comparable to what's in the market. So it's what it's what the going rate is then. Yes. For for that type of money. Six for 600 million. Yeah. All right. Well, I guess that's all right then. But uh I sure would have liked it a lot better though if we could, you know, maybe shop it around a little. Maybe check with Black Rockck State Street. Maybe we could get some better investments.
So don't leave Larry. you're um signed up for item number four. Would you like to go on and speak to item number four? I absolutely would. Yes. Here we go. Uh yes, this is on the uh you know, the public forum minutes. And uh you know, first off, I would you know, I would appreciate more minutes because it's in the minutes here. We'd like more minutes like we used to get. Uh you know, it's hard. I talked to several people. It's hard for them to get their thoughts formed in two in two minutes.
So, it's, you know, it's it's just uh there's no reason for it. You know, I get it. Sometimes there's a lot of people up here. So, what I just spent nine hours at a Senate at a Senate hearing on Tuesday. There's no, you know, I mean, think about that. They spent nine hours from 9 a.m. to 6:15 when they made the last vote. Now, I get it. They're senators, you know, y Congress, I mean, our commissioners, but we still should give the people more time, three minutes every time. And
please don't try to convert our First Amendment rights to redress our government, which y'all are our local nearest dearest government. Please don't try to convert those rights into a privilege. It's not a privilege. It's a right. And it shouldn't be uh it should not be confused with chaos. You know, please don't call us chaos. We're not. Some of us do a little satire with our redress. So what?
Some of them are a little bit offensive. So what? You know, have we become such a weak country that our elected officials have such a thin skin that they can't even hear a little bit of, you know, just just a little bit of frustration come out of the people. I mean, so let's stop trying to convert our rights, you know, into a privilege. Thank you. Thank you, Larry. We appreciate your comments, madame clerk. The clerk's Thank you, Mr. DS. To answer your question, it's a large
portfolio. We have only one manager that handles a small section of the portfolio. I make all the decisions. We are very restricted by statute. So if you're watching the DAO, we can't be compared to that. We can't invest in the black rocks etc. My personal portfolio is doing quite well, probably better than the percentage here that I list and it is duly noted, but you need to understand the restrictions by statute. Good. Okay. I have four items on the agenda for
your approval. Thank you. Do we have a motion to move the report? So moved. Second. All in favor for with Commissioner May out. Horus the growth management report. Is this a record for you? Is this the latest you've ever given it? Um yeah. No, unfortunately. Um we have a vis 2025-2-12, I'm sorry. from commercial to heavy commercial, light industrial. The planning board made a recommendation for approval. We have no speakers on this item. Move to approve
the planning board recommendation. Do we have a second? Second. All in favor. Okay, that would be 40 with Commissioner Mayout. Um item number two. Uh item five. Well, the adoption of the official zoning map for the preceding case. Okay, we have no speakers on this item. So moved. Okay, second. All in favor for uh we have speakers signed up for 1-3. Yes. And the next item is for the as for the speakers case 2026-01
from medium density residential to HDR. The planning board made a recommendation for approval. Okay, our we do have four speakers. Our first speaker is Janice and then Irene, you'll be next. Good evening. My name is Janice Hoff and I am a uh resident of the Foxrun subdivision
and part of the homeowners association. I'm here to voice opposition to the request for the reszoning of the medium density to high density of 9900 GI Lane case number Z2026-01. This section of Gidey Lane backs up to several properties in the Fox Run subdivision, specifically to Huntsman's Path, and this request appears to be spot zoning. Uh we feel that new
uses, density change and or intensity have not been identified to the affected community. Guidy Lane already has multiple apartment and duplex structures as well as single family residences. There appears to be no actual plan for the betterment of this area except for a continuation of a hodgepodge approach to development. This proposed resoning will not preserve the character and quality of residential neighborhoods adjacent to this location number four LDC chapter 3 because
of loss of privacy, potential for noise pollution, increased traffic, congestion, public safety, hurricane evacuation, etc. This creates a scenario for mixeduse buildings adjacent to a single family subdivision with resulting change in the character of the subdivision without benefit or enhancement of the area. Number five, LDC chapter 3. We have great concern that this resoning will affect Fox Run property values in a negative manner and have adverse impacts upon
surrounding properties. and we request that maintenance of the current zoning will serve a greater public interest than increasing density in this residential area. Thank you very much for your consideration. Thank you. Our next speaker is Irene and then Bridget, you will be after Irene.
Good evening. I'm I'm Irene Gilgen and I am the president of the board of the homeowners association of Foxrun and I'm talking on behalf of our residents. We are very very strongly against changing the zoning from uh the 10 use I guess there that means units per acre to 18. Um right now it will right now if you take a look at Gide Lane where the proposed uh development is going to be there are many many onetory houses there subdivisions
um duplexes and they're all one story. All right. If we increase the density those residents are going to have to come out on Guide Lane. Guidy Lane already has a lot of traffic. If you stop at the red light at Gotti Lane and Nine Mile Road, uh there is usually 10-15 cars backed up. Uh we do not need more. It has also if we increase the density, it will have a direct negative impact to Fox Run. Fox Run is a small quiet subdivision. We are lucky to have trees and foliage frame
our subdivision. Okay? And those trees and that foliage gives us privacy. It gives us um shade and it's also our sanctuary to sit in the backyard. And so the proposed development is going to be apparently a two-story duplex. All righty. In order to do that, the developer is going to have to clearcut that property and that is going to destroy our our sanctuary, our green belt area. And right now I don't think that the developer is going to put a green belt in there. Um also
um our tax values, excuse me, our property values are going to decrease and that's very very important to us. We have a beautiful subdivision and we don't want our property values to go down. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Bridget and then after Bridget is Thomas. Good evening. Uh my name is Bridget Barber and I've resided at 9917 Huntsman Path in Fox Run since 1986. I am here today regarding the proposed construction. Uh we share a fence
line of approximately 75 ft. There are five single family homes including my own that will be directly impacted. All of the homes adjacent to the proposed building have bedrooms in close proximity to the proposed complex. With multiple families living so close, the increased noise level could become problematic. Privacy is a major concern as a multi-story complex would overlook the backyards of surrounding homes. Although there is a six-foot fence separating the properties,
family activities such as entertaining, swimming would no longer be private. Over the years, I've been impacted by multiple people entering my backyard by hopping the back fence. They've cut across using my yard as a shortcut to catch a school bus, visit friends, and on one occasion take a dip in my pool. Most issues were resolved by speaking directly to the involved families. My fear is that the addition of multiple housing units would invite more trespassers. Gide lane, a two-lane street connecting nine mile to 10 mile roads, is historically a busy thoroughfare. There
have been many automobile accidents involving residents attempting to turn them to guiding and increased population could spur additional traffic and accidents. A major contributor of my home's value is large maintained serene backyard. I fear that a huge multifamily structure o towering over my property would negatively impact the value of my home. Uh thank you for Yes, ma'am. Thank you. We appreciate your comments, Thomas. And then Larry Downs, you'll be after Thomas.
My wife and I are the owners of the subject property that we're talking about. Uh if there's one thing that's a need in Scambia County based on the growth that's going on, it's affordable housing and that's what we attempt to bring into it. We have done a similar project on Holsbury Lane which has been very successful. People are very happy living there and we have another project on Crow Road over on the west side of Escambia County. Both of those projects are very successful. People enjoy living there. Uh what what we really intend to do with this
property is to is to build town or excuse me duplexes there. The property from the previous owners was uh approved for town houses and so it's already been approved somewhat for multifamily housing. We prefer to to build duplexes, not town houses. And so if we're approved for this project, we think we will be able to bring 20 or 22 families affordable, safe housing, and it fits
the character of the neighborhood. Uh the planning commission has reviewed it. They're in agreement with what we want to do with the property and we will certainly work with the planning commission to make sure it meets all of the requirements of of Escambia County. Thank you. Yes, sir. We appreciate you. Larry DS, you'll be our last speaker on this topic if you want to come on up. Larry DS Jr. again. U you know it's even if once y'all hopefully y'all approve this because you
know our founding fathers knew that the secret to pro prosperity was property rights. And you know when you deny somebody the their use of their property that's that's a it's a kind of a taking. But anyways, uh, you know, and it's in here. You know, I know it's, you know, it's one of those things that's a problem, but there's still the board of adjustments. They still got to go through a more hoops, more more hurdles, all types of stuff. They're going to have to make concessions, you know, with to to to get it going, you know, and then the DRC and all that.
So there's more steps to this, but I always find it interesting that people who already have their property using the way they want to use it, then they want to have government deny other people to use their property the way they want. Y'all are not supposed to be in the property uh, you know, and the property uh value or keeping prices up or down or anything like that. That's not y'all's y'all's purview is to make decisions off of what will property values be. I mean,
I hope y'all know that you're supposed to do it off of rights, off of property rights. And and if it meets the criteria, which I'd even argue against that, you know what criteria? you know, criteria to keep people from doing it. How about we just stop setting up task force to come up with more rules and regulations to stop people from using their property and we and we try to make it happen so we can have more prosperity across more, you know, more uh uh lines, you know, call it the
freedom line. Thank you, Larry. That concludes our speakers for this item. Board discussion. Yeah, thank you, Madam Chairman. Um, either Horus or Drew, can you kind of come up and just chat a little bit? I mean, these, you know, I'm very familiar with Guide Lane. It's uh uh for many years, Northeast Pensacola Ballpark was uh was on the property that Hillrest Church now owns and uh so I have driven uh driven that road, even ridden my bike down there when I was at elementary school uh 45 years ago. So, it's um you know and and you know those are my constituents that back
up on Huntsman and and you know there are uh you know when you look at the surrounding properties I mean there are quite a few multif family on Gaid um so it's not you know to say that it doesn't fit I mean it it does somewhat fit in that area we have you know we do have some of those apartments have been there longer you know over 50 years I mean some of those apartments as you get uh to the north end of the road but you just briefly address how we can, you know, how we can kind of manage some of the concerns. The the property is already approved for multif
family. They can I mean, we can already have multif family on the on the parcel. Correct. And and I know this is it is a little bit more density, but you know, it's not a relatively large parcel. We're going to have to meet setbacks. The change in the product on the ground is going to be pretty minimal. But just talk a little bit about how we can address some of those concerns about the neighbors that would they would border on the east side of the parcel. Yes, sir. We we can handle that through uh buffering provisions. This this was approved in 22 at the board of adjustment
for town homes. It was going to be 16 town home a town home subdivision. That project never went past DRC stage. Um this one will have to come back through whatever they're going to propose, right? Um and it'll come back through and it once again buffering is is between uses dislike uses um residential and residential but this is more on a commercial nature of residential. So we we would well I mean this intensity is is more of a commercial use. So yeah I mean the buffering
is going to be I mean the buffering is going to be it's going to be necessary. It's going to be required and I'm you know and I'm going to expect that. And if I may commissioner that uh thank you for that. I think even for the citizens they did make they did make those comments at the planning board. It was agreed it was agreed upon even by the developer that they will enhance the buffering requirement that we we do have standard buffering requirements that they got to meet but because of the the the the concerns that were raised by they say yes we will enhance it. those statements was made and even when we come through the cycle process that was one point factor that
to make sure that they can sort of enhance it not to eliminate it but just to make it either bigger or wider so they can provide more help the citizens that adjacent to the property because the size is an important factor as well. All right. Thank thank you. Uh thank you madam chairman with with those comments if there's not any more comments from the board I would move to approve the recommendation from the planning board. All in favor, Commissioner May. Five vote. Thank you. Are there any speakers on the 546? No, sir. There's I move the 546 here. Yes,
sir. Do we have a second? Second. All in favor? 5. Thank you. And then we do have our consent agenda. All right. I move the consent agenda. Do we have a second? Second. All in favor? 5. Thank you. Okay, that moves us to the county administrators report. We have speakers for item number I'm sorry, what?
Okay, we have speakers for three, seven, and nine. Move to balance. Okay, sir. Do we have a second? All in favor? Thank you. So for item number one, Larry DS, if you'll come up, Larry DS Jr. again is this for a recommendation concerning community
redevelopment. I'm on the right page. Ascend performance materials. Do what? Um, recommendation concerning memorandum of understanding between Escambia County, Florida and Ascend Performance Materials Operations LLC regarding on premise fire department training. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm in favor of that. Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate it. Do we have a move the item? Do we have a second? All in favor? Commissioner May? Yes. Okay. 50. Thank you. We have a speaker for
item number seven. That is Chris Karp. Chris, if you'll come on up. Yeah, I know a little history about this Quail Ridge subdivision. Um, first of all, uh, is this different? Remember I was telling you at public forum about sins of the past? Well, it was designed for a 25-y year design storm and it fell two or three times during last few years since it was built. But one of the reasons I
wanted to speak on this item is y'all have a MSBU pond maintenance ordinance 2006-51. And it pretty much says when you take a pond over from a homeowners association, you apply an MSBU for maintenance. I didn't see that in the background, but I did go back and look at your uh actual ordinance. It's got a nice little clause in there that the developer donates to the county or deeds to the county. So, I guess you get off on that. You might want to change that
ordinance because if you're taking over storm water ponds, you should be able to pay for the maintenance on them because the people that live there are the ones that are benefiting from it. This is just another example of uh where the sins of the past are are uh catching up with us. Maybe y'all need to update your design standards. Thank you. Thank you, Chris. Chris was our last speaker. All right, Madam Chair, I'll take that as a from uh Chris as a congratulations. This uh took me about three years to get to this point. So, I would move the item A, B,
and C. I want to thank uh Madame Council for uh you know having to work with uh I believe the it ended up being owned by a a defunct LLC that ended up with council as well. So I know she had to have multiple uh multiple conversations and I think there were multiple iterations of an agreement but it has uh it has worked out. It's been a long long period of time and I'm very happy to provide this uh provide this benefit to these residents who have uh uh who were never able to have um never able to have a functioning pond after 40 years of a neighborhood. So, it just uh one of those
things that didn't work out and they're very very pleased. So, thank you. I move the item. All in favor? 50. Thank you. Um, our next speaker is for item number nine and that's Melissa Pino. Thank you, Chairwoman Hoffber. Melissa Pino 413 Southeast Col. Okay, Kure Coler, we can't agree on everything. So, vacations, particularly westside vacations, and I'm just going to say it again.
No one will ever listen to me. I'm just going to keep saying quit giving away public property for free. That's number one. Anybody I if there is a reason for a vacation, somebody can buy it. I don't I don't care if it's an ounce of dirt or if it's a hundred yards or what it is. This thing of just giving land away that taxpayers own absolutely baffles me. I will never understand why you guys do that. Now to the particular character of vacations in alleys and on the west side. Man,
you're taking all of our alleys, Commissioner Coler. The alleys are a really, really distinct cool thing about the west side. And of course, I'm exaggerating. You're not taking all of our alleys, but this is I think this is the third vacation of an alley in Beach Haven recently. It's like every time a house gets built or there's a development now in Beach Haven, it's just due regard that we're going to blow away the alley with a vacation. Okay, so maybe the person on the other side of the alley likes that. Why wouldn't they? They're going to
get half the land and they're going to get to stretch their property out. I mean, you know, okay, can I have the alley behind my house in Navy Point? It's a grid of alleys in an area with a lot of flooding problems. People use alleys. I can't speak to this particular alley in um Beach Haven, but it just seems like there's a lot of them. And now, not only that, you can tell Jane it's not personal. I hate these vacations that give away land for free. And I wish you guys would
consider and and Vicky Haynes Campbell and I had a good conversation after that last one and she explained why she thought people should get it for free. I'll never agree. Okay. Board. Well, you know, I know we do this all the time, Alison. Why don't we charge? I don't understand why we do give free land away asset. And I don't remember the why why you guys keep telling me it's a good idea. I just still don't. Vacation is typically very different than actual fee simple ownership of property. You're using vacations in limited instances. Typically,
it's areas that are dedications on plat which you are not obligated to accept for maintenance or improvements or you think maybe a board thinks that maybe in the future we might need them for something and then years go by and we don't use them. It's typically different than say parcels of property. You have very you have an ordinance very strict rules about how you convey your fee simple ownership of property. It's typically auctioned to the highest bidder. these things like dedications and these weird um things on plats and it's just it's just different. You don't
typically own in fe simple those properties. So you're saying we we can't get uh we can't charge for these or we should you're not well it's an odd you're not conveying true ownership. You're just the question to you is going to be at this public hearing, do you want to remove the layer of potential public use or leave it there because you think there's a public purpose to keep it there? And we've had board, it is true, we've had boards in the past that would have policy that if it
touched water or waterfront, then it was just no go. We weren't going to we weren't going to vacate the public's interest in those types of pieces. But for whatever, I don't even know the background on this one. It's a very small piece. I mean, it's not we've given away much more, but it just seems like we should be we should have some sort of fee if we give a person more property, but you know, maybe they get it on property taxes when they get reassessed. Does that happen? Yeah. So typically in an ideal world, somebody who is successful in a vacation application would, if they really wise,
would go to court and get a quiet title action and then yes, I would certainly anticipate that the parcel line would be clearly uh amended by the property appraisers's office. They should be taxed for it. Okay, I'll move the item. Do we have a second? Oh, I'm sorry. Wait, wait. We do have one more speaker. I'm so sorry, Larry. Yes, you're up, sir. Apologize. Thank you, Jose. Thank you. I just I was about to head out of here. I was about to leave and uh heard Melissa speaking. So, uh
free charging for more property. That's No, it's a it's we shouldn't be charging to vacate a property that's that's uh that was design, you know, that was going to be used for something and then never was. I received one of those back in 2002 for my gym that I had that was right there and we were able to use it to put, you know, put it to good use. Of course, I would have of course I would have paid for it, but why why does everybody have to pay for everything when it's not being used and
it and it gets it off of y'all's record? I mean, just because, you know, some citizens just can't get enough big daddy government taking our money doesn't mean that you have to or that you should even try to find a way to. I mean, it's other people's money, right? It's always other people's money until it's yours and sooner or later we're going to run out of this. So anyways, if you would just keep on helping people improve their lot in life and their properties in life. I mean,
if it's there, you ain't using it. There's no use for it. Which I know the one that was behind me, it wasn't. It was wooded. It was ridiculous. And it just allowed me to utilize my property a little bit more. But I get it. They've been conditioned. Charge them. Charge them. Charge them. Don't do it. That completes our speakers. Approve this one. I'll move the item. And do we have a second? Second. All in favor? Okay. 50. Thank you. All right. Good night, Larry. Next, we have the budget
and finance consent agenda. We have speakers on items number five, six, and seven. Move the balance. Do we have a second? Second. All in favor? That is 40 with Commissioner May stepping out. Our first speaker is for item number five and that's Chris Kerb. Chris, if you'll come on up. Hello again. Uh Chris Ker with Flood Defenders. Um I'm all for
uh making improvements in 11 Mile Creek Basin, especially storm water ponds. Uh that's one of your worst basins in Escambia County as far as flooding. And there's a reason behind that, too. Uh, sins of the past, I've been talking about that all night. Uh, you know, uh, up above Bristol Park, there's 22,000 acres that make up 11 Mile Creek Basin. And you know, if you use your 1979 archived and obsolete rainfall data that DOT has said
not to use in design and you compare that to Noah Atlas 14 rainfall data, it's about 2 in difference. Multiply 2 inches over 22,000 acres and you come up with 159,720,000 cubic feet of volume. That's about 1.2 billion gallons of water that's not accommodated in your
wershed. So what does that do? It raises your flood plane and floods places like Bristol Park, Ashbury Hills because your your storm water ponds in your watershed are not accommodating the 100red-year volume that you say in your code you're supposed to accommodate because you're allowing the use of obsolete, outdated rainfall data. Man, I'm sound like a broken record up here. When are you going to change your design standards? You had an ordinance in front
of you in March and you kicked it down the road. You love kicking cans down the road. Wonder why. Is it because the HBA got up here and told you, "Oh, we don't want to pay a little extra money for storm water ponds." So, we'll just continue your comments. Thank you. Chris is the only speaker on this item, which was item number five. Move the item. Do we have a second? All in favor? Sporro with Commissioner Mayout. Um, next is item number six. We have two speakers. Melissa Pino will be
first and then Kevin Wage will be next. Thank you, Melissa Pino 413 Southeast Bobbleitz. Uh, Commissioner Kohler, you missed me thanking you for this project the last time. So, I'll just because it was on the agenda last time, I'll just say briefly that um this thing never would have gotten going if you wouldn't have finally started um pushing. And um usually I'm railing on change orders. That's another one of my favorite topic. I don't like asbuilt stuff and I think the county needs to get away from it. But dredges are incredibly complex projects that answer to tons of
different agencies. And that what people would not know is that there has been a lot of neighborhood input on this meeting after meeting after meeting. The Bayou Davenport group, Navy Point Group, WRC group, and I'm sure there's more that I don't know about. And I know that you I am aware of at least seven meetings that you listen to citizen, you know, input on and these changes are for the better. They really made it and staff also attended those meetings and they listened to
everybody and so it really was a model of public input as this project really has been since Brett Whip started it out right from the very beginning. Thank you. Yeah, thank you Mel. That was it's been a it's going to be a huge success. I know we've had acute bears, but I want to thank Chips and Tim for being on board. Oh, Kevin, you speaking on it, too? Okay. Okay. Sorry. No, no, no, no. You're fine. You're fine. I I don't want to cut in on you. Uh way four and three about Southeast. My
dog teaches other dogs to fish and she teaches other dogs to catch the Frisbee in the water. I I watch her and she sees that other dog carrying that trophy. She'll swim out to get it and bring it to him a few times and it's like she keeps bringing it back to him over and over again. White Island is a place I'm going to be taking that dog a lot. She's going to she's going to catch a lot of a lot of a lot of fish there. She's been catching shrimp at night with a little light
on her collar. I just absolutely love it. And uh I I love seeing that you got to get this through and your listening and bringing the staff out to hear the people and their concerns of this really uh turn the turn the the the tide around in the neighborhood with people being really proud
of what's happening with White island. And yeah, the change order on this, what? That's uh 13%. That ain't bad. That ain't bad at all. Like, good job. Love it. And and on on seven, they just skip on past that. But thank you. Thank you very much. I just want to make one more shout out to the project manager, Ryan Kirby, and I'll mo make a motion to move this
item. Wonderful. Kevin, I want to make sure that I heard you right. You don't want to speak on item number seven. Okay. Do we want to move this item and item number seven together? Yeah, we'll I'll make a motion to move six. Second motion to move six and seven. Sorry. Thank you, Commissioner B. I we understood. Yes, sir. Thank you, Borro. Appreciate that. Okay, that brings us to the county attorney's report. There are three items on the county attorney's report. I can answer any questions you may have. Um, we do have a speaker two speakers on the second item. Um, so do we want to move the do we want to have motion to move the balance? Second. All
in favor? Thank you. Um, so for item number two, Melissa Pino and then Kevin Wade will be next. Melissa 43 southeast Bland. This is a pretty big topic for only two citizens to be down here speaking to. And um this is the number of percentage of the population. I don't know if you guys can see this that the school board is really hoping that they're going to disenfranchise by
scheduling this thing on the primary. Um, no party affiliation in Escambia County is 18.92%. Minor parties are 3.53%. That's 22 and a half% of the people. There is no other reason to have this in the primary except that the Republican party does not want it to happen when MPAs and independents are planning on heading to the primary. Now, it doesn't mean I I'll be going. I mean, I can still
go. I'm an NPA. Kev's an NPA. My husband's an NPA. A lot of people I know, I'll be making sure they go, but this is ridiculous. There's no reason to have this thing in the primary. I know you guys are going to do it. It's sad to me at a time when division is so bad and parties are at the heart of it. And that's why I'm an MPA. I hate parties. I absolutely detest platforms. And it's sad to me that such a blatant attempt to try to influence things to make it better for the Republicans. Um,
it's just sad because you guys should be want people that could work with both sides of the aisle and this continued thing of just trying to hold us in a stronghold of Republicanism. How's that Republican super majority working out in Tallahassee? Kevin Wade, you're next. Kevin Wade, four and three southeast Bobblets. I echo all that. And yeah, it's one more time that the primary ends up looking like it's being used to leverage disenfranchisement. And I I meet a lot
of people who have children and I ask them what what what do they think about politics? and and they often say, "I got I got no time for that. I've got kids." Like, "So, you're going to vote for superintendent of the school board or and over and over again. They say they don't have time." Just putting this on the primary, it's it's like an an initiative that should have more weight.
That concludes our speakers for this item. I I just want to make one comment on this because this is one of those things where it's an administrative pass through for us from another elected body, which you know, I I don't even I'm not overly excited about this, but I do respect that body's being an elected body and voted for it. And I've told them that I would move forward with what they voted three to two on and and that's the only reason I'm going to honor that. Second confirming that was a motion. Commissioner Kohler. Yeah, that's okay. With a
second from Commissioner Barry. All in favor? It's 40. Thank you. That concludes the items on the agenda. Are there any announcements? No. Meeting adjourned. Thank you all.