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This is the Lake County Board of County Commissioners regular meeting on April 28th, 2026 in board chambers to various Florida. Good morning. >> Good morning. Test, test, test.

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Recording in progress. I'm going to bang the gel. All right, we'll call this meeting to order. April 28th, 2026. Lake County Board of County Commissioners. We welcome everyone here today. We'll begin the meeting with an invocation. Um, this

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will be given by, let's see, I'm doing a double take. Is Pastor Brooks here? The Yes. And then I was looking at Lifeoint pastor, head pastor there, and I kind of went, "All right, make sure I got >> both of them. You could have two." >> Well, he's going the pastor from

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Lifeoint is here to accept a proclamation. So, we appreciate you being here. and uh Pastor Brooks, if you would uh come on up for the invocation and we'll stand, remain standing for the pledge. >> I'm going to pray. He's going to preach. So, mine will be significantly shorter.

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Let's pray together. Dear heavenly father, we come before you today. We thank you once again for the opportunity that you give us to call upon you as we reach out to heaven and ask for wisdom upon all the decisions that are made here in this amazing county that we live in. We want to start off collectively

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and we pray for much needed rain that we that we need here in our community. We pray God at the appropriate time that you'll send it to us and the ground can receive it well. We want to stop and pause for a moment and be mindful that there are men and women all around the world at this very moment standing guard

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protecting the freedom that we experience. Let us never forget them. Let us always honor them. And we pray Lord that you'll bring them back to us safely in due time. Thank you for your love for us and the grace that you give us through Jesus. And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

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>> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, council. >> Appreciate it. >> Appreciate it.

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>> All right, moving along on our agenda update. Jennifer Barker, County Manager. >> Yes. Good morning, Madam Chair. Commissioners, uh, one update. We, uh, Commissioner Morris was not able to join us in person today. I believe he may be online. He may be participating online

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with comments on specific agenda items. However, he will not be voting since he is not present today. Um, other than that, I do not have any other updates. All right. >> I am online. >> He's there. All right. Thanks for letting us know.

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Okay. Uh we have an ARPA update. Um Sean um is going to update us on uh the grants um that are pending with regard to um the ARPA funding. >> Good morning, commissioners. Great to see you all. It's been a few months. Uh for the record, Sean Bodde, grants program manager, parks and water

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resources. Here to provide you with an American Rescue Plan update. Uh this morning, I'll provide some background information, a few updates, a couple recommendations, and conclude with requested action. Uh starting with some background information, the first item is the

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previously titled Veterans Transitional Housing Complex on County Road 561 here in Taris. Uh more recently, we heard from the sheriff's office who recommended changing the clientele uh due to the proximity to the firing range. Uh as such, this was renamed to the multif family detached housing

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project and the current balance for the site work and building construction is $3,475,78. The board also reallocated funds from a canceled project to be used for the installation and connection to city water and sewer for the same project. The balance for uh utility work is 1

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million224,856 for a grand total of 4,7564. Uh the board also earmarked funds for the purchase of one or more mobile shower and laundry trailers. Uh this project was previously known as mobile day services for the unhoused. Uh the amount allocated for this project was

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$400,000. Moving on to and starting with the first update is the emergency communication operations center audiovisisual phase 2 project which is now complete and has a balance of $3,366. The second update is on the fifth judicial circuit security camera project

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which is ongoing and included funds that were set aside for any contingencies which is no longer needed. Uh the available balance of this is 104913. The third update is on the previously referenced multif family detached housing project. Uh this was advertised

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as as an invitation to bid and close on March 19th, 2026. This includes all site work, building construction, and utilities for 21 residential units. Uh we received three responses and the selection committee chose Nicholls Contracting at a cost of $4,997,879.

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The fourth and final update is on the mobile shower and laundry trailers purchase. Uh this was advertised as a request for pricing and closed on July 29th, 2025. Uh we received five responses. Uh one respondent provided full management services but was well

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over budget. The other four respondents provided various trailer options that were under budget. However, the major ob obstacle with this purchase is providing sufficient staffing levels to manage the units as well as the federal funding time constraints. So, moving to recommendations. The first

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is to repurpose the excess funds from the ECO and camera project to help pay for repairs to Lake Erie Road, which sustained damage due to its sinkhole. The amount is 108,279. Uh and the second recommendation is to forgo the trailer purchase and realloc

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reallocate the 400,000 to assist with the building construction cost of the multifamily housing project. Uh within this table on the slide is the proposal from Nicholls contracting broken down between the building construction and utility cost and compared to the revised budget which includes the reallocation

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if you all approve. Uh this would cover all expenses and the approximate $100,000 balance on the utility lines will be used for additional uh required site work at the site. Um and additionally the contract approval with Nicholls is tab 14 on your consent

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agenda today should you approve this. Here's the most up-to-date project list and includes the recommended allocations reallocations. And requested action is approval to reallocate funds within the project list as presented. This concludes my presentation.

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>> Thank you. >> Um yeah, and I just wanted to say that um I know we were all disappointed about it not being able to be strictly allocated for veterans purposes. Um but the idea being that this would then be used for basically rapid rehousing when you have someone that you're trying to

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get into permanent housing and you need a place for them. And um we would include wraparound social services from the standpoint of case workers and that would not be done by us. that would be done by a separate entity that would handle those kind of um issues. And I

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had requested to I don't know whether this is doable, but I hope it is. And that would be that a couple of the units would be held out for situations when we have storms or we have like an emergency that comes up and we need to have a place in a hurry for someone. as long as

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it works into the overall program. It just would be, I think, a helpful um to to have that as an option. In the past, we've worked with the Homeless Coalition of Central Florida or Mid Florida and um and they've actually used hotel rooms um

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and you know, that falls under very specific parameters and is not necessarily the easiest thing to do. So, this should serve several purposes and fit within that ARPA funding. So, I think I heard a motion to approve. >> I'll second that.

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>> All right. Commissioner Sabatini said approve. Um, and Commissioner Parks um provided a second. >> All in favor say I. I. >> I. Any oppose? All right. Thank you. Appreciate that. Um, okay. Moving along then to um

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minutes approval. Um, Mr. Cooney. >> Good morning. I have one set of minutes for your approval this morning. >> Move to approve. >> Second. >> All right. All in favor say I. >> I. Any oppose? That passes unanimously. Um, moving along to citizen question and comment period. Um, we're entering the

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part of our meeting uh where the public can discuss items that are on today's agenda with the exception of any zoning items that might be in the agenda or coming up in the future. Anyone who's joined our meeting through Zoom may press the star9 button to raise your hands. And if you're on Zoom

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participating, we ask that you click the raise hand button to let us know that you wish to speak. Um, everyone gets three minutes. If you hear the buzzard go off, we ask that you wrap it up. If you didn't hear it, I'll probably remind you that it went off and we'll just ask that you wrap it up as quickly as you can. Um, under our public comments, um,

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first of all, let me just check. Do we have anyone online yet? We do. Okay. So, I'll get to that once we get through these speakers. Um, we have, uh, Farmer Bank Self. And then we have Cindy Newton. >> Farmer Bank Self. I live in the Clay

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Road District. South Lake County farm tip of the day. Let's make it about pineapple, shall we? You can take any pineapple, twist the top off, take the top, put it right into the ground, and in roughly 18 months to two years, you can have your own pineapple. Pineapples

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uh are juiciest when they are yellow. So, have them grow as yellow as possible and get them before the raccoons do. Chairwoman, um, count, uh, board, distinguished guests,

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do we point our finger at our president and blame him for the direction of our country? Do we point our finger at our governor, at our legislators, and blame them for the high cost of living in Florida? Do we turn to our county commissioners and blame you all for

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potholes on county roads? Do we turn to our mayors and say they are the reason why our water bills are so high? Yes, we do. We are a blaming society. We find ourselves throwing blame at every chance we can get. My mother always said to me,

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once you point your finger at someone, you're always pointing three right back at yourself. 250 years ago, our forefathers were pointing their finger across the Atlantic Ocean to England, blaming England for their problems. until they

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took responsibility. You see, you cannot throw blame and take responsibility at the same time. You can only do one. So, we are at a crossroads in our society 250 years old. And we can do one of two things. One, we can take

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responsibility and in doing so take ownership of this great nation of ours, or we can point our finger and be blamers of nothing. I am farmer bank. May you all be blessed. Candidate for state house district 25, advocate for

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South Lake County. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um Cindy Newton. And then let's see, Katherine is on 24. Cindy's on 24. Okay. Good morning, Cindy Newton, District 4. Um, first of all, I would

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like to thank Chair Campioni uh for dropping by the Friends of Akiva, excuse me, uh, pavilion dedication at Katie's Landing this past Saturday. It was a wonderful day for community and a great reminder of why we work so hard to

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protect our local gyms. Building on that momentum, I'm here today to urge the commission to take a fresh critical look at several key definitions within our county codes. specifics, specifically those regarding open space, recharge,

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recharge soil protection and storm water ponds. As we see increasing pressure on the Makiva study area and our surrounding spring sheds, how we define these terms matters. For example, a storm water pond is a function of

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utility, but it shouldn't always be synonymous with open space or with recharge. Similarly, our protections for recharge soil need to be robust enough to ensure we aren't just checking a box, but actually preserving the long-term

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health of our aquifer. If the commission's open to it, I'm willing to help write up some suggestions uh for these changes while we're going over the comp plan, excuse me, and the land development regulation changes. I believe these updates would better align

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our local policies with our shared goal of protecting Florida's water and sensitive ecological zones. Thank you for your time and your continued dedication for our environment. Thank you. Um, Alex

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St. Martin. Hello, my name is Alexander St. Martin. I'm a Sumpre County resident and your neighbor. I am here today to discuss the proposed injection well at the heart of Florida landfill in Sumpter County and to ask for your help and to stand with Sumpre County residents as well as

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Citrus County, Hernando County Commissioners, Representative JJ Gro, and Samantha Scott in opposition to uh the FT regarding this injection well. This is a direct threat to the Florida aquifer where over 10 million people

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across four states tap in for their drinking water. And to be completely honest, the city of Bushnell and Sumpre County have a pattern of putting profits over the health of people. For the past year, Sumpter County residents have been begging Bushnell city council as well as our Sumpre County commissioners to do

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something about the ever growing landfill issues and the things that have come along with it. While we fought to open an odor compliance case against them, we discovered their plan to construct a deep well with the intent of injecting leech deep beneath the Florida soil and water resources. It was

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alarming. FT had already approved a class 5 exploratory well with the intent to operate a class one injection well in the future and the community had no idea. We began researching and we found that injection wells fail often and when they do, there's next to nothing we can do to fix the issue. Once those water

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resources are contaminated, they are contaminated for life. There's plenty of data to support this and there are many other options for wastewater and leech disposal that could be explored. Currently, they have drilled the class 5 exploratory well to test the viability of the area. We already have the FD data

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that shows the delicate unpredictable car geology of this area is not suitable for an injection well. The area in question is susceptible to sink holes, making the risk for welfare failure too high. And the risk to our health is not worth their reward. The real meat of the issue here is a lack of transparency

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with the community. And that a privately owned company is not only being permitted to, but encouraged to grow their operation and bury a rural Florida community under their trash. They are exploiting our community for profits. And now they are putting your water at risk. An unchecked city is permitting

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operations while they ignore their constituents and neighbors cries. The county doesn't seem to want to get involved. Um, at the end of the day, it is every single elected representative's obligation to protect their community and put the health of their people first. This may be placed in Sumpre County, but this will affect the

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waterways here in Lake County. Please join us and write a letter of opposition to the FT and anyone you can to express your opposition of this injection well. You can learn more at stopacms.org. Um, like I said, Citrus County, Hernando County, Representative JJ Gro,

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Representative Samantha Scott have all wrote letters of opposition to the FT. We do not want this getting into our water. We don't want it to go forward and we really need your help. Thank you. >> Thank you. Appreciate you bringing that to our attention.

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>> Um, I guess we can all look at the website. Um, I would ask if if staff could get us some information from the application itself or maybe get us a link where we can view it so that we each can take a look at it ourselves.

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>> Okay, that'd be great. It'll make it easier on everybody. >> Let's add it to the next agenda no matter what we do just so that way we can revisit it the next >> Right. And it gives us sort of a deadline all of us to take a look at it. Yeah, I was just going to say c I appreciate this and certainly I want to get all the information and everything

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first, but yeah, I mean the mentality in Florida used to be delilution is the solution to pollution and there's too many people now to do that. Look at some of the rivers and our aquifer. So, um I think let's take a look at it for sure. I have concerns over it as well. >> Thank you.

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>> Thank you. >> All right, then we have um apparently some cards speakers online. Susan Federer, please unmute your line and state your name for the record. >> Hi, my name is Susan Federer and I am the president of the Lake County

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Conservation Council. Um, we ask that you reconsider the density bonus included in the rural conservation subdivision ordinance you're talking about later today. Um, particularly in areas of high aquafer recharge. The conservation subdivision ordinance includes rural transition

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ferndale community, Wakiva River Protection area, the Wakiva study area, the Lake County rural protection areas, and the green swamp area of critical concern. The Wakiva protection area in particular already has transfer of development rights in place to address

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any density bonuses needed and the county is pursuing transfer of development rights for the entire county as part of their discussions with the municipalities. The Wakiva study area is critical for Florida's water supply and is a high recharge zone for the Fidian

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aquifer. It protects a spring shed, making land use management vital to maintaining both groundwater quality and spring flow. No bonus density should be allowed in the Wakiva Springs area due to the decreased recharge and increased water use from the aquifer. Protecting

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the green swamp also is critical as it is another prime recharge area for the Flidian aquifer. It supplies drinking water for millions. It also helps prevent flooding, filters water, and supports biodiversity. It acts as the heart of the Fidian aquifer, and its headwaters to four major rivers. Adding

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density to this area is also not appropriate for obvious reasons. A bonus density of up to 25% or more for open space acreage is an incentive for more pumping of the aquafer at a time when we're already underwater shortage alerts. Lake County has vowed to protect

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rural areas and rural transition areas from overdevelopment. Adding density to these areas with the current county definition of open space will promote overdevelopment in these designated lowdensity areas. Please reconsider this aspect of the rural conservation

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subdivisions. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Susan. Um, any other comments? >> Will the user labeled Chico please unmute your line and state your name for the record? Um, John Johnson, >> I don't know if you can hear me or not.

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Hit on mute. >> Yes, we can hear you. >> Okay. I just got a question. I just moved up here into Fruitland Park off of Pixiola and when we were looking at land here a little over a year ago, they were closed to Burell Lock and repair it and

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everything. They opened it and now it is closed again. Been closed for about another month. It's uh becoming quite a nuisance because everybody that lives on Lake Griffin is pretty much lake locked and we can't get off the lake and uh you know summer's coming in, people want to use their boats and we're restricted. I

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was just wondering if you guys had any updates on what's going on with the Belluck. >> I'm looking to see if anyone from the water authority is here that might be able to give us an update. If not, um could uh we get your information to um

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our IT folks and then we'll we'll connect you with the >> water this St. John Water Management and nobody seems to have any answers there. >> Okay. All right. We can work on that. >> Wrong. Somebody said it's a seal leaking, something's leaking electronic. Nobody really knows what's going on.

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>> Okay. we will we will connect you with someone who can give you an update on on what the situation is and how long it's expected um to take before it's operational. >> Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate it everybody. Have a wonderful day.

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>> Thank you. Any other comments? >> No, ma'am. >> Okay. All right. We'll close the public comment period. Come back to the board. Um we're going to move on to presentation and proclamations. We have um one, two, three, four that need approval.

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Um if we can >> motion to approve. >> Was this cons four? >> This is on proclamations and then we have folks here to receive the proclamations. >> Motion to remove tabs three, four, and five. >> Second. >> All right. All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. I.

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>> All right. That's unanimous. And I'm going to then move forward with the proclamations. Let me just tell you the order so those that are here to receive them will know. Um our first is um to recognize um lifepoint for cold weather sheltering. Then we will have um a

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presentation regarding national travel and tourism week and then a presentation regarding um building services and building safety and then the last one will be community legal services. Um so we will start with lifepoint

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Good morning. Dana McGeian, Office of Emergency Management. Since 2018, the Lake County Office of Emergency Management has supported sheltering for homeless and underhoused individuals through its cold weather response program. Cold weather shelters are activated when temperatures are forecast

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to fall below 40° for four or more hours or when wind chill values are expected to drop below 35° for the same duration. Since the program's inception, there have been 40 activations providing safe refuge for hundreds of county residents.

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Lifeoint Church has been a dedicated partner since the very beginning, consistently providing a warm and welcoming environment for fellow Lake County residents during times of need. Lifeoint has been an exceptional partner to our office, reliably hosting shelter operations for residents impacted by a

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variety of circumstances. members of the congregation continually step forward to generously offer their time, compassion, and care in service to their neighbors. In emergency management, we often refer to the concept of the whole community, which

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recognizes that preparedness, response, and recovery are most effective when all parts of the community are engaged. Lifeoint Church exemplifies this concept in action. We are deeply grateful for the leadership of Lifeoint Church and for the ongoing dedication of its remarkable team of volunteers. For

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today, we are happy to welcome Pastor JP Pearson, Pastor Pedro Lenares, Pastor Dan Reagan, and our lead volunteer coordinator with the church who manages every activation, Alex Puigi, to be recognized for their service. Proclamation 2026-35.

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Whereas LifePoint Church located in Eustaf Eustace, Florida has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to serving the community by partnering partnering with the Lake County Office of Emergency Management's cold weather sheltering program to provide cold weather sheltering for vulnerable residents. And

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whereas since 2018, LifePoint Church has faithfully opened its doors during periods of dangerous cold weather to provide a safe, warm refuge for individuals and families in need. And whereas the church leader church's leadership, staff, and volunteers have

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given generously of their time, resources, and compassion to ensure shelter guests are treated with dignity, care, and respect. And whereas Lifeepoint Church's continued participation in the Lake County cold weather sheltering program has strengthened the county's ability to

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protect residents during hazardous weather conditions and reduce the risk of cold weather related injury and illness. And whereas the partnership between Lifeoint Church, the Lake County Office of Emergency Management, and community stakeholders reflects the power of collaboration and the spirit of

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service that enhances safety, resilience, and well-being of the entire community. And whereas the dedication and generosity demonstrated by Life Point Church has made a lasting and meaningful difference in the lives of Lake County residents during their times of greatest need. Now therefore, be it

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proclaimed by the board of county commissioners of Lake County, Florida, that Lake County does hereby recognize and commend Lifepoint Church and its members for their outstanding service, compassion, and unwavering commitment to protecting vulnerable residents through its participation in the Lake County

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Cold Weather Sheltering Program since 2018. And a proclamation, a copy of this proclamation shall be spread upon the minutes of this meeting and shall become effective upon adoption. So, we appreciate you all being here today and uh it's it's it's kind of hard not to

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get choked up when you talk about this issue because this is not an easy issue. This is not an easy situation and the volunteers in your church and your church community has embraced this opportunity to help those that are vulnerable. And um when it when we first

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started doing this, I think we all had a lot of questions about how this would actually work. and you know would folks even want to leave your church after they had come in for the sheltering. Um but everything has worked well and um in those times when there have been a few blips you know you've had coordination

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with law enforcement and their surrounding community and you guys have just been an incredible community partner. We appreciate it. You're a role model for for other organizations and we welcome other churches to get involved. There is a lot of logistics that go into this um and it's not something easy to

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do and and we just want to recognize you for that. >> Thank you so much. >> I'll I'll keep it brief. Yes, ma'am. Um Mr. chairman, thank you so very much for the proclamation and to the board, we're so grateful to partner with our county in this endeavor. Um, we're never more

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like Christ than when we're serving. And so, a church that's not willing to serve the community. Um, what are we doing? And so, we are so thankful to be able to partner with you. And I just want to say a special thank you to Alex and Marquita. um they are our top lead volunteers and without them and their

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leadership, we would not be able to do the work that we do in helping serve the community in the cold weather shelter. So, as a part of the mission of Christ, to be able to serve alongside of you all is truly an honor and a privilege. So, thank you and God bless you and may God

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continue to bless Lake County. All right, I'm gonna call on uh Ryan Richie for the next proclamation. >> This is proclamation 202631 and um I can read the proclamation. Do

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you want to say a few words? >> Okay. >> Good good morning uh commissioners. Uh, for the record, Ryan Richie, director of the Office of Tourism. Um, I I want to thank my staff. I want to thank this board, the Tourist Development Council,

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for all their support uh for for tourism here in Lake County. Um, our good friends at the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Associates, why it smells like pineapples in here today. Um, he'll he'll tell you a little bit about the symbolism of the pineapple. Um, but thank you again for your support. I'll

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introduce Robert Agusa, president and CEO of the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association. Thank you. And good morning, uh, commissioners and madam chair. Thank you very much. Uh, my name is Robert Agusa and as Ryan mentioned, I have the honor and privilege to serve as the president and

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CEO of the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association. Uh, and so on behalf of our board of directors, um, on behalf of our chair, John McGavin, uh, as well as also working with Ryan and his outstanding team, uh, a dedicated team here at Discover Lake, uh, County, Florida, I want to personally thank you

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for your continued support of the vibrant tourism and hospitality industry that employs now more than 468,000 residents just across the Central Florida re uh, region uh, which is 37% of the entire workforce. Now, uh, but as we know, uh, tourism and hospitality

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industry is the backbone of our economy in Central Florida with a regional economic impact of $94.5 billion and generating $6.7 billion in state and local tax revenue and providing each household with annual tax savings of over $7,600 across the region. Uh with

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it also being uh next week small business week, uh it's also a great reminder that there are so many small businesses that rely on the success of the tourism and hospitality industry and our organization represents over 500 of those small businesses. Uh they can include landscapers, HVAC companies,

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cleaning and sanitation products, laundry facilities, printing, and just so much more. And on the dis you'll see in front of you uh are some fresh pineapples um from one of our small businesses here in our community. Um and we also left you with the the pin uh which is our international symbol of

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hospitality. Uh so we encourage you to bring those pineapples home and join them with your families and certainly wear uh that pen with pr being proud of the uh hospitality industry. Um and then I just want to share just a couple of facts about CFHLA and our partners with our hotel years uh within the region. Uh

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just last year we were able to distribute through our foundation over $160,000 to 62 different students who received a student scholarship to continue their education. Uh in fact over $1.5 million has our foundation given out uh for student scholarships. Uh last year we

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also worked with all of our school districts to provide uh uh items for those students who are in need within our communities. and we uh through our members, we generated over 305 items that we're now able to give back to the students across the entire central Florida region. Uh in addition, our

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members step up in a big way with our adopt a school program. Uh we have more than 17 schools that are members and now support, including several in Lake County, uh like Leburg Elementary, Lake Hill School, and uh East Ridge Middle School. Um and then lastly, I want to

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just share about our Patriot Day remembrance breakfast. Uh last year uh was an opportunity for us to continue to recognize our first responders uh law enforcement EMS who go above and beyond each and every year. Uh and last year I'm proud to share that Lake County uh was one of the members of Lake County

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and and from the sheriff's office uh Deputy Sheriff Ronald Kazooi uh from the Lake County Sheriff's uh department was recognized as our 2025 Patriot Day heroism and law enforce law enforcement award winner. So once again, these are just a few highlights of our industry working together to create a positive

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and lasting impact on our local community beyond the jobs, significant tax revenue, and competitive wages and benefits. So I just want to say thank you again all of you for the time, opportunity, and certainly for recognizing the impact that tourism, hospitality has not only on Lake County, but certainly uh here in our Central

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Florida region. So thank you all very much for your time. proclamation. I'll read it real fast. And um 2026-31 got a good team here with you.

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The travel and tourism industry plays a vi vital role in strengthening Lake Countyy's economy, generating revenue, creating employment opportunities, and enhancing the overall quality of life for residents and visitors alike. And whereas travel is an economic powerhouse for every state and destination across

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the country with an economic output of $2.9 trillion supporting 15 million American jobs. And whereas the counties our county's abundant natural beauty including its scenic lakes, lush parks, and protected wildlife areas continues

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to draw nature enthusiast, outdoor adventurers, and ecoourists, reinforcing Lake County's reputation as Florida's lakeside escape. And whereas Lake County has emerged as a premier destination for sports tourism, welcoming athletes, teams, and spectators for tournaments,

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training, and events that energize the local economy and showcase the region's top tier facilities and hospitality. And whereas the National Travel and Tourism Week offers a meaningful opportunity in 2026 to honor the accomplishments of Lake County's Travel and Tourism Community, highlight the continued

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efforts of Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association, the largest regional hospitality association in the United States and its partners, and reaffirm our dedication to growing the county's presence as a must visit destination. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the board of county

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commissioners of Lake County, Florida, that the week of May 3rd through 9th, 2026, shall be known, designated, and set aside as National Travel and Tourism Week in Lake County. And a copy of this proclamation shall be spread upon the minutes and shall become effective upon adoption, which happened today. So,

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thank you for being here. Thank you for your comments, and we appreciate all that you do for our local economy and and so many people are employed as a result of what you all do. and uh and and we're hopeful that because of what you do, people get a chance to come to our county and enjoy it and hopefully

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tell others and we'll continue to to grow our our presence as a destination in Florida and throughout the country and world. So, thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. All right, Bill Andage, you're up,

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building services director. >> Morning everyone. Bill Andelich uh office of uh building services director and building official. Building safety month is an international campaign observed each May to raise awareness about the importance of building safety.

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The campaign emphasizes the need for the adoption and enforcement of modern, regularly updated building codes and helps individuals, family, and businesses understand what it takes to create a safe and sustainable structures. I'd like to thank my staff

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for their continued dedication to the building code enforcement and their excellence in customer service. And thanks to this commission and executive management for your uh continued support to recognize the

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importance of building safety. >> Thank you. And we know this is a tough job. You guys take a lot of heat. It's not always easy. Um folks are trying to get things done and they want them done in a hurry. And uh you're

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often the one standing between them and that finished product, but you're making sure that it's safe and that's what this is all about. Proclamation 202632. The board of county commissioners of Lake County recognizes that our homes, schools, workplaces, places of worship, entertainment venues,

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and the infrastructure that supports them are safer, more resilient, and more sustainable when they're designed, constructed, inspected, and maintained in accordance with modern building codes. Whereas building safety month is an annual public awareness campaign sponsored by the international code

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council each May that highlights how building safety professionals up-to-date building codes and effective code administration helps pro protect lives and property. And whereas built to last the theme of building safety month 2026

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encourages us all to get involved and raise awareness about building safety. And whereas the ICC develops modern consensus-based model codes and standards that serve as the foundation of safe, resilient, and sustainable built environment addressing building, fire, plumbing, mechanical, energy, and

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existing structure safety among other disciplines. And whereas the adoption, implementation, and enforcement of modern building codes along with a strong system of plan review and inspection are essential to mitigate the impacts of natural and human-caused

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hazards including flood, wildfire, high winds, seismic events, extreme heat and cold, and other disasters thereby reducing injuries, loss of life, property damage and economic disruption. Whereas code officials, building, fire,

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plumbing, mechanical, electrical, and structural together with architects, engineers, designers, contractors, trades, trade professionals, and first responders work tirelessly to keep our community safe through professionalism, education, and collaboration. Whereas

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Lake Countyy's commitment to public safety, sustainability, energy efficiency, and climate resilience is advanced by continuous improvement to local codes and standards, investment in community risk reduction, and public education that empowers residences and

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businesses to make safe choices in construction, renovation, and maintenance. And whereas the safety and economic well-being of Lake County depends on the diligence of those who design, construct, inspect, and maintain our buildings and infrastructure, and on

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the community shared resolve to support policies and practices that strengthen building performance and disaster readiness. And whereas building safety month provides an opportunity for all residents, property owners, and stakeholders to learn more about the importance of building safety and to

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participate in activities that promote safer, more resilient, and more sustainable structures across Lake County. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Board of County Commissioners of Lake County, Florida. May 2026 is hereby recognized and proclaimed as building safety month in Lake County. Lake County

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acknowledges and expresses profound appreciation for the dedication and service of code officials and all building safety professionals who work to protect our health, safety, and welfare. And whereas or section 3, Lake County encourages all residents, businesses,

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and institutions to join in observances and educational activities during this building safety month to support the use of modern building codes and standards and promote safe, sustainable, and resilient construction and maint maintenance practices. And a copy of this proclamation shall be spread upon

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this the minutes of this meeting and shall become effective upon adoption. And that was a very long pro proclamation, right? A lot of words in that proclamation. Um but so meaningful. I mean what you all do is so important and I know that we

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all probably have traveled other places, other countries and we think to ourselves, wow, this would never have been approved in the US. Um, we are fortunate as a society that we have professionals like you that are out there making sure that the places that we work and we reside in are safe. So,

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thank you so much Great. All right. Thanks everybody. In our last proclamation today, um, we have, uh, Matt Frey, Community Legal Services board member, and Adriana Tran, Community Legal Services Director of Government Relations.

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Um if you'll stand here and then I'll read the proclamation and if you want to make a few comments then we'll do that next. All right. This is uh proclamation 2026-41. Um whereas many Americans are one civil legal problem away from falling into or

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further into poverty. Annually three and four low-income American households experience at least one civil legal problem. And yet 92% of these households do not get any or enough legal help for their civil legal problems. And whereas Community Legal Services strives to

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bridge the justice gap so that money is not a barrier to justice. And whereas since its founding in 199 1966, Community Legal Services has served the residents of Brevard, Citrus, Flaggler, Hernando, Lake, Marian, Oyola, Orange, Putnham, Semol, Sumpter, and Valuchia

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counties for six decades through the provision of nocost legal services for those who could not otherwise gain access to counsel. And whereas communities served by community legal services include low-income flidians and their families, seniors, veterans,

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survivors of domestic violence, children with disabilities, disaster survivors, and other atrisisk individuals facing critical hardships such as the potential loss of a home, fraudulent contracts, financial instability, denial of benefits, barriers to securing housing,

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challenges in disaster recovery, and the need to obtain legal protections. And whereas through its dedicated staff and the hundreds of pro bono attorneys who have volunteered their time over the decades, Community Legal Services has served clients with more than 300,000 civil legal cases and committed more

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than 1 million hours of direct legal assistance for Flidians over the past six decades, embodying its commitment to legal access for all and strengthening communities and economic stability across its service area. Whereas as community seagull legal services

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celebrates 60 years of service in 2026, it continues to fight for the future of the community every day, one case and one family at a time by providing early effective legal help that strengthens neighborhoods and household stability. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the board of commissioners of Lake County,

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Florida, Lake County hereby recognizes and commends community legal services on the occasion of its 60th anniversary for six decades of unwavering service to Central Florida for its dedication to providing no cost civil legal assistance to those who cannot otherwise gain

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access to counsel, thereby protecting families, health, and livelihoods. Lake County expresses its profound appreciation to the attorneys, professional staff, volunteers, and proono partners of community legal services for their commitment to advancing legal access for all and

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bridging the justice gap for our most vulnerable neighbors. A proclaim a copy of this proclamation shall be presented to legal services and spread upon the minutes of this meeting and shall become effective upon adoption, which occurred today. and we appreciate you all being here and and the fact that you reached

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out to us to let us bring awareness to this and the fact that you all do this great work. Um, and we know it takes a lot of volunteers, a lot of staff, um, community commitment and the legal community here in Lake and and the other counties. Um, but thank you for all that you do. And if you want to say a few

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words, >> I'll be brief. I cannot follow up the pastor or the other remarks. That's that's too hard. Uh commissioners, thank you uh very much for your recognition in honor of the 60th anniversary. Your continued support uh means a great deal to community legal services and the many

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individuals and families who rely on our work. My name is Matthew Fry. I'm I serve on the board for community legal services, Adriana Tran. Um the organization's mission is simple but crucial. Uh access to justice is a fundamental right. It should not depend on income. Yet, for many Flidians,

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access to legal support is out of reach. And what good is the justice system if you can't meaningfully participate in it? That's why we're here. Our mission is to enhance the lives of those we serve through legal support, assistance, and education. Every client we assist, every clinic and presentation we host,

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and every partnership we forge moves us closer to a community where the justice gap is closed. Since our founding in 1966, we have remained steadfast in that purpose. As we celebrate six decades of service, we are more determined than ever to carry that mission forward by expanding our reach, deepening our impact, and ensuring that everyone,

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regardless of circumstance, can obtain the legal support they deserve. Uh we also want to invite everybody here, not just the commissioners, but everybody else in the room. Uh we're having a 6-day celebration at Hicky Hickory Point Park here in Tavaris on Saturday, May 9th, 11:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. open to the public. Uh we'll have food,

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family-friendly activities, and stories from the community members of our 60 years of impact. And again, thank you very much for your recognition and support. Thank you. Thank you so It's a marathon proclamation day, but um >> all good. >> But all good. Really, really good

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subject matter and it just shows how involved our community is and all of the different things that people do to to make everything work. So, um, many thanks to our our recipients. Um, moving along now to our clerk of courts consent agenda. Mr. Cooney,

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>> I have one item on my consent agenda for your approval today. >> Move to approve. >> Commissioner Sabatini made the motion. Commissioner Parks a second. All in favor say I. >> I. That passes 40. Um, moving then to consent agenda tabs 7 through 23. Do we

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have any items to pull? I would like to pull 11 and 14 please >> and move to approve the rest. >> Okay. All right. So, we've pulled uh anyone else tabs 11 and 14.

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>> I'll make a motion to approve tabs 7 to 23 minus 11 and 14. >> Okay. >> Second. >> All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? All right. Moving back then to let's see tab 11. >> Uh just very quickly, we don't need to

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relitigate this issue. I know that the commission uh feels very comfortable and is excited about moving forward with the uh drug court program, which of course is not entirely bad. I just believe in good faith that there's better uses of the opioid settlement money uh for

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different uses. We've already discussed it, debated it, we don't need to bring it up. I just I'll be a no vote for the record on it. And then secondly, I would just highlight my concerns for the record that after that money runs out that of course it will be a fiscal impact of roughly a half million dollars a year going forward after that initial

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money is spent. So that's my concerns. Again, we don't need to debate it. I understand that the commission is uh has an alternate position, but I'll be voting now. Thank you. >> All right. Um, and I and I do think after our last discussion that one of the things that came up was letting the committee know that we did want to see

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some of the funding going to programs that in addition to operating drug court. So, it wasn't just an issue of operating drug court, but opportunities for um some of the providers to have um access to this funding to to do what they do. Um,

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>> and that was discussed at our last meeting. >> Yeah. Right. And this was additional funding that became available. So, all in favor say I. >> Await. >> Make a motion to approve. >> And I'll second. >> Okay. All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Any opposed? No. >> And that passes 31. Then moving to tab

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14. >> Uh, if we could just get a just a very brief explainer on this. I did look through the documents, but I was u a little confused about the the legal posture when we do these agreements to help with the construction of these multifamily multif family housing. like

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what's our obligation and like why why exactly how does this occur? Why why do we do this kind of thing? Thanks. I usually would have asked before but didn't have time so >> but no it's a good question. >> So this is actually a multif family housing project on county owned land.

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This is the old animal shelter. Um the board had made a previous decision that this would be an appropriate location for rapid rehousing transitional type housing. So we are expending ARPA funds for this. Um, we'll be putting in approximately 21 units, I believe it is. They're typically prefab, mostly

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one-bedroom, some two-bedroom, I believe, units as well. Um, and of course, Commissioner Campion had made comments about pulling some of those aside. Ultimately, once it's constructed, we will look for a company to come in and manage that for us. Um, but it is county owned property and it is using ARPA funds. But

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>> it's not just typical housing. It's literally, it could be housing that could be overnight, it could be a week, it could be a month, it could be a year, but I don't think anyone anticipates it would ever be anything more than, you know, 6 months or a year while somebody is actually on the permanent housing

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list to to get access to permanent housing. Um, there's a lot of red tape that goes along with some of those programs where Mid Florida Homeless Coalition is working with someone trying to get them into housing, get them a voucher. This is it. It's it's and and this is typically not like your you know

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people think about section 8 housing. Um that's a completely different program. This is just for that in in between period where you're trying to help somebody who's literally they're trying to help themselves but they don't have access um to housing while they're waiting um to qualify for um or or or to

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you know for example Fine Feed Restore is a great example. They do work like this. um they could be a company that might want to bid on operations. Salvation Army, another group that has said in the past that they would be interested in potentially um overseeing this. Um but it's really just for

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helping with that that gap period. >> And it's not free housing. It's there's wraparound services that come to walk >> with different situations and they run the gamut to get them on to the next stage. >> Just to be clear about the >> Can I make a comment? I I know I would

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have if I'd have been there, I'd have pulled this to ask several questions. First of all, going through the contract, are they required to do all the infrastructure from the road all the way through for these 21 homes?

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>> Yes. >> Roads, >> right? It's these 21 homes. >> That's correct. It's the turnkey project commissioner. >> Okay. because that's $238,000 for a 77 700 square foot home.

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So, I don't know how much the infrastructure is going to be, but that's pretty dag on expensive for a 700T home. >> Yeah, it's not just the home, though. It is the all those It's the infrastructure, it's the water, the sewer, it's the roads. you know, it it's essentially you're it's a scenario like

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if somebody were developing land, you know, you've got the cost of the home, but you have all of the costs that went into actually making the the space usable for that purpose. Um, and when this started, um, >> going the county is going to own the property, the countyy's going to own the

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um the houses, and we're going to have somebody manage them. So, we're going to pay somebody to manage them. And have we do we have a synopsis a perspectus on uh what it's going to cost for somebody to manage it and are we going to make

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money on it? Are we going to be able to reinvest it if we are? I mean it's there's a lot of questions that have not been answered. It's just given $5 million away for 21 homes and I don't see us perspectus on what we get out of it other than 21

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homes. >> Yeah. And this is one of those where um in working with Mid Florida Homeless Coalition and some of our our um faith-based groups and groups like Find Feed Restore where we literally have this gap where we don't we don't have a

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homeless shelter in Lake County. People have indicated that is not something as a there is not a consensus in the county to have an actual homeless shelter. But what we've taken is a position >> and I don't disagree. I don't disagree with that. I I'm They need to be there.

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I'm I'm looking at 20 years down the road, where are we going to be with this? >> Well, 20 years down, that's what I'm concerned. Sell it. >> I mean, is it going to be a winner? Is it going to be a loser? Is it going to break even? Uh there should be a perspectus done on it anyway. >> Or somebody should have some numbers together if we're going to have to end

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up paying money every year to keep this thing going. >> So, yeah. Yeah. And I and I I don't think anyone ever viewed this as something that was a money maker as opposed to as actually part of filling that gap versus doing something as extensive as a shelter, which there is no there's not support to have a a

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full-blown homeless shelter um because of all of the pitfalls that come along with that. Um but this was more to have an opportunity when we are working with people and we are trying to get them into their own permanent housing where they're paying for their housing. Often what happens with these um commissioner

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is that um whether it's the federal or the state government, they will offer vouchers for people that qualify. And if you can get those vouchers that that does help offset your your cost, but there's no guarantee in these instances where somebody's falling in that gap,

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they haven't qualified for the voucher. Um, and it would be up to that organization that's operating it to be the one that is perhaps doing the fundraising, doing the things that they need to do in order to to to operate um the housing. Um, I personally when this

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first started, I was more in line with the county doing it. Um, and I heard from folks that I think Commissioner Smith might have been one of them that said, "Let's get in another group that does this all the time to be the ones." They do this. They do this as a

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nonprofit organization. So, so really then the cost of it comes back to us from the standpoint of maintenance, you know, maintaining the buildings, making sure that they are safe, fixing any things. But I don't I don't think you're looking at a huge amount of cost on an

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annual basis when it comes to those kind of maintenance issues. Um, and then one day, 20 years from now, who knows? you know, there may be a whole different model for how you handle these situations and these become used for some other purpose um or or sold. I mean, it's but for now, this is our way

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of trying to fill that gap when we need a place to put someone while we're trying to get them into a permanent housing program. >> So, this is time sensitive. They're going to build 21 homes. Uh do we don't know who's going to run it yet? Are we going to put an RFP RFQ out to see who's

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going to run it? What the management fees are going to be? what our anticipated uh revenue is going to be or are we just what are we going to do? >> That's what we're going to do is put an RFP or an RFQ out for any of these organizations um that um that do these

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kind of things. We're anticipating, you know, like I said, Salvation Army is a logical one. They have they they actually do a lot of these units. They just don't have them in a group right now. They Salvation Army works as a wraparound service for people that

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actually have gotten vouchers that help them offset their cost in in housing that they're in right now. Um, so Fine, Feed, Restore is another one that works closely with the federal and the state governments. They get vouchers for for residents that they're serving. Um, and

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then they do fundraising to offset those differences in cost. >> Quick quick question if Commissioner >> Sounds good. Uh my other concern is that the the bid went out at uh 4.9 and we've already added an additional 400,000 to it today.

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>> So I mean I don't understand that but >> I think that was for the part partly going to the city of um Tar's um water and sewer connection. >> So a portion of the 4.9 is is the utility connection to the city of Taris.

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Um, I believe the bid came in, um, and anybody can correct me if I'm wrong, but it's 4.7 the bid or I'm sorry, it was 4.9. We had 4.7 identified in the ARPA funding. So, we had that few hundred,000

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shortfall and that's when um we talked about not purchasing the mobile shower and laundry facilities because there was some time constraints related to those as well as if we could get those up and running with somebody managing them. So,

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we transferred the 400,000 that was allocated for that to cover the shortfall that we had um to meet the quote for for the transitional housing. >> And with ARPA funds, I mean, we're up against a deadline um on the use of these funds. And there were very

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restricted uses that we could use these funds for. And so, this was one of those that you could use it. >> What is that deadline again? >> December 31st. All funds of this year, all funds have to be fully expended. I I think I'm in Commissioner Morris's camp on this one. It's a huge

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expenditure. Um, obviously I'm playing a little catch-up here because some of the folks on this commission have been at this for a long time. This is, you know, you guys are at a final product. You've learned about this for a long time, but this is a huge expenditure. Um, the approach, which um,

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I don't know if I feel comfortable with. I mean I I when it comes to trying to help people who are underprivileged or have serious um you know obviously housing needs I think rehabilitation redevelopment uh in existing structures

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is approach I think is best. I mean that's what I prefer. I I don't know if this is the approach I feel most comfortable with. If anything I would feel comfortable just voting to table this for another month so we can just talk about it a little bit more. It's a huge jump and I don't think the deadline's really that imminent. we really have eight months to make a final

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decision and transfer the money. So, I don't know how this vote's going to play out, but I'm I'm probably a no for now until I have a chance to study it a bit more. >> And it it may have been that a good not knowing that there would actually be opposition. Honestly, I didn't expect

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that you or Commissioner Morris would have any issue with this. Um, I think I probably would have scheduled a um at least an hour-long workshop on homelessness and housing needs in this in this county. Right now, we know that

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there are about 2500 students in Lake County that either live in a car, live in a hotel, live on somebody's sofa, don't know where they're going to sleep from night to night. We have a there's a giant need in

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this county. We have people that are trying to do all the right things, but they literally they can't make the their ends meet. And we have some great groups that work with them, help them find employment, get new skills. So there's a

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massive um group of people in this county um network I should say that work towards trying to help folks that and usually these are not the folks that people are contacting us about that live in encampments. Let's just be honest

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that we're we're talking about two totally separate groups of the population. We have the folks that are in encampments that have a lot of problems, whether it's substance abuse, whether it's staying under the radar, not wanting anyone to find them. You know, there's a whole set of problems

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there. And then you have the folks that are not making ends meet or they just had some bad thing happen and they lost their home and now they need a place to stay. Those are the kind of people that you put in one of these units while you're trying to get them back into housing. though there so much time has

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been spent on trying to figure out the best way to approach these things. We have housing units all over Lake County that people don't even know might be next door to them or down the street from them where we have one of these groups whether it's the Salvation Army

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or it's another group is actually helping somebody go through a transition like this and get into permanent housing. So there there is a lot of rehab type things that are out there where houses have been rehabbed. We do our um we do our impact fee credits um

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for for people that go in and build infill housing and provide um um rent at reasonable levels. We have there's just a whole array of approaches and this is just one of those places where we had a gap and that is that place where you

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need to put somebody for a relatively short term while you work with them to get connected with one of these other programs. So, I think that was the hope that this could provide. And initially, we were just focused on veterans because there is a need for veterans in these situations um to be able to have um

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housing while they get connected with maybe another program that can help them. So, um that that's kind of where we landed on using the old animal shelter property for this purpose. And at one point, there was even um a consideration that we would leave these available for when we have storms and we

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need places for housing. We're fortunate that in Lake County um the Baptist Assembly that is out on Lake Yale um they actually are a great partner and they offer up rooms there that um people that have come into the county to help

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us or people that have been displaced can go stay in. I know that when the city of Eustace had this situation with the bridge go out at Spring Ridge, we actually had um uh Laser was out there that night along with um the the fire department and different public safety

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officials and we were actually working with the Baptist assembly to put them in their units. But all of that was happening really fast. if they had been full and there was no place to go, this is the kind of thing that you could have potentially used um for a few weeks why those people found out whether they were

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going to be able to get back into their homes. So that that's where we you know a lot has happened leading up to this point where this is on our agenda and we're you know asking for support today. So I'm hopeful that we'll continue to have the votes

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>> Yeah. Can can I make just a quick statement? This is this is something that was not decided on in the last two months a two months. We've had multiple uh workshops on this. We've had multiple discussions about this. Um it's been

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three years in the making. Yeah. About three or four years in the making and and um it certainly was not um done half-heartedly. there's a lot of research that was done and I believe this is the the best option for uh the

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funding and to help the citizens that need it. So I'm going to be a strong supporter of this. >> Yeah. I'll also express my support uh for this as well and I think as you had said this has been worked on for a couple years and just like to point out that and this is not a savory topic to

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talk about. It's very unsavory. It's a very difficult discussion that has to be had at the local level and that's what we we've been trying to do for a couple years. Uh I think you know your point these are people that could be living in the woods within any with at any moment

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>> and I think it's it's you know I I go to church my church is very active in donating and and providing food and services and that's great. We all do. A lot of churches do that. But in all reality, that doesn't solve the sort of solve the problem. And

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we're never going to solve the problem with homelessness, by the way. But um it's the wraparound services. And that's why we had we had talked about this for years. It's the housing and the moms with two kids, the veterans is the focus, the And if you do ride alongs

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with the sheriff's department, you'll see people living in parking lots in Lake County. >> Those that's what this is aimed at. Um the cost I I mean I do have questions about our whole bidding system and procurement and we're going to get to that I'm sure this year but um the cost

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to not do this on the other hand um especially with our own residents um I think could be end up being far greater uh as to what happens and the ex the extension of continued homelessness and the cycle with with people. So I I

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um I'll remain supportive as well. Yeah. and I'll make >> motion. I think it's a fabulous >> I I'll f I'll finalize my thoughts. I think it's a fabulous idea and I'm not worried about the 21 homes. I'm worried about what happens after the 21 homes are here. Okay. And I just want to be

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cautious not to put the county in a position be paying a bunch of money. >> And I appreciate that. And I know one of the ideas I had early on was that we would go out and buy units or we'd buy lots and build the units on different lots in different places. And I know one of the questions was, you know, well,

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then we're going to take the money and actually give the units to one of these groups. And I think the idea that we would actually own them was something that came up in that discussion that we should own them, then we control the destiny of those units. We can we can contract with someone to operate the

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program. But if we own them, if one day in the future it's decided that we don't need this anymore, and this this could actually go into the private, you know, market, then we could sell it. the money could then go back in for other purposes in county government. So, I think this

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gives us more options in the future by by being the owner, but then actually working with someone else to to help us with the social service side of it. >> Um, this isn't a black and white for me. It's just I air on the side of a bit more caution on this and don't think

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that the need is there. And the way you describe the immense need, I think this is not it doesn't solve a problem. It just I wouldn't even call it a band-aid. It's like aloe lotion maybe. I don't know what it is. But >> unless you lost your house in a flood

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and you needed a place to stay, you know what I mean? It's like >> Yeah, we have different just different conceptions of the overall role of government, but that's totally fine. We Let's just move forward with a vote. >> All right. We have a motion. We have a second. All in favor say I. I. >> Any oppose? >> Nay. >> Okay. Moving along then to um parks and

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let's see presentations. Um >> can I make can I make a mention? Um I didn't pull tabs 16 and 17, but I do want to make a mention that on tab 16 and 17 is totally focused on uh infrastructure. >> Let me clarify who made

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>> $ 8.5 million going toward infrastructure. So, >> a lot of road resurfacing. >> A lot of road res. >> Yes. So, I just wanted to make that out to the public in case um they didn't quite >> And thank you for doing that's what we do locally. Unlike the federal government, we have to deal with

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reservicing potholes and our very own citizens that are homeless or facing issues. So, thank you. Yeah, they're very >> No, thank you for bringing that up. >> Government is those are two really good agenda items that are moving forward. a lot of um road improvement um projects

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and resurfacing projects. Okay. Um did I have a question from the clerk? It was uh >> clarify motion. >> Smith made >> Commissioner Parks made the motion. I made the second. >> Okay. Okay. Um presentations tab 24. Uh Mike

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Fitzgerald, planning and zoning director. And this is regarding the rural conservation subdivision design standards. Thank you, chairman, commissioners. Good morning. For the record, Mike Fitzgerald, the planning and zoning director. Today's agenda item is a discussion and

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direction regarding a proposed ordinance for amending the rural conservation subdivision design standards. The Lake County comprehensive plan contains policies that allow development in the form of a rural conservation subdivision and that's primarily applied

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to the rural future land use series, the Wakiva River Protection area, Waka study area, and the green swamp area of critical state concern. For some background, in 2022, the board of county commissioners received public comment on the creation

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of rural conservation regulations. And on January 24th, 2023, the board adopted Ordinance 2023-09, which created the land development regulations for those subdivision provisions. Since then, the board has determined

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that adjustments to the regulations are needed. staff has worked closely with the county attorney's office and stakeholders and residents and taken input and recommendations from them and has come up with a draft ordinance that was

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provided to the board in their packet. Just some highlights. Uh there's enhancement to the definition of primary and secondary conservation areas that includes historic and archaeological sites including cemeteries.

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Uh cotification of prime farmland, protection of wildlife habitat, buffers to wetland and water bodies, preservation of viewsheds, mapping and feature analysis, and protection of those open areas by a legal document

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that is recorded in public records. Enhancements to the conceptual sketch plan that gets submitted would be revised timing for the public information meeting, revised timing on the uh on-site meeting with county staff that is conducted

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and enhancing the management plan that is submitted to describe how open space preservation areas, storm water ponds, and roads will be managed. And then the the biggest change in my opinion is all conceptual sketch plans are now reviewed by the board of county

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commissioners. We no longer have a uh an exception based on number of lots or the number of parcels. Also, uh it provides for the board to approve a conceptual sketch plan by a resolution. Those are some of the

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highlights. Uh staff is happy to answer any questions and uh we welcome direction by the board. Okay. All right. This is tab 24 and uh we do have two public comment cards. I think I'll do the public comment cards

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and then we'll bring it back to the board. Um Katherine De Young on the first card and then Sydney Newton on the second card. Do we have anyone online? We do. Okay.

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Never remember how this works. Is is it within the probably blurry? >> Good morning and thank you for your time. I'm here today as the project director of the Island Pond Cemetery Project. This project involves the research and restoration of 140year-old

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historic cemetery in Lake County. Um, I request that this ordinance be amended to include human burial sites, cemeteries, and documented areas of internment as primary conservation areas instead of cons instead of secondary conservation areas. Um, I would also

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like to see some language added that requires the HOA or community to maintain these conservation areas according to best practices outlined by the Florida Division of Historical Resources and the Florida Public Archaeology Network. Uh the name rural conservation conservation subdivision

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implies the purpose is concerned with the preservation of land and natural resources when in fact it is much more complex than that. The purpose and intent identified in section 17.00.01 includes cultural historic and archaeological sites and features that

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contribute to rural community character. So to remain aligned with the per the purpose human burial sites need an extra layer of protection in this ordinance. Where will that protection be added in this ordinance? In section 17.01.02

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protected space um and open space they're defined they're defined here. Um, it goes on to define that primary and secondary conservation areas and it provides examples of each. As you can see, the current draft of the ordinance places historic and archaeological sites

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as a secondary resource, which sounds fine on a surface layer, but I believe that human burial sites was overlooked. I don't think people factor that into uh being a part of a historical or archaeological site. and um in dealing

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with human remains, an extra layer of protection really should be added. The problem is in the wording of the ordinance. The C current draft ties primary conservation areas to natural and physical resources. This creates risk and uncertainty for developers when

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it comes to human burial sites. While it is true that the land where human burial sites currently exist could have been developed if there were no burials there in the first place, that's irrelevant because simply because there are burial sites there. It is the one case where I

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can see an exception can be made for including um including them into primary conservation category. By law, human burial sites cannot be built upon. They can't be excavated, graded, or disturbed without violating state and federal laws. Cemeteries are also not recreation

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areas. While people visit them, they're not areas that are used as open spaces are utilized. Burial sites are also different from other historic sites, which are acceptable to be included in the secondary conservation category. Cemeteries are places of internment, and they require a higher level of

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accountability. by placing them in the primary conservation areas. It provides clarity for developers and limits risk. If you wouldn't mind, I have one more request. Um, furthermore, I would also like to see some language added that requires the HOA or community to

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maintain the conservation areas. Florida statutes intend that land owners are to maintain cemeteries on their property, yet there is nothing binding to enforce it. Statutes say that if land owners do not maintain the sites, descendants are permitted to do so. As the county knows,

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ongoing maintenance of these sites is problematic. In the case of a local development from the 1990s in Lake County, the developer inserted language into their PUD request that removes the burden of care from the community, quote, shall not have any duty to

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provide maintenance to the site. This language should not be permitted in future developments. In many of these communities, the landscaping in common areas is meticulous. Typically, these historic sites are small and the cost of mowing is minimal. Requiring a community to maintain a site is not creating a

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burden. Remember how we regard the legacy of those who came before us. It speaks volumes about our character as a society. It's a simple request to honor our past. >> Okay. Thank you. Um and just want to play devil's advocate for a

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second here. >> Um if they're primary, >> yes. um then they don't count towards open space requirements, right? If they're secondary, then they do. So, isn't it possible that if you gave a

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land owner the credit, so to speak, for being able to use it as an open space that they would be more inclined to want to take care of it and want to make it part of their overall plan? Otherwise, if I had a piece of land and I had one of these on it, I might just carve it

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out and not try to incorporate it into my overall plan. So, I feel like maybe your your goal is you want protection, but you might actually be lessening protection by wanting it designated primary versus secondary. Anyway, just

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something to think about. And we we're not making a vote today, but think about that and then maybe talk about that some more just because it it dawned on me that while it's a great idea to say we want to really protect and preserve these areas and we want someone else to

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take care of them and not county government to take care of them, but we might actually be penalizing the developer that wants to incorporate that into an overall plan. >> Not if you put language in there that requires maintenance of it. regard

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>> but again you're if you're requiring maintenance then you might actually be dissuading someone for wanting to actually incorporate something like this into an overall plan. So ju just take that under consideration because it might be that you're what you're asking for is actually having the opposite

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consequence of what you're trying to achieve. Um, >> somehow I think you need to document or make aware. I don't feel there's enough protection when you just group it under a historical or an archaeological site. A human burial site elevates it to some

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higher level of protection. >> And and maybe it's the wording that we use and we need to look at that. But I just, you know, from the standpoint of primary versus secondary, I'm not sure that we're getting to the place that you want to go. In addition, a c people getting off on their open space by

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saying, "Oh, here's a cemetery." Now, you get credit for that. People don't use cemeteries as open space. You can't use them as recreation. >> Yeah. But you want them to be valued. And I think by by actually allowing them to um incorporate them and get some value

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for open space from them for their overall development plan that you're actually you're you're >> I don't think a place where >> but I don't want to go I don't want to go back and forth. So we're going to stop it right here and then we're going to move on to um to to Cindy. dead body

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shouldn't be a bargaining chick chip to allow a developer to have more room, you know, for >> Well, I that's a kind of cheap shot because what we're trying to do is actually protect them and protect those sites and we're trying to come up with something practical that does that,

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>> but it it Well, it it just, you know, the goal is to try to help, not hurt the situation. All right, >> everybody relax. Okay, Cindy Newton. Hello again. Cindy Newton, District 4. Uh, this

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ordinance allows for land application of bioolids in the Florida's ecologically sensitive areas, specifically in the Wakiva study area. While I acknowledge the regulatory framework provided by chapter 62-600,

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62-610 and 62-40 of the FAC as well as recent passage of HB 1245. Current protections remain insufficient to safeguard our groundwater and springs. I wish to emphasize that the

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land application of class A or B bio bioolids is strictly prohibited in the WAVA study area. Furthermore, while the application of double A bioolids is currently permissible when distributed

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and marketed in accordance to chapter 62-640. This practice requires immediate and rigorous oversight. My opposition is rooted in several critical factors. The persistence of the forever chemicals

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PFAS, even bioolids of class doubleA, despite meeting the excuse me, the high poly uh pathogen reduction standards, they still have the forever chemicals. These

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substances do not degrade. They pose a communive threat to the Wakiva study area's delicate ecosystem. There are Wakiva specific protections that could come into effect here. The wastewater treatment facilities operating with a titarian protection

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zone must adhere to the strictest treatments of requirement under FAC regulations and the springs criteria established in sections 373.801 to 373.811 811 of the Florida statutes.

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The unique car geology of the Wikiva study area makes it highly vulnerable to nutrition loading and to chemical leeching. There are also some regulatory gaps.

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Although HB 1245 this year did introduce better managements of bioolids, the marketing and distribution of the class doubleA materials often bypass the sight specific scrutiny that is applied to the class B materials potentially leading to

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overlication of nutrients and contaminants in the high-risisk zones. I urge you not to allow the class doubleA bioolid land spreading either in this ordinance. at the very least exclude the

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Wakiva study area, the Wakiva protection area, and the green swamp of critical concern to ensure that permissible does not become detrimental. We must prioritize the health of our springs and the long-term safety of our

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drinking water over the convenience of waste disposal. Thank you. Okay. Do we have someone online? >> John B. Please unmute your line and state your name for the record. >> Hi, John Blahit 9350 number two road. I

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I just wanted to address I tried to address this um with the attorney about the clustering and I understand the clustering within the the rural conservation subdivisions. My only question is is that how how far the

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clustering goes as far as the viewsheds and and the purpose of the whole rural conservation subdivision. So throughout the whole rural conservation subdivision it says you know preserves it scenic viewsheds

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um enhances rural character and the pro for the project in the surrounding area. So the the question becomes is is there is there avenues to be able to make it so it doesn't look like an urban subdivision plopped into the middle of a a rural area? And some of the thought

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processes is can we, you know, look at staggering houses. Can we look at and it's not so much uncclustering them, but can we make them so that they're they're not so rural or uh urbanesque looking within the subdivision. Can we skip a

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lot every three lots? Can we stagger how they're laid out? Can we do different things at looking at coming up with a better look than just this big clustered urban style look that's that's within the the middle of a a rural area that is

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nothing but one house every five and 10 acres and so forth. So, I just wanted to put that out there because I'm we have instances where this is coming up where you're going to see stacked houses, you know, on on major

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roadways. So, the idea is just to to provide some other options and avenues to be able to mitigate that look within the rural area if we are truly trying to preserve the the viewsheds. Thank you.

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>> Thank you. It's actually real very good point. Um, anyone else online? Okay. All right. Back back to the board for um questions of staff or discussion.

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Oh, I'm sorry. Bill, you're right here. Sorry. Come on up. Bill Ray. >> Name for the record is uh Bill Ray Ray and Associates. >> Um, this ordinance is coming forward for, you know, workshop and talk. It's been a long time uh coming and coming

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into development. We just went through the first rural conservation subdivision obtaining approval on that to move forward. Uh I want to commend staff and county manager and the county attorney for working closely with the stakeholders of developing appropriate language. I think we've clarified some

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points and made it a reasonable predictable uh you know outcome for both the developer and for the county. uh look this stakeholder this you know growing up in Lake County farming rural agriculture rural areas of the green

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swamp I can support this ordinance going forward with that I think it's good are there some small things that need to be tweaking obvious um but I think it's flexible enough to where we can do that through the process and the approval of the conceptual sketch plan once you get

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into the individual projects thank you >> thank Um I have a question for Mike. Um on the um let's see 17.01.02 see

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I think it's C4 the slopes where it talks about slopes. >> Yeah. Slopes of 15% 25%. Yeah. See where it says slopes of 15% to 25% which require special site protection is when you when you state it like that 15% to

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25% is that become like an average or a as opposed to just saying if it's a slope that's any 15% or more right because I've seen this used in other codes where it's used to water

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down >> Yeah. What's the benchmark? >> The way it's written, it's uh between 15 and 25%. And it looks like it has to do with the septic tank fields. >> It should probably be like I mean if you

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want to this is this is the time to make the >> I would just say 15%. anything 15. Yeah, like any number because it's different than like a buffer where they do an average and it vary this if if the slope is if it reaches a certain point that's where you need to do the stabilization

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>> regardless even if it's just a 10-ft section right that's the way I >> would I know I saw this come up before on um something happening east of Eustace where we have a lot of hills and it was being used to actually sort of

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water down the protection because they were using the 15 to 25 or 15 to 30 or whatever and >> Mhm. >> they would look at the overall and go, "Oh, well, we're >> yes, >> we don't have to have the protection

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unless it's like really 20% because it should just be anything that's 15% or more would have the protection." And the other thing I thought about on the cemeteries is the possibility that you you go 50 50% 50% of the seminary

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cemetery could be considered primary versus 50% secondary so you at least get credit. But I hadn't really thought about the argument until today when Katherine was presenting her concerns that you're actually assuring greater protection when it's secondary. Um

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because you're actually making someone the the project whoever's developing it would be looking at it as that's very valuable to them because it gives them that use as open space. And while it's not technically a place that I mean I

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don't it is open you know I mean it's got it's open in the sense that um you know it's it's not being developed but but as far as it being protected it seems like it actually gets more protection um if you get them credit for

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the open space. So, so one idea I had was you maybe you do 50% secondary. It's credit for 50% secondary. Um, so they at least get some value out of it. Especially if you're if you if we mandate in here that any one of these that actually incorporates that in an

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overall plan that it's their obligation should not fall on the on the county or the public. So, you want to give them some offset for that. I don't know what y'all's thoughts are on that or if you see the same concern.

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>> Yeah. So, yeah, my my comments is just in general, and I'll touch on that, I think, in a in a second, that um you know, first of all, in a broad sense, this is site planning uh done at a much different level than what you see in the

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county with current codes uh in many of the cities, all the cities really. City is a different aspect. um because this requires uh you know going out to the field. Um it's not done on on paper. It's not an

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engineering exercise to ma maximize the use of the property. Um which many um many home builders that's what they try to do. I'll just leave it at that. So I think it's it's good. I'm I really like I think there's a lot of discussion and

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this is a good a good move forward to keep promoting the conservation subdivision criteria. Um you know I'm at a little bit of a loss today. I was a little busy last week. Um dealing with a topic is actually quite relative

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relevant to this. Um so there's you know just some I'm going to go through it again. I do have you know open space is going to be key and protecting the right open space moving forward. So, I'm going to dig into this a little bit more. I know we're just advertising. We may be just voting to advertise it today, but about

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some of these conservation areas um making sure that you're maximizing open space uh and the right kind of open space as well. Um the prime farmland definition, there's that federal definition that's recognized um for

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prime I think it's prime agricultural soils by USDA NRCS, right? and then prime farmland. I think uh just one thing I'll look into just to say is that's very good and that should be a base a basis for if

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especially for protecting a soils in Lake County. I there's some mapping that's been done and it's shocking at how much really good agricultural soils we've lost in Lake County. Nothing we can do about that now. But there are there are soils on that map that I think are still good for certain crops,

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forestry that maybe aren't defined as prime federal or prime agent. So I'd want to look at that a little bit. So yeah, it might be going above and beyond that a little bit what the federal definition is, but um certainly would wouldn't want to look at that. Um and may you know, maybe there's some

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soils that we map uh on our own that demonstrate that could demonstrate that. Um, I'll look of course into the how this uh connects to the Florida Wildlife Corridor that's been mapped now for years. Uh, keeps getting updated with data as it comes in. Um, not just the

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Lake County is unique. There's two primary wildlife corridors. The one that's in the north Wakiva and then the south Green Swamp. There's this kind of gap in between. Um, but there's there's some secondary and even tertiary uh corridors that could be connected to

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that and how we become corridor compatible in our all of our communities. So, I'm going to look for a little bit of that um to see if maybe it's already addressed in here, but if we should further address that when it comes to the water, I agree with the bioolids with Cindy's comment. I would

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be very careful about that. Um, I think any on-site uh treatment should be at least 85. I'm just going to give a threshold here. Should be 85 should be treated to 85% of a municipal sewer system at least. >> Does that exceed what? Double A or

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>> that would exceed that for so the septic system if it's there. >> Oh, you're talking about the individual system. Yes. Okay. >> Yeah. No, no. Yeah. This would be different. This would be like a a a septic or sewer system. >> Uh viewshed. I think that can be addressed as well. That's a very a very good comment because I I think there's a

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lot of value in the uh the clustering especially when you're and you you know you you want that to happen especially when you're trying to protect these right areas uh on a site that have a lot of ecological value to it as well. So >> maybe we look at Rando Aren's book to

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see how he handles that whether he's got any commentary on that and how you address like whether there's a way to assure the clustering doesn't actually impact the viewhed is it the height of it is it the scaling is it the for

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example mentioned John said you know separating >> spacing >> and you know this state has limited our ability for architectural some some architectural standards, but we'll have to check and be careful with that. But I think that there's something that

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we can do. The people that are going to be doing this, and this is what we need to embrace in in all of Lake County, even there's there's urban versions of this that can be done and it just requires more site planning and concern for the for environmental resources. And

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I know, you know, Bill was and I appreciate your work on all this, Bill, and Cindy, too. I think you've both been great on this, but I think there's I think that's a mindset that needs to be changed and you know we we'll get there with with some of this. So >> I've got just a couple of things real

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quick. One is a couple of ordinances that we have done. It segus right into this our tree ordinance for one, a heritage tree. It works very well with this. But also uh regarding cemeteries, there is strict state laws on cemeteries, what you can and can't deal

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with them, and a perpetual uh oversight of those cemeteries and what is needed, what's need not needed. So, uh I think this is um good enough to move forward uh for advertising and we can tweak it as Mr. Ray said, we can tweak it as we

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go along. >> Uh Commissioner, >> question Parks. >> Yeah. Can I ask Commissioner Parks a question? >> Sure. >> You mentioned a septic system that uh treats up to 85%. >> Yes, that what you were talking about.

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>> Right. That's right. >> On onsite up to up up to 85%. >> Yeah. I mean, you know, you get you get DWTS. I mean, you could get some advanced ATUs as well that are not considered DWTS, but I we'll stick with

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the threshold. >> Make sure I just want to make sure there's other options. Yeah, we'll stick with the I think if you know you meet that threshold, >> this a percentage that everybody will be able to work within. Correct. >> That's right. Yeah, there'll be there'll be more than just one option. There'll be, you know, two options. Some will

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work in some areas better than the others, but >> it and it leaves a door open for advanced technology in the future. >> Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Just for clarity, uh today's agenda item is a discussion and

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direction to staff. I'm not certain that it was for advertising, and it sounds to me like we still need to take some recommendations from the board members to incorporate into a draft ordinance that we would advertise. Uh and we're certainly welcome to take

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those uh recommendations, incorporate it into a new draft to bring forward for the request to advertise. So, so the board could approve it for advertising today. Um, the the two things that I have that were actual concrete changes

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were the change in the slopes from to read 15% or greater and then cemeteries to qualify for 50% open space credit. Um, I know Commissioner Parks is going to be looking at some things, but if you wanted to, you could approve it for advertising today. It still has to go to

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the planning and zoning board and then it would come back to you for public hearing. So planning and zoning board as well will have a public hearing on it. >> Move to approve for advertising. >> Second. >> Okay. And just just under discussion and I think the reason I would support it moving ahead is that I do think the way

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that it is now it needs serious work. I not this but what's in the code now. And so we've got to get that done. And for that reason I think moving >> the reason why I seconded it so because of we've already got an ordinance on the books. We need to have it changed and

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this so we can get it moving. Exactly right. And um and that's again that's that's why I would support it and I think we've got some time as you get it ready for the next um >> we will take recommendations from the board members incorporate it into

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>> we might want to get a little comment though right now. I don't know whether you guys are wanting to leave the bonus language in there um or or is there a desire to take it out? Um I >> Yeah, I think we need to take the bonus language out. I'm with Commissioner

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Smith on that. >> Um I Okay. So, you want me to give some of these comments between now and the next couple weeks like farmland, open space, do the 85% municipal. Do you want me to do you

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want to have a for advertising? >> We've got that on the record today. I mean, I think as long I think everybody's in agreement that if you're going to pick 85% that it's a number that actually allows them options, whether it's on-site DWTS, whether it's advanced treatment systems, it's but

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it's not you're not picking the number that only >> yes, only one >> allows one of them. >> That would be an amendment to section 17041 for water and wastewater. We don't have any amendments in this version of of the ordinance. So we we still have some work to do to

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make some tweaks on what's being discussed today. >> So I will get with you on some of these and I guess you'll just have to break it out if I have some different any of us could do that. But you're going to advertise it. There'll be a little bit of time. >> Um. >> Right. So >> but I mean I'm just trying to help you

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with if it's significantly different. >> Right. So a couple of things. Once we advertise it, we don't make changes to the draft. We do arrata sheets. That way when members of the public download it, they know that that's the version that's been advertised and they will see additional changes. So you can send us additional changes and we can wrap those

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into an ARTA sheet when it comes back for public hearing or we can make these changes now, bring it back to you and then you can do approval to advertise at a different meeting. >> Okay. Yeah. In regarding the density bonus, I would not at this point I would leave that in. There may be ways to take

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it out. I mean I I'm sorry. I just feel uh I mean it does depend upon where you maybe you tie this to a a density bonus to a a transfer of development rights where there's no um additional density across the county or within an area that

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you're you're providing uh and that if you tie it to something like that I this could be a very useful tool and they you know it's I don't want to throw that out at this point um it could be a very useful tool the alternative again is going back to our our crappy code is you

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know everybody thinks one three and five and that's nobody's fault in here but it's just the way it is. uh the one and three five and 5 acre lots that get platted out or maybe it's halfacre lots um is I mean it may seem

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like that's a rural thing to do but people will do what they want with their property and they will and they could clear out areas that have great ecological value uh that might have been uh maintained and managed with a really good management plan and I just don't

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want to lose that opportunity. So that's why that that's in there. I'm not ready to throw the baby out with the bath water on that, so to speak, yet. So I I I think if there's a way to tie it, I understand what people were concerned about. Oh, we're going to add density, but maybe if it's maybe if there's a way to do this with without increasing net

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density overall and and the county, tie it to the comp plan somehow. Um, I would I would leave it in there. I'd be interested in that. >> So, Madam Chairman, if I can just add to that, the density bonus language is actually in the comp plan. So you can remove it from this ordinance, but then we would have to go back and do a text

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amendment and remove it from the comp plan as well because it is allowed in the comp plan. >> It's been in the comp plan since >> correct since we since we adopted um the original rural conservation subdivision ordinance. We also adopted comp plan

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provisions. So it's policy I-1.4.6.1. >> And I mean the irony of that is, you know, look at the ups and downs with that LPA at the time putting that comp plan in place. >> Yeah. But wasn't that more recent? This actually more recent. >> This density bonus is specific for rural

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conservation subdivisions and it was adopted in January of 23. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. But the in the comp plan though it was in the comp. >> No, no, no. It was just adopted in the comp plan in 23 at the same time we adopted the LDR. >> Okay. All right. All right. >> And it's become more of a burden than I

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ever thought I anticipated it would be in my I don't like density bonuses. I think it creates confusion and it creates a perception that I don't think is necessarily fair but that's a it becomes a problem and um you know from a

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practical standpoint right now if you have rural land one unit to five acres a individual that owns you know 100 200 acres they can plat small lots and cluster now to a certain degree Right.

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How small of a lot can they have in that scenario? Is it one acre? >> It depends on their if they're going to come in with a plat. We're going to look at the overall acreage, the overall density, and then we look at road frontage. >> And you look at

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>> we don't we do not have lot size currently in Lake County's code. >> And then you look at you're looking at the wetlands, you're looking at water bodies. Those things are getting pulled out anyway, right? Correct. for that overall density calculation. >> So to a certain degree, someone who

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wants to have a clustered neighborhood right now in a rural area can in fact do it. >> What we don't have is these things that are in this proposed ordinance that talk about well how do we handle slopes and

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how do we handle you know the you know common open space versus you know just the open space that's created because someone has a large lot. We don't. So, I'm just trying to >> This is This is still optional for somebody to do though,

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>> right? We're we're creating an option. And so, then you have to decide, okay, by creating this option, what what when we're looking at the public interest, you know, what what are we achieving as a result of having an option versus letting people I mean, we

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already have the ability to cluster. So then that question comes in, do you give them a density bonus by doing something that's considered to be more desirable and more adds more protection to the environment? Don't get me wrong, there there are people that will do volunte

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developers that will voluntarily do this without a density bonus, but I'm thinking about the insatiable appetite of big home builders that and small, some small too that will go the straight zoning route and because there's no incentive uh there wouldn't be an

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incentive >> and therein lies I think the whole the whole rationale behind a density bonus >> is that they may go the just normal straight zoning route and cluster versus doing something like this. And Commissioner Parks is saying the reason why you have the density bonus is so you

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might actually have them do a better product that has more protection for the environment. So I mean it's >> the only problem I have with the density bonus is if because we drew in rural we're doing all this in either agricultural or rural transition. So if you have a rural transition of a one to

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one with 50% open space and you say oh we're giving you 65% open space but I want to have 22 more homes. Well, you're over the one to one and that you know what? We're we're in Lake County. If they want to live in Lake County, let them let them live in Lake County. Uh we don't need to be like

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in a municipality to where I just do not like the the density bonuses. That's just me personally. And >> yeah, and I just >> I also like the 65 foot lot lines. >> Maybe May maybe one thought is that you take it out for rural transition, but you leave it in for rural. >> Yeah.

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>> I mean, that's a thought. Yeah, >> that's a thought. >> Yeah, you know what I mean? >> I mean, I I look, again, it's more of a site planning thing. I don't think it'll be used everywhere, but you know, >> I haven't seen a I haven't seen one of these come before us yet that didn't

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that didn't utilize the density bonus. Every one of them. >> How many have we had? We have a lot of density bonus takers. >> Well, we've had >> only two. >> One and a half, >> right? >> One and a half. all tried to use density bonuses and some of them have come down

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because of other regulations. >> But again there that's because they they elected that this over just using straight zoning. So you're kind of you're making the argument really that they saw it as beneficial enough. I mean

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to get the density bonus they were willing to do something they otherwise wouldn't have done and that is go the extra mile on these protections. So, it's I I really think to a large degree this comes down to public perception and most of us do not want to be associated

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with something that appears to be giving people more density right now when everybody is so, you know, sensitive and upset about growth. >> Yeah. No, I get it. >> That's really a big part of what's happening. I >> I understand. I I wish we would have

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more. Not that we don't. We're having a good discussion here, but I think there was I wish there would be more rational discussion on that out in the the public. It's just like what we talked about with housing. That's not a fun thing either to talk about, but you know, >> right? Well, I think the more you get

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information out, the greater the chance there is that people understand why it is that you're doing what you're doing. You're not necessarily just trying to add more houses. What you're trying to do is actually get the protection that came along with having an ordinance like this. So, um, we have a motion, a second to move it forward and then we can work

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on the fine-tuning of it and use the, you know, the the markup so that people can see the changes that we made in between. >> So, just to clarify with that motion, it includes the change to the slope language, the change to cemetery open space and then the on-site treatment of 85%. Correct? >> Okay. >> And I just want to make sure that any

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other changes can be can be made because Commissioner Parks hasn't had the opportunity to go through it. >> Correct. So, I'll make these three and then he has additional he can send them to me and we'll >> and then we'll just and then we'll get him well well in advance to look over

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them. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. >> All right. All in favor say I. >> I. All right. That passes and moves on then to the advertising phase. >> Okay. Thank you, Mike. Appreciate it. Thank you everyone who participated. Thank you for everyone that has been giving comments all along. And um and

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we're moving along now to tab 25 um which is the um fire and rescue ambulance services update. Can we just take five minutes so that it's it's almost 11 and we'll start back up at 11. >> What are we doing?

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>> Time flies. >> Over there behind the elevator. Our restrooms are not working right now. Go to the That's cool. >> Where did you start? Where did you finish? >> We started in >> Yeah. We're we're back on the air and um we're

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moving along with tab 25 everybody. >> So Tommy is going to give us uh an update and a presentation. >> Good morning. Thomas Carpenter, assistant county manager, and I am I'm here to provide a six-month update uh fire rescue's operational plan to add

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ambulances to the Claremont area and countywide. So, the outline I want to review uh the last time I was before you, October 14th, 2025, and I did a board presentation of the county's EMS system.

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In addition, I'm going to review the letter that Commissioner Campion uh wrote to Claremont's mayor and their city council on November 14th, 2025. I'll then share with you the improvements and enhancements to the MS system that we made since uh October

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14th and then share with you the strategic plan moving forward for ambulance deployment. So on October 14th at that time the county managed 20 countywide ambulances with two of those assigned to the Claremont area. Ambulance response times for the city of Claremont for fiscal

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year 2025 and that's from October 1, 2024 through September 30th, 2025. The average response time was 10 minutes 33 seconds and the 90th percentile response time, which is really what we go by, was 16 minutes 21 seconds. Fire Rescue's

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2026 plan was to minimally add two ambulances to the Claremont area and that one of those being December by December 1st, 2025 and one the second one by April 1st this year. And so, Commissioner Campion's letter,

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she addressed five specific areas that she that she uh shared with the city, with the mayor and the council. She described the county's EMS system that's been in place for over 25 years. Bless you. She discussed Claremont's

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request to provide ambulance service. She addressed Claremont's response data titled dispatch to arrival over 20 minutes. And during that October 14th presentation, Mr. Vanwagner, the city's um manager, when he addressed the board,

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he had a document in his hand and he was speaking of the times that it took the county's ambulances longer than 20 minutes to arrive on scene. Uh Commissioner Campion then encouraged the city to work with the county to improve service and then she last addressed the county's ALS EMS system support.

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So to begin with uh in describing the county's EMS system that's been in place since 2000, the county is the holder of the certificate of public uh convenience and necessity copcn and we hold the only advanced life support license. We have one set of medical directors, everyone

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that works on an ambulance and everybody that works on a firetruck or any fire apparatus be county or city works under that single license with a single medical director. And what she first started out with, which was a good point about being also first response with provision of care by a paramedic. It's

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often, I think, lost in the message that people believe that care doesn't start until an ambulance gets there. And in our system, our paramedics on on ambulances and fire trucks are trained equally. They meet the same standards. They use the same medical protocols, and they work under the same medical

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director's license. There's an emergency call in Lake County and a firetruck and an ambulance are dispatched to that call at the same time. In most cases, the firetruck gets there first. And when that firetruck gets there first, that firefighter paramedic initiates care and they start the same level of care and

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then when the ambulance arrives, they turn over care to the ambulance paramedic and then they take them to the hospital. And so that's how our system works. And I think the message was that our metric for measuring when care starts is when that first paramedic arrives. And if it's on an advanced life

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support fire truck, that's when it occurs. At that time, the county operated 20 to 23 ambulances countywide. Our minimum was 20, but we were up staffing several for uh training for the increased number of paramedics that we had. Claremont

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benefits from a coordinated system and have access to all county resources. At the time, two ambulances were assigned to the Claremont area. Um, as I go through this presentation, we don't have any ambulances permanently assigned within the city. One's in Minnola and at that time, one was at fire station 109,

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a county fire station on the south side. >> But you just said assigned. You didn't mean assigned. You meant actually like residing like housed in the city, right? I mean, they were assigned, but they they they couldn't stay in the city because there wasn't a city location that the fire department was

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>> at that time. They we weren't assigning anyone or posting anyone within the city. >> Yes, ma'am. And then two additional ambulances would be assigned to the Claremont area and would go in service by April of this year. In addition, five to six ambulances would be added to our system

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countywide by December 2026. So, Claremont's request to provide ambulance service, uh, she pointed out that if Claremont withdraws from the existing integrated model of service, they will lose access to the shared pool of countywide resources. Claremont would be required to invest in personnel,

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vehicles, equipment, dispatch, infrastructure, medical direction, patient report billing, and training. Estimated that if Claremont were to staff six ambulances, the cost estimate is conservatively 7.3 million annually.

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In fiscal year 2024, county collected 4.27 million between ambulance MSTU and build patient revenue. And I need to make a clarification here in the letter that Commissioner Campion wrote and she asked us for the information we provided it. We put 4.4 million is what we gave

415
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her. The estimate for the taxes collected, the ambulance MST was correct. And for fiscal year 24, that amount was 2,386,932. But there's a difference between what we bill and what we actually collect. And for 2024, that number was less. In that

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fiscal year, we only collect we collected 1 point, excuse me, $1,885,121. We actually build over 2 million. But I think it's important that in a fiscal year we understand exactly how much we collect because that's how we function.

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In fiscal year 2025, the county collected just a little bit less at 4.26 million between ambulance MSTU and build patient revenue. Again, I need to make that clarification. In Commissioner Campion's letter, we estimated closer to 5 million. the taxes did increase um

418
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almost 250,000 to uh collected from Claremont 2,635,374. However, what was surprising to see is what we actually collect in uh from build revenue cash receipts from patient transports was $1,633,913.

419
02:47:09.760 --> 02:47:26.880
So for us, it's important to know how much cash we actually collect in one year's time. Now, that doesn't mean that what we've build, what it'll mean is it'll come in in future fiscal years. We'll collect bills that we've build in fiscal year 24 and 25. We'll collect

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some in this year. We may collect some in next year. And for when it comes to medical billing, it's not like a cable bill where I just pay my cable and third I pay $100 and then it's paid for. this is medical billing. And so that was one of the things when we worked with our

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vendor to understand that just because we build it doesn't mean that we have it. We have to act we actually look at what we collected in that fiscal year. So I just wanted to make those corrections on the record. And then she last pointed out that Claremont's goal is to have ambulance response times of

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10 minutes 90% of the time. The next part was was regard regarding the document from um Mr. Van Wagner that that he had about um the the dispatch to arrival over 20

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minutes. And so after the board presentation in October, several days later, uh Chief Isel got a public records request to hey, what do you have? You know, let us have it. And then he also shared it with us. And so once we received it, the county did a deep dive in terms of what's in this

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document. And so we looked at the time period that they pulled the information, which was January 1st to October 11th, 2025. And so during that period of time, there were 5,394 unique ambulance calls. The document Mr. Vanwagner had represented 249 calls

425
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where there was a greater than 20-minute response. That's about 4.6% 6% of the total 5,394 calls. So, of those calls, the 249 calls in question, 59% or 148 were determined to be a low acuity alpha

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call or public assist call where an ambulance had a non-emergency response or an emergency response where the ambulance responded in less than 14 minutes. So, a low acuity call based someone dials 911. They talk to our nationally accredited dispatchers and

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determine is this an emergency and non-emergency. What's going on? How do we send help to you? In an alpha call, the firetruck and the ambulance go non-emergency. In a public assist call, that could be someone that's I fallen. I can't get up. I need to get help back in bed. They're not really hurt. They just

428
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need help. On those calls, just firet trucks go non-emergency. So what we found when we looked at it in the public assist calls I believe there were 25 22 we were requested by the fire department. Hey can you come here non-emergency patient

429
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needs to go to the hospital. We found three calls in which we were requested an emergency. And of those three calls we had response times less than 14 minutes and they were specifically 13 minutes 33 seconds, 10 minutes 47 seconds and 6 minutes 58 seconds.

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So, of the remaining 101 calls that warranted an emergency response and took over 20 minutes or longer for an ambulance to arrive, that represents less than 1.9% of emergency calls where an ambulance responded in Claremont between January 1st and October 11th, 2025.

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The next part commissioner Campion addressed was to work with the county to improve service and she pointed out that currently no ambulance is stationed within the city of Claremont. There are two agreements in place that authorize the placement of ambulances at two city of Claremont fire stations.

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She also shared that six municipalities in the county house ambulances at no cost. And then she shared the challenges of fire service transitioning to provide ambulance service. And we've experienced that in the county that while uh sometimes fire is anxious to provide

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ambulance that once that starts occurring, ambulance work is hard work. And when firefighters are moved from fire engines to ambulances, sometimes that's not the most popular decision. And then the last part of this was increased number of paramedics. And so I

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adlib this part and in in her letter her words were more recent recruiting of paramedics has vastly improved thanks to competitive shifts and single certified flexibility. But I chose to add this language because I wanted to be more specific in terms of how we've done

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that. We've increased pay by providing um a 24 or 72 hour shift schedule for single certified personnel. Our last collective bargaining agreement allowed for for better pay that made them more competitive. And then fire rescue

436
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implemented a one-of-a-kind in-house paramedic program that completes paramedic training in six months. Typically, that is a 12 to 13month process. And what fire rescue looked at is how can we get paramedics? we're not able to recruit all the paramedics we need. How can we develop our own

437
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paramedics in a quicker time? And so that in-house paramedic program, it essentially, they go to school 5 days a week. The MTs are assigned there. That's their full-time job. And they can do it in half the time. And the test scores show that they're passing their test um

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at a higher frequency than they do in a traditional setting. And then the last part was the county's ALS EMS system support. And here, Commissioner Campion shared that if city pursues a standalone service, county provided services would

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no longer be available if they they went after their own COPCN to do service. This includes annual funding that is provided to the city for ALS first response services through an agreement between the city and the county. ALS first response funding provides to Claremont and to all cities that are

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that have this agreement with the county 0.1 mil of assessed value annually. And for for this year, Claremont will receive $617,868 to provide ALS first response services. This really is important because it means they're part of the system. And

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this is how the system was designed is to have ALS first response to respond. they typically arrive first and that they begin care. It is not lost on fire rescue myself and the many times I've stood before you that we knew that we've

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had deficits and staffing ambulances from COVID to the Medicaid minimum wage to everything we've had to go through that set us back. We have had issues with um being able to staff ambulances to the to the level that we've wanted to

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and we've now gotten to a point through our working with the union on the latest collective bargaining agreement and with the in-house paramedic program that we can now staff. And so the last part of this letter shared that if you're not part of the system then

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you're not getting any more of the of the funding. So the next part is really I get to share with you what we've done since October 14th. And so since that time, four ambulances have been added to the Claremont area through a phased implementation approach. December 2025,

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one 24-hour ambulance added along with three peak load. When you hear me use the term peak load, that's typically daytime hours, 12 to 13 hours when the most people are out. So added one 24-hour ambulance along with three peak load 13-hour ambulances staffed with personnel on overtime.

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Minimum ambulance staffing countywide is 21 ambulances for 24 hours and up to 24 ambulances for 13 hours a day. And through our partnership with the sheriff's office and healthc care partnerships, the three 13-hour ambulances were assigned uh within the city limits of Claremont at the

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sheriff's south district office. Advent Health Standalone Emergency Department and the UF Health Standalone Emergency Department. Advent Health is across the street from South Lake Hospital and then UF Health is on US 27 south of the 2750

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intersection. In January, one of those three 13-our peak load ambulances was converted to a 24-hour full-time ambulance. That increased minimum ambulance staffing countywide to 22 ambulances for 24 hours and 24 ambulances for 13 hours a day.

449
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All peak load 13-hour ambulances are now staffed with assigned personnel and are part of the minimum ambulance staffing requirement. uh February 2026, the second of three 13-hour peak load ambulances is converted to a 24-hour full-time ambulance. Minimum ambulance staffing

450
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countywide is 23 ambulances for 24 hours and 24 ambulances for 13 hours a day. And then on March 9th, 2026, all of the peak load ambulances were converted to 24-hour full-time ambulances, providing an increased minimum staffing of 20 24

451
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full-time ambulances. Three of those four added ambulances continue to post during peak hours in the city of Claremont at the Sheriff's South District Office, Advent Health, and UF Health standalone emergency departments. So during the day, we get to keep them within the city. In

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addition to the 24-hour full-time ambulances, up to three additional ambulances may be in service each day to train paramedic provisionals. For instance, today where our minimum staff staffing is 24, we have 26 ambulances for the first 12 hours and 27 ambulances

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for the second 12. So today's one of those days. And then after adding these ambulances, it was important to see what kind of impact that would have. And so in the the table in front of you, I'll start in the far left uh column date range. So it

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was important for us to look at it weekly. what what impacts are are there any delays any aarencies what anything that requires our attention and so we started this on the week of March 16th the next column is a time of day and

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it's important and I'll show you why of when we look at response times we looked at what we call daytime and night time so the daytime is 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. nighttime is 9:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. And then uh we looked at the county's average, the county's 90th percentile,

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and then we cla uh compared to Claremont's 90th percentile. And again, just as a reminder from slide four for fiscal year 25, those average our average response time was 10 minutes 33 seconds and our 90th percentile was 16 minutes 21 seconds. So, in that first

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week, that March 16th to March 22nd, I want to go to the county's 90th percentile daytime, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Our ambulances were arriving to calls in 9 minutes and 11 seconds, 90th percentile. And the in the column to the

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right is Claremont's 90th percentile. And for that week, they arrived in 10 minutes 15 seconds. And under their time, I have a 24. And what that means is they're in their stations 24 hours a day. They don't move. So when trying to do an apples to apples comparison of

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response times, I took our daytime hours, our 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. because that's when we had three ambulances in the city and compared to their response time. And for this first week, we arrived at calls on an average 1 minute and 4 seconds quicker than their fire engine did.

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But when you look at the nighttime, it increases by three minutes because we no longer have ambulances in the city. They go back to their they go back. >> We don't have a place to put them because we don't Right. I just want it to be super clear that it's not because we don't choose to be there. It's

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because we don't have a place that we're being provided. >> Correct. Where they are during the day are temporary places. It's a room. They can do a report. They can sit down. They can eat. They can use the restroom. But it does not provide overnight facilities. It's the south uh the sheriff's office which we do not have

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ability to sleep there. And both Advent Health and UF Health were very gracious in providing space for us, providing snacks, providing anything that we needed. They just don't have the ability to put a bed there for us to stay overnight. And so that's why at night they return back to the stations in

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which they report to in the morning. So, two of those ambulances go to Minnola and one of them go to fire station 109 south of Claremont. The second week, March 23rd through March 29th, again, daytime hours, 9:00

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a.m. to 9:00 p.m., our 90th percentile time is 11 minutes 4 seconds. For Claremont, they are 9 minutes 44 seconds. So, uh, for that week, their fire engines arrived 1 minute and 20 seconds quicker than we did daytime

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hours. Nighttime, there wasn't much of a change. There was an 8-second increase for to 11 minutes 12 seconds. We go to the next week, March 30th through April 5th. Again, daytime hours, our 90th percentile response time from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00

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p.m. is 10 minutes 19 seconds. For Claremont, it is 9 minutes 9 seconds. So for that week, they they beat us on scene on by average of 1 minute 10 seconds. Nighttime, again, that's a pretty significant jump of four minutes because we don't have anywhere to stay

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within the city at night. We folks return to their their quarters. And then April 6th through April 12th, our 90th percentile response time was 11 minutes 7 seconds for the city of Claremont. That week it was 10 minutes

468
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33 seconds. And so if my math is right, they beat us by 34 seconds to the call that week for daytime hours. Nighttime it increased by 2 minutes again because we don't have ambulances in the city during nighttime hours. And then the last week, April 13th through April

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19th, daytime hours, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. our 90th percentile time was 9 minutes 35 seconds. For that week, City of Claremont was 9 minutes 30 seconds. So they beat us by 5 seconds. Nighttime there was a almost a 4-minute increase

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and again we don't have places to put our folks at night. They don't have sleeping quarters within the city. So I thought this was important to share because the effort that has been made over the last two years between the current collective bargaining agreement and then

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the in-house paramedic program was well thought out and it has taken it's taken a long time to get here. But it's important that I share that it it's been a plan in play. Um last week Claremont had their workshop in which they they

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mentioned ambulances and they acknowledged that we've added four ambulances but it was also described as a system was still fragile and I would just would submit to you based on these times I would tell you that I don't believe the system to be fragile.

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All right, next slide. So, our strategic plan moving forward. So, with the county manager's permission and working through the county attorney's office, we're evaluating the purchase of a commercial building in Eustace to use as an ambulance hub. Up to three ambulances and one supervisor

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may be located at this facility. This is very exciting news for us and I hope that we have some really good news soon. Last year, we received $1 million in legislative funding for a design of a new Wellness Way public safety building with space for the sheriff, space for

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fire apparatus, and for multiple ambulances. And so, we're working with Kathleen Dial and her staff uh with the property owner, and hopefully toward the middle end of summer that she can come back with some good news of a property donation and we can begin the planning phase of a new public safety building.

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Uh soon we'll have the implementation of a real time response and resource distribution dispatch software. It's called Deken. It takes 24 months of the previous call data and it really what it does, it provides us predictive models. It tells us, hey, at this location, at

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this time, you're probably going to have an ambulance call. So, this is a tool that will help us position our resources in the best place to predict when a call will occur. Even better news, the fifth ambulance is anticipated to be added to the system uh May of this of this year. This will be

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the 25th full-time ambulance in service and staff right now are going through the data to figure out where the best place it it'll be in the north side of the county somewhere between the Golden Triangle area and Leburg and they're determining where that place is now. And then our the countyy's second in-house uh paramedic program has 17

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students enrolled and scheduled for graduation in June of 26, which is even better. uh within a month they'll take their state test and then we'll get them assigned to field training officers and get them on the road to become cleared paramedics. And so then as I wrap up challenges

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moving forward finding new locations to house ambulances to meet growth needs and so this has been an issue for us for the last several years. We can colllocate in a municipal fire station or use of a municipal facility if we can find one. The other option is lease purchase of

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buildings uh appropriate for public safety use. Either way, we're trying to maximize tax dollars and if we can find a way to work with a municipality or another governmental agency to use a building, that would be phenomenal. And then uh while we have good momentum now, being able to strategically add

482
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ambulances to meet service demands will always be there. paramedics are are a commodity and having them and having folks that are willing to work on an ambulance and those in that environment and and be successful is is a challenging effort

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because everybody wants them. So, as we move forward, we will continue on the path that we're on and we're going to continue to meet the needs uh at the very best we can. So, that concludes my presentation. I'm happy to answer questions. >> Questions? >> Question. Um, so Tommy, I appreciate u

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the presentation and um I one one thing I always like is that you know you'll give me the this is what we need to improve on or this is what we're doing well. We've always been able to have that discussion. A lot of people I don't think maybe realize that because they can appear to be one-sided but you're

485
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very real and I appreciate that. And um so a question if you can go back to slide seven. Certainly. >> Um, a question that is out there, it keeps coming out there and I just I keep want to address it and make sure I'm understanding it is this thing, this

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notion that ambulance service in the Claremont and Claremont area is a money maker for for uh for us. I mean, so this is saying this is sort of proving that, right? It's not a I mean to to go out it costs

487
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this amount and this is what we're actually collecting. >> Is that is it that simple? It >> I mean I just want to make sure I get it. We're a public service. We're not a for-profit. So it's it's healthcare and so we get what we can get. The tax revenue increased. It was in 2024 2.386

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million and in 2025 it increased about $250,000. The medical billing is going to be hit or miss. >> You could have a year that we collect really well. Um I think the collection rate I don't want to misspe somewhere between 60 and 70% but we're

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not always going to get what we collect collected for that year. And so I think there's a I know Claremont wanted to add ambulances. And so in Commissioner Campion's letter we looked at that just the six ambulances they wanted to add with 45 staff for them in the in their

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staffing pattern from the information that Chief Isel presented was $5.2 $2 million alone just to add the staff to those ambulances. Didn't buy the first gallon of fuel, medical supplies, account for medical direction, um dispatching, any of that

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>> or the ambulance itself even or did that or the ambulance itself? >> It was the personnel. >> It was the purchase personnel. >> I mean, so that's when we talk about >> the personnel. >> These conversations are important because everybody I know Claremont does and all the cities do. They want the best service possible. we do, but

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there's compartmentalizing and working in silos that adds a huge additional cost, the way I perceive it, to everybody that lives in Lake County as a taxpayer when it doesn't have to necessarily be that way. You can get the best service if we work together on

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this. So I it did in the October 14th presentation we referenced Fitch's report that they provided to the county end of 2017 2018 and in their report specifically they talked about if Leburg or Claremont did their own thing and and the to sum up the report it would cost

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more money because the county would then have we would go around the city and then we would have to we wouldn't have that as part of our response operation. And so it in all fairness I understand where Claremont's coming from. they want to be able we want to provide this for our residents, but there's no one entity

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that can provide service by themselves. They're going to require they're going to need help from the outside. And so, um, I don't know how long what their time frame would be for this, but the economy of scale that we have and the the way this operation works, they have

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we've improved response times, we've shown it, and they have access to all the ambulances in the county and it only takes one bad call and they happen. It could happen anywhere. So, um, I have been open and honest. I've been with the county manager and each of you. If this

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presentation was happening two years ago, we may be having a different conversation. >> Yeah. >> And I've said that openly, but we have worked very hard to plan working with the union on the current contract, with his in-house paramedic program, with recruitment to be where we are now. And

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we still have a steady stream of paramedics that want to be here. and our students are doing well and we anticipate a high graduation rate in this second class. So, we have forward momentum and we're moving forward >> and and I appreciate again you being real on that mentioning that discussion

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two years ago. One other question if you can go to slide eight that the calls um this is maybe a general question for the system. Do do cities when you when they get a dispatch do they have the ability

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to say no I'm not going to a call? I mean >> they have >> and I mean do we have like how often does that happen? >> Uh not frequently. It's it's an issue we've had that's occurred in the past if the air supervisor on duty um battalion

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chief lieutenant whoever may be in charge of the shift for that municipality don't want their uh resources responding is typically a mutual aid or part of the ISBA. Usually a mutual aid then they have the ability to say no response. >> Okay. Yeah. Because I know I mean

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everybody goes to a an echo call or a structure fire, big bad accident or something, but sometimes those those noncho calls can turn into something >> the lower acuity calls >> turn into an echo call. And you know that's that would be my concern is

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tracking that data if there's >> you know maybe maybe a city didn't want to respond and >> we have we've had that issue and and leadership our leadership and their leadership have worked together to resolve that >> but we we have I believe we have tracked

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that. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Appreciate it. >> So um thank you very much for the update. I certainly appreciate it. I know that you and your team have worked extremely hard on

505
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doing what you said you were going to do three years ago. You said this was going to happen and plans were in place. It just takes time, right? >> It does. >> Um and it's actually I think you're ahead of schedule uh especially since you started the

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in-house paramedic program. And what people need to understand is you're our in in-house paramedic program is one of a kind. It's not nothing like it in the state or in the country. I don't I don't believe there's an in-house

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>> I know in the state program. >> I know in the state director Kilbury gets calls weekly about how did you do this? >> But that doesn't mean that the level of education is diminished. It just means it's amplified because we're sending our people

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eight hours a day instead of the two to three hours at night. So, I just want to make sure the citizens of Lake County understand that when they graduate from our program, they're highly trained. They have to pass. They have to pass the state test that every paramedic has to

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pass and they have to do our field training office. Um do a um internship basically. >> Yes sir. >> With our FTO's. The question I have is you know Claremont is wanting their

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their own ambulance service. Are they planning on housing those ambulance services outside their city? I believe that they have plans to uh build to accommodate within their current stations.

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>> Would would you would you summize that if we kept our current staffing level and I know that we have three 13-hour ambulances and that's only because we can't house them to sleep anywhere. They got to sleep somewhere, right? Uh w

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would you summize that if the city of Claremont were to house those ambulances within the city those times would come down at the night time? I would I would surmise that if we had the ability to station our ambulances

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within the city 24 hours a day in the slide that I showed you with the response times, I think that we could achieve that daytime response time minimally at that level, if not better. And the and the only reason why our

514
03:13:12.240 --> 03:13:29.520
daytime numbers are better is because we have partnered with other entities outside of the city of Claremont to help the citizens of Claremont and of Lake County uh within the city and it's only because we do not have a place to house

515
03:13:29.520 --> 03:13:46.800
them 24 hours a day inside the city is the reason why they're not in the city. >> That's correct. That's correct. >> Okay. So, um I I would just like to say I would I think we have a great program. I think that we work well together. Uh I

516
03:13:46.800 --> 03:14:03.920
believe that if the city of Claremont would allow our ambulances within their city, you'd see these times drop even more. >> Yeah. Yeah, I mean I think it goes with really I mean without saying you can just look at the daytime numbers um and

517
03:14:03.920 --> 03:14:21.200
it speaks for itself. Um the one thing that I feel keeps getting lost in the discussion that I've listened to um at the at the city level is um if you have multiple calls or you have a huge emergency that requires resources more

518
03:14:21.200 --> 03:14:38.880
than a typical call and you have six ambulances and that's all you've got. And that's assuming that you've got the staffing and everybody's healthy and you're not having to, you know, >> then that's all you've got. You don't have the other 25 26 ambulances, you

519
03:14:38.880 --> 03:14:54.319
know, or 20 that are in the overall system because that's not your system anymore. >> Correct. >> And I I I feel like that's the part that's really not being, you know, spoken about and that hurts uh residents that reside inside the city of

520
03:14:54.319 --> 03:15:11.920
Claremont. should they go and have a separate system? >> And I think you can't um can't emphasize that enough because it's the depth of the resources that benefits the entire county um when you need them when you have that multiple um car accident or

521
03:15:11.920 --> 03:15:28.800
you or what about when you're making um you're you're transporting to trauma centers outside of the your jurisdiction and now they're out of commission. What do you do then? Now you're down to, >> you know, maybe three ambulances. But again, I I at the end of the day, the

522
03:15:28.800 --> 03:15:44.880
whole point is to have the best service possible, you know, at the at the most reasonable cost. And I don't think people want to pay more taxes for this. I don't think that that's what's being suggested to people in Claremont. And yet I don't see

523
03:15:44.880 --> 03:16:00.720
how you get the depth of resources you would need and all of the other things that have to be paid for to run a single, you know, city service um without a significant increase in in the cost of it, which means that would be

524
03:16:00.720 --> 03:16:16.640
passed on to the residents, which means that they would they would have to charge more um >> because because it goes because it goes beyond what's in a reserve right now. I mean there's once you do that it's forever or it's a very long term. So it might look good with reserves but

525
03:16:16.640 --> 03:16:32.000
>> right you could just pay you spend down your reserves to make it happen and then once you've spent that down now how are you paying for it? You're going to have to tax people for it and I don't think people in the county or inside the city limits want to be taxed more. So the key

526
03:16:32.000 --> 03:16:48.640
is work with the system that you've got and improve the system to the extent that you can. and we've been doing that and the new training pro um program is helping a lot. The new um shift arrangement is helping tremendously and we're getting there and we're getting it done and um and I love the the items

527
03:16:48.640 --> 03:17:04.960
that you put up as far as what's next. What are we going to do next? I definitely, you know, have um I'm glad to see that you're looking at the the hub in the Eustace area and um I'm glad to hear that we've got another ambulance coming on line um that will be in that

528
03:17:04.960 --> 03:17:21.600
area, you know, in the Golden Triangle over to between there and Leburg and you've got to figure out, you know, where your call volume is and when it's happening. And this software looks like a great a great way to make your resources go as far as they can because you know where to put them. So, um,

529
03:17:21.600 --> 03:17:38.160
yeah, all of this is positive and and a great update and really glad to hear about it. And I just hope that if any people in Claremont have questions about it, any residents have questions about it, um, please contact us and we we are an open book. We can show you all of this information and um, I think that

530
03:17:38.160 --> 03:17:52.319
everybody's doing a great job getting the the level of service where it needs to be. >> Thank you. Fire leadership has done an awesome job and they pay attention 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So there's no complacency. There's not any

531
03:17:52.319 --> 03:18:09.760
opposition. We are a team and we we want to work that way. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. >> I do want to say that was an awesome slideshow and an enormous amount of research. That was just great. Good product. I couldn't believe how much

532
03:18:09.760 --> 03:18:24.800
time it must have taken. It looks like condensed. Doesn't look like that much work by 250 calls here and there and having to go through and scrub each one. Thank you for that. So very good. >> Yes. And I really appreciate the effort that was put on the the paper that was held up at our meeting about the calls

533
03:18:24.800 --> 03:18:40.319
that were over 20 minutes or whatever to actually dive down into those and see what kind of calls they were, >> you know, and and you know, there there are other things too that go when you look at a call and you see the dispatch and you actually see sometimes um someone will get on site and they and

534
03:18:40.319 --> 03:18:56.720
they're actually there before it registers that they're there. So, you know, there there's another deep dive I think that you guys have looked at as well. Um >> we do the numbers we present are un what we call unverified. That means if any municipality wants to run the same numbers, they'll get the same results we

535
03:18:56.720 --> 03:19:13.200
do. And then what we do we don't present is then we go back and look when they arrived on scene. Was it did they someone forget to hit the button that says on scene or was it was human error involved that we were there actually quicker than we were and so or how did

536
03:19:13.200 --> 03:19:29.279
that work? So, we vet and we look at everything and I'll it concerned me. That data concerned me because if we've messed up or we've not done our job, then I'll be the first one to tell. >> Right. >> We'll admit it. >> And that's what we appreciate. I appreciate the, you know, the fact that you're so candid and that it like

537
03:19:29.279 --> 03:19:44.720
>> Commissioner Park said, it's um it's very objective and whether it's good or bad, we're going to get the information. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> All right. Moving along then um to that certificate

538
03:19:44.720 --> 03:20:05.200
of um public convenience and necessity. >> Good morning, Madam Chair. Good morning, commissioners. Uh John Simpson, deputy chief with the Office of Fire Rescue. I appreciate you giving me some time this morning. I want to provide you some information uh to talk about renewing our uh the Lake County Certificate of

539
03:20:05.200 --> 03:20:22.319
Public Convenience and Necessity. Uh this will be end in a public hearing with the board. Uh so as we've talked about before, I'll give you some brief background. We'll talk about our current need. I'll summarize and then I'll provide the requested action and then I'll yield to the board for the public hearing.

540
03:20:22.319 --> 03:20:37.279
So um as we've talked about before, Florida is a certificate of public convenience and necessity state or copc state. Um it is in statute that um sole authority rest with the board of county commissioners in each county of Florida to issue a certificate of public

541
03:20:37.279 --> 03:20:53.840
convenience and necessity. The COPCN is a requirement um to provide service in the state of Florida as an ambulance provider uh at the BLS or ALS level or to provide advanced life support uh service of any kind requires a COPCN.

542
03:20:53.840 --> 03:21:10.720
Um, Lake County Code section 1119 provides the process for the COPC and application and renewal and it requires the advertising of a public hearing and then the holding of a public hearing. Uh, currently Lake County Commission holds the only ALS or advanced life support COPCN in the county. It is the

543
03:21:10.720 --> 03:21:27.760
only unrestricted COPCN. This allows us to provide ALS and BLS first response as well as transportation services. Um, also our municipal partners are all licensed under our COPCN and our advanced life support license.

544
03:21:27.760 --> 03:21:44.880
So the current COPCN expires June 18th of 2026 and our current advanced life support license expires June July 22nd of 2026. Um, the renewal of the CO copn is required for us to renew our advanced life support license. As I just mentioned on the prior slide, not only

545
03:21:44.880 --> 03:22:02.000
do we function under that COPC and ALS license, but all municipal fire services function under the same. So in the absence of that COPC and an ALS license, we would not be able to provide any form of advanced life support or transportation services within the county. And so we will need that to need that to renew.

546
03:22:02.000 --> 03:22:18.960
So the requested action is to renew the Lake County Board of County Commissioners Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity. And with that, I will yield the floor to the board for the public hearing. Do we have anyone? >> Anyone online? Anyone in the audience that wishes to speak on this topic? All

547
03:22:18.960 --> 03:22:34.399
right, bring it back to the board. >> Move to approve. >> Second. >> All in favor say I. I. Any oppose? That passes four to zero. Thank you very much. Appreciate. >> Thank you commissioners. I appreciate it. >> All right. Um, moving along then to the

548
03:22:34.399 --> 03:22:51.120
the next item which is tab 27. So, this will be an ordinance of the board of county commissioners um of Lake County, Florida, providing for the levy of an additional 1 mil school district advalor millage tax in Lake County for school operational purposes for a period

549
03:22:51.120 --> 03:23:07.040
not to exceed four years. Providing for approval of the levy by voters in a referendum providing that the imposition shall be effective beginning July 1st, 2027 and ending four years thereafter pursuant to section 1011.71 subsection 9, Florida statutes. providing for the referendum to be held

550
03:23:07.040 --> 03:23:24.000
on November 3rd, 2026, providing ballot language. Providing for notice of the election, providing for notification to the state of Florida, Department of Revenue, providing a conflict clause, providing for filing department of state, and providing for an effective date. If you approve this today, this will become ordinance 2026-17. And just to clarify for purposes of the

551
03:23:24.000 --> 03:23:40.319
record, this is a ministerial function of the board of county commissioners. The school board adopted a resolution and under Florida state law, they have the ability to direct the board of county commissioners to place this on the ballot. and this is the means by which we do so. >> I'll just say this one thing. Uh I'm

552
03:23:40.319 --> 03:23:56.640
opposed to the underlying ordinance and what the school board wants to do. I was opposed to it when they first pushed it uh eight years ago. Um, I understand that the current legal interpretation of the statute, which has been litigated once on appeal, twice at the trial

553
03:23:56.640 --> 03:24:13.040
level, is that it's purely ministerial and um um the county commission is mandated to do it. I think that there's a good faith legal basis for sustaining a challenge against that interpretation, pushing it

554
03:24:13.040 --> 03:24:29.600
up to appeal, uh, and having a different DCA, different court of appeal look at it, uh, because I think it's peculiar language that the legislature used when it created this subsection. Therefore, I understand that we're under the hand of the appellet court, but we can challenge

555
03:24:29.600 --> 03:24:47.439
that um by voting no, allowing the school board, if they wish, because I I don't want to assist them in doing this at all, but um if they wish, sue us, go to appellet court, will let another DCA have an opinion. It's not privileged to do that because uh there's an exception for reinterpreting law as long as

556
03:24:47.439 --> 03:25:04.880
there's a good faith legal argument. I think the peculiar language used by the legislature in writing the statute, which is it's what it's what caused Hillsboro County to to do the first challenge because even they were perplexed by it. Um so, uh I'll be voting no. Uh I totally respect our

557
03:25:04.880 --> 03:25:22.239
county attorney's opinion on it. I think obviously right now under the law that applies currently we're likely mandated, but I'm not willing to assist in any form, even a minor form, in assisting uh in getting it on the ballot when I know that we could um in fact create a legal

558
03:25:22.239 --> 03:25:36.720
situation that would allow uh the law to be interpreted. So, I'll be voting no. So, um, again, I'll go back to I'll rely on the county attorney's opinion on this issue, um, and my own interpretation of

559
03:25:36.720 --> 03:25:53.520
the statute, but I also think that just like um, in any election that involves taking a question to the voters, that's what the statute's about. The statute is about taking a referendum to the voters, let the voters decide. that's on the school district and anybody that's in

560
03:25:53.520 --> 03:26:08.640
involved in this issue to make that case. Is it warranted? Should the millillage be increased? Should it be extended? That's for the voters decide based on what they when they've gotten the information. So, um,

561
03:26:08.640 --> 03:26:24.560
yeah, it would be really irregular to to actually vote against something the statute says we're supposed to do to facilitate a a decision or an issue being put forth to the >> Well, Hillsboro did it. >> Yeah. And and then and then I think if

562
03:26:24.560 --> 03:26:40.399
you go that route, you literally would have to have like full-blown hearings on the pros and the cons and actually litigate in in public this uh this question of whether it's >> that's what I want >> in whether it's um something that needs

563
03:26:40.399 --> 03:26:56.960
to be done or not as opposed to let the school district do that. That's their purview as opposed to our purview. you know, they they are the body that's elected to oversee the school district, and we're not the body elected to oversee the school district. >> Problem is, the super majority of the

564
03:26:56.960 --> 03:27:12.479
voters aren't going to know about it until they pick up their ballot. They're just not. I mean, even the early ballot they're going to get. They're going to see it. They're not going to quite understand it because it's written in this dense legal language that quite literally is just confusing to the average voter. So, I would rather sue. I

565
03:27:12.479 --> 03:27:29.200
would rather vote no, let them sue us, which we don't even know if they're going to sue. We don't even know if they're going to sue. Let them sue us and then let it play out in the public eye. Draws more attention to it. I think more people in the public will look at it. Uh agree with us and doing what we could to try to stop what I think is an unjust tax increase and then it results

566
03:27:29.200 --> 03:27:44.960
in what it results in. I I respect your position too. I don't again it's not, you know, black and white thing. I just like >> far from black and white. I mean it's just so far from black and white. Um and and I don't know. I just want to point out that this is the year that um and I know that there were some changes to

567
03:27:44.960 --> 03:28:01.760
state law and how they you know did their how they do their grading and all of that stuff but this was the first year I think we've had an A-rated school system right I mean our school district people elect those officials they appoint the superintendent they run you

568
03:28:01.760 --> 03:28:17.359
know that whole system we don't um I'm appreciative of the good work that they've done when it comes to you know the accolades and the schools that are performing so well and the ones that they're trying to get where they need to be. I appreciate all that. And what I don't want to do as an elected official

569
03:28:17.359 --> 03:28:34.160
on the county commission is actually be in a fight with our school district. >> I don't consider it a fight. >> You don't think they would consider it a fight? >> I don't know. I I've not heard from them. All I've heard from them is is a request to put language on a ballot. So that's all I I've heard from them thus

570
03:28:34.160 --> 03:28:51.040
far. That's why one of many reasons why uh I feel very comfortable voting no on this. >> All right. So my my question sitting between two attorneys arguing um not respectfully of course uh is so am I am I missing something? I mean this is

571
03:28:51.040 --> 03:29:07.840
still going to be on if if I I like what you're I'm interested in what you're saying um Commissioner Sabatine about the the the process like why are we the ones to decide whether it goes on the ballot. So, I understand that question, but it's still going to be on the ballot though. It didn't, right? I mean, if it the the law was different, they could

572
03:29:07.840 --> 03:29:23.760
>> You don't approve it today, it would not go on the ballot. >> No, I know it would not, but I mean, but if the law were different, the and it was in the school district's purview, they would probably put it on the ballot, right? >> Correct. If the statute didn't tell them to direct us to do it.

573
03:29:23.760 --> 03:29:39.760
>> Yeah. So I mean I maybe it's >> maybe fighting the changing to change the process is the way to go on that but the the >> Yeah. So so just >> go. >> Yeah. Just to read the the statutory language says the district school board

574
03:29:39.760 --> 03:29:55.840
pursuant to resolution adopted at a regular meeting shall direct the county commissioners to call an election at which the electors within the school district may approve an advorum tax millillage as authorized in section 9 article 7 of the state constitution. >> We would be the third county to

575
03:29:55.840 --> 03:30:11.120
challenge it. Indian River then Hillsboro. >> And who won? Uh, one, nothing's gotten to the Florida Supreme Court, but the trial, they didn't app they did not appeal in Indian River, which I think is the whatever the sixth DCA probably now

576
03:30:11.120 --> 03:30:28.080
with all the re reconfiguration. Hillsboro appealed second DCA. DCA went with the school board. So technically that's bound that bounds all the other appellet districts. But if you sue, lose a trial court, and then immediately appeal all under under the good faith

577
03:30:28.080 --> 03:30:44.720
basis of 57105, we can then ask a new appellet court to make its own fresh decision on the statute here in the fifth district if we want to and and with no penalty. And I I feel I feel happy to do that because again, this very peculiar language shall direct. Okay, thank you for directing me.

578
03:30:44.720 --> 03:31:00.960
Doesn't mean you have the authority over me. Doesn't mean you can tell me I have to do it. uh you know I think but if the legislature wanted us to have the authority they would have said after that phrase um at the discretion of the board of county commissioners >> which then takes away the right I mean

579
03:31:00.960 --> 03:31:16.479
it's the right is being given to the voters to decide >> you're making a great argument because that is another candidate of judicial interpretation that we are depriving the fifth DCA from exercising by not voting no and then prompting a lawsuit. So, we should probably vote no. Let it go to a

580
03:31:16.479 --> 03:31:32.800
lawsuit and then they can have the option of applying that judicial candidate in the interpretation of the statute. If we don't, then we're we're ridding the fifth ECA of that opportunity. I just don't feel comfortable doing that. >> That is a really long stretch, Commissioner Sabatini. We're ridding the fifth judicial circuit of having the

581
03:31:32.800 --> 03:31:49.359
opportunity to go against what the school district approved in a meeting, a school district of duly elected officials, >> taxpayers. the taxpayers and the residents are going to have the ability to vote yes or no. So I I don't I don't

582
03:31:49.359 --> 03:32:04.080
see a problem with it. >> And it's a shall which is mandatory. >> Right. They did choose to lose use the language shall in this. >> They use the word shall but think about how they use it. They didn't say the lake county comm the commission county commission of a county shall do this. It

583
03:32:04.080 --> 03:32:19.680
said the school board shall direct. So it said the school board shall to ask request in my opinion us to do it. So it again it's very un unusual language and uh I'm a textualist I think it's it's too >> peculiar >> that makes that that is not a textualist

584
03:32:19.680 --> 03:32:36.880
position that is um we have ministerial functions and then we have legislative functions and then we have quasi judicial functions and this falls into the category of a ministerial function that is that we're

585
03:32:36.880 --> 03:32:53.279
actually being told by the body that adopted the decision to then adopt an ordinance for it to go to the um to the supervisor elections. He doesn't get to then say, "I don't really like this idea. I don't really think we need this." He then has to perform a

586
03:32:53.279 --> 03:33:08.880
ministerial function and put it on a ballot and then the voters get the opportunity to make the decision. They are the voters. They are the people that would be taxed. And they can say no. And I do think it's kind of insulting to say that they can't read the read the language and know that it's

587
03:33:08.880 --> 03:33:26.640
actually a tax increase, right? I mean, it says it's a millage increase, >> a tax increase. Just the interest of the average voter in going to the ballot. I mean, obviously with so many other things on these crowded ballots that literally they just generally don't find themselves with enough time to study it

588
03:33:26.640 --> 03:33:43.040
because it's hasn't been brought to their attention before they went to go vote. >> Well, I agree with that. >> Most voters, not all voters. I am on on amendments that get put on the ballot. It's it can be very confusing. This one is like a local issue and it's a question of whether you're going to

589
03:33:43.040 --> 03:33:58.720
impose this upon >> but even like as a voter >> like even the term millage is so I mean they just see this and they're like I don't quite understand what's going on here and you know I don't want it yet. So so I just think uh there's that's just one other line of reason why voting

590
03:33:58.720 --> 03:34:15.200
now would be a good thing for the county and the people. So, I I've got a a different take on this on this whole thing is we have a um a duly elected board

591
03:34:15.200 --> 03:34:32.080
requesting us to put something on the ballot whether we agree with it or not. Um, it's up to us to, well, it's up to me to let my position on to my friends and families on how I feel about it, but not

592
03:34:32.080 --> 03:34:47.200
as a elected official saying, "No, we're not even going to put this on the ballot to let the citizens of Lake County decide whether they want it or they don't want it." Number two is the school board is a separate line item

593
03:34:47.200 --> 03:35:05.840
on our tax role. Um, so if the citizens of Lake County say, "You know what? This school board is absolutely going haywire." They can do what they need to do during the election time to get it back in back in line. So, um, and I am really not in

594
03:35:05.840 --> 03:35:23.200
favor of every time we don't agree with something that the first thing we do is, we'll just sue them. Well, that's not always the answer. So, um, I'm okay with putting it on the ballot and letting the voters of Lake County

595
03:35:23.200 --> 03:35:45.600
let us know what they want to do. >> I agree, Kirby. If uh if we keep threatening to sue people, we're going to spend all the taxpayers money in lawsuits. >> Yeah. If the statute said that we had discretion, then that would be a completely different scenario. The statute does not say that we have

596
03:35:45.600 --> 03:36:01.120
discretion, >> right? >> So, I think it's a stretch to suggest that the legislature meant anything other than we just performed an act we were told to perform, which was to put it on the ballot and let the voters decide. And I think folks are smart

597
03:36:01.120 --> 03:36:17.840
enough to figure out whether they want to do it or not. And there'll be time for the school district to put information out and people will hear about it and then they will decide, do they want to do this or not. >> All right. Um, I thought I opened it up. Anyone Anyone online?

598
03:36:17.840 --> 03:36:36.560
Anyone in the audience? Okay. All right. Um, and I really I really >> Well, I'll make a motion I'll make a motion that we do our administrator administrative duty as to put this on the ballot. >> Second.

599
03:36:36.560 --> 03:36:52.800
>> You second that we do our administrative duty and put it on the ballot. >> I do. I think I think it is not discretionary from everything that's hearing the two legal arguments. >> Yes. >> And >> um

600
03:36:52.800 --> 03:37:10.319
>> I mean I will say this that if I I if there's some clarification or wording of statute that if there to your point if there's some wording or clarification of statute that needs to be done maybe we could pursue that after this. But you know I'm in support of it obviously. Yeah.

601
03:37:10.319 --> 03:37:25.279
Yeah. Put it on your legislative priorities next year to get clarification from the legislature on whether that language >> whe whether there should be another clause in that language. >> Yes. >> So that we can

602
03:37:25.279 --> 03:37:42.520
expand our role as a county commission to actually evaluate school district issues. Um All right. Um all in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> No. >> Okay. Moving on to tab 28

603
03:37:44.800 --> 03:38:03.760
Jamie. >> Hello and good morning, Madam Chair and county commissioners. My name is Jamie Stewart. I'm the director of >> Could you bring the microphone down and speak up a little bit, please? >> Thank you. >> My apologies. Um, good morning everyone. I'm Jamie Stewart, Office of Management

604
03:38:03.760 --> 03:38:21.520
and Budget Director. The purpose of the presentation today is to hold a public hearing for the midyear budget amendment. First, I will review the amendment process, then discuss the general fund reserves, provide a summary of changes to the fiscal year 2026

605
03:38:21.520 --> 03:38:38.319
budget, and finally present the requested action. The purpose of the midyear adjustment is to realign the budget midway through the fiscal year, providing early detection and correction of variances. The strategic process allows us to

606
03:38:38.319 --> 03:38:54.880
evaluate progress made during the first half of the year and implement any necessary revisions. Currently, the countywide budget, which includes previously approved unanticipated revenue resolutions, is $1.12 billion. The proposed changes

607
03:38:54.880 --> 03:39:10.239
today are $19.7 million, which brings the supplemental budget to 1.14 billion. The total midyear adjustments for the general fund revenues are $2.3 million. That includes a reduction to the

608
03:39:10.239 --> 03:39:26.399
beginning fund balance of $1,200 and 2.3 in revenue projection adjustments from the FEMA grant reimbursements and the interest revenue earned in tax collector excess fees. Adjustments to the general fund for

609
03:39:26.399 --> 03:39:42.640
expenditures totals $2.3 million, which includes the sheriff's hiring of new deputies for the courthouse at 195,000, the tax collector's capital purchases and contractual services that represent 1.1 million, and the supervisor of

610
03:39:42.640 --> 03:39:58.880
elections renovations of $300,000. Next, the $757,000 for adjustments to the personnel services for public works and storm water that moved into the general fund and $71,000

611
03:39:58.880 --> 03:40:13.920
for adjustments to the reserves to offset those personnel services. Lastly, the other miscellaneous adjustments in the amount of 575,000. There's one position requested for approval and that is the legislative

612
03:40:13.920 --> 03:40:29.120
affairs coordinator. The amount you see here is uh the total loaded cost for the position, which is $97,000. The adopted general fund operating reserves is currently at 28.7 million,

613
03:40:29.120 --> 03:40:46.800
which represents 11.1% of the operating budget. Upon approval of the mid-year adjustment, the total general fund operating reserves will be 39.3 million, which represents 14.3% of the operating budget. The long range target for

614
03:40:46.800 --> 03:41:03.840
reserves is 16% or two months of the regular operating expenses as recommended by the GFOA. The total adjustments to the other funds are approximately $17.5 million. They do consist of 9.2 million in grant

615
03:41:03.840 --> 03:41:21.680
reconciliation adjustments, the majority of which is from the federal and state grants. Approximately 7.4 four and the beginning fund balance adjustments for revenues that exceeded the actual expenditures for projections in 2025. That includes a EMS fund adjustment

616
03:41:21.680 --> 03:41:37.439
which was the largest of $5.3 million. There's 310,000 for adjustments due to repairs of Wolf Branch Road, 210,000 for building projects funded through Lake County's water authority, and finally 288,000

617
03:41:37.439 --> 03:41:54.640
in other miscellaneous that are due to the um transfers in and personnel service adjustments. Now, I'm going to turn it back over to the chairman for the public hearing. >> Okay. All right. um

618
03:41:54.640 --> 03:42:10.399
this reconciliation um I'm just going to open >> what's the uh this a question actually I didn't mean to interrupt you >> go ahead >> oh just uh what's the um specific uh changes to the um tax collectors uh

619
03:42:10.399 --> 03:42:26.080
budget amendments just curious something about infrastructure or a u actually contractual services do we know what that is >> I would have to get back with you on exactly Don't mean to put you on the spot. I know it's specific. >> I believe some of it, and this is just

620
03:42:26.080 --> 03:42:40.960
working from memory, so don't hold me to it, but I believe there was some um needed repairs to HVAC systems within a couple of his facilities. That's some of it I would have to um confirm, but if you give me a few minutes, I can look that up.

621
03:42:40.960 --> 03:43:00.960
>> Sure. Thank you for doing that. >> Are there any other specific questions about the reconciliation? not not u questions but just a um request that we continue to concentrate on getting our reserves back up over

622
03:43:00.960 --> 03:43:17.920
16%. >> Yes, sir. >> So, one of the one of the issues that we're dealing with is that we've have spent $14 million on Hurricane Milton alone and since 2022 we spent $8 million on hurricanes. Um to date we've only

623
03:43:17.920 --> 03:43:35.279
received since 2020 22 about $3 million back from FEMA. And currently I think with the government shutdown of DHS I think it's um they're not I I think they're working but it's it's moving

624
03:43:35.279 --> 03:43:51.680
slower in the process. So, our anticipation is once we start getting those FEMA reimbursements for hurricane cost, we'll start building that reserve up to where it was um a year ago. We're at about 18%. >> Again, Kim, we need to concentrate on

625
03:43:51.680 --> 03:44:08.399
getting our reserves up above 16%. >> Yes, sir. That is our focus as well. >> Yeah, that would happen pretty quickly if we got the money back from FEMA. >> But we can still work on it. We can still >> No, no, I'm all I'm all there with you. Um, >> so Jennifer, you're still looking to see

626
03:44:08.399 --> 03:44:27.199
if you can find out what capital work was done. >> I'd like to open the public hearing. >> Okay, I'll open the public hearing. See if we have anyone online, anyone in the public. >> Okay. >> Okay. So, for the

627
03:44:27.199 --> 03:44:43.600
>> timewise, I mean, I'm fine because because I just had a question about what the contractual services were that were we're were being um asked to record and and consider and and adjust for. Um I'm happy just going to the next item and then when she can pull that up here the next couple minutes,

628
03:44:43.600 --> 03:44:59.040
just shifting back, whatever you guys want to do. >> Um well, we have the adoption of the resolution for the supplemental budget. So, um you kind of need the reconciliation Um but you can do the presentation. All right.

629
03:44:59.040 --> 03:45:15.479
>> Okay. So for the record, the requested action is for approval of the amended budget of 2026 to include a reconciliation of the beginning fund balance and other adjustments and for approval of a resolution adopting the supplemental budget of 1 billion139,322,659.

630
03:45:19.359 --> 03:45:37.840
>> Right. Another possibility would be for the information to be provided um after the meeting um to Commissioner Sabatini with Poppy to everybody else so we know what those expenditures were for

631
03:45:37.840 --> 03:45:54.000
were for. >> All right. If that's the case, I'll make a motion to approve the requested action. >> Second. >> All right. All in favor say I. I. >> I. Any opposed? All right. Thank you very much for the presentation and moving now to regular agenda. Um

632
03:45:54.000 --> 03:46:09.920
Commissioner Smith, um this is regarding the Wolf Branch District logo. >> Uh yeah. Um if you remember, uh we had a logo that was presented to us before and then um the logo that we have in front

633
03:46:09.920 --> 03:46:27.680
of us. My request is only that we be allowed one to approve this logo to send to Mount Door for their thoughts and approval of the logo for the Wolf Branch Innovation District. >> So I think at the last meeting we had

634
03:46:27.680 --> 03:46:44.560
the revised logo came back, the one that they had initially approved but then we tweaked it. Um so >> that one >> um Yes. where we added the moss and we created more symmetry. Um,

635
03:46:44.560 --> 03:47:02.800
so you're wanting to send them yours in >> to see if they like it over this one. >> I I I just this here doesn't make any I I this doesn't make sense to me of why this would represent an innovation district. It would represent a heritage

636
03:47:02.800 --> 03:47:19.600
district for sure, >> but you know, I'm just thought something a little different. >> It it could be in, you know, a little more typical like I might go to North Florida and see a logo like that somewhere and write also what you're

637
03:47:19.600 --> 03:47:37.760
saying. Something that stands out a little bit more. >> Yeah. Um, what what's Can you put the other one back on? Well, first of all, there aren't any lakes and cypress trees in the Wolf Branch Innovation District.

638
03:47:37.760 --> 03:47:54.160
>> No, but this is Lake County. That's what LC stands for. >> Okay. Um, yeah. I mean, look, I I if we send it, I want to be clear that I'm in favor of the the one that we worked on in collaboration with the city of Mount Dora. >> Okay. Um,

639
03:47:54.160 --> 03:48:11.359
I don't I really don't want to confuse C issue. >> So, your your I'm sorry, your your question is to see if they like it. >> Okay. >> As opposed to the one that they >> approved. Okay. Yeah. And I'm I'm supportive of that.

640
03:48:11.359 --> 03:48:27.600
>> I just don't want there. The problem is they're going to get it and they're going to say, "Did the board of county commissioners approve this?" So, do we need to take a vote on it or um that that's the >> we can send a letter with it and just say, "Look, here's another option for you to look at. Which one do y'all like

641
03:48:27.600 --> 03:48:42.880
better?" But before we do that, I think we need to decide do we as a board are we in favor of this being one of the options and and not not to create, you know, strife among county commissioners, but it's like the way

642
03:48:42.880 --> 03:48:58.560
this all started was staff their our staff worked with their staff and they came up with some design designs. Then they took the design to the city of Mount Dora. Mount Dora blessed it. They brought that design back. We looked at it and said, "Nah, we'd like to tweak

643
03:48:58.560 --> 03:49:14.000
that design a little bit." So, we tweaked it, sent it back, and that's kind of where we landed on that was the design. Now, to send them something new, um, >> I tweaked it. >> Well, it but it's so we I mean, it really needs to say that unless we vote on it, then it needs to say,

644
03:49:14.000 --> 03:49:29.920
"Commissioner Smith, would like you to consider this." Yeah. >> As opposed to the board of county commissioners would like you to consider. >> That is a-okay with me. I think that they just need to get have an option to look at it. >> I think that's fine. Can you go back to the the one >> I like the original one? >> Yeah.

645
03:49:29.920 --> 03:49:45.120
>> So So it's the oak live oak with wolf branch in that font. >> I mean I >> that's the one I like. I mean >> right. You like the background and all that stuff, but >> but the lettering the font that goes

646
03:49:45.120 --> 03:50:01.760
with Wolf Branch that apparently that that a lot of thought went into exactly how that font There you go. al together. >> I love the I love the font, but the oak tree, I will say, is could be kind of standard. >> I like I like

647
03:50:01.760 --> 03:50:17.680
>> Wait, this is not the original tree. The like the kind of uh >> oriental looking tree that was >> Yes. The first one looked like a bonsai. >> Yes. >> No, I like this one. This is a fun I'm fine with this as the final product. I mean, I like Kirby's, too. It's good. It's actually quite good, but I just

648
03:50:17.680 --> 03:50:35.760
like this one more. Simple. Commissioner Morris, do you want to weigh in? Are you still with us? >> Yeah, you want. >> Yeah, I'm still with you. >> I really like Kirby's idea. Quite frankly, I'd send it to them and

649
03:50:35.760 --> 03:50:51.199
see what they think of it. >> All right. Is everybody in agreement though that I mean, I feel like we need to let them know that it's it's a commissioner uh initiated idea. We'd like them to take a look. making a final approval. We want to see what they say about it,

650
03:50:51.199 --> 03:51:07.359
>> right? We just want to throw another option out there >> because I I otherwise would stick with the the process that we went through to get to this and and I I don't want there to be confusion that we're actually saying that we want a different one. We just want to know what they think and

651
03:51:07.359 --> 03:51:23.199
whether they want to change direction. >> Right. >> Okay. All right. Okay. So, we've got a consensus to do that. Well, I hope this one here isn't as hard as my next one isn't as hard as that last one. >> Tab 30. This is a thank you letter to

652
03:51:23.199 --> 03:51:40.399
>> Yes. I'd like to send a thank you letter to the city of Tares for um them putting up our 250 flags down there main street. Is is the county commission okay with that? And if you would like, I would

653
03:51:40.399 --> 03:51:56.720
like for each of you to sign the letter. >> I think it's a great idea. I really want to I'll publicly thank Tavar's as well for embracing 250 and I hope all the other cities are and I think some of them are doing it as well. >> I was going to ask each commissioner if you could go to respective cities and see if they would like to

654
03:51:56.720 --> 03:52:13.040
>> um do this as well then we would provide them with the flags. >> Yes. Great. Awesome. I'm all Thank you. >> Thank you. >> You need a motion? Do you want a motion? >> I don't think we do. We need a motion to send the letter on all with all five signatures. >> It is on for approval.

655
03:52:13.040 --> 03:52:29.600
>> Okay. I'll make a motion I make a motion that we um send a letter of uh thank you for partnering with the county for the 250 flags in there in the city of Tvarious downtown signed by all the

656
03:52:29.600 --> 03:52:45.359
commissioners. >> Second. >> All right. All in favor say I. I. >> I. Any oppose? That passes 4 zero. >> Commissioner, did you want to update on the tax collectors increases? >> Sure. Let's go ahead. >> Okay. So, we did pull that up. He had two separate amendments. The first one,

657
03:52:45.359 --> 03:53:01.680
a majority of the costs were associated with um facility repairs. There was two instances of a vehicle crashing through one of his facilities. So, a majority of the first amendment was for facility repairs and then the second amendment was associated with HVAC repairs. And

658
03:53:01.680 --> 03:53:18.160
then he had several people um separate from their employment and so he had to pay out like vacation time and things of that nature. So majority of that was related to that and the HVAC repairs. So I hope that helps. >> Okay. All right. Thank you.

659
03:53:18.160 --> 03:53:36.640
>> Okay. Um then moving to tab third tab 31. Um this is one that I put on the agenda for discussion. Um quite a while ago. Um Mr. Parlins had come to see me and had asked about the

660
03:53:36.640 --> 03:53:53.680
county adopting a um an ordinance that would be the same as one that was adopted by Collier County um that was adopted, I believe, back in 2023 and it was called a Bill of Rights um sanctuary

661
03:53:53.680 --> 03:54:12.560
county ordinance. And um so I think that um and I'm I'm assuming he's probably had similar discussions with with everyone. We um I know I talked to the county attorney about it quite a bit. I've talked to Mr. Carllins about it quite a bit. Um I've done a lot of research and um and I understood some of

662
03:54:12.560 --> 03:54:30.160
the concerns that were raised by the county attorney and I tried to come back with um a proposed ordinance that I thought would be something that might be a a compromise. Although, you know, I'm I'm open to um this

663
03:54:30.160 --> 03:54:47.600
complete discussion and any other ideas that county commissioners, other county commissioners have. Um my focus was on um the idea that we often forget about what the Bill of Rights actually says and what it establishes and the rights that we have as individuals and that

664
03:54:47.600 --> 03:55:05.359
sometimes we get um uh requirements that come out of the federal government um that actually tell us to do things that we may believe are not consistent with the Bill of Rights. And therefore, we should be able to say, "Hey, in Lake County, if we get something like that and we're told to do something, we're

665
03:55:05.359 --> 03:55:21.920
going to say we're a sanctuary county and we do not enforce um or implement things that are contrary to our citizens bill of rights." And that's kind of the, you know, the whole idea in a nutshell.

666
03:55:21.920 --> 03:55:39.040
Um, but the question then becomes, do you actually create create a cause of action where someone could actually um sue the county um or the county would then have to, you know, take a

667
03:55:39.040 --> 03:55:56.560
particular action. And so what and I know Mr. Carllins is here today and um and it's fine if you did want to weigh in or um Bill is with you and he's an expert subject matter expert in this um whether he would want to weigh in. Um,

668
03:55:56.560 --> 03:56:12.479
but I just wanted to have a discussion before I brought it forward to ask for advertising so that I could see where the board is at and whether you would want to go with more of a call your county model or whether you would want to go with um a version like the one I

669
03:56:12.479 --> 03:56:29.520
put together that's in the packet that um references the Bill of Rights. And it basically says that should the county want to seek a determination on something that they believe is um um an unlawful act as a result of it violating

670
03:56:29.520 --> 03:56:45.359
the Bill of Rights um or the Constitution that that we could take that action as a Board of County Commissioners. or if residents in Lake County wanted to petition the board of county commissioners, it would take 50 residents um and they would have to have evidence of actually living in Lake

671
03:56:45.359 --> 03:57:01.680
County through an homestead exemption. Um and that we could then decide whether to take action and and seek a decision by the court as to whether something was a violation of the um Constitution or the Bill of Rights. Um so

672
03:57:01.680 --> 03:57:17.520
>> I think I think it's good. I mean, I'm I'm happy to hear public comment, but I mean, this is good. Obviously, I moved to advertise, but um >> do I want something stronger? Sure, that's fine, too. But let's hear what these guys have to say. I mean, this is strongly worded, but yeah. Did do we

673
03:57:17.520 --> 03:57:32.160
want to do public comment? >> Um, I think it's fine if somebody wants to weigh in if everybody's okay with that. Otherwise, it would be next round if we actually brought it up for an actual advertising. Um, it would be >> Yeah. I make a motion to advertise. >> Okay. Now, that's a motion to advertise

674
03:57:32.160 --> 03:57:48.239
the the ordinance that's in the packet as opposed to the Collier County ordinance. >> Second. >> I like your I like this one. >> And the one that's your it has some of what you just said in it, right? >> Yeah. In in >> as what you said. >> Yes. >> Kier's ordinance in a way that we

675
03:57:48.239 --> 03:58:05.120
believe creates a a private cause of action of citizens of the county against its own county government, which I'm actually okay with. But, uh, >> well, of course you would be okay with that. But is that is that how that one's written? It's been a while since when they wrote that it was very popular, but

676
03:58:05.120 --> 03:58:20.000
it's been a few years since. >> Well, and I think that it stemmed from it was coming off of CO and uh the mask mandates and employers were being mandated to do the mask and you know it was a push back to say hey in this county you can't get away with that. And

677
03:58:20.000 --> 03:58:37.040
I am 100% behind that concept. What I don't want to do is have a scenario where um we're just doing you know our folks are doing their jobs and then somebody says well you're violating my you know constitutional rights and then we end up like every

678
03:58:37.040 --> 03:58:52.960
code enforcement case becomes a challenge of code you know constitutional rights. I mean I really think this was directed at executive orders that were being implemented uh in relation to co Okay. And then we

679
03:58:52.960 --> 03:59:10.560
had um we also have administrative things that come out of Congress where they put a law in place and then there's an administrative rule and a lot of us believe that those rules aren't really shouldn't be enforceable because they don't really track what the enabling

680
03:59:10.560 --> 03:59:25.120
legislation said. So to me, those are those two areas where we got to be able to push back and say no, we're not going to we're not going to, you know, enforce something that is against the Constitution. Um but but do does it have to be the call your county version to do

681
03:59:25.120 --> 03:59:40.560
that versus the one that that I drafted? Um >> let's advertise this and then have the debate once we have public comment the next meeting. >> All right. So they >> I would like to hear before we do this. I'd like to hear from Mr. Carllins on how this is going to help 425,000

682
03:59:40.560 --> 03:59:57.439
residents in Lake County. >> I thought we're at 450. We're not at 460,000 people. We're at 435. >> That was yesterday. Now >> 435. We always hear these different numbers, but the Bieber, the Bureau of Economic Business Research, don't they put is it >> 435?

683
03:59:57.439 --> 04:00:13.199
>> I thought it was 445. >> I'm pretty sure it's past 450 now. >> I just know it's a lot. >> Yeah. >> Not to get off track. >> You count visitors. >> Um are you would you want to come to the podium and talk about it? Would Bill I think Bill might want to >> Oh, we got a motion in a second on the

684
04:00:13.199 --> 04:00:30.239
floor right now. >> We We do, but I mean we certainly can can hear the thoughts behind it. Um, I don't think we have to take the the vote. >> And while we're waiting for Mr. Carlin to come to the podium, Lakes uh 2026

685
04:00:30.239 --> 04:00:47.120
projected population is 445,881. >> That was one year ago last month. So that was April 1st, 2025. So right now it's Where do you think we've grown in one year since 445,000 people? I think obviously we're at probably 452,000.

686
04:00:47.120 --> 04:01:03.120
They say it's like 12,500 has been averaging a year. >> So, we're really at like 457. Sorry, Tim. I just had to correct the record. >> Okay. All right. Um, and we'll just try to do our usual short three minute rule if we can.

687
04:01:03.120 --> 04:01:18.239
>> Oh, absolutely. You know, absolutely. But well, I just wanted to clarify with, you know, my ears aren't picking up everything. My ears are bad. But what you were saying with the Collier County, the 2023 uh ordinance that they had and then you were referencing the

688
04:01:18.239 --> 04:01:34.399
alternative that you put forth and you were describing that you need to have 50 residents or something to come to you to petition a grievance for that is that basically >> that that's how it's it it's written. Um now that doesn't mean that the county commission itself couldn't

689
04:01:34.399 --> 04:01:51.840
>> decide to go forward. So, let's just say you came to us and you said, "Hey, there's this uh law. We think this is a violation of our constitutional rights. We could put it on the agenda if we so chose to then pursue it with a court of law." Well, I am in favor of uh you know what

690
04:01:51.840 --> 04:02:09.120
gives the citizen the most u you know power when he not the citizen the most power but the sheriff most power to interpose to protect uh the citizenry to defend their bill rights. You know that's that's basically

691
04:02:09.120 --> 04:02:24.800
the essence of it. you know, as far as uh it's just it's it's to protect our go- granted rights of the people of Lake County inscribed in the United States Constitution and provide a means of and this is where it's so important to provide a means of criminal and civil

692
04:02:24.800 --> 04:02:42.160
consequence for the violation of these rights within our county's jurisdiction. Um and that you know that is uh what I'd like to maintain you know with that is and and if my subject expert

693
04:02:42.160 --> 04:02:58.800
would have any further input that he would like to do I'd certainly appreciate it. >> Okay. >> Do you have any questions for me specifically? No, I I I I would ask that Bill come up and yes, he's been involved and he was involved in the Collier

694
04:02:58.800 --> 04:03:15.760
County um ordinance and has been in different counties talking about this and and he knows a lot about it. >> Well, thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you. Right here, I've got a comparison of the Lake

695
04:03:15.760 --> 04:03:31.600
County ordinance to a uh the one that you had written to something that would be a sort of an updated that would be sort of something that was a hybrid between the Lake County and the Collier. So, I'd like to submit this whoever I need to give that to so you make copies of that. So if people want that for

696
04:03:31.600 --> 04:03:48.960
reference, primarily the the main reason why the Collier County or that type of ordinance or what I call the enhanced call your county because uh call your county ordinance does leave some things that are uh needing to be defined a little bit better and so I have an enhanced

697
04:03:48.960 --> 04:04:05.920
version but it doesn't water it down in any way. In fact it makes it a stronger ordinance and it includes a lot of processes in it. The reason why this is a really important piece to have in place is because what do you do uh when for I'll give you for instance up in Washington the state of Washington just

698
04:04:05.920 --> 04:04:22.160
recently passed a con a a law that was unconstitutional on the face of it by the state constitution as well as the federal constitution but it passed. So a lot of the counties and folks up there are going what do we do about this? How do we how do we deal with the fact that

699
04:04:22.160 --> 04:04:37.600
we have a law now that is clearly unconstitutional? But they're going to try and impose this. Well, by having an ordinance in there that states, okay, what we're going to do is we're going to be a constitutional county here. They can say, "You know what? In this particular county, we're not going to enforce this

700
04:04:37.600 --> 04:04:52.880
law because we're challenging that law constitutionally and that we have a mechanism in place by which we can determine that that is something that is unconstitutional at a lower level and then be able to challenge that at that point and having the the state be

701
04:04:52.880 --> 04:05:09.680
obligated to say, "Oh, well, okay, how are we going to deal with that?" because this county is now saying that they're challenging this law on a constitutional basis, which is essentially what a county would do eventually uh if they were going to do something or this or you could get a group like for instance in this particular case in Washington,

702
04:05:09.680 --> 04:05:25.359
it involves the sheriff's uh being an appointed position rather than a uh elected position which the entire uh sheriff's association filed suit in that particular case. But it again it gives an opportunity for a county to say,

703
04:05:25.359 --> 04:05:40.880
"Okay, well this clearly is in violation of the constitution. We'd like to join those sheriffs in this because we would say that this is going to be an unconstitutional act that we want to support these folks in making sure that this does not see the light of day and it's never enforced. >> Wouldn't you though just have a court

704
04:05:40.880 --> 04:05:56.880
remedy in that case to be able to challenge it? And why would you need something locally that says you have the right to challenge it if you always do in fact have the ability to challenge things are are contrary to the constitution? >> What it gives you is something that's immediately in place that gives

705
04:05:56.880 --> 04:06:12.960
jurisdiction to local authorities. I'll give you an example in uh Arizona. Uh there was a situation where the city manager and the uh uh mayor uh had clearly violated uh title 18 241 and 242

706
04:06:12.960 --> 04:06:30.640
which is basically to uh say that they had tried to uh under the color of authority deny people their constitutional rights. Well, they couldn't find a venue to say, "Okay, well, this was actually a violation of people's constitutional rights that had violated their uh their first, their uh

707
04:06:30.640 --> 04:06:46.479
fourth, fifth, uh, and sometimes looking at the ninth amendments and 14th amendment types of issues. And so, since there was nothing in place to deal with that, there was no ability to hold folks accountable at a local level for having done so."

708
04:06:46.479 --> 04:07:02.080
So, at that point, again, like you could say, uh, like what I had a county attorney tell me at one point, he said, "Well, if you think we've done something unconstitutional, sue us." Well, that's lovely if you've got the ability to go through the the lawfare and all the

709
04:07:02.080 --> 04:07:18.239
things that go on into holding somebody accountable at that level. Whereas if you've already determined a process of determination at a county level, at a county jurisdiction to say, you know what, this is a unconstitutional act that you've done here and it needs to be

710
04:07:18.239 --> 04:07:34.800
addressed. And if if you read the enhanced version of what we do, we also talk about a a three- tier process of going through and being able to address issues like that. Because for instance, at the first level, it's kind of like saying, "Okay, excuse me. this was an unconstitutional act that took place

711
04:07:34.800 --> 04:07:50.000
here. And if you've not responded, if you haven't been able to come back and say why you believe that to be constitutional, then at this point then you're held accountable for that. And the the lower level issue is one, well, you're going to go to a constitutional compliance course. Well, when you go to

712
04:07:50.000 --> 04:08:05.680
a a higher level, like if you go to the the if you have three infractions on the same type of issue, at that point they say, "Okay, well, you're not you haven't uh learned from the class the fine at this point. They're going to do the uh

713
04:08:05.680 --> 04:08:20.560
full extent of what can be done uh in terms of >> I think not to cut you off. I think that this has been a fruitful initial conversation. would sabotage it and then have the debate once we had the full public. >> So we could provide to everybody in

714
04:08:20.560 --> 04:08:37.680
preparation for the next agenda item, the hybrid version that you put forward. >> Yeah. the the one that um that I worked on and then the call your county one and then everybody has a chance to do their own research and ask questions and then

715
04:08:37.680 --> 04:08:54.000
we can have this >> as an open meeting enhanced version as well that has all the various mechanisms that are involved with it that explain okay how do you go about actually implementing this >> okay all right so we will plan when when

716
04:08:54.000 --> 04:09:09.439
do we what's our next um meeting let's see is the 5th >> next week. >> Next Tuesday. >> Yeah. I I don't have time to advertise it for next Tuesday. We have a 10day advertising time, so it'll probably be the second meeting of May, >> the 19th.

717
04:09:09.439 --> 04:09:25.680
>> The 19th of May. Okay. All right. So, we will look forward to the 19th of May and we'll have a discussion and everybody has time to put their sink their teeth into this >> and and will we have the companion

718
04:09:25.680 --> 04:09:40.319
uh ordinance that we're going to take out of the county? >> Yeah, we got to find one. We >> find one that we got to remove. >> See, we remove an ordinance or remove something that uh >> I agree.

719
04:09:40.319 --> 04:09:57.840
So, we'll hopefully find that between now and then. >> Okay. >> Something about like drinking on Sundays or something. >> Is it about spitting on sidewalks? >> Spitting on sidewalks. No shooting squirrels. Something like that. You could probably find somewhere.

720
04:09:57.840 --> 04:10:13.680
>> Do we need to change the motion, Miss Marsh? >> Yes. The motion should be just should just be approval to advertise >> in its current form. Right. approval to advertise current form. >> Okay, so we're good. All right. All in favor say I. I.

721
04:10:13.680 --> 04:10:36.640
>> I. >> And that passes 40. Okay. Thank you for your time. Thank you for being here. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um, Maria. Good afternoon, commissioners. Marie Abdul Kim for the record, director of

722
04:10:36.640 --> 04:10:52.640
housing and community services. On today's agenda, we have a request from representatives from Atlantic Housing Partners, Mr. Craig Thomas and Mr. Scott Culp, here to present today a presentation related to the affordable housing project that they're working on

723
04:10:52.640 --> 04:11:08.479
for approval. They're here for approval for a letter of support and a local contribution in the amount of $460,000 to support the proposed 92 unit affordable housing development in Futland Park. This request is contingent upon the project receiving low-income

724
04:11:08.479 --> 04:11:28.800
housing tax credits and represents an opportunity to bring affordable housing units to our community. Mr. Thomas, >> good afternoon. Uh thank you guys uh everyone for taking the time. Um we'll we'd like to walk you through um a

725
04:11:28.800 --> 04:11:43.680
little bit about Waterview at Lake Geneva and our request for a letter of support and local contribution. Um really quickly we'll talk about who we are, share some information about the project uh design and community that we're looking to build. Um and talk a

726
04:11:43.680 --> 04:11:59.439
bit about the community engagement and the uh resources for residents that we have across Central Florida and in Lake County specifically. Uh we are Atlantic Housing uh uh partners. We, you know, live here. We work here. We invest here. Um we've

727
04:11:59.439 --> 04:12:15.439
built over 150 communities across Central Florida. Um and over 35,000 units. Um we are not, you know, private equity investment. We are, you know, local uh grassroots um built from from the start here in Central Florida. Uh we

728
04:12:15.439 --> 04:12:32.640
currently have built, own and manage uh 10,000 or a little over 10,000 units um and had recently uh completed some work in Lake County where we received your contribution um for Lake Saunders uh Lakefront Living. Um quick snapshot about the kind of life

729
04:12:32.640 --> 04:12:50.720
cycle of the uh of the project here and the sort of life cycle of the community. um at the principles of Atlantic Housing Partners own and manage the project and the development and the land from start to finish. Um we clarified some of this through our application but um we wanted

730
04:12:50.720 --> 04:13:05.600
to just share that we sort of control the life cycle and the you know from beginning to end. Um our experience in Lake County um we have 10 current uh developments and communities in Lake County. Um, seven of

731
04:13:05.600 --> 04:13:22.239
those have received some form of uh, county contribution or letter of support. Um, in 2024, uh, we requested and received your support for Saunders Lakefront Living. Um, your support does mean a lot to us. It's not something we take for granted and it's something that

732
04:13:22.239 --> 04:13:40.399
allows us to go and seek uh, you know, Florida housing tax credits um, to to build out and um, and complete the project. Uh we've taken uh we took uh Saunders Lakefront Living from um approval in April of 2024 to permit

733
04:13:40.399 --> 04:13:57.760
ready in August of 2025 to construction and CEO in November 2025. And that uh affordable phase is fully occupied today and we're um in the process of occupying some remaining units there. Um

734
04:13:57.760 --> 04:14:13.199
the project itself and the development itself um is 92 units consisting of 36 villas and 56 apartments. It'll be 100% affordable and we'll break down some of those metrics and and unit mix here in a minute. Um it's 100% funded without

735
04:14:13.199 --> 04:14:29.920
third party financing. Um we're not waiting on funding. We're not waiting on, you know, rates to get lower. Um we've invested the money in developing the upfront. We've got the project near permit ready. Uh the construction documents are complete and um we're looking for your support as we approach

736
04:14:29.920 --> 04:14:48.720
the application process for a permit ready application. In terms of affordability, of the 92 units, 14 of those units, about 15% will serve uh the lowest level at 30% AMI. uh 57 of those units um will be at the low

737
04:14:48.720 --> 04:15:05.680
level of 60% and 21 of the units will cover the 80% uh AMI. These are based on um you know the um we'll we'll go into the rents in a second. Um these are based on the projected 2026 HUD incomes. Um in terms of the rents, we have a

738
04:15:05.680 --> 04:15:22.159
snapshot here. We can, you know, there's a lot of numbers on the page and we're happy to walk you through if you have any questions. Um but we're we we based the net rents are you know um based on the 2026 like I said uh projected HUD incomes.

739
04:15:22.159 --> 04:15:37.760
Uh we are agreeing to a 50-year compliance period uh which is well beyond the the minimum of 15. Um but we really want to provide a long-term uh affordability period for Lake County residents. Um, in terms of design and community,

740
04:15:37.760 --> 04:15:55.279
when we build uh our developments and communities across Central Florida and in Lake County, we don't distinguish between affordable and market rate in terms of the quality of the build. Um, in some cases, we have affordable and market rate, you know, identical units within a property. Uh, we'd like to walk

741
04:15:55.279 --> 04:16:10.960
you through some of the design here. Um, and just share with you what we're looking to build. Um, the project itself is on Spring Lake Road just west of 441. Um it's overlooking Lake Geneva. Uh we have a series of lakefront

742
04:16:10.960 --> 04:16:26.720
apartments um just on the north side of the property. We'll go back to the site plan in a minute. Um but the these are more of your typical it's a two-story building but more of your typical um multif family apartments. Um these are

743
04:16:26.720 --> 04:16:43.279
this is a concept uh in plan but it's a project that we built. It's very similar to what we built in Mount Dora at Saunders Lakefront Living. Uh they're two-bedroom, one bath units, all with lake views sort of stacked across the lake. Um these are examples of what

744
04:16:43.279 --> 04:16:58.000
we're what we're going to be building um with your support. Um but we, you know, we kind of go through with granite countertops and nice finishes and LVT flooring and it's not something that we um you know, pull back on from a an

745
04:16:58.000 --> 04:17:14.640
affordability standpoint. The other portion of the units will be garden villas. Uh we have one and two-bedroom garden villas that sort of set back across the lake to offer sort of a diverse type of uh portfolio. Um and you know and living quarters. Um

746
04:17:14.640 --> 04:17:30.800
these would they have like I said one and two bedrooms. This is depicting the two bedroom two bath villa. Um each of those sit around sort of a a you know uh garden and community area um throughout the site. Um, in terms of amenities, we have a

747
04:17:30.800 --> 04:17:48.080
large club space and outdoor amenities overlooking the lake and a walk around the um the pond there uh that get you out by the lake. Uh we uh we put pool tables and kitchens and communal spaces and we really, you know, um look to maximize outdoor

748
04:17:48.080 --> 04:18:03.600
amenities for the residents. Um, in terms of community engagement, you know, we uh right now in 2026, we're scheduled to host 1352 events for our residents across Central Florida. 151 of those are

749
04:18:03.600 --> 04:18:22.399
scheduled in Lake County. Um some of the uh services are job training. Some of them are about self-sufficiency. Some of them for in our affordable communities are about educating the residents on financial literacy or educating the residents on how to uh obtain services

750
04:18:22.399 --> 04:18:39.840
and social services. Um in addition to just what we do in our um in the communities themselves. Um, in at the end of last year, we hosted a job fair for local residents beyond just our uh our residents, but just local residents in Lake County. Um, from a local

751
04:18:39.840 --> 04:18:56.720
employment standpoint point, we're going to be bidding out to over 25 subcontractor 25 different trades, multiple trade, you know, multiple subcontractors for each trade. Um, with the opportunity for local residents to be employed in the construction of the uh the development. Um, and we support

752
04:18:56.720 --> 04:19:14.239
and and hire an on-site management staff um who lives and works on site on every one of our properties. Um, that is uh Waterview at Lake Geneva in a nutshell and we're open to questions group.

753
04:19:14.239 --> 04:19:29.600
All right. Um, as far as questions, let me just check with Commissioner Morris. I know he sits on our affordable housing advisory committee and he also is the commissioner from Fruitland Park or that serves that district. Commissioner

754
04:19:29.600 --> 04:19:45.760
Morris, you have any questions or comments? >> I've looked through the proposal. It looks good. Uh the only thing I will say is we did have one developer come in and they said they were going to have affordable housing and they're going to do it as a lifetime and not a 50-year. But I do appreciate the 50 years over

755
04:19:45.760 --> 04:20:04.159
the 15. >> It's a good project. >> Thank you. >> So is this in the city of Frandland Park? >> Is in the city of Futland Park. >> Have they approved the project? >> The site plan was has been approved by Well, the zoning is approved, but we've

756
04:20:04.159 --> 04:20:24.239
actually taken the site plan through the staff level approval. Last week we were approved at planning and zoning and we're on for the May 14th city council for the approval there >> as affordable housing or something >> as affordable housing. >> Um yeah I I did want to ask Commissioner

757
04:20:24.239 --> 04:20:40.560
Harks, do you have a question? >> I think I think easy questions but just for the general audience the 30% of area median income, what does that mean? And then the 50-year compliance period I do agree that's that's good. That's better. A lot better. Um, >> okay. >> Also, so this is open to anybody in

758
04:20:40.560 --> 04:20:56.960
those incomes, right? It's not a it's not senior. Not that I don't have anything against seniors, but it's open. It's just general. So, this is a workforce. That's what I thought. >> We currently do not have a an age restriction plan for the community. >> You don't have an age restriction, but you have an income restriction, right?

759
04:20:56.960 --> 04:21:12.319
>> We do have an income restriction. >> Yes, that makes sense. I just want Yeah, because some I've seen some that are age restricted and income, too, as well. >> It's not a designated senior community. Yeah. >> Okay. So this could help with workforce housing issues and people that are working hard, they just Yeah,

760
04:21:12.319 --> 04:21:27.199
>> absolutely. Especially those folks around the 80% I think are closer to the workforce level. >> Okay. Right. >> So, my my big problem these days is that we have um a provision under the Livo

761
04:21:27.199 --> 04:21:44.479
Local Act um that now Lake County, although we opted out of originally we don't have the ability to opt out of and that has to do with property tax exemptions on affordable housing. And so, you know, in the past we opted out,

762
04:21:44.479 --> 04:21:59.199
we still collected property taxes. Now, we don't have the authority to do that because of a calculation over the Orlando, Lake County, our our market

763
04:21:59.199 --> 04:22:14.399
area, and they've decided that um we don't have enough affordable housing and therefore we have to give tax breaks to projects like this going forward. So help me out with that one because on one

764
04:22:14.399 --> 04:22:30.800
hand you're asking us for $470,000 to help you get the project, >> you know, the financing that Florida allows for projects like this. On the other hand, we're going to be losing tax dollars.

765
04:22:30.800 --> 04:22:44.880
>> I I can help clarify >> tax dollars. Correct. >> No. Um I can help clarify that for you. I'm Scott Culp. I'm a principal one of the owners of Atlantic Housing. been developing affordable housing for hardly can believe it 40 years now um in

766
04:22:44.880 --> 04:23:02.560
central Florida and very well aware of uh the live local act and the provisions under there with regard to the real estate tax exemptions. The exclusion you have for 9% low-income housing tax credit uh properties are not eligible for that exemption uh specifically in

767
04:23:02.560 --> 04:23:17.760
the Florida statutes. So 9% low-income housing tax credit communities like we would be eligible to apply for with the contribution. The 460,000 is the minimum contribution in a medium-sized county. Florida Housing Finance Corporation

768
04:23:17.760 --> 04:23:35.840
define separates counties by size. Medium-sized counties, the minimum contribution is 460,000 to be eligible for the low-income housing tax credits, 9% low-income housing tax credits. With those tax credits, there is a specific exclusion for the uh communities that

769
04:23:35.840 --> 04:23:51.359
have a Florida Housing Finance Corporation extended use agreement under that program. So, we would be paying real estate taxes um based upon the income approach, which was the statute prior to uh the Live Local Act. that act

770
04:23:51.359 --> 04:24:07.760
was specific to communities that were not supported uh by the 9% low-income housing tax credit. As you're I'm sure you're probably aware, there's no actual funding coming from the federal or state government for that program. That's a annual tax credit that we receive in

771
04:24:07.760 --> 04:24:23.439
exchange for uh keeping those units affordable. It's very competitive. It is a resource that works well and has since 1985, I believe, in creating affordable housing. Um, but it doesn't uh necessitate the need to have that real

772
04:24:23.439 --> 04:24:40.960
estate tax exemption to make it long-term economically sustainable. So, I hope that helps to answer the question. >> So, you will be paying Yes. >> at the alarm tax. >> Yes. Assuming that we receive the 9% low income housing tax credit uh allocation,

773
04:24:40.960 --> 04:24:57.600
your 460,000 is contingent upon our receipt of that. We don't receive your $460,000 in contribution until the units are placed in service and we have the allocation of the low-income housing tax credits. >> Okay. Does everybody understand that?

774
04:24:57.600 --> 04:25:12.880
>> Yeah, I've got one more question. Are you going to be asking for any impact waiver fees when you build this thing? >> No, we're not. >> Okay. >> Okay. Well, that's that's a good question. Appreciate you asking that. >> We like to ask every year, but um it go really goes back to the same thing. The

775
04:25:12.880 --> 04:25:29.279
9% low-income housing tax credit program is a program that works very well uh across the country and helps us with regard to the ability over the long term. We don't build, fill, sell anything. Uh all of our communities we're keeping in our portfolio for the long term. We've never sold anything in

776
04:25:29.279 --> 04:25:45.600
less than 18 years. Um but we can keep them economically sustainable with the 9% credit. We don't need the other incentives. Now, when we come to you for other types of bond only programs or sale programs, other programs that are available, those have gaps. And that's

777
04:25:45.600 --> 04:26:01.520
when we're coming to the county and saying, "Here's a gap. We can help provide for the affordability, but this one won't have the gap. We need the 460,000 to be eligible for the tax credits at the state level." >> Okay. All right. It it gets confusing because

778
04:26:01.520 --> 04:26:18.800
there's all these different types of >> I said I've been doing this 40 years, so it's becomes kind of commonplace to me, but it's it's not common place and not simple. There's >> Okay. What about restricting it to existing Lake County residents? >> We're not allowed to do that. Uh that'

779
04:26:18.800 --> 04:26:34.399
be a violation of the federal fair housing to restrict it to Lake County residents. Um so we have to take for the tax credit program those people that qualify. We can do uh non-discriminatory qualification process. Uh the income

780
04:26:34.399 --> 04:26:50.159
approach u is a requirement. So we can do that. But we can't tell the people that they have to already be a Lake County resident. Now we can and we often do open up early type of registration for pre-leasasing uh for residents of

781
04:26:50.159 --> 04:27:04.960
the of the county or the city that we're in. and we're allowed to do that, but we can't restrict units and hold them open, hold them available for Lake County residents. It'd be a violation of the Fair Housing Act. >> Okay. So, but it's a matter of when you put it out there for availability, you

782
04:27:04.960 --> 04:27:21.359
can do that on a more of a localized bas. >> We can advertise and market very focused to something that the county in their commitment letter uh asks us to do and focus on. uh we just can't not take an applicant that otherwise qualifies

783
04:27:21.359 --> 04:27:37.840
because they're not uh living currently in the county >> and it could be a senior, right? Because it's not age restricted. >> Because it's not age restricted, it could be a senior. Unless we restrict it for age, we're not able to, you know, make any differentiation based upon the age.

784
04:27:37.840 --> 04:27:53.359
>> And this, you know, obviously goes to that overall situation. We were talking about homelessness earlier and sometimes it's, you know, that one thing that then puts somebody in a scenario where they're living in a hotel or on someone else's sofa. Um, and it it's, you know,

785
04:27:53.359 --> 04:28:08.880
on one hand, it's hard to argue that, um, you know, we're trying to keep people from, you know, being in that situation. Um, but then we're not going to have opportunities like this for them to be able to, um, qualify for.

786
04:28:08.880 --> 04:28:25.840
>> Yeah. And I will point out that um just Lake as Craig mentioned Lake Saunders Shores, it was actually the first 9% low-inccome housing tax credit community that was developed under the permit ready preference that came out from Florida Housing Finance Corporation a couple years ago. This community is

787
04:28:25.840 --> 04:28:40.640
going to be permit ready in the application this year and that gives us a preference. So we have the ability for Lake County in particular because there's obviously a number of medium counties. you get into a very competitive cycle. Those developers that have the resources to go ahead and

788
04:28:40.640 --> 04:28:56.159
complete actually purchase the property that we own, complete the uh construction documents and the permitting process, we have a preference in the application process. >> Okay. All right. And then the last thing goes to something Commissioner Smith asked. The last thing I want to do is is authorize or approve something that

789
04:28:56.159 --> 04:29:15.680
would be contrary to what the city of um Futland Park wants to do. So, I just want to make sure that we're on that same page with the city of Fruitland Park. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Any other questions? Any other comments? All right. Back to the board.

790
04:29:15.680 --> 04:29:38.800
Do we have a motion? >> Request. What's the original? Can you put the >> put the request up? The request is for a local contribution for a lowincome housing tax credit program through the Florida Housing

791
04:29:38.800 --> 04:29:55.359
Finance Corporation and a letter of commitment as well. And just to give you a little bit of a range, a family of four residing in the project would serve, for example, on the higher end, their maximum income limit would be about 126,000. That's on the

792
04:29:55.359 --> 04:30:12.479
higher end. And then uh related to the home units on the lowest end, highest income would be in the $30,000 range. And they have uh uh set aside five units for the home HUD program, but the majority of the units will serve the workforce housing that they're

793
04:30:12.479 --> 04:30:31.520
interested in serving. So that gives you a good range of what the income levels will be, >> right? >> And we don't know if they'll get it or not, right? And this is 100% grant funded. So I'll make a motion to approve. >> Second. >> Thank you.

794
04:30:31.520 --> 04:30:47.439
>> I'm sorry. Commissioner, did you have a question? >> Well, I didn't know for sure if they would get the the financing or not. I mean, you're competing. >> There's a lot there's a lot of hoops I got to jump through anyway. >> So, we don't know for sure that we would have >> they do need the commitment from the county for their application period for their application.

795
04:30:47.439 --> 04:31:05.680
>> Yes. >> Yes. Right. Okay. So, we had a motion. We had a second. >> All right. All in favor say I. >> I. Uh any opposed? >> No. >> All right. Moving along then to uh reports. >> Um county manager.

796
04:31:05.680 --> 04:31:21.279
>> Nothing for me. >> Commissioner Sabatini. >> Just that uh session obviously they're in session now on the maps, but uh the real budget's coming up next month. It's a budget session, but a lot of policy is going to be discussed, too. I think I could be totally wrong, but it's a high

797
04:31:21.279 --> 04:31:38.319
possibility. So, make sure you're being diligent in speaking about some of the terrible bills. And I just have to say this for the record. Um, policywise, our legislature did, in fact, and there are our delegation is no exception, push policies that are universally hostile to

798
04:31:38.319 --> 04:31:53.760
the majority of the will of the people who live in Lake County. The single worst bill to make it all the way through the legislative session, which has already been signed into law last week, which is one of the worst bills ever passed in the history of the state of Florida since 1845, is a bill pertaining to agricultural enclaves.

799
04:31:53.760 --> 04:32:10.800
Now, thankfully, we were spared uh by like sort of the razor's edge um language in the bill that would have included basically every large property uh in our county that's right now designated as agricultural. Had it been

800
04:32:10.800 --> 04:32:26.319
structured even slightly differently, u basically every farm in the county could automatically become um decently dense residential housing overnight through an administrative direction with no vote or public hearing. I've talked to our

801
04:32:26.319 --> 04:32:43.199
attorney and our staff and their tenative position now, I just reviewed it this morning, is that the agricultural enclave property does not affect certain properties that are of high public interest in the community. uh that I had to that I specifically requested be reviewed in

802
04:32:43.199 --> 04:32:59.760
regard to that law. Uh but what I will say is uh it's a terrible law. It's extremely destructive. It's shocking how little public scrutiny it got in the public eye. And the reason why is because the so-called blue ribbon bill which was universally I mean considered

803
04:32:59.760 --> 04:33:14.799
to be the worst bill filed this session did die but it took everyone's interest most of the public u public advocacy uh interests in to to focus on that one and so a lot of this agricultural enclave bill making was totally unscrutinized

804
04:33:14.799 --> 04:33:31.920
and ignored and it made it through. Everyone in our lake county delegation voted for it. Uh and it's just an absolute terrible bill. At the trajectory we have now, there won't be any agricultural agriculture whatsoever in the state of Florida in 25 years. Probably not even sugar. Um based on

805
04:33:31.920 --> 04:33:47.119
what's happening right now, it'll just be low-income housing from coast to coast. Um and so the state of Florida is being utterly destroyed and our delegation um willfully assisted in it and voted for it and praise the bill. So, um, hope everybody takes a look at

806
04:33:47.119 --> 04:34:03.920
that and strongly considers getting very involved in lobbying efforts to stop bills that literally turn every farm in the state of Florida into highdensity housing overnight, which is, um, been the official policy in Florida over the last few years. So, uh, terrible bill.

807
04:34:03.920 --> 04:34:19.199
Uh, made it through, uh, but I guess technically could be worse. So, that's all. >> Okay. Um, Commissioner Parks. >> Yes.

808
04:34:19.199 --> 04:34:36.480
Well, I made it back obviously um from the Florida Wildlife Corridor trek. Um, I don't even know where to start. It's an amazing experience. I'm still trying to put it all together. Um, the everything that we did and the

809
04:34:36.480 --> 04:34:52.080
perspectives gained. There's a lot that I thought I knew about Florida. um that could be applied to Lake County and realize there's so much more that I learned on the trek and what could be brought back here to Lake County.

810
04:34:52.080 --> 04:35:08.240
I think some common themes are uh more uh collaboration. Um there's some really good science out there that we just haven't used yet. Um it's available to us. There's a common thread among whether

811
04:35:08.240 --> 04:35:24.160
you're uh Democrat, Republican, whatever you are that is I knew was, you know, here prevalent here. But it's this was just amazing to see that and this part of North Florida going from

812
04:35:24.160 --> 04:35:39.600
that was called the lighthouse uh it was called I'm sorry the longleaf to lighthouse trek starting at Thomasville and ending at the St. Mark's Lighthouse. um still trying to process it all. Um there uh is there was only four of us,

813
04:35:39.600 --> 04:35:56.879
but I'll tell you there's probably 50 people behind the scenes that are going to make this movie happen that's going to come out in August. Not August, I'm sorry. Uh, probably October, Novemberish in that time frame. That will, I hope, inspire a lot of people to

814
04:35:56.879 --> 04:36:13.840
um to, you know, obviously promote the Florida Wildlife Quarter. And we have two corridors that two parts of the corridor that come through Lake County. It's very, very unusual. Not a lot of counties have that. Um, there are one or two counties that actually don't have a wildlife corridor. Um, that's actually been mapped. We have north through

815
04:36:13.840 --> 04:36:29.600
Wakiva and then south through uh Green Swamp. um a couple of critical links that have been protected. One in wellness way but also Wakiva is extremely important but also what happens in between those is going to be important well as well the coral

816
04:36:29.600 --> 04:36:45.439
corridor compatible communities and what we can do to get um use a transportation term some more on-ramps to the to the corridor. Um I think it's what's amazing is the again this um coalition that's coming

817
04:36:45.439 --> 04:37:00.719
together of those that are in a agriculture um the conservation those that have been in nonprofit conservation work just for public land which helped us um nature conservancy for many many years the scientists at

818
04:37:00.719 --> 04:37:18.080
Archbald the scientists at Tall Timbers um all coming together and and then meeting the land owners I think was a was a pretty cool missing component I'd not seen kind of talking to individual land owners here but then in North Florida as well and they're um you know

819
04:37:18.080 --> 04:37:34.561
how they're inspired and thinking about the next generation and that's what this was all about. I can't say enough about the Florida Wildlife Quarter Foundation again to put on something like this and a camera crew to trek through the places that we went which you'll see in the in

820
04:37:34.561 --> 04:37:50.561
the the film um was amazing. Kudos to them as well. So, it it it should be really good. I hope it I hope it'll inspire us. But I I'm just a thousand more percent um a little tired right now. Still trying to get back on some of the sleep, but um because it was

821
04:37:50.561 --> 04:38:06.160
non-stop, but I'm a thousand% more inspired about what the Corridor Foundation is doing and what we can do here uh to promote conservation, keep our culture of conservation and agriculture is a real key for us in Lake Hats, the future and how we move

822
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together. And there's maybe some things I'm gonna bring back uh to the to Lake County that we can do um with local leaders here. Um next steps, which >> could it involve taking a long hike together? >> It could. It it just may do that through

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some of our own wildlife quarters. Yeah. Which you'll be the first to be volunteered for that. >> Uh there's no there's no uh hotels, cabins, or anything. This is >> camping only. Yeah, camping only. We might be able to find a different version for people. But anyway, I I'm um

824
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again, I'm just trying to put it all together. I'll have amazing stories. I'll probably just pull them out on occasion. Oh yeah, I remember this. I remember this now that what happened and how it might apply to a discussion. So bear with me. I kind of go off on that those a little bit sometimes. But um all

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that to say, it was certainly a uh once in a-lifetime experience uh for me and uh will forever change and help um how I look at policy. >> Did you have any wild animal encounters that

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>> I mean we got got close to some pretty big alligators, a lot of owls, a lot of Sherman fox squirrel. I mean I have we had a whole list and all kinds of burer birds. It was expert people along the way that were experts in every kind of wildlife. So, we got to learn a lot about that.

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>> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Well, congratulations on successfully achieving that and yeah, making it the whole distance and and for all the experiences that you had in that. Uh >> yeah, and and my my fellow trackers, you

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know, Commissioner Rick Miner from Lyon County and uh Jack Porter, she's a council woman on at Tallahassee. um and and Becky Troutman down as a as a commissioner in um P County as well. So, it was the four of us. So, kind of a good mix. >> Was it two Republicans, two Democrats?

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>> It was. It was. But we never >> And you're still a Republican, right? >> I am. Of course. Yeah. But that Yeah. Yeah. >> All right. Just giving you a hard time. >> No, I mean, and that's the thing. I mean, there was this the Republicans I mean, it's it's not one of those issues or a blue issue or a red issue. And I

830
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wish more people would realize that. I mean it it it's it's for both of us. So I am I am uh I'll quote Teddy Roosevelt as you know uh as often as u being a good example of cons conservation who was a Republican, >> right? >> Yeah.

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>> Yeah. And the father of our national park. So >> that's right. Yeah. So more to more to come on that but um thank you and I know Jeff out here in commun communications was following me a little bit. I couldn't get him text sometimes. We didn't have cell mobile service. Thank you for following us, following me on

832
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that. >> All right, great. Good job. Um, Commissioner Smith, >> I don't I don't have a um a lot to report other than uh today happens to be uh my wife, April's birthday. I will not

833
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tell you her age because I like sleeping safely, but uh just wanted to say happy birthday, April. >> All right. Happy birthday too, April. Um, and Commissioner Morris. >> Well, I've text April and she says she's

834
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39 and holding. So, and I also told her to have Kirby take her somewhere really nice tonight. I appreciate y'all putting up with me today. I I'm a little under the weather. I brought some uh British uh stuff back that nobody wanted. So, uh

835
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I appreciate y'all putting up with me today. All right. Well, thank thanks for participating even when you don't feel very well. So, we appreciate getting your input. Um, okay. On my report, a couple things. Um, while Commissioner Parks was off, uh, hiking around the

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state, um, I was covering the, um, EUAS um, urban I'm trying to institute the landscape. Um, it was a two-day uh, event. We were involved um with um the

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one of the one of the programs and we were focused on wellness way and the landscape uh ordinance there and it was very wellreceived. It was um um I think I I personally think that it all went very well and that people that were

838
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there at the event, they were really interested in what we were doing and what we've been able to accomplish so far and had a lot of great questions and um but the focus being that Wellness Way is on the Lake Wells Ridge and obviously we've got to do something about water conservation and find ways to still

839
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landscape and have pretty yards and places to be outside in our own yards while also not using I think the number was somewhere between like 50 to 60% 40 to 60% of water that we as Central Florida residents consume is our um

840
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irrigation. Um so when we can cut that down, we can make a big difference. And so kudos to you and all your work on that and and staff's work on uh you know we we talked a lot about u the fact that we had to bring together a lot of people and get input a lot of stakeholders and

841
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that it did not turn out exactly the way that it started um because we were listening and we were taking input and we were trying to balance those interests. Um, but at the end of the day, I think the product is something that um you can be proud of and that Lake County can be proud of and and that

842
04:43:33.840 --> 04:43:49.520
I think the homeowners that reside in those areas and they get the opportunity to actually implement that Florida friendly and native plant um um yard. It's going to be a positive thing that other counties and municipalities will look at. So, >> thank you for filming. Appreciate that.

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You I'm sure you did a great job. >> Well, I was trying to channel uh Commissioner Parks and my comments. >> It was Tuesday. I was probably stuck in the mud somewhere. So, >> um, okay. So, um, let's see real quick. Uh, Commissioner Parks and I were down at the Farm Bureau dinner last night and that was at Southern Hills Blueberry

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Farm. That was amazing. That venue is spectacular. Anybody that has not visited that as a Lake County resident, you've got to check it out. I hear that Commissioner Sabatini is a regular there. Um and but it's beautiful and so great venue and kudos to to that um to

845
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those farmers and um and then um also um to the farm bureau and they had cattleman cattleman's association folks that were there. Um so good good event. They do a great job trying to keep their community um cohesive. Um we were out at the fair um Commissioner Parks before

846
04:44:39.760 --> 04:44:55.920
you left on your trip. He was there. We we were there for the steer auction >> and we actually got to look for people that were bidding on the steer. >> Yeah. So that was really great and also seeing the kids the FFA students um participants and 4 amazing. These kids

847
04:44:55.920 --> 04:45:12.080
are really really outstanding the work that they do ra they call them their projects but you know they're raising these animals and preparing them to to be auctioned off or to show them at the fair. And it's just really heartwarming to see how much goes into that, how much

848
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responsibility it takes. They learn economics. Um they learn, you know, animal science. Um it's just all around a good program and we've got a lot of great kids in Lake County and parents that are supporting them um with those efforts. Um, I I've been working closely

849
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with um um Bobby and Justin and water authority folks on um and county attorney's office on getting signage at um the Sandbar area and Silver Glenn. Um law enforcement has been handing out um

850
04:45:45.360 --> 04:46:01.040
a publication that was put together by um our information folks um explaining what the rules are. Um, so far so good as long as you had law enforcement right there, but there was questions about where does it start, where does it end. So, this is going to go a long way once

851
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that signage is available. And then at that point, it's up to the sheriff's um department and marine patrol to to issue those citations and and hopefully get that situation under control so people can still have a good time and not um, you know, encroach on other people's

852
04:46:16.718 --> 04:46:32.638
rights um, while they're having a good time. Um I went to the Kaiba Basin Commission meeting. Um I brought up um to that group um which includes all of the major state agencies and FDOT is there um the problem with the ramp um at

853
04:46:32.638 --> 04:46:51.200
46 um where it stacks onto the Parkway and it also stacks on 46A for a really far distance. I've actually heard that um some mornings um it is almost all the way over to 44. So, I'm just bringing that up as I look at um some of our

854
04:46:51.200 --> 04:47:07.200
public works folks to let them know we've got to stay on DOT. Um there's got to be some sort of a study or evaluation on how that can be addressed because it's blocking the parkway for one, but it's making it impossible for people to get down there and make their commute um

855
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and get on the Parkway. So, um let's see. But they they did report that the use of the parkway is way above um what was originally calculated and estimated. Um last thing, let's see um just to

856
04:47:23.040 --> 04:47:40.400
highlight uh information that went out last night um about the alligator incident at the Pine Meadows Conservation Area to remind everyone it is alligator mating season. You cannot be careful enough. And those that have pets, small children, do not go along

857
04:47:40.400 --> 04:47:56.480
lake shores, especially vegetated areas. You will not see alligators usually. Um they they blend. This is what how it works. And they're more aggressive and moving around uh this time of year. And you got to just be super careful. So, um, that was just a reminder to everyone

858
04:47:56.480 --> 04:48:12.958
in the county to be careful and especially folks that have moved to Florida in this area recently that don't realize what a danger that is. Um, so, um, and one last thing just to mention that, um, we did, you may you may know this, but we did get our water

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04:48:12.958 --> 04:48:29.360
management district permit from St. John's for Brit Road and our staff is working closely with FDOT and we're just waiting any any minute now up until May 14th. Um they have until May 14th um DOT to issue their approval so we can take

860
04:48:29.360 --> 04:48:44.160
that out to bid. Um so we're hoping that it comes sooner than that because once that happens then um staff can move along with procurement and we can start working out there. So, um just want to give hope to the people that have been waiting for that road um to help with

861
04:48:44.160 --> 04:49:01.200
their commute and um it will be a happy day in Lake County when we're able to start doing that work. >> Okay. All right. With that, um other than being April's birthday, what day is it today, Commissioner Smith? >> Well, there's one more thing I I I forgot to mention, and I'm segueing off

862
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of you, too. Uh City of Mount Dora had a phenomenal Arbor Day celebration. So very well attended. But in case you were wondering, today is National Blueberry Pie Day. >> Perfect. All right.

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>> All I have >> Okay. All right. Very good. We got We have a lot of blueberries. Well, we're struggling with blueberries because of the the cold weather, but a lot of opportunities for blueberries in Lake County. >> All right, we stand a journ.

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Oh yeah.