--------- [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] I will call this meeting into order at 300 p.m. Commissioners, good to see you all. Everyone have a have a good weekend. Mr. County Administrator, Madam
Attorney, I will uh lead the meeting by calling my good friend uh Dr. Judy Mandrel to do the invocation. She is the pastor of Life Changers Church. Dr. Mandrel, it's great to see you. >> Great to see you too, sir. Thank you.
May we all stand and bow our head, please. Heavenly Father, Almighty God and Creator and God of all nations, we come before you today with grateful hearts as we gather for this monthly meeting of
the county commission. We thank you for the privilege of leadership, for the beauty of our county, for the diverse and resilient people who call this community home. We ask for your divine wisdom to rest upon this commission today.
Grant these commissioners leadership, chairman Christian comban and vice chairman David O'Keefe, the district representatives, the atlarge representative. Lord, our leaders and public servants, give them clarity of
mind, soundness of judgment and a spirit of cooperation. as they deliberate on policies and budget and future plans. Remove any spirit of division and replace it with a shared vision for the common good. Give them the courage to
make decisions that are fair, equitable, and just. May their choices reflect a deep commitment to the elevation and well-being of every citizen from our youth to our elders and from our local business owner to our most valuable
neighbors. Help them to lead with integrity, always remembering that true leadership is defined by service to others. We pray our community today. We pray for our community today. Bless our families, protect our first responder,
and prosper the work of our hands. May the discussion held in this chamber today ignite hope and give a stronger, more united county for generation to come. And God, we just thank you for your healing and your peace in this
city. We pray for further covering by you. And we ask this and that we place this meeting in your hand. In your son Jesus name we pray. Amen. >> Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. We're going to start with Commissioner
Maddox's proclamation recognizing the upcoming retirement of Mr. Doug Cook, principal of Rickerts High School. >> All right. Uh, if I could have school board member Jones come up. Uh, Mr. Come
on up. >> All right. Mr. Mr. Chair, the proclamation reads, "Whereas Principal Cook has devoted more than three decades of ex exemplary service to public education, his unwavering commitment to student success and school improvement established him
as a respected and influential leader whose contributions helped strengthen the education foundation of generations of students. And whereas Principal Cook began his distinguished career in education uh in 1991
at Cobb Middle School where he faithfully served in numerous capacities including teacher of industrial education, specializing in graphics, drafting and photography, sixth grade team leader, dean of students, assistant principal for discipline, and assistant
principal for curriculum. >> [clears throat] >> demonstrating exceptional versatility, dedication, and leadership throughout his tenure. And whereas in 2009, Principal Cook was appointed principal of Munford Middle School where his visionary leadership and focus on on
academic achievement guided the school to recognition as one of the top 50 middle schools in the state of Florida based on student testing performance. And whereas in 2012, Principal Cook accepted the principal uh the position of principal of James S. Rickerts High
School, embarking upon a tenure characterized by excellence, innovation, and remarkable accomplishment that evaluated that elevated elevated the school's reputation and fostered a culture of achievement. And whereas
under his outstanding leadership, James S. Rickers High School achieved historic milestones, including becoming the first title one school in Florida to win a state championship in science Olympiad while also earning national
championships in two categories, demonstrating that academic excellence knows no boundary. And whereas during his tenure tenure, Rickards High School celebrate celebrated numerous athletic achievements including the 2019 and 2020
uh boys state championship, the 2020 football state runner-up title and two girls basketball state final four appearances, reflecting a commitment to excellence in both academic and extracurricular activities. And whereas
Principal Cook uh championed academic achievement and student success resulting in 14 consecutive years with an average graduation rate of 90% or higher, a B rate B school rating in 2019 and the school's largest graduating
class of the millennium with 380 graduates. And whereas Principal Cook's core leadership platform has always centered on communication, safety, and security, and graduation. Three pillars, three pillars he consistently upheld throughout his 14 years as a high school
principal and 35 years as an educator. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the board of county commissioners, Leon County, Florida, that we do hereby honor principal Doug Cook for his uh for his unwavering service to education and
extend it and extend our deepest gratitude and appreciation for his many years of commitment to the students and the families of our community. It's assigned by the chair as well as the county administrator and the rest of the commission. Um, Principal Cook, thank
you, sir. [applause] [applause] >> You know, first of all, I'd like to thank God foremost because without God that we can't do anything. And I'd like to thank my wife for putting up with me
as a high school principal all those years traveling with the football team, the science team, the math competition. That is truly amazing and she's done a wonderful job and thank you. [applause] I want to thank Commissioner Maddox,
Commissioner Proctor, uh, Commissioner Cummings, and my school board representative, I have to shake his hand, Mr. Daryl Jones for their support throughout the years. When I think about my journey in 1991 as I continue to move
forward in education, none of these things you think about, nor do you want any type of recognition. You do this because you love what you do. You love your students, you love your community, and you always want to
give back. So to be honored today is truly amazing, a great accomplishment, but at the end of the day, I would do it all over again for the students, the parents, and the community because that is truly what is important and what you guys do each and every day, thinking
about our community, making sure that we do things for our community and for each other. That is what makes Leyon County Schools the best place or Lyon County the best place to live and work. So, with that being said, thank you to all
the educators and everybody that I've had an opportunity to work with throughout my 35 year career. Thank you. And I truly appreciate this and I will accept this humbly because this is something that I will cherish always. Thank you. [applause]
All right, commissioners. After this after this picture, we're going to go back to proper order. We're going to go in proper order now that Commissioner Proctor's here. Mr. Vice Chair, Mr. Car Minister, when they're done, you're good to go ahead and introduce the next proclamation with Commissioner Proctor. >> Mr. Chairman, if I might,
>> of course. Moment of privilege for Mr. Cook. Uh M. Cook uh had the um prior to his coming to Rickers. Uh he had a difficult task. He had three Proctor children uh in his school at Mford when he was principal
there. And um on behalf of uh their mother, Mr. Cook, we apologize for all the extra grief. [laughter] And I know she came up there, you know, with guns blazing, you know, and I used to feel so bad for you and she was very intense. We thank you for your service
to District 1 in ways well beyond the words uh on that proclamation. And um it's just hard. Let me see. Let me see. Yeah, it's going to be hard to fill your shoes and um yeah, hard to feel. And we're going to miss you all, but with
much love. Uh we honor you because you're bigger than the principal at Rickert. Um school board member Jones will tell you he's larger than life. He's a father. He's um he's uncle he's he's so much more and family Mrs. Cook.
So, thank you all so very much. [applause] Mr. Chairman, commissioners, next up is a proclamation recognizing the 50th year of ministry of the Restoration Church of Christ by Commissioner Proctor. Commissioners, it's a joy uh thanking um
M. Cook who's already acknowledged uh the value of faith uh faith in doing one's work, faith in a community rotating its values around and truly uh
faith um uh Dr. Mandrel that carries our families, our lives, our institutions forward. It's an honor to recognize uh a faith uh community and institution.
Um and it's an honor to recognize uh the Restoration Church of Christ. Uh a staunch uh faith community and um I knew something was happening. Uh yeah,
Rich, bring me some glasses. I got them on the on the thingy right there by Commissioner Cummings. Excuse me. >> Thank you. Apologize for not being able to see. All right. Proclamation. Whereas the Tallahassee community has
been richly blessed by the enduring presence and ministry of Restoration Church of Christ, a beacon of faith, service, and spiritual leadership for over 50 years. And whereas Restoration Church of Christ stands firmly upon the apostolic doctrine first proclaimed on
the day of Pentecost faithfully teaching repentance, baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the infilling of the Holy Ghost. And whereas the church's roots are connected to the Progressive Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, Inc.
founded in 1944 through which the apostolic message was introduced and established in Tallahassee. Whereas beginning in the 1960s, devoted believers planted seeds of faith that led to the formal
establishment of the church in 1976, marking a significant milestone and the spread of truth in the region. Whereas through humble beginnings, including worship in the Gavin family home, where
lives were transformed and more than 50 individuals were baptized, the congregation demonstrated unwavering faith, perseverance, and commitment. And whereas through sacrificial giving and unity, the church secured a permanent place of worship, notably acquiring the
East Orange Avenue location and retiring a 30-year mortgage in just 9 and a half years. And whereas Restoration Church of Christ has remained steadfast in its mission of prayer, sound doctrine, community outreach, and excellence in
ministry, positively impacting countless lives throughout the Tallahass community. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that the board of county commissioners of Leon County, Florida, do hereby honor and recognize Restoration Church of Christ on their
50th anniversary, celebrating five decades of faithful service, spiritual leadership, and unwavering dedication to God and the community. Dated this ninth day of June 20 and 26. signed by Leyon
County, seven commissioners, attested to by Leyon County's notable uh county administrator, Mr. Vincent Long. I'm going to be there uh at y'all's church, I believe on the 26th, 27th, 28th weekend, >> and I might have something else to say.
I y'all better wait on it now. You know, [laughter] God bless you, mother. [applause] Thank you, um, Commissioner Proctor. And I'd like to say, praise the Lord cuz he's good. He's good to us. On behalf of
Restoration Church of Christ, I was asked to come and to accept this proclamation. Our pastor, Elder Gavin, could not be here. and associate pastor uh who is
uh Elder Timothy Beard uh he's traveling today so they asked me to come and I was so excited to do that. My name is Pamela Cooper again and I uh been a member of the church for 40 years
and I'm I'm I'm I'm blessed and I'm so happy about the location that we're in on the south side of town. the south side. A lot of happening is on the south side and we're that little beacon of
light to uh make a difference and touch the lives of people in that area and and throughout the city. And we appreciate each and every commissioner here. And uh
Mr. U Proctor has been to our service before and I'm so glad to hear that he's planning on coming back again, but we're trying to do great things there at the progress uh at the U Restoration Church
of Christ and uh make we just want to continue to shine and uh do all we can do, show God um presence and show his blessings to the community and uh we
just thank you each and every one of you and like to invite you out to the celebration the last of this month. We're located on 2619 South Meridian Road and uh just come out
if you can uh and we'll just look forward to seeing you. And again, thank you so much. We appreciate this humbly and graciously. God bless you. [applause] Our our next proclamation commissioners
recognizes June as Pride Month by Vice Chairman O'Keefe. Now is not the time to be shy. Come on up, everybody. [snorts] All right, we got everybody around. [clears throat] It's my honor to present this
proclamation, especially this year as any year. Proclamation reads, "Whereas the month of June marks the anniversary of the Stonewall uprising of 1969, a turning point in the movement toward LGBTQ plus equality, justice, and visibility in the
United States and around the world. Led in part by black and brown LGBTQ plus individuals, including transgender women of color. And whereas Lyon County has a strong record of advancing equity, having adopted protections against discrimination based on sexual
orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in its human rights ordinance in 2011, and having established a domestic partnership registry in 2013 to promote dignity and equal treatment for all families. And whereas Leyon County
proudly collaborates with community partners including Equality Florida and uplift the voices, experience and contributions of LGBTQ plus community. And whereas Pride Month is an opportunity to recognize the history, resilience, and many contributions of
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other LGBTQ plus individuals Leyon County and beyond. And whereas Leyon County is committed to promoting equity, inclusion, and respect for all residents, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender
expression, and values the diversity that strengthens our community. And whereas the Leyon County Board of County Commissioners acknowledges the ongoing challenges faced by the LGBTQ plus community, including discrimination and barriers to opportunity, and reaffirms
its commitment to fostering a safe, inclusive, and welcoming environment for all. And whereas celebrating Pride Month, we uplift the voices of LGBTQ plus individuals, honor their experiences, and continue the important work of advocating for equal rights and
dignity for all. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the board of county commissioners of Leyon County, Florida, that the month of June 2026 be known as LGBTQ plus pride month and encourages all residents, organizations, and institutions to reflect on the
importance of equity and inclusion and to stand in solidarity with our LGBTQ plus neighbors, family members, co-workers, and friends. dated this first day of June, 2026. Signed by all the commissioners and the county administrator.
[applause] Congratulations. >> Good afternoon. Um, commissioners, it's [clears throat] been a while since I've been up here. Um, few years back, this room was really packed with, uh, people that were asking you to pass a non-discrimination ordinance. if you remember, some of you were on the
commission at that time. Um, and uh, I want to say I'm proud as a Leyon County citizen to be represented by you all. Um, and to be rec, you know, recognized in this proclamation for pride. Um, it means a lot to our community. Uh, it is
pride all over the state right now. Um, of course, we got to be first, so we do ours in March. So, we won't see you for a pride festival until the first week of March, first Saturday of March. Um but we'll be celebrating around the state with our peers and uh you know I just want to say something real quick also
the policy that we passed here for anti-discrimination became the model policy for the entire state and you all should be proud of the work that this commission did um to kind of lead the way in that area. So thank you very much for this proclamation and for everything
you do. THANKS [applause] >> COMMISSIONERS. I wanted to reiterate Jim's thanks and all of our appreciation for you recognizing June as Pride Month. [clears throat] I'd be remiss if I didn't note that we're also coming up on the 10-year remembrance of the tragedy at Pulse on
June 12th, uh, where 49 lives, mostly LGBTQ and Latino Flidians, were taken. U, but continuing to honor the memory of Pulse and recognize June's Pride Month are such important markers for our community. We really appreciate the
demonstration of that consideration and inclusion. Thank you for it. [applause] >> Commissioners, the final proclamation uh will be presented by Commissioner Welch is a proclamation recognizing Deer Lake Middle School students for the life-saving efforts that saved a
physical education. All right, Mr. Chairman, am I good? All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and commissioners and uh Mr. Administrator. I have the honor of presenting a proclamation to two two strapping young men right here who uh really stepped up a few months ago. We talking about six
weeks ago, eight weeks ago, something like that. Um maybe not even that long ago. Uh stepped up to intervene in a situation that was occurring at Deer Lake Middle School. Uh and really uh showed extreme maturity and character in
uh helping one of their uh coaches, a PE teacher who was having a medical emergency. And uh so we want to recognize them today for their courage and uh and character. Whereas Dear Lake Middle School in Tallahassee, Florida is part of the Leyon County Schools community and serves students in grades
6 through 8. And whereas during a recent physical education class at Deer Lake Middle School, a teacher and coach experienced a serious medical emergency requiring immediate action. And whereas eighth grade student Parker Rudd responded with exceptional calmness and
initiative by promptly calling 911 before a staff member arrived, helping ensure that emergency assistance was request requested without delay. And whereas Becket Rabolzi and Cooper Hogan also stepped forward without hesitation to assist and support those responding
to the emergency. And whereas the actions of Parker Rudd, Becket Rabulsei, and Cooper Hogan demonstrated maturity, courage, compassion, and presence of mind beyond their years. And whereas their response reflects the best of Leyon County's young people and serves as a powerful reminder of the importance
of emergency preparedness, quick action, and care for others in moments of crisis. And whereas the board of county commissioners of Leyon County, Florida is honored to recognize students whose conduct promotes the health, safety, and welfare of our community and inspires others to act with courage and
responsibility. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the board of county commissioners of Leyon County, Florida. that the board does hereby recognize and commend Parker Rudd, Becket Rabbalsi, and Cooper Hogan for their calm, courageous, and timely response during a medical emergency at Deer Lake Middle
School, and calls upon all citizens to join in honoring these students for their outstanding example of citizenship, compassion, and service to others. Dated this 9th day of June, 2026, signed by myself, the county administrator, all the commissioners. Fellas, take a bow. Thank you so much.
Congratulations. [applause] YEAH. All right. All right. Now, listen. I've known these guys since they were little kids. They're awesome baseball players in addition to this. They come from great families. And I know this one right here, Cooper Hogan. He wants to give a speech. You want to give a
speech? Come on, Coop. Come on, buddy. Hi. [laughter] I'm just kidding. He just He doesn't want to give a speech. Park, you want to give a speech? >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. They're they're they're quiet, but they're calm in moments of crisis. And so, you can see that now. So, we're going to take a photo. All right, guys. Careful, Commissioner. They live in your district.
Commissioners, your your final item on the awards and presentation portion of your agenda is a presentation on the quarterly economic uh dashboard report. >> Mr. Commissioner, who's doing the report? >> Hey, listen. These kids didn't just show up on their own, although they probably could have figured it out. Their parents
brought them also. Great citizens of Northeast Tallahassee. Let's go. [laughter] There you go. There you go. All right. All right. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. By Mr. Keith Bowers. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Our office of economic vitality director.
>> Director Bowers, you have the floor. Thank you, Mr. Administrator. Uh, commissioners, I want to take a few minutes to put our economic picture, our local economic picture into context. Tallahassy Leon recorded real GDP growth of 4.3% in 2024, outpacing Florida at
3.3% and the nation at 2.8. It's the first time since 2007 that we've led both benchmarks in the same year. Our labor force grew for the third consecutive quarter. Private sector employment grew by 800 jobs year-over-year.
And we should also note that Chummer Economics and Analytics ranked us 16th overall nationally as it relates to economic strength and stability. Second in the South Atlantic region, fifth among mediumsiz metropolitans,
19th overall on the national level for prime workforce. Also in 2025, the Tallahassee Leyon County metropolitan statistical area added 2,00 jobs.
That said, I want to be candid. We're not isolated from state, national, and global economic conditions. Some indicators reflect softening. Unemployment claims are up year-over-year, while spending and travel demand have cooled from their
recent peaks, reflecting a broader national trends around inflation, interest rates, and economic uncertainty. These signals we are monitoring closely. Tallahass Leon County continues to punch above its weight. Despite the headwinds
that I recently mentioned, this community has not been sitting still. Over the past two quarters, Tallahassee Leyon County has hosted and landed events that most midsize metropolitan areas simply don't see. These events bring visitors, hotel stays, restaurant
spending, and critically national visibility to our community. Our tourism and tax receipts in Q4 2025 were actually 13% above the 5-year Q4 average, which tells you quality events are producing results even as overall
passenger traffic softens in our targeted industries for capital investment and job creation. The county continues to pro to provide funding to direct emergency assistance programs that provide financial assistance such as rent assistance, mortgage assistance,
and utility resources and foreclosure and eviction for families facing foreclosure and eviction. The IIA initiated and invested in the air service incentive capacity program,
an essential in incentive that was used to attract Breeze Airways, which will begin service out of Tallahassee next month. Bottom line, our local economy is stable and resilient. Long-term trends remain
positive. GDP growth outpacing the state and the nation. a growing labor force, historic construction activities, active commercial permitting, and glob and a global reputation that is earning worldclass events. Short-term, we'll be watching consumer
spending, air travel, and industrial um vacancies closely. In your packet, attachment one contains the full quarterly economic dashboard which outlines 13 indicators, trend data, and
construction expenditure data. We have data available for a deeper dive if the board wishes or I can have I'll be happy to answer any questions that you might have. There's any questions? All right,
Mr. I sure you have a question. >> Thank you. Um Mr. Paris, I just want to say uh I particularly want to congratulate um the team and everyone involved in getting Breeze Airways here. Um as skeptical as I was this weekend, I
went on and looked at the routes and figured out where I could go and it it really makes sense. I actually looked into why the heck is it Tuesday, Sunday, and Thursday and it just >> it just makes a lot of sense without going into it. I'm really impressed by and I'm looking forward to it starting.
>> Great. Awesome. All right, commissioners. We we will now we don't need a motion on this because it's just a it's just a a presentation by staff. So, Mr. K administrator, we're on citizens to be heard on consent and non-aggenda items.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh we have uh consent items pulled number seven, number eight, and number 15. And we have one speaker on non-aggended items. Go ahead. The speaker. >> Sure. The first speaker, only speaker is Nick uh Zatelsco and I'm sorry if I
mispronounced your name. >> Hi, thank you so much. It's uh Nick Zateslo and uh thank you for commissioners for having me here. Um I'm uh I'm a candidate for Congress here in the district, the second district, but I'm not here to campaign. Um, I'm here as a citizen, Tallahassee native who I
went to Rickards and just want to give a shout out to thanks to to Principal Cook. It's the the school's looking amazing. We did our 20th anniversary there a few months ago and it was great to see everybody and how great Rick records is doing. Um, I've spent the last 25 years uh working professionally at the intersection of technology and
politics and uh policy and I want to talk about these AI data centers that are coming around and what's going on. Um, I've worked professionally in AI before I became a candidate and so I'm here to tell you a little bit about what I'm seeing and learning and love to talk with you more. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a conversation and not the
end. Um, people assume that data centers are a rural problem and they're not. Uh, across the country, these facilities are being built into and next to urban neighborhoods. Tallahassee is a perfect spot for a lot of these things to happen because we have land right around Tallahassee and Leyon County is going to be a target.
Um, residents describe a constant low hum from cooling equipment that never stops day or night. They say they can feel it in their bones, in their teeth. It's like sitting next to a diesel truck. Um, neighborhoods running measurably hotter than the areas around them because of the output and the change in the climate that these things
create. And diesel exhaust when those generators run, and we know they're going to run because we have hurricanes here. Um, large campuses, and by large, I mean hundreds and thousands of acres. This is not a normal thing that we're used to thinking about. Um, these generators run by the dozens and
sometimes hundreds. Down near Tampa, there's a site that needs 600 hospital diesel generators. I don't know how many TMH has, but probably about two. You're talking 600 on that one site. And the sales pitch never really matches the reality. The pitches jobs and it they
don't exist. Um, the temporary construction jobs and the permanent operational jobs are much much different. a few dozen jobs for imported um experts managing robots to do the work. The standard ratio across the industry is enormous land, enormous power, enormous water, and a small
permanent workforce, most of it specialized and brought in from outside of our area. What I want to do is to make sure that our people, our land, and our economy are protected from what's coming. We need a moratorium, and that stops the clock. But the permanent answer is a
land development code change. And I have model packages. I've been presenting to counties all around the area. I was just in Jackson County this morning. They they actually did their ban and and put that in. Uh we have many counties around the area doing that. And I'm trying to go to all of them and give this same information to everybody. Not partisan,
just trying to help. We need to calculate the water use based on the equipment being installed, not from the developers own estimates. What they're putting on site is what they're going to use. Don't trust the numbers that they're giving you. The developers need to uh make sure that they can't dodge the review by calling a project a solar
farm or a greenhouse. They switch these out at the last minute. And we need to require that the shell companies they use around this, we know how many layers it goes up and we know who we're actually working with and that community meetings are mandatory and mailed notices to everybody that's being involved so that people aren't just finding out on social media, which is
what's going on right now. And finally, it requires a decommissioning bond to cover the full cost of restoring the site. So that when they leave, which a lot of times the t the the lifespan on these is 2 to 5 10 years. We're not talking about long-term investment here, but huge practical
problems for the cities and the counties that have to clean it up. So Leyon County doesn't have a data center ordinance right now. Neither does the city of Tallahassee. But the first company that files a permit negotiates that from scratch. And we haven't even touched on the NDAs and other things that are coming in on July 1 with SP
484. So my team will send you guys all the staff uh the stuff for this project. Um we have a full package of information on both the mortoriiums that I've been researching and on the final development land use codes that need to change to make sure that we don't get swindled and uh and pulled into this mess ourselves. Um thank you so much. The question isn't
whether this is coming to Lyon. The question are whether the rules are going to be ready when it gets here. Thank you so much for your time. Thank >> Thank you. Um, you want to say something? Yeah. Commissioner, I >> I have no questions. Um, Mr. Chair, I ask that we uh wave the rules to to uh
deal with this issue in the moment if we can >> this issue. >> Yes. >> Okay. Yeah. Um what's what's crazy about this is that um me and my lady friend, my girlfriend, we had great conversations about this and I was actually going to talk about it today. Um
the the part that bothers me the most about this about data centers is their location. They're usually located within low-income areas. And you said it's not if they're coming to Tallahassee, the research has said through our conversations, the conversations I had with her that we already have four of them here. Uh and if you if you went
looked at the map and the placement, they're placed right in the middle of of neighborhoods that look just like me. And so, uh Mr. chair. Um I I I'll take your your lead on this, but this is an issue that we absolut absolutely have to deal with. I'm um and I'm I'm glad that our speaker brought it up and I look
forward to to however you want to handle it, Mr. Chair. But um it the moratorium might not be a bad idea, but altogether this education about what this is, who this is, and how it affects our our Leyon County residents needs to be a a public education campaign around that
because it's no small no small feature here. Mr. Chair, >> thank you. Uh, Commissioner Maddox, one second, please. No, no. When um Commissioners, in your inbox, you actually should have a letter from my office um talking about this issue. And
at the end of this meeting, I'm going to table this conversation. We're going to proceed with the meeting. At the end of at the end of the meeting, uh I plan on offering um a one-year moratorum on data centers, and I and I will provide some some background and some further dialect when that time comes. However, in your
inbox there could there should be a letter from my office that should have been sent uh 5 to 10 minutes ago, but I do want to proceed with the meeting as planned and then we'll follow up to follow up with this. Yes, sir. >> All right. Awesome. Thank you so much. Next. So, next order of business, we are
on consent. We have three items that have been pulled from consent. And I am I do want to do an agenda modification to move up our legislative um update. I believe it's item number 18. I'm going to move that that first to general business so that way we can have a conversation about that. Um I'll second
the motion. So the motion on the floor is to move agenda item 18 to the first line first topic of general business. Um all those in favor of the motion signify by saying I >> I passes [clears throat] unanimously. So we will now take up a motion on consent.
So move >> second. Moved by Commissioner Welch, second by Commissioner Maddox for consent minus 7, 8, and 15. Any discussion? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> I. >> Passes unanimously. We are now on item
number seven, which has been pulled by who, Mr. uh, County Administrator? >> Commissioner Proctor. >> The item is the uh, September 11th day of service and uh, remembrance for 2026. As the board knows, this is an event that we conduct each year and have done
so uh since uh September 11th, 2001, and we're happy to answer any questions you may have. >> Okay, you got the floor. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. >> Start with a motion. >> Um move uh Mr. Chairman, uh that we accept this item, this report, and with
some suggested uh modifications, but motion. >> A second. So motion moved by uh Commissioner Proctor for option one with some modifications, second by um Commissioner Cummings. Commissioner Proctor, can you provide some dialect on the modifications? >> Sure. Sure. Mr. Chairman, uh our
analysis indicates that in the recognition of 2001 and that conjunction and the 250th anniversary of the United States, um the county is going to um do a service day at Second Harvest. Chairman,
commissioners, I'm hopeful that for the 200th 50th anniversary that we're co- joining both those um recognitions that we should expand uh our scope uh and it can be larger than uh the veterans that
we've designated uh to give 250 and that's not to take anything away. And of course 250 veterans fed is 250 veterans fed. But for the 250th uh anniversary of our nation, uh there's
our county itself is 202 years. We have a electromagnetic lab in our community, two three universities in our community. There's so much more to um sing praises and give recognition for 250 years. And my ask of this commission is maybe for
um if we ourselves can't offer the vision of what the celebration and focus recognition of 250 years for America [clears throat] should be uh maybe staff can bring an idea a little expanded beyond us going to second harvest and um
we can do that but for the 250th anniversary it won't come again. Can we do more is just a question. We can't do more. We can't fathom additional ideas and I accept that we're limited. Um, but it's my hope that we can embrace a lot
more for 250 years. That's why I pulled this this matter. [clears throat] >> Mr. P, are you saying you want to do more for the 250 year um anniversary in general like as a county? >> Um, absolutely. We This is just reading this it popped out that this is all we
got um for 250. Um but if that's all we got, that's all we got. I think we should have a lot more to um thank as the speaker said earlier to thank God for um our county uh North Florida um the gunpowder plant down in W color that
has given a lot of munition to a [clears throat] lot of military um services from our gunpowder plant. Um, I say our meaning collegially with Paul Culler County, but there's a lot and I think that if we think about it uh and give it a little bit more than these few
paragraphs that we we might come up with something genuinely exciting and worthy of u community's collaboration. Thank you. >> Yes, sir. Mr. Cummings. [clears throat] >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, I just wanted to inquire uh if we do have any and
maybe Mr. county, our county administrator can >> answer that for July 15th. This is September of the 10th, which I don't have a problem, you know, with us enhancing that uh enhancing that as well, but we have something already in
the works for July 15th. I'm sorry, July 4th. >> Thank you. Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman. Commissioners, nothing specifically. I might defer to Matt. may may have some some additional information um other than um in in addition to this and
perhaps and I was listening closely to what Commissioner Proctor was saying. Perhaps we you know separated from from this item which is not about recognition but service to to to um to uh in in our community. Again, it's been something we've done for a long time. We we do it
in various ways each year as the board knows. Many of you have been out there painting houses and pressure washing and all that sort of thing. But I hear what Commissioner Proctor says about is there a way that the county um uh can can identify opportunities around the 250th. I'll just remind you that we're just
coming off 200 events for our from our 200 uh uh bsentennial celebration here. 200 events which which we uh facilitated throughout that. So again, if it if it's the board's direction to see some recommendations come back around the
250, we'd be happy to do that. Commissioner Cumins, any followup? >> Is um Commissioner Proctor, that are you pretty much suggesting that something comes back to us more specifically enhancing what's already been presented
here in this particular agenda item. I mean, if so, I I'll support that uh as well because we're celebrating 250. It doesn't necessarily have to be a one-time thing in July. It can be throughout the process. And what better way than to honor those individuals that
have sacrificed their life, their health, their families uh in defense of our country. So I think what we've got here is great, but I think it's also even greater if we build upon it as well.
>> Mr. Chairman, I um I think all the ideas are helpful um as we lay them on the table. Um, typically we've deferred the the Fourth of July celebration. The city has given leadership in particular with their um
Tom Brown Park gathering and fireworks. Um, and they've done that annually. [clears throat] We've stood now and remained quiet on July 4th. Um this year however uh in doing the um 911
recognition on the 25th anniversary staff um recognize also contextualized with the 250th anniversary of our nation. So I didn't put those words there but having seen them I thought it
was powerful idea and hopefully it resonates with uh our joys of being a nation quite young [clears throat] as nations go uh but in our exuberance as a a youthful nation still uh that there is
something that our county government typically we don't step into the fanfare. I get that. But if we going to go there, uh, let's not tiptoe. Let's walk and walk walk heavily. Uh, that's all I would say. >> Thank you, Commissioner Proctor. Commissioners, I think it's a great
idea, right? Um, 250 250 year anniversary of our country. Um, if if we want to expand on that and direct staff to kind of do a big county event sometime this summer or sometime later this year, I think it's it's a great idea. But, Commissioner Proctor, you got the motion on the floor, so I'll follow
your lead. Um I think um Commissioner Cumins really said it better than me. Um um >> bring an agenda item back to enhance. >> Yeah, that part. >> You want you want amend your motion? >> So So that motion is accepted. The friendly amendment by Commissioner
Cummings that staff would give us an [clears throat] array of smuggles board look at what our community might embrace for celebration of 250th anniversary of United States of America. >> Commissioner Cummings, I'm assuming you maintain. Okay, great. Commissioner, any conversation around that? Commissioner Miner.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just to just so we're clear, so the motion um approves the agenda item presented to us with the additional request for possible events that will come to us at a later date. Is that correct? >> Or one large event. >> Yep. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. >> Everyone understand the motion?
>> Awesome. All those in in favor of the motion for signify by saying I >> I don't see any opposed. Passes unanimously. Next item pulled is um number eight, Mr. County Administrator. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Item number eight is a local agency program supplemental agreement with the Department of Transportation for the
construction, engineering, and inspection services uh of the old St. Augustine Road sidewalk project. Happy to answer any questions you might have. >> Mr. Chairman, um I spoke with the county administrator. He's um distinguished for me. Um as we looking at Old St.
Augustine Road. I I was my mind drifted into Commissioner O'Keefe's district and um somehow my interest in us closing down Magnolia Drive sidewalk um was prevalent and I didn't want to go to
another project and not understand how we're going to conclude it. But county administrator allowed me to know we're talking about two different agencies entities for St. Augustine and um so it's not us opening up a new project.
It's state uh handling St. Augustine and Blueprint is still handling Magnolia. So I appreciate that clarification, but I got caught up in the weeds and reading this and misreading it. >> There's your motion to approve staff recommendation. >> Approve staff's recommendation. Second. >> Okay, great. Uh motion moved by
Commissioner uh Commissioner Proctor, second by Vice Chairman. >> You want to comment on it? >> Yep. Real quick. Good. Um the uh it's not too far from your district, Commissioner Proctor. We're connecting the dots. Um I'm excited to see this. It's much needed. And there's
actually uh this will cover area near Cross Creek where the new children's or family resource dropin center is um right there near the old social security office and there'll be a crosswalk um which is helping a lot of families that are going there uh where the CSC's office is. So looking forward to it.
>> Awesome. Mr. Verer, great work. I know this is in your district. picking notes, it's a priority of yours to increase pedestrian safety. Great job. Um, also want to give a shout out to staff on this. Shout out to Florida Department of Transportation. FOD's been great as far as, you know, helping push some of these projects and the funding behind it. Nothing but good things to say about
their efforts. So, all right, commissioners, any any other convers any other anybody in the queue? No. Mr. Chair, I just say that I think that Commissioner Miner is bringing home millions of dollars for Monroe and like Commissioner O'Keefe is getting all this money for sidewalks. I'm feeling some
kind of way. I'm just saying you know those guy those two down there they really cleaning up [laughter] doing a good job. All right commissioners let's vote on the item. All those in favor of the motion on the force without by saying I >> I. >> No. Any opposed? Seeing none passes unanimously. Next item on consent pulled
from consent. >> Commissioners. The next item pulled uh from is item number 15. This was a status report requested by the board on recent inmate deaths at the Lyon County uh detention facility uh and related investigative reporting and review
processes. The board asked us to specifically to evaluate the time period of the of the of 2025 which we've done here and again we are happy to answer any questions you might have on this item. >> Mr. Proctor, you pulled this right. >> Mr. Mr. Chairman, I pulled this because
you and I, we're better men and women than to have pulled um several deaths to occur on our um stewardship uh as uh government for detainees under the
sheriff's care uh and on the dollars with which we supply uh as a county government to the sheriff. >> Can I have a motion, Commissioner Tucker? [clears throat] And um I move the acceptance of this this um report with more to say.
>> You move tocept accept. You can finish what you were saying. I just wanted to be proper form. You move to accept the report. >> Sure. >> Yeah. Okay. And a second by uh Commissioner Max. Any other >> commissioners? We had four people die and they deserve more than the silence
of um a quiet u item placed uh on some consent. I'd like to hear that the report can we get a tally. Uh this is not a bugle uh request or taps, but certainly they died on our watch and we
need to know um just with decency sake. Um what happened? Is there any reason we should be alarmed? Um there's an article that uh probably will be in tomorrow's papers online today and the sensitivity
of what you uh the Tali Democrat uh is reporting about dying uh in people who are in custody uh I am as sensitive about this and I have a son who's in the county jail so hell yeah I'm I'm well
concerned about what happens there and there are many other sons uh who are detained and um as that kind of not just commissioner but parent of uh one detained there. Uh this interests me intensely. So is there any word uh these
people got a name of anything more than a sheet of paper? >> Sure, Mr. Chairman. >> Of course. >> Happy to ask Nikki Hatch to come on up. And Nikki, if you just kind of hit the highlights of the report again, commissioners, we're happy to answer any questions you might have. Nikki. >> Sure. Um um based on the board's
direction, we uh worked with the sheriff's office to provide a report of recent deaths at the detention facility. Um our report before you is focused on 2025 deaths because those are deaths um
where investigations have been completed. Um any deaths that have occurred since the start of 2026, the medical uh examiner reports have not been finalized. So we don't have any of the details of the cause or the manner of those deaths to be able to provide um
that information to you today. However, uh once that uh information becomes available, uh we can definitely uh bring that information to the board uh with reflecting the 2026 incidents.
Nik Nikki, could you please provide more of an overview of what we found in terms of the deaths over that period of time and um sort of how that compares to national statistics, whose responsibility it is to investigate suspicious deaths, that sort of thing. >> Absolutely. So um let me back up a
higher level. So um over our report focused on uh recent deaths but to help provide that helpful context and you know understanding the circumstances around those deaths uh we provided a very detailed overview of LCSO's in investigative processes. Um that
includes for any death that occurs at the facility uh investigations uh criminal and administrative investigations are conducted both to ensure um that no criminal conduct had occurred nor um any uh
missteps and policies or protocols. Um so again the report focused on deaths that occurred in 2025. As you'll see in the report, those um those included five deaths, um two natural causes, two accidental drug overdoses, and um one
accidental self-inflicted injury um and related medical uh complications that led to death. Um these there were no findings of foul play with any of these instances. Um but also uh this reflects
a 07% of the total inmate count um within the facility in 2025. Uh with that in mind, this is um that percentage is um about half of the national mortality rate for local jails. um based on the US Department of
Justice's data available on this um and the underlying causes of each of these deaths broadly align with DOJ's national mortality data among local jails. Um so again, this focuses on 2025, but as information becomes available um we'd be
happy to bring it back on more recent incidents incidences at the facility. >> Okay. Thank you so much. >> Thank you commissioners. I um as has been indicated lifted up to us um five people um passed um two of those were um
drug overdoses or overdose of some some sort say drug but overdose um I'm not sure that what protocol allows for um I don't know if these were legal drugs or if those were drugs that were um of a medicinal uh prescribed
nature. I don't know. but overdose. That's concerning. Uh, one of these victims, um, that 72 year old male was died from cancer. Um supposedly uh the other is a 36 year old male pulmonary
embolism and I'm not sure what that is but I am concerned about the 26 year old um that stands out and um um this thing called um um cause of death to be
accidental due to severe cerebral edema which is an extensive brain Swelling caused by inflammation resulting from self-inflicted head trauma with concussive head trauma
listed as a contributing condition and um somebody and then later in the case one accidental death involving self inflicted head trauma. Um really uh that
concerns me. uh self-inflicted head trauma. um if someone just itself inflicts trauma on their head to the extent that their brain swells in the coroner rights of report um I am concerned and I think that that commissioner should be looked at uh I
would like to ask this commission for a more u extensive investig I'm not happy about that uh at all that this is just so flaky 26 years old someone hitting themselves in the head and um we quietly
say the grace and move on. Um I'm I don't know what steps, Mr. Chairman, are available to us, but that is um bothersome and I'm wishful, hopeful that there's more we can do. Are there additional steps that we could do uh to
look at a 26 year old dying in custody from head trauma? Attorney can advise us. Do we have any other steps? [clears throat] >> Thank you, Commissioner Proctor. I want to I want to Commissioner Cummings in the queue. I have a couple commissioners. I want to hear what they have to say on this item. I'll come back to you. Commissioner Cummings. >> Oh, thank you, uh, Mr. Chair. I I first
of all want to thank, uh, county administrator and the staff for their research on this, and I know they had to work in conjunction with the sheriff's office to uh, to gather this information. And I I guess we pretty much have a a snapshot of each specific
uh, inmate. uh the four that are entailed in the information that we have and just a snapshot of and a summary of what happened to them and their ultimate uh demise. So, you know, perhaps maybe more
information. Uh but from my standpoint, when I read uh this report, I was really enlightened and encouraged about the overall process that the sheriff takes uh and that his department takes when an
individual uh is incarcerated. And I was impressed by the information that indicated within the first two hours of a person uh an individual being admitted to uh to the
jail that they receive a thorough a very thorough uh examination physical, mental, so forth. And it just, you know, it informed me that the sheriff uh is
looking at those individuals, those newly incarcerated individuals from from from a holistic from a holistic uh standpoint that they're not just uh part of a c part of a cattle call. Now,
perhaps something more specific um might be uncovered, but right now I think for them to to look at each one of those incarcerated individuals to determine whether they have pre-existing conditions, whether
it's hypertension, whether it's cancer, whether they have mental issues, whether they have uh drug addiction, alcohol addiction, Just screening each one of those inmates and then having a profile
on each one I think is very informative and it lets us know I think that the sheriff and his staff is not just hoarding those individuals out there at the detention center as as chap. They are looking at them as individuals. And
it just reminded me of what we've agreed as a commission to put on the the ballot in the fall as a constitutional amendment. And I think it was recommended by school board member Daryl
Jones that we embrace as a county the the I believe he phrased it as the esteemed humanity of all citizens. And I think what the sheriff is doing, at least from an
intake standpoint, is recognizing those individuals, even though they have been charged with lesser crimes to the more serious crimes, they are still human beings. The sheriff is part of Leyon County government. Uh I respect him. I
think he does a great job protecting us from a law enforcement standpoint. But I think it just shows us the type person that he is if part of that procedure, Mr. Whether you got an individual that's been convicted
of uh a serious it's a misdemeanor uh whether it's a a traffic whatever whatever the minimum infraction is that determines that you have to be incarcerated for a minimum amount of time those individuals are still
recognized as human beings and I think I think that's very very important but then to have a dossier and a profile on each one of those inmates. I think that's very important and it shows some individualistic concerns
about the status, the mental condition, the emotional condition, the medical and physical condition of each one of those persons that are incarcerated who could very well be my brother,
my sister, >> or my son, >> my husband, your wife, Commissioner Proctor's son. So from that standpoint, I want to thank staff. I was just very encouraged when I saw all the steps uh that the sheriff takes to in
individualize those individuals that are incarcerated. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Cummings. Mr. Vice Chair. >> Thank you. Let me skip Commissioner Miner. I'm good with this. >> Go ahead. Yeah, I'm going down. >> Oh. Oh, thank you. Um, I just wanted to say I appreciate the sheriff um, getting
this to us pretty quickly and part of this report uh, included um, one or two deaths through that were participating in the sheriff's hospice program. And um, anyone who's lost a family member who's been through hospice, they know how helpful that is. And so I just
really appreciate the sheriff's office initiating and having uh, hospice available for those detainees. as was said by Commissioner Cummings, those are uh everyone deserving the same dignity and respect that we have. >> Mr. Mor.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um I also want to thank our our county staff for working on this agenda item as well as the sheriff's office and the the staff at the Leyon County Detention Facility. Um as I read this agenda item, I was very much encouraged by by what was in
here. Uh, and I wanted to point out a couple things that I think parts of have been referred to already, but for folks that maybe are at home that haven't had a chance to read this, I want to point this out because our sheriff's office, the folks at the detention facility, I believe are are doing a very good job.
Um, we talk about the process. As soon as someone is arrested, shortly after intake, a medical assessment is done on them to to gauge their their uh health status. So, that's what Commissioner Cummings was talking about before. In the event of a of of an inmate death, uh
the medical examiner uh basically assesses the death and it determines the cause. Immediately after that that fatality, um someone from the criminal investigations bureau, a detective is on the case to determine whether or not anything criminal or unoured was was
conducted during the course of that person's passing. Then um there's an administrative investigation by the office of internal affairs that um that investigation takes a look within the department within the policy to make sure that during the course of that
person passing away was there anything internally that was done that was not compliant with policy what things could we learn from that incident that could maybe change policy going forward so I wanted to spend just a minute talking about that process because if you haven't had a chance to read the agenda
item It goes into a lot of detail about that. Second thing, of the five deaths that took place in 2025, there was no evidence of foul play after those investigations had been conducted. And the third thing, and this is the most important for for it's the thing that really leapt out at me when I read the
agenda item, the mortality rate in the Lyon County detention facility is less than half the mortality rate nationwide in similar facilities. So, let me say that again. The mortality rate in our Lyon County detention facility is less
than half what it is nationwide. Uh that is a good indication of of the performance of our sheriff's office. Could there be things that need to be improved? Perhaps. I mean, there always is. But after reading this agenda item, if you if you're interested in in the subject matter, take a few minutes and
read it. I think you'll see that there's good work being done. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. >> Thank you, Commissioner M. Commissioner Maddox. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just wanted to uh shout out the young group who came and spoke to us at our last meeting about uh the incident that happened and their curiosity is what led us to the point that we are having this conversation
today. I wanted to recognize Commissioner Proctor for listening to those those young people and and having wherewithal to ask for that motion for this to come back. Um, as I told them and I I'll tell anyone, I have complete confidence in our sheriff and I share a lot of Commissioner Miner and uh, Commissioner uh, well, all the
commissioner spokes uh, opinion on on the sheriff and the job that he does in our detention center. Um, I love the ideas that you brought up, Commissioner um, Cummings. Um, absolutely love those ideas. maybe something we can implement. But um all in all, I just want to take
the opportunity to to to recognize the fact that we wouldn't be this is Leyon County government being responsive to our citizens, listening to the things that they like for us to look at. Uh digging to those things, taking a look at them and and coming up with our own uh thoughts on what we think and how we can move forward. And so, Commissioner Pro, thank you uh to that group that
came and spoke. Uh thank you to those folks as well. And um I look forward to any further discussions we have. But again, I I think the sheriff does a a good job. less than half half of what um the national average is is a good thing. Again, you never want to lose anybody's
life when they're in your care. And so, uh losing one life is one too many when it comes to someone being in your care. Uh but the more detail we can have about what happened, the better off we're going to be. And I think the sheriff is responsive and painting us a good picture here. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you, Commissioner Max. Commissioner Per, you want anything else
you want to close us out? >> Um I want to thank the commissioner for their input. And I think that we're all saying the very same thing. Um I think that we all are saying that our sheriff is a A++++ sheriff. Um no one here is disagreeing uh with that um as an
established um um idea and um yet as the um governing body for an undergurting funding body for our constitutional officers which include the sheriff and numerous other entities of constitution
uh designated um governmental bodies uh tax collector Supervisor Election who are here tonight um all of those and others yet it it's not um it's not beneath uh
the scope of our time to ponder and I indicated a 26 year old male it's a 26 year old female uh where the medical examiner rule the cause of death to be um accidental to due to brain swelling
stuff. It sounds like somebody got hit in the head. You know, I'm just a lay person. >> Yeah. I've never seen a police report that ever said that the police was had a problem or done anything. It's all always sanitized, whitewashed. But me as a lay person thinking they said
self-inflicted um um over in Vald Dosta, Ben Crump represented, they said the guy wrapped himself up in a u in Vald Dosta High School gym. he wrapped himself up in a in a mat. So, agencies uh typically
indicate that um they've done no wrong, nothing has occurred, they've perpetrated nothing, and that the deceased, the victim often they was the cause of it. And I'm not saying I'm not arguing the point. I'm simply looking at
somebody 46, 36, uh, 26, 36, uh, dies and this is irregular. Um, county attorney, are there any other things that we might do if this is the general length of uh of
scope of jurisdiction that we might have to hear additional information in particular about the 26 year old female? Um the sheriff is an independent constitutional officer. Um he runs his office and his law enforcement performs
his law enforcement functions that's within his purview. Um he has established the processes that are outlined in the agenda item. Uh the board can request additional information uh from the sheriff's office. But in terms of being able to direct uh any
activity or um exercise any authority over the sheriff, that is not consistent with um the scope or the lack of authority that the county commission has over the sheriff. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um we are out of rope and um I'll um follow up
with the sheriff um specifically on the 26 year old person. Um, and if it was me, I would want you all to double check, be sure custody of anybody uh who has public uh stewardship over my safety
and well-being. And um and so it is that we share um the idea of being our brother and our sister's keeper. Um no further comment, Mr. Chairman. >> Thank you, Commissioner Proctor. All right. All those that we have a motion on the floor by Commissioner Proctor.
Who second the motion? Cummings. >> I think I do. >> Commissioner Cummings, you second. Um for to >> Commissioner Maddox, did you second the motion? >> Yes. >> Okay. All right. So, Commissioner Proctor, um move the motion second by Commissioner Maddox. I have no one else in the queue for staff recommendation.
All those in favor all those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. >> I. >> Passes unanimously. Um next item. I believe we're on our first uh first item of general business. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. >> Item number 18 to be right. >> M Mr. Chairman, my fault on the previous
uh consent agenda. We had one more speaking card uh speaker card turned in uh Maya Shenhelt. Uh under the climate uh emergency resolution >> under the what? >> Under item number 12. >> Okay. Thank you. What was the name?
>> Maya Shifelt. >> Hi Maya. >> Good afternoon commissioners. My name is Maya Shinfeld. I'm a student here in Lyon County and I'm the lead organizer of Jen Cleo. So I'm here today on behalf of them. Before my time at Jen Cleo, my
colleagues Samantha Katis and Nia along with many other young people in Lyon County work together to write the climate emergency resolution which is coming up later on the agenda. This resolution was written by young people who are concerned about their future. And along with this resolution, we
developed a wonderful relationship with county staff and county commissioners along with local allies. I worked a lot on the preeemption bill, House Bill 1217 during the legislative session, so I understand the full scope of what's going on and why county staff is
recommend rescending the amendment. At first glance, it may make some sense, but having followed the legislation, I believe we do not have to do this. I understand not wanting to put a spotlight on Lyon County as this bill goes into effect on July 1st and I wish
to keep the resolution and amend it like the other seven items on the agenda. I want to thank the county staff's office of sustainability for growing and sustaining our relationship since 2023. It is really appreciated. We ask that regardless of
this decision, county commissioners and county staff continue to work with us and create a new resolution. Thank you for your time. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Our last speaker. Okay. Great. [snorts] Will you introduce
item number 18, please? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Commissioners, item number 18, uh, commissioners, um, is is, uh, uh, the item that seeks the board's acceptance of the 2026 legislative session final report.
Commissioners, you are uh you're used to my speed reading in in introducing agenda items, I know, but uh I'm going to ask for your indulgence just a moment while I slow it down just a little bit. Uh given the nature of this item, uh Nikki and Ken will provide a brief presentation recapping the 26 session
and of course the special session on property taxes in just a moment. But commissioners, this is the first meeting that we've had since the legislature passed the property tax amendment on June 2nd. and given its significance, I didn't want to bury the lead uh here. And so I would like to provide just a
few important introductory comments uh for the board and for the public before I hand it off. To begin, commissioners, put very plainly, as I said back at your annual retreat uh earlier this year, the proposal uh would be a fiscal crisis by
design, the constitutional amendment. Well, uh, as I mentioned, uh, the proposal has been drawn, the design has been drawn, and it and it it will be placed on the November ballot. As the board's well aware, the proposed constitutional amendment will result in
a historic reduction to the county's primary revenue source and if passed and fully implemented, may result in a historic change in the very role and function of county government. And that's the intent. I think we should be very clear about how we communicate that
going forward because it is a stark reality. Commissioners, uh, Leyon County has a very long and proud history and a distinguished record of responsible fiscal stewardship. This board and those that have come before you have been very
deliberate in how you govern, meeting the greatest needs of our community through the provision of critical services, essential services, and how you budget uh with transparency and efficiency that stands as a national model. 14 years of flat countywide millage rates, one of the leanest
budgets per capita in Florida, uh are with debt paid down and leveraging tens of millions of dollars each year due to our strategic investments in our community and our record of performance. Commissioners, this record is is not an accident. How we make local budgeting
decisions is not a bug. It's a with sound financial planning, fiscal constraint in the public and with the public year in and year out. I provide this historical uh context for you commissioners because of what happened in our state capital and because of how
quickly it happened. On May 27th, the governor announced his proposal in Tampa. on June 6th, on June 2nd rather, six days later, uh it passed both chambers of the legislature here in Tallahassee. 6 days,
commissioners, to unravel how every Florida community pays for what keeps it safe, livable, and thriving. The amendment passed with no fiscal study, no revenue replacement. The trust fund that the governor announced in his well
that was provided in his own announcement was uh was gone by final passage. Commissioners there there's a mentality that's drifted if you'll forgive me from our national politics into our state politics of and you've heard this move fast and and
break things may be good for tech bros uh but I would suspect that it's probably not uh the path toward good governing. Let me be very clear. What took six days to break may take this board months, if not years, uh, if we stay on the path to
full property tax elimination. I think we should probably take them at their word to try to piece together what's left along the way. And the result, we should be fully aware, may be a county government that looks and functions very different, very differently than it does
today. The work begins this summer with your budget workshops. As we will illustrate here in a moment in the presentations, I will describe commissioners in greater detail in your budget workshops in June and July what this work will entail.
Suffice to say, commissioners, it will involve an evaluation of deep cuts in services and revenue enhancements with the board making all the decisions eyes wide open with all the information available to us. Of course, state mandates, public safety, providing for a
safe and functioning infrastructure, those will be protected to the greatest extent possible, and they must. What remains to be determined is the impact on everything else that makes a community more than a set of mandates. Everything from libraries, parks, and
trails to veteran services to EMS to animal control to serving our most vulnerable populations and all the ways we do that. all heavily dependent on the property tax revenue which will be lost if this amendment is passed. Those
choices, commissioners, will be driven by hard math. The hard math of the hard math of those revenues lost and the limited and difficult ways the law will allow uh or the law will constrain our ability to offset those impacts going forward.
Ken Morris will we'll go into some specifics in just a moment, commissioner, but here here's the commissioners, but here's the bottom line for Lyon County. It means an estimated $71 million a year gone uh over just the next couple of years with
no replacement revenue contemplated. In today's dollars, that would mean the county would collect roughly $165 million in property taxes. To put that in perspective, that's coincidentally about the same amount of money that we would budget uh this year uh to cover only our state mandates and
constitutional officers uh budgets alone. Uh well, it leaves about $3.5 million to be exact commissioners uh to fund everything else. And uh all of our local services, all of those funded entirely
by property taxes today adds up to about $75 million. Commissioners uh because of the magnitude and the timing of these impacts again this will be a major focus at your upcoming summer workshops uh and and work will really ramp up uh throughout the budget
development process through the fiscal year of of 26 should the measure pass pass um commissioners again I want to thank you for your indulgence uh as I said u this is the first time that we've been together since the legislation passed during the special
session I also want to thank uh commissioners for um uh providing remarks and testimony uh during uh the meetings of the legislature. But I I can promise you commissioners, you were well you were well represented with that. As
as a uh as a brief introduction, commissioners, I'd like to hand it off uh to Nikki for a quick recap of the legislative session. And as I mentioned, Ken will walk us through the major provisions and the timelines associated with the property tax amendment. Both will be quick and again all with a lot
greater detail in your upcoming budget workshop. So with that Nikki I'd like to hand it off to you >> Nikki one second please. Um commissioners before we get started I want to acknowledge a few people. We also have um our supervisor of elections Mark Early is here. Supervisor elections. Great to see you. We have
Leon County tax collector Doris Malloy. Great to see you. We have school board member Daryl Jones that's also here. Um, if I if any of you all would like a moment to speak unrelated to how this may affect your offices, you are more than welcome to. I just want to open the
floor to to each of you. Um, also we have a good and former Miami Dade County Commissioner, Linda Bell. Thanks for being here. Um, so yeah, Nikki, the floor is yours. >> Sure. Thank you, Chairman. Um, as a quick recap, commissioners, during the
2026 legislative session, we tracked nearly 500 bills, and those included over 30 property tax related bills, and that was during the regular 60 60-day session alone. Since March, the legislature has held three special
sessions. The first taking place in April on congressional redistricting, followed by the May special session to finalize the state budget and the most recent on property tax reform held last week. As Vince mentioned, Ken will be providing a more detailed update on
property tax reform in just a moment. But first, I'm going to quickly recap some highlights on other big legislative issues from this session that are of interest of the county. And while this will be a fairly brief presentation, all of the issues I touch on and many more
are included in the report before you. Aside from property tax reform, of the hundreds of bills that we track this session, uh we've provided a top three list of bills that passed this this session, although there are several honorable mentions also included in the
full report. First on the list is the widespread prohibition on diversity, equity, inclusion efforts set forth under Senate Bill 1134, which prohibits local governments from adopting, implementing, or funding any DEI related policy, program, or initiative. As we
previously shared with the board, this legislation will impact a number of county programs and policies, and we'll be bringing a series of agenda items on this issue ahead of the January 1st effective date, such as the item on tonight's agenda related to our MWSBE program. The next on the list is House
Bill 1217, the net zero preeemption. This bill at a high level restricts local governments from adopting, advancing, or funding net zero policies or carbon reduction initiatives. While a number of the county's sustainability efforts will continue unchanged, this
bill will require targeted adjust adjustments to a defined set of county policies and programs, which you'll see outlined in another item on today's agenda to ensure our compliance ahead of uh this bill's July 1st effective date. And the last one on our top three list
is House Bill 1329, known as the Local Government Financial Transparency and Accountability Act, which sets forth new requirements for for our annual budget development process. We are are already in compliance with the majority of the bill's provisions. But one new
requirement worth highlighting is the annual budget exercise the board will be required to conduct beginning next year. Specifically, the board will be required to annually identify strategies to potentially reduce the next year's budget by 10%. Here's the tricky part.
These strategies can't include any reductions to law enforcement, fire services, or legal obligations. While the board won't be required to implement these strategies, we will have to post them on our website on an annual basis. If signed by the governor, this bill
will take effect also on January 1st. This session, we off we also worked hard with our contract lobbyists, the Southern Group, on the county's local appropriation uh funding request. And I'm happy to report commissioners that we successfully secured $3 million in
the state budget for our Woodville sewer project, backup generators at various county sites, the hardening of our public works building, and security improvements at the county courthouse. the 11 million dollars in county project funding requested this session as approved by the board at its legislative
workshop. And as shared with the board at that time, this is just a small fraction of the state funding the county will seek to leverage this year with the majority of funding being secured through executive agency appropriations and grant programs. This includes funding allocated through FDOT's 5-year
work program, such as the $20 million in funding that's been programmed over the next two fiscal years for the widening of CR of Crawfordville Road. Uh, Commissioner Proctor, I know this is a project of interest to you and I'm happy to share that construction is now set to begin in fiscal year 28 on the first
segment of this project in Lyon County. But to round to round this out, as you see up on the screen, each of these line item allocations are subject to the governor's re review. So we'll keep the board update updated on the outcome of these requests once the budget budget is
officially signed by the governor of of course in addition to the state budget and the bills covered. The most significant legislation passed this year was the governor's property tax reform proposal. As we've reported to the board, this pro proposal will destabilize
the county's primary and most reliable funding source if passed by voters in November. So now I'd like to hand it over to Ken to touch more on the proposal and what would what it would mean for Leyon County in the coming years. Good afternoon, commissioners. I got the
easy part, right? So to start my portion of the presentation, I'm do something a little bit unusual for a presentation uh on legislation. I'm going to jump to the end of the constitutional amendment, one of the latter sections. I want to highlight a key section because I think
it provides uh context that's important to understand. It echoes some of the remarks made by the county administrator. Um, with property tax reform, the headline is always what's the fiscal impact? And in this case, it's deservedly so. Uh, but on this
slide, you have section nine of the constitutional amendment as initially proposed before any amendment. So, just first came out uh right after the governor's announcement. The language is important because it provides insight into the mindset of legislative leaders
and it really echoes what we heard last year the from the House Select Committee on property tax reform. Um at that time they discussed property taxes as a bad thing that local governments relied on. Um they saw property taxes as something
that should be very narrowly focused uh in preference for feebased alternatives. and they did these comparisons and they they ranked counties as who was more or less reliant on property taxes. They ranked counties versus cities and they they came up with this priority list.
But again, at the end of the day, their position was you should use property taxes only for very limited fundamental core services. So again, it's important because I think this section reflects that that this language and those
conversations last year is consistent with the philosophical approach that property taxes should have the narrow purpose. I added the bold and underlying emphasis to um point out some of the the exclusionary language that they use here. uh advalorum taxes levied by
counties and cities shall be used only for only for. So even though the property tax amendment had an enormous impact on this local government, local governments throughout the state, this was the home rule battle within the
bigger property tax amendment fight. Um this was about control. This was about um limiting your available resources because to local governments, property taxes is the most pliable form of revenue. You know, restricted revenues
like tourist development taxes, building fees, very finite set of uses for those fees. Gas taxes go to roads, property taxes used for just about everything. Um, and as you could see from this list, there's a lot of things that the county
does, a lot of services the county provides that aren't on here. U, the list doesn't account for property taxes to pay for parks, code enforcement, veteran services, primary health care, constitutional officers except for the sheriff, and uh doesn't provide for
paying county commissioners uh for that matter. So again, this was the big battle aside from what are the overall fiscal impacts. I think with this language um in the amendment process,
you see ultimately in the committee process, the legislature provided this uh catchall. They realized the problem here with this exclusionary only four language and they added this paragraph G that basically covers all the county and
constitutional officers operational needs. So for the time being and what's proposed on the November ballot, there's no longer concern about the exclusionary language, but going forward, it's something to expect and it it just reinforces the need to examine
alternative revenues aside from property taxes. I think when you when you look at this list, the A through F, um you can see the direct correlation between this language and
the difficult choices ahead because as the county administrator spoke to earlier, you're not going to have much revenue, property tax revenue left to fund county services beyond some of the basic items you see in in A throughF.
Commissioners, I'm just going to walk quickly through the provisions of the bill. I know most of you are familiar with the two homestead exemptions. I want to talk about the timing of it. You may see that there's a $150,000 exemption in 27, a $250,000 exemption in
28. Just to be clear on that, the those years speak to the individual property value. The assessed value will change on January 1 of 2027 if voters approve this. Um the January 1 values inform
your FY28 budget. So that would be the the first time the the homestead exemptions impact a county budget. The January 1 values change in 27. It impacts the FY28 budget. The following year, the values change January 1 of 28
to the 250. That'll impact your FY29 budget. The constitutional amendment also provides a provision directing the legislature to establish by general law uniform procedures for counties and
municipalities to fully eliminate all non-school levies on homestead properties. So that language is a little bit permissive, but if this amendment passes in November, will the legislature wait and see and let the next couple years play
out and see how local governments address some of these funding shortfalls or will they return to Tallahassee in December and write the next phase of this by general law, not a constitutional amendment. Important provision to keep an eye on.
The next one is the automatic inflation growth. If you recall, uh two years ago, 2024, there was a constitutional amendment on the ballot that added an inflationary adjustment to uh a portion of the homestead exemption. So, $25,000
uh that only applies to I shouldn't say only, that applies to all governments but schools. So, it's a small inflationary adjustment. Had a $300,000 or so impact to our current year budget. Um, but now this is going
to apply to the new exemptions. So, a small inflationary adjustment to what will potentially be a $250,000 exemption. It's going to limit our year-over-year uh collection of revenues and growth in revenues. The five-year residency requirement I
like to call, you know, get in while you can. If you have a homestead exemption uh before the end of the calendar year, you're in. you'll be eligible for the additional exemptions. If not, you'll have to wait five years. Uh you'll you'll be stuck with what is, you know,
the current exemption of $50,000 for local governments, but after 5 years, you'll be eligible for the full $250,000 or andor whatever the legislature may propose. Looking ahead,
the non-homestead cap. This is for uh non-h homestead properties, uh commercial properties, rental properties, second homes. Uh the cap uh limits the growth in taxable value year-over-year. Similar to save our homes for homestead properties, the
non-homestead cap is 10% right now. This proposal would reduce it to five. This initially was approved by voters in 2008. It was renewed in 2018, but now it's going to get cut in half. So again, that's going to impact our year-over-year growth.
The last piece you have here, last provision, is actually not part of the constitutional amendment. It's part of a separate bill that was approved by the legislature during the property tax reform special session. Uh this relates to maximum millage
rates. So every year you're adopting your budget. Uh there's a a formula that goes into calculating your maximum millage rate and how many votes are needed uh among this board to levy the millage and adopt your budget. Maximum mill rates have been in place
since 2009. And again it's just a formula to determine the voting thresholds. Will a simple majority suffice? Will a supermajority is is required or is a unanimous vote of the board required depending on how how high you want to
levy the millillage. Um, this proposal will al modify the formula by eliminating an inflationary adjustment. So, that could be about a four to 6% adjustment that's no longer included in our year-over-year millage calculations.
What does that mean? It's going to shrink your growth again year-over-year. And if you want to go further, it's going to require a supermajority vote up to 110% of the baseline. So, what did you generate last year? What do you want
to generate this year? How much more is it? If it's more than 110% of your baseline as established in the formula, that may require a supermajority or unanimous vote. Commissioners, I know the county administrator highlighted uh some of the
financial impacts. This is just an example uh to make it a little more personal uh help people understand the impacts of the county budget um and and kind of make it a little more real. This is the kind of information we're making available. Uh it's being posted on the
county website. Uh and you know, if anybody requests it, happy to provide it to them. But of course, and I'm looking at the county attorney so I don't get in trouble. Uh because this is going to be on the ballot. We are very much limited in any form of uh education. At at one
time years ago, we couldn't advocate. Uh there are limitations in how we use funds to even educate the public. So other than providing information um in in limited forms, now this is our best way to provide um
anticipated impacts associated with the amendment. And finally, commissioners, the county administrator talked about, you know, looking ahead and and what to expect this summer. This is the the really easy big picture. Uh looking through next
week to developing the FY29 budget, but there's going to be a lot of steps along the way. Uh starting with next week, county administrator is going to recommend some stop gap measures as part of the FY27 budget. Again, the 27 budget doesn't is is not impacted. The values
aren't impacted from the amendment, but of course, we want to be proactive. We want to get ahead of it. Uh there's opportunities to start uh reducing expenditures and preparing for the amendment. Next month in July, we're going to lay out the the long-term
fiscal and operating uh restructuring timeline. all the items that are going to come back to you over the course of, you know, 6 to 12 months. All the information you need uh to make informed decisions from evaluating mandatory
services to non-mandatory services, any efficiencies within the county organization, uh level of service reductions, um voluntary separation policies. You're familiar with the city went through it. We've done that before in the past. We're going to bring all that information to you. cost recovery,
fee structures, you name it. What are your options if you want to raise the millage rate going forward? Um, we don't think it's going to be enough to to cover the the the offset and the loss and the legislature could come back and restrict your ability to offset the
losses. Um, that's to be determined. So, we're going to provide you that outline so you know what to expect and when decisions will be needed after the election and in preparation for the FY28 budget and then we'll have to do it again for FY29.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That concludes >> Thank Thank you, Ken. Quick quick wrap up, commissioners. Again, the votes in November, but as you see here, the work begins now uh beginning with your budget workshops next week. As I mentioned, commissioner, this will be commissioners, this will be a very thorough and difficult process. Rest
assured, uh we'll do it all with the same professionalism uh professionalismism, diligence, and transparency, uh that we conduct all of our public policy and and local government decision-m here at the county. Always have, always will. With that, we recommend option one. We're
happy to answer any questions you might have. >> Thank you. commissioners talking pretty frequently as we get to to budget processing. Right now, we're going to move forward with our scheduled budget workshops. However, if we need additional workshops, we can talk about scheduling those as well, just so the
board's um fully informed of what's been going on. Commissioner Proctor, you're in the queue. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. commissioners. Um I wanted to suggest that as we look ahead to this um incredible amount of um startling startling information
um thanking u our staff for its clarity and deciphering uh the militancy of Florida's legislature to limit uh municipalities as well as county governments. Uh there
is no doubt and uh I've never heard um can you make a motion? >> I move staff's recommendation. Mr. Chairman, >> great. Um motion by for staff recommendation by Commissioner Proctor, second by Commissioner Maddox. You uh Commissioner Proctor, you
>> Thank you. I've never heard um Mr. Long give um the kind of um opening that he did today. Um I'm I'm to hear him in in in that disposition um really is troubling and strikes u
urgency within my heart. I think that um while the legislature took six days from the time the governor requested a special session to eliminate and to um strike this injurious uh action toward
communities of Florida. Looks like the uh state wants to run all the counties. The state wants to run all of the cities. The state wants to run and then to bend and shape and make the counties
merely an administrative tool to make uh certain that the constitutional officers of state uh funded and our roles will be nothing more but the state is going to run everything. I think that this
deserves um certainly in the spirit of the 250th year of the American Revolution, we damn sure need to strike a revolution and our counties and our municipalities need to stand up. I disagree and I asked
the county attorney to note that my number one legal uh objection and concern is with whether a state legislature can impose
um u a willful uh act to flatten, to disintegrate uh and to decim ate uh its counties and
its municipalities in this manner. Uh I disbelieve that it's constitutional that the legislature uh can create uh havoc and financial economic uh um instability
where there is no um no cause to do so. There has been no ask from county administrators for the legislative to do this. City managers have been asked. County commissioners have not. Uh the
Florida League of Cities have not. This has not come from the people of our state to seek this kind of calamity to be imposed upon the people of Florida. And this is why it behooves us um it's
much cheaper to for us to file a lawsuit and go downstairs in this very building and duke it out and fight it out over uh the legalities of uh what we're looking at. also
with respect um attorney commissioner Cummings to the differential outcomes uh with respect to the differential impositions of what we cannot do in response to our problem. The state is
telling us if you get Ebola, economic Ebola, you can't even um cure yourself. You can't these prescriptions are off limits. this is all you can't even react to save yourself to do anything. Um all
of that is being cut off. And I think that as we look at um this issue and the myriad of counties and there are 67 different responses. uh that is not uh it violates the equal
protection clause because there is not a uniform uh measure by which we all can die. Now all of our counties just agree to drink cyanide and close our eyes and go but everybody's going to die a slow
um dastardly death. uh and I think that uh that is not equal in the sense of uh the lingering nature and suffering for people jobs. Um OEV says today that our
last quarter was um pretty good trust and belief uh we won't hear reports like this ever again. And so I'm reacting to Mr. chairman, the abundance of what I've heard,
Commissioner O'Keefe and I uh went forward across the street um into um that zone of um of um of strife and hostility.
And we tried to make a record uh in the interests of our government and the governments of Florida local. And I suggest that I don't just take this and this is the end and the last person, our
chairman, will go down with the ship. I'm telling y'all that the Titanic, if this uh measure passes, that the Titanic is going to go down. And what we're here, what Vince is saying to us, we got
to determine if we're gonna save children, little children, old women, men. What we are in the process of doing now is taking the few little lifeboats we got, the few little life jackets that
we got, and we're determining and creating some basis by which uh some going to get on the lifeboat and others going to go down with the ship. It's just that plain. It's that simple. And coming from me, it sounds hard, but
coming from the legislature is harder. That's where we are. It's my suggestion to this commission that as we look at fiscal uh responses that um we take July 14th and we look at uh budget workshop,
I'm sorry, 14th is scheduled. Mr. Chairman, I'm suggesting that it's so much we've got to we've got to look at that we might consider Wednesday the 15th as an additional workshop day. Uh because I mean if we're going to write
the write the uh eulogy for Lyon County uh it ought to be uh a paragraph that we file a lawsuit for uh various causes of
action which I won't enumerate but we have to fight uh it would be beneath who we've been for 22 years if we don't fight back. So, if we're not fighting, uh, we're going to lose a lot of lives. And, um, I'll
pull up right there, Mr. Chairman, and slow down. You had others to recognize. So, >> I I I got a few other people in the queue. So, I'm going to go to the vice I'm going to go to the vice chair. I got Commissioner Welch and then Commissioner Maddox. Mr. Vice Chair. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, before a
couple of questions I have, I would just like to um echo a lot of what Commissioner Proctor said. Uh being over there, it was definitely hostile hostile to the the purpose of local government and home rule and um
the impact of the proposal. I appreciate staff working quickly and diligently to show the financial impacts. Um because this really is a question of does Lyon County want the local government services and community
programs that we have. And I will tell you that over across the street, we heard a lot of um things about abuse in other counties and things like that. And to me, fighting for this is about fighting
for our Lyon County voters rights to choose what kind of government they want. And now with this referendum, that's at the that's at the whims of overall Florida voters instead of just Leyon County voters. And um I just want to say that I
am fighting to make sure that all voters know the information and the implication of of what this is. This is not a small thing. This is not a little adjustment. And I am proud of the cost-effective and
the successful work that Leyon County does for our community. And I believe that we do that because our voters want us to do those things. Um we'll have lots more to talk about that uh at the workshop. I'll leave that for that. I have a couple questions on
some specific legislative issues. Um, it was mentioned in here, one of our legislative priorities is the descheduling or decriminalization of marijuana. And there was an update about uh federal administration change. And I
wanted to know what that was and how that impacts our ability to perhaps take another crack at um decriminalizing nonviolent offenses related to small amounts of marijuana. So um as detailed in the report um there
has been an interest um by the president to explore uh descheduling marijuana um but an important caveat there is um while his executive order was very broad um speaking to marijuana in general um I
think his interest is specifically just an important caveat um but more broadly um this is more of a first step um the fact that the federal ederal government is taking interest in this. Um that's that's great and the fact that the president is pushing for this to be
expedited. The the descheduling process specifically again is a good first step. Um we hope in the future uh legislation such as the more act will be filed at the federal level that specifically is a good vehicle for those subsequent
changes related to um uh expuning um past criminal uh convictions related to marijuana. So first step in the pro process but it is promising. >> Thank you. Um, has there been any success or uh movement on efforts
related to regulating or remediating PAS chemicals um for the Florida for from the feds? >> I know I've I've heard uh bits and pieces here and there over the past couple months, but I I don't have anything specific to provide at this
time, but I can we can uh get more information to provide for you. >> Okay. And then finally, there's a very specific um item here. Let me find it. Um related to private school SP182,
commercial zoning of private schools and uninccaporated unincorporated Leyon County. That's our description of it. Um, this this bill does other things, but there is specific changes that preclude counties from enforcing our
current commercial or zoning uh and use codes in incorporate areas. And there is a specific school out at Shiloh Farm that specific owner that wants to build a school that was not able to out in chairs because of our land code rules.
This looks to specifically allow them to over and above any of our local rules. Is that correct? Am I am my understanding that this statute now allows that particular proposal to allow a school to be built um out in chairs? So, I don't know the specifics of the
proposal um right now off the top of my head, but what I can confirm is um that bill um there was a provision tacked on in the 11th hour that will allow private schools regardless of enrollment size to be placed in the unincorporated area um to be permitted as a commercial or mixed
use uh without any reasonzoning or approval of a land use change. So, uh, yeah, that takes a big a a big local part of the process out. >> Okay. >> Our preliminary read though, commissioners, is is consistent with yours.
>> Thank you. Um, this is for for our voters in the chair community. We have been hearing a lot about this. Um, and uh, I want to say that I have appreciated staff enforcing our comprehensive plan and zoning codes that
we we always say everybody I think gets the impression that if a developer wants to do something, they just do it and they roll over. But in this case, we have had um, some heavy hitters really want to build a school out there. And up until this Florida law changed, our county has held the line on the rules
that we have put in place to protect that community and that street. It's a pretty residential street. And this is a case of not just overall preeemption. I think if anyone looks back, this is we'll just say the fact pattern of that property and the fact pattern of
allowing it is very specific to this. And I'm sorry to our constituents that there's not a lot we there's nothing we can do when a specific statute is changed. So, um, but I also want when that shows up, I want everyone to know that I appreciate the county for holding the line on our rules. Those those are
my comments. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. Um, Commissioner Welch, I have you in the queue, but before I believe the supervisor of elections would would like to, uh, take the dice for a few moments. So, u, Mr. Supervisor, you have you have the floor for a few moments.
>> Appreciate it. Uh, Commissioner Proctor asked him to come and give an update on the election prep and I can a little bit about the legislative process. We've been faced with a lot of legislative bills uh that have impacted elections. House Bill 991
to reassure the community. As far as the voting ability, that doesn't really affect anyone until after January 1st. As far as the tax cut referendum, I can't speak to that a whole lot because we are counting the votes on that and so we have to be very careful about any positions we take. We were relieved when
we saw the inclusion of that amendment that all county officers and our budgets were part of that. Uh as far as the process of preparing for elections, it's ongoing. Candidate qualifying is going on right now. I see a lot of qualified
candidates already in this room. Uh, and if there's any questions, I know you're deep into this discussion, so I don't want to preempt that or, you know, distract from that, but if there's any questions about what we're doing, we've got, I handed out to, uh, our county
attorney some handouts. We're in involved with a lot of communications to the public uh, regarding the need to sign up for vote by mail ballots. That gets reset every election cycle. That's that's going out to all residences in
Lyon County. We're doing big mass emails and mailings uh to folks to remind them of some of the statutory changes that do affect this year. Uh but really if there's any questions, I don't want to distract from this at all. So
>> Okay. Thank you. Uh yes, go ahead. >> Mr. Chairman, it was significant that um the mail the issue about the mailin ballot and uh I think some elections occurring today uh couple states. M supervisor help us to understand the
changes with mail mailin ballots. >> Yeah. So, there's been several over the years, uh, Commissioner. Uh, one of the most impactful was the requirement that you have to re-request a vote by mail ballot every election cycle. Most of the
community still doesn't know that. We typically get about 45,000 vote by mail ballot requests. We are sitting at about 28,000, so about 2/3 of where we normally are. And we are way ahead of the game compared to the rest of the state. Uh, I think our citizens are very
responsive to our mailings and our our outreach and we applaud that. Uh, but a big chunk of our voters don't even they get reminded about the election when they receive their vote by mail ballot. And we're all concerned that if they
don't request that ballot, they may not actually get a chance to vote. And really, we think of that as a it's an insurance policy. If for some reason you can't go out to vote, you can vote the vote by mail ballot, but if you request it, you can still vote in person instead of voting the vote by mail ballot.
Also, there's uh an issue about dropboxes, secure ballot intake stations. Nothing much has changed as far as that works, but uh it was it had some uh non-manlature type of changes. >> And and my final um as question, Mr.
Fizer's um with respect to a community organization the um uh Delta Sigma Theta uh voter registration drive I'll just say next Saturday this is hypothetical um what has to be solved and it's become
somewhat illegal to register uh voters. What does a common good community organization has to do to have legitimate uh voter registration not just education but registration drive help us to know
what we need to do in this season to do so >> there have been some pretty impactful statutory changes about how voter registration occurs third party voter registration I don't want to get too much in the details but if for groups that used to go around and pass out or
get people to fill uh voter registration applications and then collect those and then turn those into our office, which used to happen. That was a large portion of our voter registration applications. That has really slowed down tremendously because if there's been very heavy fines
imposed if you turn those in late, the turnaround time for those for uh organizations to get that voter registration application to us uh is extremely tight now. It's I think around 10 days, I believe. Uh if they turn it into the wrong county, there's a heavy
fine. So, there's a lot of fines. And what that does is dissuade folks from getting those voter registration applications to us. Really, the safest way to do it now is to carry a tablet around and let people log into the online voter registration and uh
register that way. But if you do that, you have to have both a Florida ID number and the last four year social security number available because that's required as part of your uh registration process or just hand them the paper registration application and let them take it on their own if they remember.
>> My final final question uh M Sufaza is uh the felon restoration uh thingy is that is um um clear as mud yet? >> That's a good way to phrase it. >> Yeah. >> Uh yeah. Amendment four passed several years ago. There were a lot of
constraints put on that. Uh there have there's still ongoing confusion. There was someone that was arrested in the middle of the night here a couple years ago. Uh that I thank the state attorney for working with me to clarify whether those charges should stick or not. Uh that was I think a good partnership to
save one of our citizens here from something I think that was very much unwarranted. Uh but yeah, I I think there is a tendency for folks to take the easy way out instead of partaking in our democracy once they've returned as a citizen and uh completed all their
obligations. It's confusing as to what they have to do the primarily around the uh area of uh legal financial obligations, fines, fees, restitution, that kind of thing where there's a civil lean placed. So we get a lot of
questions about that. uh as part of the lawsuit with Desmond me and his organization uh I was for some reason I was part of that phone call and after waiting for about 3 hours I suggested that we have an advisory opinion process through the
department of state the judge liked that and that's really what came to pass as the uh result there but most folks don't understand how that works uh but there are supposed to be very tight timelines on when the state responds and if they don't respond within that certain time frame you you are supposed to be able to
assume that your rights are restored, your voting rights are restored except for certain types of uh felonies. >> Very good. Thank you. >> Anybody else? >> Thank you, Mr. Supervisor. Thank you for being here. >> I'm going back to Commissioner Wales now in the queue.
>> Oh, okay. Go ahead. Madam Tax Collector, I apologize. I did not know you wanted to speak. >> Good evening, uh, commissioners, Mr. Chairman. So before um supervisor Early leaves um I didn't plan to say anything
tonight. I really came here to listen because we're all in a crisis with this property tax amendment and uh it definitely impacts the office. But my comment is regarding voting because that's kind of where all it all starts.
Driver's license, the numbers have changed. So this is to help you when you go out to the community. Uh, many of your constituents might ask about the driver's license number. I didn't realize so many people actually had memorized their driver's license number,
but you know, it used to have your birth date in the sequence of numbers. So, that's how they remembered that. And now that's no longer the case. So, they're wondering, what do I have to do in terms of voting with my number being
different? they come to my office first or the tax collector's office first um to and they might have a renew a different number. So that's their concern. My number has changed. How does this impact my voting? When you're out in the community, they might ask you
those questions. And so I wanted uh Oh, right there. Okay. [laughter] I wanted uh supervisor uh early to uh comment on how we coordinate that with our offices to ensure them and so you
can then ensure your constituents that uh what the process is. >> Thanks for bringing that up. Absolutely. Uh there's a big misconception out there and we are getting a lot of calls about this. I should have had this on my notes. uh that with the driver's license
change and frankly with the citizenship impacts that are coming next year that uh people are going to have a very very difficult time voting. We'll see how that works out. I think for the most part we are going to be getting data. I'm on the work group. I'm on a lot of these work groups with our association
to get the data from highway safety and motor vehicles. But the best advice I would say in response to your question is when you go to get your driver's license updated or you go to their office for any reason, one of the first questions her staff uh Miss Mallaloy staff asks the person is do you want to
update your voter registration information? [clears throat] The answer should always be yes. Okay. I was going to talk to you offline. There's uh there's some counties that are working with the uh tax collector and the voter regist vot supervisor of
elections to do some public service announcements advising them of that. I'm trying to get some of the local counties within our region to do a joint PSA on that fact. And it's it's important to tell every don't be afraid to update your voter registration information from
HSMV or from the tax collector when you're there. that helps everybody to ensure you we have the most up-to-date information and makes the voting process the smoothest it is. >> Awesome. Thank Thank you so much. >> Mr. Chairman, I was wanted to ask given all these changes, these notifications,
these mailouts, the collaboration between different offices, uh, does the supervisor have adequate u funding for this cycle of elections that Florida remains a high class, first class, democratically based um um methodology
of electing people? >> I would answer that this way. Uh first of all, I'm very proud of our hard one and and great relationship and partnership serving our our citizens, our voters. Uh we couldn't do our my team could not do our job without your
all's great help. Uh at this point, I think our budget is good and our projected budget for next year. Uh I think we came in under you know quite a bit under what we projected in recent years as we are coming forward. Uh having said that, the future is very
uncertain and I'll leave it at that because I can't say a whole lot about this, but uh there are concerns there. I would like to thank you all for funding the awning over our early voting entrance. It rains a lot out there and people waiting in line to vote. We don't have many lines, but early voting in my
office often has lines and they've been sitting out there in the lightning and everything and it's been a tremendous improvement getting that done. So, I really appreciate that. >> Mr. Chairman, I just close out by saying we've had a tremendous um supervisor election uh office predating our
supervisor uh to this u predecessor and uh Mr. Early does a great job. One thing that I pray that this commission would do long after I'm gone is that we would give the adequate resources that democracy can be practiced at its
highest level. And to the extent that we um undergur and fund a super competent supervisor election and that we're always um uh diligent to make sure that our supervisor election is well qualified to hold that office, execute
that office, but also that as a county commission that we don't um scrimp and and and and and and pick and get. We we need to fund the effort for democracy to flow and never get so cheesy and cheap
that we don't sustain this particular office. So those are comments and I'm >> Thank you, Commissioner. >> Thank you, Commissioner. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Supervisor. Thank you, Madam Tax Collector. Thank you all for being here. Commissioner Welch, you're the floor. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, yeah, on
the property tax thing, thank you Nikki and Ken for the presentation. And I would just ask uh you know my sort of posture on this issue is going to be one of just information. Um and I
know there are limitations that the county attorney has given us on how we can communicate or what resources we can use to communicate this stuff. I saw Maya and some of the reporters taking photos of the slides that were presented to us. I would just like to ask the administrator and our uh media relations
department to ensure that we are adequately sending that information out um on the channels that we are allowed to just asformational and perhaps the attorney can provide a little uh sort of
reminder on exactly what we can and can't do in terms of communicating with the public via our social medias or whatever you know non-county resources are utilized. I certainly plan to use my social media
to share those graphics and those slides that indicate the math. I mean, we're just talking about math. Uh, but I think in terms of my posture as an elected official on the issue, I'm almost 100% of the time going to support a ballot
referendum, letting citizens vote um on an issue, and that's what's happening here. But I think it is important and incumbent on us as the as Commissioner O'Keefe mentioned that we provide full clarity, full transparency about the
implications of what these things mean to our constituents. Um, and so I know or I would anticipate as we get closer to budget workshops and uh to November when this question is on the ballot, we
would get more uh specific information about implications in terms of just real real impacts, numbers of employees that could lose jobs, uh, status of libraries, status of mosquito control, status of parks and recreation, status
of our EM MS uh programming, the things that are not exempted by the by the resolution, by the the referendum. I think it's going to be very important that we share that. I think it's very important that our news partners share
that information far and wide. Um as the vice chair mentioned, um this is a Florida question. I wouldn't be surprised to see this pass uh clearly in Florida but not pass in Lyon County. Um
but in terms of Lyon County's voters and the voters that we can communicate with, I think it's very important that they understand the real world implications of what is happening. The slides that we just showed uh that were just presented
to us are pretty good, pretty clear. Um, I think we need to continue to fine-tune that and just really be specific. These libraries will close. These many people will be laid off. This many ambulance crews will be jeopardized mosquito control. This will be the cost
of playing sports at Cher Park uh or the Northeast Park or whatever. Um, that would just be my request of staff so that as commissioners we can communicate that to our constituents. I think that's uh we are obligated to do that. Um, Madam
Attorney, would you mind reminding us all what we can and can't do in terms of uh communicating using county whatever. >> Uh yes. So the statute which is 106.113
um broadly defines public funds. It's basically any money in the coffers of the county. Period. Um, so there tends to be a little distinction about what's permissible before
something becomes a ballot question versus after it becomes a ballot question. Uh, I don't know if the property tax referendum has officially become a ballot question yet. Um but what is
always permissible is you can always report on official actions of the board in an accurate, fair and impartial manner. Um factual information can be posted on a government website or in printed
materials. Um commissioners can host and provide factual information at a public forum uh and can also provide factual in the county can provide factual information [clears throat] in response to an
inquiry. Um what is always prohibited um is what's considered to be public advertisements. Um, so
cannot pay to send communications to advocate for or against the matter that's going to be on the ballot. Okay. Um, that term is defined in a different section of the chapter.
It's in section 106.011. Um and basically except for those exceptions that I just mentioned um that prohibition applies to communications initi initiated by the county
irrespective of whether the communication is limited to factual information or advocates for the passage or defeat of an issue referendum or amendment. Okay. So it's the advoc advocacy piece which really becomes very
problematic. Um, again, posting, providing factual information, um, anything that can be quantified. Uh, Commissioner Welch, you were just talking about, um, real impacts like very specific,
just d discreet quantifiable information is what is permissible. um any anything that is um something that you cannot quantify that you cannot
support by data or is opinion um generally becomes very problematic. uh aside from um the commissioner's ability to express their own individual opinions about these matters, but it's the the
outreach piece that is now prohibited. Um it is the advocacy piece that is prohibited. um social media um the it's my understanding I'm not really into social
media but that certain um uh resources can be used to uh push out your social media message um on different platforms. I don't know what that entails but I do know you pay for
those services. um that could be a basis for a complaint uh and uh imposition of a fine based on a violation. Um, social media generally, uh, I can tell
you that there is not consensus about whether the use of social media is permissible by the county, uh, or a a an elected official in their official capacity because there's been no guidance on this. Okay. Um, I can tell
you that FAC has not yet sent out any guidance on what is prohibited and what is permitted. Um, the League of Cities has. Uh, they've basically said, well, given what is expressly permissible, we
think that the posting of factual information on social media would be permissible. Um what is not permissible though would arguably potentially be the use of um county staff time. I mean that is a resource right? Um to post
information on a county website or sorry not website social media. The use of a county website is completely permissible uh to post factual information for educational purposes. Um so um there's a
little bit of gray. Um the general use of social media to post factual information is probably fine. The use of these services would not recommend. Please don't do that. Um
and again the um the need to stay away from advocacy and to try to send information in whatever medium directly to electors. Don't do that. >> Great. Thank you, Mr. Welch.
>> Yeah. So, uh, we all clear on that. [laughter] Um, yeah, like I said, I mean, I I intend to be asked I mean, I I expect to be asked a lot about this as we go through the summer, certainly through our recess in August and moving towards November and the fall. Um, I think
there's going to be a lot of questions uh in neighborhoods and in uh civic groups. And I know I have several of those scheduled over the next few months. Um so I just want to make sure that you know we have the math, we have the most clear information and implications of what is really
happening. Um with you know the likelihood that this statewide will will happen. Um I think it's just important that we tell people I have no doubt that as a government we're going to do the absolute best we can with what we are
allowed to do. And then I think that's I think it's also important to to tell voters or tell the public about what you know the sort of backfilling possibilities here in terms of millage rate increases or fee increases. Um you
know I think it best not to surprise people if we are up here discussing doubling you know whatever raising the millage on the EMS taxing unit the MSTU. Um, so again, I just think that it's incumbent on us as the representatives
of the board who are the public's uh, you know, representatives to let them know like look, you know, there's going to be considerations probably of military increases of of uh, fee increases, cost increases, and enterprise funds, things like that. And
I just that's I just want to be way out in front of that as as much as I can without advocating, you know, one way or the other. >> Sure. >> Oh, sorry. Go ahead, >> Madam Attorney. >> As a point of clarification, just because you're an elected official in this scenario, you do not lose your
First Amendment right to to speech as a private citizen. Okay? So what I'm trying to make the distinction here is you can feel personally a way about what's being proposed and you can
express those opinions in your private capacity. You need to distinguish that from any opinion you might take and any advocacy you might engage in in your professional
capacity. So for example, if you have a social media page that is purely private, that does not at all uh relate to your official duties, that you
do not use for official purposes, that you do not that does not um uh recognize you and as a county commissioner or anything like that, and you want to post about how you feel about this, in your private capacity and if you do
that by the way I would expressly say that you are making those statements in your private capacity to be on the safe side then that's fine there are instances for example there were people have co-mingled their private social media with their official
duties and they post official things on there and everything like that I would not post any advocacy or position on that sort of a social media media page and that is to try to avoid uh a complaint being filed against you uh
that you are somehow violating 106.113. But I'm just want to make that clear that you can still speak in your private capacity as a private citizen, but you need to separate that from your political >> Awesome. I think we hear you loud and clear, Madam Attorney. Thank you for the
clarification. >> I'm good. >> You're good. Commissioner Maddox. >> Thank you. Um, Mr. Chair, um, principal probably there's an old saying, uh, we don't know if the gates were put up to
keep danger out or to keep us in. Um, when I look at this, there's a lot of there seems to be a lot of good to it. I I believe homeowners are feeling real pressure, financial pressure, uh, and should be those should not be dismissed. I mean, we we got it. We we talk about
affordable housing almost every day up here. Raising h rising housing costs, insurance premiums, property taxes, um have created afford affordability challenges for what many families in Florida think so as well. So, um, but
the unintended consequences of bad policy can create dire dire situations for those who need government the most. And when I think about what's happening here, uh what I see is I see,
you know, yeah, I mean, we we love to to give that that relief to our taxpayers, but the balance of that is um do you give so much relief that the local government that they rely on for
services can't adequately do their job? Uh we wrestle with that every time we're up here. Do we give such relief to a point that we can't do our job for you? When roles need to be fixed when when services need to be rendered and we
don't have the staff to adequately provide you're handicapping your local government. Um it's not just reducing taxes or increasing revenues. Our responsibility is to strike the
right balance between affordability for our residents and maintaining equality that attracts folks right here to our community in Lyon County. I don't believe that that should be taken away from Lyon County as a government. We understand how to how to create. I don't
think there's anybody in in Lyon County that that does not think we're good stewards of the county dollar. Constitutional amendments have long-term consequences. And I think that's what we're talking about here, long-term consequences. We should evaluate not only the uh immediate benefit to
homeowners but also the long-term impact uh on public safety, infrastructure, economic development and government capacity. Uh we must also consider everyone in this decision. Okay. The homeowner's homestead gets relief.
The renter who is not in a homestead property if we have to go up on that miller rate we get the pass through. [snorts] that's going to increase the rent to that homeowner. Uh
that renter possibly one day wants to own a home. One of the biggest affordability problems we have is the fact that we don't have affordable rentals. And without affordable rentals, those folks can't save money to own a home. Without owning a home, they can't
take advantage of this property tax relief that folks are about to vote on. Seniors on fixed income, what about them? Businesses, again, what about them? Future generations, what about them? Good policy should strengthen communities as a whole, not solve the
problem for one challenging aspect of our community. We should not fix a problem to create a problem for other folks in our community. Tax relief should be meaningful, again, substantial, and financially responsible. I don't think
what the state's trying to do is financially responsible. They care not they they care not one bit about the strain that it might put on local governments and how we do our job each and every day. Make no mistake, if this
passes, local government will never be the same. Understand this though, Leyon County will lead in innovation. We will lead on we will lead the way in making sure that we do this the right way. Uh I saw I've seen us commissioner product has too lead time and time again through
the recession through big cuts through everything we had to do. We have been in a position of lead and how we conquered those issues right here in Leyon County. So I have complete confidence in my staff that we'll be able to get the job done. But what I don't have confidence
in is that the way we have to go about getting the job done will be the same government uh that our Lyon County residents have gotten to be so so comfortable with simple things. Mosquito
control most definitely will go. Commissioner Pride, do you remember when I first elect when I first was elected um we were trying to cut mosquito control. We had this place packed with 200 people saying there's no way on
God's green earth will we let you cut mosquito control. But what if we're in a position that we're picking between mosquito control of being able to fund our sheriff, mosquito control of being able to fund our libraries, mosquito control of being able to have enough staff to fix our roles. What we going to
do then? That's the kind of things that we're looking at right here in Lyon County. I just I I believe that we should not view the debate as taxpayer versus uh local government. I don't think that's the right way to view it. And I think that's the way it's being
created. The taxpayer against the local government. How could you as local government say no or or fight against or talk speak against taxpayer relief? How could you speak against uh those folks who have $250,000 homes not having to pay property taxes when they are
probably amongst some of the uh folks that can't afford those half a million dollar and million dollar homes. So they probably need a relief the most. Well, that's the way you want to frame the argument, but that's not the real argument. It shouldn't be against about taxpayer versus government. Should be uh
that we your discussion about we as we build Florida, how do remain how do we remain affordable? How do we remain how do we rem how do we remain remain competitive? How do we remain fiscally,
financially sound in a way again that does not hurt the least of those, but that gives the relief that's that that our that our taxpayers may need while also providing the services that allows me as a young black boy who who's
growing who grew up in a family uh of of four the ability to go play city league football without having to pay $700. My mom couldn't afford that. But but what what do we do when we can't pay for our parks? What what we can't we can't give potent any relief. No, you going to
have to pay to rent that field. What do we do when when we can't pay for our libraries when they're open every now and then? Well, everybody go to Starbucks. I mean, or or to uh Barnes & Noble when I remember my first speaking engagement, I I'll stop talking. I'm just on a soap box. But my first speaking engagement, Commissioner Pratt,
you might not remember this, was at um a library. And I said, I'll never forget it. What I said during that speaking engagement was I said, "A book allowed me to travel places that I never would have gotten to see as a young man in Shelby, North Carolina. My first book I
read was in a library, a public library. What happens if as a child I can't I can't go to a library to read that book? What happens? What happens to me? What happens to my family if they can't rely on their local government to provide the services uh that they that they so
[clears throat] dependably have have provided year after year after year. I just again I I don't I don't want I want anybody to think that this board does not see the financial strain it's put on families when it comes to the rising cost of housing and the affordability problem that we have. That's not what
we're talking about here. We're talking about the balance. This is bad policy because it does not have the balance. It helps one while crippling the other. That's That's not good policy. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
>> Commissioner Max. Commissioner Cummings. >> Commissioner Cummings. >> Thank uh Thank you, Mr. Chair. I won't be long. I I just want to thank uh staff and the county administrator [snorts] for this analysis. I want to thank Ken
and and Nikki for their present for their presentations uh as well. I think we find ourselves in a a unique situation uh for this county and probably a unique situation for all of us as far as what's
happening here. And I know we'll discuss it in more detail, Mr. county administrator uh during our during our workshop, but the supervisor of elections and the tax [clears throat] collector, I think they also see the importance of this and dire straits that we're in by them showing up
for our meeting, which they don't uh they don't they don't generally do. But what what I'm concerned not only about the uh millions that we are lost, we will lose here
uh in Leyon County, but also about the restrictions on what's left. We're restricted on how what's left, if anything is left, can can be used. And just hypothetically,
um, Madame County, uh, attorney, based on this legislation in these specific three areas that we can, if this passes, number one, we're restricted to three delineated areas that aorum taxes can be
spent in those areas. And the way I look at it is those areas do not involve any expenditures for human services. So
hypothetically, if there was funds, hypothetically, even with the tax cuts, if we had sufficient funds to do what we needed to do, we still couldn't spend
money in areas where we address human services. Now, am am I interpreting that correct, Madam County? >> Mr. Chairman, I can I can take that. Commissioner. Yeah. The the um and I think as as you saw in Ken's overview
there, uh there were there were previous versions of the legislation prior to it passing that articulated and identified just specific funding categories where you could where you could um where the board would be restricted to fund only those things. Uh that was amended and
there was an amendment placed to give the board much broader flexibility in funding everything. The problem is the money that will be available to fund those things. So on one hand again the final legislation did um um broaden the
available uh categories of funding the allowable uses of funding. Uh but again it hardly matters be when you consider the reduction >> right and that's law enforcement right but I looked at those specific areas and how they were expanded but I I could not
identify anything for human services at all even with the the amendments now they had also uh indicated a trust fund to assist certain counties you know that will really would really be devastated
by this legislation but I didn't see where that was placed in the second uh amendment when they actually passed it with with the governor. So, what what I see this as it's a direct attack on home
rule. It's a direct attack on the ability of municipalities and counties to direct what goes on locally. What's good for Lyon County might not be good for Dade County.
Okay, it might not be good for Orange County, Oyola County, but they have taken the ability of local people, local elected officials to make the decision about where services
need to be directed. And we have a blanket now legislation that says it doesn't matter if you have dire needs in this specific area in Leon County, you're going to expend your money the same way Miami Dade or Oyola or Orange
or Wakulla spends their money. And and it just baffles me that our elected that our legislature um Florida legislature they just lost sight of that. It just
took all of our local ability away to help, you know, to help the local people. So anyway, Mr. County Administrator, I I I have all respect and confidence in your great staff. I'm looking forward to uh the
workshop. I know that we will have some viable options uh about what to do, what not to do. Uh but leading up to the election this fall, I think we have to just continue to be uh vigilant,
diligent, and even in looking at our budget for the the next year. I think we we have to be concerned as well about what the possibilities are and what we as a board might have to
uh just have to stand up for the citizens of of Leyon County and just we got to make some tough decisions and and I and I recognize that. So anyway, I I thank you for all the hard work. Uh, I thank our our federal lobbyists, our
state lobbyists for the bacon that they brought home because they did bring home. Thank you guys for for all of your hard work and we just look forward to our our workshop and uh the tough road ahead. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you, Commissioner Cummings.
Commissioners, I'll close us out on this. First and foremost, Nikki, you've done a phenomenal job in your position. Uh there's been a lot of challenges. I I really do believe that you are doing an incredible job. Uh to our lobbying team, our outside lobbyist, uh Brian, your
team, I I mean, I see a lot of wins in here. And so I appreciate the work that you guys are doing. It's backto-back years with with some solid wins. Uh let's make sure that we we do what we can to avoid the the veto pen of the of the governor. And so that way we can
bring home some wins for our constituents. So, thank you to the two of you. Uh, commissioners, I I'll talk about the property tax issue in a in a moment, but there are a few things in here that I think is important highlighting. One,
um, what, Nikki, what is the what was the bill that related to the search charge on utility fees u for sewer? >> Uh, I believe it's 1451. House bill 1451. Oh, and that bill strips the
ability for for utility companies to charge sir charges on unincorporated residents. >> Essentially, uh, municipal utility providers such as the city of Tallahassee will now be capped um on the search charge that they're allowed to
charge on residents outside their boundaries, such as those in the unincorporated area. Currently, they're able to charge 50%. Uh this legislation will now cap them at 25%. Uh but one important note in the bill is if that municipal utility provider currently
utilizes their revenues for any uh bond obligations, that phase out of that 25% will not be required until fiscal year 2029. Um we have been in conversations with the city. They do um they have confirmed that they they do use their revenues for bonds. Um, so with that in
mind, we we anticipate that their search charge cap won't be in effect until that 2029 deadline. >> Okay. Thank you, commissioners. I think that this is a great that's a great bill for our unincorporated residents. I've been very vocal the last few years. I think it's wrong that mutable utilities
can charge sir charges on unincorporated residents, especially 50%. uh that the way our agreement has been with the city, you know, all the we're doing the work on expanding all the sewer throughout Lyon County unincorporated. We did it on the north
side, now we're doing it down in Woodville. And then we're essentially just giving the utility, we're giving the infrastructure to the city. Uh and so and then they're charging a search charge on our on our corporate residents. So, I'm thankful for the city
to provide the service and I I I I just I'm very happy about this bill particularly. This is going to roll money right back into our unincorporated residents. Um, I'll be advocating for this to be signed by by the governor. One thing that we have to keep in mind,
Madam Attorney, we currently have a an interlocal agreement with the city related to this bill, and I believe last year they sent us a letter saying that they intend to renegotiate. Could you provide some some context on that? Generally, there is
um an agreement that ties the use of certain city facilities to their ability to impose uh the search charge in the unincorporated area. Uh we have not I have not received a letter this year
like we received last year. Uh, so I don't know what the city's current position is on that. It may be that they just haven't gotten around to sending it yet. Uh, or it may be that since that search charge change doesn't go into effect or their position is it doesn't
go into effect until 2029 that um they are it's not on their immediate to-do list. Uh but there is a possibility that um they will be coming back to the county to renegotiate the current arrangement that's in place and that
would potentially again impact the uh ability of residents in the unorporate area to use some of the city's facilities at the same charge. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you for for the the context and feedback. Commissioners, uh I'm happy with the
appropriation wins. Let's land the plane there. Commissioner Miner, I believe you got some wins, too. federally. I saw congratulations on that on that the work that's going on in Lake Jackson, North Monroe. Love what you're doing in north side of Leyon County. Um commissioners on on the property tax
county administrator, what is the or or staff? What is the total fiscal impact of this proposal? >> $71 million in the first two years. >> 71 and then what is that over time? Do you know
>> it grows thereafter? And but of course, as you saw in the language, it contemplates the legislature phasing in full implementation. It directs the legislature to phase in full implementation of property tax elimination of non-h homestead of of homestead property taxes. >> Do we know what that will be like in 5
years? >> We're doing that analysis now. >> Okay. Um, commissioners, in in 2020, the Leyon County budget, I don't have in front of me, but I recall from previous
conversations was 250 million 200 million. Does that sound about right, Mr. County Administrator? >> I'd have to check that. >> Okay. Um, is there a staff number that could that could clarify that number? What our fiscal year budget was in 2020? >> I don't know if they'd be able to recall 2020 at this point. Uh but but Rashonda
could probably come up and give you a general idea. >> Okay. Um here's here's my general thoughts about this. I wish that we had taken the position earlier on in this issue where we had a seat at the table.
The governor and the legislation or legislature has been saying for a couple years that they want to eliminate property taxes. What I've learned very quickly in my time in public service is that when you have the Florida legislature and the
governor both rowing in the same direction, they're going to propose some policy. And so I'm not surprised to see where we are today. I wish that we would have taken the position or other local governments would have taken the position um to kind
of row the same direction so that way there wasn't such a a drastic shift in this direction that's being proposed now. However, I will say this. Do we have that answer by 2020 yet?
I can Google it. I think I think our budget director is going to >> let's just make sure we'll we'll answer the questions in their full context. How I mean some of this stuff is doesn't really >> I just want to know the what the budget was. >> It was about 280 million but one
analysis that we have um done recently just our budget growth over that same period and it's pretty much been consistent with inflationary growth for government indexes. >> Okay. So uh thank you for that. So our proposed budget this year is what?
>> Rashanda, please return to the lecture. The proposed budget that we'll present to you next week is about 420 million and it's about a 4.8% um year-over-year growth. >> Okay. Thank thank you for that. So,
commissioners, I don't, again, this is just my pos my position, and I understand that this may defer from from some of our other colleagues up here, but we're facing a $71 million impact, and that again, that can grow over time. And even with that deficit, it's taken
us down to 350 million, which is more revenue total as a county than what we had in 2020. And so, my opinion is guys, we will get through this. like this is like yeah we will we will get through
this. We we operated our budget in 2020 with roughly she said 280 $250 million. This is we are we are at a pivotal time where local government is going to
change. I think that it's an important time for our board and our staff to lead the way of what that looks like. I think we need to change how we budget, um how we look at
revenues. Um Mr. County Administrator, I I sent an email related asking questions about our reserves. And the question was for that email is because we sit we're sitting around $50 million in reserves, right? which in the grand scheme of things of how we budget is not a whole
lot of money, right? Um I think we need to look at positioning oursel if this is you know legally viable of having an endowment right we need to look at ways to where we can grow our reserves and invest on invest our reserves so we're being competitive
with the market um the the market has gone up what 10 to 15%. I would like to know how much on the our ROI have we gotten on those reserves. What does that look like? You know, the schools have a foundation for Leyon County schools, right? That may be a
model that we need to look at as well of having a direct support organization that can help us that we fund raise to and help continue to grow an endowment. Um, we keep talking about how we're losing,
you know, tens and tens of millions of dollars, but guys, that's money going back into taxpayers hands, right? And so, I think it's important that we look at this eyes wide open and look at with money going back into taxpayers hands, that is going
to alleviate an affordability crisis when it comes to affordable housing. um it's going to generate sales tax revenue which then leads to we need to look at with such a big change what are we going to do with blueprint we've committed oursel to 20 years on on a 1% sales tax
we've bonded out $1.2 2 billion, a majority of that money are for very large infrastructure projects, some of which arguably I would say we don't need. So I think it's important to look at this eyes wide open.
What was going on and what we needed 10 years ago is shifting and changing. Maybe we need to use some of our sales tax dollars to provide basic infrastructure needs. I I think we may need to look at that. We may need to go back to ask tax ask taxpayers if they would like us to pivot on the blueprint
infrastructure sales tax. Maybe we complete some of the big projects and we look at re-evaluating some of the others. However, I'm not looking at this scenario like a doomsday scenario. I'm really not. If anything, I think
that Mr. County Administrator, I think this is an opportunity for you and your staff to really be in a legacy making opportunity and position because I think you have some of the best staff in the state of Florida. And I think that if anyone could navigate this and come out
of this with a win, I think it's Leon County staff. I truly believe that. And so I would like to see us being in the driver's seat of how we pivot here. However, I'm just not looking at this like an ultimate doomsday scenario. If
anything, we're going back to our budget that we had just a few years ago. We made it work then and we'll make it work now. So, commissioners, I appreciate uh I appreciate all the the the sentiment and uh conversation related to this
item. Mr. K administrator, I appreciate your staff. Brian, appreciate your team in the Southern Group. With that being said, we'll we'll take it vote on this item, then we're going to go into break. So, who made the motion on this item? >> Who made the motion to accept the report? >> Commissioner Proctor, who second the
motion? >> Second by Commissioner Maddox. All right, commissioners. All those in favor of accepting the report signify by saying I. >> Any opposed? Seeing none with Commissioner Mox outside the chambers passes uh 60. Commissioners will go into break. We
have a public hearing in 10 minutes. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Part: 2
Heat. [music] [music] [music] Heat. >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> It's a long [music] [music]
>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> business. It is 6:04 p.m. We have, I believe, one, two, three, four, five, six public hearings. So, commissioners,
we'll take up all six of these public hearings one at a time and then we will go to item number 17. I'm sorry, item number 16 of general business when we return. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. >> Everyone good. All right. Number item number 20. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman, commissioners.
Item number 20 uh request the board conduct the adoption public hearing on the proposed 2026 cycle amendments and adopt the ordinance amending the Lyon County the talis of Leyon County 2050 comprehensive plan pursuant to section 163 Florida statutes if adopted by both
the board and the city commission. The land use mobility element and the intergovernmental coordination element will be amended with the three proposed 2026 cycle amendments uh related to intergovernmental uh the intergovernmental relations uh element
amendment process the Mayan uh gateway corridor nodes and the lake protection nodes. With that, Mr. Chairman uh commissioners, we have no speakers on this item and we're recommending option one. >> Great. Thank you. I need uh someone want
to make a motion. >> Chair, I move acceptance of option one. >> Okay, great. We have uh staff recommendation option one moved by Commissioner Cummings. >> Is there a second? Second by Commissioner Maddox. Any discussion? >> Discussion, Mr. Chairman.
>> Go ahead, Mr. Chairman. On page eight, I want to ask staff to please um clarify uh for my lower understanding the lake protection category. The um four dwelling unit per acre in a
conservation subdivision. a uh eight uh dwelling unit per acre also in [clears throat] lake protection in a corridor zoning district
and a 20 dwelling unit per acre um along Highway 27 uh in the lake protection node. Uh my question is there's lake protection on each of these the work and
they're being distinguished by uh conservation subdivision uh a corridor and a node help um I'm a lay person help me to understand uh the distinction between four and 20
[clears throat] units all in late protection. >> Absolutely. So uh the lake protection future land use category has as its base density one dwelling unit allowed for every two acres but this outlines that
in certain circumstances the zoning districts that implement the future lane use category can have different zoning uh densities. Um the conservation uh uh subdivision is applicable to anywhere in
the uh future lake protection future land use category. Um, if a developer were to set aside 60% of their land for conservation, >> they can develop at two units for every one acre. Or as the language that you
pointed out, uh, highlights, where central water and sewer exists, they could develop at four units for every 1 acre. Um, again, setting aside 60% of the land for conservation. Um the lake protection corridor zoning district is
one that is yet to be created but that is uh intended to be applied only on US 27 on North Monroe Street. Um and that will is is ident is geared towards developing a zoning district that will
help uh kind of redevelopment occur along North Monroe uh at a an incentivized to incentivize development would be allowed to develop at 8 units per acre which is still low density residential development where central
water and sewer available. Um and and to clarify, those are currently in the comp plan today. Um and then the residential density at the lake protection nodes which uh along North Monroe Street, there's several of them that the comp plan and the zoning
district identifies. Um the node zoning district is really intended to be sort of where a lot of non-residential development and medium to higher density development can be consolidated in the lake protection category. Um and so the
comp plan allows at those specific allowed intersections along North Monroe a residential density of 20 units per acre. What this amendment is seeking to add is clarification. Um, as part of the comp plan update,
which we uh uh uh adopted last late last year, we highlighted that we were intended to include language clarifying that for the lake protection node that's at Bannerman and Bull Headley, the residential density there would remain as it existed
at the time at 8 units per acre. um due to a clerical error that language was left out of the final adopted uh materials and this amendment is seeking to add that clarification language. Uh just to clarify that at that lake
protection node at Bannerman Road and Bull Heedley, the residential density allowed at that location exists as it did at that time and as it is allowed today. >> Okay. I um I'm just looking at the words that were given to us to consider and it
seems like uh delay protection node um node um is permitting 20 dwelling units and you're saying that um the bannerman isn't u I'm on page nine page eight I apologize page eight that the um node of
lake protection is um for US highway 27 seven and um and here on Banaman Road it would go to 8. Is that actually so it that language states that a residential density of up
to 20 dwelling units per acre may be permitted for properties on US 27 North Monroe Street within the lake protection node zoning district. That language exists today and eight dwelling units per acre on the Bannerman Road and Bowl Heedley Lake Protection Node Zoning
District that is allowed today. That has been allowed for several years. That language is just creating a distinction between the higher density allowed at the node on US 27 which was adopted in the comp plan late last year and this language uh that we're adding today.
Just to clarify that uh that difference. Well, definitionally, uh, un unless our comp plan is going to be specific, it seems a little weird, strange that lake protection node, um, is a, u,
I hate to use the word diverse, um, but it it has a diverse, uh, meaning for Highway 27, uh, distinguished from Banamment So like a rule ought to mean
what it means and um it's hard for me to reconcile that the node stands for 20 units and then I got to remember that it's the same word but on this street it don't mean that for this street but on that street um it that's exactly what it
means. This is confusing and uh I'm not sure if this is prime time unless we uh place within uh this language the specific what you've done here um in label 20 for
North Monroe and 8 for Bullhead and um um down here on Bannerman. I think this is confusing to me. Um going a little bit further um each of these areas [clears throat] um indicates that
uh that we're we're served by central water and sewer systems. A sewer system is that what what what's a sewer system and under the four dwelling units uh under the residential density of eight
the lake protection corridor and the others all indicate sewer. Can you help me understand what kind of sewer is this like a you know different kinds? >> Yes. So it's central sewer and the reason that distinction is made
[clears throat] is to incentivize any new development that occurs in that area to develop on uh central sewer rather than septic tank. Um that's another reason why that density is higher at those uh uh loca those nodes on North Monroe is is to try to incentivize these
areas to redevelop to not only uh be developed on central sewer but also to uh conform to the really stringent storm water standards that are in required in the lake protection uh uh zoning category. [clears throat] So it's really a carrot. Um, so if you don't have
access to central sewer, you can't develop at those higher densities because you would be developing on septic tank and you wouldn't want to uh, you know, incentivize that density on septic. >> What's the waiver criteria? [clears throat] >> I'm sorry. >> What is the waiver? Not that kind of
wave, but Wii Ver waiver um criteria. >> The waiver criteria for what, sir? I'm I'm not >> when you don't have to meet this uh particular measure. Oh, so if you don't meet the if you don't have central water and sewer, you can't develop at that
residential density. You would fall back on the base density with one unit for every two acres. >> And this commission can count on you that there are no exceptions and this is the drop dead letter of the law. It means what it says and it says what it means without the central sewer. you're
absolutely telling us that nothing will occur because if there are exceptions or waiverss, I just like to know on the front end and not for us to receive a sheet of paper from you dangling around that, oh, we're going a different direction and we can make exceptions.
So, I'm asking, are there contemplated exceptions to what you've shared here in this writing? >> No, sir. There the densities allowed here are are laid out in the comp plan. uh they will be you know the zoning code will be updated to mirror those as well. If you have uh if you don't use the
cluster subdivision the density that you can develop at in lake protection is one unit for every two acres. If you utilize the the conservation subdivision uh provision and you don't have access to central water and sewer, you can develop at two units for every 1 acre. You have
access to central water and sewer. You can develop at four units for one acre. And then at these locations, these are the densities that are also allowed at where central water and sewer are. >> Excellent. In closing, I have two two comments and one is isolated to the area
of Banaman Road is isolated. And that thought is with respect to uh the east the west side of um one [snorts] north on meridian that sewer pipes already go down that
road. Sewer pipes already exist going to the water goes down there and uh high power gas line uh is on the west side of um that road. the stuff that you need to
develop largely is already in place. It's a hookup. It's a connection. I get that. That's an isolated look um at large commissioners um that I have no prejudices against what already exists.
I have no prejudices against um pipes that have been there serving Ox Bottom and Summerbrook and those other areas. they exist. And that being stated, I really have no resistance against those
pipes expanding uh horizontally um going west. And I think that the u big picture uh contemplated here is what happens on the west side of Meridian. Um I don't I
don't have those problems. That's isolated. If I put an integrative thought at large commissioners, if I was an integrative thinker, if I if I could be that complex of thought and ability,
um I would ponder uh that there is great density. This is speculative. This is abstract. This is what might occur in these rules uh this energy building for these pipes. But if I could think integratively and I ask my
two at large commissioners to take an aerial view of this county from a few feet 20,000 ft up. I would ask you to look at the great densities down Crawfordville Road, the great densities down Woodville Highway. And if
I thought that it mattered to you, I would file a complaint with you and ask how come the densities of 20 units per acre and multiple units per acre is already existing and yet uh they're
allowed to exist without central sewer. We have two different standards that we're insisting upon for the sanitation, for the contemporary, for the whatever the reason is. But we've allowed
hundreds hundreds of units uh south of um the city limit that stops at Wilson Green and just they stacked up on each other and there's no central sewer. I mean, if I was an atlarge commissioner and and
and I thought integratively, I would look at these two things and ponder why. So these things are troubling to the district commission of that area cuz if the west side the west side of some
sewer and if they put even four units look at this thing four four dwelling units per acre may be permitted within a conservation subdivision where served by central
water and sewer systems four y'all. We got tens of homes next door to each other like we're sitting here by each other. There is a distinction and a difference
and there is not equality of standards. And if I if I teased you and just made this up as a you know sort of a a little joke, you know, a little teaser hypothetical. If I told you that the people who are
stacked on one another without central sewer, if I told you that they're literally less than a half of a mile from the central sewer treatment center, you would think I was joking or lying to you. It's just so preposterous. But I
thought I would lay that out. Mr. [clears throat] Mr. Chairman, and tell you that it's a very sad truth. That's the reality. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Proctor. Commissioner Miner. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um I just I
wanted to to point out um the first text amendment here. This is 002. If you all remember last year when we were doing the comprehensive plan rewrite, uh there were some major changes proposed by uh by by planning staff um major changes in
terms of like um USA expansions and and future land use category changes um without an explicit agenda item identifying those as such. Uh what we did last November is we we basically initiated this process which we're now voting on today which will make sure
that for the county commission for the unincorporated areas anytime there is a change to a future land use designation in rural lake protection or RP that's greater than 10 acres there's an explicit agenda item. So we will see that either at a meeting or at a
workshop. Uh also that applies to any USA expansions that are 10 acres or more. This is a a really good policy change that that we all initiated last November because it makes sure that any major changes to the USA or these land use categories are presented to us as
explicit agenda items that we can't miss. So I want just I want to thank the board here for supporting this. I want to thank staff for putting it together. Uh looking forward to voting yes. Thank you. >> Thank you Commissioner Miner. Commissioners, that is it as far as
commissioners in queue to speak on this item. So, we will take it to a vote. Who second the motion? >> I did. >> Okay. So, we have staff recommend staff recommendation moved by Commissioner Cummings, I believe, second by uh Commissioner Maddox. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.
>> Passes unanimously. Uh next public uh next public hearing item. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman, commissioners. This is the first and only public hearing to consider an ordinance for a board initiated charter amendment to remove outdated statutory references upon voter approval for the November
3rd, 2026 general election. Uh the item requests the board deduct the first and only public hearing again to remove the the referenced uh outdated statutory references. Uh we're recommending option one. We have no speakers on the side. Move that recommendation. >> Second time recommendation moved by
Commissioner Maddox, second by the immediate past chairman. Commission Miner, are you still in quue? >> I. >> Okay. Anyone in queue? All right. Seeing no, we'll take it to a vote. Um, all those in favor of the motion on the floor signify by saying I. >> I. I.
>> Any opposed? Passes unanimously. Next item. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman, commissioners. Again, on board direction, uh, this item requests the board to conduct the first and only public hearing to consider an ordinance for the a board initiated charter amendment revising the preamble to reflect the esteemed humanity of all
residents in Lyon County upon voter approval on November 3rd uh, uh, general election. We're recommending option one. We have no speakers on this item. >> Recommendation staff staff recommendation moved by Commissioner Maddox, second by Commissioner Miner.
Any discussion? Is item number 22 right? >> Correct. >> All right. Commissioner, take it to a vote. No one in discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Passes unanimously. Next item.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Commissioners. Item number 23 requests the board deduct the first and only public hearing to consider an ordinance for a board initiated amendment providing for county ordinances to prevail over city ordinances in the in the event of a conflict to the extent uh permitted by
law for placement on the November 3rd 2026 general election ballot. We have no speakers on this item and recommend option one. Staff recommendation. >> We have staff recognition moved by Commissioner Welch, second by Commissioner Miner. Any discussion? >> Yes. Mr. Vice Chair.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, my question on this is when we talked about it last time and brought it here, part of the argument was about the rapid and and uh or the continuing expansion of the uh incorporated area
into the unincorporated area. Um, would if this ordinance thing passed, would that stop us having to comply with the city's annexations, even if we disagree, or would that be a separate comp plan issue?
Does this help us if we don't want to agree to future annexations? >> No, it does not. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah, Mr. Vice Chair, to to clarify, because I think you're responding to my my point on this that I brought up on this. um is not to prevent annexation.
It's to when annexation occurs that we still maintain legislative jurisdiction over those properties. That that's just just so you so like as the city's boundary expands, we as the county still have the ability to pass policy and ordinances that
oversee those properties. Just seeing no on the queue, we'll vote on the item. Staff recommendation moved by Commissioner Welch, second by Commissioner Miner. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. >> Any opposed?
Passes unanimously. Next item. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Commissioners, item number 24, uh, request the board to conduct the first and only public hearing to consider an ordinance for a board initiated charter amendment uh, providing for uniform countywide street naming, renaming, and property
numbering, addressing standards to be established by county ordinance upon voter approval in the November 3rd, 2026 general election. We're recommending option one. We have no speakers on this item. >> Move option one. We have a reation moved by Commissioner
Proctor, second by uh Commissioner Maddox. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of the staff for recommendation motion on the floor signify by saying I. >> Any opposed? >> Okay. Passes 61 with the vice chairman
and descent. And number 25. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman, commissioners. Again, based on previous direction of the board, this item uh requests the board conduct the first and only public hearing to consider repealing chapter 2, article uh nine of Lyon County uh code
entitled purchasing minority women business enterprise participation program policy and take several actions necessary to comply with the passage of Senate Bill 1134. Uh again, uh we've provided previous analysis indicating the specific prohibitions. It's also
included in this item and the uh severe legal liability for violating the act. Uh looking ahead, a restructuring of the consolidated MWSBE policy, the C county's purchasing policy and the SWBE policy will be brought back to the
board. Uh this will come back to you in the fall commissioners in coordination with OEV to expand utilization and contracting opportunities for small businesses. uh uh enhance technical assistance and resource identification initiatives and provide tailored programs to build capacity among small
businesses uh all of whom currently uh are um also uh MWSBES. So with that uh commissioners we're recommending options 1, two, and three. And I believe we have one speaker on this item. Yes, we do. First speaker
Katrina Thugerson. >> Hi. Hi everybody. I'm normally not nervous to speak, but and I'm not nervous. It's just a sad day to speak on something um in the community that I work so hard for. Um so I wrote it on paper so I won't get all emotional. Um
but just before I say anything, I want to say thank you to the county. Um the county has right along with the office of economic vitality has worked right bel right beside Capitol City Chamber of Commerce as I took seat and we done some
great things in the community. Um I'm here to ask um if if that we go with option number two, if we go with option number two also for the wraparound of the community to have community conversations to have engagement even
though we know um the transition will continue to go into the SPE direction. No new applications will have to be submitted. Everything just trans over smoothly. But the community don't know that. Only us know it here in the in the chambers here. So if we can do like um
community conversations and have popups for our businesses on all sides of town so that they'll know what's going on. Also when it comes to the purchasing department because it was also purchasing and all in the universities um also in the state and the county and
we also I also worked on with the disparity study um when we collab when we con consolidated the application process um also with the state. So that consolidation also um we understand that it would transfer to the SBE but
everybody don't feel comfortable and no. So as we move forward I hopefully that we will continue those conversations. Um just to um let everybody know we're not going anywhere. Nothing is going to happen to us. We're going to persevere. >> Commissioners
>> staff recommendation. >> Staff recommendation moved by Commissioner Maddox. Do we have a second? >> Okay. Second by Commissioner Cummings. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of the motion on the floor for signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed?
>> Nay. >> Passes 52 with >> I'm sorry, 43. My apologies. 43 with Commissioner Maddox. Proctor and the vice chairman and descent. >> Point of order. Was it Commissioner Maddox who made the motion
>> and then you voted against it? >> Yeah, you can you can make a motion to vote against it. Yeah, >> just clarifying for Okay. Yeah. >> So, pass 43. Okay. Um that's it for the public hearings. Wow. Commissioners, we busted those out.
Appreciate everyone's brevity on that. We can get back to actually we have uh unaggended speakers and we'll go to general business. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have one uh speaker on unagended items. Uh Jonathan Gardner. >> Mr. Gardner,
good to see you again. >> Thank you, Mr. Gardner. You have three minutes. Please state your name and address for the record. >> Hi there, my name is Jonathan Gardner. I'm at uh 3687 Donovan Drive, uh 32309. Uh so in that document that I just
handed out, there's a new piece of legislation in Austin, Texas that addresses uh safeguards around public uh surveillance tools that law enforcement and government can use in that city. I think it is a great example and I'm going to get to more details there, but
for now I'd like to take a step back. Let's bring a motivation kind of as we approach the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence. Uh I'd like to point out a specific line of that document that I think really hits home why this uh what Austin calls the trust
act is important. So of course everyone knows the inaliable rights of the declaration of independence life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But immediately following that the document says that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed. And it's precisely that phrase, the consent of the governed, which I believe has been violated by unilateral actions by law enforcement and government implementing invasive surveillance technologies without public knowledge or chance to comment before they are implemented.
And I think to evaluate this claim, we need to only ask two questions. How can a people consent to a set of safety tools they are not made aware of until months after their implementation? The second being, is it informed consent when an unaccountable third party entity
collects our personal location data on our tax bill without our permission and then sells our pattern of life back to the government? The bottom line is that the people can't consent to this and the current form of government that allows this has become destructive of our
god-given liberties. The declaration states, "Whenever a government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, providing new guards for their future security." And that is exactly what the Austin City Council Act does. It provides direct accountability over
any existing or new surveillance technology used by local law enforcement, requiring it to be vetted by you, our democratically elected council, to who we can speak directly. It also gives citizens time to consider if the technology is worth the cost of
their privacy. It requires annual audits on the impact of this technology on civil liberties. Commissioners, without these legislative protections, I fear we will continue on a trajectory towards greater and greater control by entities in which we have little recourse.
notably federal agencies like DHS and ICE and third party companies like Palunteer that have directly admitted they aim to create a surveillance state at our expense. Therefore, I urge you to reject this false bill of goods that surveillance is safety and let's
together as a community make strides to protect the rights of the people of our county. [clears throat] I believe we would benefit from following Austin's example. Thank you very much. >> Thank you so much. Um, just for a quick followup, madam attorney, we'll have an item come back to our next meeting on
the flock camera or uh uh when was the when was that we brought up last meeting have a follow-up? Will that come in the July meeting? >> Yes, I believe that's scheduled for July. >> Okay, great. Thanks so much. Um, commissioners, we are back to general
business. >> Mr. Commissioner. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Commissioners, item number 16 is before you today at the request of the Lyon County School Board. Uh the item seeks the board adoption of a resolution to place the question to levy a 1 mil advalorum operating millage for Lyon County
Schools on the 2026 general election ballot. Pursuant to the statutes and our limited role uh in uh taking action to place uh this issue on uh the referendum, we are recommending option one. And I do have one speaker on this item.
First speaker, Linda Bell. Great to see you. >> Good to see you as well. Guess I've waited three and a half hours to speak to this item because it's that important to me. Um, I rise in opposition to this. Um, and I I pray that you do not that you do not vote for this to proceed to
the ballot. Um, I'd like to bring up a few points. Since the last few years, enrollment in Lyon County Schools has dropped approximately 2400 students drop. And still they're asking for an increase after we have a drop within
with students. That makes no sense to me. So fewer kids would obviously mean less spending, not a tax hike. Let's take a look at administration and administrative bloat. They've got 26 district administrators plus 128 school
administrators. That's over 150 administrative roles before counting all the support staff. A recent report shows that they employ far more administrators and non-eing staff than districts of similar size. When you compare
districtto district, they have extreme bloat when it comes to administrative staff. Even as students decline and they've cut looms from the budget, they're still why is a priority more bureaucrats instead of classrooms. So rather than improve a product and say
why are we losing these students, why have we lost 2400 students and I know a lot of them are checking out of Lyon County and going over to Liberty County because I know four of those families myself. So rather than improve upon the product and they're having a shrinking um per student per capita because
they're losing the students the the answer is to come back to us and ask for more taxes and I I object to that. The uh admintote teacher ratio is about 154 administrators 26 district 128 schools to 1800 teachers
approximately one administrative person for every 12 teachers. That's extremely high on the admin side. So, we need to ask again, like I said before, why are the students leaving the system? And the state has increased its uh funding this
year from 200 to $23 million. Yet, we still are continuing to go back to the taxpayers. Um, I listened to very carefully to everything the commissioner said, interestingly enough, about the item that's going to be going to the ballot in November concerning the
removal of property taxes or the cap of 250,000. It's because of stuff like this that it's going to pass. And and Commissioner Maddox, I listen very carefully to you. Yes, this will greatly impact the it will greatly impact the renters because all of these landlords
and we are a very heavily rental community. A lot of these landlords when they get these uh one mill an additional mill it's an additional dollar per thousand tax rate millage rate flat. They've never gone to roll back in 14 years. The only way you're going to get
uh to to say to spend the same money as the prior year is by going to roll back. We've not done that in 14 years. That's a tax increase every single year. No matter how you slice it, it's still an increase. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Spoke. Great to see you.
>> All right, commissioners, we are on the item now. Um, is there an introduction to the item? Mr. County administrator, we already did that. So, I guess commissioners, we are anyone in the queue? >> 116. >> Yep. >> Um, share my comment.
>> I'm sorry. Are you asking our discussion? >> Yep. We need a motion. >> I'll make a motion move staff recommendation. >> Okay. Motion moved by the vice chairman. Is there a second? >> Second by Commissioner Maddox. >> Commissioner Potter. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman, um
this is u unless county attorney uh corrects me. Um this is not a substantive matter for the county commission. It's a procedural matter that we rubber stamp giving permission
to the school board to place this on referendum. Is that accurate? >> That is correct. There is case law that says that this is a ministerial act only and this board has no discretion not to put this on the ballot. >> So you can't you cannot >> That's correct. Well, you can, but if
it's legally challenged, then >> you will have violated the statute. >> So just once and point of order. So, because that wasn't your question was on the record because the mic the mic wasn't on. No, it's okay. So, if if let's say the board rejected the item, there's case law saying the county could
be sued and challenged over this. >> That's correct. And would be found to be in the wrong. >> Okay. And the case law supports that? >> Does. >> Okay. Commission. >> Okay. Thank you. So to the
um public that believes that the county is placing a millage request before you. This is not Leon County's board of commission placing a referendum item that the county supports this. This is
merely procedural that the school board seeks uh rubber stand permission authorization that the county permits it to you utilize the invitation or solicitation of the public to endorse uh a millage um
increase. Um I want to distinguish that, Mr. chairman cuz we don't want our our um social credit card um extended overextended. We ain't asking for this. This the school board. But as
the county attorney has said, we really have no choice in this. But I want to make sure that to the speaker who came up um which she knows uh this is merely what we got to do doing what we got to do ministerial. So, those things being
said, um I I won't try and argue the school board's case. they're going to do a great job. But um a number of entities receive government funds, special funding during
CO and uh those monies were not uh recurring dollars postco and those entities that went out and did a lot of hiring, increasing personnel, staff, and coming up with creative ideas
and programs to deal with COVID during that period. When that period ended, so did the money. But the persons who had been hired, the programs there um it it was left stagnant and um to the
extent which there is no funding um the school feels the pressure of sustaining programming or not. Secondly, um with respect to the numbers of students that may have dropped out of the public
school district, um this is not out of step with what is occurring in Florida and that is um directly correlated to uh the use of the FTE of um private schools receiving funding
equal to what you get paid if you have a student and get FTE funding uh in the public school. So if you can find a smaller class, a smaller school, something closer to the house, some people you know that run the school, um
these things are occurring. So there is a uh a um I can't think of the word but people are um taking education in smaller chunks and the state is paying for it and we
might continue to expect that the public schools as we know them is going to lose students because there are options and there is no loss of the dollar invested ahead at a public school gets as much uh
per capita funding as a head that walks into uh so-called private school. So this thing is occurring all over the state. There's no alarm other than money uh facilitates the transfer of of school
children and go into places and spaces which here to for um have not been as accessible and maybe perhaps um the tuition at Mcclelay has been like much higher than many places. Um but maybe
the tuition comes down um now that students going to Mcclelay can get the FTE dollar that a Leon County school pupil receives. So just thinking about the speaker's comments and I reacted in that regard.
>> Thank you Commissioner uh Proctor Commission back you back in the queue. >> Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Um >> and I have Commissioner Cummings after you. >> Yes. Commissioner Bell, thank you for coming today and I appreciate your comments. Um, you know, you know this process probably better than uh most the
sitting in the audience today because you've sat in you set one of these seats as commissioner and the mayor. Um, you know, my my but I will I would say whether whether it was peruncter or not, I would probably still vote in favor of giving our our Leyon County citizens the
opportunity to say whether or not they wanted it. Um I'm of the opinion that you know I if there is a initiative to put on the ballot um that we as an elected body didn't force on our on our
electorate uh but they told us this is something they wanted. Um I'd be in favor of that. So I understand what you're the things that you're saying. I actually have heard that around 2008, it could be wrong, could be true, but I read an article said around 2008, um, we
people stopped having babies or something like that. I can't remember it was that year, but it was a year people stopped having babies and we're starting to suffer some of the effects along with also um the voucher programs, people moving to private schools and things
like that. So, um I think I think the issue of of our children moving away from public school is is a complicated one, but I also know that that Leyon County Schools is dealing with a issue with with making sure their teachers are
adequately paid. Um as I remember it years ago as they started to work on the issue, I think I I could be wrong and I'm I'm not a school board member. I believe it hadn't been about 15 to 20 years since those teachers had gotten a raise. So, they're really working on teacher pay over there. And so, I'm
hoping that, you know, if if this shall pass, if this initiative does pass the ballot, that they'll I well, I know that the superintendent and school board will do what they can to try to help those teachers out and and help us be competitive with other uh states, other
cities, uh not just in the state of Florida, but in the United States of America. But I I appreciate your comment. I app I appreciate your view on it. Um but I do have confidence that um one that the electorate will make the right decision for Lyon County and two
uh if they so if they so decide to to give uh the Lyon County uh school board the opportunity to to bring in more revenues that um people like yourself as well as other folks who who patronize
our school system will will hold that school board accountable to make sure that they're spending those those dollars that our electorate has entrusted to them the right way and on the right thing. So I I appreciate you coming to speak and you can give me your perspective. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair.
>> Mr. Cummings, thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to just reiterate and u make it clear that based on our vote uh tonight, which we haven't voted, but um
just to make it clear that we're just a a conduit on May the 26 of this year, the Leyon County School Board
voted 4 to one to raise the millage rate. And that's why it's before us tonight. I I I appreciate the democratic process
citizens coming and we have got a legacy on this board of listening to citizens that come before. So, we we appreciate you. However, we're just a conduit and as the county attorney pointed out, um
we don't too much have a choice from a legal standpoint. Um raising the millage rate for school board related activities is within the purview of the Leyon County School
Board. So, I just want to make it clear and I I I don't want the media or reports published that Leyon County government raise the millage rate. We're just just
a conduit and doing what we're supposed to do statutoily uh as elected Leyon County officials. So, thank you. Thank you so much for coming. We appreciate you. Thank you. um
Mr. County Administrator and your staff, you know, for this for even giving us the resolution that we have here so that we see the background and we see where uh it came from and we see why we are here uh tonight. But uh I support I
support the motion on the floor because from a legal standpoint, it's our responsibility to do so. So, thank you. >> All right, commissioners. Anyone else? No. All right, take it to a vote. I was waiting for someone to jump in the
queue. Um, all those in favor of the staff recognition. Who made the motion? Who made the motion? Vice Chair. Uh, seconded by >> Commissioner Maddox. Sify by saying I. I. >> Any oppose? I'm a nay. Passes 61 with
myself in descent. Next item. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Commissioners, this item seeks board's acceptance of the proposed Woodville sense of place plan as directed by the board. Uh again, staff has engaged in a very um comprehensive process. They engaged over 600 residents to ensure the plan reflected a broad cross-section of the
Woodville community. Uh the item, this item has no current fiscal impact. However, future implementation recommendations would be presented during the board's annual uh budget workshops next week. uh really exceptional work by the planning department and they've got a brief presentation for you.
>> Mike, you have the floor. Appreciate you. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair and commissioners. I will be uh I'm happy to give this brief presentation that highlights our approach to developing the Woodville sense of place plan as well as the recommendations contained within. So the I'll touch on the community engagement
that we kicked off just one year ago through which we established guiding principles from feedback from the residents to help us shape the plan. I'll talk about community uh assets that we identified through this process. I'll touch on the vision of the plan and its recommendations and I'll end on the next
steps in this process. As I mentioned, last summer we kicked off a really robust community engagement effort uh that was centered around an initial survey where we asked uh Woodville residents what they loved most about Woodville, what they felt made Woodville
special and what they wanted to see for Woodville's future. Um this community engagement uh culminated in several open houses in the fall. Uh and overwhelmingly we received great feedback from folks. they were really excited about the effort and to give
their feedback. Although, I will say, as you can see from that uh angry resident in the bottom right, not everybody was excited to see us. >> Fun fact, I got my campaign in uh 2022 got bit by two dogs in Woodville. >> Oh, well. [laughter] >> Thankfully, we were spared from that.
So, what Woodville residents want is they want to maintain the rural character of their community. They want to preserve their natural areas and they want to attract more businesses to Woodville. They love that it has a small town feel and that there's a sense of community. They don't want to be
Tallahassee. And so we used these guiding principles and adhered to them as like as our northstar in the development of the plan. Um the plan also identifies a number of community assets that we can build upon with our recommendations to strengthen
Woodville. One thing I'll highlight is Woodville's location on the regional trail network, specifically the St. Mark's Trail. We saw that as a really untapped potential to to build upon to in order to maintain that rural
community feel. We consolidated the focus of our recommendations into what we're calling the Woodville Rural Town Center. That's that area between Oakidge Road and Robinson Road Park that you see here on that map on the map on the screen.
And these recommendations for improvements fall into five different categories. continuing robust citizen engagement, targeted park improvements, community beautifification efforts, spurring on additional economic activity, and continuing to invest in infrastructure. What I'll highlight on
on this page is those categories 1 through 4. Those recommend represent our short-term recommendations, what we are seeking to implement in years 0 to 5, with those infrastructure projects being more long-term recommendations. I'll drill down on those a little bit
more and highlight a few of these. Um, not only are we seeking to increase quality of life for Woodville residents, and a number of the re the the uh recommendations you see uh seek to do that, but they also seek to increase access for Woodville residents to the
St. Marks Trail, but also more importantly to get riders of the St. Marks Trail off of the trail and into Woodville to spend some money and support increased economic activity. And in addition to the ones that you see highlighted on the screen here, we'll also be working with Diesome to update
the zoning regulations for that rural town center uh to expand where businesses can locate in that area. But we'll also work to update the land development regulations to put protections in place so that the size and scale of those economic uh uh
opportunities match the the rural feel of the area as well. Excuse me. Um, so with that, uh, uh, what we're asking from you all tonight is to accept, uh, the Woodville sense of place plan. Uh, if so, uh, you will res,
uh, be reviewing the budgetary, uh, side of the plan, uh, at your July budget workshop. Um, and should you all accept this plan, uh, we'll begin tracking implementation on the project website. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Thank you, commissioners. Before I pass
this to Commissioner Proctor to make the motion on this item, um I just want to say that uh I'm very very excited about this. I'm very very thankful to staff. You know, this has been a a huge priority for Commissioner Proctor and myself as far as giving Woodville the
much needed love that it deserves while also maintaining its rural character. And I think that what I've seen so far in our in our briefings and meeting with staff, I think that this is very very well thought out. I think our residents are going to be very happy about this and more importantly, I think it it fits
the need of the community down there specifically. So, thank you, Commissioner Proctor. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Commissioners, I offer um that we accept the Woodville Sense of Place Plan report as option one. >> And I'll second that motion. Thank you, Commissioner Proctor. Any discussion?
>> Chairman, I'd like to follow you um what you said. has been years um literally for me um some of the elements that have included tonight um really strikes u great notes uh
melodious our staff has been steadfast and quite dutiful in their follow through their meeting engaging the citizens of Woodfield time and again and we've been there and I thank staff for
um their efforts to engage and to hear um and sometimes to translate um that which was spoken. And um sometimes um
people's uh robustity is not as keen when for so long they've been waiting. And when you meet with them, you see their eyes and their eyes are just empty with silence. And they
tired of talking. They're just waiting on what you're going to do. They're tired of walking. They're waiting on what you're going to do. So the people there uh talk and they come to the meetings
and you just see the silence of their eyes. um the hopes that they hope the county would meet them. And I'm appreciative that we've stayed in the trenches. And Mr. Kon, I want to just give you a um shout out
because um you've you've brought an energy and um a sense of lift. Um when we went down there and we had a storm and um we got down there and you
coordinated water and giveaways. We've gone down there and give away food. We've done unusual things to say that we care. Um that place down there when the roof building, we went down there and
ate pizza with those people and we are continuing to say that we care. um our building department. Um I have questions that um I won't bring up tonight, but I want to make sure that
our standards for building uh remain firm but fair. And um I have watched Woodville for the hump to dump numbers of years
that I've sat here and tonight I feel really good that these are forward steps. Um Mr. Chairman, under the different focus areas, one is about park improvements.
Uh one is about community engagement. But in the area of uh park improvements, uh we were down there and uh citizens using the park asked for a hood for a cover um over the area which they were
>> an awning an awning where they're playing basketball. Yeah. >> Yeah. And um I would like to be very specific in the request that we can incorporate and capture that request. That was not a town hall meeting we were
at. It was just 30 guys down there saying that's what we want. And I would like to um make a recommendation inclusive with the motion that an awning over that that court would be u made a part of the
reality of the park improvement. Um I I'll second that motion. I'm going to ask staff a question. Mr. administrator, what is it possible to evaluate putting like a an awning structure over the basketball court in Woodville so that there could be >> Sure. If if we get that direction from
the board, we could include that as what comes back to you um in the capital uh >> improvements plan. >> Improvements budget. It may be a separate budget discussion item. I'm just thinking about it on the spot. It would be a very significant, let me emphasize, very significant capital
project. Um so, um it would have to come back to the board u again for evaluation, but we could probably include it as a budget discussion item. >> Cool. So, could could Commissioner Proctor um motion be to accept this and have a portion of that come back to us in a budget workshop? >> Yes, if that's the direction of the
board. >> Commissioner Proctor, that good with you? >> Budget workshop? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Yes, sir. >> Commissioners, any heartburn on that? Okay. And did Mr. chairman. Um the 110 million
uh septic to sewer project 110 million septic to sewer project. Um staff, is that a um is that a uh misnomer? The $110 million what we're
trying to do in Woodville? >> I'm sorry. What's the question? Is there the remainder on the in terms of what's left to be funded in the project? Right. It's It says $110 million and I've seen it a couple two three places. >> Um is that a misnomer? We're talking
about 110 million. >> Yes, we are. That's the correct number. Yes. >> Okay. >> Um very very good. Um also a grocery store as we look at the area of um explore economic development incentive
programs. Um the comments that citizens are sharing with me uh is the absence of a grocery and we looked at what has happened over on Alabama Street uh city's efforts to locate a grocery
store. But is there anything that prohibits our efforts? And Commissioner Ban, I know you can go get them. You know that we we know what you can bring home. But we need a concerted effort to
we can't put $110 million of sewer and ain't got a grocery store to put, you know, groceries in the sewer. We need a grocery store um to complement $110 million worth of sewer. So, I'm asking
what steps do we do to meet the citizens desires for a grocery store in Woodville? >> Thank you. That's a question I want to know. >> The staff, you guys had a question to staff. >> Yeah, somebody help us.
>> Yeah. So, as [clears throat] part of the updates to the zoning code and the land development regulations, that's something that we'll look at and ensure that there is sufficient uh commercial zoning in place in that area to allow the grocery store to occur. Um, there was the the food giant down there that
that closed down. Um, and I believe that there's been some um off andon interest in someone potentially opening a uh not necessarily a grocery store, but a place that would, you know, serve essentially as a as, you know, a robust convenience
store. Um, and we'll look into that as we develop the land development regulations, zoning districts to make sure that we um have the land use regulations in place to allow that to occur. And then as we dig into the the options for uh encouraging further
economic activity, looking at grant programs, looking at what programs are available through the state and working with our partners at OEV to see what options there are? That's the type of stuff that we'll look to. >> Great. Now, county attorneys, is there anything that would u that hinderth our
county staff from engaging potential suitors of grocery sales? Can they do that or is that restricted to OEV exclusively to go and recruit businesses to our community? >> You just gave me a great as Commissioner
Proctor, I don't mean to interrupt, but you just gave me a as you were talking about grocery store, my wheels were spinning and um I was going to follow up on that too, but go ahead. >> Okay. Can these people go and get us a groceryer? Are they restricted? That's the private sector. That the chamber of
commerce. Is that OEV? Um can we give our staff some marching orders to go out and um find groceries will provide for the health, safety and welfare of people? I I believe it is the role and function
of OEV to uh try to attract those sorts of businesses and that sort of development in areas of need around the county. So it would seem to be that that is a role that OEV would play. >> That's the direction
>> I'm asking that OEV uh gives a lift to this general structure. We need some active and they're not um a whole lot of um high-powered business people in Woodville, but we need qualified people.
And I'd like to see uh if the board u is open that we get OEV to help this area realize um I mean community beautifification, the park improvements, community engagement, infrastructure,
>> people want some food. >> Commissioner Pro, I'm going to chime in real quick. >> Yes, sir. uh just for your commissioner. So I know some of you may not be very aware of the area down there, but basically Woodville had a food giant which was an employee
owned grocery store that served the Woodville community and during the last year it it closed. And so, you know, I've done some digging from my personal from from from from my personal office and I mean our county office to kind of just getting some, you know,
information, but basically the sales of the grocery store um were not meeting enough to to to pay the bills. And so, they closed the shop. However, that building where that grocery store was is
currently for sale um for $600,000. And the food giant is honoring the lease, which I think is like seven or $8,000 a month through the end of 2027. So, whoever buys the building essentially is going to get like $7,000
a year through the end of next year. Um, Woodville does need a grocery store. Mr. County Administrator, what do we have any do we have any tools in our tool belt to help incentivize a a private sector? You know, I don't know if we I'm
I don't think we need to have a governmentrun grocery store. It's not what we do. What I'm saying is what what tools do we have in our tool belt to help incentivize, you know, the private sector going in there to bring a grocery store because I believe it is a food desert right now. >> Yeah. Let me let me check with Keith and
see if he has any thoughts on that. >> Uh thank you, county administrator. Um so currently right now uh grocery stores aren't part of our targeted industries but however we could um leverage some relationships that we have with site selectors and consultants to see if they
have any um folks that might be interested given the parameters and um all of the um demographics for that area. Um, we could also work to commission some type of study that would do a feasibility analysis to see if the
search u if the situation has changed to where the um residents could support a grocery store and it might be feasible and >> if that's the direction the board would be happy to do that. I um have labored a long time. Um Rebels
closed on Woodville Highway. Um when Dixie left South Monroe Street, which is Woodville Highway, and um we just said closed down >> food giant. >> Yeah, it's a problem. And I don't think
people stop eating. It's just that enough people are not buying groceries. But for the people who are there in Woodville, they eat uh but they're wanting something local now. What's um this [snorts] project tonight?
I mean, I look at um Publix come down to um down to u Crawfordville. Stuff happening. people driving down two different roads at the verge and uh the one less traveled is not getting what Crawfordville is
getting. It's driving right past Leyon County, right past the southside and um nothing's uh happening in this rim. I think that where we are with this report tonight,
this report takes us back, Nick, to the precipice of before we move development up Thomasville Road and Bannerman became all of that and Banaman Square and the
Publix up there, the Walmart. It it it came out of papers like these right here. It's it's just this this little report and we tiptoed we tiptoed up had a vision laid it out on sheets of paper
and what parts we did and what the what the county did do. We took 27 lawsuits some of them environmental. Some of them challenged our audacity to govern the da da because they didn't want it. They say they didn't want it, but these people
want it. But we uh were the battering ram that went forward up that corridor. And we were even forced to have, I believe, um Vince, was it a 2in uh water quality
standard for runoff water? was at 4 in that we had to treat water all of these high environmental standards and and and and again if I was an integrative thinker and ask my large commissioners look at both sides I would tell you the
north side of town is on clay and it's 180 ft 85 ft above the aquafer on top of clay and if I told you if you go to Woodville where the water tables are full you often 10 12 feet above water and you're
on sand. You you're on sand. But there's nothing environmental at all for Woodville to protect it. And it's so very close to what color spring is like chunk of rock. But there is no environmental protection for the spring
that's missing. But there's a hell of a lot of lawsuits um and protections for the Banaman area about the treatment of water. And I think that if this area builds out commercially and blah blah blah, we're
creating uh we will create runoff as uh the environmental standards. And I believe um we would equip that area uh by putting environmental standards
and treating them not less than we did for Bradfordville. Um but that we would treat them at least a shadow uh of what we did for Bradfordville. And I'm calling Mr. M Mr. chairman or an
environmental look and review because we're 10 ft above the aquifer and we're sitting on sand up here. We run 85 above the aquafer and we're protected by clay.
Uh I know this because I've read a thing or two. I'm not a scientist. I just don't read these books so long. >> Yeah, Commissioner Proer, I got the vice chair in the in the queue. So, let let the vice chair chime in and then we'll vote. Mr. Vice Chair, >> thank you, Mr. Chair. Um I support the
efforts um any option we had to help uh reopen the grocery store there. And um I wanted to piggyback on what um our OEV director said there about a grocery store not being in our strategic industries. Um, this is an opportunity
for me to remind everyone that we ought to put an item in our strategic uh industry or strategic targets which we are currently reviewing a blueprint for this type of community first economic development. That way when this occurs we are allowed to do this. This means
something like any industry that would establish or create businesses that fill a missing community overall well-being need. And that way in the future our hands wouldn't be handcuffed. Um, and I think I just want to make sure we think of that as we go to blueprint and look
at our strategic industries. If it's going to come out and be the same three industries and we don't carve out any amount for community impact economic development, we're uh shortsighting oursel. >> Yeah, I think I think it's a very great great point, Mr. Vice Chair.
>> Mr. Shimmer, I like add one other amendment that we ask staff to uh create um a skeletal infrastructure look at how to um phase in environmental standards that are
comparable to the vulnerability of the aquifer on the south side. >> Commissioner Parker, let's do this. >> In all of that, >> we can we can have multiple actions on one item. So, what I'm going to do, let's vote on the current item. That's current that's I mean the current motion on the floor the question let's vote on that and then I'll come back to you if
you want to make an ask another question. >> Yes sir. Right. Good. Good. >> So um the motion on the floor right now is to accept the accept the report with having a a budget item come back to us for basically an awning covering the basketball court and a second by myself.
Everyone understand? Okay. Great. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. >> Any opposed? Passes unanimously. Commissioner Proctor, you want to ask Nate? >> It's your motion for um uh that staff would put a an over overlay, I guess, um
of environmental um standard for this vulnerable vulnerable area and what commercialization of the area um and how it ought fit and be compatible to just how vulnerable. >> Got it. So, Commissioner Proctor, I will
second it for discussion purposes. However, Nefal, I saw you were coming up. I'm willing to bet based on my million questions of trying to get staff to do stuff in Woodville that we already have this in place. But Nepal, go ahead. >> On point, Chairman. Yes. Um, in fact, u
exactly the concerns that you have, Commissioner Proctor, we have addressed a few years back. We have standards uh that protect the aquifer. We have standards that talk about runoff and and the treatment requirements.
Right now with the recent state rules and our minimum requirements, they're all equal. There isn't anybody more than the other. It used to be and you're correct. Uh uh kudos to your memory about recalling the 4 in standards in
Nebraska stuff, man. If I [laughter] can't do nothing else, I can remember >> with the moratorium back in 1999. and I remember that. Um, yes, it's now it's all it's all up to that level. Uh, all the um the treatment requirements are are out there. >> And Commissioner Proctor, just so you
know, I will attest to to what he's saying because I I'm asking frequently for for stuff in Woodville and there's there's a lot of things you have to navigate as far as what the Clash Springs brings protection zone, as far as a Woodville where it's geographically located, sand. So, I I just, you know, I
wanted to second the motion so that way he'd come and speak on it. But I feel confident what we have in place related to >> and our future reflections of u this uh Woodville sense of place that plan. >> I think I think that we can hit on those those things included and um I will be
comprehensive and whoever's looking at this um will feel comfortable as well that we have all of what you said under Gurnie. >> Thank you. Commissioner Parker, will you withdraw your motion? Um, you capture what I've Okay. Yes, sir.
>> Okay. Great. Commissioner, before we close out this item, what I would like to do is request a motion. Um, we'll ask someone to make a motion on behalf just to have staff bring an exploratory status report on ways that we could incentivize bringing a grocery store to the Woodville area. >> Second.
>> Will someone make that motion for me? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. Second by Commissioner Proctor. Commissioners, any discussion? Okay. See, we'll vote on that. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you, commissioners. I appreciate
appreciate the unanimity on that on on that. Next uh next item, Mr. K. Administrator. >> Thank you, commissioners. Mr. Chairman, your final item is full board appointments to the advisory committee on quality growth, the board of adjustment appeals, career source, and the Talian Leon County Planning Commission. Uh commissioner, Mr.
Chairman, if it' be helpful, I'll walk you through the options here. Option one seeks to reappoint Shawn Streetman to the building as a as the building industry association of the Big Ben's rep on the advisory committee for quality growth for the reign over a three-year term.
>> Okay. If you if if you could facilitate a motion. Yeah. >> Commissioners once again. Commissioners, do we have anyone in here that would like to I'm just curious. Is anyone plan is everyone plan on going with staff recommendation for all these? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, I I'll just go one by one. So, option one. So, moved.
>> Second. Second by uh meeting past chairman. All those in favor signify by saying oh they signify by saying I >> I >> passes unanimous. Option two. >> Option option two. Mr. Chairman seeks two applicants uh two eligible applicants to the board of adjustment and appeals. One of the applicants Susan
Ryan is seeking reappoint. The other two are Jada Brown and Stephanie Wilson. >> Okay. Um >> Mr. Chair, I move option two with Suzanne Ryan and Jada Brown. Second. >> Okay. Great. Any commissioners? Any
discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying signify by saying I. >> I. >> I. Pass unanimous. Op. We're on option. We're on I guess option three now. >> Op. >> Yes, Mr. Chairman. Option three seeks your reappoint of Cindy La Lavoy uh and
Beth Chinetti to Career Source uh Capital Region Board for four-year terms ending uh June 30, 2030. >> Move that. >> Okay. >> A second. >> Second. All right. Moved by the media pass chairman, second by Commissioner Cummings. Any discussion?
Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> We're on option four. >> It seeks a reappointment of Lorac McQueen selected by the school board to the Talon Planning Commission for three-year term. >> So move. >> Second. >> Okay. Great. Moved by uh the meeting pass chairman, second by Commissioner
Cummings. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> And then we have option five. We appoint one eligible applicant to the Talon County Planning Commission for a three-year term ending June 30th, 2029. >> Mr. Chair, I move reappoint Christy
Kenry. >> Okay. So, who moved that item? Who moved it? >> We got to pick one more. >> Mr. Miner. >> Okay. Commissioner Miner, you appointed >> I think there's only one eligible applicant. >> Reappoint. My bad. >> Okay. Moved by Commissioner Miner, second by Commissioner Cummings. All
those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> All right, guys. Great job. We busted that out. Is that it for general business, Mr. County Administrator. >> It is, Mr. Chairman. >> Okay, great. Um, we will are now in commissioner discussion. Mr. County Administrator,
uh, I I'll start with you. >> Uh, I have no issues. Thank you. >> Okay, great. Madam Attorney, >> thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have one matter. Um, we've been contacted by our outside outside council for the opioid litigation. They previously recommended
uh and the board previously uh consented to join a pending motion for leave to amend uh in one of the cases to add a particular uh entity Tris Pharma as a
defendant in our opioid lawsuit. um they have further evaluated um the claims against this particular entity and based on the information currently available uh they have concerns regarding the cost and risk
associated with prolonged litigation against this entity which is a comparatively smaller defendant. Um those concerns include potential uh inability to collect and uncertain recovery prospects. For that reason, um
they are recommending that um the board withdraw its consent to join the pending motion uh for leave to amend. Uh and I would recommend that the board accept. >> So you need a you need a motion to amend. >> Motion to resend uh the previous consent
to join that pending motion for leave to amend. >> Okay. Uh moved by the me past chairman. I'll second. Um any discussion? Commissioners, any discussion? Okay, great. Um, seeing none, all those in favor of the the county attorney's
direction signify by saying and then motion moved by uh meeting pass chairman, second by myself. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Any opposed? It passes unanimous. Any other items? >> No. Thank you. >> Okay. Commissioner Cummings, the Queen
of the County Commission, you're up. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I just would like to wish all the fathers, all the father commissioners, a new father this year, [laughter] and [snorts] all of our staff a happy father's day uh coming up because we
won't have another commission meeting till next month. And that's all I have, Mr. Chair. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Cummings. Mr. Vice Chair. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I don't have anything. Uh, I would like to I'm going
to leave any motion to per your letter for your uh >> I'm not going to make a motion on what I'm about to talk about, but uh since I'll leave it for you for the data data set. >> Oh, okay. Great. >> But I did want to um I did want to talk about the um the gentleman Nick Teslo
sent uh some examples and some information. And when we consider I hope that when we consider an item on a moratorum there's some suggestions here like um making sure there's certain
triggers that would trigger uh being blocked while we're in a mortori moratorium while we look at long-term policies based on the megawatt power demand or gallons per water use. um anti-repackaging clause about making
sure that pro pros can't call itself something different and evade a moratorum should it be pursued and um making sure we have specifics for what we ask staff to study and so um I mention all that to say that I'm sure it's already queued up but hoping that's
what we get to talk about should we get an agenda item coming back so we have a complete solid defensible um option otherwise thank you very Awesome. Thanks, Mr. Vice Chair. Commissioner Miner. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, I wanted to
pay respects to a District 3 resident resident who passed away late last month. Um, former Supreme Court, Florida Supreme Court Justice Arfred Lewis, who served on the bench for uh 20 years. He was appointed in 1998 by Governor Lton Childs and uh served the the state
admirably. uh just wanted to uh thank him for his public service and may he rest in peace. If you have time um I'd encourage you to to try to attend his memorial service. It's going to be Friday, June 12th at 11:00 a.m. at the Florida Supreme Court. And then uh also
wanted to wish everyone a happy Father's Day and then also a happy birthday to my wife next week. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. >> Thank you, Commissioner Commissioner Miner. Uh it was Sunday I was in Montana and I biked 23 and a half miles. I'm not going
to lie. I was I was approaching mile 20. I wanted to give up and I remembered you told me you biked 21 miles on your thing. So I was in the back of my head I was not going to let you I was not going to quit up on my on my bike trail. >> I hate to rain on your prey but it was 27 miles. >> Oh damn. There we go. [laughter]
>> And it just ruined my day. >> It was uphill all the way. So >> wow. It was tough. Um, Commissioner Maddox. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. First, I want to uh a while back, um, Commissioner Park, you might you might remember this. I we
were looking at Lake Hall School, uh, and trying to see if we could do anything to save it. Uh, I like for a status report to come back on, uh, what we've done there and and where we left off. Mr. Administrator, can you speak to that? >> Yeah, I miss school.
>> Sure. Happy to provide a status report. We have been working on it. Shinkton, I know you're ready. if you could probably come up and provide a quick status on that. >> Is that is that you ask the first staff update right now? Okay. >> Yeah. Good. Good evening, commissioners.
Yes. So, right now we've been working with the friends of of the Lake Schoolhouse to look at funding opportunities that may be available to them to acquire the property that we've been looking at specifically state and federal grant opportunities. Um, just had a conversation this morning with Dr.
see >> about those opportunities and um where they're at right now. Um it has been a challenge for them that as they've um as she's shared with me, but we'd be more than happy to bring an update on where where they're at right now as they continue to seek funding opportunities.
>> Yeah, I'll make a motion. Uh do I need to make a motion for stash report? >> I'll make a motion that we have a status report come back on stat on uh where where we are with that and the efforts that we've made. >> Okay, great. I'll second that motion. Um uh fast report requested by Commissioner Maddox, second by myself on the Lake Hall Schoolhouse.
>> Mhm. >> All right. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Pass unanimously. >> Mr. Chair, great job tonight. Um also wanted to say happy father's day to all the fathers. Um [snorts] and um we had a tough session this year. Again, the
state continues to to [clears throat] come after us, but we we will be resilient. As I said before, I believe in our staff. I believe in this commission. Uh, and we've shown time and time again, no matter the challenges, we've stepped up. We've done what we had to do. And so, I look forward to us doing what [clears throat] we have to do, no matter what happens in this
situation. So, um, again, I appreciate everybody and look forward to our next meeting with week from now. >> We have a budget workshop next week. >> Mr. Media, past chairman. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, I don't have a whole lot. Uh,
Commissioner O'Keefe, the Lincoln Trojans baseball team won a state championship since we've been here last. And although they are, uh, the school's located in your district, uh, many of the students live in my district. So, uh, if you want to do like a joint proclamation for the baseball team, I think that might be in order.
>> I love it. Yes, absolutely. >> All right, cool. We'd like to do a joint proclamation for the Lincoln High School state championship baseball team. >> Okay, great. You're making the motion. You going to second it? >> Okay. Yep. >> U proclamation requested by media pass chairman, second by the vice chairman. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> I.
>> All right. And um uh Commissioner O'Keefe, it probably be best to try and do that in July, but I will not be at the July meeting in person. I'll have to phone in. So, you'll have to deliver it if you want in July. Um and I I'll have Kyle work with uh Gary on that. Um and
then lastly, uh today is my oldest child's 20th birthday. Happy birthday, Khloe Welch. I I know you are sitting in front of a computer riveted right now by what we are discussing and waiting on your shout out. Uh oh yeah, next year
she'll be 21 on this day and uh I'm sure she will be sitting right in front of a computer watching this meeting on her 21st birthday as well. Uh but um just wanted to shout her out. I can't believe I'm personally old enough to be the father of a 20-year-old child. Um, so
it's freaking me out a little bit. And uh, and Cameron Welch, my middle child, will be 18 uh, on the 17th uh, in a few short days. So I am just really kind of aging here. Uh, so I don't know what to do with myself. So happy birthday,
Chloe, and happy early birthday Cameron. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That's all I got. >> Mr. Chair, I forgot one two things. >> Okay. One, I wanted to recognize uh Christy Henry and Carlos Henry, 23 years of operation on June the 6th of Kingdom First Realy. Okay, it's pretty cool. And
then Cool Beans is 30 years old. I got the best salmon uh >> the Mojo Chicken >> wedge salad you ever have. I want I want to give those two shout outs. I'm wish both of them continue success. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Media, past chairman. Thank you, Commissioner
Maddox. All right, commissioners. Great meeting. thought we handled business today. Um, I put in front of you a a proposal that I would like to request from from the board. Um, what is that? Oh, I'm sorry. U request a proposal that
I would like put in front of you to come back uh at our next meeting. Basically, you know, there's been a lot of talk around data centers and the impacts on the community, impacts on uh utilities,
impacts on environmental impacts on the lack of infrastructure. And so, basically, listen, I'm not a um anti-technology person, right? Being a a now 34 year old, I understand that the world is is is going very much in the
direction of technology and AI. My concern is this. AI and technology is advancing at you know unprecedented uh speed and we need to make sure that we have the proper infrastructure in
place before these conversations even h you know begin happening. I saw just recently that the city commission is looking at and imposing um more basically more solar farms. Um I I I don't I haven't they haven't been really
transparent about um what the purpose of that is. Um I've heard some chatter that you know data um data centers are looking at coming at Leyon County particularly the the the
city of Tallahassee power plant is in my district on the west side of town. Um, and so listen, I want to make sure that we are being smart and methodical and tactical. And so what I would like to do is have a agenda item come back at the next meeting uh basically laying out a
one-year moratorum on any data center projects in Lyon County. Uh before before I request the motion, uh Mr. Vice Chair, you bring up some great points and basically embodied in that agenda item. Listen, the whole point of a moratorum is we want to know every little thing about the impacts on these
projects before we start entertaining conversations or welcoming them in our community. And this issue is extremely unpopular with taxpayers and voters. Um, and I believe that we owe it to them to make sure that we are gathering all necessary information. And who knows,
maybe we come back to this in a year from now and we want to extend the moratorum. Um, but right now, I think a one-year moratorum is a fair start. I think it's a good start. It allows staff to gather information, allow staff to see what other communities are doing. In
that way, we're just setting a precedent that, you know, these are these are essentially new, right? And we want to have all the proper information before we allow anything like this in our community. >> Is that a motion? I s I suck in that. Okay. Well, can you make the motion? >> Yeah.
>> Actually, Commissioner Maddox, will you make the motion? >> I'll make it. >> Okay. Commission Maddox, make the motion. Will you second it? >> I'll second that. >> Okay. >> I want to ask a question. Um, Vince, I'm leaning a little bit more on you. When we did a moratorum um on the cell phone
towers around Humpty Dump years ago, um, was there some legal thingy that stood in the way? and do we have to say that there's a imminent potential threat or something
to do a moratorum countywide against industry and I just want to make sure that our chairman's good motion uh is not riddled and defeated by some technicality. >> Yeah. So we that would be part of what
we put in the agenda item that would come back is any requirements any findings that the board would have to make uh to legally impose the moratorum. So that is part of the analysis and information that come back to the board in the agenda item. >> Thank you. Um
>> Nikki, what sorry catch you off guard. What is the what was the Senate bill that or the House bill that gave the uh local governments the authority to manage data centers in Florida? >> Oh, um I believe that was 967.
Um but essentially it reinforced local authority that if your um comp plan restricts uh data centers or doesn't allow them, uh it essentially reinforces local government's ability uh to do so.
Okay. So, could we have that in when the item comes back? Just kind of laying all that out. >> It's Senate Bill 484. >> 484. Okay. Yeah. >> Mr. [clears throat] Chair, for clarification, are we asking for an agenda item to come back? Okay. >> Yes, ma'am. There's basically an >> explore. >> Yes, ma'am. We're just agenda item come
back. All the information I wanted to embody. Commissioners, if anyone has feedback, I know this has kind of, you know, been a hot topic. I I I welcome the feedback. I want this to be something that everyone um you know feels heard and has the ability to voice their concerns or support if it's there.
>> Excellent idea. >> All right. Um Commissioner Max, appreciate you making the motion. Commissioner Pro, appreciate you second it. Great points, Mr. Vice Chair. Um I appreciate the the input. Um all those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I.
>> Any opposed? Passes unanimously. Commissioners, great meeting. Happy Early Father's Day. It's great to see you all. We'll be back at it next week for a budget workshop 10:00 a.m. [music] >> [music]