--------- [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] All right, y'all hear me? >> All right. Thank you all for being here for this uh reorganization and regular board meeting for the Leyon County Board
of County Commissioners. Um at this time, I would like to recognize or invite Pastor Patrick Karen from Pisga Methodist Church to come to the podium. uh and deliver our invocation. Pastor Karen uh joined PisGA Church on
April 1st, 2025, fairly recently. Uh he and his wife Lisa have quickly become an important part of the community. He leads both the contemporary and traditional services. Uh we got what 9:30 and 11. That's correct. Okay. >> And has brought a strong steady leadership to such a historic congregation. I had the privilege of
visiting Pisgga Church uh two or three Sundays ago and and listening to uh Pastor Karen's sermon. If you guys are unaware, Pisga Church is one of our our most significant historical structures really in the county, one of our oldest
structures. And uh they just opened a new fellowship hall after many years of fundraising. And um and I had the privilege of uh delivering a proclamation to the congregation a couple weeks ago. So, thank you for being here, Pastor Karen. and and uh if you all wouldn't mind please standing for the invocation.
Before I pray, I just want to tell you how deeply honored I was at the proclamation that you all uh bestowed upon our church for 200 years of history and it meant the world to us. And thank you so much, Chairman Welch, for coming in person and sharing that with us.
Meant the world. Would you pray with me? Almighty and everpresent God, we give you thanks on this day for the opportunity you grant to this gathering of public servants who come together in our shared county of Lyon. We ask your
guiding hand upon each member of the board on the leadership they assume today and on the work they undertake throughout the year ahead. Grant to them wisdom that is rooted in humility, strength that is tempered by compassion
and courage to serve the common good, protecting the rights of all citizens, especially those whose voices are too often unheard. May they embrace the responsibility of stewardship of our shared resources, our natural
environment, our neighborhoods, and our civic trust. as they take turns in leadership and pursue the reorganization of this body. May this transition be marked by civility, mutual respect, and
a renewed commitment to working together across differences for the welfare of every resident of this county. Bless the staff and citizens who support this work. The agencies and volunteers who partner for good and the
community-minded institutions which stand as witnesses to enduring faith, tradition, and hope. May their example inspire this body and this community to greater acts of service. Finally, we pray for protection over
this region, the homes and families of Lyon County, the children learning in our schools, the elderly who've paved the way, the poor and vulnerable, and that through the decisions made here, we might take one more step toward becoming
a unified, thriving county of compassion, fairness, and opportunity. We ask all of this in the name of Christ. Amen. >> Amen. [snorts] We'll [clears throat] now say the pledge of allegiance.
>> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Thank you, Pastor Karen. We
appreciate you being here so much, sir. Thank you. Um, before we move on, I wanted to uh welcome the clerk of courts, Gwen Marshall Knight, who will be conducting our reorganization vote. Thank you, Madam Clerk, for being here. And we also have some other dignitaries
present. Um, former state senator Bill Mford we saw earlier. Thank you for being here, Senator Montford. Uh, Leon County School Board member Daryl Jones I saw here looking excellent as always. Thank you all for being here. We sincerely appreciate you joining us for today's important occasion.
All right. At this point in time, we would like to present our year of service pins. Um, let's see. It's I I think we're going to I'm going to have the vice chair join me at the podium and then I will uh do the other
ones. All right. All right. Oh, Commissioner Cummings as well. You join us at the podium. And Commissioner Maddox. >> Commissioner Maddox. >> Oh, not here yet. Okay. All right. >> All right. >> Yeah.
Commissioners, as we begin to recognize our colleagues for their years of exceptional service to our great community, I am pleased to present the recognition for our current chairman, Brian Welch. Chairman Welch, thank you for all that you've done the last 5
years serving our community and the past year's chair especially. We appreciate your leadership. I present to you [snorts] this pin recognizing your five years of service to Leon County. Would you like
to say a few words? >> Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. All right. This is great. Uh, thank you all so much. Uh, you know, I wasn't sure
when I got elected in 2020 that I would make it to the fifth year. Uh, but hey, good fortune has shined upon me and here I am. So, um, thank you uh to the board and to the organization for allowing me uh the privilege to be here. It is a
tremendous honor and uh and although I don't know if I'll make it to the 10 or the 15 or the 20 or the 30, Commissioner Proctor, I'm certain about that one. I'm certain I won't make it to the 30, but um uh it is a it is a tremendous honor. So, thank you all so very much uh for
this recognition. Thank you. [applause] All right. So, now I get the privilege of presenting uh the 5-year pin to my uh my colleague from the class of 2020 on the on the Leyon County Commission, our
queen, our wonderful our wonderful dis mother, uh Commissioner Carolyn Cummings. Um congratulations. We've made it this far. Uh it has been an honor to to come in with you to this organization and and serve alongside you. You have
you have represented your our community so well and you kind of put me to shame because you're just so darn graceful and elegant and good at what you do and I'm up there just looking like a a thumb. So uh thank you Commissioner Cummings and
congratulations on five years with Lyon County government. [applause] Thank you, my chairman, Commissioner Welch. We share a lot in com in common. We're both from Mississippi,
and he's just been a gracious chair. but to the county, county administrator, all my fellow commissioners, and all of you whom I've had the pleasure of serving for the last 5 years. It's certainly been an honor for me to sit on the desk
and represent the interests of the citizens of Lyon County. Thank you for the confidence that you placed in me. Thank you for supporting me. And I promise for the next three years I will always put the interest of the citizens
of Lyon County first. Thank you. God bless you. [applause] >> All right. Now we got one more, but we might have to call an audible. >> Mr. Chair, we're going to circle back to Commissioner Maddox's years a service pin later in the meeting. >> Okay. All right. So, we are calling an
audible. We'll be back on that one. [clears throat] Okay. All right. Now, Vice Chairman Caban um I think is going to take over. Yes. Sorry. I would like to turn it over to vice chairman command command as we move
into the next section of our ceremony before we circle back to commissioner Maddox. Thank you, Mr. Chair. But, you know, before we continue the meeting, I have the distinct privilege of recognizing our chairman for his his year of chairmanship. And I want to begin my
remarks by saying what a pleasure it's been to serve as your vice chairman uh throughout this last year. I really mean that. Um we've had a lot of we've had a lot of good times, had a lot of good conversations, a lot of good arguments on this dis and um alongside our county administrator and our county attorney, I
really do believe you have set such a high standard for leadership and insight through exciting celebrations and also challenging issues. Your representation of this board in this role has been exceptional. Your leadership has set an example not only
for this board but for all the future and current leaders in Leyon County. For all this and more, it's my honor to present this GAVL plaque to commemorate your service as chairman from 2024 to 2025. Thank you, Mr. Chair, for all your
hard work. [applause] >> [applause] [applause] [applause] >> And we're not we're not done. We're not done. I also um my aid Ally and I took the privilege um to get a little gag gift for the for the chairman early this
year. Um, on the record, Chairman Welch was called a wanker, [laughter] so we got him a cup commemorating that as well. Commissioner Wanker. [laughter] [applause] Oh, man.
All right. I forgot about that. [laughter] Now I'll never forget about that. I would now like to recognize our county administrator for a few remarks. Mr. County administrator. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman, uh Mr. Vice Chairman, Mr. Chairman. Uh in keeping
with the long-standing tradition here at the county, it's my privilege to uh present you a collage that captures uh many of the events in this very busy year that we've had with you at the helm as our chairman. Uh and so let the record reflect that it wasn't me or any
of the county employees that called you that. But uh [laughter] but on their behalf again uh very proud to present to you this collage. I hope you will u think back at your on your year as chair fondly as fondly as as we will. You'll see this collage captures
uh many of the events from this year from operation thank you to our world um cross country athletics championship kickoff uh to and many many more. And we've even included, yes, the bare picture that that one can be removed. But but Mr. Chairman, again, yeah, we
[laughter] hope uh again on behalf of all the men and women of Lyon County, proud to present this to you and thank you for being so accessible to us this year. We really appreciate it. >> Thank you. Thank you. That's awesome. >> All right. [applause] Thank you. Thank [clears throat] you. Oh, did you want to give up anything?
You go. I think we're good. Good. We're good. All right. We're good. All right. Thank you, Vince. And thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. All right. I think it's my turn to talk. I've got some notes. I'm not going to go
off these notes. Um. All right. Well, you know, look, [clears throat] I tell people all the time, it's challenging to find good pictures of me because I always look relatively angry in my photos. I can't help it. It's just the way I look. Um, I
mean, you got all [laughter] range of emotions here. Um, including uh this great bear costume that I wore to our employee awards the other day, which I hope to add. All right. Well, uh, thank you. Thank you. Thank
you. Um, I'll try to be brief. I'll be as brief as I can. I just want to make a a few points. Uh, first and foremost, I want to start with all the thank yous. Start with my wife and kids who are not here. [laughter] Um, but, uh, even though they're not
here in the in the chamber with me, they're obviously with me in spirit. I couldn't do any of this without the support of an incredible wife and some incredible children. um who are completely unimpressed with uh my station in life. So, chairman, not
chairman, they just don't care. Uh I I'd like to think they're proud of me, but um you know, we live a busy life. So, uh I I wanted to thank them. Uh I'm obviously very proud of them and and you guys know that my family is the most important thing to me in the whole
world. And you can't do this kind of work without the support of a system like that. And so, uh, Kim, kids, thank you for letting me do this. Okay. Uh, my constituents, um,
obviously we are put in this position by, uh, a group of people who give us a tremendous amount of trust uh, and and in many cases a tremendous amount of grace. And I want my constituents to know just like all of us, I know we work
really hard to make you proud of us to earn your trust and and put your make sure that your faith that you put in us is welld deserved and and I that's at the forefront of everything I do every day. Um commissioners, uh you know, we I
couldn't do this without your grace, without your trust, and without your permission. And I think that's one of the things that makes our our organization great. I think that's what makes our structure great is that we we're a collegial body and we rotate the
chairmanship every year. And um and I I just want to thank you from the bottom of my hearts for giving me this privilege, this opportunity. I know that at times I may have seemed um uh a little too efficient, but um you know I
just I want us to I want us to be uh as considerate as possible, maybe sometimes overconsiderate. Um so thank you commissioners for this opportunity to the administrator and the county attorney. Obviously, uh this takes a a lot of your
test your patience having to deal with all of us and certainly uh with the chair. So, thank you for being patient with me, giving me the opportunity, um to do this and being available to me whenever I had weird questions at strange hours. Shout out to my aid, Kyle
Frost. uh Kyle, you know, helps me keep this thing running on time, keep the trains running and and uh deal with a lot of different uh you know, priorities and stuff and so obviously being chair adds a layer of that. So, thank you Kyle for for standing in the gaps when we
necessarily couldn't be there. And then um on a special note, thank you to our Leyon County staff. Uh the folks who are out working every day wearing that logo, representing that that motto of of
people focused and performance driven. I had the opportunity to speak at our employee awards breakfast um last week and and relayed this sentiment to them as best I could. But you know the heartbeat of this organization are the the employees who work here day in and
day out. A lot of us uh on this dis you know or most of us on this dis are temporarily here with the exception of Commissioner Proctor. [laughter] Um, and so, you know, to for our employees out there, uh, both our our
administrative staff, our our office heads and the folks, um, out in the field doing the work, I want to offer you a sincere thank you. I I probably don't know all of you, but if I ever run into you, I hope you mention to me, you know, hey, I work for Leyon County
government. Um, because you hold the utmost respect in my heart. Uh I am just very privileged to be a part of your organization. So thank you to all of our employees. Uh they really are the best in this business. I mean I I I can't
imagine um a better civic a better run and better performing civic organization or service facing organization. All right. Um, so for me, uh, just on a and real quickly, you know, I never
thought I'd be in this position, um, as an elected official, much less as the chairman of such a distinguished organization. I grew up poor, you know, low expectations. If you'd have known 14-year-old me, you probably wouldn't
have thought I'd amounted to much. single mom, you know, apartment complex, the whole thing, Mississippi. Um, and so, you know, to think that I moved to Tallahassee in 1997, literally the day after I graduated high school and within
23 years was able to get elected to the Leyon County Commission and now in 2025 to serve as the chairman, I don't think, um, anyone would have expected that out of me. And so, uh, I consider myself extremely lucky, as I think we all
probably do or or should. Um, we're very fortunate to be in these positions. You know, if it weren't for the tenacity of a single mother and the commitment of of a support system, I would have never made it. Uh, and then certainly that has transcended into my family life. And so,
again, I reflect on that. I look I tell my son who's 14, my my youngest now is 14. And I tell him, you know, leadership is about service. It's about a commitment to other people. That's how you lead. It's not a cliche. It's a real
thing, right? You have to be willing to give of yourself to to make your world better, to make your life to make other people's lives better. And so my motto from a from a daily perspective for me,
I've got a little I've got a little sign in my office that a friend gave me and it's just help people. So if I can wake up every day and just help people, that's what drives me to do this job. So um as I reflect on this year, I think that it's been remarkably unremarkable. And
that is I think kind of like me. I try to be remarkably unremarkable. Uh I really mean that. I just try to be steady, Eddie, normal. Uh I think that um persistency is the key to success. I'm a marathoner more than a sprinter.
Uh in terms of of life and work and how I approach things, uh we've navigated some complicated issues up here over the last year. Uh fortunately, uh no natural disasters yet. Uh but you know, we'll let Commissioner Caban deal with that. Um,
uh, the fire services issue obviously has been one that tested us and and I think this board has handled that issue with an incredible amount of grace and patience and deference and and pragmatism. Uh, and so I want to commend you all on that. I am honored again to
serve with you all. I think that we set a great example for anybody that's watching about how a collegial board should function. um uh we we do not have personal back and forths. Uh we are a professional group of people who I
really feel like has a genuine respect and and kindness towards one another. And so um I just want to thank you all for that. Um, it's humbling to to be able to serve amongst you and and I think I'm going to look back on this
experience in my life and and be sort of aruck with the individuals that I got to serve with. Each of you holding sort of a a special skill set and a special place in my heart. Um, I'm trying to skip through some of this y'all. I'm sorry. Um
so uh basically in closing I think that um you know it's in it's important for us and and I don't have any grand statement right but in closing I think that it's
important for a board to not be vengeful to not be vindictive to not be um to look at the bigger picture not be petty and And I think if you look at the bigger picture for why we get to do why
we do what we do, it's about if you just focus on helping people and serving others. There's going to be times where we say things that we don't like that hit us crossways, but that doesn't bother us, right? At the end of the day, we know
why we're here. And so, uh, I just want to say again, thank you to to the board. Thank you to the community. um for giving me this opportunity and thank you all for being really just incredible individuals uh incredible staff,
incredible people. Uh it's been the honor of my lifetime to serve alongside you and to lead you over the past year. Thank you. [applause] [applause] >> Commissioners, if you want to open up the floor if any other >> Hold on one second.
>> Well, go ahead. We're going to come back to that. >> Yeah. Yeah. We're going to do that. Yeah. Yeah. >> Commissioners, I do want to open up the floor if any uh commissioners would like to give any remarks to chairman. >> Commissioner Cummings. >> Uh thank you, Mr. uh Mr. Vice Chair. Uh
Chairman Welch, I just want to congratulate you on such a successful uh year when your tenure is as chair of this organization. uh you have just patiently allowed us to
speak on the the issues. Many of us speak two or three times. Many of us say the same thing two or three times at our meetings, but you allow us to do it. You've allowed us to just to liberate uh on the important issues. And I think
deliberation is important is an important part of what we as commissioners uh do that you've shown leadership in so many significant ways
and I honor you uh for that. Uh last week you showed us another side of you at the employees [clears throat] appreciation breakfast when you dressed out in your in your bare suit. So, I think you've shown us the humorous
uh side of you as well, and you've demonstrated versatility uh in your personality and in your person. You're intelligent. You love your students at Charles High School, and you love the citizens of Lyon County, and you have a special affection
for the citizens in your district. So, I I respect you uh for that. Thank you for paving the way for our next chairperson who will have some big shoes to fill. But I think you've certainly done a
remarkable job in leading this organization the last year. Congratulations. Love you much. >> Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Keith. >> Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. Mr. Chair, I know you like it brief, so uh I will
keep my comments brief. uh not for lack of appreciation but because I know you that's how you like it. Um I appreciate you being excellent chair this year. Uh a year as you mentioned we've covered a lot of issues and we've covered a lot of um important issues with long debates
that I think um and a lot of issues that in that cross over with other entities where you've represented us well as our chair communicating with other entities. So, um I appreciate your leadership on that and I appreciate um like you said,
we all may not agree among each other, but we come back together as a team representing people and you've done an excellent job going from issue to issue to issue to contentious issue to contentious issue, keeping us on track, keeping the issue the issue. And so, um
I thank you for that. >> Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Miner. >> Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. Uh, congrats on a great year, Mr. Chairman. Um, you you've been a you've been a good chair, highly efficient. I I think I didn't realize how similar running a high school class might be to running a
county commission meeting, but I think there's probably a lot of similarity. Uh, because you you you definitely uh fit into the groove and and did it really well. Um, a lot of lively debate uh during this last year. I think I had some lively debate with you. >> Sure. >> Uh, this last year, but that's just how
it works. That's how the job is. and um I respect you very highly. Um you know the um the chairmanship running this meeting is harder than it looks and you don't really know how hard it is until you do it. And so what what Chairman Welch does so well is make it look
pretty easy. And so I don't want people to dismiss just how good he is at what he does because it looks so easy for him. It actually is quite [clears throat] difficult to juggle these seven cats to herd in addition to trying to speak intelligently on the issues that we're debating. So, Mr. Chairman, good job, sir. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Commissioner. >> Thank you. >> All right, >> Mr. Potter. Mr. Chairman, thank you. Uh, ladies and gentlemen, as the uh uh what was that title you gave me, the the forever commissioner, >> the goat. >> I appreciate that. Uh but I I really
want to uh tonight to nominate um county commissioner Leon County Superintendent and uh North Florida's uh senator Bill Monford as the uh forever uh exe official chairman of the board of county
commissioners and u I think that his resume uh and in in length as well as quality of service uh far exceeds um um far exceeds my own. Uh thank you Mr. Mford. uh our colleague from from many years with whose labor and works we
stand. Thank you. Uh Mr. Chairman, you have u exceeded uh expectations. Uh I didn't know what a pole boy from Mississippi was going to do as the chairman of Lean County. Uh but you have
uh absolutely been a statesman. Uh you have um been very very patient as commissioner. uh your home girl uh has said uh Commissioner Cummings [laughter] and you allow all of us to just talk way
too long and um especially Commissioner Miner. I mean just much [laughter] your patience with him just prove that you must be a Christian or something like that and u you've been you've been marvelous. We share uh a commonality of
both being um civics instructors and um uh I don't know what you're getting out of your classes, but I can tell you my classes don't don't pay much of attention uh to me and I I know that you're much better uh teacher. And I want to make a commitment to you that in
front of all these people that all the things I admire about you. Um, but I must say and it seems like I might just be compelled to do so, but I don't want to go to your bobber. I I'm trying to avoid your bobber [laughter]
u as as much as I can. And when I do have to go to your bobber, um, I'm going to leave the county commission. >> I'm my own bober, [laughter] Commissioner Proctor. >> I can take care of it, man. >> I see. >> I can take care of you. But God bless you. You've done a marvelous job and we're looking forward to your continued
presence here on this day. >> Thank you, Mr. Maddox. >> Mr. Chair, um single mother from Mississippi raised you and taught you enough for you to be the chairman of Leon County Commission. It's pretty huge. I would I would like to say that
um my daughter Miley came to me and she said, "Dad, are you a celebrity?" I was like, "No, not a celebrity." She said, "Well, people at school think you are." And um it made me think about you. You are the most
human of all of us to the young kids in Leon County because you stand before them and teach them. You give them something to look at. They can they can feel and touch to say, "Um, I can I can do that one day." You you you you carry yourself in a way that just is humble.
doesn't recognize uh what you've accomplished thus far in your life. I mean, you've beat the odds time and time again to be up here on this dis uh and then to to run our meetings the way you have run them with efficiency uh but
also grace when needed uh is nothing short of of spectacular. So, um you are everything I wanted to be as a young commissioner. Uh you're you're a statesman. Uh you're a gentleman. Um you
know how to conduct yourself in crowds. You actually uh like I said are a role model to so many kids who get to be taught by you and you're admired by your colleagues. So I would look forward to what you'll do in the future. But I thank you for the way you led us this year. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Yes sir. [clears throat] >> I omitted um another compliment for Commissioner uh Welch. Uh ladies and gentlemen, you should know that um it it takes a long time to secure um certain
levels of projects for one's district. But y'all need to know that Commissioner Welch came and asked for $18 million off the blueprint table. And those of us who've been around like Commissioner
Maddox, you know, we didn't talk about it, but we knew that could no rookie uh step to the table. How [laughter] dare what kind of nerves? But I need to tell you all that Commissioner Welch
had the unmitigated gall to ask for $18 million for a project in his district. and um he was very upset and but I need to tell you that to this day I admire that
twothirds of that ask he actually got $12 million to support a project in his district and and and that [snorts] I have not recognized ever occurring.
and um when you got that $12 million, I said he's a real political player and he's going to be a bad boy and my respect for this commissioner uh effectuating that result uh has
always gained my respect. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Proctor. >> Thank you, Commissioner Proctor. Mr. County Administrator, >> thank you. Uh Mr. Chairman, again, just another big thanks on behalf of all the men and women of Lyon County for being such a great supporter of of county employees. Uh you're like you're like my
third favorite Welch in the whole family. So, so again, big thanks. Thanks most of all for keeping the natural disasters away this year. Well, can't thank you enough for that. And again, uh you've been a a pleasure to work with from the day you walked in the door and certainly your year as chair was no
exception. So, I really appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. All right, commissioners. I'll close it out about uh comments about our chairman. And you know, as a as a vice chair and chair, I I I I saw very quickly that it
takes communication, right? Mr. Chair, you can't attend this event. Can you cover for me? And vice versa, you know, especially when there's so much stuff going on in the community. But, you know, not to get personal here, but you know, one thing that wasn't mentioned and that I think Commissioner Welch has
set such a great example, um, not only for men across the community, but I know for me personally was every time I talked to him or every time we were communicating, he was always doing something with his kids.
And that is something for me, Mr. chair, as a a new father, that is uh humbling because no matter how busy you may have been, you you were always putting your family first. And so I think that's something that um is really a testament
to the person you are and a leader. >> Thank you. >> Y thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right, Mr. uh committ Mr. Chair, that is all you. >> Thank you all so much. I can't tell you how much those comments mean to me. Truly, really and truly. It means the world to me to hear those things from
people I respect so much. So, thank you so much. Um, all right. At this time, I think we're going to um we're going to start our our reorganization. Uh, I think uh I'd like to invite the clerk.
Yes, the clerk of the circuit court, uh, clerk Marshall to, uh, come to the dis for the reorganization. Good afternoon, commissioners, county administrator, county attorney, and citizens of Leyon County. I'm Gwen Marshall Knight, Leyon County Clerk of
Court and Comproller. I have the distinct honor of [clears throat] conducting the elections for the reorganization of the board through elections for the 202526 chairman and vice chairman of the Lyon
County Board of County Commissioners. So with that being said, I would like to open the floor for nominations for chairman. >> Madam Chair, you recognize Miss C. >> Yes, Madam Chair, I nominate uh Commissioner Christian Caban as our next
chair of the Lyon County Commission. And I'll second. >> We have a motion for chairman for Commissioner Caban and a second. Any other nominations? Okay. >> Hearing none, we close the floor. Any
oppose? Hearing none. Congratulation, Commissioner Chad Caban for your election. [applause] Now, I'd like to call for nominations for vice chairman, Commissioner Miner. >> Thank you, ma'am. I'd like to uh uh make a motion to nominate um Commissioner
O'Keefe as our new vice chair. >> Second. >> Any other nominations? >> Hearing none. Any oppose? Hearing none. Congratulation. Commissioner O'Keefe. [applause]
Now, I'd like to recognize the honorable Bill Monur. If you'll like to uh join us at the lecture. for [clears throat] this swearing in. And Commissioner Haban, would you like to call your family and friends? >> We'll have you at the lecture.
Thank you, Clerk Knight, and thank you, Chairman Kaban, for this opportunity. If I may take just a moment of special privilege, I would like to thank the county commissioners, uh, the administrator and the staff for setting
a really good example for local governments throughout this state. Uh I hesitate to even say you can disagree in a nice way. I would prefer to say you can have different views on an issue and
still teach treat each other with respect and dignity. So I say again as a citizen of this community that I love dearly, thank you for setting a good example for local governments throughout this state in the
in in the face of quite frankly unprecedented challenges to local government. With that being said, Christian uh excuse me, chairman uh command, would you please
state the following? I state your full name. I, Christian Caban, >> do solemnly swear >> do solemnly swear >> that I will well and faithfully execute the duties >> that I will well and faithfully execute the duties >> of the office of chairman of the Lyon
County Board of County Commissioners >> of the office of the board of the Leyon County Commissioners >> to the best of my duty to the best of my ability >> to the best of my ability. >> So help me God. >> So help so help me God. >> It is my honor to recognize you as
[clears throat] chairman. Thank you so much. [applause] That's good. Congratulations. [laughter] Thank you. Thank you. It's me. Was it all me? >> All right, commissioners, buckle up.
[laughter] No. Um before I get started, I do want to just give a big congratulations um to my incoming classmate, Commissioner O'Keefe and we got elected together and uh it's going to be a really fun year and I'm honored to have you as my vice chairman and I'm looking forward to the
things that we're going to accomplish this year. Uh next, I would like to give a handful of some sincere thank yous. uh commissioners first and foremost. Uh there's no greater honor than having the trust and confidence of her
colleagues to help lead this body and represent residents across the county. And so I really mean it sincerely. I'm grateful for each and every one of you. Um next, Alex, you know, thank you. Uh she's back there probably with Cole. And by the way, guys, like there's nothing worse than having your fourmonth-old up
there still steal the show when you're getting elected as chairman. But um you know, Alex, I appreciate you being the best mom and to Cole. And you know, without you, it really would be impossible to do this job, you know, efficiently. And so, um I appreciate all
you do for our family. And next, where's Ally at? I know. I'll just keep this one short and sweet. I got I have the best commission aid. Um I'm sorry, Chanty. I mean, [laughter] I don't even I don't even think you're second. I think you might be third. I think Michelle's
Relle's got you on that. But no, um Ally really does hold it down and um you know, with so much going on in life and Ally really does take this job as a 24/7 job representing our constituents, not only in the district, but across the county. And then I'd be remiss if I
didn't mention our the county staff and um you know, management and our county administrator, our county attorney. I sincerely appreciate the professionalism and commitment that you have to serving our community. You guys do that with integrity and I think that's something
that speaks volumes. Um and lastly, and arguably most importantly, um where are my district 2 residents? I know we have some of them in the building and uh I just want to say thank you for continuing to put your trust in me. Being your commissioner and serving, you know, you all is one of the greatest
honors of my life and I I appreciate I know there's a handful of you. See you guys in the crowd right now. Thank you for taking the time on a Tuesday to be here. Commissioners, o over the past few years, I think it's we can say that we've overcome uh some
obstacles together. We've had several several hurricanes, a record flooding event, the May 10th tornadoes, which caused more damage than any storm in Lyon County history. We've stood together through an ongoing dispute with the city over the fire
services fee and now we're in the midst of approving a new comprehensive plan that will guide our community for the next 100 years. We've also taken on some heavily debated issues, blueprint, homelessness, legislative priorities,
that list goes on. And through all of it, one thing has remained constant. And I think this is something for us to be proud of is we did it together. And you know, when this gavvel hits, and I'm sure it'll hit several times this
year, [laughter] uh, no matter where the conversation went, no matter how heated things got, no matter how mad we are at, Commissioner Proctor, [laughter] we really do walk out here friendly, collegial, and focused on the bigger
picture. And I really do believe in in political times today. That's something for us to be extremely proud of. I say all this because I truly do believe that this board operates as a leading body in our community. And I
want us not only to maintain that, but I want us to build on it. I want us to build to continue strengthening our community's resiliency. I want us to build to expand opportunities in every part of the county.
I want us to build to govern with transparency, accountability, and with respect, not just for one another, but for everyone who comes through these chambers. Lastly, commissioners, as your chairman,
my goal is not just to lead our commission, but my goal is to support it. And I mean that sincerely. I want to support each of you in achieving real tangible results in our districts. Whether you're a district commissioner or you're one of our two at large commissioners, Commissioner
Proctor, yes, sir. I >> I want to support your efforts to expand Crawfordville Road. Commissioner Miner, I want to help advocate for funding along North Window Corridor. Commissioner O'Keefe, I want to work with you to improve pedestrian safety and accessibility.
Commissioner Cummings, our Queen of the County Commission, I'm here to support your efforts to protect women and children in our community. And Commissioner Maddox, I want to help strengthen our work to build more affordable housing across the county.
Commissioner Welch, I want to continue supporting your commitment to advocating for common sense policy across the county and in your district. Now I want each you to know that I see this role truly as a partnership. One where I help create the space on
this dis for every commissioner to succeed because I I mean that sincerely that when one of us achieves progress in our districts the entire county benefits. And commissioners in closing I'll say this.
Through good times, bad times, hard times, my commitment is to stand is to stand beside each of you to uplift our priorities to make sure that together we deliver real meaningful results for the
people that we serve in our community. I want us to lead with strength. I want us to govern with purpose. And I want us to continue to be the example of what happens when a body works together to show our community what can
be done. I'm honored to serve with each and every one of you and I'm proud to stand with you. I'm ready for this year ahead. And I'll tell you this, I can promise this. This year we're going to get a lot of things done. So, thank you all so much.
[applause] >> [applause] [applause] >> All right. So, I think now um Are we going to do it? Commissioner Maddox, let's do it. All right. We're going to real quick before we take a recess, we are going to recognize Commissioner Maddox for 15 years of service.
>> Yes. [applause] We We weren't able to do this a little earlier. Commissioner Maddox. Oh, you want to go? Just Come on, man. Come on. All right. Thank you and congratulations, Mr. Chairman. Um, I couldn't let it go without doing this. Commissioner Maddox,
you know, Commissioner Maddox, 15 years, man. [cough] I mean, it's [clears throat] it's remarkable. It's unbelievable. It's all those things. But I have a a special affinity for Kabistra Maddox. Even though technically I'm older than you, I
feel like your little brother up here on this dis. And I could not miss the opportunity to present you with your 15-year pen as it fell on my chairmanship to do that. And so, um, Commissioner Maddox, you are an
incredible leader. You conduct yourself on this dis in a way that I aspire to conduct myself. And I know I've told you this and I've said it in in public, but I really honestly do look up to you. I think you are an incredible professional. You show unbelievable
calm, unbelievable uh charisma on the dis. You're never emotional. It's never personal. And those are the things that I aspire to, right? I want us to be like you. And so you set a great example for us for what it means to truly be a public servant
and a statesman and all those terms. And so I don't want to like like overstate it to the point that it doesn't have meaning. You really are an incredible leader, incredible mentor to me. I know the chairman looks at you the same way. Commissioner O'Keefee, Commissioner
Cummings, all of us as along with Commissioner Proctor who's been here a long time, but he still he still he may not admit it, but he still looks up to you because of the way you conduct yourself. You are a role model, not just for this DAS, not just for other elected
officials in our community, but really other elected officials all over the state. So, thank you. Congratulations on 15 years. I hope you get 15 more. I hope you beat Proctor and maybe go [laughter] 40. I don't know. But it is an honor of a lifetime to get to serve with you
specifically, Commissioner Mattis. Congratulations. [applause] [applause] You got some. Okay. Um, [clears throat] those who know me know I hate this moment. Uh, hate it. I actually, uh, believe it or not, I was
late on purpose so I wouldn't have to do this, but um, I want to thank the chairman for your kind words. Really, um, I didn't expect to be here much like you. You know, it's one of those things that just if it
happens for you, it happens for you. And so I tried my best to serve in a way that um my mother and the kid I was would be proud of. Um I've tried to be an example when I could. Though an imperfect man,
I've tried to handle my affairs as far as this commission is concerned, being fair and not too emotional about the things that I've had to decide on. Um, I want to thank each and every one of you for um [clears throat] the kind
words that you said about me. I was actually texting Commissioner, former commissioner Maryanne Lley a second ago uh as I told her one of the greatest uh memories I'll ever have was presenting her with my tenure pen. I was going to
ask her what she did with it, but I didn't get a chance to before Brian told me he wanted to he wanted to do this. Um, but really this this is this has been a ride. Um, former teammate of mine over there, Angelo Crowwell, we go back to high school, uh, an all-star game
together. And I tell people all the time, being up here is not much different than being an athlete. You know, every every week we get a we get a big playbook that we call a agenda. We look through that playbook. We figure out how to go and we go at it. Not
everybody's going to like what you do. Not everybody's going to love you, but if you put your all into it and you try your best and you lead considering the team, you'll be okay. So, uh, for those who one day aspire to do this, um, I
would say that if you're doing it to be elected, don't do it. If you're doing it to be elected, don't do it. If you're doing it to be important, don't do it. But if there's a fire that burns inside
of you that wants to do something for somebody else who is not even yourself, that's the reason to do it. Whether it be a neighbor, for me it was the mother I had and the kid that I was. Whether it be a teammate that you played with.
Maybe maybe it's a friend. But let the love you have for someone else drive you to stand before the public and ask them to put you in a position to make decisions that are going to affect people's lives. Again, thank you and I appreciate the
opportunity to serve. [applause] All >> [applause] >> right, commissioners. Everyone, we're going to we're going to close out with a closing prayer. U then we'll have a recess and um I would like to recognize
a good friend of mine, uh Bishop Quincy Griffin, senior. M Mr. Chairman, point of information. Um are we taking the picture immediately? We'll take the picture immediately after immediately. Yes, sir. Thank you. >> This prayer from the floor is yours.
Please stand for the benediction. Let us pray. Father, we just thank you for such an awesome occasion. Lord, we all felt your presence in here, but more importantly, we feel the unity from the county commissioners. We ask that you bless them because of this unity with
the heart to continue to serve the people, the strength and the courage to make stands and to break records and make history for our county. We know the vision is being released so this can be one of the greatest years we've ever seen before. Lord, we bind the spirit of
fear. Give them courage. Give them faith. And give them a sound mind. Now Lord, as we leave this place and never your presence, we ask that you bless us, keep us, and guide us, and even bless the food and the refreshments that people will receive. It's in your son, Jesus name we pray. Let everybody say,
"Amen." >> Amen. >> All right. >> All right, commissioners, we will recess till uh 4:15. There we go. Stay for the vision. Yeah, we staying
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[music] [music] >> [music] >> the meeting into order at 4:19 p.m. >> Okay, Mr. County Minister. So, I think we go right into awards and presentations, right? Because we already invocation. Okay, great. So, uh, we'll first
recognize Commissioner Welch for a proclamation recognizing the Tallahassee Leon Bay Brew 13 and 14U baseball teams as World Series champions. Commissioner Welch, you are recognized. >> All right, let's go. >> All right.
Hey, I've got another one. I'm going to go next. I can't. >> You can do back to back. >> Okay. All right. coach. All right. Am I hot? All right, guys. Come on up here.
All right, commissioners and guests. Thank you for this opportunity to present a proclamation. Uh this is just some of the contingent from our 13U and 14U Tallahassee Babe Ruth All-Star teams which both won their
mutual world series right in uh would have been August. Is that right, coach? August. Yeah. So uh you know the the Babe Ruth program is run through our Leyon County parks. Uh great partnership that we have with them and uh and both our 13 and 14 year old 14U boys went to
Where did the 14U went to? Arkansas and the 13 went to New York, >> Jamestown, New York, and they both won World Series, right? I mean, that's the best in the country at Babe Ruth at that age. So, uh, we were going to give them a proclamation and it reads as follows.
And we got some parents here, too. Shout out to my parents over here that show they're our madam public defender over there being one of them. Whereas Oh. Oh, sorry. I'm in I'm getting into the where's madam defender [laughter]
u whereas taly Leon Bay Ruth Baseball has for more than 60 years provided advanced level youth baseball for players aged 13 through 15 promoting skill development discipline sportsmanship and community pride throughout Lyon County and whereas the program has built one of the strongest
traditions in the nation producing multiple Babe Ruth World Series titles and appearances and serving as a pillar of youth athletics in the Big Bend. And whereas in the summer of 2025, the Tallahassee Leon Bay Ruth 14U All-Star team captured the 2025 Babe Ruth
14-year-old World Series championship in Hot Springs, Arkansas, defeating Mexico, Mexico 9-2 in the title game at Majestic Park and completing a dominant tournament run. And whereas the same summer, the Tallahassee Leon Babruuth
13U all-star team won the 2025 Babe Ruth 13-year-old World Series championship in Jamestown, New York, defeating Stamford, Connecticut 13 to5 at Dietrich Park to secure the program's fourth 13U World Series. Whereas 2025 marks an incredible
achievement for Tallahassee Leon Babe Ruth as both the 13 and 14U teams won World Series titles in the same year, further cementing Leyon County's reputation as one of the premier youth baseball communities in the United States. And whereas these championships reflect the exceptional dedication of the players, the leadership of the
coaches and league volunteers, the support of parents and families, and the long-standing community backing from Lyon County local sponsors in the Tallahassee Leyon Babe Ruth Alumni Foundation. And whereas the accomplishments of the Tallahassee Leon Bever 2025 World Series champion teams
bring honor to Lyon County and stand as a source of inspiration for young athletes throughout our community. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the board of county commissioners of Leyon County, Florida, that we celebrate and recognize the Tallahassee Leon Bay Ruth 2025 13U
and 14U World Series champions teams and congratulate them for extraordinary achievements and outstanding representation of Leyon County dated this 18th day of November 2025. Signed by myself as past chairman as well as the rest of the county commission and tested to by the county administrator.
Let me just tell you guys before we give them a round of applause. I have watched most of these young guys play baseball since they were seven years old and they are absolutely elite level players and we are certainly proud of them. They represent our community extremely well.
I have I have some of these go to my go to the school where I teach. One of them's in my class and they are all just as good in the classroom as they are on the baseball field. So, we're super proud of you guys. Thank you so much. Let's give them a round of applause. [applause] All right.
Who's your spokesperson? Posser. Come on, man. No. Coach. [laughter] >> Yes. >> Commissioner Welts, thank you. Administrators of the county. Thank you very much for having us here. We're a group of young men that never shut up.
All we had to do was mention speaking and they all clammed up immediately. We did have one that was afraid he might say a cuss word, but I won't say his name. So, we'd like to thank Commissioner Welch and the Leyon County. It was a super special run. No possible way we could have made it without our
parents, which were huge supporters the whole way. Uh these are fabulous young men from the beginning to end. We had a great summer. Actually, both teams went undefeated, which is basically unheard of in all [applause]
and a good quality young man. It was my pleasure. So, thank you very much, Commissioner. >> Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. All right, we're going to take a picture, guys. Come here. >> Take that right there. Stand right in the middle. All right. Commissioner Cumins, you're recognized.
>> Oh, yes. Uh, coach. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Team members, just want you to know that we are extremely proud of you all. You don't just become champion, world champions in your
particular sport just by sitting around. We know that you guys put in a lot of hard work and we are so proud of the fact that you all are representing us. You're representing Lyon County. You're representing Tallahassee and you guys have done it very well. So, thank you so
much and congratulations again. [applause] >> Mr. M. Yeah, real quick. I'm I'm sorry. uh coach >> team um you know being a champion myself uh you know these types of things don't
happen without hard work but it's not the hard work that you put in day after day during the season. It's actually the hard work you put in in the preeason. It's everything you did over the year to get prepared for uh the games that you'll have during the season. And so,
uh, don't think it be lo it's lost on me. Uh, the countless hours that you put in, uh, the hard work that you put in. I don't know if y'all got anything like mad drills or anything like that, but uh, this blood, sweat, and tears that you put in to be national champions. It's I play AEU and all that good stuff
when I was um when I was your age. I couldn't hit baseball to save my life. I tried. Uh, but I will tell you that I know how hard it is not just to win in the States, but to go internationally
and win is pretty extraordinary and and that's something that you'll take from with you for the rest of your life. Last thing I'll say, Mr. Chair, is that uh the the guys that you sat next to, you you'll remember this moment forever. I remember the kids that I travel with to
De Moines IO or my AU basketball team. I remember the kids that I travel with to to Vegas to play in my AU basketball team. And I'm not talking about just one team. I'm talking about all of them. We all went to different schools and we all led different lives from now from uh from from the time that we we graduated
high school. One of which actually passed not too long ago of cancer. and I I took the time to leave Tallahassee to go back to Carolina uh to be a part of his services because he was my teammate, not in high school, not in uh in in in
college, but a AAU uh uh teammate. And so you guys will forever be friends. You'll forever have this bond. You'll forever have the moments that you had when you played in this in the game to win the championship and throughout the season. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Parker, Mr. Sherman,
thank you. Uh team uh congratulations. I heard the accolades coming from my colleagues uh in the back. Few years ago I I was asked um what what was my takeaway? What did I learn uh in playing
u championship football uh in high school at uh Florida M University uh high school and um as a quarterback uh I was able to say that I think the thing that I've learned the most is um
um 8th grade 9th 10th 11th 12th grade is that when you get knocked down uh you get up off the ground you go back to the huddle you regroup group and call the next play and each down you fight to win. And if you've learned the
discipline uh the trust of teammates uh and that stuff that somewhere down the road in life uh you're going to reach in and it's going to be there because of what you've galvanized those qualities uh that you gained this year
as a champion. So rely on it, trust it and to God be the glory. We thank you. Thank you, [applause] Commissioner. What you are recognized for the proclamation recognizing November as National Hospice Month.
>> Yeah, you keep that. Mr. Walch. >> Yeah, I'll be >> all right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, would the folks from the hospice and pal of care Thank you. How are you? Thank you for being here. All right, commissioners. I've got one
more proclamation. Um, I don't know if you're aware, but uh, November is National Hospice and Pal of Care Month. Uh, so whereas November is National Hospice and Paliotative Care Month, first recognized nationally to honor providers of compassionate end of life care and to increase public
understanding of hospice and paliotative options for individuals with serious and lifelimiting illnesses. And whereas Big Ben Hospice Incorporated, founded on April 1st, 1983, as the first nonprofit hospice in Tallahassee, was envisioned [laughter] by local volunteers as a compassionate response to the needs of
individuals with lifelimiting illnesses, offering comfort, dignity, and emotional support to patients, families, and those grieving the loss of a loved one. And whereas for more than four decades, Big Ben Hospice has proudly served patients and families across the 8ount Big Ben region, Leyon, Franklin, Gadston,
Jefferson, Liberty, Madison, Taylor, and Wakulla counties. delivering 13,650 [clears throat] patient care days this year and continuing to bring comfort, dignity, and compassion to countless individuals and families throughout the region. And whereas Big Ben Hospice maintains accreditation through the community
health accreditation partnership, demonstrating its adherence to nationally recognized standards of quality, safety, and performance in hospice and paliative services. And whereas Big Ben Hospice employs an interdisciplinary team including skilled nurses, physicians, social workers,
chaplain, music therapists, and trained volunteers to address not only physical symptoms but also the emotional, social, and spiritual needs of patients and caregivers. And whereas Big Ben Hospice provides inpatient and respit services in respectful homelike environments, including the Margaret Z. Doure Hospice
House, the First Commerce Center for Compassionate Care at Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, and [snorts] an inpatient unit at the Leyon County Detention Center, thereby ensuring access for some of the community's most vulnerable residents. And whereas Big Ben Hospice extends care beyond traditional hospice through music
therapy, pet therapy, specialized veteran services, community bereavement programs, and spiritual care. All provided at no cost to local families through community support and foundation resources. And whereas Big Ben Hospice also furnishes paliative care for
individuals with serious diagnosis who are not yet hospice eligible, helping patients and families navigate treatment, relieve symptoms, and plan for future care. And whereas embodying its guiding promise, quote, care that surrounds you, support that sustains
you, and hope that follows you home. Big Ben Hospice continues to strengthen the quality of life and end of life safety net for Lyon County in the Big Ben region. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that the board of county commissioners of Leyon County, Florida, does hereby designate November 2025 as National
Hospice and Paliotative Care Month in Lyon County, and dedicates this observance to the Big Ben Hospice for more than 40 years of compassionate community-based service, dated this 18th day of November, 2025, signed and attested to by all the commissioners as well as the chairman. Thank you all so
much. And before we uh before we give him a round of applause, I do think it's important that we recognize that, you know, our hospice care and our pallet of care, end of life care is something that touches us all. We've all probably uh had experiences with Big Ben Hospice. And so I just want to thank you for what
you provide for our community, is incredibly important. It brings comfort to people in in a terrible time and it is a really a crucial organization in in Lyon County. So thank you so much. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Commissioner Welch Welch and
all the other Leon County Commissioners. My name is Amanda Gustiffson and I'm the chief operating officer for Big Bend Hospice. And I just want to thank you for this proclamation because it allows us to spread the word about hospice and paliotative care. ensure that everybody
in Leanne County and North Florida have care, comforty, comfort, and support at that end of life period. So, thank you, [applause] >> Commissioner Proctor, then Commission, then Commissioner O'Keefe. >> Mr. Chairman, thank you, Commissioners. Um, I have uh bragged on Big Ben
Hospice. Uh I bragged on them out of experience and >> [snorts] >> um 2021 they were there for my family and I uh as my father uh took exit steps um to transition. Um, I thanked you then
and um I've said publicly that uh to county administrator before that our county commission uh should lift and do all that we can to amplify services uh of Big Ben Hospice and um I
think that it's much too unknown still to that large public and mine is a uh request request of us to um place uh this excellent agency uh on the radar uh
place it uh in a new orbit of and to put more shine on their services and I I I don't think a motion is appropriate this time but Big Ben Hospice uh is there for families. Might I also um extend
condolences to the family of u late deacon Marcellis Long um Mrs. Richard Bell Long, Marcelos, Vanessa and Cynthia uh who've experienced uh last week and
the loss of Miss Long, our neighbors and countless families have benefited from y'all. And um I think commissioners we need to do more to undergard and to uh lift uh all of that. Now, Miss Co Marty is sitting there like she don't talk
much, isn't it? Shai, but um prior to one of our uh um uh persons that we recognize tonight, Miss Brenda Williams, uh her mother uh was a director, executive director of the Tallahassee Housing Authority, Miss Claudet
Kromardi, and did an excellent job of years and years of service. So, we're looking at people who whose um roots and legacies uh expand across community. So, when you put a great team together, it's not surprising that you get the results
that we grow about and celebrate. Thank you, >> Mr. O'Keefe. >> I just like to say thank you. Um when uh my father passed away last year, it was in Jacksonville, a different hospice, but um the comfort that was given to us
by the hospice nurse and all the support um it's just an incredible value and I think it's um hard to understand the value of what you do until you go through it with yourself or a family member. And so I just want to say thank you.
>> All right. Thank you so much. >> [applause] >> Next, we're going to be a proclamation recognizing Angelo and Kim Crowell for their efforts in raising $35,000 for First Tallahassee. All right, commissioners.
Come on up. I'm going to present this proclamation and then I'm going to say a few uh few words. But um whereas Angelo and Kim Crowell, co-founders of Kao Companies and local entrepreneurs who own and operate dozens of Jersey Mike
Subs restaurants across Alabama, Georgia, and Florida have demonstrated exceptional generosity and community spirit through their fundraising efforts for a local nonprofit, First Tallahassee. And whereas each March, Jersey Mike's
hosts its nationwide month of giving campaign, now in its 15th year, inviting customers to support local charities and culminating in a day of giving when 100% of all sales are donated to local partner nonprofit organizations. And
whereas First T is a national youth development organization that empowers kids and teens through the game of golf, teaching life lessons and core values such as honesty, respect, confidence, and perseverance. With more than 150
chapters nationwide, creating pathways for children to thrive both on and off the course. And whereas in March 2025, Kim and Angelo led their Jersey Mike's locations in a remarkable fundraising effort
resulting in a 30 $36,000 donation to First Tallahassee. And whereas through their leadership and unwavering commitment, Angelo and Kim inspired their community to rally behind a mission that builds confidence,
integrity, and life skills in local youth. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the board of county commissioners of Lyon County, Florida, that Angelo and Kimberly Crowwell are formerly recognized for their outstanding philanthropic leadership, not only for
their generous contribution, but also for the example they set as compassionate and engaged business leaders dedicated to empowering youth and strengthening the fabric of our community. Their steadfast commitment to service, mentorship, and long-term investment in local programs has created
lasting opportunities for the next generation and continues to inspire others to lead with purpose. Dated this 18th day of November, 2025, signed by the board of county commissioners and attested by the county administrator. Thank you. [applause]
I I just want to say that this uh this proclamation is a little personal to me because um it's not every day that you get to present a proclamation to two two people who have been a mentor to me personally since I was about 19 years old. And so um you know this this does
not surprise me just through the the how many years 14 years that we've gotten to know each other from when I was in college. Um, you know, Angelo has been such a mentor to me on a personal and a professional level. And so I do owe a lot of credit to my my philanthropic, my
public service, and also my my my business knowledge to Angelo and Kim. So I'm really honored to present this to you all today. Yeah. [snorts] >> Thank you. [applause] >> Thank you, Commissioner Cummings. >> Sorry,
>> Chairman Caban. Thank you so much. Um this is truly an honor. Thank you to the commissioners. Um we weren't prepared to speak today, but um thank you for this recognition. This really isn't about um Angelo or myself. It's really about the community and and the public that we
serve and um we're just the vessels. So thank you for this um for this proclamation. We'll take it back to our teams um because we couldn't do it without them. I appreciate it. And thank you to Austin for coming. Thank you very much. Congratulations.
>> Uh thank you uh Mr. Vice Chair uh Mr. Mrs. Croy. I just want to say that you guys are just a great great example [clears throat] of goodness in our community. We appreciate you all for all your philanthropy.
We thank you for your generosity. We thank you for your um entrepreneurship is just all around and in the heart of that is public service. You've got a heart for per public service. So thank
you for the fact that you raised such an enormous amount of money support of our youth and support of our community. So we congratulate you. keep up the good work and and we see you've got your son just right there training him along to
be a great public servant as well. So, thank you all. Uh and congratulations on the proclamation. Commissioner, >> thank you. Um [clears throat] long way from Virginia, y'all may not know, but the this this couple met at
UVA uh and been together ever since. Um, you know, I think what you also may not know is they come from good families. Ken, uh, Austin, Daryl, Austin, the Crowwells will be very proud of what
you're doing. Uh, not the fact that you you chose to invest in something that was going to be lucrative for your family and build generational wealth wealth, but the fact that you're taking some of that and you're putting it back into the community is what I think they'd be most proud of. uh and and to
be able to bring uh Austin here and have them see have him see you do this type of thing for the community, that means that he'll take the same example and he'll do it for generations to come. And so, um I I love you guys. I'm proud of what you're doing. I look forward to you
doing many more things. Austin, man, hang in there. I saw your workout this morning. Your dad's going to try to kill you, but it's okay. It's going to be good. It's promise you it's going to help you in the future. Um, but seriously, I I I really really appreciate what you guys have done for this community and what you continue to do. Thank you, Mr. Sherman.
>> Thank you, Commissioner LS. Thank you, Commissioner. >> Mr. Sherman, I've been trying to get a a jersey mics down in district one. >> It's okay. >> I don't know what I got to do. Uh, >> I was going to say the same thing, but in district four, [laughter] come on now. >> Well, if I get four votes on this, maybe
we can, you know, >> maybe we can force this action. >> Uh, [clears throat] something. Y'all don't forget us. Uh we eat Jersey mics and we just hate that we got to catch the bus and come so far. Uh you know and uh we'll look around and it's a couple
people we can just you know need [clears throat] to evict and let y'all take over their space. But certainly um um um brother Daryl Jones can attest um since my um initial years serving as as as the youth
minister uh at Bethl AM church here in Tallahassee. Uh believe in beginning in 1985. Uh I've seen uh Crow grow up um literally grow up and uh with great
parents, a father uh the former uh uh director of the Tallahassee airport, uh Ken Austin city uh city assistant city manager uh her mother um highest ranks of Florida's state education. Uh just
some someone said it uh the family the family generates creates and pours into and um and and it doesn't surprise me her success and when you get a good man and a and a great woman together and
brother Crowwell uh is quiet uh consistent persistent and they're got a family model they have a business model and they have a a community model that if you check them
closely in all three fronts is tight and right. We respect what you're doing. Much success in your continued efforts to um be the family to be the business and to be the community powerhouses that
you're growing into. Thank you. Thank you. >> Commissioner W. Hey, uh just real briefly, uh Commissioner Proctor Stole my thunder, but like you'd virtually assure my re-election if you could get a Jersey Mike's in Bradfordville. I mean
that sincerely. Uh no, thank you guys so much for all you do for our community. You are a great example of entrepreneurship and commitment and giving back to Leyon County. And aside from the fact that your restaurants are delicious and you're building like a little empire, that's awesome. But I
mean like s sincerely uh you guys are clearly great people and and do a lot for our community. So thank you so much. Please continue to do what you do including maybe putting us a jersey mics in Bradfordville. Man, come on. Don't do it. Come to the southside first.
[laughter] >> [applause] [snorts] >> Congratulations again. Now we have recognized Chairman Caban to recognize Sable Palm Elementary School for receiving an A rating. >> Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. I'd like to
ask school board member Daryl Jones to please uh come up and help me present this proclamation. Come on. >> Great to see you. Thank you. Yeah. Whereas Sable Palm Elementary School, home of the Patriots, has achieved a remarkable academic turnaround, rising
from a D to an A in the 2024 2025 school year. [applause] There was not applause. I was going to ask for one. So great time for school board member Daryl Jones, one of only five schools statewide to make such a monumental improvement in a single year.
Whereas under the leadership of Principal Hankerson, Sable Palm Elementary set a bold standard of excellence, challenging teachers and staff to give 120% each day and to believe, as she does, that children can
do anything. Whereas through tireless effort and data-driven teaching, Sable Palm educators held weekly meetings to track student growth, taught with realworld applications, and devoted evenings and weekends to tutoring, ensuring that every student had the
opportunity to succeed. Whereas Stable Palm Elementary as Tallahassy's first UCF certified community partnership school provides wraparound services including healthcare, mentorship, arts, athletics, and essential resources ensuring all students have the tools
they need to thrive. And whereas this achievement reflects the unwavering support of school board member Daryl Jones, Superintendent Rocky Hannah, the faculty, staff, volunteers, families, community partners who have invested in
the success of Sable Palm students. Whereas the school's success is a testament to the power of unity where teachers, parents, volunteers, and partners came together to uplift a title one community and prove that every child
regardless of circumstance can achieve excellence when given the belief and resources to do so. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the board of county commissioners of Leyon County, Florida, that we recognize Sable Palm Elementary School for its outstanding academic
achievement and exemplary contributions to the community and extend a sincere, heartfelt congratulations to Principal Hankerson, the faculty, staff, students, and community partners on [clears throat] this remarkable accomplishment. dated this 18th day of
November, 2025, signed by the board of county commissioners and attested by the county administrator. Let's give a round of applause. [applause and cheering] [applause] I'm I'm going to pass it to Principal Hankerson. Sorry, I'm I'm going to put you on the spot. and school board member Daryl Jones. But I just want to say this
that um on our on our back to school bash that we had this year, Principal Hankerson was out there blood, sweat, and tears in in a hot, humid, you know, Friday afternoon, you know, just sweating, greeting all the parents. And I saw firsthand just how Principal
Hankerson, you know, pretty much every family, every single person that came through that carine, they knew you, they felt comfortable, and I think it's those kind of relationships that make lasting impacts on our schools. So, thank you so much. [applause]
>> I didn't expect to speak, but I just want to thank Christian command commissioner, chairman, commissioner command at this point and all the commissioners. Um, I also, my superintendent is not present, but I definitely have to recognize him and my school board member who I could not do
without. So, I want to thank I am such a crybaby. My gosh. Okay. So, I am the shining principal at Sable Palm Elementary Community Partnership School. And with me, I just have just a few of
It's not about Principal Hankerston, right? It's about the faculty and staff that's here. And I say that all the time. So, with me, I have one of my fourth grade teachers. I have Mr. Stellers. I have my academic coach, Miss um Davis. I have Miss Santame, my fourth grade teacher, Miss Barnes, my um third
grade teacher. Mr. Sailor my fifth grade and Miss Arnold my third. I don't take it lightly that we we actually achieved this. A >> [snorts] >> um the only thing I asked for us to one right only had one. I just all I needed
you to do is teach. The babies deserve nothing less. But I will do all the rest. I just needed you to teach. And when I tell you I have the hardest working faculty and staff and Miss Hair may say differently because her faculty's the hardest working faculty and staff, but I don't take them um I would do anything in the world for them
because I know that they will give 120% cuz they know I tell them I need you to keep everything out the door and when you walk in you give those babies 120 20% every day because I give 150% to them every day. And so as we walked that
journey, as my first year as a principal and walked the journey, all I needed them to do is teach. Um, and I needed to work alongside them. So they believed in my vision. They worked hard, the students work hard, and we plan to run it back um for the 2526 school year. So
again, I thank you. I think part of this is just a speckle my faculty and staff and we have it it's it's this is 20 years in the making. This is 20 years that Sable Palm has been an A. So this is truly an honor and I thank you again
for this proclamation and we will take it back home and we will put it up so all can see what Sable Palm Elementary is all about. >> Awesome. Awesome. [applause] Mr. Vice Chair, if we can, we have um two proclamations for the school. So, let's do all the commissioner discussion
after we [clears throat] present both proclamation. >> What if we like one school more than the other? [laughter] >> All right. Please, as you wish, Mr. Chair. >> What's the other school? >> Okay.
Thank you so [applause] principal hair. All right, commissioners. Whereas Grutiger Elementary School, home of the road runners, has demonstrated extraordinary commitment to student achie achievement, riving from a C to an
A in the 2024 2025 school year, the school's first A in 17 years. You may applaud. [applause] I had to beat uh Darl to it. Whereas more than 68% of Rutiger students come
from lowincome homes. And whereas under the leadership of principal Shannon Hair, Rutiger Elementary adopted the theme raising the bar inspired by the 2024 Olympic spirit, encouraging students and teachers alike to strive
for excellence and exceed expectations. And whereas principal hair and her dedicated faculty embraced a culture of high standards and belief in every student's potential, leading a transformative year where teachers and students alike committed to aiming
higher and achieving more. Whereas through innovation and inclusivity, Rutiger Elementary dismantled traditional barriers by implementing inclusive classrooms, empowering students with disabilities to thrive, raising her their English assessment
score from 16% to 27% scoring level three or higher. Whereas this achievement reflects the unwavering support of school board member Daryl Jones, Superintendent Rocky Hannah, the faculty, staff, volunteers, families,
and community community partners who have invested in the success of Rutiger students. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the board of county commissioners of Leyon County, Florida, that we recognize Rutiger Elementary School for its outstanding academic
achievement and exemplary contributions to the community and extend heartfelt congratulations to Principal Shannon Hair, the faculty, staff, students, and community partners on this remarkable accomplishment dated this 18th day of
November, 2025, s signed by the board of county commissioners and attested by the county administrator. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Commissioner and uh Mr. Jones. Shout out to our board uh member Marcus Nicholas, who's not here this evening, but is always supportive of
Rutiger. Um and y'all have to stop putting me in the room with Hankerson. She uh is public speaker. Put me in front of 515 kids. I'm good. a room full of grown-ups, not so much. Um, but we really do appreciate it. Um, I've been serving Title One schools for 18 years,
so for me, it is a calling and as a passion. Most people don't know because I don't like to talk about myself, but it's deeply personal. As a teenage mom, I decided I wanted different for my child. And that began with me getting an
education. So, I'm going to brag for one second. A mom brag and then my school. That child that inspired me and changed the trajectory of my life is now a business owner, a successful business owner in Tallahassee. My son, who came along 10 years later,
just started his career with the Tallahassee Police Department. Both products of the Lyon County School Board. So, mission accomplished. I changed the cycle. So, that drives me every day for what I do. And I tell our kids often, "Smartest kid I know. I
can't believe you did that. That's unbelievable." And they'll look at me. And one of the things I always say is, "I'm going to say it until you believe it." Um, and that's what our faculty and our staff does every day. I wanted to bring a whole crew, but I saw 3:00 and in my mind, that's the middle of
dismissal. Um, and I was already stressed about not being at car pickup. So, I did bring a couple. I have my partner, our assistant principal, Melissa Sumner, with me. And you better get on up, girl. I have Nicole Jackson, a reading interventionist, who was very
critical in raising the bar and inspiring teachers because teachers need to hear it from other teachers, not just from me. Um, and then I am going to give a shout out. My son popped in in the back. Super proud of him. [applause]
I'll be in trouble for that later. Um, but I cannot wait to go back and share this with our faculty and staff. It I truly along with Miss Hankerson, I too work with the best teachers and staff, but also our students showed up and
showed out and our parents and families supported our efforts. And I also appreciate you mentioning inclusion. We made a big shift to inclusion a few years back and that has been a number one priority uh for me and I also want
to say one more thing along with the inclusion we do have a dedicated gifted and talented program because title one kids do not need just remediation. Okay, we've got the future walk in our halls
every single day. So we hit both ends of that. Um, we will never be defined by our zip code. More great things to come for Rutiger. Thank you so much. [applause] >> I got a picture first, commissioners. Okay,
>> Commissioner Welch. >> Sure. >> Thank you, uh, Mr. Chairman. Um, you know, not to belabor this point, but as someone who works in a public school and has for 19 years, and I've said this before, I 20 years ago, I worked in the
governor's office and we mentored students at Sable Palm. That's where I first walked into a school in that role as a as a adult, young adult working in that capacity. And that experience at
Sable Palm as a mentor weekly led me to want to get out of the governor's office and go be a teacher. Okay. And so I just want to emphasize to everybody listening and in the audience how transcendent
what you have accomplished is. It is remarkably difficult to do what these two schools have done and the challenges that they face are are incredible. And to be able to achieve what you have
achieved, you cannot understate the just nature of that. And and you you talk about reading interventionists and and staff members and teachers. That is an incredibly heavy lift. And you should be so proud. Teachers, educators,
administrators, you know, you go to bed with a knot in your stomach when you're a teacher. You never leave it. You never leave it. I don't leave it like ever. Okay. I mean, I'm thinking about students that I had interactions with today, right now, and how I'm going to like deal with that tomorrow and rectify
that and try to give them some some semblance of of closure on an issue or whatever. You never It never leaves you. And so, I just want us to know that. I want the community to know that what you have done at your two schools is
unbelievable. And this community should lift you up as absolute queens of Lyon County and your staffs should be given you it. We should give you a million dollars a each a year. You know, it's
unbelievable. But it is it just can't be understated. So, thank you from the bottom of my heart as someone who who is right there with you in the trenches every day. You guys are unbelievable. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> [applause]
>> Mr. Vice Chair, school board member Daryl Jones would like to say a few words. Um, not like to, I've been asked to, but I would like to say that these extraordinary leaders are indicative of what happens when principles love first
>> and lead second. >> All right. And in our title one schools, many of you as you are very much aware, uh some back in 2018 when I was first elected, the schools in my district were D's and Fs.
However, it has been the intentionality of my colleagues on the school board and our superintendent Rocky Hannah, my colleagues on the school board who've been intentional about making the necessary investments and extraordinary leaders like this
making sure that they were equipped and empowered to lead their respective campuses. But it's not lost on me as I stand before this disas about how it does take more than just a village. It takes an entire county to
[clears throat] raise a child. It's not lost on me today that in this meeting you have lifted up soft foot baseball teams and philanthropists who have supported first t and you've lifted up these principles and this commission
would create a children's services council that would subsequently be intentional about making investments in children support organizations. It has been this commission that through its policy has been intentional about ensuring the safety of our children as
they walk back and forth to school by making the necessary investments in sidewalks and lit school bus stations and lit and making certain that my littlest ones out at Fort Braden when it is dark at night and time goes back
those children don't have to stand in the dark to wait for a school bus. So it takes an entire county and here now with your intentionality and the intentionality of this community, we see the fruits of our labor found in this
enormous accomplishments of these great leaders. And they're not the only ones here now. Most recently, Pine View was an A last year. Bond miss being an A by a couple of points. stems the same. But
again, it is an entire county investing in our children that has certainly made the difference. And for these great leaders and for all of you, we are most grateful and I'm honored to stand here on behalf of all of my colleagues and our superintendent of schools.
[applause] Um, Mr. chairman. Uh I was thinking as U school board member Jones was speaking um he's been attacked uh in recent weeks strongly about in a 7-year uh spans uh
you will be hardressed to find the transformation of a singular district in the state of Florida where grades have climbed exponentially to new heights of grandeur.
those schools which miss being A's were all in the single digits of uh not being a schools. I have never seen um a single school board member have the
transformational impact that school board member Daryl Jones has had here in Lyon County. And though uh [clears throat] many have come for him, but to examine the track
record of the performance of schools in his district since he has been the district uh representative speaks loudly to his leadership. Uh his um fatherhood uh his um he's the superintendent of of
our Southside schools. He's he is our superintendent de facto. And um I would say to um Miss Hankerson um I've been a little little absent from y'all's campus and whatnot, but I I can
explain it. Christian Caban and Daryl Jones are jealoused. [laughter] They just jealous and they get, you know, got Christian's district and, you know, he did the school giveaway out there and he won't let nobody out. Love
on y'all. So, I just don't want to get in. No. >> Huh? >> All right. Thank you, ma'am. But them two right there, right there, they combine forces and just create trouble. and uh school board member
Daryl Jones don't want you over there without his permission. No. >> And he wants to know and all like that. So I try to avoid all them. >> Who sir never will. >> Okay. Okay. But I want you to know I will be um if with their permission uh
joining forces to sustain the great work direction. And then finally um Mr. vice chairman, I might say. Um, we're talking about title one schools. We're talking about a sociological
difference. We're talking about schools that have come up from separate uh unequal. We're we're we're we're not talking about bricks and mortar. These are not the places where the freshest
new buildings have been built and the most modern and sophisticated technology has been placed. But if it ain't the brand new bricks and that these are the oldest structures uh in the school system, what is it? I think you've heard
it twice, Mrs. Hankerson saying, "We love these children." >> [clears throat] >> You've heard school board member Jones say, he said it last Thursday uh at that banquet. He said, "We love these children." And I do believe that
[clears throat] the transformation of children uh begins with love and caring is happening at Rutiger. is happening at uh uh >> S Palm >> Sable Palm and all these other schools
in my district. And it's something to say, Vince, that when you don't have um that every school in a commissioner's district is a title one school, that says a lot. But notwithstanding
uh the income levels of um of our families um it does take uh an entire village to raise a child and I thank you that you don't allow the flames of poverty
to engulf the futures of our children. love is uh and has proven to be an insulator uh for protecting the potential of children. And I want to say publicly um
I'm so mesmerized by what Mr. Jones have rocked uh in that district. Mr. Jones, continue to to um do what you doing, our leader and inspiring and making sure that the school board puts the right
supplies, money, and resources and that what your job is and you're doing that and the results are measurable. Thank you very much, Commissioner >> Uh thank you, uh Mr. Vice Chair. I I certainly echo Commissioner Proctor's
sentiments for Mr. Jones in in the school system. But I I just felt like I'd be remiss if I didn't also congratulate Sable Palm and Rudacur for all the hard work that you all have done. I mean, you just poured your heart
and soul into our children. You've ele elevated their grades and I know you've instilled pride and confidence in them to make them feel that they can do it. They can succeed. And of course, we see it. I see Dr. Michelle Gail was in the audience. Uh,
assistant superintendent, she and all the school board members. We just thank you for all the support that you have given to our schools and we just look forward to the great things that the students are going to do in the future. But thanks to you all right now and I think you are owed a great deal of our
respect, our gratitude and our thanks for all that you do for our children. Thank you. Yeah, I [applause] I'll be brief. I mean, everybody said everything. That's one thing about going last or close to last. Um,
when Daryl Jones was was was elected, uh, as a school board member, um, I think we all know that he was elected by beating an incumbent. And we had no idea that, I know I
didn't, uh, that he would take the bar of what it means to be a school board member and raise it so high. >> Um, [clears throat] >> it it's it's it's not lost on me that that my best friend
um has become the model of what it means to be a school board member here in Leyon County. It does not happen without advocacy. It does not happen without investment. What
he does on the dis is one thing, but what he does in the community to bring resources back not due to not just to his district, but the reason he stand up there because he does it for every single title one school is a reason
those schools have been able to go from the grades they were to the A's that they are now. And those principles, if you ask them, are super appreciative. They sing his praises every time they get a chance to talk about what he's done for them. And so, um,
congratulations on raising that bar. But also, I don't think it I don't think it not murdered to understand too that the respect he has for his predecessor and the mentorship that she had in him that he recognizes her every chance he gets
as his predecessor and the shoulders that he stands on to be able to raise the bar and do what he's done. And so, congratulations on that. to the principles. If coach Noral had taken our team to a national
championship, there'd be parades. There'd be a there'd be a huge bonus. Um, there'd be other teams knocking his door down trying to get him to come and coach for them. I don't see what you did any less
important or any less relevant to our community than that national championship that he that he would have won. [applause] And the thing about it is [clears throat] if he had done it, he would have done it
with some of the best players in the nation. You've taken children who were made to believe >> that they weren't the best. >> See, >> and you convinced them, >> right, >> that they were just as good as everybody else. >> Mhm.
>> And that your schools could be an aid just like every other school in this district. That that is that is phenomenal coaching. But not only that, you convinced your team, your staff that
they could invest in these children in a way that that they could create a student. >> Mhm. >> That is Look, man, I I my my immediate past chair said it. You you you deserve millions. What What What
would you do if if if we were able to give you uh a millions to to invest into your school, to invest into your staff? What would that look like? >> Um, you weren't given you weren't given easy jobs, >> but you didn't go in to just maintain
what was already there. You didn't go in to go a grade level up. It wasn't like, well, we're going to try to go from a D to a C just to keep this. No, I believe the only way you get from where you were to where you are right now is that you came in and you came in with the mindset that we're going to be an A.
>> And you preached that to your staff. And even the staff that didn't believe >> began at some point to buy into what you were teaching and preaching. And the ones that didn't got off the bus. >> All right. >> And now what you left with is you're left with teachers and students and
administrators that believe in what you're doing. And and the thing is what I challenge you to is your leadership. And I've said this to the other principles in in in uh schoolboard members Jones's district. Your leadership needs to be imitated. It's
not what you've done right now for your schools. It's what the leaders that come after you is going to do. What you've done is no good. It's no good if when you leave that schools go goes right back to a DRF. Who have you trained to
come behind you to take your model and make sure that those schools remain A's? So, I'm I'm I'm congratulating on what you've done today, [clears throat] but I will be just as hard on you is when if when you decide to take another
challenge that that school goes right back to where it was, you should have a say in what happens next. If you decide to move on, you should advocate for who you believe could be to be the right leader. you should not allow your hard
work to go in reverse because we've decided the district decided that your talents would be better used transforming another campus. So I I applaud what you've done, but I challenge you to create more leaders just like you so that when the time comes, they can step up and do exactly
what you've done or maintain the aids that you've had. And and school board members Jones, you too, you got you got term limits. You got term limits at school board. What good what good are you if if you don't have somebody to come behind you that's that that that you're able to to to to influence and to
and to give your gravitas to to bring those resources and advocacy to the districts and and the title one schools that you that you've influenced so heavily. And it's it's it's a little bit harder for you because it doesn't just take you having somebody who understands advocacy. It takes you having somebody to come behind you that you're able to
get in front of people and give show them how to get folks to to invest in your schools the way that you've got them invest in your schools. And so I challenge you all. Congratulations. But there's a challenge there that this continues and that we don't ever see our schools be uh in those districts uh in
those title one schools be uh D's and Fs again. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> M Mr. Vice Chairman, I I I just call out that Commissioner Maddox gives politicians this bad name. You heard him say, and I will be brief. [laughter] >> Commissioner Proctor, Chairman Caban
said we're using the button system. You weren't in order. See, thank I'll be I'll be even briefer. Um, I just want to say congratulations and um, thank you because various levels of government and
agencies do not make your job easy and it only gets harder and what you do has more of an impact than perhaps what anyone does. The the positive grade that we see now impacts all these students now, all these families in our community. But when we're all dead and in the ground, those students that you
inspired, that you gave confidence, that you made a students will long be providing uh reaping what you are sewing for generations into the future. Thank you. >> All right. You heard me come.
>> All right, Mr. Chairman, you're needed back up on the dis. And Commissioner Cummings, I believe we have a proclamation. >> Commissioner Cummings, thank you also for your service on the Children's Services Council. >> Yes. Uh, thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. I have a proclamation recognizing Nick
Tagury for 75 years of service, and I would like to invite uh, Mr. Nick Gavales or anyone from Nick's targety to please join me.
Congratulations. >> Okay. So, do I get a >> Okay, Mr. Chair, the proclamation reads, "Whereas on June 24th, 1950, Mr. Nick Gavales opened Nick's Tagury as a modest 800 square ft men clothing
store located on Monroe Street next to the Florida Capital. Several years later, the store moved to its current location on South Monroe across from the Augustus G. Aens Leyon County Courthouse. And today he operates two
additional locations, Nicks Big and Tall and the Gallery on Market Street. And whereas for 75 years, Nick Tagri has been a trusted name in our community, selling quality men's apparel, maintaining a strong commitment to
excellence, providing personal attention and timely styles to every customer, and exemplifying the highest standards of service and professionalism in men's clothing. And whereas Nick Tagury has
dressed generations of men for memorable and important occasions, including weddings, graduations, and civic ceremonies. Their distinguished client list include former Governor Bob Graham, Coach Bobby
Bowen, Mr. Lee Corso, Dr. Frederick Humphre, Dr. William P. Foster, and Mr. Garrett Johnson who was the first road scholar from Florida State University. Whereas Nick Tagrey has
earned many distinguished awards and for 13 years in a row there were named the top 100 men's stores in the United States by Esquire magazine. I think we can give a round of applause for that.
[applause] Year after year, it's received the coveted Tallahass's best title, been named retailer of the year by the Florida Retailer Federation,
and among the top 200 influential people of Tallahassee. And whereas Nick Sagre has made significant contributions to the economic vitality of Leyon County and demonstrated a deep dedication to the
community and traditions by supporting local causes, events, and public service organizations. And whereas Mr. Nick Gavales, his sons Mike, George, and Victor, and his
grandsons of fulfilling his dream of dressing the Souththeast region with the finest quality clothing and service and playing vital roles in shaping the identity and economic strength of the
downtown area. They contributed to the establishment of the Tallahassy Downtown Improvement Authority, the Downtown Merchants Association, the Nelts and Bolts, and many of them served as
dedicated members on the various boards. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that the board of county commissioners of Leyon County, Florida, do hereby recognize and commend Nick Tagury on the occasion
of his 75th anniversary and extend sincere appreciation for his enduring presence and service that has enriched our community greatly. dated this 18th day of November 2025.
Signed by chairperson, chairman Welch, signed by all the county commissioners, and attested to by a great county administrator. Congratulations. [applause] Well, my name's uh George Gavales, my
brother's Victor, Mike, and representing our third generation of Gavales in the family business. Nicholas, um like to say thank you for the award. You know, it's a great honor to be up here and share this, but we also like to
say thank you to you all and commissioners in the past that have made it easy for businesses to succeed in Tallahassee because without your leadership, you know, we can't succeed either. So, I'd like to talk a little bit about mixtography and how it really came to Tallahassee. My father grew up
in Augusta, Georgia, and his father was a master tailor and owned a dry cleaner. So he always had clothing in his background. So he married my mother which lives in Live Oak, Florida. They married and they lived in Live Oak for several years and he knew he one day he wanted to open up a men's clothing
store. And they worked hard, saved money and then when the time was right, they were going to make a decision. Where do we go? They knew they weren't going to stay in Live Oak. So there was two decisions. They were going to move to Jacksonville and open up or Tallahassee and open up. They looked at Jacksonville
and they said, "Okay, big city, lots of people, um, industry, businesses already formed, but it was a very mature city already established." And he said he didn't know, "Well, can I fit in? Can I not?" Then he looked at Tallahassee. He
said, "Okay, capital city, that's a great place to be." Because he knew it would always be important people at the capital center around the capital. But what really drew him to Tallahassee were the two universities, Florida&M and Florida State, because he knew there was lots of young people in this small
community. And he he was young at the time. So he said, "I can grow with my clients. I can grow with the city. As the city grows, I'll grow." And he grew. Um he opened a store saying on June 24th, 1950 right across the street. And
that day was a hectic day for the Gallis family. As dad was opening up this store, you can imagine the anxieties and emotions going on open up this business all by himself. At the same time, my mother was in live oak giving birth to Mike. So all this was going on when he
was trying to open the store. So it was end up being a great day. They had a healthy son. Dad comes home a little disappointed because no one came in the store. Worked all day excited, but no one showed up. So he's talking to my mom. He said, "Nope, Nick. Tomorrow will
be a better day." He said, "Okay." So he goes back the next day, opens up, no one comes in until about 5:30 that afternoon. He said, "A man walks in." So he was excited. Hey, good morning or good afternoon. How are you doing? You know, welcome to Nick. You know, how can I help you? The man stopped there and
looked around. He said, "Do y'all have any fishing lures?" And and his heart sunk. And as the polite and gracious man that he was, he said, "No, sir. This is a men's clothing store, but I have plenty of socks and ties if you need that." And goes, "No,
but I really weren't sure what you were. I thought maybe you were sporting goods store." And he left. So he he goes home that night, talks to my brother. He says, "Janet, I've made a big mistake." She said, "What?" She goes, "We're not going to make it in this business. I've made the wrong decision." And she said,
"Nick, yes you are. Tomorrow's going to be a better day." And my mother was always right about everything. And she was right about this because 75 years later, here we are, third generation of Gavases getting ready to carry on the family business. And we couldn't be
prouder to be a part of this city and part of Tallahassy's history. >> Awesome. [applause] >> Commissioner O'Keefe, you're recognized. Mr. Vice, >> thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I just like to say congratulations, especially as Oh, focus on the picture, don't you? Yeah,
that's more important. >> It's one good-look photo. A lot of nice suits in that photo. >> Wait, let me take my glasses off. >> Thank you, guys. >> Congratulations. I'm always proud when I come to the courthouse and I see your store across the street in the district.
And uh in 2007 when I graduated from FSU, I had never bought a suit before and I was getting ready to interviews and I heard y'all sell the good suits and I had no idea how much a good suit was supposed to cost and uh y'all sent me out with an incredible first suit and
I realized in my interviews it was a better suit than every CPA firm that sent an interviewer and it's just um the suits I've gotten from I really appreciate it. and I'm one of you forgot to mention myself as one of the distinguished clients [laughter] of Thank you.
>> Thank you all to the Gavales family. I just want to say I know often times we're separated by [clears throat] distance, but I appreciate our long-standing friendship and your commitment to uh Tallahassee and Leon County and serving our community. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thanks. >> All right, commissioners. Next, we are
going to have a proclamation recognizing the retirement of Miss Brenda Williams from the Tallahassee Housing Authority. Commissioner Maddox, you are recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um,
the proclamation reads, "Whereas Brenda William closes the chapter on 42 years in in the housing industry and has served 14 years of that time as the executive director of the Tallahassy Housing Authority." demonstrating unwavering commitment to affordable
housing, community development, and public service. And whereas during her tenure, the townous housing authority has made significant progress in improving housing conditions, expanding assets access to quality and affordable housing and strengthening partnerships
with local organizations, stakeholders, and residents. And whereas under her leadership, the Tallahassee housing Tallahassee housing authorities master redevelopment plan for the Orange Avenue Apartments calling for increased density
and for up to 500 mixed income units to be developed on a 29 acre site. And whereas she has championed initiatives that have increased the affordability of safe um I'm sorry the availability of safe affordable housing options for
families, seniors, veterans and individuals with disabilities. And whereas Bren Williams dedication, integrity, and innovative approach has not only enhanced the quality of life for countless individuals, but also set a high standard of excellence in public
housing administration in Leyon County, St. Louis, Missouri, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Camden, New Jersey. And whereas this community deeply appreciates her 14 years of service, visionary leadership, and lasting
contribution to the mission and success of the Tallahassee Housing Authority. Therefore, be it pro proclaimed by the board of county commissioners in Leyon County, Florida, that we do hereby recognize and congratulate Brenda Williams on her retirement and applaud
her faithful and dedicate dedicated service and enduring impact she has made on communities spanning 42 years. This is signed by the commission and attested to by the county administrator. Congratulations. Thank you. [applause]
First of all, I want to thank the commission for this proclamation. Um, I'm very very grateful to receive it. Um, it feels different uh standing here today uh at the podium without my
hand out. Feels different. But that being said, um I want to thank this commission for all of your commitment, uh your financial support, uh to not only myself, but to the Tallahassee
Housing Authority. Um today uh I'd like to announce that we submitted uh an application to the state of Florida uh for 120 apartments for 62 and over and
the disabled. Uh [applause] the application we believe is going to be very competitive. um in part due to the financial commitment that this commission has made uh to the third phase of Columbia
Gardens. So it is a a lottery uh but it's a very very competitive uh application. So cross your fingers and and pray um that we are awarded tax credits. And um on behalf of the
Tallahassee Housing Authority, uh the residents and the board of commissioners, uh we appreciate uh your support over the years and your cons continued support for affordable housing in Lyon County. Thank you,
[applause] >> Commissioner Cummings. You are recognized. >> Thank you. Thank you, [clears throat] Mr. Chair. Just very briefly, uh, Miss Williams, you know, you have made an indelible mark in Leon County for the 14 years that you have been here. We just
appreciate all the work you have done uh for affordable housing. You have really blessed so many families here in this community and I personally will miss you once you retire and I know the community will miss you as well, but just thank you for the positive impact that you
have played here in Lyon County. and we certainly wish you the best in your retirement. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Commissioner Mer. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Miss Williams, I just want to thank you for everything you've done for this community. Uh you
are a treasure and um the impact that you've had on this community, I think, will be felt for many, many years. Many of the recipients of your hard work may never know it was you, but uh that's not why we're in the business. Right. Right. >> So, thank you for everything that you do. God bless. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you, Mr. Commissioner Welch, >> Miss Williams, just wanted to echo those sentiments. Thank you so much for a career dedicated to helping people in our community who need it the most. You your legacy will endure. >> Thank you. >> Thank you,
Mr. Chairman. The mic. Thank you. Um, this is heartfelt. Uh, I love uh Miss Williams. It's easy to do. um when a person's walk exceeds
their talk, you can respect that. And a few years ago, um uh school board member Daryl Jones called me uh believe the weekend that she arrived and I don't know how Daryl
knew you and whatnot, but he said, "Get down here. I'm having something and we're going to welcome the new uh housing authority director Tallahass was a Sunday afternoon, beautiful and we gathered and uh she ain't say that much
so I ain't think she was going to do that much and um she proved me wrong from the initial perception and it's hard to get a conversation going with with Brenda cuz she don't talk back. Um,
Brenda has brought under her leadership um, Orange Avenue, uh, Springfield, uh, Lake Bradford Road 600, >> 448
new units of affordable housing in District 1. And uh to anyone in these times of challenge of governmental extraordinary governmental uh push back
against poor people. She has continued to forge and lead the way to be a beacon light of hope and possibility. 448 units, new units, contemporary
uh modernizing the district and its housing component. I'm deeply I'm richly we are all grateful for her services. And um Brenda, I don't care what they say about about Nick Maddox,
you are right with me. [applause] All right, [clears throat] commissioners. I believe that wraps up our proclamations. And Mr. County Commissioner, do we have any citizens to be heard on consent and non-aggenda items? >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have two speaker cards in on consent non-aggenda
items. Uh, and uh, this first is Brent or sorry, Brett Dennis. Uh, good evening. Uh, my name is Brett Dennis. My address is 6869 Proctor Road in Lyon County. Uh, thank you for the opportunity to speak. My family owns
Ashley Pyrochnics, our local fireworks company that has served Lyon County and the surrounding area for 25 years now. My father, Craig Dennis, has been an attorney here for four decades, and both my sister, Jessica Paffford, and myself
grew up right here in the community. Um, I'm here today because item 13 on your consent agenda addresses a recent interpretation of county policy that has created uncertainty about whether professionally permitted fireworks
displays can take place in county parks. While caution is encouraged when dealing with fireworks, hiring a professional is always the best answer. If you've been to an event in Lyon County in the last 20 years that has had fireworks, it has likely been me and my family doing it.
When the team runs out on the field at Dope Campbell Stadium, that's us. On New Year's at Cascades Park, when we do the fireworks for New Year's, that's us. I would encourage you to support consent agenda item 13 as it provides the most
clear path forward for fireworks in Lyon County. About 5 years ago, I was approached by somebody from Visit Tallahassee at a golf tournament who was working on trying to bring the cross country world championships to Tallahassee. He simply asked me if I
thought fireworks would be possible. Since that time, we have worked with Visit Tallahassee to produce dozens of sporting events that have had fireworks to celebrate their winners and to encourage organizers to hold their events in Tallahassee. Fireworks add something special to
community events. They bring families together. They create memories. They help turn local festivals, holiday celebrations, and nonprofit fundraisers into something people want to come back to year after year. We have safely produced hundreds of shows in Lyon County without incident and we take that
respons responsibility very seriously. Item 13 will help my local business, supports community events and maintains the high level of safety and professionalism expected by this board and our residents. Thank you for your time and I urge you to support the item.
>> Mr. Chairman, that concludes our speakers. >> Move uh acceptance of the room second. >> Mr. County Minister, do we have any do we have any uh pulled items? >> We have two pulled items. Items number 11 and item number 12 pulled by uh Chairman Kaban.
>> Okay. Thank you. Um we have a motion to um accept staff recommendation on consent items moved by Commissioner Maddox and second by Commissioner Proctor. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> I. Next item, Mr. County Administrator.
>> Item number 11 and items 12. uh commissioner both uh seek your permission to schedule the first and only public hearing uh regarding uh the intent to utilize the uh uniform method of collection uh for the purposes of uh of sewer services uh imposed on uh
septic sewer projects uh consistent with u Florida statutes. Again, these are both to um schedule the first and only public hearings on these items. We have no speakers and are recommending uh options one on uh both both items.
>> Thank you commissioners. Do I see a a motion for staff recommendation? Just so moved by Commissioner Maddox. >> Second by Commissioner O'Keefe. Any discussion? >> I will ask this question. >> Commissioner Proer. The charges uh related to school service
would be imposed on certain real property. Um what does what what does that mean? The real property and not not to property owners. Uh does it add to the bottom line value of a property? Uh it goes to
the tax base or what what is that saying? Uh the these are the uh the typical non-advalorum assessments that we impose on all of our septic to sewer uh projects as soon as the city is ready as soon as those are constructed and the
city is ready to accept uh those um uh those uh sewers uh to septic projects onto their system. Uh these are uh people who do not have an electric uh uh meter. So, they require us to um uh to collect those charges, those
month-to-month charges on the non-advalorum uh uh assessment or on the property tax bill. Uh again, this is consistent with all of our septic to sewer agreements with the city of Tallahass. >> So, is this a lean upon the properties? >> No, this is a method of collection.
>> Okay. All right. And it'll come back to us on December 9th. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Any other discussion? M >> uh Mr. Chair, I just have a question uh for for the county administrator. Uh if
I may, I know we've been involved with this septic to sewer project down in that particular uh area, but is this the first time? This is not the first time that this has come up. We have completed other services in that area. Am I correct, Mr. County Administrator?
>> That is correct. And this is just another segment that has been completed that we have to give authorization for collection. Correct. >> That's all I just needed that clarification. >> Mr. Chairman, if I might with one other inquiry. Um we have um in some instances
grants to transition property owners to connect to sewer. Does do those grants uh are they widely applied specifically to areas And if I remember correctly, uh, everybody
may not be subsidized to transition from septic to sewer. And on the 9th, uh, Miss County Administrator, if you could share for us um, um, that perspective of the, uh, differences of who gets in and who who does not.
>> Yes. And let me just say very quickly, just to answer that question, all of these properties fully utilize those grants. There were no there are no charges to the individuals for this. It has a value of over $10,000 per household. >> That that's why I was concerned, Mr. Chairman, with what was was a lean being
placed, what was being charged and assessed because from our understanding, um these people's way is being paid upfront. So, >> okay. All right. Any other discussion? All right, commissioners. All those in
favor signify by saying I. I >> nay or uh me uh next item Mr. County Administrator. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh commissioners, that brings us to the general business uh agenda and agenda
item number 17 uh which seeks uh the board's approval of the ratification of the actions taken at your workshop on the 2026 state and federal legislative priorities. Well, we're recommending options one and two and we have no speakers on the site.
>> Well, just real quick point of order commissioners, Mr. County Minister, I think we skipped um item that we pulled. Uh 12 >> 12. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. Thank you for that, Mr. Chairman. I introduced them both at the same time. >> All good. I know they're very similar in nature. [laughter] So, so commissioners, um I'm going to go ahead and look for a
staff recommendation for um >> item 12. Moved by Okay. Moved by Commissioner Maddox, second by Commissioner Welch. I'll go ahead and take the vote. No discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I'm nay. So motion passes 61.
>> All right. Thank you. That thank you for that, Mr. Chairman. Again, item number 17 seeks the board's ratifications of the workshop of the 2026 state and federal legislative priorities. We're recommending options one and two. We have no speakers on this item. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Staff staff recommendation. >> Yes.
>> Yes. >> One and two. Okay. Moved by Commissioner Welch, second by Commissioner Maddox. Before we get in discussion, commissioners, I want to say this. Um I I at at at 550 with 3 minutes, I am going to take a 10-minute recess before the public hearings. So, if if there's if there's um if there's a lot of
commissioner discussion, I'm happy to come back to this after the public hearing. I just want to go ahead and let everyone know where we are on this item. Commissioner Miner, I saw you in the queue. Uh >> thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm actually I put myself in the queue for number 18. >> Number 18. Okay. Commissioner Proctor.
>> Mr. chairman. Uh um the farm share um I understand has not received legislative funding. Um indeed, our county has entered into an agreement with farm share and as we're looking at the
approval of um our legislative ask. Um I'm seeking to um add farm share um as a part of um the u effort to secure >> Mr. W. Will you amend your motion to have Farmshire added as a legislative
priority? >> Sure. >> Commissioner Maddox, will you [clears throat] maintain your second? Okay. Thank you. >> Good. All right. Commissioners, we're going to take this to a vote. >> Mr. Chair, let me ask a question. Add in farm chair. Do we have an associated number or do we need an associated
amount to include it or no? >> Can we amend that? I mean, find out and then whatever we're asking. I mean, that >> is that what we would Can I ask Mr. >> Sure. So we we would just support their appropriations request at whatever the amount is. >> Oh
>> yeah. And might I note they had a 28% fall off and the recent um um failure for SNAP benefits to get distributed and blah blah. Um it really impacted our food giveaway. Uh Commissioner Kaban and
Sheriff McNeil and I sponsored this past Saturday. there was no protein um available which normally is but the 28% uh decrease in funding is hurt. >> So as a followup so how how would that
work Mr. County administrator it would just be added uh on our on our list? >> It it would be upon your it would be upon your approval. We've added uh that the county would assist uh other community partners in in endeavors in
the past and so it would be consistent with that action. >> Commissioner M recognized. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um I'd like to see if we'd could accept a family amendment to add my old alma mater to this second harvest of the big bend as
as well so that we have not only farm share as a policy priority of ours but also second harvest of the big bend for the same reason. >> No problem. Thank you. >> Accepted. It's been second by Commissioner Maddox. I'm in favor of this. I've seen both of those organizations have done phenomenal work on our community the last few weeks and
happy to support them. All right, Commissioner. So, we'll take it to the vote. I see no discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Passes unanimous. Um, next item. Mr. County Administrator, do we have any speakers on on item 18?
>> Yes. >> Yes, Mr. Chairman. We we have uh we have several speakers on this item and a brief staff presentation. So, I'll defer to you. >> Perfect. All right, Commissioner. So, we'll take a 10-minute recess, come back at 6 for the public hearing, and then we'll come back on after the public
hearings on item number 18. [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Part: 2
Scheduled public hearing. Uh, Mr. County Administrator. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, item number 20 is your first and only public hearing to adopt an ordinance to establish procedures for review and approval of certified recovery residences. This item requests the board conduct the first and
only hearing uh to create a new section for certified recovery residents in order to comply with the new legislation adopted in the 2025 session. And again, the ordinance will establish procedures for the review and approval of such residences. Staff is here to answer any questions you might have. We recommend
option one and we have no speakers on this item. >> All right, commissioners, we we need a quorum up. Commissioner O'Keefe is coming. >> Um, Mr. Chair, I move >> Oh, we have to wait. >> No, we got >> Oh, I move option one. >> Second. >> Second.
All right, we have a motion for staff recommendation. Um, is it option option one? >> Option one. >> We have a second by was it Commissioner Miner? Any discussion? All those in favor?
>> U Mr. Chair, I just have a a question or a comment maybe to direct maybe to >> to the county attorney. >> You are recognized. >> Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. Um Madame County Attorney, um I think you guys did a good job on on that
ordinance. Thank Thank you so much. But I just I have a question uh about um one of the strict restrictions that says that minors minor children can't visit the C uh CRRS if
there are sexual predators or convicted sex offenders. And and my question is who who would regulate that uh who would enforce that particular provision to
protect our children? Um, Dies could also weigh in, but it I believe it would be if that were the uh a restriction, then that would be something that would be imposed as a condition of uh approving the sighting
of uh the facility uh and that if they were determined to be in violation that it would be treated as any other code violation. >> Okay. after the CR has been approved is what you're saying cuz I didn't see that as a condition of
approval. Uh cuz I I looked at all the conditions for the residents to be approved. But then it goes on to talk about the restrictions and it said, you know, children can visit their parents, you know, that are there. but it just
had um a restriction that says if that residence is housing a sexual predator or sex offender, children are not allowed to come during that period. And I was just wondering who who would
regulate that, who would enforce that? Is it self enforcement, not the resident or if we >> Yes. Good evening, commissioners. Um good qu good good question. Uh these facilities will be regulated by the department of children and families.
They have to receive um lure through them. Uh they are monitored and regulated by accrediting authorities. They do have inspections and those types of things. So they could lose their lensure if they do fall out of compliance with DCF. So that's something
that would be handled from their standpoint. But in terms of the location or sighting of these facilities, that is uh what's going to be undertaken as part of the zoning review. So So for example, if someone wanted to site one of these facilities within a
certain uh distance from a place where a sexual predator or sexual offender is not allowed to be, then they just couldn't be at that site. um that would not be something that would be permissible and that facility could not
accept that particular individual at that facility. Um but again it's something that would be a condition of lenture. Um and if there was a violation it would be handled as a license violation that they would have to cure.
>> Thank you. Thank you Mr. Chair. >> Any other discussion? All right commissioners seeing there's no more discussion we'll take it to a vote. All those in favor of staff recommendation moved by uh Commissioner Cummings signify by saying I. >> I. Any opposed with uh Commissioner
Proctor Maddox and Welch outside the chambers. Uh next item, Mr. County Administrator. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Item number 21 seeks the board's uh authorization to conduct the first and only public hearing to consider an ordinance amending the official zoning map from Lake Protection to Lake Protection Node
for approximately 4.88 acres. uh on Okipki Road uh 3028 Okahhipi Road. The proposed ordinance would change the allowable uses from lowdensity residential uses um to uses that accommodate compact mixeduse development uh at this uh designated major
intersection in the lake protection zoning district. This is consistent with the intent of this zoning district. Uh the planning commission found this proposed ordinance to be consistent with the comp plan and unanimously recommended uh approval as has uh our staff. Our recommendation is option one
and we have no speakers on this item. >> All right. Do Commissioner O'Keefe, you're recognized. >> Um I will move option one. >> There's one speaker. Wait, sorry. >> There's a speaker. >> There's one speaker. >> Are they here or is it online?
Um, >> okay. We've got them in the stack here. They got a little mixed up with the rest of our speakers. Item number >> Yeah. While while Vince was looking for that, I did want to um just say that there were exparte communications to the board that were disclosed in an additional attachment for this agenda
item, agenda item number 21. Some of those communications went to all of the board members. They are included in the agenda package. Just wanted to put that on the record since >> um we didn't send them to you since they're in the packet, but we were party to all those expparte communications.
>> Okay. Thank you for that. Yes, sir. >> Mr. Chairman, I'd like to state the the same thing. Uh my office has received those communications and so I wanted to disclose that as well. Thank you. >> Awesome. All right. >> Only speak Yes. Only speaker on this item, Randy Danker.
>> Good evening. Good evening, commissioners. My name is Randy Dinker. I'm an environmental and land use lawyer with almost 50 years of experience in both government and private practice. I put a lot of hours into studying the new compram proposals and I'm here today to
tell you that it's my legal opinion that you don't currently have all of the data that you need to make the decision that you're being asked to make to move more acreage into the urban services area. Section 163.3177
Florida statutes mandates that before you can expand the urban services area, you need to have all the relevant and appropriate data. And this uh ensures that planning decisions are not just arbitrary but are grounded on evidence.
And although I have the greatest respect for our planning staffers, I must respectfully disagree that you have the legally uh required data that you need to make a decision on expanding the USA boundary. Staff is recommending that the acreage rebound Lake Jackson be left at
is as it is, but at the same time is urging to include 1,485 new acres into the USA. In order to legally do this, you need to know several things. One, how many buildable
lots are already currently in the USA? What is your projected population growth for the long-term planning horizon? How many new units do you need to build to meet your projected population growth and how many buildable units are already
in the USA? Buildable lots. I mean, unfortunately, this analysis has not been done. staff has told you the projected population and the number of units that they believe will be needed by 2025. But what you are missing is this. You don't know how many buildable
lots are already in the USA and whether it's sufficiently large to accommodate projected growth. And without this critical information, you have no idea whether you actually need to increase the size of the USA or not. If this
analysis were done and it showed the USA is already sufficiently large enough to accommodate your anticipated growth, it is my legal opinion that it would be illegal under state law to expand it if you already have enough land inside the USA.
Premature expansion is urban sprawl. It's costly and it discourages compact growth and it is not a fiscally prudent way to grow our community. Um, I don't know why this analysis has not been done, but I think it's critical that you
have this information and I urge you to delay a vote today until you have all the information that you need. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Miss Miss Danker. I just want to state for the record, I believe that you were looking to speak on item number
18. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Okay. Perfect. Thank you so much. No, it it her her comments did pertain to item number 18 and uh staff will be uh prepared to speak to that during their presentation, ask and answer any
questions the board might have. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you for Thank you for the comments. All right, commissioners. We're on uh item number 21. Um do I have Commissioner Miner? >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to uh uh to to say that I I met with the
county attorney on this by phone and and talked about this item and um this is an example of the planning commission reviewing the the proposal >> uh deeming it as consistent with commissioner. One sec. Do we have a motion on the floor right now? >> Oh, I thought the motion was on the
floor. I'm sorry. No, it was com. >> No. >> Oh, that's right. >> We had to have comments. >> That's right. I'll make the motion to first have recommendation. >> Second. So move commission money recognize. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. So I I met with the county attorney on this by phone and we talked about this and this
is a good example of >> a zoning change request coming through us which is being evaluated on whether or not it is consistent with the comp plan and consistent with the land development code. If it meet those two if it meets those two criteria and it's consistent with those two items, this
body cannot decline. We cannot reject it. Uh it's consistent with those with the comp plan and land development code. So, is that correct, Madam Attorney? >> That is correct. >> Okay. So, I'll be voting in favor. Um, thank you, Mr. Chairman. >> Awesome. Thank you. All right,
commissioners. I don't see anyone else in the queue. Uh, let's go ahead and try I'm looking clear this thing out. Just going to go ahead and take this to a vote. We have a staff recommendation moved by Commissioner Miner, second by Vice Chair O'Keefe. All those in favor signify by saying I.
>> I. There. Looks like there's no opposed. with Commissioner Maddox and Commissioner Proctor outside of the chambers. >> Mr. Chairman, can you show me affirmative on item number 20, please? >> Okay, let the record reflect that. You got that? Awesome. >> Um, all right, Commissioner. So, it
looks like now um we are on item number 18. Uh, Mr. County Administrator, correct me if I'm wrong. We're back on item number 18. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Item number 18, commissioners seeks uh the board's authorization uh and provides a status report on the talison county comprehensive plan land use and mobility
elements update including information about additional community engagement directed by the board on July 8th, 2025. The item uh also seeks the board's direction on specific policy recommendations uh developed in response to community and state agency input and further supported by staff analysis and
requests the board to schedule the adoption public hearing for December 9th. The item recommends options one and two. And with that, I'll hand it off to Arty uh White for a brief presentation summarizing uh the the recommendations
to you. And following that, Mr. Chairman, we do have a few speaker cards. >> Awesome. Thank you, commissioners. Before we get started in the presentation, I do want to say this and I want to um ask staff um when it comes to the presentations that come before the board during these meetings. Arty, I appreciate all all the work you guys are
have done. I I would like to keep it brief and particulated to something that to information that is not pres present in our agenda material. So that way just we are covering new information and that way commissioners, you know, we have we
have um agenda items that are public and uh they've been published for 7 days. And so I do I do want to go ahead and just state that for the record. So Arty, the floor is yours. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening, commissioners. Uh as the uh county administrator said, this item provides a status report on
the land use and mobility element update. Uh and it seeks your direction on a number of policy items. Uh it may be a little bit of a trial by fire, but I'm actually gonna ask uh the planning commissioner or planning commissioner the new planning director, Mike Alfano, to give the presentation. Uh but we will
both be here to answer any questions you may have. >> Great. Thank you, Arty, and thank you, Mr. Chair and commissioners. It's a pleasure to be here to you tonight to talk about this item. Um focusing on that recap of uh community engagement that you directed us to undertake. Uh
just to briefly recap how we got here tonight. Um in May of this year, we presented to you the lanes mobility element update which you all voted to transmit to the state for uh for comment. Uh the city commission, if you recall, was slated to take it up the
next night. They ultimately postponed till June and then decided to uh postpone transmitt and directed staff to do public additional public engagement. uh in late June of that uh uh of of this year, we received comments from the state in response to your transmitt and
then at your July 8th uh uh adoption hearing, you all directed us to you voted to not adopt the uh late mobility element at that time and directed staff to do additional public engagement. Um so the focus of this presentation is largely on uh the that engagement and
then what we heard from folks. So, we actually started meeting with community organizations and interested citizens immediately after that meeting, but we worked with uh the CMR team and parks and recck to set up a series of meetings that took place in uh late September and early October. Uh we held
these at community centers across the uh uh uh the county. Uh CMR helped us promote these events on social media. They helped us by flying uh at community centers. Uh they coordinated several interviews with local news to get the word out about this. And then we also
went and met with uh folks that were meeting at the community centers, lunch and learns, things of that nature to let them know about this. I also want to highlight that in addition to these meetings, uh the Woodville sense of place plan community engagement was going on at the same time and we had
concerns over if we scheduled another standalone meeting on the comp plan update at the same time as we were doing those open houses for the Woodville sensitive place plan, we might run into a little bit of an issue of engagement fatigue. So, we actually incorporated materials on the comp plan update into
those meetings uh on the sense of place plan. Um we were really happy with the turnout. We had about 170 folks come out. Um and attachment one in your materials provides a really robust report on all the information that we received. It includes all those written responses
received as well. We took that community engagement or that community input. We did uh additional analysis on major uh issues highlighted and we developed 13 policy recommendations uh that I'm not going to spend time going through each one of
these um but happy to answer any questions that you all have on each of these. Uh I am going to spend some time on these first three uh that focus on the urban services area uh expansion and uh uh uh land use change around Lake Jackson.
First, zooming out a little bit, um I want to kind of frame the areas that we're talking about. Uh what you see on this map, um with the series of of uh boundaries, the red there, that is our current urban services area, what exists
today. Um what you see in light blue represents what we presented to you all in May of this year. That yellow boundary there is a what we pulled back to at the July adoption hearing. And then the changes that we're recommending
today would result in that orange boundary. So what this means to put this in context where you see red on this on this map is where what we're recommending overlaps with what currently exists today. So for the overwhelming majority of the urban
services area, we're not recommending any changes. uh where you see orange only on this map, so not in the area near Lake Jackson, but everywhere else, that is where our recommendations have remained consistent from May to July to what we're recommending today. And the
change that we're really going to focus most of the rest of the discussion today on is in that Lake Jackson area. And I'll talk through that in a second. I do want to highlight that we understand that there have been some uh uh some concerns over the potential expansion, the proposed expansion south of Old St.
Augustine Road that you see here on your map. Um, I do want to highlight that this uh uh LME update is not the first time that an expansion in this area has uh come about. It was originated in 2003 with a committee of concerned
environmental advocates uh uh concerned citizens uh developers and public staff that formed a committee to look at ways to address housing affordability issues that they were uh seeing in the community. and they actually recommended an urban service ex uh uh area expansion
far to the south of what we're proposing south of St. Augustine Road all the way down uh through the areas to the east of Southwood just north of that gray area where the city sprayfield is located. So what we're recommending here today is largely a more conservative approach to
that. It was also recommended to us by our uh land mobility element consultants. Um, and just to kind of frame what the majority of this area is, some of it is parcel cleanup, moving the urban service boundary to parcel line,
but the large portion of this area is uh being proposed in conjunction with proposing land use changes into the planned development land use category. And what that means is that it's going to put a lot of public uh meetings and
public stops along the way in those areas before any development can occur. Um the plan development land use category requires the adoption of a master plan by the board with jurisdiction and in this case since this is outside the city limits. This board would be the approval of uh uh any
potential master plan. And the things that they have to take into account with a master plan is how natural resources on site will be protected. uh any transportation uh circulation through the site, they would have to take into account the extension of any planned roadways. So, Orange Avenue in this area
would need to be extended as part of any development in that area south of Old St. Augustine Road, which would alleviate any potential pressures on the Canopy Road. And the master plan would also have to uh uh uh account for any potential impacts to Canopy Road. So, I
just want to flag that before we dive into the issues around Lake Jackson that um there are a lot of public uh opportunities for any before any uh for input before any potential development were to occur in that area. So, um just by moving the urban services area and
making that land use change, it doesn't result in development entitles entitlements the day after this comp plan were to be adopted if that were to be the outcome. uh there's a lot of public stops along the way for folks to provide uh all that input in potential
support or opposition to that. So with that, I do want to zoom into uh the Lake Jackson area. Uh and I understand uh Mr. Chair, your your desire to uh move through uh materials expeditiously that uh are also in the uh
item, but I'll just quickly touch on this. Um, you know, what you see here on this map, that dark blue area is what we transmitted in in May uh to the state. Uh, the state uh uh provided comments uh via FD over concerns over proposed land
use changes in this area, moving areas in this uh uh area west of Meridian Road from the rural land use category to lake protection. uh and also expanding the urban services area from that red line that you see on the map to that dark
blue line. Um we received comments from FP FP expressing concerns over potential impacts to Lake Jackson from uh any perspective development in that area. Um, and then this was also the f most the focus of the majority of the public
input that we heard at those uh community meetings largely at the Lake Jackson community meeting and the Bradfordville community meeting. We took that input um we conducted uh meetings with folks like Thousand Friends of Florida, Tall Timbers. We met with FD
and talked about their comments uh and talked about to learn what they took into account and it's actually a good it was a good learning moment for us. We learned that they only look at what's submitted within the transmitt packet. They don't for example look at our really strong state uh storm water
standards that we would have in a lake protection uh uh category or in our special development zones which are in this area. Um we did environmental review. We looked at what storm water standards would be in place to protect uh Lake Jackson from development in this
area. Um we think that there's some very robust uh storm water standards that are coming into place from the state which are going to be incredibly stringent. We also did a transportation review of any you know impacts to land use change uh that they would have to our transportation system in this area. And
really this is kind of where a lot of the crux of our recommendation came into play. Uh, you know, North Meridian Road here is a key uh north south connector for our community. Um, it already experiences PM peak uh and and peak uh
travel time congestions. Um, and we recognize that any new development in this area would likely have uh impacts to the canopy road. Um and there are you know based on our view there's limited opportunity for mitigation or widening
on CA on that canopy road as it is a canopy roadway and it's something that we want to protect. So, um, based on those factors, we're today recommending that, uh, should you all agree, um, that moving forward, if you choose to move forward with this update, that we don't
expand, uh, the urban services area west of Meridian Road and we also leave the land use uh, west of Midian Road in this area as rural. And then very briefly, I'll touch on uh, to the east of Midian Road. As we dug into this uh uh
analysis, we did recognize um that there were some factors at play that uh were strong weighed strongly in favor of some adjustments to the urban services area boundary. We wanted to one and avoid splitting parcels or removing them
from the urban services area. Um removing parcels that are in the urban services area could raise Bert Harris claims against us. Um we also looked at the existing density of developed areas uh uh in this area and recognized that for a number of parcels these densities
are above what would be considered as urban fringe and which is intended to act as a buffer from urban areas and and less developed areas. And there are also a number of uh sub already subdivided parcels in this area that we really felt that if these areas are going to develop
at some point in the future, it would be better at if they were had an increased likelihood of developing on sewer to further protect Lake Ayammonia and to a lesser extent due to the drainage basin uh lake Jackson. So for all those reasons, we are recommending an urban
services area expansion east of Meridian Road. So, uh, if you all were to, uh, commissioners, any questions for staff, I see Commissioner Miner in the queue before we get to a motion. If anyone has any questions for staff,
>> uh, Mr. Chairman, I do have one question before uh, before we hear this. We're going to have we have time for questions, >> questions, public speakers, and then um, we'll have a commissioner discussion. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do have one question for staff. Um there's I've been spending probably
about 6 months on this agenda item extensively uh talking with a whole host of people and and there's been one debate um that has come up a few times. If you take a look and I can pass this out if you want. It's a it's a it's a map of the current u future land
use map. And so I I know you all can't see very clearly here, but this is a current this is basically uh Lake Jackson here uh with Meridian Road up here and then Miller's Pond right here. >> Can you put it on overhead, sir? >> Yeah, sure. Sure. >> Of course. So if you if you take a look at the
current flum, the current future land use map, you'll see that there's a thousand foot buffer uh of the USA west of Meridian Road and 1,000 ft buffer of the USA north of Miller Landing. There's been some debate over the last few months about exactly what that means.
Um, we've heard some people believe that if part of the USA is in a parcel that you can automatically extend the USA boundary expansion to include that entire parcel. Uh, which means that if you got a little bit of USA in in your parcel, you can expand it so that the
entire parcel is in the USA. Um, I checked with the county attorney's office about this and there's no basis for this. Uh, there's no legal basis for it. not in our comp plan, not in our Florida statutes, and not in case law. And madam attorney, is that is that
correct? Is that reflective of our conversation? >> That is correct. >> So my question, I I want to put this debate to rest. And so I I want to get confirmation from our planning department that that is true that that just because you have a little bit of USA in your parcel does not
automatically mean your entire parcel then includes the USA. you have to actually come to the county commission or the city commission and have a comp plan amendment. Is that correct? >> Yeah, that's our understanding as well. And I spoke with both the city and county growth management department talk about how they would treat this and
their their initial, you know, back of the envelope uh recommend, you know, thoughts are are consistent with that that they would treat it as partially in the urban services area and partially without. >> Great. Okay, that sounds good. I just want to make that clear because in in many of the meetings I've had over the last several months, we've had debates
on exactly what that what that would do. So, um that's it for my questions for now, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner O'Keefe, questions for staff. >> Yes, questions for staff. Um and I also have handouts for the class. Um
I take one and pass it down. And Kean, do you have that for the for the Elmo machine? Excellent. Thank you. So my question is about the section of urban services expansion that you discussed out on the southeast side of town near Southwood
and Oldtown Augustine Road in Appalachia Parkway. And I just have I'll save comments on it for later, but I have questions on it. You said that um this there was a much larger expansion suggested in a 2003 committee. Since 2003,
how many times have we gone through a land use and mobility comp plan update process? >> Uh, zero times. There's been there was comp plan reform in the mid-200s, but this is the first time that our land use mobility have been holistically updated since the comp plan was adopted in 198.
>> Does this process we're in now have us contemplate the traffic impact on roads where the urban services area will will change over to? So no there our analysis today does not take into account transportation impacts
as the land use changes are a much higher level of uh of purview. Um it's focused on what types of uses are allowed to what scale. um trans impacts of transportation on any prospective development would occur at further uh uh
for the plan development area for examples that would occur in part during the a master plan adoption. Uh and then for uh individual parcels that are not in those planned development areas, uh transportation impacts occurs further along in the uh uh development review
process and the so the issue that I have with that though is once you have an area allowed to develop or take applications for development, my understanding of the
normal application site review process would include a traffic study and even if there's an over capacity impact on traffic, you don't stop the development, you just pay a concurrency fee or or something titled the same. Is that accurate for the process? >> Yeah. So, they would be able to develop
to whatever land use entitlements they have at that time. Um, for this area, for rural residential, for example, the density there is allowed is one unit for every 3 acres of land. So it's much lower than you know some of these
densities that we're talking about with other land use category that striped area plan development that's the area where that master planning will have to occur and there's multiple stops along the way where data will have to be presented traffic circulation will have to be presented things of that nature.
>> The traffic will be presented but it couldn't stop a development if it had too much impact on traffic. Ultimately at the end of the day this board is the deciding factor in whether to adopt a master plan or not. Um after that is
adopted there has to be implementing plan unit developments that implement the master plan that also look at traffics and provide uh uh uh data and and uh information showing how that would be accommodated and what potential
impacts it may have at point in time. This is the process though where we make the master plan. >> So what would likely happen is a uh a a private entity would come to you all with a presentation submit a a master plan to you all for uh
uh adoption and you would all you all would be able to provide comments. You would all would be able to uh hinge your uh adoption or not based on them incorporating certain parameters. So ultimately nothing is adopt nothing is
approved or adopted in those master planned areas until this board is comfortable with what they are presenting the the and it may be a question for one of our staff. the area where that is the
watershed from storm water runoff does is that also part of the basin like the other areas that run into eventually down to Wakulla Springs and that part of the aquifer and the basin >> yes commissioners it's in the same basin
and I would like to take the opportunity to explain that when a development come in just like if you don't meet the storm water you have to restrict back you what you're proposing it goes along with the same with traffic. So if your proposed development is put in too much traffic that you can mitigate, then you have to
throttle back that development. >> Okay. And then confirm my understanding because it can be a complicated process is the density. The thing about an area can get sewer and water if it's, you know, connectable
outside of the urban services area, but it doesn't get as much of a density bonus as if it was in the urban services area. So part of the benefit of being in an urban services area is that you can get increased density through some a
bonus calculation if you will if you are in the urban services area and connecting to sewer and so that could give you more dense options. Is that generally how it works? >> It it depends on the land use category. It depends on the provisions in place. Generally speaking, when you have you
don't want to try to develop a bunch of your residential units or a bunch of non-residential square footage in an area where it's going to be served by septic or on uh uh uh wells. And in fact, our comp plan limits residential development outside the USA where
there's not central sewer to uh two units for every acre, essentially halfacre lots. So being in the urban services area doesn't guarantee that you're able to develop to a that level of density, but it makes it more likely
that you will get urban services which could support those higher densities just by being in the urban services area. You don't automatically get higher higher >> you don't automatically but you can through various processes. it it is something that is factored into uh
account when land use changes are were proposed and and and things like that. >> Okay. The you mentioned the zoning currently for these it's really only three or four parcels with with one owner and uh in in those areas that are planned development and it's rural right
now. But what I want to point out and confirm is now it's a different there's so many maps I couldn't present this other map to you but adjacent to the area. So north west of the expansion above uh old St. Nine Road is currently
urban residential 2. And to the right of the expansion on the other side of the cemetery is urban residential 2, which is designed to promote infill with densities up to single family, townhouse, duplex, quadrex, and
apartment complexes. And if that was move, if the the lot in the middle and and south that's now that's touching it, that's now where residential. If someone came in and wanted to change the zonings, that could be likely considered contiguous to urban residential too and
allow it to zone up in the future. I mean, yes. I mean, that is something that would be looked at. Um, at the end of the day, every comp plan change is is analyzed based on the factors on the ground at that time. um and are you know
there are a number of factors that go into review of of proposed complaint amendment changes. One of them is the compatibility with the surrounding land use. One of those is the whether urban services are available or not. Um if at some point urban services reach that
area, it may be the will of the community or the will of the boards that you know what there are urban services area here. we are experiencing uh uh real estate pressures to get more housing. We may want to make a land use change in that area, but ultimately
that's a decision that would be made at the at the time based on the parameters in place at that time. >> Based on the parameters we vote on on this comp plan change that we are held by. So what I want to be clear for people is once we vote on the rules we're voting on now, we got to follow those rules. So when people say, "Well,
we're going to bring it back later and it's up to you." No, it's not. It's quasi judicial. Now's the chance to make time to make the rules you want. Otherwise, we're held to them. And then the the other thing I want to ask is what is the process normally for one
property owner or parcel to ask for them to get brought into the urban services agreement outside of this process? Is it unusual for one owner to have,00 roughly acres expansion as part of this
process and not an individual process? So the acreage is large. I will say it's not unique to have had privately requested uh expansions of the urban services area that has occurred previously. It >> what how different is the process outside of this? So outside of this
process, an individual owner wants to to to have their land use change. What's that process? >> Sure. It depends on the uh size of the acreage that >> Let's go with this example. >> Sure. So for parcels that are 50 acres or more that's what's considered a
largecale amendment uh that that is a established uh process there is a application cycle that runs from the end of April through the end of August. Uh and then once the uh application is reviewed by staff and deemed complete
and deemed you know in uh we do an initial review of things and give folks that come in for amendments uh a general sense of yeah this is something that we can look at or absolutely not save your money. This is not something that would ever be you know uh supportable. Um there is a process where there are
multiple workshops with the LPA and with the city and county or well if it's a it's land exchange only. It depends on the jurisdiction. So let's just say it's in this area and the county commission. So there would be a workshop with the county commission. Uh there would also be multiple public hearings at the LPA
level and at the county commission level. So there is a established process. There's a 1000 ft notification requirement for a comp plan amendment. Uh that would go to all residents and parcels within 1,000 ft. We would also reach out to any nearby neighborhood
associations or those types of uh organizations in the area. Um and there would be several, you know, opportunities for public comment along the way. And I do want to make one quick correction to what you said if you don't mind. Um so a land use change is not
quasi jud judicial. That's a a reasonzoning. The land use is more of a legislative policymaking decision. So, uh, it allows more flexibility with the legislative body to, uh, ultimately, uh, uh, adopt or not. >> Thank you. That's helpful. That's why I
ask. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Sometimes my wife will tell you I'm wrong. >> Um, >> mine never does that. >> Uh, no. So, the process you described for an individual large scan scale amendment >> seems more stringent than the process we're going through right now for this.
Is that accurate? There's more steps or let me let me rephrase that. All of the studies, reports, and and reviews that happened in a large scale amendment, are all of those also done in what we're voting on now? >> Uh, yes. We had the several public workshops. We had multiple public
hearings. I will say that it's more focused because it's purely on this piece of land that is being proposed for comp plan change. It is this piece of land that is being proposed for urban services area expansion. So, it's more
focused. Um this process has been we have at least made the effort to make it as uh publicly uh noticed as possible and to get as much uh information out there as possible on this uh on this project. Um but to your point, it is a
more focused process where there's not a communitywide uh amount of land use changes or urban services area expansions uh contemplated. Did people within a thousand yards or feet of this get notification? >> No, we did not notify the entirety of
county of >> and and the reason I asked and I point that out is we have done a lot to get the word out, but that doesn't mean this specific area which is comparatively to the one that got a lot of attention importantly with 2,000 acres, 1100 isn't
that less. And so my issue is I want to we're bringing it up now because we haven't gotten a lot of input back on this because so much was attention up there. And I and I apologize. I would have brought this up earlier, but I was um mistakenly informed that this wasn't
going to be expanded in this map until we got the agenda out. And so that's why it's coming now. And I do want to just clarify, we did for the community meetings that we held in the last uh uh over the summer, we did a robust uh public engagement campaign or public notice campaign of that. >> Thank you. I know I grew a lot of
questions. It's very important. I appreciate it. No, it's my pleasure. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you for those comments and questions. Uh Commissioner Okie very helpful. U next in the queue, I have Commissioner Cummings. You have any questions for Scott? >> Yes. Uh yes. Thank you, Mr. chair and thank you for your presentation and for
your explanation to uh Commissioner O'Keefe which answered uh several of of my questions. But um if I can just go back and what you explained was um the large scale comp plan amendment that
individuals uh property owners with 50 acres or more would go through go through that process. Is that correct? And in going through that process then uh any environmental impacts would be studied
uh water quality would be studied. Is is that correct? >> There is an environmental review uh component. It's not as indepth as whether as like say a site plan that identifies every specific natural features or does a natural features inventory but we do do a review of
environmentally sensitive features in an area and take into account environmental considerations. Absolutely. >> With the large scale amendment process, >> we do that with uh every uh uh comp plan amendment that we get whether it's large scale or small scale.
>> Okay. And what we have before us us today is no request for expansion of the urban services area west of Meridian Road. >> That's our recommendation.
>> The recommendation, right? But there's a request east of Meridian Road. >> Yes, that's our recommendation and it's based on a number of factors. Our own analysis, we met with some residents that live in that area that uh are in some of those higher density areas that
uh have a number of family members that are uh uh on the east side of Marine Road and are interested in being developed on sewer. Um so we did get some folks interested in that but a large amount of our recommendation is based on you know planning concepts and good planning efforts.
>> Right. Can you u pull up your your map figure one uh map that had a red border for the present urban services area and the expansion? >> This one or the one that's zoomed in on
Lake Jackson? >> I'm sorry. Did you want this one that shows the entirety of the community or the one that's zoomed in on Lake Jackson? >> Well, what I have was included in the packet. >> Okay, I know exactly what you're talking about. Yep. >> And I was trying to understand it. Yes, ma'am. >> Yeah, that that's it. I'm trying to
understand the expansion east of Meridian Road. >> Absolutely. >> And of course, there there are borders that are red. Um, >> yeah, I can take some time and walk through the specifics of what we're recommending if you would like.
>> Okay. >> If that's what you're >> I was Well, I I don't want to take up that much time, but I just want to make sure I have a clear understanding of what's being recommended for expansion east of Meridian Road. >> Yes, ma'am.
>> So, how many acres are involved in that? >> Sure. So above what we transmitted in the state to the state in May. So above what is uh currently in the urban services area
or uh north of that blue line is about 700 acres in this area. >> So north of that blue line, this is the new stuff right here. >> Right here. >> Yeah. >> On the on the east side of Meridian Road. North of that blue line and west
of that red line is 700 acres. So it's about 700 acres of additional expansion B from what was presented previously. >> Okay. Awesome. And it's not all undeveloped acorage. Correct. >> No. There. So in that map that you see on your screen here, if there is a
hashed area like a striped area, that is a vacant parcel. Uh the other parcels either have at least one residential unit on it and the ones that are in brown are at a density that are higher
than urban fringe which is meant to be kind of a buffer between what's the urban urbanized area and rural areas. >> All of this all of this is new. >> The cluster north of the blue line uh that's horizontal. Yes, sir. looking at
the vertical uh grid is that new >> and beyond uh the May submission. >> So what is to the uh excuse me what is to Oh great awesome. Thank you. Yeah. So what is
north of this blue line? >> Mhm. >> Proposed >> and west of the red line is new to you all today in terms of expansion and that is 700 acres. Okay. >> We previously proposed in both May and
July expanding Oh, thank you. Uh expanding the USA uh along the shore of Lake Jack or Lake Immonia here and coming down here. Uh we initially proposed removing this parcel
which is split by the urban services area but based on further analysis we were concerned over that land owner could potentially have a an inverse condemnation claim for doing that by removing those entitlements. Um and then
we also proposed to include several uh areas that are subdivided and these areas that have higher densities than urban fringe as well. So the the northern quadrant then northeast
and the lower portion all of that comprises about 700 acres is what you're saying >> this area right here >> right >> is 700 acres >> okay the northern part which is also being requested to be included
>> how much acreage is that >> uh offhand I don't have that number I I'm I'd be happy to follow up uh afterwards with the precise acreage of each of these areas as as needed. >> But based on your analysis, the uh the representation presentation that you have in our uh
agenda item, there is water and sewer that's already available in some portions of those areas even though they're not a part of the urban services area. Am I correct? >> No. What we are propos what our goal is with this proposed expansion is that
where water and sewer is not available. I believe there's some water and sewer available south of Bman Road in this area. We are hoping to increase the likelihood that these parcels are either able to connect to sewer at some point in the future to
move off of septic which will further protect the the water quality of the area or at some point in the future when these parcels are ready to be developed that potentially urban services have moved to those areas and that when they do develop they're more likely to
develop on central water and sewer by being outside the urban urban services area, they're less likely to have that opportunity, including them in the urban services area where these parcels are already subdivided. It increases the likelihood that they could have access to central water and sewer, which we
believe is better for the water quality of the area. >> Uh, and then then just one last question. um if these parcels are individually owned and wouldn't qualify for that large scale 50 acres or
more uh amendment is if we don't adopt your proposals are individual property owners with less than that um 50 acres uh are they treated the same? are they able to come
in and and request a make request a comp plan amendment and be treated the same? >> So, that's a great question. I'm glad you asked. I want that brings up a important point where we're moving the urban services area or we're proposing to move the urban services area. That
makes no changes to the land use in this area. So it would not allow for any more development potential on any of these parcels if the urban services areas moved. Their entitlements today would be based on their land use today. So they
would need so for any increased development potential or changed land use categories they would need to come in and apply. Now, there are one or two larger parcels here that would likely be
able to come in for land use change or reszoning on their own because of their size and where they're located in adjacency to other land use categories and zoning categories. But for the most part, if one of these individual parcels came in and wanted to change their land use and
their zoning, we would say no because that's spot zoning and it would require a more holistic approach. It would require more property owners being in support of that. Um, so it would be a we would need it to be a coordinated broader, you know, community uh uh uh
focused effort than one person in the midst of all this yellow coming in and for for change. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Mr. Chairman, real quick on point. Yes, sir. Um, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Could we ask someone from our staff to go ahead and while the public speakers are speaking
>> go to a workstation and calculate the amount of total acreage on this other three components and then bring that back before we come back from the public speakers? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. >> You're no problem, Commissioner Miner. Uh, next in the queue I have Commissioner Proctor. You are recognized. Mr.
>> Sure. Thank you. uh the uh transportation uh issue. You indicated that uh there is no transportation impact from the um
handout shared by uh by um commissioner district 5 commissioner uh this one. >> Mhm. And um and I'm not sure why you just indicated there's no transportation impact. So
it's kind of somewhat cavalier juxtaposed to um your strong indication that up on Meridian Road there's just simply transportationally no uh capacity and um the trees on the road and canopy.
Um, is there a differential of uh your assessment that you've already determined that Meridian transportationally uh can accommodate, but you're so certain about the south u expansion that
there was just no need to even uh consider transportation? >> So, if I uh came across as saying as there are no transportation impacts, that was not in my intention. What I said, >> I just wrote what you said. >> Yes, sir. What I said was what I believe I said was that we did not do a transport a full transportation analysis
of the area south of Old St. Augustine Road. The difference between these two areas in uh in in our assessment uh is that planned development area south of Old St. Augustine Road would have to
extend Orange Avenue if it were to be developed to uh uh reduce any which would reduce any impacts that it had to uh Old St. Augustine Road. Um our transportation analysis was focused on
Meridian Road. Um we looked at uh data for at concurrency data and and what it shows is that the roadway is at a significant percentage of its capacity.
Uh and that you know a depending on any new development that were to occur adjacent to Meridian Road depending on the number of trips it could actually cause that road to fail. >> Let me let me interrupt though. >> Absolutely. I've I've heard some of
these things before and I'm I'm not quite a beginner sitting here. Thank you. >> Um who you anticipate would pay for the expansion of Orange Avenue, would the developer um be anticipated to pay for a road expansion of Orange Avenue?
>> Yes, sir. >> What? Okay, very good. Um if development occurred on North Meridian, who would you expect to expand? I mean, after we've had a a a Bob R brawl and fist fights and all of that over canopy, are
are policies such now that we could never expand a canopy road such as Meridian? Uh so as our analysis based on there's we identified no plans to widen Marian Road. We identified that there are uh
constraints based on rightway based on the canopy zone. There's also no planned north south roadway adjacent to Meridian Road. Whereas with Orange Avenue, there is a forward-looking planned extension
of Orange Avenue within our publicly adopted and available materials. So without any sort of sense of what development might occur, what plans are for that development, what uh mitigation
that might provide for Meridian Road, we would just be speculating. And at this point, we're just saying at this point in time, we're not recommending making these changes as part of the update. Nothing that we recommend to you all today were you to adopt it would preclude that land owner from coming in
at a future date and going through that large-scale amendment process that we talked about. So they could come back and have that uh additional process where they have that standalone review and maybe by that time they're able to uh address some of these uh concerns
that have been raised by the public. >> Okay. Um I think,00 acres is the s southern um ask I want to ask the question maybe a little different than what uh um ma'am what your name is >> vice chair
>> vice chair thank you >> I don't want to sit by commissioner she blocking my thinking my I can't she messing up my wavelength um commissioner O'Keefe asked this question >> vice chairman O'keefe >> vice chairman excuse me vice chairman
O'Keefe as raised this question and I will rephrase it. What what triggered u the ask for expansion of USA um in near southwood? Yes. >> In South Yeah. So multiple things. So first in 2003 there was a committee. I'm
going to get the name right. It was the residential land availability and affordability committee. Uh it was formed with a number of environmentally focused individuals. Pam Hall was on it. Uh Wendy Gray was on it. Uh there were
uh realtors involved with it. There was representative of Southwood and they looked at multiple areas around the community and they were trying to address affordability in housing that they were facing. They were saying that there's not enough residential housing
available. The prices are too high for folks. What can we do and what can we recommend to try to uh uh alleviate this this burden? And one of the recommendations that they made was extending the urban services area in
this area near Southwood from where it is today all the way down to just north of the city sprayfield. Um that is one source of this proposed expansion
>> and and you said that that this is uh conversationally for the expansion of affordable housing. That was their vision. It was a it was targeted at increasing the amount of land developable for residential development um with little a affordable housing, not
necessarily capital A affordable housing. >> Right. >> And and and if I if I may very briefly just highlight one of the the the the the challenges with that amount of an urban services extension in that area. This area here has a lot of environ
really sensitive environmental features that are uh important to the wersheds in that area. So that's one of the reasons that we're not recommending that full expansion and also our consultants in their growth strategies where they were saying okay Tallahassee Leyon County you
all are going to grow. Here's one of the areas that we're recommending that you target for that growth. >> Okay. Well, I I um respect the district commissioner um and if he has no objections uh to this expansion um you
know, I typically like to follow the district commissioner thoughts, but I I do have levels of of pissivity that are running over and um I want to explain really quickly that it continuously
concerns me that black neighborhoods inside of the urban service area continue not to have central sewer and um I've listened to you talk about the potential to um move from septic uh to
central uh on 487 acre 56 356 and 200 u parcels 1100 acres and I I realized also that um because of its uh uh prog proximity to
uh Southwood uh the U state um governmental complex uh that it's potential to occur uh sidewalks, lights, sewer, everything. And it's been a number of years now, um, not just a few
weeks, uh, I've consistently pondered, how do you get central sewer inside of, um, I don't have a little light to point to you, but just just go to anything that's a black neighborhood and they just can't get it inside. and our staff
is pushing even though we've not fulfilled the uh commitments of urban services to black neighborhoods. And we've also with respect to the annexation issue uh we deny them the right to vote though they pay um
continuously utilities to the city. It seems um I don't understand how the city went on and forwarded their uh recommendations to the state prior to county weighing in. And we used to have a joint comp plan uh process where both
bodies colleially sat down and we jointly considered and when it was a city issue, we deferred to the city. When the county's issue, they deferred. But we sat together and it it was disturbing to me to read uh this material and to know that the city had
already weighed into the state and da da da da. I I really don't understand, Mr. Chairman, this new dynamic um of like we we it's it's unusual thing. Commissioner Proctor, are we I want to leave this time for questions for staff to be able
to answer and then when we come back and there's a motion on the floor, you can continue discuss these these issues right here. Yes sir, Mr. Chairman, but they're contemplating sewer for 1100 acres. We've got people inside and
gerrymandering of sewer services is occurring in the capital of the state of Florida in my district. >> Is that a question? >> No, he know what I'm telling him is true, but he's up here all happy and glad and singing a good song. Um, I'm
just pissed off that I can't get sewer in my damn district. That's what I'm saying. >> Okay. I I I appreciate the the comments, Commissioner Proctor. Does anyone else have any questions for staff? >> Seeing none. All right. We will move on to public speakers. Mr. County Administrator.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First public speaker joining us virtually, Steven Martin. >> You can hear me now? We can. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I'm going to be referring in part to last Thursday's friends of Lake Jackson meeting. We heard about the Fitz family
and have reasons to be thankful to many who've exercised a sincere land ethic and been involved with endeavors like be the solution. I'm familiar as well with extended family down in Gulfream and I thank many for not giving into temptation and exploiting land for
financial gain. Unlike Jeff, I've heard history is the best predictor of the future. About 10 years ago, the Orchard Pond toll road was claimed by Jeff to be out of love for and a desire to protect the land. I'm still trying to figure that logic. Paving undeveloped land for
powerful high-speed deadly vehicles seems anything but an act of love protection of land. Jeff also claimed there would be no subsequent development in the area. Look where we are 10 years later. hard to place place much faith in that person's sincerity. Mention was
made about prior expansion of the urban services area and subsequent development of Wani with which Gary Hunter has been quite involved much as he is now with the FIPS property. Many of us are quite familiar with what's happened on Wulani, including violation of environmental
ordinances, a threatened lawsuit by the county over violation of a state statute, and recent public outcry over a proposed gas station in Canopy Development. Last week, I spoke with Mr. Hunter, who continues to claim what's happened on Wani has been a smooth
process without any problems. When I later spoke with Commissioner Miner, he acknowledged it has not been a smooth process. Mr. Hunter stated he has had nothing to do with staff's original decision to explan expand the urban service area to include a portion of
Pips's land. I find it hard to believe Mr. Hunter hadn't been knocking on doors pushing for this. You might recall not long ago Mr. Hunter behind the scenes with assistant city manager Wayne Tedar objecting to the city attorney's expression of concern about development
of the Wani plantation hill. This led to the attorney's resignation. Mr. Hunter has been making his mark around here for some time. If history is a good predictor of the predictor of the future, we have ample reason to be concerned when Mr. Hunter is involved
with land use. I've heard we learn from our mistakes, especially when and when acknowledged. As noted during the meeting and after by Commissioner Miner, the comp plan process seems to be inherently flawed. That's a good first step, recognizing a problem exists, which should have been realized long
ago, but better late than never. I've also heard, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." We need to learn from our mistakes and not be fooled again by Mr. Hunter, Mr. Fipps, or the comp plan process. And referring to what Commissioner Proctor just said,
"Yeah, I recall the joint city county comp plan meetings, and I believe it would be a good idea to start those back again." Thank you. >> Next speaker, Jules Bailey. Hello. Do I need to state my name or anything for the record?
>> Yes, please state your name and address for the record. >> Hi, my name is Jules Bailey. I live at 1919 Dozy Street in Tallahassee, Florida. And I'm here to ask you to accept the staff recommendation for items one and two, which is what the Thousand Friends of Florida at our
meeting last Thursday. um that Commissioner Miner was kind enough to um co-host uh what that the Thousands Friends of Florida asked us to recommend. So um I just want to ask you to accept that recommendation and also um to continue to protect Lake Jackson
in the watershed. It does connect to Aola Springs. And if you have driven through Crawfordville recently, you know that if there is too much development and too many houses on road infrastructure that cannot handle it, it makes it kind of unbearable to drive through. So I would not want to see that
happen to Tallahassee and Meridian Road. And to Commissioner Proctor's comments um on this issue, he is very correct. So I'd like you to take that into account as well. Um thank you for your time. Next speaker, Roy Knight to be followed
by Vivian Young. I am Roy Knight. I live at 5962 Centerville Road 32309 in the county. Uh and I have short statement to make and it is simply this. In summary,
this is not ready for a vote. And I will use the metaphor of the cart and the horse. I'm impressed by the integrity and the detail of the plans, but they have washed out the basic principles and that is the quality of the life of the
citizens in this city. It's already been touched on by Commissioner Proctor, by others who have spoken. And the problem is simply this. You are about to create a city that will
not be loved by the citizens who live here. What you will be doing is creating a city that is filled with problems. It is too much about money and not enough about the quality of life.
What will happen when much of this is done? There will be without enough open space, without enough concentration of development to higher density. Higher
density reduces traffic because you can walk to the place where you work or you play or whatever you want to do. Shop. Public transportation will not work with Spald. You get a bus once an hour.
Vancouver, British Columbia gets it once every five minutes. It doesn't worry you so much that you might miss a bus. So you use public transportation. I have to say this in a way. Think of
Socrates when I say these things. I know more than I can tell you that I know. I know more than I experience than I can tell you about. I do not have time. But I do know this. The more I know, the
more I know. I don't know. But I do know this because I am a human being. I have lived in this city since 1988. I've never lived anywhere else in my life longer than that. From suburbs
of Birmingham, Alabama to Washington DC to Copenhagen, Denmark to Vancouver, British Columbia. So the scope of our experience is broad. I tell you, consider the quality of life for these people from sewage, which is
more effective when it's gathered together in density. Consider intensity which is about commercial activity, the connections between these places, the traffic, all of these things that
can be done to improve the quality of life, not to ruin it as I have experienced the city being ruined over the last 36 years that I have been living here. >> Thank you, Mr. Knight. So I ask you
please delay please rethink this on the basis of such principles. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Knight. >> Vivian Young to be followed by Sophie Wayone Spear and I'm sorry if I mispronounced your name.
>> Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Vivian Young and I am the special projects director with 1000 friends of Florida. Um, I'd also like to intro introduce our president, Paul Owens, um,
who is here from Orlando today. Um, and what I'd like to talk with you a little bit about is is a number of different principles. Um, Thousand Friends is a statewide organization that promotes sound planning and growth management in
our state. We were established in 1986 uh, for this purpose. Um, and the reason we originally engaged in this process, because we don't normally engage in local issues, was concerns about the process. Um, that it was too rushed,
that there wasn't um enough detail and analysis. Um, I I want to say first of all that I really appreciate you slowing the process down to allow time for community input through the public workshops. Um, and before I get to my
prepared comments, I actually have five points from previous speakers that I would like to rush through. Um, getting down to the the detailed analysis and data. Um, Randy Danker, who spoke earlier, is absolutely right that under
state law, there is supposed to be a demonstration of need before you um expand the urban services area. And to my understanding, that has not been done to the to the level of detail. Yes, there's been an analysis. I understand
that we need about 23,000 more units, but we don't have information uh from staff about how many units are in the pipeline and other issues like that. So, I'd like to reiterate what she said there. Um my second point
is conceptually if let's say there is a need let's say analysis is done and there is a need to expand the urban services area what you would be voting on by expanding it tonight or in December is that this is the most
appropriate area for this new development to take place and I don't know that you have the data or information that all the areas in in Lyon County have been analyzed that these locations that have been brought up are the appropriate ones.
The third point I'd like to raise, and I wasn't going to raise this tonight because we're still reviewing language, but I don't believe it's in the existing comp plan, but in the revised comp plan, it um calls for um uh if it's designated
rural, it cannot be within the USA. So, that would automatically change changes. I need to speed on. Um we are recommending, we are shifting our recommendations. We urge you to keep the current urban service area boundary near Lake Jackson on both sides of Meridian.
Um I think from the comments raised tonight, we can also say we'd have concerns about the change on the south side. Um we urge you to keep the existing lake protection language um and have a separate process later to
evaluate that in more detail. And third of all, um, please direct staff to do a future land use map that shows differences between what is currently adopted and what is proposed, showing the the parcels of land in play. It's
been very confusing for everybody to understand what is going on. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak. >> Thank you. >> Sophie Way Cone Spear uh to be followed by uh Lynn Techics.
Yes, Sophie Wako Pier address 704 Debac Circle Talasi. I'm the current president of the Friends of Lake Jackson here to address uh the item 19 specifically the proposed changes to the land use within the Lake Jackson drainage basin and
especially those along landing and north along Meridian. So, it's been quite a ride from protesting the county transmitted land use map in May to applauding the scaledback map in July to lamenting the
city transmitted map in September. At today's meeting, I want to express my appreciation for the work done since July. The planning staff did collect more public and state agency's input, did listen, did reflect and is offering
meaningful recommendations. I particularly appreciate the strong language in the environmental and transportation reviews and wish such reviews can be conducted prior to future proposed changes.
There is also commendable language in the present version of the comm plan update. Examples include policy 1 to six stating that the conservation element takes precedent if conflicts arise with the implementation of policies in the
flum element. Also, policy 287 stating that development within the lake protection category must achieve measurable reductions in nutrient pollutants and approve water quality. and the same policy advancing
conservation subdivisions as an alternative to large lot developments. I very much hope that such language survive the further revisions to be made following today's meeting and that no policy remains that contradicts that
language. In particular, I hope that staff recommendation nine, clarify the lake protection flu, means that proposed increases in density and intensity will strictly apply along the new proposed LP corridor and associated existing nodes
along Monroe Street, not to future development elsewhere. Discouraging new suburban neighborhood-like densities and LP nodes intensities in the proximity of the Lake Jackson aquatic preserve is the
best way to preserve the preserve. Thank you >> Lynn uh take to be followed by David D. Hi, my name is Lynn Takis and I live at 2133 Miller Landing Road. And like many
of the people here today, I only recently learned about the proposed comp plan changes that will impact Northeast or original ones that would impact Northeast Tallahassee. And to say that I was alarmed was an understatement. My shock came not only from the scale of
the proposal and the impact that it would have on the community, but that also such a significant change almost slipped past the public's view unnoticed. Since then, I've spent countless hours learning about water quality, traffic, and growth management.
And in the process, I've learned a lot about what I value, and I'd like to share that with you today. I value Lake Jackson aquatic preserve and the wildlife that teams within its basin. I value water quality and believe that the damage caused by development to the
south of the lake should be repaired before we even contemplate putting more development north of the lake. I value clean drinking water and as one of many people in this room that drinks from a well. The health of Lake Jackson directly impacts not just me but the
people I love most in this world. I value not sitting in gridlock. Conservative estimates of just 3,000 houses and 700,000 square feet of commercial space indicate that the traffic volume on Meridian Road would
reach nearly 43,000 cars a day. Right now that's 12,100. And to give you some perspective, the stretch of Thomasville Road between Karn and Bannerman is 44,500 and that was in 2024.
I value the growth management process and I believe our community plan should not be used as a vehicle to benefit one land owner and allow him a 19,900% increase. And that is not a typo. A
19,900% increase in the amount of residences that he could build and also allow commercial space to be built. I also value that our planning department listened to our community and removed the land use and USA boundary changes
that had been in the previous map. I heard a saying years ago that it doesn't matter till it matters. And I think that applies to this today. To me, Lake Jackson matters. Meridian Road matters. Our our aquafer, it matters. Our health
matters. And what is quintessential Tallahassee, it matters. And once it's gone, it's gone. And it doesn't matter how many taxpayer dollars you want to pour into it. Please vote to adopt the staff's recommend recommendations
specific to the Lake Jackson area and require the land owner to follow the proper large-scale amendment process moving forward. Thanks you to Commissioners Miner, Proctor, and Cummings for meeting with me and Commissioner Maddox's aid for making me
feel heard. Thank you also to Susan and the planning department for taking about 17,000 calls and emails of mine. Having a voice for this process is something I also value and I appreciate your time today. Thank you.
>> David D to be followed by Jeff Teex. >> Yes, sir. Commissioners, my name is David D. I'm a resident of Rose Hill. I've been there for the last 27 years. I've been a resident of Lyon County for the last 49 years. I confess I was late to the party. I didn't get the message
that my neighborhood was going to be impacted. Uh but I have tried to rally. I appreciate greatly the staff's willingness to reconsider its initial recommendation. I also greatly appreciate um Miss Poppin spending her time trying
to educate me, Commissioner Miner meeting with us last week at the the discussion. And I want to thank a thousand friends for giving notice to me and many others about these meetings. I strongly support the staff's new recommendation to not extend the urban
service area west of Meridian Road and to not increase the allowable uh density in that area. I take no position with regard to the area east of Meridian Road, but I just wanted to commend these folks for the fine work they've done.
I'd love to talk to you more about the development of the FIPS property. They've been a steward for that property for a long time. I appreciate their desire to develop it at some point. That'll be part of their legacy, but it's also the future for you and
this community. And so, I hope we take the time that we now have to look at that development very carefully. Obviously, the traffic impacts going to affect everybody up and down Meridian Road. Folks will be jumping up and down about that because they're already unhappy unhappy with the traffic on
Meridian Road and heaven forbid that we do more to damage Lake Jackson that has been suffering ever since I 10 went in. Commissioner Proctor, I sincerely appreciate your comments about the Southside not being able to get sew
sewer service. I just thank you for being an advocate for your community. Thank you, >> Jeff Tagix. To be followed by our final speaker, Hugh Long. >> Good evening, uh, commissioners. Uh, Mr.
Chairman, uh, thank you very much. My name is Jeff Takis. I live at 2133 Miller Landing Road in Tallahassee, 32312. Um, thank you for the opportunity to speak before you this evening. Um, I am not someone who normally comes to the courthouse to testify before my county
commission. Um, I watch you from afar from time to time and read about you in the newspaper. Um, but it is this very interesting challenge that's before you this evening and has been for months and will be down the road of trying to plan uh for the future of the next 25 years
of our community and where population should be uh where they should not be and the impacts of those decisions. Um, I can't help but as I've been sitting here uh this evening to understand and feel for all of you in this difficult challenge of this chicken and egg
process that you are in trying to not only predict the future of where people may want to live and trying to hit certain population numbers um but then trying to potentially create an environment for largecale developments to come in um in a place where maybe the
people around them like myself do not want to see them. Um the process up to this point um with those large-scale development proposals um has essentially been a backdoor process to try to get that through as opposed to the individualized specific large-scale
amendments that were discussed earlier. Um that process is where those proposals get the specific review they deserve and allow you all to get all of that data that you need to make the decisions that you need to make. I feel for you. I I
would I would be in a difficult position if I were in your shoes. I'm I'm thankful you are sitting there and not me quite frankly. Um but it's really difficult to think about making these big decisions without all of that information. Not having all of the data as far as what those traffic
implications really would be, what the environmental impacts really would be. Um thinking about are we going to be able to connect certain people to sewer or not? While we have residents in the community who don't have sewer uh currently who would love to have that opportunity, as Commissioner Proctor
pointed out, um the the challenge before you is is very large. Um and I I don't um try to begrudge the the the the proposals that have been before you and people trying to to weigh in on their thoughts. Um members of the the commission, I'm here this evening to to
enthusiastically support uh the staff's recommendation uh for one and two. Uh again, specifically thinking about that area west um of Meridian Road, um thinking about the timing of um that recommendation and the words that they said, the reasons they gave, Meridian
Road cannot handle the expansion that was initially proposed with the thousands of homes being put at the intersection of Meridian and Bannerman. The that's very environmentally sensitive land uh that would just devastate the Lake Jackson area. This is not the right time. Uh again, members, I
urge you to please uh support that recommendation to put that map, that urban services boundary um back to the way it was again, particularly for uh the area west of Meridian Road and the Lake Jackson area. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. >> Thank you for the honorable speaker.
>> Final speaker, Hugh Long. >> Hello. I'm uh Hugh Long. I live at uh 3169 uh Brockton Way. So, I'm an avid outdoorsman and a fisherman. And the one thing that you really need for that is clean water. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize. I apologize.
All right. So, I'm Huong. I live at 3169 Brockton Way. So, I'm an avid outdoorsman, you know, hunter and a fisherman. And you really need one thing for that. You need clean water, clean air, and clean soil. And I'm really glad that the proposal to expand uh the USA to the west of uh Meridian Road appears
to no longer be on the docket. Let's keep it that way. Um, but I would also like to note uh something that I wasn't aware of until I even came to this meeting was brought up by Commissioner O'Keeffe is that expansion of the USA uh south of St. Augustine Road. Um, I believe Commissioner O'Keefe, you
brought up that it's in the Wakulla Springs uh recharge zone. I believe it may also be in the the wershed for the St. Marks River, which is an area that I spend a lot of time in. Um, and I really feel like it this process to me like I think as a community we need more time
um to fully understand what the impacts of expanding that USA by a few thousand acres when that entire area is, you know, continuously owned by the St. Joe Company. Um, I feel like if if we just go ahead and expand it, we may be opening ourselves up to maybe more than we bargained for in in the future. You
know, that that whole section. Um, so I feel like more data and time is kind of needed to fully understand what we may be getting ourselves into there. Anyway, that's all I have to say. Thank you. >> All right, commissioners. Um, first off, let me say to our speakers, I I I really
do appreciate the decorum and and respect and, you know, I understand that this is a very important and sensitive issue to a lot of our residents and neighbors in our community. Um, right now I see Commissioner Miner in the queue. Uh, Commissioner Miner, looking for a motion.
>> Yes, sir. Uh, I'd like to move options one and two with some additions and I can talk about the additions during my my talk. >> You want to go and would you go ahead and state them as part of the motion? >> Yes. Yes. Um, so, so I move for option one and two with
the following additions. Uh, one would be, and I'll explain this after I make the motion. Um, addition number one would be to to direct staff to include u a policy item for consideration of adoption during the next comp next comp plan amendment cycle. And um, this is
something I've worked on with planning staff uh, to draft this. It would be basically a policy 1.8.2 to um proposed map amendments in unincorporated Lyon County pertaining to 10 acres or more in the lake preservation, residential preservation or rural land use
categories and proposed expansion to the urban services area shall provide to the count the board of county commissioners as an agenda item or in a workshop format prior to the board considering the amendment in a transmitt or adoption hearing. Now, I'll explain that once I
make once I finish the motion. Um the second item for this uh in my motion is to remove policy recommendation number one and bring that back as an out of cycle comp plan amendment so that the public can uh fully review it as well as a commission. This is the item that um
would add um about 1,400 acres uh west east of Meridian Road and north of Banderman. And then the other parts um of my motion are for the lake protection land use category um under the conservation
subsid subdivision approach where you have 60% conservation 40% developable that that um allowable housing density has been doubled from two units per acre to four units per acre. I would like to have staff evaluate that as soon as possible the environmental and traffic
impacts of this change. And then finally, number four, I want to request the planning department to provide an analysis of the estimated housing need and the amount of USA expansion necessary to accommodate that need. That essentially is uh part of what uh thousand friends has been asking for
basically a complete uh analysis of not just the population and the number of housing units needed but also what's required within the USA to provide that need. >> Point of order. >> Go ahead, Commissioner Proctor. >> Uh Mr. chairman, I submit through you to our county's attorney. Uh those were
multiple issues um uh for additional points uh not necessarily germanine to our staff's recommendation and um I would like the county attorney to opine uh my unreadiness that has convoluted
the initial simplicity of what staff has offered. uh must this be entangled or are these separate issues is my ask Mr. Chairman >> you can go ahead madam attorney >> thank you Mr. chairman. Um, these are
gerine. Uh, what I would recommend given the the discussion that needs to be had for the board to really understand what those four additions would be would be if there is a desire, have someone
second just for discussion purposes. And then the board ultimately will get to vote and if enough people don't like the additional four, they vote it down. Um or if you're too confused at this point, you just there's no second to the
motion. But but the points are gerine. They are not out of order. >> I'm I'm coming I'm coming back to you, Commissioner Miner, cuz he he commission. He had the floor. >> So I'm going to go >> I was on a point of point of order, though. >> Is it Is it point of order, Germaine, too? >> Well, she she's asked that that
question. Uh however, Mr. chairman. Um, we've wrapped our heads around and immersed our minds in issue given. I've not integrated um these major points suggested to us and on the fly. Um,
we're just to assume and to incorporate something I've not studied. That's >> Commissioner Proctor. I can >> Commissioner Miner. So, what I'm hearing is this. I was going to ask you, Commissioner Miner, to actually if you have this written down so I could visually read it because it was a lot. And so, uh, I hear you, Commissioner Proctor. So, there's a there's a motion
on the floor for these items, right? And how I look at it. If it gets a second, we can discuss it. If we don't like it, we can look to amend or vote against it. So, Commissioner Miner, I have this as a motion on the floor right now. >> I'll second for the sake of discussion. >> Okay. So, we have a motion on the floor
by Commissioner Miner, seconded by Commissioner O'Keefe. We're in discussion now. >> Thank you very much. Thanks. And I apologize for the the the cart before the horse on this. The naming a very lengthy motion, but let me go and explain what what I'm getting at here. So, um, growth when it's done in a smart
and sustainable, responsible way is is good for a community. It creates more housing and more jobs. It increases incomes and strengthens the economy. Um, we need to make sure though that that development is done smart and responsibly. That's why we have comprehensive plans because they provide
a framework for where and how a community should grow. Um I want to talk about the land west of Meridian Road which is north of Car Lake in Lake Jackson. And and Arty or Kiana, if you could put up the map um of that area, I'd appreciate it. I I want to thank
staff for um making the changes to this latest version of the comp plan. Thank you. Uh because they they've listened to the public. They've listened to organizations like Thousand Friends and the letters from the Department of Environmental Protection, but it hasn't it's been a long and and convoluted
process to get here. >> In March and April, there was a proposed expansion of the USA and 2,82 acres of rural land that were changed to Lake Protection. By some estimates, this early version of the comp plan could have allowed around 20,000 housing units
on the land north of Car Lake in Lake Jackson. The land owner attorney said last week that 5,000 housing units might even be more than what his client is asking for. So going by that, the initial comp plan proposal would have allowed about four times more housing
and commercial activity than what the land owner is even hoping for. These changes weren't presented to the county commission during our February workshop or the May 13th transmitt hearing, and it wasn't brought up in my briefings until I asked our planning department staff about it. If these changes had
been adopted by this commission, we would have voted to allow tens of thousands of new housing units and millions of square feet of commercial space without even knowing about it. If this had happened, how could any of us look our constituents in the eye after what we had done? Fortunately, that
didn't happen. We caught it. Shortly after transmitt conservation groups reached out to me and I began speaking with staff to understand the magnitude of the change. By then, about that time, the word had gotten out. Feedback from public engagement meetings was universally opposed to the change. Land
conservation groups, Lake Jackson experts, and two letters from FT also expressed concern. Our planning department is talented and they care about the community. I've said that many, many times, but it shouldn't have happened this way. At the very least, the planning department should
have highlighted this in its briefing to commissioners and explicitly presented it as a major change to the public. And the best approach would have been to have a separate comp plan amendment request. Major sightsp specific changes to the comp plan shouldn't be proposed without
the public or the county commission knowing about them. What happened here should never happen again. So, I've worked with our staff to draft some language that I'd like to have us consider for the next comp plan amendment cycle. And you'll see that as as addition number one.
Now, why is this uh policy addition necessary? Because this policy proposal, if adopted, would ensure that major sightsp specific changes to the comp plan would require a distinct separate agenda item or presentation to the county commission. That's addition
number one. Addition number two is the yellow and brown up there. Um, what I'm what I'm recommending is that we remove policy recommendation number one from the agenda item. I'm not necessarily opposed to this, but we don't have enough information to make an
informed decision. If this were adopted, I think it's about 1,400 acres. We had to ask planning staff to get us that number. I I I don't know if they've had a chance to get it yet, but if that number is 1,400 acres, this addition to the USA would be the second largest
addition in the history of Lyon County since the comp plan was created, 1990, 1991. Meridian Road is already congested during peak hours. I just I'm not opposed to this, but I want to have more information. I want to know if the development that goes to USA I
understand the housing density won't increase, but if you if you bring property into the USA, you encourage its development by definition. I I don't know if that additional development is going to put additional congestion on Meridian Road. I want to
know that before we add the second largest USA expansion in the history of Lyon County. So that's why my addition number two requests that we remove that policy item for now and ask our staff to bring back that as a out of cycle uh
comp plan amendment. And then additions three and four are just simply requests for info. you know, I wanted to make sure that um the lake protection land use category has a change in it from the current plan. When
developers choose to use the conservation um subdivision approach, it's a way to cluster development. It's a good thing to to to cluster development because you you basically compact your development within 40% of your parcel, your land, and the other
60% is conserved in perpetuity. That's a good thing. But what this change does in the new comp plan version is it recommends doubling the allowable housing density from 2 units per acre to four units per acre. I'm not necessarily opposed to
that either, but I want staff to evaluate what the potential impacts are uh in terms of the environment as well as the uh potential traffic impacts around Lake Jackson, Midian Road, and the other uh major arteries.
We don't know what this is going to do. Uh we we have an obligation as commissioners to have a a better understanding of what these impacts are going to do for our community before we vote on them. And then the last bit, the addition number four is following
through on what Thousand Friends and Randy Dunker and other people have been asking about for months. We we have a good idea on what the population growth is expected to be. 36,500. We have a good idea also on the expected
amount of units we need from now until 2050. That's 23,000. We don't know, however, how many buildable lots are currently within the USA. And we don't know how many developments are in the pipeline right now.
We also don't know if there if there's insufficient land within the USA to meet the housing need, how many acres should be added within the USA to meet the projected growth. So, the fourth addition here is to ask our staff to provide those answers to us. Um, commissioners, I know this is a large,
long, convoluted motion. Uh, I' I've tried to make it as clear as I can in the in the handout. I've been working on this issue for 6 months, and I've been working on this more than any other single issue uh on our on our docket. Um, I've spent time talking with staff,
with neighbors, with um conservation groups, with experts about Lake Jackson, and I I believe sincerely that this is the kind of thing that we need to know, and these are the changes we need to make in order to get to the next step. So, with that, I'll entertain any other questions or comments. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you. Next in the queue, I have
Commissioner Maddox. >> Thank you. Um, I tell you what. Um, I'd like to make a substitute motion for staff recommendation and I'm willing to add addition number one. That would be my substitute motion.
>> Second. >> All right. We have a substitute motion on the floor moved by Commissioner Maddox, seconded by Commissioner Welch, and that is for staff recommendations one and two with the addition of Commissioner Miner's proposal number
one, which which reads proposed map amendments in unincorporated Leyon County pertaining to one, 10 acres or more in the lake preservation, residential preservation, or rural land use categories. and two proposed expansions to the urban services area
shall be provided to the board of county commissioners as an agenda item or in a workshop format prior to board considering the amendment in a transmitt or adoption hearing. Is everyone clear the motion? >> No, it was just number one. Addition number one was the only thing I was
willing to add. >> Is that not this here? >> Yes. Yes. I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. You're correct. You're correct. You're correct. Yes. So, let's clear the motion. I have a couple of questions if I can for staff of course. Um please Mr. Administrator you uh first question uh as far as addition number
two uh the 1,400 acres uh that that that you're looking to add could you could you tell me a little bit about how you went about that process and in the neighborhood that asked for it please? >> Yes. So after the board gave us direction to have public outreach,
that's what we did. We had different neighborhoods reaching out to us and that was one of the neighborhoods that um was multiple families, multiple people, mainly African-American uh families that came out and expressed
their interest in having the urban services area extended because they were interested in uh connecting to sewer and water whenever in the future they were they had the ability to do that. Mr. Can >> I just add one more thing to I don't want to leave you with the the the
notion that it would we would do this just based on request. You could simply take a look at the map and see the consistency issue in the development patterns there and so it had to make sense from a planning standpoint as well. >> Yeah. So, so actually I was going to bring it up to me that makes sense from
a planning standpoint given the map that we're looking at first. Um the request is one thing. I mean there's going to be all kind of neighborhoods that request. I think Commissioner Proctor's point that you brought up in in uh comparison to um the USA and and on the south side
and and urban services being given to the south side um is one point and I do agree with you on that. Uh but in in this place right here where we have an opportunity to include that piece which is you know it makes sense to include for for the reasons that were stated by
the county by the Mr. by the administrator and the request from the neighborhood because one thing we got to realize is once you add urban services or you're a part of urban services area what you're going to end up getting is that's those folks asking for increased cost for the urban services they're going to incur. The other thing that I
thought when I was thinking about it was the most the safest the safest and most effective way to to to protect the water quality of the lake is central sewer. Correct.
Yes sir. As you can see the multiple lights in there a lot of them are not developed yet and the the opportunity to connect to sewer will provide the much better condition where you don't have the nitrogen impacting the lakes in this
case portion it will go to lake ammonia and the other portion will go to lake uh Jackson. So, I I understand exactly where Commissioner Miner's going on that, but I I I I'm not ready to to pull that
piece from consideration. Today, what we're talking about is we're talking about approving uh for you guys to bring this back to us again with another look. Correct. >> We get another look at this. Correct. >> Adoption. Correct. December. And so any questions that we may have, we could we can ask for it to come back during
adoption and we can make a decision on that without taking this off the table. Correct. >> That's correct. >> Yes. So I'm I'm not ready to take that off the table given what I heard and my thoughts on the best plans to to actually protect the lake. Um which would be Central Shore. Also, last
question on on on addition number two. The piece that we're talking about uh there are as I'm saying those brown boxes you said were already urban density. um that would be above that density, >> right? So if we did not extend the urban services area into the area, how much of
that area could also be intensely developed? How much more of that area could be intensely developed without without the urban services area bound boundary being extended? >> That's about 282 acres. Correct. The brown areas that are above the density. Yeah, that's what that number right
here. >> Okay. 382 lots. Okay. >> 282 lots will be developed at a higher density on septic. >> Gotcha. I'm just not I'm I'm I understand what we're I'm not comfortable with that mean lots being developed on septic that close to our
lakes. It's kind of what we what we're looking at when we're we talk about the southside sandy soil um sandy soil and and trying to protect with color springs. So I can't I can't go with number two. Uh on number three just understanding process a site plan would
have to happen before you can determine the questions that are involved in in in addition number three correct >> that's correct to determine the number of generated for example um traffic uh then you have to have a generator and you don't know that information until you have a site plan where that
determines based on the IT institute of traffic engineering what vehicle or traffic are you producing you don't know that information now by just extending the urban services area. >> So I I can understand the the the need or the want to be very intentional
about how we go about this. But we've got to have a site plan first. There's no site plan. How do you get to the site plan piece of it before you can actually answer the question? >> You can talk me through the process. You can make assumptions, but they're not they're not going to give you the exact
what will happen as far as traffic generation. >> So once you get the site plan, you're able to answer these questions, some of that stuff will come back to us for approval before anything is done. Correct. >> It depends on the uh intensity of the development. But as I answered earlier,
if a development um let's say we move it to the site plan, yes, development comes in and you're producing X number of of vehicle or traffic on the roadway >> and you've trip that threshold where you're dropping a little level of service within that road. >> Well, the question is you need to
mitigate that that you come back you as a developer and you say I can't mitigate it because meridian road cannot be widened. It's a canopy road. Well, to come back to that is okay, then you need to reduce your development. So, you're below that threshold because you cannot uh make the additional improvements.
>> So, on three, I don't think we can I don't think we ask staff to answer a question they can't answer without first having a site plan. You'll have a site plan until you know kind of what it's going to look like in the development as I understand it. Correct. >> That's correct. >> Okay. Um, four, there was one piece in there I was kind of like, eh, um, how
would you go about how would you go about calculating how many acres should be added within the USA uh, to meet the projected growth? How how would you go about that? Is there is there a way to go about >> I think the question that was meant to
be was is not what what's written because it's asking you how can you increase the urban services area inside the urban services area >> right it says if if there is insufficient land within the USA to meet the housing needs how many acres should be added could you can you can you tell
me that >> you have within the urban services area can you can you help me with that >> absolutely commissioner um So, uh, kind of jumping back to the third point real quick. I'll note that the, uh, cluster
provision only applies to lake protection inside the urban service area where there's water and sewer. So, a lot of this area would be unimpacted by or not impacted by the proposed density change. So given given what you said number three and that that the the
question that answer that that that's being asked there given what you said does it is it does it seem as relevant to something that we should be concerned about? Um I mean it's a a staff recommendation so I don't see a concern
uh >> okay >> for that point and to your your point uh you know it would go through the process in this area especially to do a comp plan amendment a reszoning and site plan. >> Uh but to your question about the the urban service area and kind of doing
those calculations uh first many of those calculations have been done. Okay. Uh if we look at the data analysis page for uh this project the website there is what's called the community audit. >> Mhm. >> And that included information about
what's in the pipeline. It looked at what acreages were vacant, what land usees those uh uh acreages is in >> and uh how many units could be built. So I I believe we've done the analysis. In
fact, we've sent it to uh the people who have requested it multiple times. U but we can repackage that when we bring it back for adoption to make it a little bit clearer. Um and if there's something that's missing, uh we can look at that. But I believe that analysis has been
done. Uh but what we did, there's a couple different layers of how to look at this. Uh the first one is just kind of big picture. How much land is vacant? What is the land use? And you know theoretically what is the maximum
development allowed by that land use. So if uh we have an acre of land and it allows up to 20 units an acre then you could build 20 units. Uh what we started doing after we did that analysis which is in the community audit is tried to drill down a little bit more and we
provided uh in the transmitt hearing materials the vacant potentially developable lot analysis and then I actually looked more specifically at where are those vacant parcels? are they in commercial subdivisions? Because if they're in commercial subdivisions,
they're probably not going to be a residential development because there are some land use categories that allow residential or commercial development. And so, um, we kind of filtered those out and then we looked at ones that were in existing neighborhoods. Uh, there's a lot of, uh, things like subdivision
regulations that don't allow you to achieve that theoretical maximum. Uh, we've also started looking at, you know, environmental features. So if we can say, you know, yes, there's an acre of land that's vacant and it allows 28 an
acre, but 3/4 of it are in a wetland or 3/4ers are in the flood zone, then you don't have an acre of land. So we've started refining that analysis uh down. That's the the vacant and potentially developable analysis that we included. Uh that's also on the data analysis
website. Uh ultimately the question of how much acreage do you need to add to the urban service area to accommodate uh population growth really isn't something that you can calculate because just because land is vacant doesn't mean that
someone is willing to sell it, someone wants to develop it. Uh that there aren't other restrictions. uh you know the only way you can really find out exactly how much you can build is to do a site plan for every single parcel. Uh and that just would take us
decades to do if we looked at every parcel in the county and developed a site plan for it. So what we've tried to do is make sure that we're meeting the statutory requirement that says that you have to have at least a minimum amount of land that could accommodate the
projected population growth. So we're making sure that we met that while also trying to generate the data analysis that gives us a better understanding of uh theoretically at least where development would happen, what it would look like uh and what is the actual feasibility of doing that.
>> Thank you. Um I wanted to say uh to the folks who came out tonight, thank you for coming out. It's it's it's refreshing to see folks come out and speak on behalf of the neighborhood uh and things they may be alarmed about that's happening within the neighborhood
and to and to know I felt good about the fact that you all felt good about the way staff work with you to get to a recommendation that you all could be on that we can all be on the same page with. And so I enthusiastically uh
support uh staff recommendations of option one and option number two knowing that that endorsement not only comes from our staff but from the words I've heard here from day today from the constituents who would be uh affected the most. Um
when our staff was talking I heard the name Pam Hall. Uh and I spent a lot of time with that lady. She basically taught me almost everything I know about about the urban services area. admin for I was first elected. She sat me down and she said, "Nicholas Maddox, you want to sit down with me? I'm going to teach you about the urban services area." I said,
"Okay, whatever." Uh, and she said to me, she said that this is the line that governs where development happens. Anything inside of it will be intense. Anything outside of it should not, it should stay rule. I'll never forget her for that. Um, she taught me everything I
know about it when but she also taught me about urban fringe and the fact that urban fringe was placed there to eventually become a part of the urban services area when um development needed to happen and that was the anticipated
extension of the urban services area. So I remember you told me about that group that you were talking about that sat down and talked about as we as we look at future growth were places that we could we could probably look at to extend and and this was one of the areas
um just because the part that I I never really quite understood and some of my most intense conversations with her um was and she said never to say it publicly. God rest her soul, but I'm going say it publicly anyway. I used to
ask the question, well, if it's the urban services area, why isn't the city limits mirroring the urban services area if urban development is going to happen within the area that's outlined? And she
said, "That's a good question." Um, and it speaks a lot to what Commissioner Proctor said talks about when you talk about those areas in the southside that may be within the urban services area but have not received the urban services that they may need, especially given the fact that you have that sandy soil down
there. We're trying to protect the aquifer. Um, but you know, a lot of times those are those are not our decisions. Those are city decisions to be made and also it's about the the constituent and if they want to actually hook up to the sewer. Uh a lot of times with some of those deals, correct me if
I'm wrong, Mr. Administrator, it goes with it. So goes that you can remain on septic as long as your system still works. But when your system fails, you will have to hook up to sewer and they keep maintaining those systems and those systems work and they stay on septic and
they never hook up to sewer. But the minute they they fail, they will have to be hooked up to sewer. Commissioner Mer, I appreciate the hard work that you put into this and I think that like I said that that first piece of it I think is is is ready for the prime time and I'm willing to go ahead and move with that.
But that there was a couple things the gentleman talked about and I appreciate your your your passion and your word, sir. Um you talked about delaying. Um I think I would be where you are if we didn't have another bite at the apple. This is going to come back to us for adoption. And so any questions that we
have, we can have those questions. We can ask those questions today for that stuff to come back during adoption. And if we're not ready to adopt, we're not ready to adopt. But if we are, then we move forward. So, so I can I can go with staff recommendation because it's going to come back for adoption. I like the
idea of of the first piece of of the addition that Commissioner Miner has made. But I would what I would suggest is if we have those types of questions where we talked about here, uh some of the questions Commissioner Meyer talked about, I'm just not I just don't get how we get there. So, I'm not ready to include those. But if we have questions,
I think we can ask staff those questions and then they can bring it back during the adoption that's germanine to us being able to move forward with adopting the uh comp plan amendments that we're talking about now. That's that piece of it. The second piece, um, a lot of the
things it was almost when I was listen I'm glad you wrote it down, Commissioner Mike, because I was listening to you. I was like, what what are you talking? It was a lot. And it and it gave me the mind of, you know, with that with that intensity of questioning in addition and it's almost like maybe just ask for a
workshop or something. It was just it was just so much to it um that it it was information that could have been I'm serious it could have been placed in its own workshop. We could have had a whole hour and a half just talking about all this stuff and answering the qu asking
the questions of staff and trying to figure out how we move forward on it. So, um, I'm I'm I'm I appreciate you bringing it up. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair, for allowing me to have the dialogue with staff. I understand where staff is coming from and even some of
the questions that were answered. Um, but I I think I'm I think I'm cool with just us going with staff recommendation and that piece on addition one. And um Commissioner Pner to your point and a
couple people brought it up about sewer on the south side. Commissioner Pder I will say to his credit has pushed for that for a long time. Uh I've been up here with him and ever since I've been here and probably before I was here he's talked about density and increasing
density uh in certain areas uh on the south side that just made sense. Um, one more conversation I had with Pam Hall was was circled around the idea of we're one municipality in one county, right? But if you think about it, if you really
think about it, we have towns, right? You have and this this conversation I had with Pam. I said, you know, you have Fort Braen that really is a self-contained town within Lyon County. It's never going to be I asked you a
question. Well, does any of them come close to being incorporated and becoming its own city? And she said no because they couldn't be a they couldn't handle um they couldn't handle the utility piece of it. Uh so you got Fort Braen. The closest she said it'll probably come to would probably be Bradfordville. You
got Woodville. All these places you got you got these are townships that have he heavy and density heavy d heavy density in Mkasuki and that could have their own little central area to where and what I thought of if I'm in Mkasuki
can you can we have a town center that similar to what you may see in Southwood to where I didn't have to drive all the way into town to get groceries. It may not be a huge Publix, but something smaller, self-contained that everybody in that in that neighborhood could do
almost like a village or a township. Um, we haven't quite got there yet, but but this idea of of as we move forward what Lyon County looks like per the um comp plan, there's so many different ideas there. I just I really I like the
direction this is going in and I like the fact that we we get to have another conversation about it. It'd be my recommendation as I as I suggested that we move forward with the stuff that's been that with my motion and that we ask staff to come back with answered questions that we may have. Thank you,
Mr. Chair. Thank you, Commissioner Maddox. So, right now there's a substitute motion on the floor. I see we're discussion continuing on the substitute motion. Commissioner O'Keefe, you are recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. First, I have a uh
a question on order. If I wanted to ask for an amendment, would that be an order on a substitute motion or just sort of >> if if Commissioner Maddox would accept it? Correct. >> Accept it. Well, um well, then I'll preview and say you owe
me for letting you sit next to the chair. So, remember that. Um, and so I I am I will say I I appreciate staff, especially on the Lake Jackson, bringing it back from the west side of it. That
was major. And it's nice. I always like it when I see our environmental groups and staff recommendation line up um on something like this. So, that part I really like. Um, and but I do have the same concerns from uh Commissioner
Miner's initial motion. um um and I would have supported that, but knowing that's not what we're discussing now, um there's um that makes sense. So, what I want to talk about is the area
out near Southwood and um because we've heard and went into a lot of detail near Lake Jackson. the area out in Southwood um is one owner owns that 1100 acres. Um it is
on a it is going above and below a protected canopy road and it is in an area that drains to I believe the St. Mars headwater and Wakulla Springs uh where we spend millions to protect and
it was mentioned that a connection road would be Orange Avenue. Theoretically it would come through but my question is where would it connect to >> because you we know on developments we want in and out where it connects to it has to go east. It's got to be old St. Augustine road or
it's got to be. For example, I won't make him put the map back up, but I was sitting here looking at this map thinking, where could this connect? Where could this be going? Cuz I don't want to say there's nothing out there. There's beautiful area out there, but there's not infrastructure out there. That's why
I'm questioning it. Right? If you look at where Pine Z is in Connor Boulevard, I could imagine someone connecting that southward arguing it needs to go down to Orange Avenue extension going right
through next to the cemetery and right across Old St. Augustine Road to connect to this new expansion area. And I say that because I say that's not on the table right now. That's not in an application. But what we're voting on now is not is the rules for the next 25
years. And yes, there are processes for every amendment that comes through. But what I want to point out is that this is every change we make opens up a step to the next step where someone will apply for a change, then to the next step where they get to the next committee, then to the next step for if
it's not a land use change, the next step is the zoning change, then the next step is a um special uh density uh request and the next step is this. every step further you get from this comprehensive plan, this body loses a
little bit of our authority um because of the nature of the rules. And that's why it's so important to get it right right now. And I say all that to say I'm thinking where is this going to go? I'm not against density. For example, on Appalache
Parkway, there's increased density. There's large density. That is making more sense to me because it's on Appalache Parkway. This development which is would be north and south of old Augustine Road does not connect Appalach Parkway. It only connects to Capitol
Circle and then Williams Road. Um and so it's me thinking out 20 years from now once one parcel's developed that's already zoned the many part I'm pointing at it like the map. There's a map in my head. It doesn't matter what's on the screen. Um there already parcels out
there that are in the urban services area that are zoned for development that can be developed. Those make sense, but adding this to it doesn't. And the important thing to note is when you increase the density of one set of parcels, you then have a knock-on effect
of the next parcel out becomes to contiguous and you can apply for increased land classification or zoning on that. Don't get up staff. I know I'm using the wrong word, but the point is that the idea is is consistent. And so, keep in mind, every puzzle piece you add
has a knock-on effect to allow increase density. And that direction doesn't make sense for that. If it did, it would. I'm I'm sitting here scratching my head going on the opposite side, you've got we're pulling back near the Orchard Pond Trail and Meridian and Bannerman because
there there's not there's nature out there and there's not, you know, arterial network out there. But even there, you're eventually going to have the Bannerman extension, right? And I'm thinking, what's the next blueprint project? What's blueprint 2050 or 2040 going to be? Is it going to be out in chairs to connect I 10 to Appalache
Parkway? Because I got to tell you right now, the only way to get down to Old St. Augustine is Capitol Circle, right? And Appalache Parkway. You can't drive through Tom Brown Park, you can't drive across Lake Lafayette. And so if you start extending out and you need to connect somewhere, you're going all the way out to chairs. You're going out to
the edge of the county. in 20 years from now, are we going to be having major roadways trying to put through there as we start puzzle piecing out a direction that doesn't make sense? And I will say this, and I want all my Buck Lake constituents to close your ears. There are other areas even in my district that
make sense for expanding the urban service areas. There's areas that connect to Mayan and Buck Lake and near I 10 that are not on protected canopy roads. And so my question is why are we putting this for one land owner in a
what's going to be a plan development to get in as part of our overall process instead of going through the appropriate large amendment process where we get to see what matters to exactly that development. And so I say all that to
say I'd ask for a friendly amendment to not expand the USA area south of Appalache Parkway west of Williams Road and allow any of those owners to pursue the appropriate amendment process if they
want. >> Could you repeat the amendment, please? >> Sure. It is not to not expand the urban services area south of Appalachi Parkway west of Williams Road and let the owners go through the normal
large amendment process if they would like to. And I can put the map back up if that'd be helpful to picture. >> Could you do something? >> Yeah. Um, can you put the map back up? That was >> Yeah, that's that's that's okay. You can put the map up, >> K. I have it right here. This is the right right map, right?
Commissioner vice chair. >> Correct. >> The best aid of the county commission made that map here. And so my my requested amendment does not affect the the sort of small
corrections in the the eastern edge of the finger. It just affects the marked parcels. Just for a point of clarification, um, Mr. Vice Chair, could you point out where specifically your >> Yep. >> Oh, I have a pointer.
>> Okay. Um, for reference, this is Athletic Park and for reference, this is circle and this is Old St. Austin Road and This is Williams Road and for reference
this is the Appalachic Parkway. So the area I'm asking to not expand any of the urban service areas extension that occurs within west of William Road south
of Appalachian Parkway. So it only does not allow this urban service expansion west of William Road south of Appalachia Parkway. It allows them as part of this allows them to follow process.
>> All right. So, we have a proposed amendment by Commissioner U Mr. Vice Chair O'Keefe. Uh, Commissioner Maddox, do you accept the amendment? >> No, sir. >> Okay. >> Commissioner Maddox declines the amendment. Commissioner O'Keefe, you're
still in the queue. Anything else? >> Uh, you can't do a substitute, says substitute. >> No, sir. >> Correct. All right. Thank you. >> Okay. Next, I have uh Commissioner Proctor. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I um appreciate all y'all.
Um it's not that I'm against the USA expansion. It's just that promises made to specific people are are not have not been kept.
and um uh being a member of this commission that received 27 lawsuits against the city's growth along Thomasville Road, the corridor of the Bannerman,
that the county was sued 27 times to stop our march to expand and to adopt annexation of uh areas up all the way up to child's
high school. At the same time, nobody was pushing and the city was not and the county has not to abide with services
that are equal. But what we have now is separate and unequal actualization of services delivered within the USA. That's what frustrates me. I have no doubt that the proposed uh USA line um
everything will go just like um um Dr. Hall promised you, Commissioner Madams. It always does. It it it it happens that across the street uh from District 1, Southwood comes
online, I believe, led by uh I mean, county administrator help. Was that not a PUB that that guided uh Southwood? >> A DRRI. Okay. Um and we saw that those
um golden aers and uh some kind of turtle and all this things had to be numerated for them to proceed. Uh but the sidewalks, the underground
uh utilities, uh wires, no wires. Um the lights are there. They function. We just got lights on on Crawfordville Road a few just just 3 months ago. Okay. Um Bannerman Square, all of that. Um we
sustained 27 lawsuits that people uh one of the lawyers was here and spoke uh Mrs. um Dinker um tonight if she's not still here file a hell of a lot of suits. They wanted to retain what they call the urb the um rural character.
Um it's just sad to see that services being delivered uh inside of these urban services on the basis of race. But more importantly, Commissioner Cummings, the people in Southwood not only get to
pay for city utilities, but being annexed into the city, they get to vote in city elections. The distinction of these mostly black areas denied sewer though in the urban
services area is that the city refuses to annex them. and the article written two, three weeks ago by um uh former local Democratic Party chairman and state um um Democratic member John Osman
uh laid out, how annexation has been used to expand white uh voting voting base in the city of Tallahassee and how the failure to annex has suppressed,
marginalized, and um minimalized the presence of black voters not withstanding densities um not withstanding that they are customers of utility of the city of Tallahassee
and these white areas that fall within the urban services area always become voters. Um, and that's an extension of white power while not providing the same um um
incorporation and empowerment of black communities. So the word annexation is the thing that gives the citizen voting power inside the city.
And the city frankly have shown just how little they care to tax people through a file services fee but deny them the right to vote. That's all mucked up. But that's not on the agenda tonight. That's not what we've
we've read, but I wanted to clarify what irks me uh in the worst way, Mr. Chairman. And I think that if um if um if we're um serious about our community
not being separate and unequal, then there is so much room for this body to insist to file a lawsuit or to deny the annexation petitions that the city so favorably desires and pursues from all
areas. Now, uh Mr. furlow. It's one thing that that that that the city's annexation is never fair. It's never balanced because it's always selfserving.
City supports annexation and growth because the city is always looking uh and I think Mr. Miner talked about uh the east the west side of Meridian. The city is not going to deny themselves
themselves the meters for whatever the thousands of numbers of homes you said. And it's a shame that the city has a financial interest in all those utility meters that go on
commercial buildings, the new commercial buildings, the new residential areas. I mean like he he he haha more money for us bring it. It's it's it's sad that with that financial stake that the city gets to
vote on something that they got their hand out and about to get paid on. They have never voted against themselves. They never voted on these meters uh enriching their coffers. They can't afford the you the fire department no matter how vast their
empire expands but it's selferving and it seems to me that is never an objective review because it's too much money at the end of the rainbow and they always approve approve approve approve is not an objective review when you
stand to make money off the outcome that's what I see so we always go along. We never really object and we allow the city to in its tentacles to stretch into all these areas where there's a
stronghold where one person owns,00 acres where one person owns 8 or 900 acres. That right there is Kashing Kashing Kasheen. That's what I've observed um my time
watching of being an observer here on this day. That's what I see. Um, but in terms of denying the right to vote by failing to annex south inside of those um inside that
urban service area, that's called racism. That's what that is. And I've sat here long enough and watched different sides of town receive the right to vote because they were annexed. Not just because they were
in the USA, but they got that other piece annexation. You just don't see to the southside. And I am saying what it is. It's just racism and it's also voter suppression. Thank you very much, Mr. M. >> Thank you for the comments, Commissioner
Proctor. Next in the queue, I have uh our immediate past chair, Commissioner Welch. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, you know, this one, Commissioner Miner, I know you've done a a yman's work, uh, looking into this and analyzing this,
but you know, my initial inclination was that this was just too much that while I could support the staff recommendation, adding all this to it, I was not going to be able to support. Um, and I would just say generally speaking,
commissioners, we probably, it's just probably bad form to be whipping out um, a bunch of maps and stuff up on the dis that no one's analyzed, no one's seen. I still, Commissioner O'Keefe, don't really know what this represents. Um,
it's like it just don't mean anything to me cuz I don't know what it is. Uh, I just think that's like at some point just ask for an agenda item to come back and analyze all this because it just throws it all in into a disarray because
you have an analysis and staff recommendations and we were all very we're all I think at this point very clear on the ramifications of what what was initially pursued as opposed to what is now the being considered. Um,
so all that aside, I'm willing to sort of make a compromise and go along with Commissioner Maddox's uh substitute amendment, which is why I seconded it. I mean, I really don't even like the number one part because I just don't know enough about
the implications of that because I think it's very important. I think we have to be very careful about how we there's a fine line between reasonable concerns about growth and then just being nitpicky and
and being averse to even common sense reasonable requests. Uh specifically, you know, the 1400 acre thing that we've looked at. I mean, my understanding, correct me if I'm wrong, I mean, it doesn't change any density.
These properties could be developed tomorrow. Um, so to say that it's going to create traffic problems on Marian Road, well, I mean, no more than it already can. Well, I mean, they can't change the densities, right?
I mean, it's already these are properties that are already platted. They're already owned. The densities can't change. That's my understanding. Is that incorrect? Commissioner Miner, >> are you asking a question to Commission? >> I'm asking Commissioner Miner. Yeah, >> Commissioner Miner, you may respond. >> I guess I could ask staff. >> I guess that would be better to ask
staff. >> Commissioner Miner's recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate it. You're correct. And and staff told me that from the get-go. This does the the change eastidium does not change the allowable housing density whatsoever. All it stays urban fringe. Um, and I
said before, I don't oppose necessarily the the the change of the USA. Connecting it to sewer is a good thing. However, when you move property into the USA, you do encourage more development >> because the infrastructure is provided. Right. >> Right. >> And I don't even necessarily object to
that. >> My only concern though is is what the traffic impact would be on Meridian Road >> because we don't we I don't feel we've done enough of analysis yet with the with that amount of parcels to know what the impact's going to be. You heard people already here say, you know, on
property western Meridian of their concerns about um the the traffic there. This is basically adding 1,400 acres east of Meridian along Meridian. I'm not opposed to it yet. I I want to know more information, but I think we need to look at that more carefully before we bring
the USA um additions of that number. And with SB80, once you provide um development entitlements, you can't walk that back. So once we take this step, we can't work backward if we realize after the fact that too much
development up in that area will damage Meridian Road. >> Okay, >> that's my point. >> I'm going to go back. I was just want to let you respond to your re. >> All right. So again, I say it doesn't change the densities. So the traffic impacts on Maren Road are moot
because encouraging that development versus not encouraging that development doesn't change those impacts. It just changes your stance on that development in terms of getting it sewer which gives better protection to the lake. We all
want these properties to be on sewer. We want to eliminate or limit the amount of septic tanks that are in the ground. And so to me, to me that is a reasonable approach for our planning staff to take. I mean, hey, you're not
changing the densities. Those properties could be developed tomorrow if they wanted to. Those cars could be on the road tomorrow if they wanted to. You're not changing that. So like encouraging it or not encouraging it, the question becomes what which one outweighs the other? You would you'd rather protect the the groundwater and
Lake Jackson or add some cars to Midian Road that could already be added to Mid Road? That's the question. And I to me that's that to me is like that's not a bad idea. >> And an analysis of that would Commissioner Commission >> May I continue? >> Um
I mean I I like I don't need an analysis to make that decision. That's my point. I mean those cars can already be on Meridian Road. Those properties can already be developed and those cars could be on Meridian Road. This is just saying, "Hey, should you develop the property, we we're going to uh allow you
to connect to us a utility system." Like, and that's what I mean. It's we're getting kind of like namby pamby here about any growth at all. And that's my concern because we become like I mean I think everybody agrees that the the west
side of Meridian Road stuff definitely needs a comp plan amendment approach and master planning and all those steps but and and so that's why I was not really on board with the substitute amendment because I don't think it's necessarily reasonable to to walk back staff's
effort in that regard. I think that's a sensible approach. It's effectively benign in my opinion. uh it seems reasonable and sensible and allows for lake protection. So um and we all got that analysis before tonight. So uh
I just don't want us to be in a posture that we are we lose sight of the forest for the trees. we we don't even want to accept reasonable uh expansions of the USA into areas that are already developable
um just for for the sake of providing good utility services. I just feel like we're we're kind of missing the point here in that regard. And I think that's a got to be careful about that posture because then it puts us in a place where
we are vastly limiting development and growth. And I mean that's a I think that's a huge danger to our community. No matter we're talking about the parcel on on St. Augustine Road. I mean that's right next to Southwood. That's a huge
development that's already there. Again, it's like that's a reasonable approach to me to like that's going to happen. Like at what point do we go, hey, let's just get our heads out of the sand and go these are going to happen. These are right next to already
developed properties. I get the sort of caution and concern, but I just think we we we we are untethered from the sort of realities of the situation when it comes to the future of our community. We have to accept that the community is going to grow. We have to accept that houses are
going to be built. We ha we can't reflexively oppose these types of efforts by educated, capable planning staff who who know these issues far better than we do, but give us really good analysis. I feel
like we are just handicapping ourselves from embracing that future that we are worried about. We can't be so worried about the future that we don't allow it to occur. And that is my concern with that. All the other stuff. I think
Commissioner Miner, your advocacy on that is is great. I think you're spot on and sort of raising red flags about that stuff. Obviously, we can't expand Meridian Road and you know, we don't want to create
traffic nightmares north of Orchard Pond, but I mean, these are already developable properties. So, um that's my thought on it. I'll continue. I'll support the first policy suggestion, Commissioner Miner, addition one. When you say policy 1.8.2, that's a
created policy that's not currently in place. >> Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. Um that was the policy number that was provided to me by by by our planning department when they were providing some suggestions to me for this language. So that >> what what you see there is not exactly
what planning staff gave me. I added some edits. Um but uh that's how you got the the planning number. >> See that's the problem man. I would like to see exactly what they offered you. But it's okay. I'll support it because I feel like it's I trust that you're that that's reasonable and I assume they've
looked at that. >> Okay. Again, that's the I just really wish that we would have a affirmation from our staff, our professional staff at least seen some of this stuff um before we get it flown across the DIS. Um so
yeah, I mean that seems reasonable to me. The the rest of the stuff again I kind of with Commissioner Miner on that. I mean Commissioner Maddox on that and even Commissioner Proctor some hesitency at the first suggestion of all that stuff. So that's where I'm at. I'll support the substitute motion that I seconded and uh I think that's it.
Commissioner Mr. Chairman, >> thank you, Mr. Immediate Pass. Chair, I am going to go next to Commissioner Cummings. Uh, got in the queue late, so I would love to hear your thoughts on this. >> Oh, thank you, Mr. Chair. And I I won't be very long. Um,
we have a substitute motion that adopts the recommendation, the the status report from staff plus adopts addition one >> from Commissioner Miner. >> Yes, ma'am.
>> And it has been second. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Is that correct? Okay. I just want to make sure we're all on the same page. I appreciate the discussion from my fellow commissioners. Certainly appreciate the discussions
that we have had with property owners uh various organizations that have met with us here and we've we've met by Zoom on the phone and I think citizen involvement is very very important. I
appreciate uh Mr. County Administrator, the staff holding all of the public meetings and listening to the citizens, especially those that live in the various areas where we are talking about
extending the urban services area. and they not only uh had the meetings and listened but they have altered the recommendation in my opinion uh drastically from the initial
um comp plan that that we had and I think number one is indicating that perhaps all of the various studies hadn't been done to include expanding the urban
services area west of Meridian Road is just very significant and I think it it shows the level of professionalism of of our staff, the planning staff and it shows uh their sensitivity to the needs of the
community uh especially around the Lake Jackson area and then some other areas that they've looked at as well. But I think what the I think we all recognize the seriousness of of of our discussion, the
seriousness of adopting a comp plan because of all the years involved that this comp plan uh will cover. And and having said that, I I believe that property owners, individual
uh people that own individual parcels all have just just have equal rights, so to speak, as far as access to their property, as far as developing their property. But I believe we are here to try to make sure uh any development does
not adversely impact or fact affect specific neighbors, the neighborhood, the community, the city as a whole. Now, I believe the the analysis that has been
done perhaps uh in that area, I I commend those analysis. I'm concerned, however, that perhaps we need to look at other analysis as far as uh impact on the
environment, impact on transportation, impact on water quality. uh all of those goals and those protective measures to make sure any development or any any building uh in those areas does not
have a devastating impact on the environment and on the community. Now, I accept staff's uh recommendation as far as east
of Meridian Road. We looked at the extension of the urban services area um east of Meridian Road and and I believe for me
what's significant is that that's the rural area but in extending the urban services area we're talking about water and sewer
and hopefully reducing and the impact of the septic systems that are in place. And I think um water and sewer would clearly protect the environment
more so than the septic systems that are in in those areas. I think that they in the long run would have a devastating impact on the environment. And I think uh Commissioner Welch, our our former
chair, made a point because staff did point out that they're not recommending any change in the density east of Meridian Road with the expansion of the urban services area. So I I I think he he made a good point when he
said the density remains the same. So what's there right now will be there next year in in in the following year. And as far as expansion or a building, they could do it.
Property owners could do that right now whether we adopt this comp plan or not. And I think that's that's a significant uh point to make. And of course that is sort of the a determining factor of Commissioner
Welch when I'm sitting here pondering um what's best for the community in the long run because we're talking about years and years that this would would be in effect. So, I just I want to thank staff for their thorough uh analysis and
I will be supporting the substitute motion uh that's on the floor. Thank commissioner um miner. Uh he's been intricately involved and I don't want to lessen the impact of his
work with the community. He he's done a great job. I appreciate um the items that he has set forth before us, but I think we have done uh a good job in looking at those, analyzing
those, looking at what we believe is most appropriate to to adopt uh at this particular setting. And um and finally, I just Mr. chair, just appreciate you giving us the opportunity. I know we we
go on and on and we talk, but I think something as important as this. I think it requires each of us to listen to each other and the community as well so that we can arrive at a decision that's best, you know, best for the community and
best for those communities that uh feel that they will be adversely impacted. Um, so thank you, Mr. Chair. That's all I have. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Commissioner Cummings. Very, very delicate delicately said. Um, listen, Commissioners,
everyone's had an opportunity to speak. Um, we have a substitute motion on the floor. Um, moved by Commissioner Maddox, second by Commissioner Welch. Um, I'm going to go ahead and call the question. I'm going to go ahead. Uh, you're looking at me, Commissioner O'Keefe. You
have an amendment you want to propose? Okay. Um, I'm open to an amendment if uh if anyone would like to propose an amendment for Commissioner Maddox to to amend to. But right now, we do have a substitute motion on the floor. I'm going to call the question. So, all those in favor of the substitute motion.
>> Point of order. Does someone have to second a call on the question? >> No, I'm calling the question. I'm the chairman. So, I'm calling vote on. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So, um we call the question. All those in favor of the substitute motion on the floor, please signify by saying I.
>> I. Any opposed? >> Nay. Motion carries 52. Um, any other business related to this item, Mr. County Administrator? >> No, Mr. Chairman, that does it on this item. >> Okay. Thank you. We are now on item number 19.
Mr. County Administrator. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Commissioners, this item seeks the full board's uh consideration for an appointment of two citizens to Canada Roads Committee. Uh we're recommending uh option uh one to appoint uh two citizens for the committee for the remainder of the three-year terms. Uh eligible applicants
are listed in your item. Again, we're seeking uh two citizens and before you you have 1, two, three, four, five, six uh candidates, I believe. >> Mr. Chair, >> I'd like to make a motion to >> Oh, you commissioner Commissioner Keifer recognized.
>> I'd like to make a motion to reappoint Maryanne Cous and appoint Katie Watkins. >> Second. >> We have motion moved by Commissioner O'Keefe. Could you repeat their names, please, for the record? >> U reappoint Maryanne Cous and appoint Katie Watkins. >> That's second by Commissioner Maddox.
Commissioner Pario in the queue. >> Mr. Chairman, what does the uh Canopy Road Committee do? Oh, >> what's there function? >> So, sorry. >> Oh, one second. >> I'm so sorry. We were looking at um the waiver requirement. >> No, so Commissioner Commissioner O'Keefe
made a motion for Sorry. >> Maryanne Cous and Katie Watkins. >> Second by Commissioner Maddox and Commissioner Proctor's in the queue with a question. >> Katie Watkins requires >> Yes. Katie Katie Watkins is one of the
uh applicants who would require uh a waiver under the form 4A requirement. So it just means the vote needs to be 2/3 in favor of appointing her to the committee and that addresses the issue. >> Commissioner Mr. Prey, you have a question you said. >> Yes, sir. I I wanted to know what does
the Canopy Road functionally? What do they do? How do they how they follow your what do they how do they add to this? Sure. Yeah. And we can give you more detail, but essentially they make recommendations to the board on issues involving protections for Canopy Roads, development adjacent to Canopy Roads,
all their standing committee that um makes recommendations to the board on items related to uh Canopy Roads. And I believe Commissioner O'Keefe, I believe, are you the still the commissioner appointee on there? >> Tell you all. >> Okay. All right. >> Tell you all about it. >> And you do have a commissioner appointee
on there as well. Okay. Commissioner B is that it? Well, I you know um um arcing back to something that um Commissioner Welch uh former chairman
um me past chairman just um spoke to the common sensical uh organic um nature of growth and um I appreciated his words
and I think that when you think about the Canopy Road committ me. Um, O Bangbridge Road, Meridian Road, Centerville Road or Mikasuki Mikasuki Road.
>> Yeah, Mikasuki Road >> and the Canopy Road people is they the guard dogs against the reasonable uh expression of growth. Are they the guard dogs against the health, safety, welfare
of common sensical needs to uh you know expand the road by 6 in to the right, 8 in maybe? Could we get just a little more concrete? Uh maybe all those kids
going up to Charles on Meridian. uh all the wrecks that we have and all the Canopy Road committee do is just sit there and bark against uh the common sensical need to modify uh these roads.
Now down there by um on Centerville Road um right there at the uh before you get to I 10 uh uh Fair's Hopper. Fairy Hopper. Ain't that what John Brown blew up? Fairy Hopper. >> Hopper.
>> Hoppers Ferry. Yeah. Thank you. Uh Hopper Ferry Road is um got a little turn. Uh y'all saw that turn space and we put a buffer to allow Sville to
continue north. And I think that little expansion was about maybe 6 8 ft uh to the right. There are things that we need to do like that. And I don't know if the Canopy Road da da
da, but it seems like we need uh a real understanding going forward. Uh how do we expand and make safer these roads uh that have so much growth? >> Commissioner Proctor, I'm going to make
a recommendation. We we ask staff to email you um uh the a board uh meeting calendar for the Canopy Roads uh advisory committee. And uh >> I'm good. I don't I don't I don't care about that. Um I'm not all all that into we don't have a canopy road in district
one and I don't think we have in district 2. Uh it's just that they just bard and stop everything that need to make the streets safe. Their mission is just to stop everything dealing with transportation safety votes. >> Are you in the queue? Commissioner
O'Keefe you're recognized. Commissioner O'Keefe. >> Thank you. I can answer that quickly. as the only commissioner who had the in who was interested when we appointed people to the Canopy Road Commission um last time I'll say it's an and when the city of Tallahassee and blueprint wanted to
overrun its rules and recommendations to do a blueprint project on Centerville I can tell you we have been told it's an advisory committee and so the citizens can vote against an item but if the planning department says oh this meets code and everything it can go through it
is not rubber it is not blocking any changes. It is simply when someone who's on a canopy road needs to make a change, wants to make a wider driveway, something like that, comes through. And for example, if they got to cut down six special trees, they have to show where
they're putting six new trees. So, it's not blocking everything. It's making sure that it gets made up for somewhere else. And um and and uh that is what it it is doing. I will add on the conflict of interest. That's always important to me. So, I want to point out Katie Watkins is conflict of interest because
she's an arborist for Miller's Tree Service, which does work. I don't think that's too much of an issue. I don't think she's an owner, but I just wanted to disclose. That's why you have the conflict of interest. >> Got Thank you, Commissioner O'Keefe. We're going to call the question on this on this item. We have a U motion moved by Commissioner O'Keefe, second by
Commissioner Maddox. All those in favor of the motion on the floor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Nay. Motion passes unanimously. Um, Mr. Mr. County administrator, I believe we're on commissioner discussion. Is that right? >> That is correct, sir. >> Okay. So, we have uh citizens to be
heard on non-aggenda items. Do we have any? >> We have no speakers. >> Okay, great. Commissioners, we are on uh commissioner discussion. I am going to set a precedent every night. We will lead with commissioner Cummings as to start commissioner discussion. Thank
you. >> So, as she being our only female representative on this board, so commissioner Cummings, the floor is yours. Uh uh thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to congratulate our outgoing chair for tremendous year as chair of
our board and congratulate you as our new uh chair of the board and great meeting tonight. You allowed us to discuss and listen and and it's not even 9:00. So, we appreciate you. But I want
to uh congratulate uh Mr. Keith Bowers. I don't I don't think he's here. Uh but he's our great director of the office. He's right here. >> Oh, he's here. Oh, awesome. Okay. He's our great director of the office of economic vitality,
and I want to congratulate him on being named one of the 500 most influential businessmen in the state of Florida. So, I think that deserves A LOT OF
UH, THANK YOU, MR. BOWS, for all that you do with um as the director of economic vitality in our community. And I think we all recognize um
recognize him um for all that he he has done. Amazon, I think uh we can attribute to him and other things. uh we he brought last year the conference with the mag magnetic lab here and they are
coming back in 2026. So he's just doing a a great job. A very a young man that's just um top in in his industry. So thank you so much for all you do to make Leyon County look really good. Um and I also u
Mr. chair. I just want to um wish everyone a blessed Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is is next week. I don't I don't have anything substantive that I need to raise, but just want to wish everyone a a happy Thanksgiving and we'll see
everybody in December. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Cummings. Commissioner Miner. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, I just want to thank all of you for your patience with my original motion on number 18. Um, I I appreciate it. It was it was
complicated, but I appreciate you paying attention and considering those pieces. Um, I also want to thank our um our staff for spending so much time with me and other uh organizations, other groups um over the past several months on on the comp plan. Uh, we got more work to
do, but but I really do appreciate everything that uh that they do. Um, and should, let's say we adopt the comp plan on December 9th, um, should the Lake Jackson land owner at some point decide to file the comp plan amendment request,
I think we'll all have an open mind, go through that process and and basically evaluate it based on on on the data we have. We got to protect Lake Jackson, the aquatic preserve, and the Canopy Road. But, um, but, you know, I've told the land owner that we'll have an open
mind about that. Um, I um want to wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving. Uh, it's been a long meeting, but uh, Mr. Chairman, congratulations on your inaugural meeting as chairman and looking forward to the holiday and we'll see you next time. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Miner.
Commissioner, Mr. Vice Chair O'Keefe, >> take me at least a meeting or two to get used to the Mr. Vice Chair, Mr. Vice Chair. >> Um, only get used to it for one year. Um, uh, congratulations, Mr. Chair. um on a on a good meeting. Um I want to
thank Commissioner Miner for his motion and being so thorough on it. There's, you know, we we went around once in discussion and called the question and as I'm sure there were other people in the queue, we had thoughts on things that had brought up and that's part of
debate. It takes a It takes a while, but part of making all our comments and then hearing the comments of the other commissioners and then coming around again allows us to respond to a new idea that was been presented and it allows us to change the mind of another commissioner. I have
seen where I have changed Commissioner Maddox's mind on something. I've seen it in his eyes and Commissioner Maddox should know that he has changed my mind on something as we've gone around and responded to it. And so in the interest of continuing to work in good faith, I
hope that we will not get in the habit of limiting discussion to just one round because I fear what happens is if that's what I'm coming into, I'm not going to I'm going to make sure I go through a whole list of every possible conceivable
issue in my first round because I I don't know that I'll get to hear what other people say. And so that that's my point about being in in thinking about that as we look to do things efficiently and and expeditiously. The the other thing is in good faith I'
I'd like us to continue in that tradition and how we debate each other and and and what I mean by that is I believe everyone on this dis is acting in good faith. So I agree you have a good reason for your position. I may think you're wrong, but I don't think
it's not genuine. Right. I think you have a reason for it and you firmly believe that. But it bothers me when I question an item that may be um environmentally sensitive that I believe
is reasonable and get characterized as nambby pami reflexive throwing maps across the dis. That's just not good faith. And I'd like to ask us to to keep that in mind that I have valid reasons to uh that I'm arguing for something
just as someone on the opposite position has valid reasons and I respect that. The we we just voted on something that is very big. we're going to come back and see it in December. And part of the reason we have things popped up on the
dis at the last minute is because we didn't get a comprehensive online map of all the changes before we saw it like we did when it started. And so people couldn't dig in and see what the issues are. And so my my point here is I like the efficiency. I like our collegiality,
but there's a reason we allow time for debate. And it's because I've actually seen us change each other's minds on this dis. And um I uh do not want to continue to um have what
can be seen as the environmental perspective be mischaracterized as unreasonable or unthoughtful. That's it. Thank you. >> Is that all you have for commissioner discussion? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. Mr. immediate pasture. >> Yeah. Ready?
>> Yep. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, first, uh, I would like to ask for a proclamation for the child's high school volleyball team winning their second consecutive state championship. >> And we have a movement. We have a motion
second. >> Motion to second. All right. >> Yep. >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. All right. Thank you. Um, Commissioner O'Keefe, points well taken. I was not I apologize. I was not trying to be, you
know, um, dismissive or derogatory to you or Commissioner Miner. Just uh, trying to and those those points were generally directed at the general atmospheric nami pambiness, you know, the sort of the sort of uh, reflect and I I I've used this terminology before
and just our general our meaning this community's general approach to any any growth issue. um no matter you know how reasonable it is or no matter how long it's been planned that tends to be the reaction um and and I do I will stand
behind the idea that I don't think it's good form to be passing things across the dis that I can't read and no one's ever seen before. Um I would be cool if y'all sent that stuff out a week early um so that I could ask staff um to give
me some insight on it because I don't know frankly know anything about it. And so you kind of I I just wanted to make that point because I feel like sometimes you can talk yourself out of support by providing too much information. >> Um and so that was my only point in that. Uh but I do want to apologize.
Obviously I do not want to offend anybody on the dice and we've had a love fest tonight and I want to continue that. I I really appreciate all of you. Um and I don't want you to feel disrespected or anything like that. Um, and I agree we can, you know, I I do
respect the chairman's notion. Obviously, I'm a fan of efficiency, but I also feel like sometimes we can just vote no, you know, if we don't like it, or we can just vote yes. We don't have to like talk it in a million circles. It's okay to be on one side of it or the other. Um, but I won't belabor that.
Congratulations to our new chair. I'm looking forward to a wonderful year, uh, a dynamic year. you know, the chairman strikes me as a dynamic guy. So, I'm looking forward to um you know, really moving the needle. Uh and I also want to
thank each of you for your kind comments earlier. Uh it means the world to me. It does not ring hollow at all. I appreciate it more than you know. I'll be reflecting on your kind words for days. It'll keep me uh elevated for a while. And also, congratulations to you,
Commissioner O'Keefe, on being vice chair. uh looking for it which will be you know my penultimate year of my second term will be with you as chair so that'll be great. Um so uh thank you all again and happy Thanksgiving uh next week. Um I'm looking forward to it. I
got a week off from teaching at Children's High School which I'm really in need of at this point because I'm burning it at both ends. Um and uh so yeah, thank you very much. >> Thank you Mr. Immediate Pastor Commissioner Maddox. Thank you. Um, Commissioner Welch, you continue to
impress me, man. Everybody's feelings are valid and the way you just handled um, Commissioner O'Keefe's comments were >> Mr. Vice Chair. Mr. Vice Chair, >> I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Respect, respect, Mr. Vice Chair. Mr.
Vice Chair, Commissioner O'Keefe's comments um, was was very collegial. Very collegial. I will say that, you know, over the years, man, we've heard some things on this diet, Commissioner Pro,
and most of the times it came from you. >> That's a lot of years. >> Yeah, man. But um but but I I I I appreciate I appreciate the way we have the ability to to to debate an issue, even if it's heated, and come away uh with respect for one another. and and
that what you just did is indicative of who this board is. And so I appreciate y'all. I will say though, Commissioner O'Keefe, the hardest job I've ever had as chairman, because in so many ways, you use your judgment
to know when is the right time, you know, and I I think I think Commissioner uh me immediate past chair since we're using titles said it best sometimes just to vote against. Um, I'll be honest with you, my mind was
going to change and I think I think the chair I think the chairman probably knew that. Um, but I want to say that I appreciated the debate, the intensity of it, and I appreciate it even what Commissioner
Miner did in the way he crafted it. the the the point of a lot of times this get real it gets real confusing because a lot of there's a lot of information to digest and as the as the immediate past said when I get when I when I got all the information commissioner right I was sitting here trying to digest it and it
was just on the fly you had had all that that time with staff but I didn't and I had so many questions you know and I just didn't have enough time to take it all in so um you know tonight tonight was a good meeting uh congratulations to our chair and our vice chair uh heck of
your year immediate past. Uh you weren't quite good as as Commissioner Cumins, but you were good though. >> Um understandable. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um but I I also wanted to on a on a business note, I had a question about did we ever have next
steps when it came to the late Mson town hall? Were there next steps with that or were we just or did we where were we on that? Were there any next steps connected to that? Miss Ann is here and she will answer the questions.
>> So, we met with the uh citizens at the town hall. We did a presentation, they did a presentation um had some conversation and then we will bring the next agenda item back to you in June, we think next year. But other than that, there are no next steps. >> You said in June next year.
>> June next. Yeah. >> Okay. at and that'll be at the end of the 2-year uh post draw down monitoring that we're doing. >> Commissioner Max, I believe that's part of the the timeline of the action plan for Lake Monson. >> That's correct. >> Okay. Okay. I just I I had I had
decision reach out to me to ask me what the next steps were and they had requested the agenda item. I just wanted to know I'm not going to ask for agenda item if we already kind of had some things planned, but it sounds like we're going to come back in June with uh with an update and then we when we did that, we can have questions or whatever comes from there. Okay. Yeah, I'm I'm fine
with that. I'm fine with that. Um, so you all have a a very very very happy and good things, ma'am. Oh, yes. Yes. Oh, the public hearing, Mr. Chair, if you don't mind, I would like to be put in um in favor of staff recommendation, which
I was watching, which happened on both of those. If the record can reflect, I I voted in favor of stat recommendation for both public hearings. Thank you so much. Uh again, thank you, Madam Attorney. Everybody have a happy Thanksgiving. Again, I I I enjoy the collegiality of this board. I enjoy who we are as a board. I think work well
together. Conversations are worth it. They're long, but they're worth it. Most of me, me and Bill talking. Uh, but as Bill just told me, we got 45 years. We can say what we want to say. All right. So, thank you guys, and I appreciate it. >> Yep. Thank you, Commissioner Maddox. Mr. Proper, the floor is yours. >> Mr. Chairman, thank you. Uh,
commissioners, I I know that some of you think that I I'm I'm in need of a mental health examination. And um I I guess uh to sit up here and to listen to all this ranker for these numbers of years, uh you you got to be
crazy to love to love this kind of stuff, you know. So So I I I I will seek um a review of mental health stability. come up here and mess with y'all every every tooth. Y'all crazy.
All All y'all crazy. I don't want no exemption. I'm not talking about our own play, but but the rest of y'all just crazy, but I'm going exempt Commissioner Cummings. And y'all know y'all crazy. We have great leadership. Commissioner Ban, thank you for serving as our chair, our
immediate past chair. Awesome. and we're in line to have um I mean either of y'all could be the next mayor of Tallahass as far as I'm concerned. I mean you just got it going on. Um and I might want to consider some things. Um
friends, I want to say that u asking a request for resolution uh our inbuilding uh male person Ken is Ken's last name Smith Vince. >> What's his last name? killing
>> killing um is going to retire about 34 35 years and um um since I he was here when I got here and he's diligently served um just twice a day the delivery
and I would like a resolution uh >> proclamation for his his retirement. Thank you. Also we got a motion and a second. All those in favor signify by saying I. Hi. >> Um, I'd seek a resolution honoring the
first black female postmaster uh here in Tallahassee, Miss Vanessa Cobb. >> Second. >> Um, moved. Moved >> moved by Commissioner second by Commissioner Maddox. All those in favor signify by saying I.
>> I. also seek uh along the lines of uh Miss Cobb, uh the young lady that delivers the mail in the 32301 zip code. Um the male lady uh has been doing this, you probably see her. She
always has a white towel wrapped around her neck. And um I stopped her other day and left her name in in in the car. forgot to bring her name, but I like the the uh proclamation for um um Jane Doe,
male lady uh whose name I'll bring back. >> So move. Thank you. >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> I want to say that and I told her that you got to be good cuz you're down here delivering to the capital, the county
commission, the city commission, these law firms, all these association. You can't miss not now piece of mail. All these people jack you up. I wouldn't deliver. If I was a mailman, I would deliver, but not in this.
So, she's fantastic male lady. Um the Latiners down in um in um Woodville. Uh, Miss County, Mr. Trader, I'm um as we go into holiday season, uh, I'm
brokenhearted and I believe that, uh, resolution with that family and their efforts to, uh, get their home situation worked out. uh I'll ask another uh diligent effort that we have a
sitdown with the Latiners and if board um support is needed if I need a motion um uh I like to make that motion for staff to sit down to have a a real effort to resolve Latin
situation. So move. >> So we have a motion on the floor by Commissioner Proctor. Uh Commissioner Proctor, can you clearly state the motion, please? >> Can you? >> Um yes. Asking our staff um senior staff to meet the Latiners that we can resolve their situation.
>> What was the issue? >> Can I ask this M? >> One second. I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to defer to the the county attorney on this issue >> on >> the Ladders have threatened to sue the county. They filed notices of claim.
We've provided that information to our insurer. Our insurer has determined that we have no liability to the Ladders for the allegedly defective work performed on their house by their home builder of
their choice who it's my understanding they are in litigation with prior >> that's my summary. >> Prior to getting to to that point, we spent hours with the Ladders and and performed inspections and reinspections um at their request. Um and uh
ultimately there were were additional requests which we we could no longer satisfy because they were in compliance with building code and that sort of thing. But we we do uh again we do appreciate where the sentiment's coming from. We've worked really hard with the Latiners um over this time. But as the
county attorney says, it's kind of gone into a a different direction involving uh potential litigation. So >> Commissioner Park, you would keep your motion on the floor. >> I mean has no second. >> There's no second. Okay. D for a f second. >> Can I ask a question then?
Mr. Chair, county attorney, >> of course. >> Did the notice of claim come for from council? Did it come from their attorney? >> They at one time did have an attorney. I don't know that they currently have an attorney. >> Commissioner Pro.
>> Thank you. Um, no no second, but um I think that the threat to sue the county is uh is um is irresponsible uh not to negotiate. I mean the city
threatens to sue us. We threaten to sue the city. I mean I mean that's what government called governments get threatened to get sued. Um that's what they do. And when we're in charge of um inspections and uh reinspections as um the county
administrators pointed out and that we are passing um approving work of of uh various um vendors, contractors, subcontractors and that as has been pointed out by the
county attorney, their builders have done subpar work and which she's absolutely correct and is that what you said >> point of information that is not what I said I said allegedly because that has
never been established and and I just want to say the case law is very clear we can never be liable to the laders for any amount of money for any alleged misconduct of any of our employees it is covered by
sovereign immunity So there's no legal basis for the ladders to assert that they are entitled to any compensation from the county. >> Thank you for clarification. Mr. Put recognized.
>> Right. County attorney may well have spoken. I believe um sovereign immunity uh at least under tort is is chapter 728 Florida statute. But nevertheless and notwithstanding 728
uh I dare say that equitably uh we have not served the Latiners well in review of work as I've seen it. But I see um the resistance of our staff and
they're um citing state statute that we're beyond uh being we're unreachable unreachable and we can't be held accountable and that's sad. It's sad that we're not willing to be uh to
recognize even if there is contributo negligence which is to factor that portion of responsibility that this faulty work has been allowed to um to um occur versus that proportion of fault
which is that of the contractors. uh contributo negligence is the is a u is a theory of law that cites the liability of all parties proportion to uh the contribution of fault which is theirs
their their share. Um this is sad. Um, commissioners, I was well pleased to um see today that uh ACLU lawsuit uh might well settle fire issues uh on the fire
fee. And I've shared with you uh a memo uh which I uh conveyed to our county administrator in which um essentially I'm asking um in light of this lawsuit
uh which we have uh speaking of lawsuits and the threat of lawsuits uh we too have um um talked about options. Um, I'm asking that we uh afford the county administrator
to look comprehensively at uh the county coming into the total management of fire services. It's clear um as this article points out today on fire services. I I brought this cuz I
read it this morning. Sometimes articles read different in the evening. I don't know what makes that difference, but uh it reads clearer to me tonight than it did even this morning that there's been a litany of um um miscarriages on on the
part of the city. And it seems that they have financial strain. Uh so much so that the last little tension between us uh occurred over their alleged need to raise uh the fee by 22%.
And um I say to you that we stood our ground protecting the pockets of of u county residents. Um if they can't afford the um the fire department and it seems that they can't, they haven't
reached an agreement with the firemen to give a livable wage. Uh, I think that we should look at because they're willing to donate to us now and uh to let us stand on our own two feet for county.
But if the ACLU lawsuit carries through, then it's clear that the city will not have money sufficient to carry on fire services. I don't want it to fall down and collapse. They can't do it, then let somebody who can can. And I believe
based on the outstanding report, annual report coming from the county administrator, um yes, I have great buuency of confidence that we can, but if we start soon enough for that transition, um and certainly now we're looking at a
new dynamic today, different from any in a previous conversation, and that is that the American Civil Liberties Union has um taken the the court. We do know also of the precedent that has come out of Okeella and um unless the second
judicial circuit is um totally uh out of line with Okeella circuit then I expect that the merits of the arguments are quite similar. I expect the ACLU to fare um um successfully. That being
said, it creates it does create for this whole community um a crisis and I think that it would be well um intended. So, I'd like to make the motion uh consistent with the memo that you've seen here tonight uh that our staff
would prepare a coste effective plan uh in the eventuality that uh the city falls victim to an inability to pay and to support fire services.
that the county do what we have to do to maintain health, safety, and welfare of our total community. Motion. >> All right, we have a motion on the floor by Commissioner Proctor. Does everyone Does everyone understand the motion? All right, I will second the motion for
discussion purposes. Um, Mr. County Administrator, I have a question. >> Sure. Um, I I reviewed the city commission agenda item that was prepared for their meeting this week and from our
understanding what the city the city commission sent over to us over the last, you know, however many months, 8 months, they said that they have a budget shortfall for fire services currently. But I noticed in their agenda item that I read and
detailed for that I think they're going to go before their board tomorrow. It talks about them downsizing the fire department, but it doesn't address their budget shortfall. So it I mean are we in a position now where we have I mean the
city of Tallahassee is encompassed all in all of Leland County. So, have they shown or proven any ability for them to fund fire services publicly? Um, because I think right now we I mean I I I
actually believe Commissioner Proctor makes a good point like do do they have the ability to fund fire? Do uh thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, two things very quickly. Let me first remind the board given the motion that's on the table that based on previous direction of the of the board, we've we're
engaging uh a consultant to perform a comprehensive analysis of all fire models. That'll be coming back to you. Actually, the selection of that consultant will be on your next agenda uh in December. Um and as to the other question, uh commissioner, in terms of the the city's um ability to fund fire
long term, uh again, as you know, this board did not pass along the fee increase. the city did pass along a fee increase. So, their ability to fund uh their department uh with that level of increase and for how long is is something that we just don't have the information.
>> Okay. Um Commissioner Proctor, I commissioners, I'm going to be very upfront and say I'm going to kind of throw an idea out here um and ask Commissioner Proctor maybe to amend his his motion. Um, but I
I have heard a significant from a significant amount of people from folks all over that um they think that they think it might be time for us to have a conversation or have an analysis about consolidation.
Um, when we're sitting here and we're looking over this comp plan that we just discussed, we're sitting here talking about them expanding the the city, expanding the urban services area. Then we're going to talk about them expand their their
utilities and the uninorporated. And then we're going to come and we're going to have a conversation later about, well, now they can charge a 50% search charge on our utilities. Now, we're talking about having two fire departments because listen, I'll say again, we've acted in good faith over and over again. However, there's one
municipality here and there's one county government here and the city continues to expand their city limits. And so, Commissioner Proctor, what you're seeing right here, which what you're proposing right here, um, I I I think the I think we need to
get to a point where we have staff bring us back an analysis to look at is consolidated government the best form for our taxpayers because what I don't want is duplicative services that drives the cost up for taxpayers
across the community, right? That's that's it's just not it doesn't make sense. Um so, Commissioner Proctor, do you think that you would be interested in um having staff making motion or amending your motion to have staff bring
back an analysis, just an analysis of the pros and cons of consolidated government and what are the positive impacts and negative impacts to taxpayers? >> Absolutely. That's um no-brainer. Um, I would so move and welcome as an
amendment to my motion um that we would have our staff to do the analytics of um pros and cons uh of consolidated governance for our community and going further to even make certain that it is
captured and presented as a referendum item um for November of 2026. >> Okay. I will maintain my second. Um, commissioners, any discussion? Seeing none.
>> Well, if I might add to your point, um I don't think I've shared with commissioners my um comments that I wrote uh because the NAACP had a town hall meeting uh down at Wson Temple
Church um tonight. And that town hall was on the hospital uh merger between Florida State and the city. And my closing point, >> can we vote on the motion to come back to you in this? >> So we have a motion on the floor and then come back to you for commissioner discussion.
>> Yep. All those in favor on the floor by brought by by Commissioner Proctor signify by saying I. >> I. Any opposed? >> Nay. >> Okay. Um, can we do a roll call on that? >> We don't have What was the vote?
>> Could Madam Chair, Mr. Min, could you please restate the motion? The motion is for uh a review of staff doing an analyses of consolidation of uh the city county government uh with a view toward it being uh prime time ready
for ballot uh referendum November 2026. >> Consolidation or fire service? >> Both. >> Consolidation. Pros and cons. Yeah. >> As an information only item. >> Correct. Correct. Analysis. That was what I asked for Commissioner Proctor analysis to come back. And that would include the fire fire
comes on. Okay. Good. Good. Good. >> Okay. Okay. I'll vote yes. >> Okay. All those in favor >> say the motion on the floor. Moved by Commissioner Proctor. Second by myself. >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Any oppose?
>> Nay. >> Okay. Passes 52 with uh Commissioner O'Keefe and Commissioner Maddox in descent. >> 52. >> Yes. Okay. I want I want to ask um in this analysis for the county's attorney
to um distinguish um and I'm I'm use Jacksonville, Duval County, Duvall and um the city of Jacksonville and given our charter
uh which of these government governments uh um carry the greater weight um the greater authority in the possibility of consolidated government or merger or whatever the right words are. Um I think
that legal analysis would be um favorable toward the county. I'm just believing but certainly I'd like for that belief to be substantiated uh with your analysis. Um thank you very much u commissioners.
Today I saw a beautiful article um about Walculla County's commission and you may have gotten a copy to you of my letter to the Walcolor County Commission uh saluting their effort to secure 200 acres of of uh federal forest land to
build recreation park and all of that. Um, it's my hope that they would certainly uh talk to Major League Baseball and secure input from Major League Baseball. Uh, when you going
after that kind of acreage, uh, I can't see why we can't have a major league team doing uh, winter league or uh, spring training uh, here in North Florida. Um, they got beaches, got the water right there, good food, everything
to do that. that should be a part we should have um hopefully uh competitive fields, soccer, all of that. But they they're barking up the right direction. And I think that as Wal Culla leads the
way and pioneers in seeking from the federal government, what the federal government has been soliciting the favor of local governments to um make proposals to secure lands off of them
that we can help relieve the the um incredible um repository of federal property. And it's it's free free.99. Um and I'm grateful and appreciative to see wall color county uh pursue that option
of u of federal land security. We are under the canopy of the same situation but take take that 70% of wall color is owned by the the government. 70%. And um
from my look at the map, we may be about 20% um by the federal government. Um commissioners, I um want to also ask a um a um resolution
um rec I mean proclamation recognizing uh a longtime citizen of our community. His name is John Osman. And for the years of civic service that Mr. Osman has um has um posited into our community
um I believe warrants um a uh commendation of proclamation. >> Second Mr. Parker has a motion on the floor for proclamation. All those in favor signify by saying I
>> opposed passes 6 with Commissioner Cummings outside of the chambers and then Mr. chairman, we had the uh North Florida Fair um came through our community and um not to
um not to um anyway um we don't know how much money was generated. We don't receive a report on how much
money was generated. Um, it it rubs me unique that we're standing to improve a property by um millions of dollars
and the arrangement which we would add $30 million into infrastructure for the fairground transformation. And yet from a governing standpoint as citizens we get no parts to know the
books and the bookkeeping. And uh I cite that to say um just how unrealistic it is to me that we proceed. And I know that the county administrators working to um some bring
something back. But Vince, I was uh every time I passed by the fair the last 10 days, uh I was like, "Where's the money going? Where's the money?" How much they made? I'm sure they made well
more than a dollar. I saw people there. Um but we we're in a lease agreement that we don't even get a share. 10% 5% of the gate, nothing. And something's wrong with that. So, commissioners, I thank you for your time. I love y'all
and um I'm just so sorry. There's nothing that you can do about it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Happy holidays. >> Thank you, Commissioner Proctor. Madam Attorney, any comments? >> County Administrator. >> And thank you, sir. >> All right, Commissioners. Um before we
close out, I want I want to just say a few things. Um first off, Commissioner O'Keeffe. Uh, Vice Chair, Vice Chair O'Keefe. Um, I too along with uh, Commissioner Welch, if if you if you took my uh, how I
closed out that item as personal, I I apologize if you interpret that way. Um, I actually had a note in my closing today to explain to the board like how I intend to go through some of these discussion items that we're going to have in in debate. Um, I think you the board knows if anyone really likes the
debate. Trust me, I'm I'm all for a good debate on on any item. However, Commissioner Miner had had a motion on the floor. It was a substitute motion. Commissioner Welch was in favor of it. Commissioner Proctor, Commissioner Cummings, right? I hadn't really uh
stated where I was on it, but there was a substitute motion on the floor for a reason because the board rejected the initial proposal and Commissioner O'Keefe, I went to you for an amendment because I was going to allow if you had an amendment to to propose to change the item and there was
no amendment. So, I said, "Okay, we don't we've all discussed this and debated it. Let's move let's let's vote up or down the substitute motion. If it doesn't pass, let's come back and debate the next item on the the the original motion on the floor. And so I just want to let you guys know that and I and I
completely intend to support spirited debates so long as that we there is progress and we're going back and forth and there's there's a amendment versus us just kind of circling the wagon back and forth. Does that make sense, Commissioner? Mr. Vice Chair. Okay. Um
next I just want to say guys, listen, this was a great meeting. Uh uh Mr. Immediate past Chairman again, thank you for representing us so well the last year. Uh it was an honor to be your vice chair. Uh Mr. Vice Chair, current vice
chair, I'm looking forward to serving alongside you commissioners. It's going to be uh a really great year. And um before I close out, I just do want to give a quick um thank you to Florida Department of Transportation. That is really my only note I really want to
discuss in closing time. Um, you know, Florida Department of Transportation is I I come here meeting after meeting and just their continued investment and willingness to work with our office in Leyon County has been incredible. Um just this morning they
broke ground on a Fort Braden sidewalk project in front of the school that that was in collaboration with county administration, our office um and Florida Department of Transportation and Leyon County Schools. And you know, we've now have a functioning sidewalk
from Williams Landing Road that's going to go all the way to the baseball park. And it's really awesome just to see that project because that was not there 3 years ago. Um, additionally, we have lighting going on in the um, Getty Road to Silver Lake corridor along
Highway 20. Again, that was collaboration with the county administration, Talquin Electric, um, co-op, um, our office, Florida Department of Transportation. And so, you know, if you haven't, if you've seen the news the last few months, there's been recent accidents related to pedestrians, and I'm just really
thankful to to see that lighting is coming to fruition. Getty Road, Silver Lake area on Highway 20. And lastly, most excited about this is the traffic light at Natural Bridge
Road and Woodville Highway was was not on the 5-year work plan. They added it to the 5-year work plan. And just this week they contacted us and said that they are going to actually move move it up another fiscal year from 28 to 2020
two years I'm sorry from 28 to 2026 and they are going to install the traffic light traffic light in June of 2026. And so um super excited to see this. This is probably one of our number one constituent complaints in wood in the Woodville area is that that intersection
being dangerous. It's right in front of a school. And so, um, I continue just want to share my excitement and thank to Florida Department of Transportation for investing not only in Leyon County, but in District 2. And so, all right, commissioners. Well, that's all I got. We got through our first meeting. Have
have a great Thanksgiving, and I'll see you all next month. We are journal.